Horrible Luck

I realize that the theme of the blog is typically negative, but so are my outcomes, so it makes sense. I've really busted my balls this past week or so and focused on games more. I've cut down my multi-table action to focus on individual tourneys because I was just playing bad poker. I've been rewarded with horrendous beats on a consistent basis. I'm very proud of my play, but I'm getting to the "come the fuck on" point. Tonight is a great example. I played a $5 rebuy on Bugsy's that had 55 starters. I was dealt tons of playable hands to start and picked my way up the chip lead ladder. By the first break, I was chip leader with just over $80k in chips and only in for the two buy-ins to start and the double add-on at break. My luck was overall a wash. I would hit a draw or a 3 outer and the next big pot I played I would be on the receiving end. 10 spots paid and I made it to the final table on a lucky hit with K5ss vs QQ and ATdd. The board ended Ts 8s 2x 3x Kx to scoop me the big pot and put us in the final table. I had shoved AIPF with the K5 because I had just been crushed a few hands earlier after raising with QJhh and getting a reraise that I had to call for odds but more than halved my stack. Despite flopping the flush draw against the A9o I never improved and he caught running A 9 to boat up. Awesome. The final table was a roller coaster. I had AK and AA back to back a few hands in. I took down AK preflop and AA dropped to KT AIPF to a running gutterball. Nifty. Crippled again I battled with 9 still left to get up to 3rd in chips. My only real flaw came with Q7o in the BB. It folded around to the SB whom I had just suuuuuuuuuuuucked out on with KJdd vs his QQ a few hands earlier. I have him noted as a pretty poor player to begin with and he raised me up. I didn't want to push back because he would call with pretty much anything and had me covered. We took the A74 flop together and I thought I was good. He bet and I made the mistake of not raising. The turn peeled a K, hitting what I figured him for (some sort of Kx). He bet again and I folded after dumping nearly half my stack. I folded another round and finally shoved with QJo. I was called by the second shortest stack (me being the shortest) with his Q8o. The flop brought JTx, and the sickening 9 hit the turn. No river justice T for me and I busted in 6th place for $54. That's only a $34 profit. The other sick part is that the guy that busted me was only in the tourney because his A9 chopped with AK preflop after a gross final board (in order) of AKJJJ. I don't know what the fuck to do anymore, so it's time to take a break. Two nights ago I played a $5 HU wherein I lost every all in (5 total) despite being ahead in all of them. The match lasted two hours and I finally succumbed with AT vs A2. This little scourge has rebooted my FTP experiment as I'm down to something like $.14, which I can't do anything with. So after the first I'm going to try and take at least a week off of poker. I usually can't stay away that long but it's causing me to lose my blessed mind right now.

Bugsy's: $196.69
FTP: $.18
Stars: $33.06

Quick Update

Virginia is out of town this week so I've been doing some serious playing. I did nothing but play MTTs on Sunday with poor results. I was playing very well, fighting out every pot as opposed to my previous raise-fold strategy that was killing me. The problem was that I was running colder than the friggin' weather right now (the wind chill has dipped as low as -27F in the last couple of days). I was crushing a $5 rebuy at Bugsy's with 38 left with 30 getting paid. I had over 400k in chips and was in the lead by about 50k. I had a 150k lead on anybody else at my table. I finished 38 after I dropped a monsterpotten with TT vs ATo on the runner runner gutterball. That left me with just 200k when I doubled up some other clown with my AJo vs 44. Now with around 110k I pushed over another raise with AKss, was called by the AQo and got killed by the 3 outer. I hate poker some times. I did end up winning a $2 MTT outright on Bugsy's for just over $50 to make my losses pretty tolerable, but I still took a hit. On Stars and FTP I was playing some small MTTs and airballed all of them. In total, I only cashed once out of the probably 10-12 MTTs that I played. I really need to improve my tourney game. I nearly felted myself on FTP and have been fighting it out in the $1 Matrix tourneys to stay afloat. I was as low as $2 but have been fighting tooth and nail to get back to where I'm at. On Stars I had run it down to just under $20 but I think either Matt or James ran it back up to just over $30. I've managed to push it back down again though. My play has improved, now I'm just waiting on the results.

Bugsy's: $224.44
FTP: $4.63
Stars: $25.76

Not Playing

I haven't played a hand since my last post. I'll probably get in some poker either briefly tonight or over the weekend for certain, so I probably won't have another post until Sunday unless I somehow manage to play 2 hands and win 1.4 million somehow. In other words, see you Sunday.

Airball

I logged serious hours today and I played like poop. It started last night, and I actually think it's been going on for awhile now that I think of it. I'm calling too many raises with too many hands and playing too weakly. I can call raises with a wide range of hands but I have to fire away if I think that the other person missed the flop as well. Instead, I'm just check-folding to their continuation bet like my own version of a credit line. If you need money, just raise a pot that Bret limped, he's good for a call or two before he folds.

In addition to my awful play I've taken a couple of stupid beats that just leave me absolutely baffled. An example; I have KTcc and am playing loosely because I want to go to bed (I'm drained right now). I repop a small raise up front and there's a call from the original raiser. I'm in position for the glorious Td 6c 3c flop. The dude led out and I WAY overshoved. He thought for a long time and finally called showing 4d 4s, leaving him either a running boat or the one red 4. So naturally the 4h rolls on the turn and I brick the river. Go skill. Anyway, at least I've identified a big leak that I can hopefully correct in the coming week.

I played mostly MTTs today and didn't have any significant cash. I think out of the roughly 15 total MTTs that I played I only monied twice, which is awful. At least I identified a big problem so I will fix it and my results should improve. Now I'm just rambling because my brain is mush. Good night.

Bugsy's: $264.54
FTP: $7.42
Stars: $15.16

Amputee, New Mission

So I've run like an amputee the past couple of days. I lost to 5 straight 3 outers a few nights ago. It felt awesome. I've been getting in with great odds on draws and such but just blanking. It's going to happen, but I wish it didn't pile up like it seems to. Either you hit everything or miss everything, nothing in moderation. Despite the horribleness I'm minimizing my losses which is good.

I've also taken on a new venture. Well, the same venture with a different starting point. My friend Matt makes a living playing online. He won't be on TV any time soon but he does pretty well. Except on PokerStars. He HATES Stars. Every time he plays there something horrible happens. He recently put $500 on to get things going, but if it tells you anything he left me $22.07 to do with what I please. So now I'll be trying to climb to $10k on 2 different sites. The thing I like about Stars is that they have some different games: 5 card draw, 2-7 single and triple draw, and some games I've never heard of. I hit up the $.10/$.20 limit 2-7 triple draw tonight and made a nice little killing. I'll probably continue to play that for awhile and scope out some tiny little $1 tourneys if they have them. Okay, my house is so cold my hands are numb and it's hard to type. Time to go bury myself in the covers and dream of lava and nuclear explosions and blast furnaces, etc.

Bugsy's: $283.84
FTP: $14.37
PS: $29.01

Quick Update

I ended up winning that $10 HU last night, but I dumped a $1 SnG tonight to step back a tiny bit. I also crushed another Matrix going 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 7th. When I say crushed, I mean crushed. I don't know my exact point total because I closed out of the windows before I thought to check it, but I think I finished at 63. I had something like 15 knockouts of the possible 32 knockouts available to me. In one tourney I had 6 knockouts. The 7th place finish was also a good showing as I busted with AK vs KQ to a river Q. I had knocked 1 person out and was second in chips. I busted to the chip leader. Go figure. I'll play quite a bit this weekend because I'm off of work until Monday. Happy hunting.

