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Las Vegas Live cash 5k to 30k?

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  1. #1

    Default Las Vegas Live cash 5k to 30k?

    Hello everyone! I am 28 year old professional player from Europe, just landed to Las Vegas yesterday and will be staying here ~35 days.

    I have never had a blog but decided to start one to track more of my progress and goals for the trip.

    I have heaps of time when playing the slow paced live games so #1 goal is to post daily progress and hopefully have some other interesting content in case someone actually will be reading. How ever Im mainly doing this for myself and the chances that I suck at writing anything interesting are rather high!

    The actual profit goal is ambitious but I think it is realistic, I will see after maybe 1 week of playing if it is reachable with normal run.

    I start from 1/3 and try to reach 2/5 asap. Will post results from tonight later!
  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    have fun and good luck!
  3. #3
    First session yesterday:
    6h20mins
    -459usd

    Pretty horrible and I can only blame myself, made plenty of bad plays. Need to do some adjusting for the passive opponents, fold more when facing aggression. That is the goal for todays session that I just started at Bellagio.

    So goal is to play 8hrs and step away when villains get aggro/size up!
  4. #4
    Sitting in 1/3 at the moment, since I have plenty of time I will write down some goals for next week:

    1. Monday-thursday 40hours of poker, goal is to get br in such shaoe that I can play 2-5 on the weekend abd onwards.

    2. Workout 6 days at a gym , getting a membership tomorrow

    3. Meditate 5/5/5 morning/before session/evening, really I see that my biggest enemy in these games is my own mindset with letting go hands when I know I'm beat etc. Meditation has worked well before with controllinc myself in the poker tables.

    4. Clean diet.
    I've had lot of allergies this year and curre tly I am eating super strict diet with no gluten, dairy and sugar. Basically sttict paleo/ autoimmune diet. This is very tough for me in vegas, after every losing session I want to buy a portion of ice cream or chocolate and the kiosks are everywhere in the casinos

    Will go with these 4 until friday and set a new hourly goal for the weekend on thursday night. I will not set a strict money goal but I would be satisfied with 2k profit from these 40 hours and that would give me a reasonable shot to 2/5 on the weekend.
  5. #5
    Todays results:
    7h35mins
    +1160usd

    Decent session, made one horrible play and got it in w 2%equity on the flop, other than that played decently.

    Bellagio seems to be the casino where I enjoy playing the most, It's also location wise bedt for me so majority of my volume will come from there. Was looking at the line up at 5/10 today and can't wait to take shots there soon but 2/5 first ofc

    Tomorrows plan is to work out & play 10hours and hopefully run as good as today !
  6. #6
    Monday results:
    9h45mins
    + 949 usd

    Super swingy session with a lot of bad play will break it down tomorrow now super exhausted so off to bed.
  7. #7
    Tuesday grind:
    6h20mins
    +1959 usd

    Super happy with how I played, first day when I made no big mistakes and didn't go over aggro or make bad calls. Took a shot at2/5 and it paid off, from now on goal is to play only 2/5 and try to build enough br to take first shot to 5/10 on the weekend. I think I will take a shot if I have ~12buy ins for the game so I would need to win around 3.5k before that. 10hour per day goal is tough for me and I'm already behind socI will see how close I get. I got more volume during the summer when I was here by myself, now that I have 2 friends with me it's easier to find ways to waste some time here and there with buddies.

    I wont force myself to play just to hit hours I've tried that before and one punt when tired has cost more in the past than the gain from the volume

    Just sat to 2/5 at Bellagio, table is suuper soft gl me!
  8. #8
    Oh sh*t just wrote a lengthy post but missclicked and it got deleted.. oh well try again i guess.

    Wed results:
    12h45mins
    +2080usd

    Super happy with the hours, play was not great again, I can do better. I always get those couple hands where my mind goes to error mode and I just let the tiltcall/aggro spewtard wake up in me.

    One punt from yesterday:

    Ep opens to 15d, mp calls, I call bu with 97spades.
    Flop AA8r checks through.
    Turn offsuit T ep checks, mp bets 20, I raise to 100d, ep folds mp calls.
    River 9o mp checks I jam for ~300d and get snapped with A9o.

