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Quick Bio

After many years of going to school and saying no to drugs I graduated with a degree!  Little did I know it would lead me to being beaten into the ground at the hands of a soulless corporation.  After 3 years I quit to play poker professionally.  I've now been full-time over 7 years, yet revenge is still in the air.  It's crazy to look back and realize I started this blog as I was simply 'pumping myself up' to quit the real world and go full time.  Now I also do some writing for fun as a 'day job' (some freelance and paid, but an insignificant sum compared to 5/10 live) and airbnb my place when I don't feel like playing as much.

Thursday
Nov102011

Updates (11/10/2011)

It feels strange that I haven’t posted in over a week, it has not felt that long.  I’ve had a few adventures since then, but I’ve been staying focused for the most part.  Since the evaluation period things have been going average.  I’m up just over 2k in the last 87 hours.  Nothing spectacular, but I felt I’ve done good based on what the tables gave me during that stretch.

80 hours is about 2 full weeks of live grinding for me.  I normally play about 5 nights and try to put in 8 hours when I do play.  I feel averaging around 2k is sustainable every 80 hours.  If I can average this over a long stretch I can add to my bankroll monthly and cover all expenses, while still having somewhat of a life.

So yeah, I guess I don’t have much to say right now.  I’m entering the grindathon stretch of the week right now.  I’ll be playing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post some sort of update soon.

I also may start reviewing some eBooks and trying to promote my site more.  I’d like to have some more interaction with fellow live grinders on the site.  As for the eBook review, I would make a separate section on my site and talk about that in an upcoming post.  The first book would be by Tri “SlowHabit” Nguyen. “How I made My First Million From Poker”.  I’m still working on my first 50k, but the content sounds promising. 

-bag

Sunday
Oct302011

Average Saturday (10/30/2011)

I stuck to my goals and kept emotionally cool Saturday.  I logged 9 hours and finished up +$400.  I was really close to having a big session, but several situations did not go my way.

I lost a $260 pot AA < K9o, I raise $80 pre, short-stacker gets al in and runs down a straight, fun as always.

Around 4:00 a.m I just missed out on a huge pot.  I isolated $25 pre with Kh Jh on one limper pre.  4 people end up calling (including the limper).

FLOP:  As Th 2h

I'm generally checking this back 5-way and taking a free card.  A very casual player leads out $40, I obviously have to call here.  3 other players end up calling.  The pot is now already $280 going into the turn.

TURN:  5c

Casual player now leads out $70.  This situation sort-of sucks.  Especially if you run like I do.  It's $70 to win $420.  I only have to be good 16.6% of the time to break even.  I think I have at least 12 outs (9 hearts, 3 queens).  I should be good at least 25%, even if I hit one of my outs and no further money is put in on the river.  Also the way the hand has played at least one of the other players is going to call the $70.

So I call, (meh to bad) regular behind also calls $70, 4th guy finally folds.  Pot is now $490.

RIVER:  5s

You mother fucking clown.  You're actually going to put out this shit card here?  5 of spades wonderful.  Can't I peel a black queen one fucking time.  Son of a bitch.

Casual player now leads out $200 all in.  I fold in complete disgust.

Regular starts tanking.  He turns over Ad Jd face-up and starts rambling about how he thinks the villain has A2.  He eventually calls,  casual player MUCKS.  FUcking lol.  WHAT?

How in the fuck do these terrible players win these pots?  No way AJ should be good there.  Mayble like 1 in 10 times.  But here we have a regular who was in the mood to call off.  I just think this is a terrible call in the long run.  Him even being in the pot pre-flop OOP against my isolation range is questionable.  But I wouldn't expect him to understand that.  But I didn't expect him to make such a hero call.

Anyways,

So heres what happens if I run good Saturday.  AA holds up vs K9o pre, +$260

I bink a heart or queen and win at least +$500

And that's +$1160

And I actually have a good week.

But you obviously can't win 1k every night, not even close.  At this point I am happy to win any amount during a session.  I want to be grinding out steady profit, not going for home runs, but I still felt sort of pissed off when I missed that draw for some reason.  It just felt gross how I was completely priced in because of the equity and expectedly whiffed.

Logged 40 hours this week and only finished up +$600 so far. Since Wednesday +1k.

I'm feeling somewhat tired but I may play tonight.  Sunday's are usually a good action night and I hate missing that night.  However, I've played 4 nights in a row so this is really pushing it.  I will stand up every 2 hours and really evaluate how I feel if I decide to play.  Updates soon.

-bag

Saturday
Oct292011

Bad Thurs-Fri Results (10/29/2011)

I felt like I did my job Thursday and Friday.  I would give myself a pass with regards to the evaluation period so far.  I stuck to my plan and targets.  Unfortunately I finished down.  Thursday I broke even in 8 hours.  The action was pretty poor on Thursday for much of the night, which is unusual (Thursday is normally a great night).  The best game broke out around 4:00 a.m, but I was already finished for the night.  I really could not get anything going Thursday.  Up and down, winning a value hand here, taking a suck-out there, cbets keeping me afloat, no big situations.

I also broke even the first 5.5 hours of Friday but stayed in control emotionally.  During the last 2.5 hours I lost a full buy-in.  I finally hit a big situation where I flopped a top set of kings on a K T 8 (two diamond board).  I bet 65 into 100 flop, one caller.  Turn (9s).  I put him all in for 280ish on the turn.  He called rather quickly.  I thought it was a great turn card for me, non diamond and if he was on a straight draw it would more likely be J9 or 79 which didn’t get there.  I had only been playing with the guy for 15 minutes, but I was 95% sure he was a casual player.  Not like it mattered, I'm getting that in on the turn heads up against anyone.  Anyways, river was a black 6, I thought I basically had the nuts.