Bugsy's: $281.54
FTP: $17.37

Slight Limp

I'm pretty tired so this post won't be the best, but here goes. The last few days have been mostly "meh" with a couple of just flat out awful spots. The biggest thing going against me is that I can't come from behind at all. It started at FTP when I just got crushed at the $.05/$.10 games. I'd get in with big draws for the right odds and airball all of them. The low point is when I dropped an open-ended straight draw with 2 overs against an under pair. The board paired on the turn and I thought I was home. That's when I turned into a mason and bricked it up. This continued for the rest of Saturday and crushed my FTP roll so I'm back in the matrix tourneys. I did have an oddball tourney where I went 1st, 1st, 3rd, and 3rd and only got 2nd in the matrix. I've profited in all 3 that I've played since switching, although tonight turned on me. With 5 or fewer players on each table I was 1st, 1st, 1st, and 3rd in chips. I finished 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't win flips and dropped a couple of 3 outers and that's all she wrote. Not much else that I can do other than get people in dead to 3 cards. I wish the good streaks felt as long as the bad ones do. Aside from FTP, my Bugsy's has just ridden a steady decline due to the coldness of my cards. I can't really complain there if my bad run at Bugsy's has only cost me about 10% of my roll. I'm playing smaller than I could be so the losses aren't mounting up like they could be. Another couple of days of losses and I'll take a short break to examine my game for leaks. I'm in a $10 HU right now and I really just wish it would end one way or another so I could go to bed. The numbers below are absent of the outcome of the HU. Hope the flips are going your way out there.

Bugsy's: $262.64
FTP: $15.38

Rough Seas

Yesterday started out pretty well. I was up $5 on FTP and about even on Bugsy's when I took a break from my morning session. About 10pm, I logged another 2.5 hour session where I was down nearly $12 at FTP and $10 at Bugsy's. Nothing was going my way on either site. I made what was probably a bad call in a $10 HU at Bugsy's. I had Ac3d. The flop was 345 with 2 clubs. I bet and was called. The turn was the 2c, giving me the low end of the straight and the nut flush draw. The other guy overshoved and I didn't think at all before I called. He had the 6 and I blanked the river. I won the next HU match to get even, and I amazingly drug 2 monsterpottens to finish the day positive on FTP. I guess it should show me that the odds work themselves out. Instead it shows me that if you play like a retard and know when to leave you can make a killing.

Today is starting out terribly. I was hovering around $1 down when the following hand came up. I had A4hh and called a $.20 raise after I had already limped. I had position with the SB and BB being the other 2 in the hand. The flop rolled 6c 7h Th. SB checked, BB bet half pot, I called, SB folded. The turn peeled another 7 and the BB moved in for a little more than half pot. At this point I took stock of the situation and figured that he had a hand like AQ or AK, giving me all of the hearts, another pair for a split, and a 4 for the win. I called and he showed the nifty KJdd giving him only 4 outs. Of course the river spiked a the Kc and I dropped a big pot. 4 hands later I raised from the steal position with AQo. I got reraised out of the BB from the same clown and called it. The flop came Q high and he played me. He checked, I bet, he moved in and I called to see the sick KK. There went the rest of the 1st $6. Several hands later I had T8cc and limped on the steal position. The button raised pot and I called it to take a flop of Q58 with 2 spades. He bet pot and I called. The turn was the 3c and we both checked. I need to betting and raising on either one of these streets. Instead I let him hit the freebie K on the river to give his KJ the win. I'm definitely not bringing my A game right now. The numbers below are as of last night. As of now I'm down about $10 on FTP and up $10 on Bugsy's. Hopefully I turn it all around.

Bugsy's: $278.89
FTP: $31.95

Greed

Greed has been burning me hardcore lately. I haven't stuck to my bankroll plans on FTP and now I see why they're so effective. A few nights ago I was playing a 6-handed $.05/$.10 NLHE ring game and the table started to dissolve. After 3 hands, it was down to myself and one other guy. I was stuck about $1.5 with $4.5 on the table and he had nearly $20. These smaller games are cap games meaning that you can't lose more than $3 in any pot, so I knew I couldn't just double twice and bust him, but he was playing pretty terribly so I was going to see what I could do. 10 minutes later I was up to nearly $14 and said, out loud, "I should quit." My total bankroll would've been over $35 and I could've joined another game. Sure enough, I wanted to felt him so I stayed and 20 minutes later (with a full table again) I was back down to $3. I actually felted and bought in again and played my brain off to get back up $1.5 for the night, but I pissed away $8 in easy profit and am not happy about that.

One would think I would learn, but the next night I did the same thing to a smaller magnitude. My rule is $2. If I get up $2, I leave and find another game. After 4 hands, I was up $2, but the dumb part of my brain said things like "You'll win more" and "You won't repeat last night." So naturally I felted 10 minutes later, and felted again, and opened up another table and felted once more. Instead of up $2, I was stuck $18 and on life support for my roll. I sat out several hands and considered whether I should just pack it in or keep playing and decided the latter. I ended the night only down $2, but it was monumentally stupid. I don't even care how I played, from a bankroll management standpoint I didn't make a single good decision, which is where I need to improve. Part of the reason that I have a full time job and don't just spend my afternoons at the casino that's a 5 minute drive from my house is that I don't manage my bankroll. I have the skill to turn consistent profits, but I either repeatedly put most of my roll on the table or don't pad my roll for the inevitable tough spells and so when things go badly I'm bust (for some background, I did try playing for a living in mid 2007 but only made it 3 months). I have to find a way to stop doing this. I'm guessing it's going to involve electrical shocks. Hope the monsters are dragging your way.

Bugsy's: $293.33
FTP: $30.90

Bleh

So I lost an HU today in poor fashion. I was playing a guy that I've played several times before who mistakes retarded aggression with skill. I got down quickly because I just have to take flops and pick off big pots when I can. I was down to 4k because I got overly aggressive with 3rd pair and ended up folding. Then I doubled when I flopped trips and got him to shove into me with no pair, no draw. Back to 8k, I started to roll. I shifted gears nicely and started just hammering at pots; 3 shells every time I thought he missed. I quickly ran my lead up to 12k/8k when the sickness hit. My A4o vs his 46o on a flop of 235. Me down to 4k again. I built back up to 8k without having to risk all of my chips when the bust hand hit. My KK was no match for AThh AIPF. Go figure. My aggression was much better this time around but my luck was in the toilet.

I did get some time at a $.05/$.10 NLHE 6 handed ring game at FTP. I played at a table full of maniacs. I went up $1.10 after about 4 hands and strongly considered just bailing as every hand was a full on war that ended up going to whoever had 4th pair. We're talking sick loose that I love to see when I have a bankroll but hate when the $6 I bring to the table represents 25% of my roll. Being me I of course stayed and quickly found myself down to $4ish. Cursing my $3 swing and out for vengeance to the dude who caused it (my AKo vs T8o; T8 shoved into me on the KT4 flop and turned an 8), I stuck around. It paid off as about 15 minutes later I won a 3 person capped pot ($3 max bet per hand) with a flopped flush. I didn't win the full $9 as one person was short, but I took my $8.50 and bailed.

I likely won't be able to play tomorrow because Virginia and I are headed to a dinner party after work, but I will definitely sneak in a little bit o' poker on Wednesday.

Bugsy's: $300.83
FTP: $29.05

Update

I apologize for the very large delay between posts. I've been working well over 50 hours a week and it has seriously cut into my motivation in all forms of my life. I've been playing quite a bit of poker, I just haven't felt like sitting down and writing about it after I'm finished. It has been tough deciding to play as I don't like playing tired, but you can't help it when you're in a permanent state of exhaustion. I'll highlight some of the more colorful moments from the past couple of weeks.

