Road back to HS PLO
ABOUT ME:
My screenname is portemilio. I've been playing Poker since I was 16. I started off playing poker on Runescape gambling sites where you'd buy coins ingame which had a $ value and deposit them on runescape poker sites. I found myself obsessed with the game since I was young. I specifically loved the HU format. At 16 i ran up 100$ to 20k when BTC was around 1.4k playing 6 max and 9max nlhe but ultimately got destroyed headsup because i lacked a lot of discipline and had major ego issues wanting to be the best. I always wanted to be the best and would get extremely angry when dealing with variance on top of the fact that I was an unstudied player. In college I transitioned to PLO. I got staked and coached but I wasn't winning no matter how hard I tried because of my serious BRM issues. I'd run up a couple of thousand dollars then instantly shot take 5/10 and lose it all and then go back to the lowest stakes to rebuild, rinse, and repeat. My senior year of college I decided I really wanted to give it my all. In class I'd bring my laptop and drill spots and this was the first form of studying I'd ever experienced (other than hundreds of hours of youtube videos and poker content that I consume). I significantly saw a change in my game. I've always been a highly intuitive player but with the baseline theory I developed I quickly skyrocketed though the ranks. I still had really poor mental game and not great BRM but I was able to run up my first 30k ish month in April of 2022. Unfortunately, I lost it all back shot taking 10/20 on ACR (very commend trend in my poker career). I had to take6 a fifth year of college because of a couple of other reasons but I always knew I was going to end up being a poker player. I dreaded school and felt it was the reason I wasn't succeeding because I still had to commit so many hours to school (studying Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Fluid Mechanics). I come from an Arab household and poker was not accepted at all but that didn't deter me. My fifth year I had the same routine where I'd study in class and play countless hours when I was back. I was also gaming a lot (League) so i decided to cut that out because I figured it was a waste of time if I really wanted to succeed. After I graduated (May 2022) I moved to Lebanon where my parents lived. I finally had no obligations, nothing holding me back and barely any expenses. I devoted all my time to poker (literally 15h days). After 6 months playing 1/2 - 10/20 on mainly bovada and BOL I made roughly 170k in profits. My mental health really suffered. I longed for social interaction; I had none of my friends in Lebanon and I started to not care about poker anymore. My health declined heavily and I felt despite the fact that I was winning that there was a constant judgement surrounding what I was doing. Once I showed my parents how much money I was making they couldn't complain about the journey I was decided to take ( as much anyways) but they were still greatly against it. My biggest mistake came when I decided to shot take 10/20 on Bovada. I was absolutely crushing Betonline and Bovada midstakes for atleast 8bb/100 over a sample of 400k+ hands, but when I played 10/20 nothing I did worked. I got absolutely crushed. My mental game was very strong at this point and I wasn't disheartened, I just figured it was variance. I ended up losing 45 ish buy ins (90k) running 70k below EV. This was almost 2/3 of my roll. I had heard rumors about collusion and cheating rings going on at 10/20 Bovada but I just figured that was bad regs crying about losing because the same was being said about every stake that I was consistently beating. I will never know if I actually got cheated as I have no definitive proof but I highly highly suspect that I did. At this point despite convincing myself that the loss of the money didn't affect me in reality my play began to change because nothing I did was working so I thought i had to deviate. I ended up going to EPT Barcelona in 2023 because I felt the need to prove to myself and everyone that what I was doing was a real job. I had around 50k to my name. I ended up losing 20k there playing 25/50 live (brm issues started coming back I really began to chase what I lost). Once I returned back to the US, started paying rent I prolonged into a 4 month period of break even/losing. I really thought at the time I was playing well I dont know maybe it was variance but looking back at it I had basically given up. I was playing 3h a day max and not putting in any volume at all (20k hands/month max). I'm using this 2+2 thread to hold myself accountable. I'm not going to give up on poker because I know I truly have a talent. I'm at a crossroads right now because im 24 and have little to no job experience so If I want to get a real 9-5 I'd really have to start looking now. I have a couple interviews with some investment banks just to appease my parents but it isn't something I'm taking seriously. On top of that it's really hard to explain to friends and family the journey I've been on because they don't understand variance at all. I'm not saying I didn't make any mistakes I definetly did, but to lose that amount of money is definetly gut wrenching I finally made it and saw it gone at the blink of an eye. I have a lot of fuel in me now and I'm ready to play atleast 50k hands/month. I'm not going to let anyone pressure me or feel the need to prove to anyone (online or IRL) that what I'm doing is valid, I'm just going to do it. It may get lonely but this is truly what I love and I know i will get rewarded.
