**** TJ’s Sundry Poker Adventures! 2025-26 ****

Good choice on the sister, then.

Arrived safe at the Econo Lodge!

Again, the double bed was cheaper.

Now I’m gonna watch the rest of these football games, then the tournament starts at 11 tomorrow!

…May play a short 1/3 session, to get back in to two-card PLO mode. We’ll see what time I get moving in the morning.

Good morning 😀 Let’s get this day started!

Slept great, woke up in a good mood.

Went with the go-to breakfast, which was $20.

Now I’m off to buy in to the tournament, and see how long it takes to get into a 1/3 game.

Poker players are decidedly NOT morning people.

I’ve made some good memories in this room. Ready to write the next installment now!

Moby told me that he loves they took the 1/3 cap to 500 from 300. Thinks it’s good for my game.

…Although he ALSO made fun of me for only owning two shirts.

Lucky Day 1 shirt is locked and loaded, let’s make it a great day!!

GL TJ!

First break, already on my 2nd bullet with 25k from the 30k starting stack.

Never got anything going on the first bullet. I check/called two streets keeping somebody honest with a weak top pair, and he actually had quads. Went broke with AK vs JTo on an A-J-T flop.

I think this table is better, I’m going to be patient.

GL! Enjoy the getaway and run pure.

Eh, busted bullet 2 midway through level 6.

Received a lower than usual distribution of starting hands, and never really connected when I did play.

Shoved my last 15k in preflop over a raise with 33, perfectly emotionally neutral as to the outcome of any flip, but he had AA, and it wasn’t a flip.

Toyed with the idea of sitting at PLO, but one of my rules is, don’t get buried on the first day.

So I sat for some low stress 1/3, to work on fundamentals.

Lost a little over a buy-in at 1/3. Don’t think I made many glaring mistakes or bad decisions… folded a lot. Preflop and post flop.

Pleased and re-centered that I got to play a couple hours, where I had basically nothing to work with. I needed to fold a bunch, and get impatience out of my system.

Fresh bullet number 3, right from the start.

Feeling good, ready to keep playing.

C'mon, Moby, get it going!

First break, this one’s off to a better start, with 58k.

I got up big early, scoring 3 knockouts in pretty straightforward, low drama spots. Raise preflop, then bet/bet/shove AJ on an A-6-4-J-K runout, and stack aces with a flush draw.

I flop trip jacks with J8s on a J-J-4, then my stab in position gets checkraised. I don’t want to blow him off his bluffs, so I flat the c/r, planning to get it in to any action or turn. It’s a 7, he moves in, I snap, and bless his heart he was making a move with 76. Glad I didn’t 3bet flop.

Then I 3bet AA, and bet/bet/shove a J-8-5-5-6 runout, and stack AJ.

But then, gave two players doubles, back, also in straightforward spots. I continue with 55 on a 6-4-2 two diamond flop, and get check/shoved on. The player was a little loose, so I thought he might have been light, and I called, but he hit his flush draw and two over cards, with AdTd. Right read, ahead when the money went in.

Then I 3bet red kings in position, and bet/call the shove on J-8-6, pretty confidently. But he had JJ, no two outer for me. Don’t regret that decision.

So almost double a staring stack, even though I was closer to 120k earlier. It’s a fine table draw, nobody’s giving me any reason to go beyond playing my cards.

Let’s make it 4 more good levels.

do not grit your teeth and let the biscuits flow toward you TJ

Second break, went in the wrong direction and sitting on 22k now.

Only one really interesting spot. A very fishy player limps for 1k, a straightforward player makes it 3.5k, an unknown player goes to 17k, with only about 9k behind it, and I’m in the SB with QQ, playing about 65k.

I was fine getting QQ in pre with the guy who was 75% pot committed. But the original raiser had me covered. I wanted to give the fish a chance to do something stupid. I flatted, fish folds, original raider folds.

It comes K-T-7 all hearts, and I don’t have a heart. I check, and he moves in. Not the best flop for me…. Eh. He’s definitely shipping worse pairs with a heart, and I kinda already decided preflop. I call, he has AK no heart, and holds. Basically a standard flip from preflop.

There were two semi interesting blind vs blind spots against the guy to my left. I won the first one, inducing and picking off a bluff, but paid off on the second one, in a similar line. With the history, I think it’s okay.

Getting close to push-botting territory, let’s find the right spots, and spin.

Bust in level 10.

I actually did pick the right spot and get a double. I move in for 18k over a raise to 4k, when I was in the cutoff with K7s… and I was even ahead with K high. Got called by QJo, and held.

Next orbit, there’s one open and a call, I make it 13k from SB with AQo. The PFR folds, caller calls. It comes J-T-7 with two spades, and I have about 17 left. I check, and painfully fold when my opponent moves in. Given that texture, I think I like check/fold more than YOLO-ripping it, first to act.

Went broke with QTs against Q7 on Q-7-5.

Think I played fine on that third bullet today. Just wish I could have harnessed that early momentum, and rode it into something meaningful.

Now I’m grabbing a bite, and will play PLO for as long as I feel good. Two more flights tomorrow.

Recapping the PLO from last night: I stayed too long. It was a 7-hour session, finishing at 4 am, up a modest +450. I was as high as +2k, twice, but I had a good seat on the mark, and never successfully executed a good quit.

The big hand was the last one I played. I open KKQQ double suited from EP, 4 calls, and it comes 4-4-3, with me having both backdoor flush draws. I continue, one stack who has me covered, and has played tight and straightforward, calls. The turn is a ten, giving me one backdoor flush draws, and it goes check/check. River is a queen, so I lead pot for 500, then he raises pot, to 2k.

