Suitedjustice's Ongoing Mid-life Crisis
I woke up in the middle of choking to death again; though to be accurate, it was towards the end of the process--woke up right away in a white hot panic with black spots of permanent unconsciousness swooping in across both sides of my vision.
Calm yourself, was the first important step. My lungs were soaked, steeped in the things that belonged only in my stomach, and locked up tight. My air passage was blocked and burning with bile and hydrochloric acid. No, I don't have asthma. I have a drinking problem.
Spoiler
Though, now that I think about it, is that inhaler thing any good? Maybe I'll try a hit sometime, just to see.
This was last Friday, just a few hours after I'd quit my office job of twelve years to take a shot at playing poker for a living out West in Nevada. This will not be my first shot at gambling for a living; although I have only tried something like this once before, many years ago.
Around the turn of the century I quit college most of the way through my senior year and I moved out to Las Vegas for 8 years. My experiences were somewhat of interest: rampant drunkenness, a stolen lab animal, solid card counting, North Korean meth, time spent with Mormons, advantage slot grinding, a cowardly pass on an FBI Most Wanted bounty, facing contempt of court charges, and dressing up as Albus Dumbledore. You can find that in my BBV thread.
[U][url]https://forumserver.twoplustwo.c...[/U][/URL] .
That thread held up pretty well in BBV, which is not nothing.
Starting meditative relaxation can be problematic when you're dying from choking on your own puke. I sat up straight, blind from the black splotches that had slapped away the weak light of the kitchen stove. I dropped my shoulders, relaxed my chest and upper arms, and then, projecting calm with all my might, I tried my throat. I pictured my lungs and throat opening up just a tiny passage, for just a little air to go by--something to get me started. And they did, untethering just the smallest little rivulet of air, and it made the most terrifying sound as it went through. It always does.
Whatever you've heard from actors pretending to gasp after being choked, the reality is worse. At least no one was with me this time. When that's been the case, the other person has invariably freaked the **** out when they've heard my gasping and choking routine, which only adds the burden of myself having to reassure them through nodding and non-frantic gestures, so that they won't call 911, as I hate the idea of calling the cops.
April 13th of this year was 14 months without me having a drink. During that long stretch I had honestly forgotten why I'd quit. That's right, I had completely purged from my recall the years of nighttime memories of myself almost choking to death, this happening once or twice every couple of weeks on average. Now, the terrifying night wakeups didn't happen even once during the 14 dry months. But 3 weeks back into drinking--oh yeah--there was that thing, wasn't there?.
Now, there was something else I'd forgotten about. And that's the Double Tap. The Double Tap happens when I don't force my drunk and tired and traumatized self to remain awake for a good two or three hours after a choking incident. If I fall back asleep before then, I wake up choking to death all over again. And sure enough, that happened last Friday, and I had to save myself again.
So on Saturday I jumped back on the waggy, and Cinco de Mayo is now my new anniversary date, and that's really enough about drinking. I'm not here to write about that business. I should have been done with it; and now I am.
My flight leaves for Reno in a few hours, and I'll be out there for the next 3 weeks scouting out the live poker games in the city. If I like it, that's where I'm moving to.
There are all sorts of flavors of UTG shenanigans, including the following:
Fun player limps UTG with $160, I make it $12 from MP with AKs, BB makes it $25 from his $50 stack, fun UTG flats the $25, I 4bet to $100, BB calls all-in for less, and fun player says "Y'all tryin' to get me out, and 5bet shoves to $160 with Q7o.
That was the hand where my AKs held three ways unimproved. The standard runout would have the fun player hitting his 7 on the river, and he knew it. But the poker gods were merci
A rare (but deserved) merciful runout from the gods! May this be the sign of the changing tides?!
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please teach me how to win with AKo vs Q7o
Step 1: bet big. Actual # is irrelevant just make it a lot of BBs relative to the pot size. Don’t over pot too big, that’s doing too much.
