My Journey As A Professional Poker Player (22 Viewers)

[Anthony Martino]

tomorrow night at 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern time, I'll be back at TCH Live Austin for their PLO Stream

https://www.youtube.com/@TCHLiVEPoker/streams

 

[FDLmold]

tomorrow night at 6pm Central, 7pm Eastern time, I'll be back at TCH Live Austin for their PLO Stream

https://www.youtube.com/@TCHLiVEPoker/streams

Hopefully the nits stay home and the stream is watchable.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Hopefully the nits stay home and the stream is watchable.

There's 15 players on the list and some names I don't recognize, so hoping the lineup is better than last time

 

[Anthony Martino]

latest vlog is live and I'll be on another livestream tonight, details in the vlog!

 

[Rakrul]

You're late for work!

 

[Rakrul]

Stream is 1080p but either the cameras are 480x256 or out of focus.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Well unfortunately on stream I was down close to a grand by the time it ended, including a guy calling my preflop raise and on a board of Q55 with two spades chasing the King-high flush draw holding K988 when I had AA72 with the ace-high flush draw.

Turn is a T and we both check because he's a bit of a wildcard and when he calls my flop bet AND I have the nut flush draw, I either put him on the king-high flush draw (which I'm not worried about him hitting) or I'm worried that he hit three 5's or has Queens full and so it's a way-ahead, way-behind spot.

Of course he just backs into a miracle 8 on the river and shoves and I manage to find the right fold, but lots of river suckouts throughout the night, still feel I played pretty well and bet when ahead and got away when behind most of the time.

We played after the stream ended and I was able to recoup most of the losses, in for $1,500 and out for $1,231

Here's the full stream, I'll likely do highlight clips with narration for next weeks vlog

 

[GetUrShineBox]

I watched a little of this stream last night and when you were short stacked all i kept screaming in my head was "top up a few hundred." I was envisioning you getting a monster and only doubling from like $370 to $740+ limper/blinds, etc... and it was driving me crazy.
And then you did and i was happy, lol

 

[Anthony Martino]

I watched a little of this stream last night and when you were short stacked all i kept screaming in my head was "top up a few hundred." I was envisioning you getting a monster and only doubling from like $370 to $740+ limper/blinds, etc... and it was driving me crazy.
And then you did and i was happy, lol

Yeah I just needed a bit to get mentally right. I repot on a QTx flop against Grinder-T's obvious Aces with my top two, he calls with AAJT and just binks a King, no waiting, he doesn't get another dime ftom me.

Then the river 2 outer, and pretty much nothing going my way most of the stream, so didn't want to add-on when I could feel the frustration setting in, so waited til I was "feeling it" to top back up

Also was paying attention to the weaker players stacks as I didn't want to just be deepstacked against Kenny, Trouble and Grinder (who although he overplays the shit out of Aces is mostly solid otherwise), while not having some of the looser players not as deep

 

[bergs]

(who although he overplays the shit out of Aces….

Hmmmmm

 

[Anthony Martino]

Hmmmmm

Do you believe I do?

With Grinder-T it's a post-flop issue on bad board textures multiway. previously I remember him raising Aces pre and then on a 98x flop he pots $180 into 4 people which is just dumb, he winds up being in rough shape but gets saved by the runout

And then against me on a QTx flop when I raise at worst he's running into top 2 pair or a monster wrap or top set, but he calls the raise OOP with his Aces when if he hits an Ace it may give me a straight, his only clean out is a King a lot of the time, so I have him calling OOP with the worst of it, and when he gets there he gets no additional value from me

 

[Anthony Martino]

My most recent appearance on TCH Live is the subject of todays vlog

 

[Anthony Martino]

Last night I limp AAJ3 double suited, there's a raise, a call and a reraise behind me

I limp repot to $395 cause fuck these guys. All three fucking call cause in TX they get FOMO when a big pot is brewing

We go to a flop with around 1600 in it and I have less than a PSB behind

Flop KJJ rainbow and guy with AQQx who repotted pre stacks off

In for $1,000 out for $2,822 last night, ty Poker Jeezus!

