[Ballerholic]

Stakes: 50NL+, 1/2 Live

Goal: $2k a month

What is up guys. I have officially graduated from my last thread where I played 25NL exclusively and tried to play professionally over the summer. It is still the summer, but I've got some funds to work with now and will be playing some higher stakes. I'm officially on my own and if I don't make money I don't eat. I need to try and login 40 hours a week which would mean I need $13 an hour to complete the goal. Can it be done my friends? Can it?!?!?!?

Monthly Profit: $33

Hours Played: 3

Going to have my first live poker experience tonight. Hopefully it goes well! I'll also use this thread to post my sports picks. But these probably won't start until Football begins.


LEGGGOOOOOOO

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Baller, good luck. You know we're pulling for u.

One thing I hate about Cash-game poker = the tipping. The rake's hi enuf, dealers expect tips on top of that. And god forbid u don't tip them ENUF. I've seen it so many times. The toke-hustlers. Nauseating at times.

[Ballerholic]

Chuck thanks man! Where are you based? I'm out in Ireland at the moment, apparently no tipping out here? I'm American though so maybe they expect me to. Haha oh well

[ChuckyTheGoat]

USA. Ireland, eh? Enjoy, man. Great scenery + Good Luck at the tables.

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: €1,658

Hours Played: 8

Wow guys played my first live cash last night....1/2NL. What a game. This is all I can say....






What a sunrun! Craziest hand of the night in a €1k pot. Me: €400 stack, Player 1: €400 stack, Player 2: €200 stack, Player 3: €200 stack. I get KcQc. 3bet pre, 4 players call. Flop comes JcTd7c. I check, player 1 cbets, player 2 jams, player 3 calls, I re-jam, player 1 calls. Flop is 5s. River is 8c.
Player 1: TT
Player 2: JTo
Player 3: 77

I win with the K high flush on the river!!!!! This was played in the back of a pub so I had to gtfo of there just in case somebody wanted to break my kneecaps.

[slikec]

Sick hand and sick session. And they say there are no set ups live lol.

[Ballerholic]

haha thanks Slik and Beerdog. Yea what a crazy session, sometimes you just run out as hell. Funny how poker works because in that $1k pot if I had lost I probably would have packed it up and went home since it was late which would have meant a loss of -$200 on the night

[thetrinity]

when i was in england, they didnt tip

if i was in ireland, i would concentrate on the live games over online

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Baller, great score. Nice hand.

I'd have just a few questions/comments:

1) I'm always amazed at what I call the Exploding Bet Ratios. You would think 200BB couldn't go in on the flop, but they do. Like I've said in my "Tournament Strategy" thread, people bet proportionately to Hand-strength. Really no deception.

2) Pursuant to Point1, is there any caution from you that bet-sizes that big might mean someone has the Ax (clubs), for bigger flush-draw?

3) Speak briefly re: calling w/ Draws in multi-way pot. Of course, strong draws are great vs multiple opponents. Normally, u can knock out 2 players by catching one card. If 2 players bet in front, even modest holdings now have appropriate calling odds. I've sometimes seen bad folds from players that see heavy action in front and then lay down a great CALLING hand.

Great hand, pal. That was beautiful.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Baller, I have a question for u. What about moving up stakes?

Is the difference noticable? Is there a level that u know is your comfort-level, but that you wouldn't feel comfortable going any higher?

As a tournament player, I think in terms of Entry Fee as a % of my theoretical Poker Bankroll. I never enter a tournament that is > xx% of my allocated Bankroll. I know I'm at a comfort-level where I'll be ok w/ blowing thru my Buy-in.

Sometimes, I think about entering bigger tournaments that would represent a bigger piece of my bankroll. After thinking about it, I know this is a bad idea for two reasons:
1) Too much $$ staked on one event.
2) The step-up in class. I just don't want to be in situations where I feel like my Opponent is better prepared.

[Enkhbat]

wow sick hand, good thing someone didn't have A high flush.

Where was this? London? since it says english pounds.

[Ballerholic]

Chuck- Well first off the table was soft. So right there I feel very comfortable. These guys can have pair+draws, 2pair, sets, and even worse flush draws. With better players at the table it would be a lot tougher. For bigger tournaments why don't you get staking for them? Or sell some action?

Enk- thanks man. This was in Ireland and those are euro notes.

[jtoler]

Is this big blind 50 cent no limit?

[Ballerholic]

for online yes I play mainly where the big blind is $.50 cents. For live play I play where the big blind is $2.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Thx for response, Baller. As for bigger tournaments, I don't want to seek out backers. Stakers might not get +$ return. And I don't think I'm worthy of charging a premium (like 1.05).

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: €1,816

Hours Played: 10

Amazing week, but again volume needs to drastically improve. I think after that huge score I decided to go easy the rest of the week....

[slikec]

Ofc you need to set up higher goal for month if you reach 3/4 of monthly goal in 3days lol.

[Ballerholic]

haha yea slik, I can just site back and relax now for the month. I'll be going to the pub game again tonight, hopefully we I can replicate last weeks results....Also won SBR tourney last night legoooo

[Ballerholic]

Guys some plays for PGA championship tomorrow....

