Road to crushing mid-high stakes live games (1 Viewer)

[Basmx]

I have been thinking about doing a small blog/forum thread about my journey to the mid-high stakes live casino games for a while now. Not sure if this is the right place to do it but you guys are all chip fanatics and I definitely will post allot of chip pr0n in this thread haha. I wanna do updates at least 1 to 2 times a week. Off course I will but in the pr0n from all the sessions. Plan some trips for next year (Vegas, Rozvadov and maybe an EPT aswell). Do some hand reviews and give more of an inside in playing higher stakes. Feel free to post some of your own hands in this thread if you want my opinion on them. And off course I would like some feedback from you guys about my hands and everything else. First I will start off by doing a little introduction about myself:

My name is Bas and I have been playing poker for about 9 years. My buddy thought me how to play poker at the age of 15 (im 24 now). Played with my friends for about a year and started playing online poker on my dads account after that. Grinding my way through the microstakes and moving to the nl100 and taking shots at the nl200 games. Around that time I turned 18 and was allowed to play in the casino. Started playing 2/2 and was doing well in those games. After a while I started to get bored of playing online and played most my hours in the casino. Started to take some shots at the 2/4 games and that went really well. After a while the nlh cash games started to dry up in the casino and for some reason most of the players started to play PLO. So I transitioned to that game aswell.

After turning 20 I got a really good job offer to start as a manager of a new gym. Took that job and played poker only once a week. Not really working on my game but still winning pretty decent at the stakes I was playing. After 2 years I got the opportunity to take over the entire business and I did. Worked my ass of in the first few months to get everything the way I wanted it to. After that hired some more people to take some work out of my hands. But that meant I had more free time. So I decided about 1,5 year ago I really wanted to put some effort into poker because I love the game so much and to this day wanna play it every day haha. I really started working hard on my game in both PLO and NLH. 1.5 years further down the road im playing mostly 5/5 and 10/10 both PLO and NLH as my main games. Taking shots at 10-20 and 25/25 (mostly plo because nlh doesn't really run higher then 10/10).

Starting the thread off with a hand from last nights session.
Playing a 5/5nlh game. We get 2 callers in MP and I look down at on the button. Not really a hand I would usually do anything with but both limpers are 2 of the biggest fish in the casino haha. So I raise it up to 25. Both limpers call and we see a flop of . First player checks but the second player on my right leads out for 60. I think he has allot of draws in this spot so I make the call and see what happens on the turn. Other player folds. The turn is a so basically a brick. He keeps barreling tho for 130 or 140. I still put him on all FD and so I make the call again. The river is a . Im hoping his is gonna check and we get to showdown but he is really ago and doesn't like to give up pots. Now he bets 370 in a pot of 465. I tank for a little while and really think through the hand. I don't really think he takes this line with to many value hands other then a flopped straight. I've seen him raise any pair from any position before so I don't think he has to many sets eather. So I make the call after a good minut. He shows . So we win with a pair of 5s. And the whole table is shocked by my call haha.

Let me know what you guys think about this Thread and feel free to ask me anything or post some hands. I tried keeping it as short as possible haha

 

[Nex]

Fish has understood he has to play aggressively with marginal hands in order to have even the hint of a chance.
Fish has not understood he better do this on a board that can have weaker made hands than his, and instead opted to bet with the weakest made hand.

 

[Basmx]

Update:

Played a lot of hours this weekend and a decent result. Could have been better but I think I played pretty solid overal so happy with the weekend.

Friday played some 5/5 nlh. Lost 700 euros in the first 2 hands of the night with AQ and AKs. Got check raised on the river both times and just had to fold. Been trying some thin value betting but I think it is better to leave that for the higher stakes games. Not really any interesting hands that night. Won a few nice pots at the end of the got AA vs KK to end the session +550.

Saturday they ran a really nice 10/10 nlh game. Usually I would play the 10/10 PLO game but I talked to some of the weaker players and most of them wanted to play nlh so I decided to play the game aswell. That was a good decision for sure!! The PLO game was full of regs, not a single fish on the table. My game was absolutely crazy tho! Lost a big pot in the first 30min of the session which cost me 2k. I will discuss the hand later on. Really grinded my way back to even. Ended up with a small win of +200. Really happy with my play in this session. Fighting for every pot and making some big bluffs and value bets that worked almost every time.

