Building a Bankroll for Live Poker

I might look into Global. I used to grind Iggy when I first started playing online then jumped on ACR cause did not like the anonymity on Iggy. I enjoy grinding ACR - I like their software & have nvr had an issue w payouts. Obv, there are a ton of issues w ACR that will prob nvr be addressed or fixed so that kinda sucks.

In retrospect, betting might be more +EV. In the moment, because villain 4b pre I did not include hands like TT in his range - I thought he would be flatting my 3b pre instead of 4b. However, when he checks turn/ river his range becomes reduced significantly (TT, QQ/AA?). I thought if we bet we would be value owning ourselves at a decent frequency compared to hands we could get called by that are worse. What size would you use on river? Does villain call enough w hands we are ahead of?

I plan on saving money from my job but thought this would be a cool way to get back into poker (I have not played much over the last cple of yrs) & improve w/out it costing me tons of money - knowing I have not played for a while I would rather grind the micros, making mistakes, than just save up a roll from working & jump into live poker where those same mistakes will be more costly. Plus, I like the idea of a bankroll challenge. Gives me a goal to work towards.

I like your point about villain being capped when he checks turn & I check back. That is something I need to think more about when playing. Since I check turn, in theory, villain can safely bet river w AA/QQ knowing that I am most likely betting any Kx hands I have on turn. When you explain like that, it makes perfect sense to me. Thank you. Def something I need to start incorporating to my thinking process when I am playing.

Played a sick session earlier today. Played 1,006 hands & ended +$89.96! Completely sun ran the entire session. Obv, I know this wont be the case most of the time - but, I am not gonna lie, poker is an awesome game whenever you are winning every hand you play lol gonna jump back in the streets for another short session later today. I'll post my graph from my session earlier today... We are officially in the profit for the bankroll challenge - & it only took us 13,345 hands lol GLGL on the table. Talk soon.

I think pre flop is okay. Villain (CO) opens massive to $.35. I like my 3b sizing - argument could be made to go larger. However, villain started hand w 74 bb's effective so thought that if we went too large ($1.15-$1.20ish) then villain would jam remaining stack & now we're playing a bloated pot either racing or crushed if villain has higher pocket pair.

Flop : Villain chks. I like using a larger size on this flop texture. We should have best hand majority of the time as well as our hand can use protection cause there are a lot of bad turn cards.

Turn : Turn is basically a brick. Here is where I think I may have made a mistake. Villain chks & we bet half pot. In retrospect, I think I prefer jamming this turn over half pot. $4.15 in pot & villain has $5.42 - a bit over 1:1 SPR. We should be ahead here most of the time when villain just flats our flop bet. Idk if the sizing we used is horrible per se, just think that jamming is more optimal in this specific spot. Any feedback/ response to our sizing OTT would be greatly appreciated.

River : Flush comes in on the river. Pot is $8.59 & villain lead jams $3.20. In the moment, I actually leaned towards folding. In my brief experience thus far in the challenge, these lines are usually nvr bluffs & always value. However, the more I thought about it I convinced myself that villain would be getting the money in w his flush draws on either flop/ turn. If villain does not have flush it is hard to find a hand that he beats us w on this runout - he cant have Jxss as the river is Js. If he has 22/33 I would assume the money would get all in before the river. Despite knowing that these lines are almost nvr bluffs I convinced myself to call. Villain has flush & we lose.

Is my line of thinking in this hand reasonable? More importantly - was my sizing OTT awful when considering villain's SPR? On river, I think it should be a sigh fold. Just seems like these lines are nvr bluffs.

Update on the bankroll challenge - we have been getting smack around, repeatedly. Seems like we're losing every flip, consistently on the wrong end of AA vs KK, KK vs QQ, every bluff getting picked off, showing up w the second best hand in every meaningful pot. Swings are to be expected in poker - especially the more volume that you put in. Nonetheless, it is frustrating in the moment when it is happening. Oh well, all you can do is keep trying to make the best decision on every street in every hand. I remember, yrs ago when I was playing live poker, one of the dealers at the casino would always say, "the same thing that will make you laugh will make you cry". I always thought that was a cool saying & def resonates the older I get - w more things than just poker. We are currently back to even. Basically, right back to where we started. Despite the downswing I am feeling good & optimistic moving forward w the challenge. I have the next three days off from work so going to get a lot of volume in. We were at ~$590 a few days ago so the rd back to $600 is going to start tonight - going to get a a few hrs in before the Lakers vs Thunder game later tonight. I will post some hand histories later - there are a few hands that I have questions/ would appreciate any feedback on how I played.

Life outside of poker is going well. I am happy w my progress in regards to running. Around the middle of January I strained my groin severely during one of my runs. For the next month & a half to two months I was rly inconsistent w my running because of the groin strain. However, I am starting to find my stride again & feeling back to my normal self pre injury. I have a goal to run 500 miles/ 3 months. Through 28 days we are at 198.67 miles. I have gotten a few longer runs in over the last few days as well which is a good feeling. Tmrw, I am going to a park that my dad & I used to go to when I was first starting to get into running so I am looking forward to that.

That is about it for now. I hope everyone is doing well out there. Thanks to anyone following along or who read this far. GLGL at the tables. Talk soon.

Pre flop : I think we play TT's here as a pure flat. BB 3b's tend to be more weighted towards value hands - at least as far as I have seen thus far. If we 4b & get jammed on we have to fold & obv folding to villain 3b is out of question.