Top 20
Brooks Koepka +120
Adam Scott +162
Jason Day +137
Henrik Stenson +200
Paul Casey +200

Also going to play some live cash tonight...

[Ballerholic]

adding a golf parlay

Top Dane Olesen, Top Spaniard Rahm, Top Canadian Delaet.....-106 1 unit

[Ballerholic]

I also went and played some live poker the other night. Game wasn't as good as previous, but then again I ran so hot haha. Anyway, I was up $80 then down $150, then up $80, and finally breakeven for the night. A few notable hands....

Hand 1: 50bb stack effective. 3 way. MP badreg opens to 12, I (CO) 3bet to 35 with KK, BU huge whale calls. Flop is 5d2c7d. Checks to me and I jam. Whale in BU calls, and badreg calls. River is another diamond and the badreg wins with Q6s.

Hand 2: 100bb effective. 2way. UTG fish limps, MP decent reg limps, I (BB) raise to 14 with KJdd. UTG folds, MP calls. Flop is KT5cc (I can't remember exactly which cards had the club). I cbet 25 and decent reg jams over the top and after doing so leans over the table (he's right across from me) and stares me down lolol. I tank fold.

[Ian]

GL Ballerholic. So cool you had a huge score your first time playing live. As for the hands:

#1: Preflop and flop both look well played. I'm having a little trouble figuring out what happened after the money went in, but you can't control that so whatever.

#2: Preflop: I don't think raising is bad, but I definitely prefer checking. It seems like you're at an action table, so your raise is probably going to get called in a couple spots. This leaves you in a situation where you're out of position and forced to either A) fire a c-bet into action players when you miss, or B) checking the flop when you miss and practically announcing that you missed the board.

Flop: As played, the shove from your opponent is a huge bet for 100BB stacks. To call here you need some sort of read that your opponent is bluffing. Staring you down is a bluff-tell, and when decent players make huge flop shoves like this it's usually a combo draw. That said, without more info I'm letting the hand go.

Just my opinion...

[daneblazer]

Keep up with your hourly win rate. Might be better to just focus on live

[Ballerholic]

Ian- yea that shove by competent reg really had me confused. Just insane.

Dane- Yea Dane, live seems really easy but there are huge droughts of not hitting cards.


Monthly Profit: €1,959

Hours Played: 18.50


Month is going very well. I have basically already hit my goal 12 days into the month haha. Yesterday I won €150 in 1.5 hours playing some 50-100NL online. Going to hit the casino tonight! Never been to one before, only pub games....Should be interesting. Apparently this one casino I want to hit tonight has crazy Chinese gamblers!

Also, I'm in talks with getting a professional poker coach who plays 100NL zoom on pokerstars and I am currently studying some PLO on the side...

[RisingDough]

Hours, hours, hours!!! You must log hours. You cannot sit back and relax just because you are ahead of schedule towards your monthly goal. There will be months where you lose money so you need to make as much as possible in the good months to balance it out. Basically it just comes down to what your hourly will be and over the course of the year you will figure that out. I see too often guys that want to quit when they are winning in a session just to lock up a win but stay all night when they are stuck to try to get even. Think about that logically! So they are leaving a game where they are winning which probably means the game is good and you are playing well and confident. On the other hand they stay longer in games when they are losing which might mean the game is bad or you are outclassed. You might be playing bad and not confident. Sorry if this sounds like a rant but just want you to hear this before you get into bad habits. If this is what you want to do then you need to grind your ass off! Put in the time on the tables AND the time to study or you WILL fail. It's as simple as that.

In live $1/$2 no limit hold em games the better players are making around $20/hr which can vary of course depending on rake, speed of dealers and the level of competition. So you better plan on playing 100+ hours a month to average 2k profits. And you can expect to have some decent size swings, I would prepare yourself for a month where you lose 2-3k.


Just some thoughts

RD

[Ballerholic]

Thanks RD, Yea tough to put hours in. I find that I put way more hours in when in a live setting versus when I am on the computer. IDK, I really enjoy the live setting so far. When I was sitting at the table last session in the live game, even though I ended the night breakeven after 7 hours I knew that I really had made at least $70 that night just by being there. That's how you need to look at it.


Few plays added for pga championship...

Top Swede Stenson +140
Top American Kisner +162.50
Top 10 Chris Stroud +150
3rd rnd 18 hole matchup Day +115 vs Matsuyama
3rd rnd 18 hole matchup Molinari +100 vs Kisner
Parlay- Top continental euro Molinari, Top Englishman Casey, Top south african Oosthuisen +108

[Ballerholic]

Adding...

