In for 300, out for 2375…played about 8 hours.

Just a reminder that workers at Encore Boston Harbor are on strike. The Poker room is still open, because the dealers & floor managers are not union members… However, the cocktail waitresses are, as well as many other workers in the casino. There is an active picket line along Broadway where the casino entry is. Highly recommend to other Poker players to skip Encore while the picket line is active, and drive up to New Hampshire to play at chasers or the Nash or the Brook instead. No matter who you are, crossing a picket line is not cool.

Hey guys, as said in the title, I’m basically just going to drive to different states to play poker cash games. I am from Los Angeles and I play 5/5 and the buy ins here can be $500-$1000. The states I’m really looking forward to play in are Texas, Pennsylvania, and Florida because I heard the action is good and I’ve never played there. First, I’ll be stopping in Vegas and play a few days there, then I’ll go to talking stick casino in Scottsdale and play at the arena poker room, then Texas. I’m considering staying in Texas for a longer period of time. Any recommendations for good spots to play.

This was such a good experience, I lost $300 but in my opinion it was worth it, I arrived at the table lost because I didn't know how everything works, I guess when people saw me all confused thought "time to make money" lol, the dealer had to remind me of the blinds a hundred times, I was winning at the beginning, but people at every position opened $10-$15 like 5x the BB, I thought they would bet 3x like online, but if you call, they bet $25 flop, $40 turn and $80 river and I saw a guy win a big pot with 86o, he hit a pair on flop of J high, turn was a 10 and river another 8 like wtf, how can people play so wide at live like that? I won a pot with J8s with a pair of 8 with 4/5 people on the hand... today I learned a lot, I still don't know how to play, everything was new, it's very different from online... sizes were huge. To end the night I had A7s about 50BB deep, the guy in front of me raised preflop $15 If I'm not mistaken, 4 people called and I called too, flop came something like QA8, first guy to raise bet something like $20, everyone folded, I called, turn was a brick, he bet again, I called, river he bet $50, I went all-in with a little more than $50, he ofc called, he had AKo, with a pair better than mine... overall I loved btw I been playing for 2 months now so I got a lot to learn

I recently started at the lowest level of online poker NL2 with alright results, only playing one game at a time to focus all my attention and effort on winning at that one table, but quickly discovered one reality of poker: the vast majority of playing the game is folding garbage, so it can get boring easily. Yesterday I decided to do 3 tables on my PC and it was a disaster, I couldn't focus my attention on neither of the tables on my screen, couldn't remember if I was in or out of position, who was the preflop aggressor, the tendencies of the players... I ended up making rash decisions because other table was rushing me to make a play or because I was still thinking about other game.

Today I tried 2 tables on my phone and it was much better, only 2 games I had to put my attention on and easily sliding between one another. I guess I'll stick to this for now. But I was wondering how can some folks play 5-8 tables? It just sounds insane to me after trying only 3. What's their approach? Do they make a quick decision and move on? Doesn't sound like they have too much chances to go into the tank and more like they play an automatic low risk low reward style of poker.

Have played limit Hi/Lo Omaha live before and PLO online but never PLO in a live session. I guess this one of the first times they had this particular game. It was a $2/$2 game with a $10 double board bomb pot every time there was a dealer change. Sat down with $400 left with $1500 played for around 8 hours. Folded a few would be winning hands. Folded one middle set that would have filled up on the river but the pot got taken down by a straight flush. Those bomb pots got big. A few of them were $1200+

2/5 NLH, around $1,300 effective.
UTG+1 opens to $20, HJ calls, and I’m in the CO with A♠Q♠.
I 3-bet to $85. UTG+1 calls, HJ calls.
Flop: Q♥ 8♠ 4♠
Checks to me. I bet $110.
UTG+1 folds, HJ calls.
Turn: A♣
HJ checks. I bet $275.
He thinks for a little while and calls.
River: 5♥
HJ tanks for about 30 seconds, then jams for around $830.
Villain is a solid regular. I’ve never seen him make a huge river bluff, but there are missed spades—and 6♠7♠ gets there.
I’m holding top two, but I also block a lot of the natural missed spade draws.
Are you calling here? What value hands or bluffs does he realistically have?

