So since HEM can't track my live play and since HH Tools have not yet been invented for live, I thought I'd recreate them. I try and get in an hour or two every morning that is constructively related to poker. With all this live playing and the lack of stats, its going to be crucial that I keep solid notes and spend time reviewing. So, recreating key hands after sessions will only help IMO. They are as accurate as I remember. Please leave some feedback, advice, opinions about hands . Honestly, they'd be greatly appreciated.

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$300 Freezout (Tuesday)

My table is WILD! We've had 4 KO's already. 12K starting stacks with 25/50 Blinds. We're at the 3rd Blind Level when I get into this spot. I had watched Mr Spew splash around since the first hand where he limp called with 9h5h UTG and managed to lose about 3K in chips on a board of AK5,10,K. LP raiser had AQ. Since then he had done the same kind of stuff and at the start of this hand, he was down to 4K in chips.



I end up 4.25Xing (more than my standard open) because table is wild. There is a ton of PFR flatting going on and I'd obv like to narrow it down. I'm crushing both my opponents' ranges here. Obv at this table in this spot, I wanna get as many chips in the pot as possible PF. Didn't work out so well....but whatever.

Somehow, I managed to make the final 2 tables while never getting my stack over 20bb's. Eventually, I lost a flip with 77 vs A8 when I shoved just over 11bb's BVB. Next...

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5/5 NLHE (Tuesday)

Hand 1: Brick Brick..


Maniac's PFR % is extremely high. There is very little light 3 betting in these games. My goal here is to get it HU with him as I am confident that I can outplay him in POS. The Reg Fish's range here, once he limp calls, is 55 - TT, KQ - AK. A desperate Min donk bet by him wouldn't be that unlikely here as I've seen him do even stranger things in the past 2 sessions. As for Maniac, there's a reason why I classify him as that.... as you can see. Wait till you see what he does to me later. Pokerstove confirmed that I had a ton of equity against what I thought my opponents' ranges were. I think I missed 17 outs twice here. :/

Hand 2: Confirming a Read

This hand is important because it confirmed some reads I was making while observing this player in previous hands. I could easily see that he was very laggy but I had a hard time figuring out his game plan. For a few orbits, before this hand came up, I started to see that he was CR ing a lot. I was extremely lucky enough to see him at showdown with other players in several of those hands and I noticed that he was making small C/R's w TP. He made big C/R's with sets twice and tried to get it in when he did it with big draws. He had just got it in with 2 overs and a second NFD and won. I was pretty sure that he was comfortable with his game plan and I didn't see him getting away from his approach. When this hand comes up and he CR's me small, I reraise. Obviously a good flop for me as it is but I wanted to bet size so that he was uncomfortable continuing with TP. My range for him is 8T-AT at this point and I am +EV here against that. He's def loose enough to have 7T in there as well but I think he treats that like a set there and from my obvservations, I really believe that he makes a much bigger CR with 2P or Set in this spot. I also didn't want my hand to be completely transparent and obv that I was getting it in with a big draw. When I make it 550 here, at the time, I really felt like I made it seem that I was protecting with a pretty big hand. And if all else fails and I'm completely wrong and he shoves, I have equity against any hand in his range. When he asks me if I have an overpair before folding, I'm pretty happy with my read and my line as well. The pot is not big but the confirmations were well worth it because this is a player I'm going to be playing against on a nightly basis.

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5/5 NLHE (Wednesday)

Hand 1: Sigh..

Maniac wants to get me to fold. He never makes this play with a monster as he's never going to miss the chance to get value out of me. We have a lot of HH this week. We have a ton of mutual friends/business partners so it all contributes to a very interesting dynamic. I also know he's not doing this with 22-TT because in case I call with a big pair, he doesn't want to be looking for 2 outs. Instead, he thinks he can fold out a ton of hands that are beating him and If I do shove, he'd much rather gamble with any 2 here. With all that said, when he raises to 400, I insta shove knowing he's not folding. All though I get smashed here, this hand is going to play a major role in upcoming hands between the two of us. He's a good guy and runs a 5/10 game that is apparently sick so I might have to go check it out soon.

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Thursday - OFF
Game 7 NBA Finals - Just fukkin ship it!



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2/5 NLHE (Friday)
Session of the week... For many reasons.

