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