**** TJ’s Sundry Poker Adventures! 2025-26 ****

I played last night at G. The big whale wasn’t there, so the game was more tame than it’s played lately, when he is there. I heard he played at T two nights ago, and that was a real blood game, with over 100k on the table at one point. But I had to work, so I missed that one. The game last night was still a good game, with several weaker players to target.

I chipped up steadily, getting a nice double with a nut boat vs 2nd nut boat, to be sitting on about +1k.

Then a crazy hand came up. I had a monster draw, with huge equity, getting a great price in what was basically a 4-way all in.

I had KdQdT9, the board was Jd-6d-5-T, and myself and 3 other stacks went in on the turn. The river was the Kh, so I made the 2nd nuts, but lost, to AQJT no diamonds. It was about a 6k pot, the biggest pot of the night by far.

Then I’m pleased with myself that I made a good quit. I picked up my last $100 in chips, took them to the cage, and got a $100 bill back to call it a session, finishing at -900.

After that pot, the game quality didn’t justify going deeper and reloading, even though I had it on me, and could have. Also, I knew I wouldn’t be playing well with tilt after losing like that.

I ran the equity of that spot once I got home, for learning purposes. Heads up vs the hand that beat me, I was 57/42 behind, which was actually better than I thought. But with two other people in there stacking off with weaker draws, I have WAYYYY more than 25% four ways. It was the right decision, in the right spot, at a profitable price. If you aren’t prepared to get it in with a spot like that, don’t even bother playing Omaha.

And since I protected the rest of my roll, and picked up, I can come back and play again later today. In cash, it’s all one looooong session. I’ll keep making good decisions, and maybe I’ll run better the rest of this weekend.

The money you don't lose when you make a good decision to walk away from a game counts just as much as money you do make the next time you play and play well.

So congrats on making a good choice (it's not just big wins that deserve congratulations).

You’d LOVE the guy I’m referring to here.

Stacks off wayyyy wide, sometimes with the best of it but oftentimes not, absolutely fearless and always tring to win when pots are getting HUGE.

If you ever find yourself in North Carolina looking for deepstacked PLO action, hit me up!

Went back to G tonight and lost, -1800, but there were multiple interesting, very thought-provoking spots I wanted to write up.

My first thought is that there are multiple different ways to play AAxx in PLO, and poker players who come from a NLH background frequently make suboptimal decisions.

First of all, the “xx” in “AAxx” are very important. Do you have 0, 1, or 2 nut suits? And can the “xx” make a straight, with or without the aces? …It’s a spectrum, and correct decisions, based on position and game flow, should be adjusted accordingly. It’s important to remember that if you’re looking to get stacks in pre with AAxx, you’re barely 60% against any 4 random cards heads up.

The game started with 6 of us, with more players on the way. I had played with 4 of the other opponents before, so I had some reads, and a 5th opponent I’d never seen before. It started cautiously, with people playing tight, and nobody wanting to take gamble-y spots early.

I find AA84 double suited UTG+1, and I limp to the $15 straddle. One more limp behind me, then the button, the unknown player, pots his option to $75. I take this opportunity to re-pot it to $225, playing about $800 effective. We get to heads up and see the flop.

It’s 9-7-5 rainbow, with me having one backdoor nut flush draw. Not the greatest flop… but I’m still ahead of a lot here. With initiative, for value, and (presumably) some fold equity, I continue for $400. I’m deciding to live with my equity if he shoves, as I have a gutshot straight draw, and am a very live dog against even two pair.

He tanks a bit, and eventually folds.

Later, there’s a raise of the straddle, one call, and I decide to just call with AA94 with one suit. Four of us see a flop, and it comes A-T-5 two spades (I have none). PFR checks, a caller bets $150, and I pot it in position to commit stacks. He gets it in, and the runout comes K, Qs, (which I didn’t love…😉 but he had TTxx, which got it in thinking he flopped the nuts, precisely because I DIDN’T push small edges hard pre with AA. A nice, full double for me.

The next interesting hand came when I limped and called an open with 8865ds, and 4 of us saw a flop of Q-8-5 rainbow. I was second to act, and checked, looking to get a checkraise in, but it checked through.

Critically, because the flop checked through, I could rule out top set, QQ… and therefore my 2nd set was the nuts.

I got a great turn, a deuce that completed the rainbow, so I led out 300. Only the button called. He is one of the guys that run this game, a solid player, only sitting because it was short handed, as we waited for more players to arrive.

The river was a 7, pot was 900 and change, my opponent had 535 left, and I have a decision to make, first to act. I think he would have raised worse sets or two pairs on the turn, so I could rule that out. Not a great river for me, if I weight his turn calling range towards wrappy, straightening cards.