Last night's session was by far the best of the week. It wasn't a big win but it was very interesting. I feel like I learned quite a few things including some things about myself. Also, there was a key hand with fellow CR member "Bachelder" who is a reg poster on the forums. Also, I put this grumpy early 30's Russian female lawyer on SUPER TILT!!! She snapped at me like 4 times in 3 hours. I had to keep telling myself I'm not 20 anymore and that it would be retarded to make her leave the table...to stop from getting up and verbally abusing her until she started crying. In the hand replayers I refer to her as SLUT. Thats the nicest way I know how to refer to her. She was a fukking.... &!#$(@!$^&$. Also, my approach/game plan for these underground games was further confirmed throughout the session. I'll get more in depth about all these factors through my analysis of each key hand. Enjoy, hopefully. And again, please leave feedback.


Hand 1:KEY HAND OF THE NIGHT...vs "BACHELDER"
I've thought about this hand quite a bit. I have come to the conclusion that I played this hand like a huge fish! Really dissapointed in my play here. I'm trying to go back to the moment and figure out why I took the line that I did and honestly, I PLAYED THE HAND LIKE A COMPLETE $*%&$(#&% ! There are absolutely no excuses for the way I played this hand... UGH!

The dynamics leading up to the hand are very interesting. I start the session super fast. I flop a set w 55 vs Big Pair to win a 600+ pot. Two hands later I make a big c/r bluff on the flop and pick up a 200+ pot. My image is VERY good at this table already. I can see that the whole table is watching me and I also i know that most of the table does not want to get involved with me, at least not this early. I played this game with the same players last week and I pulled a big win and played good throughout the session. Somewhere in between that, a new guy takes the only open seat at the table, to my direct right. I was in seat 2. At first glance, he looks familiar. Like I've said before, I used to live in TO and ran a game for 5+ years so I've seen many poker faces in that time. At first I just chalked it up to that and moved forward. Then I quickly noticed that he wasn't a fish and a few orbits later confirmed that he was a solid player. I kept wondering where I had seen him and then I look down at his hoody sleeve and I see "CARD RUNNERS". We start chatting and it's obv that we have a huge edge at the table. For a long time, we never really tangle. I think we both avoid one another to a certain degree and our stacks are steadily padding our stacks. I get mine to 1700 or so and he's at 1100ish. Then this hand happens...



1. We are both deep considering the table.
2. We have been avoiding each other.
3. It's completely unneccessary that we tangle heads up when there are 8 fish on the table.
4. We are both confident poker players so its absolutely neccessary that we try and outplay each other! lol

I have so many issues with the way I play this hand its ridiculous. Most of it being PF related. My small 3 bet does not take away the ability to sell my hand as being strong. I do not give his credit for having a very big hand. Ax and broadway cards both suited and unsuited seem to match his range here. Instead of calling the $120 I should have made it $350. Why I didn't do that... is a damn tragedy! I place him on a range that I'm beating and more importantly, a range that I can fold out in this spot because of the dynamics between us. We are relatively deep and I don't see him calling the extra $230 ever. If anything, he actually has a hand and 5 bet shoves. I don't see him bluff shoving here. In any case, with a 4 bet, I pick up this pot IMO.

He bets 150 on the flop and I flat. I don't raise or shove... Fukked!

Turn comes Qs putting two FDs on board. He bets 250 and I flat again. By this time, I've played the hand so bad its just meaningless...

River comes an A and all I'm thinking is that I'm gonna pay for playing this hand like a mutherfukking retard!

He checks and I tank. I'm trying to figure out how to win this pot and honestly I don't see how. I believe him when he says that he would most likely call a River Shove from me as it's just too unlikely that I flatted both F and T w/ some Ax type of hand. I also believe his when he says that he would have shoved any other River card. In his spot, I would so the exact same. I finally check and he shows me the bad news. The Ace sucks but the way I play this hand... how can I complain? I hope to god I never do something this stupid ever again... Fukk me!


Hand 2: Put that SLUT on Super TILT!

SLUT in this hand is the mean fukkin chick who hated my guts and was very rude to me. You'll all be happy to know that I stayed nice and calm and respectful the whole time. Fukkin BITCH! This is a hand where I call the 3 bet because I'm getting great pricing and both are huge fish and I can outplay them. How does she not get the rest of her stack in? This is what started it all. She was so angry that I had that hand and that I shoved. She ended up dumping at least another 800 to me in the session as a result of this hand.

Hand 3: Value?

Again vs SLUT. I know I Know... where's the max value? I really though she was trapping me after she flats the turn. The fact that I took a little while to call her River bet spun her so hard. She was convinced that I was fukking with her! More berating me...

Hand 4: Cooler (My way)

Towards the end of the Night. This is actually a straddled hand. I don't know why I don't Raise here. I rarely ever flat straddles. Either way, worked out great!


So all in all, I played pretty good this week. Caught some nasty beats but happy with my continuing adjustments and my strategy. Its Saturday and I'm going out for some much needed drinks! Have a safe/fun weekend guys.

Peace. 2.