I played a home game with a bunch of coworkers Monday night of last week. I work in a bank and we all had Veteran's Day off, so we got together and played a $40 rebuy tourney. That's pretty steep for my current income level, but I looked at it like it was $20 for poker and $20 for an incredible networking opportunity. I ended up playing with several senior managers from my bank as well as people in various specialized departments that it doesn't hurt for me to know. Most of them are really quite bad at poker. I finished 6th with only 3 places paying despite hitting the final table with a monster lead. There were about 16 or 17 people to start and I slowly built my stack. I didn't have to take any risks because most of the guys might as well have played face up. We're talking head shaking on missed flops and dripping sweat when they have monsters. I folded a 4 face up on a final board of 24TTT proclaiming "You either have a T or have been slowplaying the bejesus out of JJ." He didn't show but just sheepishly smiled. I also called 3 large bets with KK on a final board of JQJQA with a flush. The guy showed me 66 and was heartbroken. The final table started with 7 left and was a disaster. I folded the first hand. Blinds were 500/1000 with me having around 8k on the big stack. Second in chips was only around 5k and it rapidly shrunk from there. The second hand got folded to me in the SB and I found KJdd and pushed the BB all in for another 1.5k over the blind. He thought forever and made an "Aw, fuck it" call with T7hh. The flop came 7 high all spades and I couldn't catch up. The next hand I got dealt T7hh and limped with 2 others. The flop came 567 with 2 diamonds. The second chip stack led out the 1k, MP folded and I shoved over top. I figured him for a flush draw and I was right, except he also had a gutshot with his T9dd. Turn 2d and I was nearly bust. The next hand I saw A4cc and shoved in my meager stack. I got 2 callers and whiffed the board to bust. In hindsight I should've played slower and let my skill take over, but I really didn't imagine getting busted up like that. I guess you never do. I will definitely go back when they play again.

I've abandoned HU matches at FTP in favor of their Matrix tourneys, as well as the $.05/$.10 NLHE 6 handed games. I'm feast or famine in the Matrix tourneys, either getting 3rd in one match or moneying in all of them and winning the Matrix. I think I've come out ahead so far, but it's tough to track them on OPR. I've been killing the ring games. And by killing I mean nearly felting every single time to start and then battling back from like $4 down to win $3. I've been hitting and running any time I get up around $1.5o. I really can't afford to play at this level, but building my roll through the Matrix tourneys or HU matches is going to take me 15 years.

If I'd kept reporting consistent numbers from Bugsy's, you would think that I had been staying fairly even keel. You would be wrong. I either get up $40 or $50 and then peel off like 5 straight HU losses or I get down that much and then win an SnG or a big pot in a ring game. It's disappointing because I've been splitting my HU matches because I'm just off my game a bit. I've been playing right into people's hands by doing the opposite of what I should be. Being soft when I should be aggressive or vice versa. I just realized it tonight, so hopefully I'll fix it in the next day or two. Okay, time for bed, I have to work in 6 hours.

Bugsy's: $310.43
FTP: $26.85

Running Again

It has been a whirlwind these past couple of weeks. I've taken on my new position at work. And by take it on I mean I've been working 12 hour days. Further, Virginia has had family in town each of the last two weekends. This hasn't been a good recipe for poker but I've managed to play a decent amount of poker. I've been playing quite a few of the new Matrix tourneys at FTP. I've found that they reward solid overall play because of the Matrix and it's nearly impossible to walk away empty handed. I did start really hot in my first few Matrix tourneys. Then I did the nearly impossible and blanked in a tourney. After about 3 in a row without turning a profit I was getting into dire straights at FTP. I was down to around $12 and decided to go for it in the $.05/$.10 NLHE Cap games. I started out poorly and dumped my 3rd hand for the full cap. I battled back to finish about $1 down. The next night I did the same thing and dumped a full cap on one of my first hands, only this time I crushed it after that and cashed out up around $6. I hit another Matrix again and killed it (so I thought) and then tonight absolutely dominated one. I moneyed in all 4 of the tourneys going 1st, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. This gave me a nice fatty $2.35 profit on the Matrix (that's actually pretty amazing if you're familiar with the structure) after chopping out my $1.25 investment.

At Bugsy's I was hovering just above $300 when I took a monster hit at $.05/$.10 and dropped $30. I bought in for $5 and got in against a tard with KK vs 22 and he hit a deuce. Okay. I bought back in for $10 to get my money back from said tard and got in again with AK vs his JTo on an A38 flop. K and Q came running and I nearly punched the monitor. I bought in for another $20 and dumped $15 of it before the dude left, thus removing my motivation to keep playing. It was poor discipline to keep buying in higher but it was far from a bad decision. I had a fish that kept putting his money in bad and eventually he was going to miss. Unfortunately, he left before he missed. He's noted and I WILL get my money back. Since then I've been on a terror in the $10 HU matches going 4 for 4 in the matches that I've played since that NLHE ring game. I'm going to keep playing those along with any smaller MTTs that I can get into. Hopefully I can win an entry into one of the BCS events that start Monday on the cheap as I can't shell out the $27.50 for an entry. I've never had a 4 figure score in a tourney and I'm well overdue.

Bugsy's: $310.03
FTP: $19.27

Update

Sorry for the delay since my last post. My girlfriend and I have been getting out house ready for some upcoming guests, so I haven't had a wealth of free time. I have been able to squeeze in some poker here and there. My luck has come back around. I'm actually able to win coin flips and hit draws from time to time again, which is very nice. I still haven't shaken off all of my gun-shyness yet, but I'm getting much better. My bankroll has stayed pretty flat because of my limited play, but I like the way things are shaping up for the next month. When I get a little bit more time around the middle of the month I think I'm going to really fatten my roll, which will be nice. I'm going to try and start early in November with some of the Bugsy's Championship Series events. They run tourneys at 3pm and 8pm every day, so I should be able to get in on most of the 8pm events. The only catch is that they are $25 a pop, so I'm going to be playing a lot of satellites with my player points for free entries. I'm really going to try for the HORSE and Limit Omaha/8B, but I'd also like to play 1 HE event if possible. Happy hunting.

Bugsy's: $302.58
FTP: $14.52

Leak

So I mentioned that I discovered a leak in my game. I was shedding off piles of chips in tournaments by getting half-assed aggressive with hands. I stopped shoving in with straight and flush draws and got gun shy with hands like top pair. Especially in HU matches I just can't get scared. I've taken some brutal beats in the past month and they're going to keep coming for awhile, but I can't change how I play because of it. When I started regaining my alpha male, I started winning HU matches again. I'm still not out of the bleak luck run, but I'm going out blazing now. I've played some matches between now and then but my personal life has been pretty full and I haven't kept any hand histories to share.

Bugsy's: $301.33
FTP: $22.17

Tiny Update

Fixed my game. I finally identified a leak $300 later and turned things around. I'm still not tackling ring games, but my HU game is set to bling right now. I'll post more about my leak tomorrow.

Bugsy's: $303.53
FTP: $22.17

Busy Weekend (Long), Melted Felt

I played a ton of poker over this past weekend. It went okay. My bankroll dwindled but I was playing more tournament poker so that was expected. On the luck front, things are starting to turn. It's not a flip. More like making a U-turn with a semi truck. I did a really good job of logging hands to share with you guys, so here they are.

Bugsy's used to hold a $10k guaranteed, $50 buy-in tourney on Sundays. Now they hold a $25 buy-in, $1200 guaranteed tourney. You know, because it's just as good of a deal. Anyway, I'm dumb and shelled out for it because I have been playing small little Bugsy's Bonus Points SnGs for Tournament Tokens. I missed the first 45 minutes of the tourney because my parents were in town and were going to take me grocery shopping. I figured even if I miss the entire tourney, I come out like $75 ahead because now I don't have to buy groceries. When I got back, I had only lost 450 chips from original 10k starting stack and I was only around 3.5k behind the average stack. I was doing well and had steadily increased my stack up to around 24k when the average was 20k. I got involved in a couple of hands where I had to fold and was down to 18k. Then I was dealt QQ UTG. I raised it pot and had a shove from MP. I quickly called and was excited to see ATcc until the flop rolled off Ad 6c 7c. Let's hear it for skill. I busted somewhere near 17th place.

