I wanted to make this longer, but I can tell by how tired I am that I'm gonna half ass it. I played ~40k hands of midstakes this month. I started off hot and won a bunch, then I lost most of it back. I ended up breaking even basically. I am a little disappointed since I wanted to run my Stars account up, but with some random tournaments I played and staking and whatnot, I'm probably up a bit since I got my account open. It's still pretty low, but I'm just gonna run it up in November when I end up back in Toronto.

Overall I'd say that It took me 25k hands to figure out WTF guys were doing and what proper stackoff ranges are. I'm down a LOT 4-bet calling AQ in a spot I would consider standard at higher stakes, but I've adjusted that to only do it against "special" players. My value ranges were way too wide. I anticipated adjustments being made by my opponents that never got made. I was way higher on the leveling scale than I needed to be. Another thing I learned about myself was that I'm a great HU player, good at making my opponents uncomfortable, but honestly I get a little antsy grinding 6m. It goes from being a little fun to painfully boring.

A little disappointed that I couldn't have done better, but sometimes shit happens. I managed to have a bit of fun when I wasn't frustrated with getting kings to aces preflop, so I wanted to basically just make this blog some of my favorite (and unfavorite) hands.

In this one the guy didn't really try to rep anything so I let him shovel it in there with 6 outs twice.

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $400
BTN: $564
Hero (SB): $1,056.25
BB: $718.50
UTG: $406
MP: $403

Pre-Flop: 4 4 dealt to Hero (SB)
4 folds, Hero raises to $12, BB raises to $36, Hero calls $24

Flop: ($72) 3 2 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $50, BB raises to $132, Hero raises to $214, BB raises to $682.50 and is All-In, Hero calls $468.50

Turn: ($1,437) 2 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,437) 9 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,437 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 4 4 and LOST (-$716.50 NET)
BB showed Q 9 and WON $1,434 (+$719.50 NET)

This one had a bit of an aggressive dynamic in a heads up match, and I couldn't quite figure out what my opponent hand... but I don't think that makes me a bad hand reader, given what he turned up with.

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $2,009.10
Hero (BTN): $721.65

Pre-Flop: J J dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to $12, BB raises to $40, Hero raises to $94, BB calls $56

Flop: ($192) 2 9 5 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $100, BB calls $100

Turn: ($392) T (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $160, BB raises to $1,352, Hero calls $365.65 and is All-In

River: ($1,443.30) Q (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,443.30 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
BB showed T 8 and LOST (-$717.65 NET)
Hero showed J J and WON $1,442.80 (+$723.15 NET)

This hand was great. "Okay... I guess I'm gonna barrel it off on good turn/river combos..." then I type $60 into the box instead of $160, start screaming FUCK!, and then try to compound my mistakes by making a hero call 2007 style... and it works.

Poker Stars, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $1,424.25
MP: $1,411.70
CO: $1,718
BTN: $3,212
Hero (SB): $909.40
BB: $1,581.75

Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $12, 2 folds, Hero raises to $42, BB folds, MP calls $30

Flop: ($97.20) 7 6 8 (2 Players)
Hero bets $60, MP calls $60

Turn: ($217.20) 2 (2 Players)
Hero bets $60, MP calls $60

River: ($337.20) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP bets $223, Hero calls $223

Results: $783.20 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP showed T Q and LOST (-$385 NET)
Hero showed A K and WON $780.20 (+$398.20 NET)

This hand is pretty funny. Guy was minraising and c-betting 100% so I went into passive mode, snap shove the river, and he snap folds-- I probably just had the best hand.

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $609.25
BTN: $412

Pre-Flop: K 7 dealt to Hero (BB)
BTN raises to $8, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($16) 6 8 2 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $12, Hero calls $12

Turn: ($40) J (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $28, Hero calls $28

River: ($96) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $132, Hero raises to $561.25 and is All-In, BTN folds

Results: $360 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
Hero showed K 7 and WON $359.50 (+$183.50 NET)

Hard to explain what happened in this hand, my opponent was flatting 4-bets so I 4-bet for value and then he was 5-betting with a non polarized range (and doing it frequently) so I called getting 3 to 1 pre and confident a pair was good. I also thought he'd play straightforward postflop (which I think we can see is likely true given the flop check on a board that is frequently c-bet as last aggressor). It's tough to explain dynamics as they happen in crazy, deep HU matches...

Poker Stars, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 2 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $1,939.75
Hero (BTN): $1,054.25

Pre-Flop: T K dealt to Hero (BTN)
Hero raises to $12, BB raises to $48, Hero raises to $98, BB raises to $208, Hero calls $112

Flop: ($424) 6 8 K (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($424) 6 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $175, BB calls $175

River: ($774) 8 (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $667.25 and is All-In, BB calls $667.25

Results: $2,108.50 Pot ($0.50 Rake)
BB showed A 9 and LOST (-$1,050.25 NET)
Hero showed T K and WON $2,108 (+$1,055.75 NET)

That's all for now. I'm tired. It was a long month. I'll be happy to be in Chicago in 12 hours before I go to Europe for WSOPE (by the way, does anyone have info on how to wire money over there?).

Luckychewy just said to me: "How much above EV am I now?" #sicklife

edit: also wanted to add that I apologize for not responding to some people who wanted to chat at the tables. I am usually decent about it but it's a lot easier to respond when playing 4-6 tables than when playing 8-10.