I’ve been a long term poker player and still dealing with tilt when I’m getting smashed in a session. Any tips here that helped people would be greatly appreciated

Hey guys,

Just finished playing wsop super series Montreal, had a solid cash, finished in the 95th percentile. Great event. I've been in poker for awhile, 25 years, and I'm curious as to what everyone's take is on a lot of these guys who rebuy in events like this in the double digits. Allegedly Dnegs bought in over 20 times, Kornuth was in for 16 bullets, Mizrachi in for 12+, there was a local whale in for 30(!) but we can exclude him because I'm curious about actual strategy here. For those like dnegs and Kornuth, is it a thing where they have so much extra ev from making a FT or winning due to their sponsorships and personal brand, and they're torching tourney equity to max brand equity, or is there a real strategy here to firing so many bullets you need to FT just to get even?

I usually just fire one bullet per day 1, sometimes two if I go out early, so for a series like this with 3 day 1s my absolute max would be like 5-6 entries. Am I leaving EV on the table by not doubling or tripling that and playing way more aggro early or are these guys just torching for their brands?

Hey everyone,

I’m just getting back into online poker after a 6-year hiatus. Before my break, I was a regular on PokerStars and heavily relied on PokerTracker 4 to track my stats, study my leaks, and run my HUD.

Coming back now, the landscape looks completely different. GGPoker seems to be completely dominating the European market, while my old home, PokerStars, has lost its crown.

To me, not being able to use PT4 or run an external HUD on GG feels like a massive downside. Since PokerStars still allows compliant HUDs, I assumed grinders would stick to Stars.

Why did the entire player base migrate to GG while I was gone? Is the software really that much better, or are the games just massively softer because the ecosystem protects casual players from database targeting?

Would love to hear from anyone who witnessed this shift or made the transition themselves. Thanks!

Venetian 2-3 600 eff
Have J-10 diamonds on button.

UTG raises 10, old guy in HJ 3! 30. I flat on button. SB BB and UTG call.

Flop is JJ 6 2 clubs. Raiser bets 75, I decide to flat. Then SB (young white dude) XR to 200. Raiser folds immediately. I tank for a long time, wanting to fold but decide to call.

Turn is a blank 9. He decides to check, and that for some reason gave me confidence to shove for 370. He calls with AJ, gets stacked.

Wondering how I could’ve played this hand better. Fold pre? Fold flop? Raise myself on flop?

And given how I played on flop, what to do on turn?

Not sure if anyone else has done this before but I think this would add a huge edge at the tables.

This happened many years ago, but it still haunts me to this day...

The game is 1/2 NL Hold 'Em at my local beloved Mohegan Sun, CT poker room. I am facing an all-in bet on the river in a big pot and I am deeply in the tank thinking to myself about my decision. While I'm thinking every other player at the hand is in a loud conversation including the dealer, no one is paying attention to me. All of a sudden someone at the table said that I said Call! However I 1000% never even opened my lips or mumbled anything!!!! I never threw in a chip either. I immediately without delay announced no I did not say call. The dealer looks around at the other players and like sheep they all agree with the first guy and say yeah he said call I heard it too! I don't know if they were just agreeing like sheep, colluding to get my money, or just tired of me being in the tank and wanted the hand to be over with, but I'm adamant that I never called. The floor gets called over, yay someone who is going to make it right, right? The dealer explains the situation and then I explain the situation. The dealer tells the floor that he didn't hear me say anything, the other players say they heard me say call. Again I explained to the floor they were all in a loud conversation including the dealer and no one was paying attention and if they would just go to the cameras they could verify that what I'm saying is the truth. The floor objects he will not go to the cameras. The dealer does not admit that he wasn't paying attention, but he never denied it either as the floor never asked him to verify that. The floor says I must pay up! I am absolutely livid and facing losing my chips when I never even called or refusing to do so and potentially facing consequences of not paying up. I'm a young player at the time and didn't want to chance being banned from the room I love to play at and do well at. I pay up. Years later I think about it and it still pisses me off to this day. I wish I would have refused, but at the same time I don't because that is the room that taught me how to play poker and I even made a record 1/2 stack for the room later on at the time $3600+, all the dealers confirmed this with me. I will say despite that one horror ruling the room was very professionally run overall compared to tons of rooms I have played at since despite the horror ruling...