Step 2: run good
Step 3: ???? (Scoop and tip I assume)
Step 4: profit
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You forgot the step where the Vs have each others' outs 😀
My mini-streak ran out during yesterday's snow-forshortened session. I ran into a player who owned me. It happens sometimes. Villain doesn't have to be great, he or she just has to pull a big bluff whenever you feel like they have it—and then they'll show you; they always show—and then they'll take you to value town in big hands whenever you're feeling sticky. Wash, rinse, repeat.
The best policy is to move tables. You may have a tell that they've picked up on, or they may know your type and be a specialist in playing against it. My ego, however, convinced me that V was just sunrunning, which is a temporary condition, and whether that was true or not, I paid the price for it.
I did, however, get to witness the worst live poker player I've ever seen, who fortunately was not the V who owned my soul.
When I sat down, she was puzzling over the concept of the blinds and the order of play, but was quite proud of having mastered the colors and values of the chips. She had $175 behind when she got into a hand where V checked the flop, she bet $10, and V checkraised her to $25.
"Why are you doing that?" she asked, indignantly. "I have a good hand." Then she showed V her hand while it was still live. Then she called the raise.
She was advised by the table not to show her live hands, so she accused the dealer "You told me I could show my hand heads-up." Apparently, she had done the same thing multiway before I'd sat down.
The dealer told her that while she could show her hand, he did not recommend it.
After that, I gave her remaining stack five minutes to live. It lasted for nine. I got $50 of it, and the other guys got the rest.
December 2024 ****'s Creek Navigation Update
MGM Springfield $1/$2 poker: 3 hours
(-$232.00)
MGM Springfield Slots: 2 hours
+$34.45
Running Poker Total December: 15 hours, +$470.00
Running Slot Total December: 9 hours, +$763.64
Total December: 24 hours, +$1233.64
I took yesterday and today off, and I'll be back on the grind tomorrow.
Pirates never take a day off.
The above advice is worth millions.
You can thank me later.
On Saturday I lost a couple of hundo, thanks in part to making the worst play I've made in a long time. This is not the time to be doing this. I knew that I made a mistake right away, but life isn't a video game, and I couldn't revert back to my last save, so I had to watch myself get righteously wafflestomped.
Just to confirm, here's my question to the
, and its answer below.Stakes are $1/$2. Effective stacks are $125. There are 3 limps, I raise to $17 in the BB with AsTh. Villain, who limped from MP, reraises to $35. Everyone else folds. I reraise to $125, putting the Villain all-in. That was a mistake, wasn't it?
Let's analyze this step by step:
1. Preflop Dynamics
Stakes and Effective Stacks: $125 (62.5 BBs). You're playing a relatively shallow stack depth.
Your Hand: Ace-Ten offsuit (♠️♥️😉.
Initial Action: Villain limped in middle position (MP), then reraised after your raise. Limp-raises at lower stakes are often highly polarized (monster hands like AA, KK, QQ, or traps like small pairs or suited connectors).
2. Sizing and Interpretation
Your Raise to $17: Solid size, punishing the limpers. With 3 limps ($6) and the small blind, the pot was $9 before your raise. Raising to $17 targets folds or weaker calls, especially out of position.
Villain’s Reraise to $35:
This is a min-reraise after limping, which typically indicates one of two things:
A very strong hand (e.g., AA, KK, QQ, AK).
A speculative hand trapping with the intention of inducing action.
At lower stakes, limp-reraises are frequently weighted toward value hands.
3. Your Decision to Shove
Shove Size: Your effective shove was for 62.5 BBs. Villain has already invested $35, so they need to call $90 to win a total pot of $159 (pot odds ~1.77:1 or ~36% equity needed to call).
Villain’s Likely Calling Range: After committing with a limp-reraise, their range likely includes:
Strong hands like {AA, KK, QQ, AK} (which dominate your AT).
Possibly a few traps or weaker hands if the Villain is not very disciplined.
