proximity poker tour 2014....

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by wiffleball whizz

Congrats at proximity on booking a win for the 2014 wagering year....as somebody that spends 43 hours a week in this setting what proximity did at the 3/6 level and 1/2nl level only about 4 percent could turn that profit at those stakes.......

Getting diamond isn't easy and proximity doesn't live close to any CET properties nor is he a degenerate slot or TG player which makes it even more impressive....

Since proximity not gonna be doing a 2015 thread I may start a "2015 gambling trip report thread" where we can share poker stories, live track stories, and just any side action one comes across.....I may share my golf action tales,...

Looking forward to turning the page to a clean slate......

Good luck to all players out there

I hate your writing style already.

[Red Knave]

Originally Posted by tucker6

I hate your writing style already.

Everybody's a critic.

[Red Knave]

And let me just say this now because I'm sure I'll be asleep by 10:30 as usual ...

Thank You Proximity for this in-depth look at your trials and tribulations over this past 12 months. Whatever happens today, you are heroic.

All the best in 2015.

[wiffleball whizz]

Originally Posted by tucker6

I hate your writing style already.

Thank you......just be thankful you don't have to hear me talk

[Track Collector]

Add me to the chorus of "thank you's" proximity!

(I'll be peeking regularly to see if you change your mind and start a "proximity poker tour 2015"). -- Fingers crossed! The reason for not doing so is if you are burned out, but certainly NOT for lack of interest.

You have certainly been MY inspiration for getting into poker, and I confess that your poker thread has often been the first thread I check when signing on to the PaceAdvantage forum. My racing friends think I have already crossed over to "the dark side".

Congratulations too for a successful (profitable) year. You may not have achieved you initial goal, but the final result is clearly worthy of only a very small percentage of players!

Happy New Year my friend.

[thaskalos]

A happy and healthy New Year to all the warriors of the green baize battlefield...and a big thank you to Proximity, who delighted us with the commentary of his poker odyssey over the past year. He may not have won as much as he expected...but he showed tons of integrity and class. And that's almost as good.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by proximity

with another 6-2 hand in the big blind i see a flop of QJ8 and drop out on a flop that features intense action between two players we'll call general tso and chalkie. the general has KT and chalkie has J8 and they start raising each other back and forth. the general asks if they can go all in and the dealer allows it even though i don't think that's right since the hand didn't begin heads up? (whizz?)

"Unlimited raising is allowed in heads-up play. This applies any time the action becomes heads-up before the raising has been capped. Once the raising is capped on a betting round, it cannot be uncapped by a subsequent fold that leaves two players heads-up."

http://www.pokercoach.us/robspkrrules4.htm

One of the most misunderstood rules of live poker, in my experience, by the way.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by proximity

in his hour at the table downey has been giving his chips a code red and it's (finally) my turn win some of them when i raise first in with 99. downey and the big blind call and when we check an AJ6 flop to downey he fires out $3 of his $8 stack. the big blind folds, but i'm ahead of downey's range and make the call. 2 on the turn and i check and call downey's $5 all in shove and table my 99. the hand is good for the moment until the dealer flips over another heart which completes a flush for downey's 9-5 suited. the loss puts me behind about $40 and i'm approaching $70 of losses when i get a text from ronsmac about printing drf in windows 8.1.....

It's a big mistake to check this flop.

i post missed blinds to re-enter the game and get dealt an 87 off suit hand that i otherwise would have mucked before the flop. 87 turns the nut straight and i win a big pot that gets me back to within $10 of even!! for the next hour i go back to being card dead until 8:30 when i flop a straight...

Posting BB+SB behind the button in limit is seriously -EV. We are talking about a game where 2BB (4 big blinds) per 100 hands is a gigantic winrate; 1 1/2 or 1 1/3 big blinds is thus a huge amount of money in limit. Be patient. Wait until the big blind comes around (unless you can buy the button).

as the clock approaches 1:00 am i'm all in for my $100 buy in with KJ but lose to a dominated K9 for the third time in the game.

Never go all in in limit. Even if you have a stop loss, buy in for more than your stop loss and then stop if you hit it. Shortstack limit strategy is both (a) very different than full stack strategy and (b) not very profitable. In fact, I suspect with live rakes, it's impossible to make money long term playing a short stack.

year +1071 (81-54)

It's a huge accomplishment to make a profit over a year's play in these low stakes games. Congratulations.