Top 20 Stenson +100
Top Euro Molinari +137.50
Top 40 Olesen +100
Top 40 Lingmerth +100
Oosthuizen -124 vs Kisner
Reed -106 vs Woodland
McIlroy -123 vs D. Johnson
Parlay-

451029976-1	8/13/17 8:41am	$10.00	$309.48	Pending	6 Team Parlay
				Pending	8/13/17 9:45am Majors Golf 7404 Rory McIlroy (4th Rnd) -125* vs Dustin Johnson (4th Rnd)
				Pending	8/13/17 11:15am Majors Golf 7416 David Lingmerth (4th Rnd) -130*vs Thorbjorn Olesen (4th Rnd)
				Pending	8/13/17 1:05pm Majors Golf 7434 Henrik Stenson (4th Rnd) -140* vs J.B. Holmes (4th Rnd)
				Pending	8/13/17 1:25pm Majors Golf 7438 Paul Casey (4th Rnd) -130* vs Francesco Molinari (4th Rnd)
				Pending	8/13/17 2:05pm Majors Golf 7443 Patrick Reed (4th Rnd) -115* vs Gary Woodland (4th Rnd)
				Pending	8/13/17 2:25pm Majors Golf 7448 Louis Oosthuizen (4th Rnd) -130* vs Kevin Kisner (4th Rnd)

[Ballerholic]

matsuyama to win +120

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $1,817

Hours Played: 24

Sports: YTD: 11-10 +4.12 units

Poker has been going well, but again slow. Played some Live 1/2 at a casino the other night for 2 hours and made $16...IDK I don't feel like live games are that much softer than online games. Sports went really well. Up $190 so far this year...about 4 units.

[Optional]

You don't have to deal with collusion, bots and people using software to think for them live.

Plus it's just more fun.

[Ballerholic]

yea that's true optional. I agree, it can be a lot of fun

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $2,006

Hours Played: 25 hours

Monthly goal has just been hit! Games are good what can I say. I'll be playing a lot of hands soon on ACR. I know it's a very tough and reg infested site, but if I'm going to improve my poker game and get better I'm going to need to build a database of stats and hands to review with coaching. I'll still play the soft sites on the side mainly, but goal isn't to be a 50-100NL soft site grinder, I want to be good enough to play midstakes poker. I mean I can't even count combos....Anyway, about half a month left and the goal isn't profit, but it will be volume. I want 160 hours played this month. That's 9 hours a day. FML. IDK, but I'll try for it. If you reach for the stars and fail, you'll at least land on the moon. Is that the saying? haha i have no idea. Anyway, legoooooooooooo

Also sports betting calculation error. I thought I would be up 4.12 units, but because of the dead heat rules in golf (dumbest rules ever) I have to recalculate. Still up, but not as much. Dead heat makes me want to just not even bet golf. I mean I had Chris Stroud to finish top 10 at +150. He finishes T9th with 4 others and I only get 25% roi on that bet instead of the 150% it would have been. Anyway, can't wait for NCAAF and NFL to start back up. I've bought picks from a tout (trustworthy) and I've got another guy I follow religiously. I also just bought the "Playbook" and since I've been capping for about 5 years now I've got some trends that hit at a high clip we can use.

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $2,269

Hours Played: 32 hours

Went to go play some 1/2 live and was a very interesting session. Bought in for just over $200 then this hand came up. $150 effective MP reg opens to 8, BU whale calls, I'm in BB with JJ and I make it 40. MP and whale call. Flop is 8d6d3h. I bet large, MP folds, whale jams what is left and I call obvs. Turn is 7s. River is 9h. He had Td2d, called with a flush draw and hit a runner runner straight. So I lose my stack. Then next significant hand. I wake up with AA UTG. I open 8, MP fish calls with almost no stake, BB calls. I cbet big on 9cTc2h. MP calls and is all in, bb raises to 40. So much money already in the pot and we are basically headsup. Online a lot of times I can fold this, but I don't every give live players enough credit sometimes. So I call. Turn brings in flush draw 3c. he checks and I check back. River is 8h and he bets 50. I sigh call pretty much knowing im beat, but pot odds. He turns over 96o and MP had QJo. That is probably the only hand I played wrong all night, but it was a big one. I should have folded flop and especially river.

Anyway, went down big, but ended up +$242 for the night after a 5 hour session.

[Ballerholic]

Monthly Profit: $2,018

Hours Played: 39.5

This week has been absolutely insane. Saturday night I had that huge winning session, then Sunday I made $300 playing online. Over the course of Monday and Tuesday I lost $250 and then I lost $300 playing live last night. Very swingy week. Anyway, hours are still brutal and need to be picked up. I just started this week with a coach who makes $100k a year playing poker so hopefully I can improve quickly and move up to higher stakes.


Sports


So far I am up $94 this summer. Adding a few plays....


Mayweather -350 to win the fight $350 to win $100

Rutgers +30.5 $44 to win $40

[Ballerholic]

Poker Profit: $2,711

Hours Played: 64

Sports Profit: $194


The month has gone very well. Way better than I expected! There is still a couple of days left so I'll try to improve on what I've done so far. As far as poker goes, I am definitely running way better than I should be. I'd estimate my hourly to be around $15 across live,online and various stakes I play. Goal is to get to 80 hours before September! Tomorrow will be a great day for me to put in a heavy grind.

Also Mayweather bet cashed and we are up a bit in sports. I'll post my plays the day of instead of right when I take them.