I'm going to attach this month's results. I had very little money to my name, I moved to my uncles house where I'm paying no rent and felt a lot less pressure on my bankroll. I started at .5/1 and 1/2 and slowly started to shot take 2/5 and very little 5/10 volume. I played almost 72k hands this month, which is the most volume I've ever put in in a month in my life. Attached is the graph. Eventually when I fix my old computer I'll export the DB to my new one and merge them. I will be posting interesting hands and lines I play here as well as weekly-monthly updates. I want to hold myself accountable no matter what and am interested to hear people's thoughts. I only have the last two months of my play tracked I'll post them shortly as I had to buy a new computer
GL ME!
rolled high decided to xr this combo. Looking back, i think having two bdfds gives us more reason to call since we have higher equity and more playability, but in practice it seemed like a good combo. i think id rather xr a hand like aq55. Gotta look into what type of back door draws we want if have more or less is better for xr. Anyways, turn i think is pretty standard xc. River decided to x range and he pots. Honestly what made me fold was the turn size. I thought he was using that size with a hand that wanted to keep weak draws in such as ax+k high fd. that was just the read i came to. I dont wanna get into the results but i ended up folding. Pretty tough spot. What do you guys think? I x'd out the Btn's hand just so the result is unbiased, the only relevant hands are my hand (BB) and BTN's hand.
how bad is it to make a 0.2 EV error preflop. Lets say folding a combo is -1 and calling is -1.2, like can someone explain me how relevant that in a macro sense?
monay, was down 8k on sesh --> +3.5k
3b pot btn vs sb, villain pots flop 1/2 turn, thoughts on what to do here? i end up jamming.
760bb pot , i open bb 3b . he x i b 1/2 he calls. turn x i bet 2/3 he pots i call. river he xc k79t (1.8k into like 2.4). Anyways just ended my sesh played like 12h today maybe more actually, im absolutely crushing it. I feel like my normal self again which is nice. Didnt take many screenshots was just focusing but ill update graph tomorrow at end of month
Your blog and Zefa's are my favorites by far.
You and I are playing in the same games so I've decided I best not post much other than to say how much I enjoy your blog. Everything you posted in the last 24 hours has been interesting hands. Too bad it didn't much strategy talk going. The AQ63/ds is worthy of serious conversation right up to this AT55/ss hand. Now that I praised you and you have surely praised yourself enough over the length of this blog during your winning spells, next time don't go silent for weeks during your losing spells. Speaking of losing, in that last hand you posted for a 760bb pot, you were a 60%+ dog on the flop against his actually hand. And all of this money only went in because of his actual hand. When the diamond hit on the turn, you probably thought it improved your hand, but it most likely improved your opponents hand just a tiny bit if he has even one diamond, but mostly we can say on the turn you are still about a 60%+ dog and your opponent is now one card closer to the end game.
Poker is an awesome game. I think it isn't dying or disappearing anytime soon. I think we will be enjoying this sport for decades to come. I appreciate you posting one of the best blogs out there.
Your blog and Zefa's are my favorites by far.
You and I are playing in the same games so I've decided I best not post much other than to say how much I enjoy your blog. Everything you posted in the last 24 hours has been interesting hands. Too bad it didn't much strategy talk going. The AQ63/ds is worthy of serious conversation right up to this AT55/ss hand. Now that I praised you and you have surely praised yourself enough over the length of this blog during your winning spells,
I like Zefa's blog as well. Yeah, a lot of the times I'm posting here I've already discussed hands with other people and I'm either in session posting a screenshot of the hand or it's post-session and I've already reviewed the hand, mostly looking to get an outsider's perspective on something I might be missing. I'll try to be a little more detailed in the analysis I've just been lazy on here specifically, but I'm doing it in my head! I'll try not to go silent, I tend to really only go silent when I stop playing online. I dont have the best memory so when I was playing live I wasn't writing down a lot of hands. As long as I'm playing online I'll be posting. I didn't think he was bluffing by any means, but I have a set and NFD. It's a pretty standard hand not much analysis needed, just showcasing some run good. He pot raised turn i need 33% equity + implied odds of remaining 200bb if i hit. A lot of the money in this pool is made from people being unable to fold their marginal hands and/or over-valuing their hands. In this case, his nut straight with no pair is pretty dust - I would've gotten away there. Really hard for me to have bluffs given the action and if I do have bluffs then so be it, theyre going to come from the pair + sd region anyways.
I love poker so yeah this has mostly just been fun for me to post, and obviously its nice to post when I'm winning but I'll try to keep it consistent when I'm losing. I tend to just hyperfocus when I'm losing until I'm winning again so we'll see xD. if you want to talk about some things you can add me on discord dm me
punt or no punt?
SRP btn vs sb, sb b 1/2 flop, pot turn, pot riv. i feel like this is one of our better bluffs if we even need any here. double blocking the J and 7 is good, this guy didnt fold (9988) but i think tis good to do ocasionally. i just felt like doing it this time
edit: after some thought its a punt, i shud just fold vs aggression , if he checks its a pure blast tho.