 

[Anthony Martino]

Part II of my live stream analysis is now live!

 

[Mojo1312]

Last night I limp AAJ3 double suited, there's a raise, a call and a reraise behind me

I limp repot to $395 cause fuck these guys. All three fucking call cause in TX they get FOMO when a big pot is brewing

We go to a flop with around 1600 in it and I have less than a PSB behind

Flop KJJ rainbow and guy with AQQx who repotted pre stacks off

In for $1,000 out for $2,822 last night, ty Poker Jeezus!

View attachment 1101769

Is being a poker pro easier in Texas?

 

[Anthony Martino]

Is being a poker pro easier in Texas?

Nope because they let the deep pocketed people dictate the games. So with restraddles and match the stack plus an inability to isolate opponents and protect your hand, you wind up playing preflop BINGO where equities run much closer and the swings much larger

It's pretty hard to have your hand hold 5 ways preflop.

Had a guy a bit ago who was the fourth all-in pre for a thousand holding QJ42 double s00ted because he saw a big pot brewing and just couldn't miss out

Flops a 4, rivers a Queen and busts three of us lol

 

[Anthony Martino]

Is being a poker pro easier in Texas?

One thing these rooms fail to realize is that at the end of the day, they make money by putting butts in the seats. A guy playing 1/2 NL Hold Em generates the same revenue as someone playing 100/200 NL.

But Doug and crew expend all their fucking energy catering to those high stakes players, trying to build up their live stream to compete with Hustler, for what? Ego? It's stupid.

The room has almost 90 tables, the vast majority of which are empty most of the time. Instead of focusing on advertising local to build a solid core of regulars, they instead put all their efforts into advertising their series to draw in traveling pros.

So one week each month you get an influx of strong professional players from outside the area who take all the money from the locals and then leave the market with that money. And the remainder of the month, meh.

In addition, when their entry-level games allow the big money whales to dictate things, it hurts poker in general AND the rooms bottom line. I know so many people who say they'd love to play PLO but when they show up guys are sitting with 8 grand or 20-30 grand in the 1/2/5 PLO game, the straddles to 80+, preflop raises to 200, etc. It's just too much, too intimidating.

So the guys with 400-600 bucks in their pockets who want to play don't. And the guys who want to sit with 30K in a 1/2/5 game instead of starting a legit 25/50+ game get to run ragged over people.

They need to get rid of the straddles in the entry level games, and ditch the match the stack. Keep that shit for the 5/10 or higher games, and protect the smaller games. It's good for the poker economy AND it's better for the room because less players go broke and there's a TON more lower limit players who are going to generate more revenue for your room due to volume, while being much less work to keep happy than the higher stakes guys.

 

[Mojo1312]

Great post!

 

[Anthony Martino]

If I'm running that business I'm catering to the low stakes guys. 10 tables of 1/2 is way easier to fill and generates 10x the revenue of one 100/200 table, especially when you factor in how high maintenance those whales will be

 

[upNdown]

If I'm running that business I'm catering to the low stakes guys. 10 tables of 1/2 is way easier to fill and generates 10x the revenue of one 100/200 table, especially when you factor in how high maintenance those whales will be

Sure, but Doug has higher aspirations thank just making good money from a local poker room. Not saying you’re wrong.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Sure, but Doug has higher aspirations thank just making good money from a local poker room. Not saying you’re wrong.

Doug is just feeding his ego while hurting his business trying to focus on the high stakes market

They could have that place hopping making a shit-ton of money but instead 75% of the tables sit empty most of the time

You know how depressing it is going into a massive room that is mostly empty?

 

[Anthony Martino]

So yesterday while I'm playing PLO at The Lodge they announce there's a seat open on the livestream where Doug Polk was playing.