    Now this one was played poorly, I really should just call the turn always with 97 here. It would really suck to fold this much equity here if I get reraised. Also if I call and hit my straight I am likely to get value still from the stronger hands that he has. Also if he is bluffing with a hand like QJo or whatever we still have reasonable eq against those hands, sure we would benefit folding those hands but is he really stabbing enough with them. I guess my in game thought process was that the player pool just face ups themselves with betsizings and 20 here to me looked very capped and not a hand that can stand two big bets.

    However in this spot with such a dry and protected board probably even a fish (which this guy was) realizes that Ax doesn't have to bet that big. When I hit the 9 I beat at least some small per cent of his range so I really should just ch back, also my raise to 100 was a big one and probably villain is already overfolding to that bet so his river range is stronger and we aren't getting enough fe. Would have been interestimg though if he didn't hit a boat to see if he folds trips here

    This is a very typical punt from me, bombing against a capped range which turns out to not be so capped after all. Ok well this one was one of the uglier ones usually I choose a bit better spot

    That is my first written down hand breakdown so bare with me if you feel like the thought process is garbage. Also if anyone reads this and you'd like to read more hh's let me know I can write more, actually this will prolly help me a ton with adjusting my play style here in Vegas since I play more online back home.

    Sitting at 2/5 now was down 700 but now breakeven hope to hit a heater so I can shot 5/10 tlmorrow can't wait!
  9. #9
    Interesting read. I'll be taking a short detour to Vegas next weekend before a week of work in CA. Where would you recommend for a good 1/2 game on the strip? I'll likely be playing Saturday day time and maybe some drunken hands in the early hours.
  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Posts
    8,697
    Location
    soaking up ethanol, moving on up
    busto?
  11. #11
    I have discovered a new thing that makes me see red, its when you write a looong ramble of your poker failures and it ends up disappearing in the bit space

    Surprisingly I didn't go busto, but as you can guess I didn't get close to my goal of 30k either.

    I had two solid runs where I played well and made steady profit over several days. After gaining the momentum I found one gear too much that lead me to ditch brm and play In a too big of a game.

    I lost 5 figs In two sessions (the other loss was from the profit of the day but felt bad nevertheless) and never recovered from the hits.

    The 2nd time I lost I sat into a 20/40 nlhe game. Once I sat down the guys told me they have a mandatory straddle to 80 dollars. Even 20/40 was way too big of a game for me, but What i thoughts was "what the hell, I ain't turning back with all eyes on me" . I Lost 14k In that game, 4k of that was profit from 5/10. I played pretty good, but the dynamic in the bigger game is different. The fish are just as bad, but they are not pushed around as easily as in lower limits and my bluffs didn't go through in crucial spots.

    Losing over half of my bankroll In a matter of hours affected my mind.
    Once you get To a certain level as a player, you are playing against your own mind more than your villains. And after the big loss, my mind was KO'd.

    My routines slowly crumbled like the diet, sleep schedule and exercise. I went back To 2/5, but my patience was lost. The trip was closing To an end as well. My mind was saying to me "I have x amount of days left, if I play Y hours with a winrate of B, I can still make this much money." that's a recipe for unstable poker play where emotions take over.

    After the struggling I didn't even keep track of my results anymore, so I don't know how much I ended up winning. I believe it was somethinh between 3k and 5k.

    I do think my goal of 25k profit was realistic. But the puzzle was way too shaky, and when ever one piece like the sleep or diet would get compromised, the whole house of cards would tremble. If i had a tempting offer in front of me or a tough day of cards behind me, i would often opt for the easy choice instead of the gym or meditation. That easy choice would turn out to be the hard route in the bigger picture.

    After I was done with vegas I flew directly to New Zealand To play online mtt's with 2 of my friends. The goal was to figure out if I still had passion for online grind.I had had 2nd thoughts regarding online play many times before, it felt lonely and very tolling.

    In New Zealand I would be able to set up all the aspects In my life as optimal as possible regarding the poker life: good time zone, great weather, friends around. If I don't feel good playing here then i would be done.

    Turned out i didnt feel good, but luckily I still had a burning passion for live Cash that was only growing stronger. I wasn't done with Vegas. I had been there twice now, had a great run both times but then fucked it up just when I started to get hang of it.