I also played a $5 MTT at Bugsy's. The first notable hand I was wrapped up in was with AKo. I raised it from EP and had 5 callers. The flop peeled xQQ and I shut it down as first to act. Everybody checked and we took another Q on the turn. I still checked figuring somebody who was sitting on their trips just hit quads but everybody checked again. The river peeled the case Q and I checked like a tard. As soon as I checked I said out loud "What the f*** did I just do, I have the nuts?" There were 2 more checks and then a guy bet half the pot. Still reeling from my own monumental stupidity, I just called the bet. Everybody else folded and I scooped the pot when the other guy showed 99. Not raising with the stone nuts is probably the stupidest thing I have done at a poker table in the past 3 years. This coming from a guy that has dumped his entire 4-figure roll several times in that span and this is still the stupidest move that I have made. I raked a big pot later several hands later when I raised from MP with AQcc. I had one caller in LP and we took a great AKT flop. I bet pot and he called. The turn was the nifty Jd putting 2 diamonds on the board. I bet pot and he moved in. I beat him in the pot and he showed KJo. I faded the river and busted him from the tourney. Then I went cold for the next 3 levels and dwindled to obscurity. The tourney skill that I don't possess in the slightest is picking off pots when I'm at an active table with a moderate or smallish stack. Everybody else was going to war and I just sat and let myself get screwed. When I finally did make a move, I whiffed and was crippled. 2 hands later I moved in with 84ss UTG and got called by KK. Go me, no money.

I also played several $1 tourneys at FTP. I busted pretty quickly in a couple of them from a combination of being stupid and getting housed by luck, but I did go deep in a couple. There are 90 people in each of these tourneys, and at $1 you get every sort of idiot known to man. In my first notable tourney I got smote in the early goings with AA vs 33 on a KK3 flop. I did put in bad, but the fun part of the hand was the 3 on the turn to totally ice it. In the next tourney, I actually put together some decent play. In the first level I flopped a straight flush with J9ss and got paid. The flop rolled QT8sss and I checked from 1st position. There was a bet in MP in the multi-hand pot and I raised it pot. He called, presumably with the As and I prayed for another spade. The turn was a blank, he checked and I bet about 3/4ths pot. He called and we took another blank on the turn. At this point I only had about 800 left of my 3kish starting stack and I put it in. He folded and because of all of the callers I more than doubled to over 6k. I hovered through the next level and then dropped JJ to AKcc AIPF on a 9c 6c Ah flop. I doubled that guy and halved myself. I continued to dwindle when I got tough with 55 at the right time. I was in the SB with blinds at 50/100 and it was raised to 300 from LP. I called and a limper in MP called. I checked the T72 rainbow flop as did the guy in the middle. The original raiser overshoved and I thought through half of my counter before calling. The MP dude folded and the OR showed AJo. Turn blank river blank and I was back in the hunt. It turned out just to delay the inevitable. The same thing happened here as did in my Bugsy's tourney. The table got active and I went cold. Eventually I took a stand with AJ and it turned out poorly as I ran into KK. I blanked and busted in 26th. I moneyed in my final try of the night in what turned out to be a roller coaster. Right out of the gate I was dealt a tough one. I had 56o in late position and limped into the 4 handed pot. I liked the 34J flop. It had 2 spades. The first player to act led out pot, one of the other players called, and I called in position. The turn was a 7s putting 3 spades on the board. The first guy led out 1/4th pot, the 2nd guy called, and I raised it about 4x the bet. The first guy called and the second guy moved in. I pitched after a few seconds of whining. That hurt me quite a bit and I kind of sat around. I decided to go out blazing instead of fading out and was dealt A4dd in EP and raised it up. I got one caller and we took a K74 flop with 2 diamonds. I CR'ed AI and was insta-called by Q7o. The river was the 2d and I still wasn't back to average but had some breathing room again. About a level later I doubled again with QQ vs KT AIPF to get a decent stack rolling. I really took off 2 levels later after sort of floating through. I was dealt KK in the BB and just flat called a raise from UTG. The flop came KQ4 with 2 diamonds and I decided to risk it up and trap. I checked and the guy bet 1500. I moved in for my 4k total and he called showing ATo. I faded the J and doubled to around 8k. The very next hand I had 44 in the SB. There was a limper up front and 1 small raise late so I called as did the limper and we took a flop of A9T with 2 hearts. The raiser bet 120 into the nearly 1200 pot so I called and the limper folded. The turn was the glorious 4c and I checked again. He bet pot this time, I moved in and he insta-called with AQ. Woops. Thanks for the double to 16k and a spot in the top 5 in chips. I lost a few small pots over the next level when the following pot came up. I was dealt KThh on the button and it was folded to me. I raised it pot and the BB called. We took a T56 flop with 2 spades. The BB led with a pot bet and I raised it pot and he called. The turn was a 2s, he checked, I bet pot and he folded. That put me into 2nd chip position with 31 left. I got really active for a bit and had to slow when I doubled TT with my JT. He moved in from the steal position and I called from the button after some thought. I made him for Ax and liked the 60/40 flip. The case T came out on the flop and I was done for. That knocked me down to 8th of 19 which wasn't the coolest thing to happen on the money bubble. I made it into the money and with 17 left I got wrapped up with KJdd. I raised it preflop and he just called. The flop came 233 rainbow and he shoved into me. I called because I was getting 2.5:1 and figured him for Ax at best and I was right when he showed A8o. However, I blanked and was next to last in chips. I decided not to let myself blind out for my last little bit and just got shove happy. I shoved my way to the final table and ended up finishing 6th or 7th for $4.

Today so far I'm +1 on $10 HU at Bugsy's but I got wrapped up in a $5 rebuy for $25 and a $1 PLO8 rebuy for $4 with no money from either. I busted 38/81 in the rebuy claiming 1 bounty so I'll get $11 worth of tourney tokens so it wasn't a total loss. In the $1 PLO8 I busted 9/30 falling 4 short of the money. I'm feeling better though as things are starting to turn. I actually cracked KK with A3cc AIPF in the $5 rebuy and I'm forcing myself to be a lot more focused and it's paying off. Hopefully I'll start logging some actual winning sessions in the near future. You know, before I'm broke.

I'm also adding a link to a site called Melted Felt. It's a fake poker news site that is pretty hilarious. It gives me some relief when the bad ones start to pile up, so give it a look. If you read this entire thing, you're a champion. Peace.

Bugsy's: $270.53
FTP: $18.47

Yup

As you can tell by the numbers, things went pretty much like they have been. I started off very optimistic from yesterdays 2 for 2 session but that optimism went away when I dropped 3 $10 HU matches in roughly 15 minutes. I dropped the first two with top 2 vs a set and the third one with a straight vs a boat. I won the 4th match but then dropped the 5th and 6th in similarly stunning fashion when I dropped AA to 78 on a 2J8 flop with a turn 8. The 6th I dropped because I pitched too many hands because I kept getting slapped when I got tough with bottom or middle pair. When I got down to around 4k chips I I finally got tough with AQ vs KT on a T high flop and blanked it on out.

I played a couple of SnGs for $3 taking 3rd in one and blanking in another. I also tackled a couple of MTTs. I played a $3 rebuy and was into it for $18 (not as bad as it sounds, it was basically $6 a pop because of the double rebuys). I was cruising along after the break. I went to break with around 19k when the average was 23k. Over the next 30 minutes I built up to around 39k when the average was 30k and then I had this sweet 3 hand run. I had AKdd and raised it pot preflop. I got 1 caller behind me and we took a Qd Jd 8s flop. We both checked the flop and the turn 8 made me leary for some reason. I checked again and got a 25k all in back at me. I thought for a long time before pitching it. 25k into the 3kish pot was not my cup of tea. The next hand I had TT which I raised and when the action got back to me there had been 2 more raises and an AI so I pitched it. KK took the pot. The next hand I had AA in the BB which was awesome because my table was super LAG. There was a raise in late position by a guy who had me covered. I made it 5k over his 3k raise and we took a 57J flop. I checked it, he shoved, and I insta-called. He showed 55, I blanked and was left at the rail feeling like a date rape victim just starting to get my memory back after the roofies wore off. The last tourney I played was a $3 MTT with 37 people that paid 5 spots. I busted in 7th. I was 3rd in chips with 7 left when I ran my AK into AK. Yes, it may seem like these two hands are of equal value, except i had AKo and he had AKss. The poker gods decided not to screw with me again (see below) and just flopped the flush for him as he was AIPF. I was left with 7k with blinds being 750/1500 and I don't even know what my bust hand was because I was too busy hating poker.