They were like "you can buyin for just $1,000 and play on our livestream, we'll make you famous!" Doug had bought in for $100,000 fwiw.

But, I considered working with a floorperson and I was going to buy $1,000..........in $1 chips, so 10 racks.

Then I'd go into the stream room and be like "what's the buyin, 1k min and uncapped, right? You guys mind if I play out of the rack, it feels lucky to me?"

Then I'd shout out "ok, wheel em in boys!" and they'd wheel in a cart with my TEN racks of $1 chips and I'd be like "yeah, I fucking DESTROYED those chumps at the 2/4 hold em game and figured I was ready to move up in stakes"

Feel like I missed a great opportunity for a viral clip here

 

[merkong]

I would have paid to see it.

 

[Anthony Martino]

Played a 6-hour session yesterday and won a grand total of TWO pots the entire night.

this is how they got me at The Lodge yesterday early. maniac asian pots OOP after limpers, we go four-ways to this flop, two short-stacks wind up all-in, biggest one for $250, other guy was a little over $200.

Turn is the case fucking King and maniac asian shoves his last $880 and I see the bad news. Earlier he had ran twice with someone, guessing when he was on a draw, because this time he decided to only run it once and held, whomp whomp.

So he was 4% to ge there, and when he does get there, it looks like a good card for me since I now have top two, nut flush draw and broadway draw and he could've been going ham with a weaker Aces up given how loose he had been playing.

And then in another hand was playing a double board bomb pot and if the river Ten falls on the top board I scoop my opponent, but instead it falls on the bottom board allowing him to scoop me.

Battled back from being down over 2K to book a loss just north of $700 as I did manage to find a full double up later in a double board bomb pot.

The saving grace was the game was great, there were regularly 4-6 fishy players in the mix. For the past month+ the games had been insanely tight across all the different stakes, so it was nice to see a change of pace.

I've been studying Big O and playing some on the Pokerrrr 2 app and it's been going reasonably well except for one day where I just kept getting quartered in big pots with bad turns or rivers. But from what I've seen, people who are playing Big O for a living had absolutely SICK graphs that just climb and climb.

And Greg Vail who wrote books on PLO8 and Big O has stated you can win 80-90% of your sessions if you're in good games and play correctly, the variance is lower, the winrate higher. So I'm hoping to transition to Big O at some point, although the Austin area doesn't get any of that action so I'd need to move to San Antonio or Dallas TX or some other select areas in the country, or play on apps.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Played a 6-hour session yesterday and won a grand total of TWO pots the entire night.

this is how they got me at The Lodge yesterday early. maniac asian pots OOP after limpers, we go four-ways to this flop, two short-stacks wind up all-in, biggest one for $250, other guy was a little over $200.

Turn is the case fucking King and maniac asian shoves his last $880 and I see the bad news. Earlier he had ran twice with someone, guessing when he was on a draw, because this time he decided to only run it once and held, whomp whomp.

So he was 4% to ge there, and when he does get there, it looks like a good card for me since I now have top two, nut flush draw and broadway draw and he could've been going ham with a weaker Aces up given how loose he had been playing.

View attachment 1106518



And then in another hand was playing a double board bomb pot and if the river Ten falls on the top board I scoop my opponent, but instead it falls on the bottom board allowing him to scoop me.

Battled back from being down over 2K to book a loss just north of $700 as I did manage to find a full double up later in a double board bomb pot.

The saving grace was the game was great, there were regularly 4-6 fishy players in the mix. For the past month+ the games had been insanely tight across all the different stakes, so it was nice to see a change of pace.

I've been studying Big O and playing some on the Pokerrrr 2 app and it's been going reasonably well except for one day where I just kept getting quartered in big pots with bad turns or rivers. But from what I've seen, people who are playing Big O for a living had absolutely SICK graphs that just climb and climb.

