Boxerz's grind to $2/$5

It has been many years since I've updated this thread but I am restarting the grind. This time, it is on different terms. I am not sure whether to continue updating here or whether to start a new thread. This thread had a lot more entertainment value as I had kind of a sick college life but things are different now, I am older and married. My focus is much more different, I have a lot more at stake.

I've been wanting to leave my low six figure job to do something where I have a bit more control of the reigns. My entire branch has been wiped out so I am forced out and now back in the poker scene. I've been doing a bit of soul searching and I no longer have a passion for poker but it is a path to some freedom. I had a major post on r/poker which got an insane amount of great comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/...

A lot of insightful information from pros, joes, and the rest. I didn't take the plunge at the time but now I will be for the next couple of months. This time, I have a lot more at stake. I just bought a home a few months ago so a lot of the money saved up is wiped out. I have a high mortgage since cost of homes is kind of insane right now in California. I did manage to build some passive income which covers some of the expenses but my costs of living has increased tremendously since I started fostering a bunch of stray cats.

Now I live close to my local card room and I decided to start playing again. For the last few years, I have been playing mainly $5/$5 but mainly as a recreational player which is once every few months. Since I purchased a home and got forced out of my job, a large portion of my saved money is gone but I do have a bankroll to play live poker again but I don't feel as comfy playing $5/$5. My playstyle has changed a bit slightly toward a tiny bit of GTO with a lot more balanced betting and sizing I think. I started subscribing to CrushLivePoker and even though I am experienced, I went back and took the 'Foundations' course. I am realizing that after all these years, my fundamentals are kind of bad. For example, a hand posted earlier from this thread in 2012.

My iso raise wasn't great. My reads were okay but a lot of my reads were too hand specific rather than covering a range and combinations. George had the NFD and has a lot of equity here. I can show up with some draws and pair + backdoor draws which A + NFD plays well against.

There was another situation where I was involved in a $1k+ pot 4 ways with NFD and I open folded. I was doing the math wrong for so long. That thread is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/...

Since there is a lot in this post, I'll post my latest hands in upcoming post or start a new thread.

I've been on a heater since I started up the grind.

At $2/$3 5 sessions for a total of 11.5 hours with a profit of $1,096. I was falling asleep 30 minutes into my last $2/$3 session and I decided to move up to $5/$5. $2/$3 has been a nit fest for the most part with a lot of flipping equities between hands like pocket pairs against AK and check raising NFDs.

At $5/$5 I got a lot more interesting action. I get seated at a brand new table with $500 so we draw for the button and the button player squeezed the first hand. A few hands later, the same guy raises with AK and stacks off 100bb effective against KQ on a KQx board. A few hands later I limp UTG with 9♠9♦ and a few others limp and BB raises to $60. This is a massive raise and normally I would've raised preflop but I wanted to get a feel of the table. We end up heads up and go to a flop of 5♣3♦8♥. He bets $75 and I call and the turn comes 7♦ and he barrels $100 and I call. River comes 3♠ and he jams for $270+. I tank a bit and normally I'd fold here but I just think this is a nuts or air situation. IDK if TT-JJ would be coming on so strong so QQ-AA and air types like AK, AQ would also be doing this. I call and he shows AK and I'm up $500 then bleed $400 of it over an hour.

I eventually get another hand and raise J♠J♣ to $20 from MP and get BTN and BB to call. I lead out $45 on 9♦8♦6♣ and button calls and MAGA Joe in BB jams for $300 effective. I take a look at BTN and his stack is about $350 eff so I jam since I put MAGA Joe on A9x, T9x type of hands and possibly draws. Turn comes and J♥ and river K♦ which he shows 98o for flopped two pair. Kind of crazy as my read on him was easy stack off with TPTK but I coolered him. He left amicably and a few hands later I did as well. I cashed out +$430.

I had another session today and a big and fast one but I'm tired and I'll continue next time.

I know I should be raising 77+ UTG but I vary my play with 88-TT in earlier positions and raise them more in later positions. They are harder for me to pay post flop multiway out of position for me and the players are bad enough that if I limp call their raise, they are still willing to stack off with TPTK.

Last night at a quick session. I came to the casino late around 9pm and was surprised to see 7 $5/$5 tables going. Since I am getting back into poker, I am trying to get a feel of how many tables are going on the slow days and even last Monday had 6 $5/$5 tables going so I guess there will always be games running. I got sat at a table with an older aggressive guy sitting in seat 2 with +$2,500 and I was in seat 7 with $500. I noticed him raising a bunch of hands preflop and taking down a bunch of pots in just a few minutes. I wanted to get into a pot with him and a few hands later he limps in early position and I'm in the CO with A9o. I raise to $25 and he calls, heads up.