At FTP things were less awful because I exclusively played the $1 MTTs. I think I played 5 or 6 in total and only cashed in one, but I was playing well. There were 2 luck rays that shone through the angry black clouds hanging over my poker game. I literally haven't laid a bad beat on anybody since I've started all of my negative posts, so these are very noteworthy. In the tourney that I moneyed in it was getting near the money bubble and I was in the bottom third of the field and needed to make a move to position myself to win the whole thing. I was dealt KJss and raised it up and got called by the big stack at the table. The flop came 864 with 2 diamonds. I checked and the big stack checked behind me. An A came on the turn and I thought that it was a money card for me. I figured the big stack made me for a decent hand like an AK or AQ and would go away. I checked, he made a small bet and I blasted in over top of him. He thought for a minute and called and showed the disgusting 87dd, giving him the lead, a gutshot, and a flush draw. I had 4 sweet outs and the river brought the nifty Kc to give me the pot and a decent stack. Karma ran me down in this one though as I busted 16th by dropping AQo to AQhh. This came just seconds after I lost AKo to A2hh to cripple me. In another MTT I got in bad with TT vs AA on a 9 high flop. The final board ran out x89JQ though and I housed the rockets and put a big smile on my face. The smile went away when somebody overraised their middle pair and I shoved over top with AKdd. They called (I should've expected it in a $1 tourney) and I blanked out and shipped most of my chips over to the ballsy 66. I shoved my 500 chips 3 hands later with KTo and stopped watching when the flop came all low hearts.

I feel a lot better about FTP than I have recently, but I need to snap this losing streak. Bugsy's has me clueless. What I'm going to sleep on is the thought that I should just cash out $200 and take it to the casino to play the $4/$8 Omaha Hi/Lo. The game is full of really, really bad players and if I weren't on an anorexic budget right now I'd be over there 4-5 times a week. I have some serious poker meditation to perform. I am proud of myself for not going nuclear. I think the shear amount of rapage that I'm taking right now is just too comical to even process. I hope the felt is treating all of you better.

Bugsy's: $304.03
FTP: $17.07

Better

Still no action on FTP, but I played 2 HU matches at Bugsy's and won both of them. It felt good to log a winning session that was more than $1.50. The first match was pretty easy. The guy was overbetting anything better than top pair so I just waited for a flush and busted him with his 3 of a kind. 3 of a kind did in my second match two when his set made my boat. I'd try to make the matches seem more interesting but they really weren't. Sit, wait, make a hand, bust the dude. I'm going to log some serious time tonight playing the $1 MTTs at FTP and $10 HU matches at Bugsy's. Wish me luck.

Bugsy's: $383.74
FTP: $24.20

The Sickness

I played a $10 HU at Bugsy's tonight. It started out well. I took down a couple of big pots by leading out and quickly had the guy down to around 5k in chips. Then I doubled him with K4 vs his 78 on a K78 flop. Back to even, we battled back and forth for a bit when the sickness came up. I had QQ with blinds at 50/100. He min raised it to 200, which he had done before several times. I pot reraised to make it 600 and he min raised it to 1k. I waited to raise again but just decided to call because I was getting suspicious. The flop came out 7 high and he led out 2k. I really, really tanked. Ultimately, I decided that even though it looked like KK or AA, it just doesn't pay to lay this down in a $10 match. Had it been a $100 match, I would assume a higher quality player and would've pitched it, but he called and showed me the cooler AA. I blanked and was crippled to 600 chips. I managed to get up to 1350 when more sickness showed up. I had 24cc and he was playing me way too softly so I limped for 75 more with the blinds 75/150. He checked and we took an 833 flop with 2 clubs. Two checks and the Tc peeled on the turn. He bet, I shoved, and he insta-called with the 95cc. Not much I can do except go back in time and not play 24. I liked the way I played and am proud of myself for at least considering dumping the QQ. I may have been wrong to factor the game size into it, but I think in the long run it's stupid to lay that hand down in these smaller games. This guy was honestly just as likely to show me AK suited or 88, which is why I think the shove was +EV in the long run. Oh well, I'll hit it tomorrow again and make up for it. With Bugsy's huge starting stacks and drawn out structure they might as well just give me the money because I only drop to stone cold coolers or because I get bored with playing an hour and a half HU match for $10 and do something stupid. Good luck.

Bugsy's: $364.74
FTP: Whatever it was yesterday

Worthless

I'm nearly to the point where I need a break from poker. I'm knee-deep in garbage play and there's nothing I can do to stop it, so it might just be time to peace out for a month. I've tried to shift my playing style to adapt to the type of inbred players that I'm up against lately and it has thrown me off of my game. Aggression doesn't work when the other person only comes loaded with new and improved "All In" action, and trapping doesn't work when you're running on a cold streak of flips and draws. Here are a few examples from tonight:

I have 32o in the BB and we limp. Flop comes Q32. I bet, he raises AI, I call. He shows AQ. Turn A, river A. Go him.

I have K6o. Flop AK2. I get in bad and get saved with a 6 on the turn vs his A3. Then the river 3 sinks me.

Against a guy that had been shoving every hand I get A9hh. He shoves, I call. He shows Q3o. Flop QQ2, turn Q.

My J7o vs 83cc. Flop A74 with 2 clubs. He bets, I raise, he calls. Turn 5. I bet he calls. River 6 no club. He puts me in. I call the hand in the chat window (actually, I said 82cc) and then proceed to call because I'm starting to dump chips because I don't believe that I can't lose every single time.

I did finally win a flip today for the first time in a week or two. I had QTdd vs 88. Of course I had serious sweat because he had the 8s and my turn Q was the 3rd spade on the board, but I actually faded a flush draw. I lost the other 3 flips I was in today.

I apologize that the blog has become whiny. Or, actually, started out whiny. I really enjoy discussing hand strategy and such and recapping hands, but there's no way that I can recap a hand like "I had KK on a flop of 259 rainbow, led at it, the dude shoved in, I called and he had 68o and hit a 7." There's no strategy there to discuss. Things happened the way I wanted them to minus the end result. I promise to blog about the very next hand that I'm involved in where actual skill is involved, but don't hold your breath.

I might shift my FTP strategy to the 90 person double stack SnGs. I'm 2 for 3 moneying in them, and I won the second one I played. Further, with my remaining bankroll I can play 19 more of them. If I win one it's a $22 payday which would nearly double my roll right now. The rake is steep, but I think it's a better idea than trying to hit up some ring games. That's all for now, time for bed.

Bugsy's: $375.79
FTP: $24.20

Strategy Change

So my slide continues. Since my last post I've managed to stem the tide of dumping buyin after buyin, but I'm still consistently losing $10 a session at Bugsy's, which isn't going to get me anywhere I want to go. For the time being, I'm going to ditch the ring games in favor of some HU matches and MTTs. I'll probably sit at a few SnGs if I can because I've been holding my own in the few that I've played. I'm still not sure that there's anything wrong with my cash game, but I'd like to wait out the wave of garbage before I hit it again.

FTP has been pretty steady. I'm down a couple of matches but I'm playing well. My shift in strategy here is going to involve a little more recklessness. If I think that people are on a draw they're going to have to put in their money to find out.

Hope all is going well on your end. Unless I'm playing you, then I kind of hope you hit a bad patch. Nothing personal.