I have top full. I ran it over and over through my mind, and thought the only have that could check the turn and raise the river is the one I’m scared of. Maybe I’m just seeing ghosts from how I’ve ran lately.

I decide that I could either stack off, and bust it if it really is that nastiest of PLO coolers. Or I could fold, and pick up. It’s a big decision, and whether it was right or wrong, I know I’d be too tilted to continue to be playing well, anyway.

I should have quit earlier, so these considerations wouldn’t be going into this strictly rational poker decision.

Anyway, I fold, and show, and the whole table goes crazy. My opponent mucks without showing. The guy next to me said he folded a 4 preflop.

After sleeping on it, now I really wish I would have just shoved. I wouldn’t have felt THAT much worse, if I went broke there, vs “only” being up 450, which was why I folded, and racked up. And if I did have the winner, I’d have more like 5k.

But really, the lesson is I should have quit before 4 am, and wasn’t making sharp decisions.

I slept in, and made it back over to jump into the mini-main midway through level 4.

Strong registration numbers already, between yesterday and today. I’m just now feeling out my new table… seems like several recreational players.

Feeling rested, and sharp. Ready to make it a long day today.

On the third break, with 52k. Average is about 110.

I’ve been captaining a small stack most of the day. I’m proud that I’ve had a lot of marginal situations come up preflop, and I decided to pass them up. The spots I do get in, it’s been from ahead.

I also have the best seat on the chip-leader, though when we’ve tangled, he’s thus far given my presence deference. I’ve been playing very tight.

No dinner break in the mini main, so I might grab some beef jerky.

Feeling good and happy with my play, let’s keep it going!

Busted about 20 players off the bubble.

I folded down to 6 bb, then looked down at an ace, which was enough from the button, over two limpers. It went with an offsuit 7… meh.

Up against 88, and I didn’t win.

Gonna go check out the PLO tables now.

Moby says it’s good to be back posting pictures of him and 6-color chip stacks.

+1360 At PLO tonight, and I made sure to make a good quit. I told myself I was gonna play til the end of the Iron Bowl, then pick up wherever I was at.

I save the late night dinner at the noodle bar for a celebratory meal, after bagging. Well, I came up empty on bags this trip, 0 for five bullets (ugh…😉 but I’m in a better mood tonight after a nice win in a cash game… so I decided to treat yo self.

I (naturally) saved my run pure cash games shirt for Day 2. Since there’s no Day 2 for me on Sunday, we’ll sit back in the poker room Sunday, and look to spin all day!

Also, sample size, but at least for my trip, the games here have been unnaturally good, at the WSOP. During non WSOP times, they barely have 5/5 PLO going. Tonight, on a Saturday night when the WSOP is in town, as I racked up around midnight, there were FOUR 10/25 PLO games going.

I have a buddy playing in one now. I told him that’s higher than I wanted to be playing, but he says paradoxically, the bigger games could be even easier. The gamblers who just like to get it in gravitate towards the games where they can check/shove like 2k on a very certain flop, ride the variance roller coaster, and come what may.

I’ve looked at some of those lineups, and to me, they look pretty intimidating. But the one my buddy’s in is him, 2 tough regs, and 5 good ol boy old money country bumpkins, which seems like a dream spot.

I’m fine playing all 5/5 PLO tomorrow. But I WILL keep an eye on any 10/25 games that go off.

The tournament did some pretty great numbers.

3,526 across the four flights, 177 bagged. The time I final tabled back in February still holds the record, at 4,315 entrants.

A Day 2 mincash is worth just over $1300, and there’s 135k up top.

Gonna be nice, for somebody!!

Slept in, took a relaxed and unhurried morning. Had my caffeine, a shower, and a shave, then went to the casino to get brunch at the Italian place, Brio.

Had a Caesar salad, glass of Cabernet, and the sausage rigatoni arrabiata.

It was just fine. My goal for the day was creamy pasta and meat in a good sauce, and it was all of those things. I’ve had other items on the menu I’ve liked better, though.

It was $60.

Next up: an afternoon of grinding, with NFL football!

Just got home safe, so I’ll go ahead and recap Sunday: it didn’t go well.

I played a 6 hour session, where I got down early, then grinded through it to start to make a little comeback. I missed shoving a nut flush draw when SPR was pretty low… then later, two separate opponents made straight flushes against me, in the same orbit. Which seems unfortunate. Proud to say I still folded both rivers.

I went down, in for 4k, then slowly turned it around to 2500 or so, then I started feeling fatigued. I told myself if I busted one more stack, or doubled someone up, that was when I’d quit, and get dinner, and re-evaluate if I wanted to play a nightcap. It was a good game, with three clear marks.

I picked my spot, got it in for all of it as a pretty big favorite, but it didn’t go my way.

I limp UTG to the $25 straddle with AAJ9 and nut hearts. Couple more limps, cutoff pots to 125, button flats, I re-pot to 530, cutoff folds, button calls, with 1.2k behind.

It comes K-7-3 with two hearts, easy decision for me. I pause a second, and shove, he shrugs and calls, with a truly garbage QT87 with worse hearts. Turn J, river 8 :( That pot would have gotten me up on the weekend.

I grab a rack to stack my remaining chips, and mutter under my breath, “That was the spot I was waiting all **** ing day for.” My opponent has the gall to say, “Me too.”

So thanks for that. -3.1k on that session.

Time to eat.

New for me for this trip to Cherokee, they closed the Wicked Weed Brewing pub upstairs, and rebranded it.

When it was Wicked Weed, they had a good craft beer selection, but pretty meh sports bar food.

Now it’s a new barbecue place, still with the good beer selection.

I got a two meat plate, plus two sides and one draft IPA, it was $34. Pretty good barbecue!

Definitely an improvement for the space.