    I started searching for flights and accomodations for my third vegas trip while in NZ and instantly I felt the rush to just get the online crap over with and get back to live cash.

    So, now I am back in Vegas and writing this post while sitting in a 1/2 game at MGM. I felt good the last time I came to Vegas, but this time every cell, fiber and breath of me is saying this time is going to be different.

    I have thought a lot about my last trips and what went wrong and I feel like I have made the correct adjustments for this time.

    I will stay for 7 weeks. I arrived on friday night, so this is my 2nd full day here. I have played 14 hours total now, and after some struggling at the beginning I feel like I'm slowly getting in to the zone.

    I will write more about New Zealand and my plans for this vegas trip later. For now my goal is to keep this blog up and running and not disappear from the planet when the first knockdown hits the chin
  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by The Bean Counter View Post
    Interesting read. I'll be taking a short detour to Vegas next weekend before a week of work in CA. Where would you recommend for a good 1/2 game on the strip? I'll likely be playing Saturday day time and maybe some drunken hands in the early hours.
    I hope you found a good game to play in. I think all the 1/2 games are probably quite good in Vegas, most better players play 1/3 or higher. Today is my 2nd time In 1/2 ever in Vegas so don't really know where the games would be the Best.

    To me it's more about what casino setting you like the most. For example I never liked Venetian even the games are not bad there. The room is isolated which makes it more calm, but I like to have some backround music, see the people walk around the casino and so on.

    I tried Orleans 1/3 as well since my accomodation is near but didn't like it too much, going to try it again though since I was tired from my flight and played bad.

    That also affects my take on the fav casino, if you constantly keep losing in one place it's unlikely to be my favorite
  13. #13
    Does anyone know if it's possible to attach screenshots from my Phone To the message I post and if yes how?
  14. #14
    Found out how by myself
  15. #15
    Screenshot_20190312-092810.jpg

    Hit my first setback yesterday so thought it's a good time to write some thoughts. Things have been going pretty well so far. I have been playing 2 sessions per day, one in the morning, when I start feeling tired I have driven back to my apt to cook and relax for a bit and then play night session after.

    I lost 1,2k in my last session yesterday, and it was definately weakness of the mind again. I went to Bellagio to start out my evening session, it was my 2nd time there during this trip.

    First time I went there I felt bad. I had nausea, my eyes and skin was irritated. I thought I am just super tired because of the jetlag and went home without thinking about it. Yesterday the same thing happened immediately after I started playing. I was confused at first, thinking of what the f#ck is going on until I realized it is the smoke that is causing me massive allergic reactions. I've had countless of weird and random symptoms during the past year or so, and believe I have some autoimmune disorders and I think this smoke sensitivity was a new symptom to the list.

    This really set me off the rails. It wasn't really only the physical feeling of the symptoms, more my mind starting to wander and worry of what the hell is going on with me. I quickly left to Aria where I haven't had any issues so far. I felt the same stuff there as well, luckily it did deteriorate after leaving Bellagio though. Aria def is less smoky than Bellagio.

    At Aria I was still not focused, I was googling all kinds of shit what could be wrong with my body. I am quite worried with this stuff, it's also a reason I want to go hard with the games cause I need money to pay my doctors back home. I took massive lab tests before leaving here that cost over 3k usd and there likely is more expenses to come with supplements and more doctor visits etc. Health is easily the number one priority to me so it works as a great motivator to grind my ass off to have a chance at resolving my issues and getting my energy back.

    Anyway I punted 2 buy ins in Aria, not the worst punts of the world, but spots I would have easily gotten away if I was playing the way I have played in all my previous sessions here. This was a 2/5 game.

    I did end up winning couple hundred yesterday cause my morning session at 2/5 was very good, it was my first shot at 2/5 and I played very well in that one, super focused. That's why losing in the evening session hurt a bit cause I got great momentum from that earlier session to spread my wings and start gliding towards 5/10 that looks juicy as hell every day. The sad thing is I probably wont be able to play those Bellagio 5/10 games if I feel like shit every time I step into that casino. Well, there are good games elsewhere as well so I will leave Bellagio out of count and my mind for now.