Sunday I played some 5/5 PLO. There where only 5 of us that showed up so we decided to have some fun and play 5card PLO. Played good poker in the beginning of the session but then a really drunk dude joined the table. The only reason everybody wanted him at the table was because he had no clue how to play poker. But he was so annoying and soooooooo damn slow! Every hand took 10-15min to play because he was so drunk. I lost a massive pot vs him. I had the 2nd nuts and bet close to pot. He was thinking for about 3 min and called it of. I showed and he didn't show his for like 2 min. Then decided to flip over his cards and he was holding the nuts..... He didn't even realise he had the nuts untill someone told him. I was so insanely tilted that it really affected my play. 5 hands later another drunk guy sits at the table. He played 2 hands and the 3rd hand I open with AA78, he 3bet pots it. Folds back to me and I 4bet pot, he 5bets all-in and we get it in pre. He rivered a straight on me with J742 all ..... But now the most annoying happens. He stands up and leaves the table right away....
I just picked up my chips and went home. Really frustrated with the session but happy I left right after that. I know im not gonna play my best poker after that so going home was the best decision I made all night. Luckily in was winning pretty good at the start of the session. Only down 380 bucks.

Lets do a hand review. This is the hand from the 10/10 nlh session on saturday that I was talking about earlier.

I think the straddle was on for 20. UTG raised to 60, I was in middle position with . Usually I would 3 bet this hand but UTG is a really tight player and I want to strengten my flatting range with some of these hands to balance out. So I decided to flatt, button comes allong and the straddler comes along. Pot is 260 at this point. Flop is . UTG checks and I decide to check back with 4 players in the pot. Everybody checks and the turn brings a . Obv a good card for me. The straddler decides to lead for for 180. UTG fold, I call and the button calls. The river is a . A pretty decent card for my hand. It look even better when the straddler decides to check. Im really confident I have the best hand at this point. I decide to bet 360 in a pot of 800. Don't want to bet to big because I want crying calls from weaker flushes or maybe even an overpair like 88-99-1010. But now the player on the Button decides to jam for 2k effective. The straddler folds. Now im really confused with the situation. He is one of the better regs and is pretty agro at times. He can definitely have some bluffs in his range and he would also value jam his K high flushes. What could his value hands be that beat me?? Im pretty sure he doesn't play A3 this way. He would have folded the turn with that. And most likely 3bet that hand pre. Same goes for A2. The only hands that do this for value and would have played this way are pretty much 44. Obs he could have 22 or 33 for quads but I can't really put someone on that hand. So after a 2 or 3 min thank I make the call. He shows 22 for flopped quads....
I guess he can have quads hahah. NH sir. What do you guys think about this hand? Would you have folded or would you make the call aswell?

And next: Some chip pr0n from saturday and sunday

 

[Basmx]

 

[luv2breformed]

Bas, I probably would have called off as well, but that is a pretty scary board. I definitely saw your value bet as a bit thin. I'm enjoying following your posts here, I will try to keep reading. Also, I sent your chips out yesterday, hope you get them soon!

 

[Lemonzest]

Subbed. I look forward to following your progress! Rungood!

 

[Mike mac]

2222 uuugh - rufff hand man

 

[Basmx]

Little update again for you guys. Had a pretty rough week both online and live.

Thursday 15th:
Arrived later then usual to the game because of work. The last few days there have been a big tourney going on in the holland casino. Its a €125 tourney with 5 starting days a day 2 and day 3. So the whole pokerroom was full of players. Unfortunately there was only 1 cash game running because of it. A 2/4 nlh game. I got on the waiting list but I was 4th on the list. Which means im probably not getting on that table at all or reallly late. So I asked if he could put me on the waiting list for the tourney. There was still late registration for 1 hour so I was hoping I could enter the tourney after a solid meal I ordered at the restaurant (which is really good by the way). Timing was perfect! I just finished my meal and they told me they had a spot in the tourney. My first bullet only took me about 15min to spew off vs AA hahaha. So I re-enter for another 125. I sit down at a new table and the first hand I get QQ. I raise, someone flat calls. A really agressive player with a big stack just jams for like 90bb. I obv call and the other guys says f!ck it, lets gamble. And I triple up the first hand at the new table haha. Unfortunately I bust about 2.5 hours later. I will talk about that hand a little later. Wasn't really sure if I wanted to play cash anymore but just a second before that someone left the table and there was a open seat. So I joined the cash game. 3rd hand I flop top set after 3 betting 77 from the sb. We get it on the flop (1000 effective) and he flopped a straight with 85 off. Thats exactly why I 3 bet 77 from the sb vs that player haha. GG him. Rebuy for 1500 and really going after the weaker players. Made a few mistakes and really ran into to top of peoples ranges. Quit the game after a few hours down 2500 in total incl tourneys. Not a good day at the office. Not happy about my play that day. But tomorrow is another day.

