My 1/2 Live BR Challenge for 2017 (1 Viewer)

[GoStumpy]

This will be the first year that I am playing live 1/2 at the Casino, I just started in October playing pretty regularly, once per week average.

My goal is to amass $5000 in live 1/2 winnings, I will be keeping all my winnings in chip form, and updating this thread with my progress.

I have purchased the 1/2 Crash Course from RedChipPoker.com and I don't think I'm halfway through it and have already taken bigger leaps in my game in a couple weeks than I have in my entire poker career. Once I finish the course and put it to practice, I am confident I will become a PRO member there for access to all the video and training content.

I have a current BR of $1325.

My current strategy with such a small BR is to buy in for $150 (75bbs) and play fairly short-stack strategy until I amass some chips, then switch gears and play full stack poker.

I have chosen $5000 because it is halfway between 20BI @ 100bb and 20BI @ 150bb (which is max buyin at my Casino).



I'll hopefully grow this stack into something quite impressive

(admin please move if this isn't the right forum, couldn't quite decide where it belongs)

 

[DrStrange]

Good luck!

Please don't bury strategy posts about hands you play in the middle of this thread. Each hand is best reviewed in its own thread.

DrStrange

 

[Rhodeman77]

Good luck! I look forward to checking in for updates.

I have played poker with Doug Hull, one of the coaches on RCP, while in Vegas two years ago during the Main Event final table. He definitely know his stuff. He is pretty arrogant sounding at the table with his knowledge, but that could be part of his metta game. Whatever it is he worked it pretty good to get under my friend's skin, and take him for 2 buy-ins before my friend stormed away. Once the fish was gone Doug didn't stay much longer.

He is also a regular on Live at the Bike, but his play on there hasn't impressed me all that much. But that could be for a number of reasons more to do with it being on tv and it only being a few hour show instead a normal long session.

 

[GoStumpy]

Everyone is different, so I am not just taking strategy and applying it and throwing my own game out the window, I am trying to use it to improve my game systematically and look at the right things during play.

Example, just the simple fact of trying to assign ranges to players in a hand makes me pay so much more attention to what each bet call or raise means...

I'll definitely keep this thread pretty clean, and will be posting more hands for review if I can find a way to get all pertinent info recorded...

 

[Adam Crowley]

Best of luck. I think setting a goal for the year is excellent and will help to keep you focused. The one price of advice I would give is that during downswings don't loose sight of your goal because your bankroll isn't growing.

 

[moojersey]

Good luck stumpy. I'm trying for $10,000 buy into the main event.

 

[GoStumpy]

Tonight is poker night!

Things I will be focusing on today are 1) not paying people off when I am beat, and 2) getting value from my big hands.

Nothing huge but something very important to a winrate is when they show large amounts of aggression late in a hand, IE on turn and river with LARGE bets, I'm not going to make it my job to 'keep them honest'. Just fold and move on unless I have a big enough hand that I am beating a good portion of what he is representing.

2, big hands don't come that often so I want to make sure I'm not blowing people off mediocre hands and if I do it's on the river.. bet people out with a FH last time foolishly so I'm not making that mistake again!

 

[Mr. Cheese]

Good luck with your new goal for 2017! I have been trying to read poker books but something like this website you found might be a good addition for me as well. Are you pretty happy with how things are laid out and explained on RedChipPoker?

My goal is 500+ a month next year.

 

[GoStumpy]

Absolutely, but I'm not a pro member or anything, i purchased the crash course which is a fuckin steal

 

[GoStumpy]

Great night besides a horrible wait and a splitting headache . Took 2.5 hours to get a seat

Up $211 in just over an hour and a half... one big hand with AK in position flopped a K and smaller stack shoves with a flush draw..

 

[MrBo]

Good luck, sir! RCP is full of good info and I've gained a lot from the works of some of their main contributors - Ed Miller, James Sweeney, and Doug Hull. I just got Doug's Poker Workbook for Math Geeks for Christmas and am loving it so far (disclaimer: I am a math teacher and love math in general).

 

[upNdown]

I wonder how this challenge will affect your tipping habits.

 

[DrStrange]

I am wondering if this challenge will encourage our Hero to seek out no-rake home games rather than pay the casino rake. The rake cuts $10+ / hour off everyone's win rate. Then there is the cost of tipping, say $3/hr lost there. And many places take a promotional rake that doesn't all ( or even mostly) go back to the poker players, it goes to promotional benefits for slot and table game players.

It is really worth the effort to get into local home games - or start your own. I do appreciate how casino poker rooms innervate home games - I see that in my game where a slice of my regulars blow their gambling money in the underground games now and don't play in the home games.

DrStrange

 

[GoStumpy]

I host a .25/.50 game every other Saturday, and have been doing very well there... Quite often triple my buyin

According to my tracking app, I am making $20/h at the home-games, and $15.32/h at the Casino.