4. Equity Analysis
Let's run your AT offsuit against a likely range for the Villain:
Scenario A: Tight Limp-Reraise Range
{AA, KK, QQ, AK}
Your equity: ~22%.
This is a disaster. You’re crushed by this range and unlikely to profit long-term.
Scenario B: Slightly Wider Limp-Reraise Range
{AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQs}
Your equity: ~30%.
Still bad. You're likely losing chips here but not as severely as in Scenario A.
Scenario C: Wide Limp-Reraise (Unlikely)
{AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQs, AQo, random bluffs}
Your equity: ~42%.
If Villain's range includes some weak hands (e.g., suited connectors, AQo bluffs), this shove becomes closer to breakeven or profitable.
5. Evaluation
Mistake or Not?
Against most players who limp-reraise in live low-stakes games, this shove is a mistake. Their range is often very strong, and you’re dominated far too frequently.
If you had reason to believe the Villain was capable of limp-reraising with weaker hands or bluffs, this move would be more defensible, though still aggressive given your stack depth.
6. Better Options
Fold: Folding preserves your $17 investment, which is a small loss relative to your stack.
Call: If you think the Villain could be bluffing, calling $35 and playing post-flop might be an option, but it's dicey given you're out of position with a dominated hand.
Shove: Only viable if the Villain's range is wide and includes weaker hands or bluffs, which is unlikely here.
7. Conclusion
This shove is likely a mistake, as it risks your entire stack with insufficient equity against a range heavily weighted toward premium hands. Folding to the reraise would have been the more prudent play without specific reads indicating Villain is capable of limp-reraising light.
I'm not sure that I agree with the AI's suggestion to fold to a minclick. There were a few regs at the table, and the metagame aspect would induce some of them to start 3-betting me light after that.
V had KK (of course, what else would he have?) If I had called, the board would have run out T high, giving me TPTK, so I would have doubled him up. But that is results-oriented thinking.
I'm off to the casino now. I'll post numbers after today's session.
Haven’t pulled this out in long time
AxTx hand - fold-pre.
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I'm not sure that I agree with the AI's suggestion to fold to a minclick. There were a few regs at the table, and the metagame aspect would induce some of them to start 3-betting me light after that.
So? Let them. Then tighten/polarize your range on those spots counter exploit and bomb those light 3-bets with 4-bets. Or call them off and get to check raise bombing all wet flops that miss the top of their range
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just fold to the mouth breather's limp rr minclick and punish the regs limp rr minclick?
Thank you, gentlemen. Your advice is noted.
And probably correct, but I can't bring myself to fold to a minclick pre.
Any limp rr, esp a limp min rr should def set off all alarm bells, but without knowing more about the player I prolly call here too. Def not shoving though, that's terrible, sorry.
Any limp rr, esp a limp min rr should def set off all alarm bells, but without knowing more about the player I prolly call here too. Def not shoving though, that's terrible, sorry.
It was pure spew, the worst play I've made in years. I knew it a split second after I verbalized it. I picked a bad time for it, as I can ill-afford this sort of thing.
I'm still losing. Going back again today. I'll crunch the numbers here at some point soon.
Any limp rr, esp a limp min rr should def set off all alarm bells, but without knowing more about the player I prolly call here too. Def not shoving though, that's terrible, sorry.
I would definitely not generalize what the range of a limp-raise is without knowing the player beforehand, as the OMC who have survived this long in the player pool (or who have maintained being marginal losers), have widened what was once strictly a KK-AA limp-raise range to blocker heavy broadway hands like KQ, KJ, AQ etc. At least from my experience of globe trotting the international tables/playing with the different OMCs of the world 😉
V was a kid in his 20's but not good, the kind who limps and farts around with $100-$150 stack and drinks a couple of Coronas, but no more than that.
It's possible that he could make a fun spite minclick over my largish blind raise, but not likely enough for me to spaz 4bet.