[proximity]

Originally Posted by wiffleball whizz

Congrats at proximity on booking a win for the 2014 wagering year....as somebody that spends 43 hours a week in this setting what proximity did at the 3/6 level and 1/2nl level only about 4 percent could turn that profit at those stakes.......

Getting diamond isn't easy and proximity doesn't live close to any CET properties nor is he a degenerate slot or TG player which makes it even more impressive....

Since proximity not gonna be doing a 2015 thread I may start a "2015 gambling trip report thread" where we can share poker stories, live track stories, and just any side action one comes across.....I may share my golf action tales,...

Looking forward to turning the page to a clean slate......

Good luck to all players out there

thank you for the kind words. got to meet up with you several times on the tour as well as at pimlico, Timonium, and Charles town for racing. it is always great to see you. fun times.

also special proximity poker tour thanks to you and all of the mid atlantic dealers for running the show so well.

only one can be the best though:

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/s...&postcount=402

look forward to reading your 2015 thread and hope the poker forum here still gets a lot of posts without my tour. we have some great people here!!

happy new year and good luck in 2015!!

[proximity]

Originally Posted by Red Knave

And let me just say this now because I'm sure I'll be asleep by 10:30 as usual ...

Thank You Proximity for this in-depth look at your trials and tribulations over this past 12 months. Whatever happens today, you are heroic.

All the best in 2015.

you're certainly welcome red knave and thank you for reading and posting.

in 2013 I'd been putting away money from winning poker sessions which I was able to use for a car down payment after being hit by an uninsured driver just outside the gates of Charles town. I seemed to be doing well in the games but never kept an official count. so for 2014 I decided to keep an official count to see if I could actually have a winning year.

it's a lot of fun going to the casinos but there are tribulations too as you mentioned. but they say that a smooth sea never made a skillful mariner and I am thankful for both the mistakes I made and the hard times I went through. the mistakes will give me a chance to learn and the experience of actually living through the hard times will callous me for future downswings.

happy new year and best of luck in 2015!!

proximity

[proximity]

Originally Posted by Track Collector

Add me to the chorus of "thank you's" proximity!

(I'll be peeking regularly to see if you change your mind and start a "proximity poker tour 2015"). -- Fingers crossed! The reason for not doing so is if you are burned out, but certainly NOT for lack of interest.

You have certainly been MY inspiration for getting into poker, and I confess that your poker thread has often been the first thread I check when signing on to the PaceAdvantage forum. My racing friends think I have already crossed over to "the dark side".

Congratulations too for a successful (profitable) year. You may not have achieved you initial goal, but the final result is clearly worthy of only a very small percentage of players!

Happy New Year my friend.

i won't be doing a 2015 thread but may do one for 2016 if the interest is still there. if you or any of our other posters want to do a thread in any capacity though, i'd love to read it.

i'm proud that i was able to inspire you to get into poker. you seem to have the potential to be a great player and you already are a great man. i appreciate the friendship.

posters like thaskalos, delta, ______, whizz, dilane, and several others on the thread have shown that there is room for both racing and poker. i'm not pleased with the direction that a lot of things in racing are heading but i still think about new handicapping ideas almost every week. i guess old habits are hard to break?

anyhow congratulations on a great rookie year and best of luck in 2015!!

proximity

[proximity]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

A happy and healthy New Year to all the warriors of the green baize battlefield...and a big thank you to Proximity, who delighted us with the commentary of his poker odyssey over the past year. He may not have won as much as he expected...but he showed tons of integrity and class. And that's almost as good.

throughout the thread you've been entertaining, educational, and (most importantly) encouraging. thank you thaskalos for sharing all of your thoughts, knowledge, and ideas. happy new year and best of luck in racing, poker, and life!!

proximity

[proximity]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

It's a big mistake to check this flop.

you're right. downey was gonna be all in for sure but i did potentially give a free card to the other player in the hand. it was a bad check on my part.



Posting BB+SB behind the button in limit is seriously -EV. We are talking about a game where 2BB (4 big blinds) per 100 hands is a gigantic winrate; 1 1/2 or 1 1/3 big blinds is thus a huge amount of money in limit. Be patient. Wait until the big blind comes around (unless you can buy the button).

two things. (1) on this particular day i needed to be logged in every possible second to help me get to the 1100 tier credits. and (2) i'm concerned about how sitting around waiting more than half the table affects my image in the eyes of the other players in this casino.