    I will try to play only one session today. Instead of coming back to the apartment for dinner break I will just push through and see how I feel compared to coming home. This would be the most time efficient way but it might be too tough mentally and one key hand where you feel off easily pays Ubers back home and the lost hourly from the time spent at home.

    With 1/3 I can get away a bit more with just volume grinding and not thinking about the state as much as in 2/5 and higher. This is a good day to test out one long session strategy cause my hope is that I will be able to leave 1/3 behind my back soon

    So, today it's back to the salt mines again (1/3 nl ) to learn to appreciate the next chance of testing waters in 2/5 !
  16. #16
    I might as well write another entry while I'm sitting at 1/3 game that started very poorly, some impatience in the air, maybe ranting keeps me away from trouble.

    I wanted to write a brief summary of the time in New Zealand. From my last Vegas trip I flew to Hawaii where I stayed 1 night just to recharge, after which I flew to Auckland right the next day.

    We had an apartment in a high rise right in the center of Auckland. It was definately not a fancy place, a bit rundown building but interior was ok.

    Later we found out that the building has a lot of state owned flats for addicts in rehab and there was indeed all kinds of Interesting neighbours who you didnt necessarily want to tell that you play poker in your flat

    We wanted to have a separate house somewhere in the nature to grind, but it was hard to arrange one with our short time frame and tight-ish budget.

    The apartment turned out to be ok with a great state owned gym/swimming pool and food options nearby, so all the pieces to support a solid grind were present.

    The trip itself didn't offer anything interesting, the aim was just to grind our asses off. I played around 25 days in a row, and clocked over 100k hands between 23rd of dec and Jan 20th.

    I have never been a good volume grinder online and this was by far my hardest stretch. I was running quite bad I think, not in bb or chip ev wise, but I feel like I deserved to win more, i lost many heads ups to horrible players in top heavy bounty tourneys etc.

    I did win one hyper turbo (midnight express in stars es) for 10k which is a crazy flipfest tourney so can't really complain in that sense. After that bink I took More shots to 50€+ tourneys but bricked everything so the end result from the 10 weeks was not satisfactory.

    For the first 3-4 weeks i was feeling good, I kept positive mindset by meditation and affirmations.. I felt pumped most mornings.

    We woke up around 5am every day, went to the gym and hit the tables around 6.30. The session usually lasted until 1pm To 4pm depending on the deep runs.

    After maybe 3-4 weeks I started to feel impatient. The runbad was getting a toll on me. At this point I visisted Auckland casino and hopped into a 1-3 game. Man, that feeling! I was so excited, hyped, pumped to get to live Cash. I realised that this is Wlwhat I want to do, not sit on front of a screen all day building stacks with tilt creeping behind every bad flop, lost flip or cooler.

    I left the casino after a good winning session and booked flights to Vegas. After that my winrates dropped, I didn't feel any passion for playing online anymore. My head was filled with visions of daily Vegas life and my focus was on planning out a water proof blueprint to erase my previous Vegas pitfalls.

    My buddies that I was in NZ with also made me question my desires. One of them ran super good, yet not many days passed from the scores and you could here the loud cursing when ever an important run was shattered. Cursing and emotions are fine, but if it is a daily routine do I really want to spend my days feeling pissed and intensely stressed all the time? (I fought with these same emotions in my own head every day, but seeing other people's struggles from the outside made it sink deeper into me).

    The third guy also is very succesfull, he rarely has a losing month and makes heaps of money yearly, topping his previous year at least 3 years in a row. He says he is addicted and that he just needs to get to grind online if hes been away from tables more than a week. So you could call that a passion. But albeit the success and drive for the game the uppermost emotion seemed to be ungratefulness and feeling of injustice.

    You can obviously have and will have those same emotions in cash games as well (like I've been having while writing this ). But, I believe that for me, if I can reach my full potential in cash versus mtts, I can achieve a happier healthier life and also better financial situation.

    If your winrate is high enough, those tilty toxic emotions reduce cause obviously you are winning more often and losing rarely. In mtts, no matter how good your winrate is you will take a beating day after day for long stretches of time. Some beasts are able to do that and keep the grind going. I think I could do that as well if I really wanted to, but I would feel like shit and like I'm just wasting my life away.

