Live Grind: How to Fall Asleep at the Table (Without Getting Caught)

[Matt Vaughan]

We took 2nd for 4.4k, plus around 400 in bounties.

Then yesterday played MSPT, and had a soft first table but never got much going. Got short-stacked and then table-changed to the hardest table I've ever been on. Most people on my table had either won an MSPT or were an "MSPT Pro" or both. Not good.

Anyway I ended up picking a few re-ship spots but otherwise I never had a stack to do anything else, and spots were scarce. I ended up busting when a loose, aggressive regular opened UTG, and I shipped 11bb with A9cc from the CO. The BTN shipped over the top with AK, and UTG called it off with JJ, so I was pretty smoked. I flopped just one club and the turn was enough to see me drawing dead.

I ended up playing cash for a long time after that though, and the table was AMAZING. Suffice it to say that I was running mega hot too and my session more than paid for my MSPT run this weekend.

 

[Jillychemung]

I ended up playing cash for a long time after that though, and the table was AMAZING. Suffice it to say that I was running mega hot too and my session more than paid for my MSPT run this weekend.

Always nice when the backup plan works!!

 

[duggs]

fwiw im not convinced A9s is a reshove from BU over UTG at 11bb eff

 

[Matt Vaughan]

fwiw im not convinced A9s is a reshove from BU over UTG at 11bb eff

I was really unsure in the moment (which means in the moment I should have folded), and was thinking about it a lot after the fact. A couple people have said it's fine/standard, and against that opponent and that table I don't think it's horribad. But I'm still not convinced.

 

[duggs]

i mean readless its horrible obv, but i just dont think we do well enough v UTG to justify it

 

[Matt Vaughan]

I looked at an ICM calculator for the spot and it said Nash range was 66+/ATs+/AJo+... So like, it can't be THAT bad, right?

 

[duggs]

thats our nash calling range v an UTG shove? because an 11bb open is often going to be a stronger range than an open shove

 

[Matt Vaughan]

thats our nash calling range v an UTG shove? because an 11bb open is often going to be a stronger range than an open shove

UTG didn't shove tho? It's our nash shipping range vs UTG's min open supposedly.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Oh, and I guess I didn't post this, but I took down the $55 30k gtd on BV the other night for 6k. So that was fun.

Really appreciate the folks in the skype chat putting up with my MTT nonsense and helping me out with some weird spots.

I'm in Milwaukee for the weekend, but playing strictly cash games. Was stuck 2k, just 20 min into my first session, but got back to -755 after 7 hours to close out a (relatively) okay session. Hanging out watching The Amazing Spider-Man now in the hotel room, but planning to play a longer session tonight.

 

[duggs]

dude post some live hands, even if somewhat std, im sure we can talk about sizing etc at least. would like to hear the stuck hands

 

[Figaroo2]

Oh, and I guess I didn't post this, but I took down the $55 30k gtd on BV the other night for 6k. So that was fun..

Terrific result, well done.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

5x5s on A53dss Ao 7o

Hand from my session on Friday night/Saturday morning where we started out stuck 2k. We bluffed off a stack with AK in a 3bet pot already. Details aren't important, but this villain called us down with 99 on Q high board.

Preflop:
Game is 2/5, we have in MP and there are two limps to us. We overlimp and end up going 6 way to the flop, with main villain from AK hand OTB.

Flop ($30)
Checks to me and I lead for $35. BTN thinks for a while and ends up calling. All others fold behind. I think he usually has an ace, since I think he calls faster with draws, but he might have some low spade draws or a PP.

Turn ($100)
I bet $95, and villain almost immediately calls. Seems very consistent with an ace, given the difference in the time it took him to call - definitely seems like he improved.

River ($290)
I bet $265, and villain thinks for a while, then pushes out a huge stack of green chips. I ask for the count and the total bet is $775. So it's $1,330 in the pot, $510 for me to call. I hem and haw for a while, really unhappy with the situation, and really expecting to only ever be shown A7, but I finally end up making what I know is a losing call.

Really unhappy with this, and I think if I wasn't already stuck that stack so quickly I would have been way more likely to just fold, but there you have it. Pretty horrendous calldown, and I keep running into these types of spots - I need to get a lot better at listening to what I know is the right play in my head and then actually following through with it, and not saying "**** it, I'm running so ****ing bad - I cawl."

Played a **** ton of MTT's tonight, bricked all but 3. Effective min cash in the 40k gtd for $90 profit, bit over a min cash in the $150k gtd for like $270 profit, and 2nd place in a $16.50 5k gtd for like $737. Ie, I only made a couple hundred bucks on the day lol.

Still better than the losses I sustained this weekend, but there you have it. I can't bring myself to post about the other gigantic hand I lost at 2/5 yesterday because it's embarrassing and frustrating and honestly still hurts a lot to think about. Usually single hands - even ones where I made a big mistake - only affect me for that same day. I'm getting way better at sleeping it off and coming back relatively fresh. But for whatever reason this one is still festering, so right now I'm just trying to avoid thinking about it and ruminating.

Hope everyone had a more profitable weekend than me, and that whatever you've got going on Monday isn't too terrible. Not excited to head to work tomorrow but I'll have a bit more sleep behind me than I anticipated, so at least there's that.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Trying to revive this thread is a harder task than just posting a single badly-played hand I guess. But I've known that since the beginning.