Bugsy's: $366.29
FTP: $35.55

Variance

The downside to playing the way that I do is that variance crushes my soul. When you play very tightly and limit your starting hand selections, you never win a lot but you never lose a lot either. Your strategy involves getting paid off on big hands. The way that I play gets me into all sorts of messes that just aren't fun. Today, for instance, in a $2 HU I had 72o vs 99. The flop came 872. He bet, I raised, he moved in and I called. This is where variance gets me. Statistically I'm profitable putting in at this point. About 70% of the time my hand holds. However, 30% is a big number. The turn peeled 8 and I'm sunk to all but 4 outs. I'm buried deep in the heart of a string of this right now. This variance has also decided to team up with good old fashioned cold-decking to have its way with my bankroll. My other $2 HU loss came to KT vs my A9 on a flop of AQJ. Awesome. I did pull out 1 win by getting in for all of my money on A7dd against 5d5h on an 988 flop with 2 diamonds. When I hit an A on the river the guy called me a luckbox donkey. Fine.

I must also clarify my bankroll situation. Before my last post I snuck in a $.10/$.25 NLHE session at Bugsy's where things went my way. I scooped a monsterpotten with 55 vs QQ. I raised preflop in middle position and he slowplayed from the BB. The flop was 633. He checked, I bet, and he checkraised me the minimum. This made it easy for me. I know he's going to check the turn and I'm going to put out a bet around half the pot. If he has a monster, he'll smooth call, if he was just trying to weakly push me off my hand he'll fold. He smooth called my bet at the turn 4 and I was in shutdown mode unless a 2, 7, or 5 peeled. The 2 on the river sealed it for me and I didn't even have to do anything as he shoved into me. He was pretty pissed about dropping the hand but if he would've played it better he would've won a decent pot rather than lost the monster. A bigger raise on the flop, a raise or bet on the turn and I'm history. He got greedy and he got burned. I hope he doesn't learn from that mistake. Anyway, that put me up over $400 to something around $417 which is why I talked about my losing session even when the bankroll number increased between posts. Here are the new numbers.

Bugsy's: $387.24
FTP: $35.20

Still Sliding

I'm still on a terrible run. I'm playing solidly just getting mowed down by anything and everything around. Yesterday I had 33 vs Q7o in a $.10/$.25 NLHE ring game. The AQ3 flop made me happy in pants. I checkraised, the guy called. The turn was a 7 and we got all of the money in. The river was the awesome 7 making my $70 pot go bye bye. Miraculously, I've been scooping one or two very large pots that have kept me in the action. I'm still down quite a bit, but not nearly as much as I should be.

I broke form and sat $1/$2 NLHE at Bugsy's and $.05/$.10 NLHE at FTP. I won a great pot with AJcc vs presumably KQ on a T45 flop. I bet the flop, got called, and we took a J on the turn. I bet again and the other guy moved in. I called and the river was a gross T but the chips slid my way for a nice $141 pot. I kept winning small pots all the way up to $170ish before I quit. At FTP I tripled up my starting stack with 64dd on a 235 rainbow flop. I checked it and we took a K on the turn. I led out and got 2 callers. I led out at the T on the river with the nuts, got 1 caller and 1 raise all in. I called and the other guy called. That put me up to around $18 and I worked it up to $24ish before I quit. I looked at my online poker rankings and I've dropped all the way down to a 53% win rate which I thinks is just barely above break even. I really need this down spell to end so I can get back to making money.

Bugsy's: $387.24
FTP: $37.65

Redheaded Stepchild

I've never run so bad as I did last night. I played well. I played quite a few hands, but I was playing well. I was ditching draws when I didn't have the odds and I was making raises when it was likely that I was ahead. I was definitely playing on the aggressive side and pushing big draws. Hands like a pair and a flush draw were nearly automatic reraises. The problem was that I was blanking. And not just blanking on draws. I was kryptonite. I was bathed in kryptonite. I had a chunk up my ass. Also, I cancer too. Here's a fun one. I had 3c 3s. I called a raise and we took a 4 handed flop that brought a glorious Ac Qc 3d. I fired pot from up front and got 2 callers. The turn was a 7. I fired pot again and lost one but kept one. The river was another 7, boating me up. I fired the rest of my $40ish starting stack into the pot and got instacalled. The other guy showed me Q7. He apologized prefusely but it didn't give me my chips back.

I ended up 4 tabling for about 2 hours. 2 short handed NLHE ring games, 1 full ring game, and 1 full ring limit HO game. In the NLHE tables I had AA once. It held. I had KK, QQ, JJ, and TT several times. I won when people folded to me, otherwise I dropped. It was brutal overall, as you'll see when you look at the bankroll figures. I'm very proud of myself for not losing it. Believe me, I was ready to lose it, but I kept just taking a couple of deep breaths and blowing it off. I had to walk around a couple of times and sit out some hands, but I kept my head on straight. So I'm ditching the schedule which I was nowhere near anyway. However, the experiment is still on as I haven't managed to brutally murder my FTP bankroll yet.

Bugsy's: $380.89
FTP: $27.05

Come Back

I apologize for the gap in the posts. I had a nice little getaway to Lake Tahoe that I've been desperately needing. Work has had me pretty wrung out and it was affecting everything, including poker. The tilt session a couple of weeks ago was about a lot more than poker. I did get in one more session before I left. It was an overall negative, but I was happy with it. I plugged up my leaks and was on hyperalert against tilt. I don't remember specifics of the session at this point, but I played a pretty nitty, solid game. I played more conservatively than usual just to keep myself in line. I was playing both ring NLHE and HU matches at my usual sites. I took some thumps. My roll ended down, but it was a decent recovery session. I'm playing ring right now and I'm still taking some lumps, but I'm not letting myself get discouraged. I learned at least a temporary lesson from the UberTilt. I'll post my roll numbers tomorrow before I play any more, so the numbers below are from when I left for Tahoe. I hope all is going well on the felt for all of you and thanks for checking back.

Bugsy's: $537.99
FTP: $27.05

UberTilt

So I pulled a classic me two nights ago. For the uninitiated, a "me" is when you make one bad decision that rapidly avalanches into a series of horrible ones. The bad decision was playing angry. I've done a fantastic job of avoiding playing angry for quite some time now. It has taken a lot of patience, but I've been able to step back and tell myself that I shouldn't play poker at the moment. The reason is that when I say angry, what I'm referring to is something bigger. I can play when I'm in a bad mood without any problem, but there are certain times when I feel the world is out to get me, and those are the sessions that end up costing me. This is where I was at last night and in no time flat I was in a bad place. I started playing a $2 HU match at FTP and a $.10/$.25 NLHE ring game at Bugsy's. Everything started okay, but nearly simultaneously I took two not-all-that-bad beats and lost all control. On the ring table, I had 99. The hand right before my 99, I had been dealt 77. A loose jackass in front of my had raised as he did every single hand and I repopped it the pot. He called and we took a terrible QJ4 flop. He led out and I pitched it. Then I was dealt the 99. Again, he raised and I repopped it and the two of us took the K72 flop. He led out and I decided that he couldn't possibly outflop me every hand. This is where my tilt problem happens. Normally I realize that somebody CAN in fact outflop me every hand during a session. When I feel the world is out to get me, I feel that I'm owed. So even if it is very obvious that I'm beat, I have no fear shoving in because some higher power owes me my two outer and it's going to hit this time. Predictably, it never hits, and I shoved over his bet and he insta-called and showed down the K3hh to scoop. That put me down $20 and was a fantastic place to stop, except I didn't. I sped through two more buy-ins to be stuck $60 with another $20 on the table. The fortunate part is that I was so card dead that my non-functional brain even knew better than to get involved in any hands. Even in Maximum Tilt mode, I still know that 52o isn't going to do anything for me. I did eventually win back $40 of the $60 that I was down, but I deserved to be stuck more and I realize it.