My moment of insight was, if I had decided to check, but would call anyway if he shoved, then ipso facto, I should just shove myself. To get value, and prevent worse two pairs from checking back.

So that’s what I did, but my heart sank to see him snap with T764. Ah well.

If I was playing perfectly, I would have correctly weighted his turn calling range towards wraps, and check/folded river once he hit. But given that we can’t know everything, I came up with a plan, it was a good plan, and I think I made a good decision.

The biggest hand of the night came later. I called a raise from the cutoff in a multi-way spot with Kh5h75, and 5 of us see a flop of 8h-6h-2d. Checks to me, so I bet 200 with open-ended and the K high flush draw. Button calls, then a player check/pots, to over 1k.

I didn’t have much of a read on him, other than that he came from the golf course and had been drinking all day. With my straight and flush draws, I decide I’m live against a probable set, so I get it in. Button gets it in too, and we’re 3 ways for about a 5k pot.

Runout is 2h, 4h, so I make my king high flush. But the aggressor did in fact have a set, which filled up on the turn, and the button had nut hearts and nothing else, which called for the price.

I think the play would have been okay if my hearts were live also, but because they weren’t, it was bad. Just too bad that runout couldn’t have come black 4, black queen. Ah well. Probably should have folded preflop.

I went broke making a set of tens checkraising on K-T-8, and got oversetted. I guess it’s fitting that I got a double on a cooler when tens made a 2nd place set, and then went broke later, in practically the same situation.

So it goes. The conclusions I’m taking away from this session is that middle sets in Omaha could in fact suck, and ace high flush draws are in fact better than king high flush draws.

Until next time.

Some seriously good PLO wisdom 😉 I've gotten so much tighter with these types of hands, and it's paying off.

It’s a new month, so it’s time to recap September.

I played 13 sessions, 45.5 live hours, -2,623 total. Pleased to hit my volume goal. I was basically plus or minus 1500 of being even all month, until I hit a rough patch at the end of the month to finish down.

Again, I’m not terribly concerned about the bottom line number. It’s within a session or two of being even. My two best sessions were more than my biggest losing session. And if I’d quit what would have been my best session when I was +7k, instead of +1k, the bottom line has a whole different feel to it.

What I AM concerned about is this is now my 4th consecutive losing month, dating back to my Vegas trip over the summer. It has me questioning my confidence, if not my sanity.

Am I just a tourney donk, a fish on a heater, spreading around a windfall from earlier in the year, to recirculate into the poker economy?

Thankfully, I can look at everything and truthfully say the answer is no. Even after my best score in February, I DID win in these same games I play in, during March, April, and May, also. Plus a successful Cherokee trip mixed in. I guess the nature of variance, and the long run, is greater than I appreciated.

I did have a big score, and I did give some of it back, but I also took a lot out of the poker economy, permanently. I got exactly the home and furnishings I wanted. It’s the ultimate personal finance goal set, and achieved. This is how I built this life for myself. I’m in my dream home, and even if I won a million dollars tomorrow, I wouldn’t move.

Now we turn like the leaves to October. 31 day month, so we’ll set the volume goal to 40+ live hours played. And by Halloween, it’s my goal to be UP one dollar (or more), to snap this skid.

As I continue to work on my game, I also believe that I need to work on my body and mind as well. I’m going to introduce this space to my health and fitness goals for October. 2025 has been the most physically active year of my adult life… which is a low bar, because I was a sedentary smoker until last year. But I’m seeing progress, I’m feeling great about myself, and seeing real incremental gains.

My new community has a fitness center in the clubhouse, and I’ve been spending some time there. We have free weights, AND a Peloton bike, which I’ve taken quite a liking to. It helps you take tracking the statistics of your workout to a whole new level.

I’m not much for the guided rides with an instructor, or the whole rah-rah community. But I DO really enjoy picking exotic locales for my rides. I’ve done several national parks, the French Alps, Chile, Monaco, New Zealand, Croatia, and more. I thought I would enjoy the London city streets, but being on the wrong side of the road kept messing with my head. So far, my favorite ride has been Oahu, it's unspeakably beautiful there.

I had 11 workouts in September, but I missed most of the first week of the month for my move, and getting set up in my new home.

For October, my goal is 14 workouts, which is more than 3 a week. I have a real hard time going on days that I ALSO work 12 hours, so I make it a real priority to get in there on my off days.

As I’ve been telling myself since I started, consistency is more important than intensity. How much or how little I do is less important than making it a habit to actually GO regularly.

Good luck on attaining both your poker and your life goals. Wishing you positive results on the felt and in the gym. Winner-winner is the hope.

noticing flickers and quit before the exit sign becomes oviously lit is a skill he seems to really be working on and it shows

What have you done or are doing for PLO training? I've done some training and there's certainly a lot of nuance, and some cool things to do if you're "in the know".