And Greg Vail who wrote books on PLO8 and Big O has stated you can win 80-90% of your sessions if you're in good games and play correctly, the variance is lower, the winrate higher. So I'm hoping to transition to Big O at some point, although the Austin area doesn't get any of that action so I'd need to move to San Antonio or Dallas TX or some other select areas in the country, or play on apps.

You gotta go where the money is greenest!

 

[Goldfish]

I've been studying Big O and playing some on the Pokerrrr 2 app and it's been going reasonably well except for one day where I just kept getting quartered in big pots with bad turns or rivers. But from what I've seen, people who are playing Big O for a living had absolutely SICK graphs that just climb and climb.

And Greg Vail who wrote books on PLO8 and Big O has stated you can win 80-90% of your sessions if you're in good games and play correctly, the variance is lower, the winrate higher. So I'm hoping to transition to Big O at some point, although the Austin area doesn't get any of that action so I'd need to move to San Antonio or Dallas TX or some other select areas in the country, or play on apps.

Hahahahaha. Brother, before you make the move for the “can’t lose” riches of Big O, be warned from someone who plays Big O regularly and in great games, the swings are incredible and real! Hi stakes Big O in a great game is definitely the deep end of the pool. You need a very strong heart and Kevlar water wings. The off suit deuce on the river has sent plenty of good players running home screaming. In fact, we just had a young PLO pro (a very good one) who wanted to make the move to Big O because of all the action (I welcomed him with open arms) ….. 6 games later he is back at PLO. He got incinerated.

If the games sucks with a bunch of nits, that game can drive you mad for different reasons. That is typically what you get in the casino - nit central. Horrible way to make a living IMO. The casino player pool is way better for PLO. Way more fish in the hi only PLO barrel.

Happy to talk to you about Big O any time. Just PM me if you want to talk.

 

[Anthony Martino]

If the games sucks with a bunch of nits, that game can drive you mad for different reasons. That is typically what you get in the casino - nit central. Horrible way to make a living IMO. The casino player pool is way better for PLO. Way more fish in the hi only PLO barrel.

My previous experience with Big O games in the Tampa area was that it rarely ran, when it did it was short-handed, super nitty and the game just wouldn't last very long because of it.

So yeah, nitty Big O is the absolute worst. However, there are pockets of good Big O games throughout the country, and there are also some good games on the apps I've been finding, so there's some hope.

Here in TX it's either San Antonio or Dallas, since Austin and Houston seem to be PLO only. Then there's Arizona, I believe Blackhawk is supposed to have some good games, etc.

At the moment I'm just dipping my toes in and trying it out to see where it goes. My attraction to it is the decreased variance in good games, where you can win 80% of your sessions compared with PLO which is more in the 60-65% range.

Back in the day my jam was actually fixed-limit Omaha hi/lo. I used to multitable the shit out of that game back in the Party Poker era. I still remember a couple of nitwits calling my preflop raises with 99xx one day and 77xx another day (both days I made the nut full house, both days they made quads, both days I had the low redraw, both days I missed and got scooped, yeah it's a curse I live with, remembering beats from decades ago)

But I never really gave Big O a chance because locally whenever it ran the games were meh. I know Maryland gets lots of 5-card action, but thought that was high-only?

 

[Anthony Martino]

Hahahahaha. Brother, before you make the move for the “can’t lose” riches of Big O, be warned from someone who plays Big O regularly and in great games, the swings are incredible and real!

 

[Goldfish]

The casinos run 5 card hi only, not big o. There is a 20/40 big o game that runs at Maryland live (meh) and a 1/2 big o game at mgm (sucks). The good big o games are all private home games ……..

 

[MrCatPants]

You know how depressing it is going into a massive room that is mostly empty?

Living in another oversaturated Texas poker market, yes I do. Most here will have a few dozen tables and 0-3 going on a given afternoon. The gamerunning type of players tend to follow the best deals they get and so the key games tend to move card rooms here from time to time, leaving the card room left behind dead in the water.