FTP was more of a horror show. The "bad beat" that I took there wasn't all that bad. I did drop a three outer early when I had the guy on the felt to put him back in it, but that one didn't seem to bother me. What bothered me was later when he opened up into full Tard mode and started pushing every other hand. I sat back and waited and finally got all in with AQ vs his K6o. The glorious K66 flop sent me through the roof. I kept playing match after match just trying to shove the other person off of every hand. And every time I got called down by anything less than the stone nuts I couldn't figure out how the other person was playing so badly and beating me. Well, it's because I'm a genius. If I would've been playing me I would've taken my entire roll. Fortunately I only lost something sick like -10 matches rather than my whole kitty. In terms of the experiment, it set me back like three months. My first instinct today was to sit down and log a monster session to try and get it back. The numbers don't lie; setting aside the tilt session, I was rolling at around a 59% win rate. With that win rate, it means that I'm profiting something around $.25 every match that I play. Over time, that's going to pay off for me. However, my rational thought kicked back in today and told me to avoid all poker until everything could really settle in and I could tell just how big of a jackass I had been. It took until 11:00pm, but I think I'm ready for a couple of rounds now.

As with every one of these sessions that I have, all I can do is pick up the pieces and learn. I know that I'll do it again, but my frequency and severity seem to decrease every time. Three years ago I would've been typing with some solid goose eggs in my two accounts because I would've sat at a $3/$6 NLHE table to try to get even. Those days are gone. I can't wait until the tilt sessions are too.

Bugsy's: $536.09
FTP: $32.55

Hell or High Water

I said I was playing yesterday no matter what and I did. One match. I won it though, which was nice. I played a guy who just couldn't hang. I came out of the gate super-aggro as usual, raising every hand on the button regardless. I was also continuing on every flop, so he was having a hard time adjusting. After a couple of rounds of this, he started calling my flop bets. I'd check it down as would he no matter what he had and he brought it back to even. When we were near even, I took a dumb stab at the first pot that he had bet at and was down to around 1100 in chips. Then he decided to get aggressive, except he was terrible at it. He was raising preflop every single hand and leading out at the flop, but he was oblivious to traps. I was tired so I was a little looser preflop than normal and shoved over top of his raises with any hand that I would've raised with myself. He pitched several of these and I had one big trap and was back to even. He didn't let off the gas though and after a few folds I peeled another big pot to put him down to just above 1k. I got dealt AQhh and knew how to play it. I raised pot on the button, he shoved and I beat him in the pot. He showed a spooky 97dd. The flop brought an A and one diamond, the turn gave me sweat with another diamond, but the river blanked and I went to sleep because I was exhausted.

It sucks that I'm already getting off of my bankroll schedule after one week. I know that I have a valid excuse, but I really want to crack down and play. I think after I get the shower curtain/wall fixed and the pink room painted in our new house, I'll have a lot more time as the other projects are not necessities. At least I hope. I'll sneak in matches and short sessions here and there though, so keep checking daily all one of you who read and I'll have more for you. Happy hunting.

Bugsy's: $551.44
FTP: $52.15

Itch

I still haven't gotten any matches in. I really want to play one right now but I'm absolutely smoked. A weekend of too little sleep and too much moving has my batteries drained right now, and all I'd do is piss away a couple of HU matches if I attempted any right now, so I'll show some self control and keep the poker programs closed until tomorrow. I'm playing tomorrow no matter what. Jesus himself could appear in front of my computer and say that he'll kill every firstborn child in the world if I play and I'll respond "Well, we COULD use some extra space around here..." Okay, so maybe not, but I'm playing no matter what. Until tomorrow...

Update

Thanks for those of you who have checked out my site so far. Please tell friends.

I'm still on hiatus for a couple of more days as we just finished moving everything into our new house but we still have a ton of unpacking to do. Virginia's on call tomorrow, so I may squeeze a little poker in, but any decent playing time will be reserved for Wednesday as I have that day off. Just wanted to let everybody know that I wasn't dead and to keep checking for new posts. In the meantime, good luck on the felt.

Quick Update

It's super late here and I have a ton of stuff to do tomorrow for the move, so this will be quick. I'll elaborate later.

I logged on for what I thought would be a quick session before Virginia got home and ended up getting wrecked at both sites. I quit for a bit when she got home, but then she got paged back to the hospital so I logged back on. It's a good thing because I went on some nice runs to get back into the black for the day. I may not play for the rest of the weekend, so it was nice to end the night ahead.

Also, hello to my new Belgian friend almaspero who I see from my StatCounter has already stopped by and hopefully stops by again. We played quite a few HU matches tonight and he's a really nice guy.

The numbers are:
Bugsy's: $551.44
FTP: $50.30

Big Day, 5%, Kevin's Blog

I came home from work and Virginia was stuck at the hospital for the long haul so I got in what will be my last quality time at the tables for this week. It started out pretty rough. I kicked it off with a $5 HU at Bugsy's which I won pretty easily in under 5 minutes. I like Bugsy's HU format, but sometimes it takes ages to beat people because of the 10k starting stacks. I'll take it over FTP and the paltry 1500 any day though. Then I decided to grind a little short-handed $.10/$.25 NLHE at Bugsy's. I got cold-decked on my very first hand. I came in as BB and was dealt 53dd. There were several limpers and we took a beautiful 532 rainbow flop. The SB checked, I bet out the pot for about $1 and it folded to the SB who min raised me. I was afraid of maybe a suited A4 or, from the SB especially, a hand like 64 suited so I decided to pop it again to see where I was at. I threw in a pot raise to make it $7 to go and he insta-shoved over top of me. I thought for about 10 seconds, typed "top 2" into the chat window and pitched it. He showed 22 for bottom set. Thank you poker gods for trying to bust me on my first hand. 1 hand and I was stuck $7, neat start. At least I got away from it and didn't go bust. After a few more orbits and a few limps and raises that didn't pan out, I was down to $9 from my $20 buy-in. I took an open seat at the 10 handed $.10/$.25 table and signed up for a $20 HU match. The full table treated me well for a change. Usually I'm better against fewer opponents because I like to be involved in lots of pots and you just have to show down too many hands at a full table. To boot, you have to have a lot better than bottom or middle pair when you do show down, something I don't find myself with often. Anyway, on my 2nd orbit I found AKss in the SB and watched the table fold to the button. He hesitate and popped it the pot and I liked it. I figured he had an A and possibly even a decent hand like AT or AJ for him to pause before raising, so I repopped it hoping for a shove. He just called my raise leaving himself about $8 behind. The flop was a decent 679 with 2 clubs and I thought for a moment before betting pot. I was a little worried that maybe he had the A and a card 6-9, all of which had me in bad shape, but I decided it was something closer to AT or AJ and bet the pot, leaving him only $3 and change over my bet. He shoved over me instantly and I had to call. The turn peeled a 4 and the river another 9 and I scooped the pot when he showed me the AQo. Go me. The win put me around $33, bringing me back up when I combined my rolls from the 2 tables, but I played a few more rounds and scooped a few more pots to cash out of the full table right around $42. I battled back on the short-handed table and ended up leaving there for about $13 for a decent little profit on the day. Just as I was about to take a break to get some dinner up popped the $20 HU that I had forgotten about signing up for. I sat back down and quickly got myself slapped around down to just over 5k from the 10k starting stack. My problem was a severe post flop aversion to betting. I don't know if I thought the guy was trying to trap me or not, but I just wouldn't bet after the flop, he kept betting after the flop, and I kept losing decent sized pots without a fight. At 5k I decided to start going to war when I was sure I was ahead and things turned around. I started reraising more and following up my preflop raises and quickly ran it back to almost 8k. Then I took down a big pot with JT on a final board of Q9787 to shift the chip lead my way with a stack of 12k. 2 hands later I was dealt K8dd on the button and raised it. I got reraised and called. The flop was a nifty KT8, he bet, I raised and he called. The turn was a J, he checked, I bet, he moved in and I called. He showed QQ and blanked his 10 outs on the river to give me another $20 to my day's tally.