My questions are was the floor within his right to force me to pay up when the dealer denied that he heard me saying call and go with the players agreeing that I said call even know they could all be colluding or just want the hand over with etc.? Has this happened to anyone else out there and what was your ruling? What would you have done differently than I did in this situation?

2/5, ~$1.4k effective. BTN is an unknown MABG.

Hero opens A♦J♦ CO to $20. V on BTN calls, BB calls.

Flop ($60): JsTd4s
BB checks, Hero bets $25. BTN snap calls, BB folds.

Turn ($110): Ah
Hero turns top two and bets $65.
BTN snap-minraises to $130.
Hero calls.

River ($370): 2s
Hero checks. BTN bets $200.
Hero?

The turn minraise is what really threw me off.

We’re $1.4k deep and I obviously don’t want to start piling money in with AJ when KQ is very much available, so I just called. But then the spade river completes the obvious draw and he still fires a little over half pot.

On one hand, top two feels ridiculously high up in my range to fold after taking this line. On the other hand, what is an unknown live 2/5 player actually bluffing with after snap-minraising the turn and then betting when the frontdoor flush gets there?

Do you call because we’re too high in range/getting a decent price, or is this just one of those spots where live population has it way too often and we should make the gross fold?

Going to my first tourney there next weekend. The $100 buy in tournament on saturday. Just wondering how many players to expect? Payouts? Bunch of sharks? Basically just trying to get a vibe check from yall bc ive never been there

Is it a good book for a relative noob trying to take the game more seriously? Or should I take those ~$50 and invest them in an online course instead?

Thoughts? Alternatives?

I have been playing regularly at my local game 1/1 game for 4 months and I just started to track my results literally 2 games ago. The buy in cap is 80bb. I want to take the game more seriously and it would be nice if someone reviews this hand just happened to me and hurts. I am at the BU with K spades K clovers. After 5 limps I opened the hand at 12bb with 50bb effective. Sb calls and Hj Calls. Flop J hearts 4 hearts 3 diamonds. Goes check to me and I bet 26bb intending to commit to the pot. Only sb calls. Turn A spades. Villain jams. I have like 14bb left and I call. Villain shows A hearts Q diamonds.

I have a rather small sample size playing like 1/3 at my local casino but I feel I have pretty strong fundamentals and I'm profitable 8bb/hour over the months that I've played (~100 hours). Also, I'm profitable playing cash low stakes online over the last several months that I've begun to take poker seriously and study.

The issue I have is that at my local casino there is only one 1/3 table that often has an hours long wait-list and several 2/5 tables where there's always a seat available. I get there early to play so I can usually get a seat directly and the game plays usually pretty loose and fishy in general but with several nit regs who occupy seats for hours.

However, my theory is that a lot of recs are driven to play 2/5 as it doesn't sound all that much scarier in the mind of a degen who plays roulette or blackjack and they probably won't wait hours to play 1/3. Assume I employ proper bankroll management practices etc.

Has anyone seen a similar situation? Am I the fish they're trying to drive over to play 2/5? Should I wait until I have a larger sample size?

What should I look out for?

Edit: Has anyone seen tables where 2/5 is easier than 1/3? I'm not against staying 1/3 to keep learning but if 2/5 is actually easier then obviously I would want to move up.