GL in October.

I should do more, for sure. Do you have any recommendations?

I’ve been lurking in the Omaha forum, trying to crystallize my thought processes in different situations. And, of course, journaling the thought-provoking hands I play here, which I get value from.

But for as much as I play, I could stand to do more formal studying, and theory work.

Great posts, TJ. Very educational content.

I was confused by your cryptic codes for the venues, until I realized that this popped up when I was trying to look in the Las Vegas section.

Doesn't change the quality of your Omaha posts, glad I stumbled over to read it.

(I was thinking of taking up Omaha again, when it's available. One of my long time memories is of playing Omaha against your poker namesake, TJ Cloutier, at the Mirage.)

For resources, begin with free guides and videos (e.g., PokerNews beginner articles or YouTube searches for PLO basics), then progress to books like “Pot-Limit Omaha: The Big Play Strategy” by Jeffrey Hwang or “Mastering Small Stakes Pot-Limit Omaha” by JNandez for foundational strategy.   

Online courses like Upswing Poker’s PLO Launch Pad (for beginners) or Advanced PLO Mastery, Run It Once’s “From The Ground Up PLO” or Phil Galfond’s “This Is PLO,” and PLO Mastermind for solver-based training are highly recommended for deeper study.

Ordered both of those books on Amazon, thanks!

I think I’ll look into Phil Galfond’s stuff later. I subscribe to his newsletter, he’s always struck me as one of the greatest minds in the game, and he’s been on top of the game the longest time.

Galfond's gift IMO is that he's got more emotional intelligence/humanity than most other poker 'coaches/talkers' and that makes him a truly excellent communicator.

He used to be on 2p2 a lot. No idea about now, but if nothing else you could search and find his old stuff posted for free.

so many foundational branches governing current tourney strategy tree thinking grew from roots in the single table sit-n-go poker tourney threads on this very forum almost two decades ago

Phil and counting others branch out and take more profitable strategy games by storm
magic pebbles result in a gathering of ripples questioning existance of the shore

October’s off to a great start. A 4-session winning streak, and counting, across three different venues has me about +7.3k at the moment.

Had a chance to break the game at G tonight. Won a big one when flopped broadway held vs the 2nd nut straight and top set in a 3-way all in.

Then I flopped the nuts, top set of 9’s on 9-5-4 two spades. I checked, and three players went in, so I guess it’s time to stick it in and pray. I had everybody covered, was about a 5k pot, but the river was the third spade and I got nothing. Would have been about +8k on the night, if that had held. I called it a night at “only” +1k.

…Which is fine. That’s still a good result. I’ve got to reframe my thinking to be positive in those terms.

A huge fish ran a stack up to about 9k, which is nice to see, when it’s not at my expense. Hopefully he’ll be back.

Other than that, things have been just peachy. Haven’t missed a day at the gym, and I just completed a months-long project at work that puts me in line for a 5% raise.

So yeah, I’ve been great. Working hard, grinding, and getting after it in the gym. I’ve noticed a real synergy, that works as a virtuous cycle, when all those aspects of my life are working together.

Let’s keep it going!

I'd say don't feel entitled to anything. Poker doesn't owe anyone anything.

"If that had held" imho is the wrong mindset to have. It's all about your equity and each hand in that all-in was entitled to its equity. There is no such thing as "holding". If you are, for example, a 70% vs 30% "favorite", you are going to lose on average 3 times out of 10 -- which of course you can understand -- it's simple math and probability.

Having 70% equity doesn't entitle you to win the pot. In fact, if you had won the hand and your 70% "held", you actually would have run at greater than expectation (with a 100% result).

Take that for what it's worth / food for thought, and it actually might help your mindset going forward.

Sounds like you're crushing life! WTG!

such a life choice affirming post TJ
now keep that winning streak going

I hosted my housewarming party last night, for my sister and all my coworkers.

They know I play poker, so I borrowed some chips and a setup from my guys at G, and I hosted a $5 card game. I wanted to make it a fun, low stakes, learning environment for everyone to play, and it was definitely that.

I was the full time dealer, to teach them the rules, and keep the game moving. It was like, “Does a flush beat a straight?”-level of poker experience.

The party was a smashing success. My sister and her boyfriend made barbecue and handled the food. We watched football, had some great food, drinks, and the card game was a cool, interactive diversion that everyone enjoyed.

My sister hadn’t met my coworkers before. It was really nice, to get all the people in my life that are important to me, together at my new place for a fun gathering.

Congratulations, TJ! Sounds like a very nice evening.

Thanks for sharing the happiness. You clearly get what matters in life.

ignore the poker results for a moment
you appear to be continuously stacking chips in the game of life
love to see it TJE
you have always been the easiest person to root for