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