Really impressive results! +30kish after being down 8k at some point yesterday? Wow. All 5/10?
In the previous hand is it BB vs SB or BU vs SB? Regardless, I think this is an extremely opponent dependent spot with regards to it being a punt or not. I think I like it more as a BB vs SB hand because SB is more likely to have blocker bluff candidates rather than leading from the SB into the BU for 3 streets including potting turn/river.
A735 nut clubs hand. I am lost on the turn. Shoving feels like we are trying to deny equity/get folds vs an AA/AKK lone Kh/Ah type of hand. I am assuming this was your intention? Not sure what the stack sizes were.
Agree with crimson's analysis for the 8876ss hand when you get chked to on the A8xx 3bp turn SPR 1.
AQ36ds c/r hand. I think the river fold is fine. I think BU is going to be value heavy more often than not. It's difficult to come up with combos that b/c flop, then decide to bet turn when checked to then follow through with a PSB on the river. I understand that BU may perceive you to lead a majority of strong flushes vs check, but still... AQK5 with a high spade ? I tend to think those hands would just chk back turn.
I think calling is actually option with this type of hand too. I know in the past I personally tried to turn some hands into bluff in similar situations, but I think the correct play is to fold or call.
Essentially by raising you want him to fold out 2 pair/set, but you still beat all his bluffs. Straight you never get to fold regardless.
So 3w otf villain SB bets flop and turn?
I fold flop to the lead. I also fold to the turn barrel. And I never bluff the river.
What do you think his range is? Do you want to play light vs that range?
Really impressive results! +30kish after being down 8k at some point yesterday? Wow. All 5/10?
In the previous hand is it BB vs SB or BU vs SB? Regardless, I think this is an extremely opponent dependent spot with regards to it being a punt or not. I think I like it more as a BB vs SB hand because SB is more likely to have blocker bluff candidates rather than leading from the SB into the BU for 3 streets including potting turn/river.
A735 nut clubs hand. I am lost on the turn. Shoving feels like
Hey,
its Sb vs BB. Sb open raised, bet 1/2 on the flop, potted the turn, and potted the river and i jammed like 300 something dollars on top.
With the a753, i just felt like he was bluffing. I have a hand that needs a lot of protection and calling just absolutely sucks. So even though it sucks to jam i kinda just went with it assuming im good some of the times. Also important note but opponent was out of line fairly enough but doesnt make this spot any easier considering his value range could hypothetically expand (he ended up having the same 2p as me, no heart, and called off my jam). Still unsure if jam or call is better but in the moment it felt right to jam and just win the pot if i thought he was overbluffing.
Aq63ds hand i got owned. he had random air that he floated on the flop
And mostly 5/10 some 2/5
So 3w otf villain SB bets flop and turn?
I fold flop to the lead. I also fold to the turn barrel. And I never bluff the river.
What do you think his range is? Do you want to play light vs that range?
no it was a HU pot sb vs BB. i think turn is loose, flop isnt. need to look at the sim. His range was strong for sure, but i also have a lot of nice properties in my hand with fd blocker, nut gutshot, and some str8 outs. he gives up sometimes on river. it was definetly a im going to outplay this guy type of call, probably not the best, but we were in the streets i like establishing dynamics early on that im not so gto or pussy, and i end up getting rewarded usually. 3 handed is an interesting game too its not 6m
I think calling is actually option with this type of hand too. I know in the past I personally tried to turn some hands into bluff in similar situations, but I think the correct play is to fold or call.
Essentially by raising you want him to fold out 2 pair/set, but you still beat all his bluffs. Straight you never get to fold regardless.
ehh if i ever lose to his aqjj or some bullshit id be devastated id rather just bluff and fold out his non straight hands. unfortuantely he had set + pair blocker so hard to fold on his end. not sure i really like bluffing though here hes super strong 3 barreling this board- there are better spots, i get in moods sometimes where i just go ape ****, its my version of randomizing kek
no it was a HU pot sb vs BB. i think turn is loose, flop isnt. need to look at the sim. His range was strong for sure, but i also have a lot of nice properties in my hand with fd blocker, nut gutshot, and some str8 outs. he gives up sometimes on river. it was definetly a im going to outplay this guy type of call, probably not the best, but we were in the streets i like establishing dynamics early on that im not so gto or pussy, and i end up getting rewarded usually. 3 handed is an interesting ga
Ah on ya sb v bb is more reasonable but I still think I just fold turn. Bet+follow up in this pool on that texture is a fairly straightforward strong range from most players.
Again on the river, with him lacking heavily in bluffs himself you’re counting on him folding a majority part of a strong uncapped value range. This only works in very specific instances and is generally suicidal.
Check out Luke Johnson’s blog it’s full of those kind of bluffs that look cool but are massively ev-. That thread is a masterclass on how not to bluff.