Flop is A♣9♦2♠.
Normally on a dry rainbow flop like this I would want to get 2 streets of value since I'm crushing my opponents range so I would probably check here since his range is probably A2-A9, 34s+, 22-77 and with card removal the only hand that I could be concerned with facing is 22. But with this guy I think he wants to battle for pots and might play back at me. I bet $25 and he calls and turn is K♥ and I size up to $100 and he jams and I snap call. The King shouldn't have helped him and I expected him to show up with A8s type of hand. I can't remember the river card since it was something inconsequential like a 7 and he wants me to show and I'm waiting for him so dealers tells to him to showdown and he says 2 pair and I said 2 pair as well and he says "you win". He showed A2o so we both flopped strong on the flop and he grabbed all his chips and immediately left. The whole table says I am the hero since no one was able to beat him in a large pot.

30 minutes later I'm sitting with $1k effective when I look at 2♠2♣ in the BB. It folds around to the BTN which he looks like he is going to call then SB asked if he wanted to chop and I asked if he has a "bad beat hand". Sometimes people mistakenly limp 3 ways and when we get to the flop, the $7 rake will take half the pot so it's just better to chop preflop but BTN ignores both of us and raises to $25 and I'm happy to see a flop.

Flop is 8♥T♥2♦
BTN bets $25 and I check-raise to $90 which he calls quickly.
Turn is A♣ and I bet $125 which he again snap calls.
River is T♠ and I tank a bit thinking could he have any Tx combos that boated? If I bet, what if he raises me since we're $1k effective? I am trying to figure out a bet sizing where I can get paid off but maybe bet and fold to a raise. I think around $200 but last second I think to myself why am I assuming he has a stronger hand that has played so passively thus far? I bet $300 and he takes some time to think and calls and mucks once I show my boat. He moans in pain. I can't quite figure out what he had that could call me down all the way. He would have to have thought I was on a flush draw and the river didn't help me. I think he could've floated me with AJ+ type of hands on the flop and drilled the turn.

Another 30 minutes later of being card dead, I cash out after playing for only 1:04 +$1,152.

A lot has happened since the last time I posted. I was up about $3,500 then I got invited to a home game $5/$5 where I lost $2k. The rake was insanely high, it was 5-10% of the pot capped at $50 and we only had $5 chips and above so tipping the dealer was always a min of $5. The game was professionally hosted with 3 rotating dealers for 1 table, great food, great people, great action but there is no way I can beat the game. I talked to a lot of people at the casino about home games and they all said the same thing, to stay away from home games. Everything online says it as well. There are just too many reasons like cheating, stealing, colluding, insanely high rake, robbery, etc. For the most part, it seemed like a clean game but I was just getting coolered so hard. AK ran into AK and Aces then Aces, Kings, Queens, all cracked. We played double board PLO bomb pot every button change and I was fighting for a bottom board with a set of 5s on 56Q and my opponent was fighting for the top board and had bottom 2 pair (56) and managed to river the 6 and sweep me. 2 outter was the final nail in the coffin for the night and I for sure don't plan on going back.

I never ran so bad in one night then at the casino I dropped another $2k trying to play a much more aggressive style. I ran into AJ with A9 on AJ9 then my QJcc got it all in against KTcc and bled a bunch of money. I could've avoided most of these spots as in lose the minimum but something got into my head. I returned back to my TAG style and it has been a decent slow and steady climb back. I noticed I've been trying to bluff catch a lot and for the most part, people aren't bluffing but when my spidey senses are tingling once in a blue moon, I need to look people up but they need to give me a strong reason to look them up. Following this old post has helped me a bit: https://old.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/...

I need to look at my image. I've been range betting a lot and my c-bet has been getting called a lot and sometimes raised. I've been getting x/r'd a lot so that means I need to be checking back a lot of turns since opponents are being trappy with whatever the hell they got. It could possibly be that they think my turn bet sizing is showing too much weakness, IDK.

Tuesday night was kind of slow at first. Only 3 tables running at the Gardens and I got sat at a table with a bunch of regs, aggros, and nits. I rarely ever table change but after putting my name on the list, I get moved to a much better table. I sat down and wake up to Q9hh in the CO and MP raises to $15 and I isolate to $50. She calls and flop comes
9♦3♣2♣

I bet $40 into $110 and MP calls.

