Oh well I tried

I'm playing right now and it really feels like I don't wanna play for a long time after this. Here's a recap of what's happened to me for the past week:

ALav5 is at seat 0 with $285.
RandyDman3 is at seat 1 with $475.
eachualive is at seat 2 with $473.
lordlarry is at seat 3 with $468.
Mfort is at seat 4 with $200.
chengong is at seat 5 with $577.
music35 is at seat 6 with $82.50.
Rockette is at seat 7 with $274.
kidcrash is at seat 8 with $219.
Black 8ces is at seat 9 with $250.
The button is at seat 7.

kidcrash posts the small blind of $2.
Black 8ces posts the big blind of $5.

ALav5: -- --
RandyDman3: -- --
eachualive: -- --
lordlarry: -- --
chengong: -- --
music35: -- --
Rockette: -- --
kidcrash: Th Tc
Black 8ces: -- --

Pre-flop:

ALav5 folds. RandyDman3 folds. eachualive calls.
lordlarry folds. chengong folds. music35 folds.
Rockette folds. kidcrash raises to $10. Black 8ces
calls. eachualive calls.

Flop (board: Ts 9c 5d):

kidcrash checks. Black 8ces bets $5. eachualive
raises to $10. kidcrash calls. Black 8ces calls.

Turn (board: Ts 9c 5d Kh):

kidcrash checks. Black 8ces bets $10. eachualive
folds. kidcrash raises to $20. Black 8ces calls.

River (board: Ts 9c 5d Kh Kc):

kidcrash bets $10. Black 8ces raises to $20.
kidcrash re-raises to $30. Black 8ces re-raises to
$40. kidcrash calls.

Showdown:

Black 8ces shows 5s Ks.
Black 8ces has 5s Ks 5d Kh Kc: full house, kings full of fives.
kidcrash mucks cards.
(kidcrash has Th Tc.)

And this too:
Yo 11 is at seat 0 with $418.
SERG44731 is at seat 1 with $430.50.
eachualive is at seat 2 with $423.
cmac291 is at seat 3 with $598.50.
Mfort is at seat 4 with $526.
imariverrat2 is at seat 5 with $151.
0A50 is at seat 6 with $470.
Rockette is at seat 7 with $203.50.
kidcrash is at seat 8 with $181.
Black 8ces is at seat 9 with $373.
The button is at seat 1.

eachualive posts the small blind of $2.
cmac291 posts the big blind of $5.

Yo 11: -- --
SERG44731: -- --
eachualive: -- --
cmac291: -- --
Mfort: -- --
imariverrat2: -- --
0A50: -- --
Rockette: -- --
kidcrash: Jc Kc
Black 8ces: -- --

Pre-flop:

Mfort folds. imariverrat2 folds. 0A50 folds.
Rockette folds. kidcrash raises to $10. Black 8ces
folds. Yo 11 calls. SERG44731 folds. eachualive
folds. cmac291 calls.

Flop (board: Kh As Jh):

cmac291 bets $5. kidcrash raises to $10. Yo 11
folds. cmac291 re-raises to $15. kidcrash calls.


Turn (board: Kh As Jh 2c):

cmac291 bets $10. kidcrash calls.

River (board: Kh As Jh 2c 2s):

cmac291 checks. kidcrash checks.

Showdown:

cmac291 shows Ts Ah.
cmac291 has Ah Kh As 2c 2s: two pair, aces and deuces.
kidcrash mucks cards.
(kidcrash has Jc Kc.)

Aaaaand this:
Yo 11 is at seat 0 with $407.
SERG44731 is at seat 1 with $423.50.
eachualive is at seat 2 with $482.50.
cmac291 is at seat 3 with $670.50 (sitting out).
imariverrat2 is at seat 5 with $128.
0A50 is at seat 6 with $420.
Rockette is at seat 7 with $210.50.
kidcrash is at seat 8 with $23.50.
Black 8ces is at seat 9 with $412.
The button is at seat 6.

Rockette posts the small blind of $2.
kidcrash posts the big blind of $5.

Yo 11: -- --
SERG44731: -- --
eachualive: -- --
imariverrat2: -- --
0A50: -- --
Rockette: -- --
kidcrash: 7c 6d
Black 8ces: -- --

Pre-flop:

Black 8ces folds. Yo 11 raises to $10. SERG44731
folds. eachualive folds. imariverrat2 folds. 0A50
folds. Rockette calls. kidcrash calls.

Flop (board: 6s 3c 7h):

Rockette bets $5. kidcrash calls. Yo 11 calls.

Turn (board: 6s 3c 7h Jd):

Rockette bets $10. kidcrash goes all-in for $8.50.
Yo 11 raises to $20. Rockette calls.