I've been slacking on this thread, no doubt, but it's actually partially because of how much I've been playing lately. Every weekend I'm playing live, and several weeknights per week I'm playing online. Today I've got an MSPT in Shakopee, MN. If I bust on Day 1 I'll drive home early tomorrow and play the $450 main event of the BDPO (Bovada's biggest tournament series, I believe).

I'd honestly much rather make Day 2 and just final table a dang MSPT again. I feel that I played extremely well in the last one, but got a really shitty table draw after losing several big pots at my first table. The only hand I felt I may have misplayed was my bustout hand, but at least that one was definitely close either way and I felt okay about it with the reads I had on my opponents.

That table had at least 6 players I'd played with before (not necessarily bad), and I believe at least 4 had won an MSPT before. The rest had all been on MSPT final tables before. My resume was among the weaker ones.

It's tough to get a draw that bad when it's still Day 1, so I'm hoping that this time around I'll run a bit better in that regard. I'm planning to keep up my play-good in tournaments streak. Online has really been helping, but it's live where I feel I have something to prove - especially in these soft events.

It's not about deserving it because I'm the "better player." It's about playing better than everyone in that room, and letting the cards fall how they may. At my A-game, I'm among the best players on this tour, so if I can play that consistently, the results will follow.

After this, I don't think I'll be playing any more live tournaments until the wsop, where I'll be planning to fire a pretty big package. Details still being ironed out a bit, but I'll likely have ~20k for my package, selling around 60%. I'm planning to do it in a bit of an unorthodox way, and sell varying amounts of my action for each tournament. It makes the math more complicated so I'm sorting through that to make sure there are no mistakes.

Hard to believe the WSOP is only a few weeks away, and I'll be there in about six. I've never cashed in a WSOP event, but I've only played around five lifetime. My series will at least double that, and potentially triple that, so I think I've got a good shot at finally breaking through for a cash at minimum, if not a really deep run.

I didn't mean to make this post so long and rambling, but there you go. Poker is swingy af for me, but with the way I play, couple with some mistakes here and there, that's always gonna be true. I'm really excited to keep the grind going and see where I can go from here. Wish me luck today, and I'll see you all next time.

 

[Mr Sandbag]

Don't worry. When you bink a WSOP event this summer this thread is going to explode.

 

[Trabendo_daze]

The sentiment about having something to prove in live tourneys is shared. Nobody is crowding around your computer when you make an online tournament FT (save for Twitch). The excitement and thrills you can experience when others are watching and admiring you is something to (vainly) chase after. I felt that way when pitching in big high school playoff games. Feeling like you're on top of the world is pretty incredible. I hope you get there this weekend man, we're railing in spirit.

 

[xdeucesx]

In b4 WSOP ME bink. Just promise to fly me out for the rail so I can get hammered and heckle the loudest for your corner. Sandman will join me ldo

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Bust in 2nd to last level of Day 1 again. Only upside is that it means I can fire a big schedule on Bovada tomorrow. Not much else to say about this tourney. I'd rather not bitch about runbad, but basically the biggest hand I played was one where I was forced to take a really high variance spot for a reasonably low +EV spot. But it was +EV enough that I definitely had to take it. I lost, and that was the difference between having ~28bb and having over 100bb.

As for tomorrow, really not looking forward to the drive, but hopefully it'll help me clear my head for the grind. Since I've got a pretty big roll online (for me) atm, I'm planning to fire the BDPO main, along with at least a few other BDPO and Contender events. Plus potentially other stuff I see along the way.

As for binking a WSOP event, I'd like to say "yeah, totally possible," but the thing is the field sizes in the events I'm playing will be gigantic. All I can really do is go in and try to play my best. Oh and deuces, I won't be playing the main unless I legit bink something huge before I leave. Like enough where my ~40% share leaves me with > 100k after taxes. That's probably the point where I quit my job and just stay in Vegas for the rest of the series.

But we're talking like a very sub-1% likelihood here lol.

 

[Beanfacekilla]

You've come a long way Scourrge.

I'll send you some rungood vibes. Let's go to the WSOP and bink that thing.

Considering the fact that you've turned into a heck of a tournament player, I think we'll see you at the WSOP before long. I've been following this thread for quite some time, but I haven't really had much too add to it. However, just reading it has been educational for me.

Get in there man. I want to see you on TV

 

[Mr Sandbag]

In b4 WSOP ME bink. Just promise to fly me out for the rail so I can get hammered and heckle the loudest for your corner. Sandman will join me ldo

Confirmed will get hammered for the rail.

But we're talking like a very >99% likelihood here lol.

There. Fixed it for you.

 

[xdeucesx]

Confirmed will get hammered for the rail.



There. Fixed it for you.

Made my edit for me. See you in November

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Lmao, thanks guys. As always, your support makes the somewhat shittier parts of poker way more manageable.

And budding though my tournament career may be, I'm encouraged by how many deep runs I've had live. Even when I don't cash I'm very often going fairly deep and running up stacks.

If I were to somehow final table the main event, you guys are definitely getting flown in to get hammered and root me on lol.

 

[vinylspiros]

Ill root for sure. Now get to work. Lol.

 

[PokerGrinder]

My personal favorite is wearing a hoodie, so that no one can see your face.

 

[Matt Vaughan]

Let the WSOP shenanigans begin!!

https://www.cardschat.com/forum/poker-staking-64/scourrge-2016-wsop-package-289413/

 

[vinylspiros]

good luck scourge.