I then shifted my focus to FTP. I took down my first $2 HU in 4 hands when we got AIPF with my KK vs his 44. The board came up empty for him and I was up a quick $2. My next match sucked as I was playing a guy who was erratically aggressive. The type of player who just chunks in the sporadic 5x pot overbet and you don't quite know what it means because you can't pay it off for information. I took a decent lead with about 1900 chips to his 1100 when I was dealt AcQs. I raised it on the button, he min raised me and I pushed back with a pot raise. He insta-shoved and I beat him in the pot to see a nice looking A6. Nice until the flop came down 6T4ccc. I blanked my 12 outs twice and was in a bad spot. I battled all the way back up to 1100 from as low as 450 when he did me in with 66 vs AQ AIPF. He flopped a 6 on an 8 high board and I was donesky. The river was a sweet little Q just to rub it in. Of course he refused a rematch and I was off to find another chump. Fortunately, it's FTP so I only had to wait about 15 seconds for another guy who dumped 2 matches to me in about 4 minutes and I was back up for the day.

At work today I was quite bored and started messing with an Excel spreadsheet. I wondered what would happen if I could average a modest 5% increase in my bankrolls each week through the rest of the year. I was very surprised by the results. If I can manage a 5% increase every week, I'll finish out the year at Bugsy's just shy of $1300 and I'll be somewhere in the neighborhood of $112 at FTP. I make a quick calendar with the weekly goals on it and spaces for my actual totals to see how I'm doing. Hopefully I increase my roll much quicker than 5%, especially at FTP, otherwise it will take between 2 and 3 years to hit the $10k that Ferguson hit in 18 months. I still wouldn't complain, but I think I can get up there just as fast as he did despite my decreased poker playing schedule. After all I'm right around a month in and I'm already at $46, where it took him 9 months to hit $100. I'll probably end up eating those words. I hope they taste good.

If you've read to the end of this novel, I'd appreciate you checking out KevinPoker's blog either through this link or from the one on the side. It's a pretty good blog that I discovered a few days ago with a unique perspective on poker. Check it out.

Bugsy's: $530.19
FTP: $45.60

Tunnel Vision

I played 1 $2 HU last night and won it pretty quickly. Virginia is on call tonight so I am logging some more hours. It's not going well. I lost 1 $2 HU match at FTP when a dude went 4 for 4 in all-ins against me during the match. I had him down to 180 chips pretty quickly and we shoved in. He took down the first hand with the 60/40 edge that held. The next hand was the same story, he got in with 60/40 and won it. Now he's at 620. We shove again and he has AJ vs my J2cc. No 3 outer for me and now he's at 1240. He shoves over my button raises several times and forces me to fold the garbage I kept getting. He shoved until I was down to about 1200 and woke up with KQo. I raised, he reraised, and I shoved big. He called me down with A6o and I never caught up. It was pretty gross to lose 3 coin flips, but it happens.

Things turned around when I sat down at a 6 handed $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's. I was quickly up to $40 from my original buy-in and was looking for another $6-$10 so I could call it a night. That's when things began to unravel. I built up to $40 with some good hands. I called a small bet in a 4 handed pot with 65 on a board of 48T rainbow. The turn was the miracle 7 and I scooped about a $13 pot. A few hands later I limped with T9o up front and saw a nice J99 flop. The turn peeled a T which I checked again as there were 5 players and it checked around a second time. The river peeled a glorious Q making the 4 card straight and a spade flush. I checked knowing SOMEBODY had to bet and got a fish. He bet pot, I raised pot, he shoved, I insta-called. I'm guessing he had a K and not the flush. Then I raised AK and TT and took down some blinds and there I sat at $40. On the next orbit I got 2 red Q's and licked my chops. In hindsight, I was greedy. I wanted to hit $50 so I could quit. $50 also put me well over $500 at Bugsy's, so I was blinded by all sorts of things that I shouldn't have been thinking about. I had raised in early middle position and gotten called by the steal position. The flop came KT5 with 2 diamonds, I bet pot and the other guy shoved for about $8 more. I thought to myself "He probably has something like AK or KQ" and then called like a tard. The turn was a 2, and the river a T and he showed K2hh to scoop. It dropped me to about $30, I played a few more hands and the table fell apart leaving me with around $32. I took a short break and started playing full ring at the same limit and got trapped like a mink by KK. I limped under the gun with KJss and it folded to the button who raised pot. I figured something like AQ or AK and called. The flop was good, 864 with one spade. The BB led out for a pot bet and I called, thinking that I'd take it away on the next 2 streets. The turn was a T, he checked and I fired about 4/5ths of the pot. He min raised me, which I found confusing. If he had 75, I wouldn't have seen the flop bet. If he had 97, I wouldn't have seen it either so I thought. I read this bet to be AK or AQ trying to push me off any draw I might be on, so I called it, expecting to take it away on the river. Locked in on a hand now, I either wanted a J on the river or a blank. The river was the glorious J. He shoved and I beat him in the pot. He showed KK and I showed my humble face. In hindsight, the min check raise on the turn should've been a big tell of strength, but again, I had it in my mind that I couldn't lose a hand tonight. I did a pretty good job of battling back from being stuck $20 on that session and finished an acceptable -$6 despite some pretty frozen cards.

I haven't set any goals for my bankrolls this week as I will be very busy with the move and my crazy work schedule. I might slip a few $2 HU matches in tomorrow night because I'll have some free time, but Wednesday I'm booked, Thursday I'll be packing everything that isn't already packed, and on Friday I move. So these numbers may stay this way for the rest of the week, but I will post updates on my not-playing if I can't find any time to grind. Happy hunting.

Bugsy's: $491.99
FTP: $42.20

Yuck

If you frequent my other blog, you'll know that today wasn't the best day for me to start with, but things just sort of fell apart at the poker table. Virginia wasn't going to be home until late, so I logged on to a $.10/$.25 NLHE table at Bugsy's and opened up a $2 HU at FTP. For the first little bit, I wasn't even going to blog about the play because it was pretty vanilla. I won probably $3 at Bugsy's and won 2 of 2 HU matches at FTP in pretty boring fashion, so I was just going to update my bankroll totals. Then I decided to play a 3rd HU match. And a 4th. You get the point. I ran so cold I thought I was an Eskimo marathoner. In the 3rd match I won 2 hands. That was out of the 23 we played. I don't know how I lasted that long. The guy had top pair or better every hand. Except twice. I sat in my chair saying "Second pair has to be good eventually, right?" Wrong. Second pair can lose every time. I know this now. Nobody would rematch me today win or lose, so I kept rolling through players. Same story. I'd miss flops, bet, they'd call. I'd miss flops, they'd bet and I'd have to fold. I think I went on a mini-heater and won 2 in a row at the end to get back up above $40, but I have a hard time calling it a heater since the poker gods owe me a fatty. One example why: I have Tc 4d and flop a nice 6c 7c 8c. I like it because I figure I've got the better club and I've got my gutterball straight possibility as well. The turn peels a 5c which is great except that it makes my opponents 4c 4s the ubernuts. Go skill. I love losing to straight flushes in HU. Granted, I lost a tiny pot there, this was exemplary of my night on FTP.

Bugsy's really wasn't noteworthy. I didn't get wrapped up in any big hand. The biggest was a $20 pot vs a tiny stack. He limped from middle position and I popped it late with AKo. It folded back to him and he reraised a little over minimum. It smelled like a weak pair to me so I decided to push him in for his $10. He used nearly all of his time and called. I didn't get to see what he had but the final board was QTxxJ to give me the nuts. Other than that, I won some tiny little pots by raising preflop and betting the flop, and I also lost a couple.

New Bankroll Totals:
Bugsy's: $484.14
FTP: $42.50