One tidbit I used yesterday and am starting to remember to do, is to use the free information given pre-flop by players acting behind you. So often you see someone check their cards, sigh, shift in their seat, and just completely resign from the hand before the action even gets started... this basically means I won't have either 1, 2, or 3 people acting behind me, essentially giving me the button. I have never seen someone physically resign from the hand and then all of a sudden come in and call preflop...

 

[GoStumpy]

I wonder how this challenge will affect your tipping habits.

I can't see it affecting anything

Good luck, sir! RCP is full of good info and I've gained a lot from the works of some of their main contributors - Ed Miller, James Sweeney, and Doug Hull. I just got Doug's Poker Workbook for Math Geeks for Christmas and am loving it so far (disclaimer: I am a math teacher and love math in general).

I am currently in the middle of re-reading The Poker Mindset right now, when I'm done that I'll likely pick up "The Course" by Ed Miller...
https://www.amazon.ca/Course-Serious-Strategy-Smart-Players/dp/1511768320

 

[detroitdad]

I host a .25/.50 game every other Saturday, and have been doing very well there... Quite often triple my buyin

According to my tracking app, I am making $20/h at the home-games, and $15.32/h at the Casino.

One tidbit I used yesterday and am starting to remember to do, is to use the free information given pre-flop by players acting behind you. So often you see someone check their cards, sigh, shift in their seat, and just completely resign from the hand before the action even gets started... this basically means I won't have either 1, 2, or 3 people acting behind me, essentially giving me the button. I have never seen someone physically resign from the hand and then all of a sudden come in and call preflop...

You never played with John lol Which tracking App are you using?

 

[GoStumpy]

I am using Live Poker Manager. Very basic

 

[GoStumpy]

Went to my first ever home game with a dealer and catering.. pretty damn sweet... too bad the host was running like god, and amassed just shy of $4000 in 4 hours at 1/2!

I ended up $130 for the night

 

[Rhodeman77]

$4k in a $1/2 game!!! That is insane

He can definitely afford to pay the dealer and for the food with a night like that. Did he turn the drop off after a while as a courtesy?

 

[joker80]

$4000 in 4 hours at 1/2!]

What was the max buy in? What was his set up like?

 

[GoStumpy]

These chips:

Copag Cards

Hot as hell dealer.

Insane baller house (2m+)

Max buyin $300

Not sure of the drop but it appeared to be $1 or $2 max

 

[upNdown]

oh boy

 

[Mr. Cheese]

These chips:

Copag Cards

Hot as hell dealer.

Insane baller house (2m+)

Max buyin $300

Not sure of the drop but it appeared to be $1 or $2 max

I honestly don't understand people that play these huge games and have the most unsecure chips imaginable. If you have a house like that and can afford to play a big game there's no excuse not to have something secure unless you don't care about having to throw in money to keep the bank right when cashing people out.

There's a huge .50/1 game that typically has 3-4k on the table by the end around here and they use crappy chips like that too. Not to mention its a public game that is posted on meetup.com to a group of 1k people so its not like its a group of friends playing where you wouldn't/shouldn't have to worry about chip security.

 

[GoStumpy]

This one is a pretty solid little group of people, people would notice if more than a couple greens came into play

 

[GoStumpy]

But I did recruit at least 1 player to come to my .25/.50 game this weekend (The hot dealer!), and the rest of them said they would be in for a 1/2 game on the weekend in the future, so I gotta make sure my Cleveland set is ready for a 1/2 game!

 

[MacGrad]

But I did recruit at least 1 player to come to my .25/.50 game this weekend (The hot dealer!), and the rest of them said they would be in for a 1/2 game on the weekend in the future, so I gotta make sure my Cleveland set is ready for a 1/2 game!

Clearly, this thread needs pics of the hot dealer.

 

[GoStumpy]

Hah I was tempted. I'll try to grab a "table pic" during the game lol.

Likely will have two tables running, one .25/.50 and one 1/2. I'll likely deal the 1/2 game and take a night off from playing.

 

[upNdown]

Hah I was tempted. I'll try to grab a "table pic" during the game lol.

Likely will have two tables running, one .25/.50 and one 1/2. I'll likely deal the 1/2 game and take a night off from playing.

Where's the fun in that?

 

[GoStumpy]

Tips? lol. I do enjoy dealing though, and if I host 1/2 games regularly I'll source out a dedicated dealer... that really is tits not having to self-deal a game

Looking forward to their reaction to my chips though

 

[MacGrad]

Tips? lol. I do enjoy dealing though, and if I host 1/2 games regularly I'll source out a dedicated dealer... that really is tits not having to self-deal a game

See? Not even 30 posts in, and you're already thinking of having "hot dealer" become a regular fixture at your game.

(I'm reserving a spot the next time I'm in BC... preferably seat 1/10 or seat 5/6.)