Flop : Given pre flop action I think we play this as a pure flat. Is there any reasoning/ logic behind playing the flop differently? Or maybe even pre flop? Considering that any turn card that isnt a T is basically bad for us - do we still decide to just flat here & hold on for dear life going to turn? Idk. Kinda sucks to flat here & then fold turn whenever we do not improve. Thoughts?

Turn : Villain bets large on turn. I remember thinking - we lose to all of the over pairs (AA-JJ) & villain only has flush draws in range as bluffs. Not having the Th here is good as we unblock some of the flushes villain can have. However, if we call turn & river is a blank we kinda have to call off otherwise seems like calling turn is a mistake. In the moment, I kept going back & forth - I didnt have much time in my time bank so actually did not have as much time as I would have liked to have. Decided to sigh fold & wait for a better spot. In retrospect, did I play this hand too passively? I like how we played pre flop/ flop. OTT I am rly unsure of our fold. Any thoughts/ feedback would be appreciated. Did I just get steamrolled in this spot?

For the first hand, I’m not sure I am thinking about preflop the same way. I think that 3-bets from the BB can be skewed towards value if it is facing an EP open, but BTN vs. BB is probably one of the widest configs. He also is incentivized to 3b more frequently and larger because he will be OOP post flop. Do you ever 4-bet QQ here? I probably wouldn’t rip it but 4-bet shoves are a play w/ AKo and QQ at times but mostly when OOP yourself.

Flop: Think you just have to call here, he might just bet range for this small sizing. Also I can see TT / JJ doing this and we are ahead of all overcard combos with a diamond.

Turn: I don’t think worse calls and we have too much SDV to turn into a bluff. I like check

River: Tough spot, idk if I could find a fold given villains line. I don’t think TT / JJ takes this sizing though because you have way more 8X combos in range and probably a decent bit of flushes that call off. So what bluffs does he have here? I don’t think it’s necessary for him to turn A4s or any overpair with a diamond into a bluff. Still a tough one to find in game

This one I am probably never folding turn. I don’t think the Th really blocks any of villains FDs since what TX is he 3-betting UTG vs. BB? Also, I actually like TT as a call here because we have additional equity with a gutshot. We are ahead of AKhh, AQhh, and KQhh that are great semi bluff combos for villain.

I considered 4b but then thought about what I would do if BB 5b rips on me? We're 102bb effective at start of hand & did not know if I wanted to put myself in a spot where I call off vs 5b w QQ. Is this reasoning faulty? I see where you are coming from in regards to BB having more 3b vs BTN open. In retrospect, I think flatting or 4b is fine - 4b is prob slightly more +EV. Not rly sure tbh.

I like your analysis of this hand & agree 100%. In retrospect, I rly dislike my fold on turn. Too nitty considering the equity our hand has even if behind. I think I butchered this spot, unfortunately.

Rough last few sessions. Have ran relatively bad & played even worse. Every session has at least one or two absolute punts or mistakes that lead to losing massive pots & playing catch up for the rest of the session. In particular, a few butchered hands have happened at the beginning of a session & it almost sets the tone for the rest of the session. I find myself jumping to the mindset of "it is going to be another one of those sessions". That said, I def have some leaks that I need to work on & improve otherwise I am going to keep getting rekt. Almost 26k hands in & we are down close to 4 buy ins. Not the end of the world but def not the start I was hoping to have at the beginning of this challenge. Oh well. I did not expect it to be easy & so far, it def is not lol I have the next few days off from work so hoping to get in a ton of volume. Moving forward, I need to do better at not auto piloting through hands & actually think about each hand. I think that has been my biggest leak thus far - especially later in my sessions after a few hrs. I still feel good about the challenge & confident that we are going to hit the $5k goal. Thx to anyone that has read this far. Any comments/ advice is more than welcomed & would be appreciated. GLGL at the tables. Talk soon.

I wanted to get some opinions/ input on my play on the flop in this hand...

Pre flop : Standard. We open, BB calls. Exhilarating lol

Flop : BB checks to us & we bet a bit over half pot. Thoughts on my sizing here? On these board textures I like to size up a bit as we have range advantage & board is relatively connected - even w top two there are bad turn cards for us. Is this sizing better than 33%?

BB x/r. My initial instinct was to flat here as it will protect our 3b flatting range as well as allows villain to continue barreling turns if he is bluffing. However, in game, despite having top two I was still concerned about bad turn cards. In retrospect, I do not think I like our 4b here. We lock up so much of villains value range here on flop w our specific hand (he cant have AA/TT as played - we block his two pair value range (A8, T8) & if he has 88 the money is going to get in anyway). When we 4b we make it difficult for villain to continue w the many bluffs he can have in this spot (KQ,KJ, QJ, J9, 79, etc). I think we cost ourselves by 4b & allowing villain to fold all of his draws. I remember thinking we were rly deep & wanted to find a way to get as much money in the pot ASAP. I think this flop 4b is bad. Any thoughts/ insights? Is my line of reasoning sensible? Thx in advance.

ACR is the hardest site just so you know. Try bovado/ignition..

what room did you deal, im from florida too. Hardrock tampa?

Grinding on ACR seems like a waste of time man rather just take that 5k and find some 1/3 300 cap at a casino around you