The dude turns over Tc7c, which somehow gets there with a straight on the river.  I still got him to commit the turn with what like 17% equity?  Some clueless fuck blackjack degenerate.  Soon after I heard him whining about how he lost 5k playing blackjack that night.  So I'm happy he could make his way to the poker tables and fuck up my night!  And there goes my night, fun shit.  So maybe in another week I can flop a top set and maybe hold.  Amazing how I lose this shit time and time again.  Man my live red-line would be some scary shit to look at.  The past 2 months have been characterized by losing monster pots getting it in with 80%+ equity, usually a set against some sort of idiot draw.  83% of the time I finish up Friday.  Still a horrendous way to finish the session.

So tomorrow it’s back to the tables for 8 more hours or so.  I should finish the month around 160 hours, which is pretty decent volume considering I went on vacation once.  Still down for the month, but trying hard to stay focused every session. 

I will be posting again shortly.  I normally don't post results for one and two nights or whatever because it can be somewhat boring, but I'm going to be playing a ton.  So it's either short-term results or nothing right now.

-bag

Thursday
Oct272011

Good Wednesday (10/27/2011)

I had a great night.  This doesn’t happen much anymore so I had to put up a post.  Up +$1200 in 8 hours.  Most of it came during the first 4 hours where I hit two sets and got paid.  I average hitting like one set per week so this was pretty bizarre.

I ran good, but it was much needed.  Just knowing this sort of thing can happen helps the mind-set.  I was also happy with my approach and play.  I worked very hard on my breathing and mind-set during the entire session.  I didn’t feel tilted at all during the 8 hours.  I made sure I stood up and walked away from the table every 2 hours which seemed to help.

Good start to the evaluation period.  I’ll be working hard this weekend.  I really don't care if I finish up or down on the month.  As long as I stick to my plan and have an excellent mind-set each session.

-bag



Wednesday
Oct262011

Updates and Evaluation Period (10/26/2011)

It seems I’m now officially a professional poker player that can’t win money playing poker.  October will most likely end in another losing month.  I’m down 3 buy-ins during my first 120 hours of play.

I have sessions where I just lose a buy-in and barely get involved.  It’s like I bet-fold $500 and don’t win a pot.  I also go through stretches of un-real card and situation dead during the worst possible times.  I feel like I’m playing good, it just never correlates with the results.  I was proud of the way I played during my 7 hour session Monday, but finished down -$400 for example.

Before I went on vacation I had 9 out of 10 winning sessions.  Since I came back I’ve only won 4 out of the last 13, so I’m getting hammered right now.

I’m not really changing much going forward.  This should be a 90% straight forward value oriented game.  It seems very easy for other pros with comparable skill levels, but life is very difficult for me right now.

I’ve never had two losing months in a row before so this is really testing me mentally. 

Evaluation Period:

I’ve decided as of today (10/26/2011) I’m under a “strict” evaluation period.  The person being evaluated is me baglife, the professional.  I should go into each session as almost a do or die situation.  Every time I make a mistake I’m slightly closer to busting my roll and dropping to 1/2.  Every time I make a correct decision I’m adding to my bankroll (regardless of the short-term result).

Evaluation periods are good.  For example, if you’re being evaluated at your corporate job you are going to bunker down and give 100% effort for the time being.  So right now I have no room for error or slacking, I’m under evaluation.

I want this to be a fresh start.  I can only focus on the present, the past two months of misery are irrelevant.  I can’t control what happened in the past, but I can control the present each and every hand.  I want to look at every session very seriously.  I want to say I was close to 100% happy with the way I played that session.

Going into every session I’m going to think about 4 things before I sit down:

1)  Value, value, value.  This is 90% of the game, don’t forget it.  If there aren’t fish to take to value town at the table, change tables, or casinos.  I have the roll to nut peddle $15 an hour until I string together another solid month or two (not that I’m aiming for this, but I need to do everything in my power to ensure a winning month).  Start sessions even tighter than usual when down-swinging (aka now), it’s worth it to not be a psychological wreck early, this reduces fluctuations.

2)  Keep pre-flop range and stack off ranges tighter than opponents.

3)  Always be thinking about spots to expand aggressively from later positions.  Take those spots when winning (you don’t always have to take them, it’s situational).

4)  Focus on practices to keep calm and in control.  Work on your breathing techniques.  Try to at least stand up from the table every 2 hours.   

The 4 things listed above should be enough to establish a decent win-rate at 2/5.  I feel if I follow these 4 things at a bare minimum each session I SHOULD be able to beat the game and then some.  If I follow them I pass the evaluation period, if not I fail.  Or maybe I pass, but it still doesn’t seem feasible.  So at the beginning and end of each session I’m going to ask if I really felt I passed or failed.

Hopefully I can look at the numbers at the end of the evaluation period.  I’m going to ask a few questions and honestly answer them at the start of 2012.  I will ask:

Do I really have what it takes to play 2/5 for a living during the next year?

Is it feasible?

Should we be moving in a different direction from poker?

If so why?

If not explain?

And during the next months ahead are we transitioning deeper into the game, or farther away from it?

-bag