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