    So i have made a decision to drop all tournament besides WSOP main until the end of ept Barcelona. Always when I get the momentum shift in Cash, I find a nice tournament to play and mess up that focus.

    The goal now is to forget the existence of the surrounding world until the end of August. There are no parties, no dating, no hanging out with friends. Only if it is to stratetically recharge I will do some of these things. But other than that it's all about Cash games and things that support my success at the tables.

    That is why I am very happy to be here alone this time. People are a distraction. Very rarely you can find such a connection and similar goals with someone that it will increase your ability if you live under the same roof with someone. Especially if your goals are ambitious and therefore daily rhytms are strict and need disclipline to hold onto.

    I can't remember how many times my plans were completely shattered because my mind wasn't strong enough to say no to random nightly discussions when I should be going to bed, meditate, or stretch before sleeping. Or the times when my wsop flat mate asked me to join him smoke weed with him and his friend when I know I dont't even like that stuff in the first place. (ended up with nausea and vomiting and passing out, time well spent )

    Or the worst of all, my friend introducing me to fortnite and asking me to play with him nearly every day when I was on my last Vegas trip (this really got me Off the rails when I had my first big losing session and ended up grinding the streets of fortnite for couple days).

    Nobody forced me to do any of these things, so I'm not saying I would be the better guy here, I was often the iniative to things to happen as well. They just don't happen as much when you are alone.

    If you are a weak person, you just can't afford distractions around you. And as of now, I am weak. Once you have strengthened your mind enough, you can start having more room to manouver. Unfortunately when it comes To me I am at the beginning of building up my character, so I will have to take the lonely road for some time. But I'm excited to do so because I know that I will be a happier guy at the end if I endure a bit of suffering first.
  17. #17
    Screenshot_20190313-015601.jpg

    Just got back home a while ago, today's 1/3 session was a fight but turned out ok altough I played like an idiot at first and ruined the chances to have a great day right away. Happy how I fought out a decent result still. Going to bed now, will post more of the session tomorrow.
  18. #18
    Is there a way to change the headline of the thread?
  19. #19
    Screenshot_20190314-021351.jpg

    Today was swingy as damn, a bit disappointed with my performance but direction is still good. I didn't run too good and think that with a little bit of luck could have been a much better day.
  20. #20
    Had a fun hand the day before yesterday:

    I open to 10d from ep with TJo, 4-5 players call. Sb jams for 17d. I make it 70 dollars.

    A lady who is clueless instacalls, she was the first flatter in MP, rest fold.

    On the flop there is a main pot of ~90d and a side pot of 100d.

    After I back raise the guy who went in for 17d says "woah thats a big raise". After the lady snap calls he says "oh man! I might be outta here" or some thing like that and laughs it Off.

    Flop comes dry 8xx, I cbet 50, lady asks how much and quickly calls.

    Turn is a blank, theres no draws on the board but cant really remember the runout. I check, she insta checks behind.

    River is another blank.

    There is now 200d in the side pot and 90d in the main. I bet 300d, the whole table wakes up to watch intensely. The 17d guy shows his cards to his neighbour and laughs and says some thing cant hear What, he is very doubtbful his hand is good enough.

    The lady tanks and eventually folds, sb shows 85s and I muck. The guy is so happy To win the main pot it makes me happy as well Everyone is gasping at my play, guy on my right a very nice gentleman from hungary is very impressed. He asks if I had AK, I say yeah I did. The 17d jammer overhears and asks "you had Ace King?" I say yes, but before I get to finish my sentence, the hungarian shouts with a smile: "of course he had ace king!" "What Else would make sense!"