I would definitely not generalize what the range of a limp-raise is without knowing the player beforehand, as the OMC who have survived this long in the player pool (or who have maintained being marginal losers), have widened what was once strictly a KK-AA limp-raise range to blocker heavy broadway hands like KQ, KJ, AQ etc. At least from my experience of globe trotting the international tables/playing with the different OMCs of the world 😉
That's why I was saying without knowing player type I would call. If you know their range is AA, KK or even JJ+,AJ+ then you have to fold here ofc because your equity is terrible against that range. IME there are three main types
1) As described they would only do this with AA, KK or even just AA. There may be types who would include QQ, AK or something but this doesn't make too much of a difference, you're looking terrible against all of these. Stack depth is also important here, if they have barely more than the pot left they will usually not fold their unimproved AK, whereas if you are deeper it's a different story.
2) The type you described that has some hands where you're actually looking decent against, or can take it away
3) The type who is capable of doing this with just about any hand he wants to play.
Fortunately you can usually have a pretty good guess who you're up against. But ofc you can be wrong, or you can be up against type 3 but s/he just happens to have AA. The usual.
I also don't agree that peeps would disappear from the player pool if they still limp/RR only with AA/KK. Others also play terrible and there are enough players where this play still kind of works. Also nits are usually not big losers, they are usually small losers, but peeps play too many hands for them to be big losers. Usually, as always it depends.
That's why I was saying without knowing player type I would call. If you know their range is AA, KK or even JJ+,AJ+ then you have to fold here ofc because your equity is terrible against that range. IME there are three main types
1) As described they would only do this with AA, KK or even just AA. There may be types who would include QQ, AK or something but this doesn't make too much of a difference, you're looking terrible against all of these. Stack depth is also important here, if they have ba
Yup, agree, sound analysis and as a rule of thumb/without knowing the player type, I would just call/take it from there...
I also don't agree that peeps would disappear from the player pool if they still limp/RR only with AA/KK.
Am not saying they would of been wiped clean from the player pool Darwin style, but am stating that even players that evolve slowly, do evolve and adjust somewhat their ranges/even their limp-raise ranges. That being said, I rarely play small stakes, so my observation comes more so from live mid/highstakes.
Also nits are usually not big losers, they are usually small losers, but peeps play too many hands for them to be big losers. Usually, as always it depends.
Agree 100%. But the game has evolved significantly in the past 2 decades and the OMCs from yesteryears/the Golden poker era, have necessarily adapted somewhat in order to remain small losers/survive the long haul... My 2 cents 😉
loving the recent strat talk around here
"Why are you doing that?" she asked, indignantly. "I have a good hand." Then she showed V her hand while it was still live. Then she called the raise.
She was advised by the table not to show her live hands, so she accused the dealer "You told me I could show my hand heads-up." Apparently, she had done the same thing multiway before I'd sat down.
The dealer told her that while she could show her hand, he did not recommend it.
After that, I gave her remaining stack five minutes to live. It lasted fo
gold strat talk right here
I have to write a bit of non-poker content to justify being in this forum and not in PG&C, so I'll post a life hack.
The Gillette disposable plastic 3-blade razor in my bathroom has now been with me and in use for one solid year. It's the only razor I've used during this time.
Now, I have a beard that I sort of grow out and then shave off regularly, as if my face was a Play-Doh Fun Factory, so I don't shave my entire face, but I do shave my neck and upper cheeks every other day, lest I look like either a werewolf or like famous 19th century newspaperman Horace Greeley.
Spoiler
King of the Neckbeards
My disposable razor is nearly as sharp as the day I bought it back in Dec of 2023, thanks to an old pair of jeans. Twice a month or so I use the jeans as a strop to sharpen my razor. It's that simple. Some strops are made of denim, and so are jeans.
Fifteen swipes in one direction, then fifteen more in the opposite. Rinse the jean fuzz off the razor, and it's good to go for another two weeks. And it barely marks up my jeans; not that I care, but they're still perfectly wearable.