River (board: 6s 3c 7h Jd Jc):

Rockette checks. Yo 11 bets $10. Rockette calls.

Showdown:

Yo 11 shows Ks Kh.
Yo 11 has Ks Kh 7h Jd Jc: two pair, kings and jacks.
Rockette mucks cards.
(Rockette has 9s 9c.)
kidcrash shows 7c 6d.
kidcrash has 7c 6d 7h Jd Jc: two pair, jacks and sevens.


I really feel like I've just been getting crushed in every single hand that I play, and it appears that I am. It's been a demoralizing week as I just can't seem to win no matter what I do or how I play, and I've lost all the profit that I've made so far, besides a hundred bucks, which I'm losing as we speak right now. I'm getting no respect when I raise or bet, no matter how long I've been in a game, which in turn leads to people catching cards when they shouldn't even be in a hand, and overall I'm just not catching when I need to when I have ample pot odds.

I don't know if I'm gonna keep playing for right now because it's really having a negative effect on my overall moods and I've been getting upset easily lately, which I don't like. I think that if I played more things would be different, but the fact that I only play so much and when I do play I'm getting ruined really intesifies the losses and my reactions towards them. I will keep ya'll updated, but just know that right now things aren't lookin good.

Bankroll: $561

So THAT'S why they call it an average

I guess you can't always win. Over the weekend I really got hammered by numerous donks and rivers. It started on Thursday night and continued through to Paul's tournament. I normally can expect that from Paul's game because there's a lot of no good players there anyways, but the 5/10 was rediculous.

Point and case A:

Chester123 is at seat 0 with $355.
Q-Bert32 is at seat 1 with $180.50.
SERG44731 is at seat 2 with $196.50.
Luckless1184 is at seat 3 with $193.
nutscrshr is at seat 4 with $638.
20fter is at seat 5 with $207.
your bet is at seat 6 with $504.
bsd1bsd is at seat 7 with $502.
UptownTJ is at seat 8 with $99.
kidcrash is at seat 9 with $76.
The button is at seat 9.

Chester123 posts the small blind of $2.
Q-Bert32 posts the big blind of $5.

Chester123: -- --
Q-Bert32: -- --
SERG44731: -- --
Luckless1184: -- --
nutscrshr: -- --
20fter: -- --
your bet: -- --
bsd1bsd: -- --
UptownTJ: -- --
kidcrash: Ad 6h

Pre-flop:

SERG44731 folds. Luckless1184 folds. nutscrshr
folds. 20fter calls. your bet folds. bsd1bsd
folds. UptownTJ folds. kidcrash calls. Chester123
calls. Q-Bert32 checks.

Flop (board: 7d Ah Kc):

Chester123 bets $5. Q-Bert32 folds. 20fter calls.
kidcrash raises to $10. Chester123 calls. 20fter
calls.

Turn (board: 7d Ah Kc 2c):

Chester123 checks. 20fter checks. kidcrash bets
$10. Chester123 calls. 20fter folds.

River (board: 7d Ah Kc 2c 9d):

Chester123 bets $10. kidcrash calls.



Showdown:

Chester123 shows Kh 9h.
Chester123 has Kh 9h Ah Kc 9d: two pair, kings and nines.
kidcrash mucks cards.
(kidcrash has Ad 6h.)

That's fine, just a regular suckout, which will usually be beneficial to me. I wasn't really mad at that one, I figured he had 2 pair on the river, and if he had a bigger hand earlier then he let me off cheap. As you can see my stack wasn't doing too well at that point, and that was after about 4 hours of play. And although I tried fighting my way back, this is just the way the night was going.

Point and case B, C, D, E, F, G, etc.....:

Malepilot is at seat 0 with $566.50.
kidcrash is at seat 1 with $216.50.
bad bowler is at seat 2 with $728.
candutude is at seat 3 with $247.
stambrose is at seat 4 with $194.50 (sitting out).
Jimmi Vacant is at seat 5 with $173.
rockdove is at seat 6 with $92.
Redskin fan is at seat 7 with $731.50.
igmoney is at seat 8 with $431.
your bet is at seat 9 with $250.
The button is at seat 9.

Malepilot posts the small blind of $2.
kidcrash posts the big blind of $5.

Malepilot: -- --
kidcrash: 7c Ad
bad bowler: -- --
candutude: -- --
Jimmi Vacant: -- --
rockdove: -- --
Redskin fan: -- --
igmoney: -- --
your bet: -- --

Pre-flop:

bad bowler folds. candutude folds. Jimmi Vacant
raises to $10. rockdove calls. Redskin fan folds.
igmoney folds. your bet folds. Malepilot calls.
kidcrash calls.