Turn 5♣

Flush arrives but it doesn't dissuade me and I bet $110 and she calls

River 5♠

MP bets $200 into a $410 with $100 behind. This was strange that she donked into me on the river. I thought about what hands would do this, would TT-QQ do this? I think they c/c or c/f here. I figure she was floating me wide with AK types of hands with possibly 1 club. After a while I call and she shows AQo with A♣ so I'm good. She gets heated and tells the table to thank her for giving the table information.

Later on, another lady at the table check raises some T♠J♠x against the fish then the lady jams the turn and the fish calls with TPGK and stacks her. She bluffed a NFD which kind of gets into my head.

30 mins later, I am OTB with J♠7♠. UTG limps and same lady in MP from the Q9 hand limps and I raise to $35 and BB, UTG, MP calls.

Flop Q♠T♦2♠

It gets checked to MP and she leads out for $75 and I call and the rest fold.

Turn is 7♥ and MP jams for $330 and I tank for a while. At this point, I am thinking she could have a larger FD than me and an OESD such as KJ. She could possibly have QT here but I think she would check raise the flop as I saw her x/r with a set of deuces on KsQs2c and stack someone. If she has a larger FD, I think I am still ahead by just hitting a pair and if she has a naked OESD, I have flush blockers. If she has a Qx type of hand, any flush, 7 or J gives me a winner so I have about 14 outs.

I call and she shows up with

I played a short but very good session at the Gardens where I ran good and played well except 1 hand where in a vacuum it was probably pretty bad but I don't know to play it well. I got sat at a relatively passive table except for an aggressive lady who dislikes me because I called her bluff on the river a few days ago. Actually, she was the villain in my last post lol. She and a few people straddled and I stole a few of the straddled pots uncontested. I played multiple small-medium pots and won all of them which put me up +$400 in the first few minutes. I played a lot differently than I normally do. Out of position, I checked back a lot of flops where I had TPTK and opponents were double barreling into me and checking back all the rivers. It's the HH style which I'm not the biggest fan of it but it does pot control when I'm OOP and villains do valuetown themselves but a lot of them were betting quite small.

I bled all my opponents and their stacks dwindled and a lot of them left. It wasn't necessarily that I was bluffing a lot, I was just calling with a much stronger range and hitting. Seat 6 left and there was a bad reg that sat down to my left. He plays fairly tight and when first to act, he raises to $50 often. He folds out most of his opponents due to his bet size.

I wake up to 7♦7♥ in SB

UTG ($500) raises to $50 and CO ($700) calls and I ($1,000) call from SB.

Flop J♣Q♥5♣ Pot $155. It checks around which is weird because UTG leads out strongly.

Turn 6♦ I check and UTG bets $60 and CO folds and I call.

River 2♥. I check and UTG bets $125

Later on, I ($1,900) raise UTG with A♦K♥ to $20 and UTG+1 calls and BTN ($800) raises to $85. I know the BTN, I made friends with him a week ago and have seen him daily. He is a Euro pro or maybe wannabe testing the waters. He is extremely tight and doesn't play many hands and he and I never really battled it out. I tank for a bit and versus most nits I call and sometimes I 4-bet here against other pros/regs since they are on the button.

Flop K♣3♣K♠. I check and villain bets $60 into $195. I tank for a bit, I think he is range betting here and is one of the few players who do this. Most regs and fish bet an unbalanced amount like $100-$150. I tank for a bit thinking whether to min-raise to $120 or $150. I don't have any clubs and I figure he's not going to be barrel bluffing the turn as most people at this casino aren't capable of. I figure if I raise small here, I can target hands like TT-AA to call and maybe bet small turn and river but he folds..

All the fish start leaving and I leave after a 3:09 session I'm up +$1,483. I talk to the Euro guy before I leave and we discuss a few hands. He said he folded QQ to me and I am a bit shocked at first but then it makes sense. Who ever bluffs there? No one. He said in Spanish to me, "You know I am 3-betting you with a strong range and you check-raise me here, it doesn't make sense. I am up against Kx or A♣x♣" which he is either slightly ahead or way behind. I think if I were in his shoes, I would call the small raise with QQ. He leaves the country in a few days so I don't think he is lying and we've been really nice to each other every time we talk.

I figure I need to just call there and c/c turn but most turns I figure he checks back and I just lead the river for something like $150. I really don't like playing large 3bet pots OOP and might've gotten too greedy and scared. Any broadway turn or river would be a bit scary as I'm folding out AQ and keeping in KQ, TT-AA which is a really narrow range.