    After this hand I almost get awkward when the hungarian and his wide who is watching behind his hubby make jokes of me running the table. He says after a while that they discussed about the hand with her wife and she said I could always have an atomic strong hand to balance out the AK. They also say that I am giving every one at the table a taughtful lesson on how to play poker, but my tuition fee is very high as well
  21. #21
    Screenshot_20190316-124141.jpg



    Screenshot_20190316-124105.jpg


    Yesterdays session and stats for the first full 7 day day stretch. Not really happy with the hours, also didnt play my a game as much as I should so results could have been much better as well. But decent start considering that my mind wasn't really 100% there when I was playing since I am worrying over my health so much. Saw a doctor as well and booked an early flight back home just in case my condition gets worse and I want to leave. If I feel good I will stay all the way.
  22. #22
    IMG_20190317_033126.jpg

    IMG_20190317_032945.jpg

    Took a shot at 2/5 and it went pretty well
    Hopefully I'm done with playing 1/3 now. I think my bb/hour will be higher in 2/5 because people start to think a little and some regs even try to have some moves. 1/3 regs you can run over, but not as hard as in 2/5 because in 1/3 they are tighter and more straight forward. 2/5 regs start to understand ranges and they open up their game so I can open up as well.

    Also the fish in 2/5 are more predictable, in 1/3 you never know if the player is going to make some ridiculous call with his bottom range. Basically you read him to a specific type of hand but he still calls. Also the 2/5 games run deeper which is nice. I guess there is some deep 1/3 in wynn but mostlythe 1/3 games have ciuple short stacks sitting in every table, they ruin many profitable squeeze and iso spots.
  23. #23
    Been playing 2/5 only for the last days. Results have been good, but i punted 1k in Venetian yesterday. For that reason I will go back tp the salt mines ubtil I win that 1k back.

    I did a 4 day bone broth fast to decrease inflammation. Now I'm done and alowly get back to eating More. Hopefully this will help my reset my health. Booked some appointments To myofscial Release next week as well. Been meditating like crazy as well.1 hr per day roughly. Still could do a bit more though, wasting some time In YouTube and twitch. (damn you fortnite )

    I will post some results later and also before going to bed a list of goals/To dos for short term.
  24. #24
    Screenshot_20190324-235514.jpg

    IMG_20190324_235459.jpg

    No list of goals cause I am a weak little bitch. Been playing horrible lately and that has yet again crumbled my routines and caused a spiral effect of more bad play and mental game issues. I will wrap this blog up here, I will start a fresh one with a more longer term process and goal setting.
  25. #25
    So it's a year later, did poker make you a millionaire yet?
  26. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by SkinnerLeonard27 View Post
    Do not worry. You need to rejoice in any victory. There was a time when I endlessly lost and believed that a "black streak" had come in my life. It's stupid and funny, I know ... But over time, I decided to try something new ***** Spam link Deleted ***. And you can imagine? I started to win large sums of money. It is agreed that all gambling people strive to get more. This is the essence of excitement. For example my friend was playing it for a whole night without any stop... It's crazy but I remember that then he won $400 for a night of constant play...
    Where was he playing?
    Last edited by Keith; 05-04-2020 at 04:12 AM.
  27. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by DuncanJac View Post
    Interesting to read.
    Boy, you got the wrong place with your spam.
  28. #28
    the goal was really ambitious and I am curious how it went. Any updates?
  29. #29
    So sad that the author disappeared! I really wanted to know - is it even possible to make stable, good money on poker or gambling in general? I have just started my poker career, and I am wondering if it's worth the spent time. I am also betting on sports here from time to time, and it's very difficult for me to choose between poker and betting. Which one is more profitable? Which one has more chances of being sucessful ? Or are both of them just a waste of time?
    Last edited by kalisteon; 06-03-2021 at 05:39 AM.
  30. #30
    Ahaha. Really interesting to read about the success of the Las Vegas game. Personally also often play in Las Vegas and once even won the jackpot playing roulette.
  31. #31
    It’s hard for me to believe such a sum can be won with gambling. However, it’s possible if you spend a lot on a deposit. I think that gambling is a pretty relaxing pastime, which also gives you new emotions
  32. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by AredLowes View Post
    It’s hard for me to believe such a sum can be won with gambling. However, it’s possible if you spend a lot on a deposit. I think that gambling is a pretty relaxing pastime, which also gives you new emotions
    However, in gambling you have to be careful not to cross the line. I have been playing Mod edit: Spam link deleted for two years now, and I have never had a problem. I've never asked for credit if I wanted to spend it on gambling, and I've never spent my last money on it. So it's just a favorite hobby, sometimes even bringing me extra income. I never spend a lot of money, but it's nice to have even small winnings.
    Last edited by Keith; 08-27-2022 at 07:56 PM.

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