Friday and Saturday:
Both played online and that went pretty well. Won both days. Mostly on PLO200 and a bit on PLO500. Nothing big but at least I won back what I lost on Thursday. And most important I feel I played really good poker both days.

Sunday:
Plan was to play online in the morning and join the 5/5plo game in the casino later in the evening. And oh my did the morning session hurt me!!! Played 6 tables op PLO500 because the game was surprisingly good that morning. But variance hit me in the face real good! Lost all the big all-ins. Got it in really good everytime but I could not hold. Lost about 5k in that morning session. Took a break to get my mind of poker for a bit. Went to my buddy's place to play some videogames and have a beer. Got myself ready to grind the 5/5 session in the casino. And just got destroyed by variance again haha. Not really any big hands but lost allot of the small to medium pots. Ended the night almost losing 1k. So lost almost 6k for the day. Even tho the result is pretty bad, I feel good about my game and the way I played. Decided to take 3 days off from playing and focus on studying my game and watching some training vids.


Hand of the week:
First of all. I think I played this hand pretty terrible but let me know what you guys think. I never play with 30-40bb stacks so honestly I have no clue haha.

I have on the button and everybody folds to me. I open for a little bit more than a minraise. Sorry don't know the blind levels anymore but I do know that I had 33bb to start the hand with. The sb calls and the bb calls. Flop is . Players both check it to me and I decide to bet around 1/2 pot. Sb tanks for a little bit and seems like he wants to fold but he can't haha. So he calls. Now the BB asks me how much I play. And after about 30sec he decides to just jam having me and sb covered. Never played with this guy before so I know nothing about the player. What do you guys do here?? I feel like he does this allot with a pair and a flushdraw, maybe a combodraw or a made hand without a diamond to protect his hand. I think he has more drawing hands than made hands so I decide to call. He shows . So I am pretty much dead lol. What do you guys think about this hand and how would you play it??


Tonight gonna be a really juicy 10/10 plo game in the casino. Really looking forward to it. I keep you guys updated

 

[DrStrange]

Telling the results taints the feedback. Leave the end of the story to the end of the thread to get the best discussion.

Playing J8s with 33bb is a mistake. Don't raise, don't limp, only fold preflop. This is the original sin.

Hero raises anyway - a micro bet that puts little to no pressure on the villain(s). This is the next mistake - make the bet big enough to get folds. Not that it helps this hand - pocket eights might well call an opening all-in jam.

Since we don't know the bet sizing, let's say the pot is 8bb to see a flop. Hero has ~30bb left, making the SPR a hair under 4. This is a situation where Hero has limited fold equity, but the board is conducive to bluffing. A once and done bluff seems like a plausible line. But I want to delay the play till the turn and see if someone takes an action first. I suggest checking the flop, plan to fold the turn if someone bets and bet 5bb if checked to. ONCE AND DONE. Not losing any more than 5bb. Remember the first rule of holes, stop digging as the first step to getting out.

Hero bets and gets check raised for all his chips. top pair/medium kicker plus no draw has minimal prospects on this monochrome board. Even if the villain is bluffing a dry diamond draw he has half the equity. And that is the bottom of his range. Hero should gracefully step aside. I would never , ever call that bet.

Lastly, Hero needs to call it a day. Yes, the play was horrible. The hand strongly implies Hero is tilted. It likely was a good thing hero didn't top off his stack.

I also wonder if hero is having trouble switching from tournament play to cash play. The preflop micro raise seems a lot more like a tournament play than a cash game play. Worth thinking about.

Go home, go to the hotel, go find a paid escort the only thing Hero shouldn't do is sit down at a card table till tomorrow -=- DrStrange

 

[Basmx]

Thanks for the response! But the J8 hand was still in the tournament not in the cashgame. And I agree with everything you say about the hand. I played it really bad. But tilt wasn't the reason haha. I think opening J8 suited on the button for a minraise is a good play tho. Even the solvers say it is a good open (even with 33bb). Everything after that is just terrible on my end.

Just booked a hotel in Amsterdam for saturday and sunday. The biggest tourney serie of the year is going on right know. Master classics of poker in Amsterdam. Not going there for the tourneys. Playing PLO cash. Really worked hard on my PLO game in the last 2 months and ready to take another shot at 10/20. The last one went really well so it is the perfect time to try it again. All the sickos will be playing 20/40 or the 3000 plo high roller so the game should be pretty good. Otherwise im just going to play 10/10. I will keep you guys updated with some stacks and hands. Good luck everybody at the tables this weekend!!