You can establish dynamics to get paid perfectly well without making ev- bluffs simply picking spots.
Ah on ya sb v bb is more reasonable but I still think I just fold turn. Bet+follow up in this pool on that texture is a fairly straightforward strong range from most players.
Again on the river, with him lacking heavily in bluffs himself you’re counting on him folding a majority part of a strong uncapped value range. This only works in very specific instances and is generally suicidal.
Check out Luke Johnson’s blog it’s full of those kind of bluffs that look cool but are massively ev-. That thre
agreed- i really dont usually do this type of thing, like 5% frequency real time, confirmed punt!
Hey,
its Sb vs BB. Sb open raised, bet 1/2 on the flop, potted the turn, and potted the river and i jammed like 300 something dollars on top.
With the a753, i just felt like he was bluffing. I have a hand that needs a lot of protection and calling just absolutely sucks. So even though it sucks to jam i kinda just went with it assuming im good some of the times. Also important note but opponent was out of line fairly enough but doesnt make this spot any easier considering his value range could hyp
Wow. A lot of OOL hands. Tough part about anon pool. If you knew BU was capable of floating the way he did combined with enough aggression to total air ball it, I'm sure you would have flicked in the call. I still think this fold is fine vs a large majority of the pool and unfortunately you encountered someone capable. I highly doubt jt84 was trying to fold a flush with his bluff, but if you did then it was a big bonus.
Wow. A lot of OOL hands. Tough part about anon pool. If you knew BU was capable of floating the way he did combined with enough aggression to total air ball it, I'm sure you would have flicked in the call. I still think this fold is fine vs a large majority of the pool and unfortunately you encountered someone capable. I highly doubt jt84 was trying to fold a flush with his bluff, but if you did then it was a big bonus.
and thats part of the reason i go with some of these marginal spots because i review my hands every day and i see the **** **** that is going on, they are not as nitty in spots as one might believe, especially in these big bet spots where theyre trying to just maximize fold equity and fold out like 80% of my range lol
haha yeah I've had that experience playing on WPT. Its weird because in a lot of spots massively overfolding is great. But there are also a ton of spots like this where you see the wildest ****. I think specifically people do not like folding certain textures to check raise. Dry paired boards is another one where you see the most ridic floats.
haha yeah I've had that experience playing on WPT. Its weird because in a lot of spots massively overfolding is great. But there are also a ton of spots like this where you see the wildest ****. I think specifically people do not like folding certain textures to check raise. Dry paired boards is another one where you see the most ridic floats.
And this is something I think i've gotten good at - understanding what timing people find weak and start to overfloat, or timings people use that are more weak vs strong. I agree with you though people dont like giving up on paired boards and will start going crazy, monotone boards as well. Thats why i overprotect on those
this is a weird one too. small blind limps, i open in the bigblind to 30, he 3bets to 90 , i 4b to 270 he calls. flop he checks pretty fast, i decide to check this one ip, i want some flushes in my xb range esp this deep but this board is obv nuts for my range and with the bdnfd not sure which is better betting or checking. anyways i check and he pots the 8 turn pretty fast, felt pretty value heavy. i decide to jam with wrap + 2 fds, again might be standard but also vs a range that has no fold equity im not sure if calling or raising is better vs his stronger range, esp if my frontdoor flush is dead my head becomes not great
i open btn, sb 3b i call. flop qt8. he tank cb 1/3 (this got me suspicious his timing was weird) so i called. he tanks a bit then checks turn i b 1/3 which is my only size here and he jams. i fold. weird spot . not doing great vs his actual range
i open on the button sb calls. he checks, i bet 3/4, he pot raises i call. turn he pots and i fold. i kinda wanted to fold the flop but dont think i can. could probably roll for a cbet too in game i decided to bet 100%. standard?
this was one of the first hands on the table so didnt really have info on the opponent. this seems like a good hand to call but i took the more passive spot since im probably gonna have some straights in my range, but this is probably one of the better bluff catchers i should call in theory unblocking clubs and blocking a queen
we are 200bb deep i open mp co 3b i call. flop 982 rb i lead 3/4 with qqt8 2 bdfd he snap calls. turn is a 2 i check he pretty quickly bets 1/2, i call, and river comes a brick and he bets 1/3 . idk i wsa thinking about it on river when he snap calls flop i feel like he has less aces than usual and is more draw heavy. or it could be aces + trips or aces + pair. not sure thought ab calling but i ended on a fold. i think i block too many draws ill check what we had tomorrow. probably trips imo
A567 like the flop check. Whenever you can check back a hand deep in 4b pot that’s not aces it’s great for ur range.
Agree with ur turn analysis. Two fds and a bunch of SDs is so much equity that jam is very std but if we read into the opponent and have no FE call is actually better.