Never go all in in limit. Even if you have a stop loss, buy in for more than your stop loss and then stop if you hit it. Shortstack limit strategy is both (a) very different than full stack strategy and (b) not very profitable. In fact, I suspect with live rakes, it's impossible to make money long term playing a short stack.

again on this particular occasion i had limited time and was going to have to use some of my limited money out in the casino before getting back to Pennsylvania. so 1:00 am or the $100 at poker was my limit and the rest was going to be slots. i actually didn't know i could measure my daily progress on the machines until after i left the poker room and was screwing around with "my account" on a double diamond machine. luckily my calculations were good enough although it was close.... after all that gambling for the day only 19 tier credits over what i needed.



It's a huge accomplishment to make a profit over a year's play in these low stakes games. Congratulations.

thanks for reading and posting dilanesp. it's great to read your limit insights. best of luck at the tables in 2015 and be sure to drop us a trip report if you ever meet up with mr cooke on the felt!!

[proximity]

our poker tour ends where it began when i buy into a 1-2 no limit game at penn national racino on new year's eve.

i sit down at 2:30 with a $100 buy in. given multiple options, i thought i seat selected well for this game but the cards didn't agree.

4-2, 5-2, 6-2, 8-2, 9-2, t-2, j-2, q-2, q-4, j-4..... and unbelievable three hours of rags. finally around 5:30 i'm dealt pocket 3s. they miss the flop by a mile.

my eyes see bad play after bad play. but there's nothing i can do about it. except fold.

finally at 6:13 i raise several limpers with AK. amazingly they all fold and i win my first pot of the game!! the 3 hrs and 43 min to win a single hand may be a tour record but i'm only down about $60 since I've folded almost every single hand.

unfortunately this miserable parade of rags resumes after the AK hand and i eventually have to rebuy.

around 8:15 though i suddenly strike with AT from late position. AKQ flop and i bet my two pair and gutshot when a ten on the turn is checked to me. one caller who bets big when another dime falls on the river. i shove and get a call with my AT prevailing over the villain's KT.

despite the hours of miserable folding i'm now down only $10 for the game and at 9:30 i flop to pair with AQ to get within $4 of even at the seven hour mark.

i call a raise with TT though and bet the flop and turn when an eight high flop is checked to me. but when another eight falls on the river a novice player leads out into me. i know he has the eight and fold the dimes face up. he flips over 8-2.

with the new year's countdown approaching though QQ holds off two players who are all in with AK and 33. this time i get back to within $1 of even and when my KK gets lucky against a short stacked AA i move ahead for the first time in the game!!

but the lead doesn't last. five minutes before 2015 i get aces cracked and fall behind again. an hour and a half later i flop two pair with T6 from the big blind. i bet the flop and then the turn when another 6 falls to give me a full house. but the lone remaining villain raises me when an ace falls on the river. i take so long on this hand that i almost called the clock on myself. almost certain that the villain has A6 i finally announce "i'm just going to call."

the villain did table A6 and i'm now behind $184.

an hour later though the table breaks and at table #2 a set of sevens holds off some heart draws before Q5 from the big blind turns two pair.

the second table then breaks around 3:30 and i come in on the big blind at table number three and flop top pair with Q9. another queen on the turn gives me trips and a rivered nine a full house. two players call down and i'm back to within $14 of even!!

but the next two big blinds i'm not as lucky. i again flop top pair with a queen but lose both hands. and other than the blinds i'm not doing much.

at 5:30 the game breaks and i move to my final table down $114 for the session.

two more miserable hours of folding in a game that is moving slower than a lazy turtle. i raise AK and lose. one final hand. i limp JT hoping to see a final flop but fold to a raise from the blinds. after seventeen hours I've had enough.

game -160 (1/2 nl)
year +911 (81-55)

[proximity]

after gaining some momentum in late October and November my hopes were high for the tour's final month.

after booking a pair of mini wins at pen I suffer a heartbreaking limit loss at ct before getting outshined at no limit by Charles town's poker rookie of the year.

but then I go on a limit hold em run. after breaking the rule of roxy roxborough I notch a three digit 2/4 win at pen before reeling off four straight wins at horseshoe.

but the end of the month sees me extremely card dead for long periods. redskins quarterback rg3 slowrolls my KK with AA at horseshoe. I book a small no limit win at pen, but i'm card dead again in a final frustrating loss at horseshoe, although I do earn total rewards diamond status in the process.

we started the tour at pen, and I finish there. It takes an amazing 3 hours and 43 minutes to win a pot and I can never really gain any momentum in a losing seventeen hour session although I do hang on to win a humble (very humble) four dollars for the month.

month +4 (8-5)
year +911 (81-55)
dec rakeback +75
bonus ytd +215 (3-1)