Live Grind: How to Not Fall Asleep at the Table

[Cafeman]

I went to check out the local casino, and it only runs 5/5 with min €200, max €1k BI. They looked terrible, like obviously waiting to fold behind players left to act etc. but like you say, so few hands... the food was nice though, and my wife won some on the black jack, so it wasn't a wasted journey.

When I can start dropping €500 here and there without worrying too much, I might start playing live, until then though, I'll stick with online I think.

 

[xdeucesx]

I went to check out the local casino, and it only runs 5/5 with min €200, max €1k BI. They looked terrible, like obviously waiting to fold behind players left to act etc. but like you say, so few hands... the food was nice though, and my wife won some on the black jack, so it wasn't a wasted journey.

When I can start dropping €500 here and there without worrying too much, I might start playing live, until then though, I'll stick with online I think.

you can't begin to understand how envious I am of that last statement. lolus

 

[Matt Vaughan]

It's more like 25-30 hands/hr in my experience. 40 would be the fastest dealer at my casino, with no one at the table tanking in any decision, and most hands ending preflop or on the flop lol.

And yah deuces in retrospect it makes sense that he wouldn't want to shove the nuts there since maybe I can fold with 100 behind, but I'm prob shoving every river. Maybe I'm hero-folding too much, but most of the time people go crazy on the turn it's cause they've got it at least in my experience. Even when it makes no sense.

Running into tops of ranges all over the place is def making me more fold-prone though. For sure. Thanks for your input, all.

 

[xdeucesx]

It's more like 25-30 hands/hr in my experience. 40 would be the fastest dealer at my casino, with no one at the table tanking in any decision, and most hands ending preflop or on the flop lol.

And yah deuces in retrospect it makes sense that he wouldn't want to shove the nuts there since maybe I can fold with 100 behind, but I'm prob shoving every river. Maybe I'm hero-folding too much, but most of the time people go crazy on the turn it's cause they've got it at least in my experience. Even when it makes no sense.

Running into tops of ranges all over the place is def making me more fold-prone though. For sure. Thanks for your input, all.

I honestly think your playing just fine. Like from what you've been describing to me, it feels like you've just been running bad is all. Idk how many hours exactly you've put in live, but it's easily plausible that you've just been in a bad stretch to start off.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Just a hair over 250 hours lifetime now. I'm def running worse now than I was at the beginning, as well as playing a helluva a lot better. So tbf some of the downswing is def play bad toward the beginning, but more of the run bad is hitting me in the gut now.

Just riding it out. Playing some tonight - hoping to put in a longer session. More than 6 hours ideally.

 

[JOEBOB69]

Gl tonight
O an run better.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

+40 tonight. Frankly not too much to report. Ran good in some spots, ran bad in some spots. Unfortunately ran a bit worse against bigger stacks.

I played a little too loose preflop in spots, but also caught myself doing so at times, and reigned myself in, so it was a mixed bag of a bit of preflop spew but progress toward eliminating said spew.

Got just under 24 hours of play this month, and hoping to get in at least 2 more sessions this week alone.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

So this has been the week of grinding for me. I've gone to the casino a ton, and while I've been losing more than I've been winning, I feel like I've been learning a lot. And right now that's what it's about.

Two nights ago I played a pretty bad session. I got it in bad a couple times and also folded the best hand in what would have been an enormous pot. Essentially 3 mis-steps made the difference between a -100 night and what could have been a +800 night. I'm not posting the hands because frankly, a couple of them were so bad that there's no question in my mind where they went wrong. Even though I know I played pretty badly in a couple spots, I definitely learned some things from it.

Last night I played a 5 hour session that was simultaneously infuriating and rewarding. I dropped 300 in the first hour, nearly all to river suck outs. The worst was when I iso'd with KJ, flopped top two, bet, got one caller, and slightly overbet shoved the blank turn (it was 95 into roughly 75 or so). I was more or less snap called by this guy. He had a flush draw and ended up binking it. My table was absolutely phenomenal though (that super loose passive guy, someone who it was just his second time playing, etc), so I sucked it up, went to the ATM and came back.

I spent the following 4 hours grinding hard. I won a few big pots, but I worked my ass off and managed to get myself back to even. I ended the night +90. It felt good, but I'm pretty aggravated at the sheer # of coolers and bad beats that have been hitting me.

I know that it's only a matter of time until I start pulling ahead, but with limited bankroll, and summer fast-approaching, it's hard not to get discouraged with how my live experiences have been going. I like saying that I'm the first online player to transition to live who didn't immediately go on a heater. This is of course not true, and it's hard to compare live variance to online variance simply because of the time scales involved, but I think this is the worst I've run (monetarily and mentally) since going on a 30 BI downswing online after moving up.

I'm keeping the faith and planning to keep grinding hard til the end of the semester though. When I my confidence takes a hit, I look around the poker room and remind myself just how bad SO many of these people are playing.

And I know I can do this.

 

[Jillychemung]

When I my confidence takes a hit, I look around the poker room and remind myself just how bad SO many of these people are playing.

Keep at it. The long-run live can indeed be long.

 

[Aleksei]

I'm keeping the faith and planning to keep grinding hard til the end of the semester though. When I my confidence takes a hit, I look around the poker room and remind myself just how bad SO many of these people are playing.

And I know I can do this.

That's the spirit.

 

[Cafeman]

Bloody hell, I'd back you in an instant mate.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Bloody hell, I'd back you in an instant mate.

Thanks for that

 

[taaron]

Thanks for that

not quite sure he means what you think he means. . . .

 

[Aleksei]

Bloody hell, I'd back you in an instant mate.

Thanks for that

not quite sure he means what you think he means. . . .

I'm lost.

 

[JOEBOB69]

lol
yes it's a youtube vid

Spoiler

 

[Matt Vaughan]

3 minutes and 50 seconds of pure pain, followed by 2 seconds of glorious relief during the fadeout where I could no longer hear the audio.

Played a reg-infested table for 6 hours tonight. Was grinding breakeven poker for 3 hours, then got a fishy player to call off an enormous turn bet when I binked a set against his bottom set (flop had checked around). Peaked at +250, but then value-towned myself a bit against a reg (I'm 95% sure he raised me off a chop), and then every single cbet I made following that, whether for value or as a bluff, went wrong. Ended the night +50, a bit earlier than I'd planned because I was getting tired.

 

[duggs]

have you read reading poker tells?

 

[Matt Vaughan]

No - is it worth it? Most of my "reading" ability has been going with gut or just getting the feeling that someone is uncomfortable. Only rarely have I found a specific player's specific action point to something I didn't already know from their betting.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Also does it have pictures? It's $10 cheaper on kindle so I may just get it on that.

 

[OMGITSOVER9K]

Also does it have pictures?

lol Scourge.

 

[duggs]

it will have pictures on the kindle version surely?

hugely worth it, best book on the market about the content. at least it helped me

 

[JOEBOB69]

Awesome book i mentioned it in my thread. I'm rereading right now matter in fact. That with Read'em And Reap gives a lot of good thought. But hands down i like Zachary's book best.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

^.^ Don't make fun!! It was a valid question!!

And I don't think my Kindle has pictures... It's the cheapest kind, and not even a lit screen, so it's all black and white anyway.

 

[duggs]

I used the Kindle App on the ipad and it had black and white pictures. pictures arent really needed thye are just to clarify tho.

get it imo

 

[duggs]

Awesome book i mentioned it in my thread. I'm rereading right now matter in fact. That with Read'em And Reap gives a lot of good thought. But hands down i like Zachary's book best.

you have a thread?