Flop (board: 5c 7h 8d):

Malepilot checks. kidcrash bets $5. Jimmi Vacant
calls. rockdove calls. Malepilot calls.

Turn (board: 5c 7h 8d 3s):

Malepilot checks. kidcrash bets $10. Jimmi Vacant
folds. rockdove folds. Malepilot calls.

River (board: 5c 7h 8d 3s 5h):

Malepilot bets $10. kidcrash calls.



Showdown:

Malepilot shows 5d 2d.
Malepilot has 5d 5c 7h 8d 5h: three fives.
kidcrash mucks cards.
(kidcrash has 7c Ad.)

Jimmi Vacant had been raising a lot, and since I already had my BB in and I had a mid-ace I figured I was ok calling and reevaluating if I hit my ace. What I didn't expect was for some retard to call me with bottom pair, bottom kicker, with no redraw on the turn, to call me to the river for such a small pot. Some people really kill me, and this is one of those people. My bankroll as well as my brain hurts when these kind of things happen. Now I know that these are marginal hands and that I shouldn't be expecting too much, but like I've said before I really think I have a strong limit game and I pride myself in reading limit games.

So at Paul's I skimmed the cash zone again as I bubbled once more thanks to frickin AJ, who really has a knack of screwing me in a big, big way at Paul's game. I was ok with that though, and afterwards we played some quarter games (Beat the Dummy, 3-Card Guts, Kings and Littles, and some other fun ones) and I won ten bucks. Woohoo.

I really enjoy my time with Paul and Dena, and when they offered to let me stay so that I didn't have to drive for an hour and a half at 3 in the morning I gladly took the chance to do so. The next day we played some darts, some cards, and basically just hung out. Their kids (my cousins) are really funny, and their little son who's....maybe 2(?) is an absolute crackup. Needless to say I didn't leave until around 10 that night and made it back to my bed to sleep, sleep, sleep.

My alarm clock never went off this morning, so I was a half an hour late to work, which is never fun. I was expecting my day to drag, but Monday's always a busy paper day so it went by pretty fast. Overall I've been pretty laid back for the past few days, which is weird cuz I'm usually pretty wiley and upbeat. I guess all these losing days and sleepless nights might be affecting me, but it doesn't feel like a big problem, so whatever.

It's probably cuz frickin Darsky wasn't there to humor me at Paul's!! Thanks a lot dude!! Haha oh well hopefully he did ok in his pool tourney, I'm sure he'll blog it. I'm pretty tired of getting pwned at the tables right now, so I think I'll take a couple days off and play some DoD or somethin.

Until next time.

Bankroll: $828

Bossman's game? Still not a loser

Another night at my boss's $.50/$1 and I still haven't left a loser! Haha man that's talented....aaaaaaaaand insert sarcasm warning here.....just in case. I did leave with a $17 profit for the 3 hours we played, so I almost halved my buy-in of $40. Oh well, it was fun and the boss's house is awesome, so it's always a good time. Also, I sat for 1 hand of 5/10 before I left and made $30, so I laughed and then I left cuz I didn't feel like playing.

Anyways I gotta lotta studying and homework to do tonight for my Bus. Law class, which means I'll be parked in front my computer mostly all night, which means that I'll be on UB mostly all night!! Finally I get to put in a session at the 5/10! Now if I keep up with the $200/hr rate that I've been making since I've been playing for an hour at a time, I should be a millionaire by the end of the morning! Of course that won't happen, but I should still be able to pull in a win. I'll try to take some HH's so I finally have something to share with ya'll, but I will really be trying to concentrate on my homework, so we'll see what happens.

Sorry about the boring entries lately, but I haven't been doing much.

Peace

Bankroll: $1,081

It has begun!!

K so I guess I'm just gonna go for it. 5/10 is in, $20+2 and $30+3 SnGs are out. I just enjoy limit too much to not play it. I realize that I might run into trouble, but I'm willing to take that bankroll risk cuz I feel like if I play it I will beat it. I'm not saying I'll will every time, but I know I can beat the game, therefore I will continue to play it.

As it stands so far I've played 5 games, all short sessions, but for a $487 profit. I've played for 44 minutes, one hour, two hours, two hours, and one hour, more or less. I had one losing session, and that was for $154, but I quickly made it back and more the next time I sat when I left with a $223 profit. And I've said it before, I know that these aren't "sessions", trust me I know what it's like to sit in a cardroom for 3 days straight with no sleep, I've done that too. But if I can win this much in the short term, I should be able to win in the long run, period.

Again, I don't really have any HH because I basically just play BTB and get paid off. I jam everything on the turn and follow through on the river and usually get called by weaker hands. I play tight, I play solid. That's it. It may seem kind of mudane and boring to the rest of you, but to me winning money is fun no matter what. I do have to say, though, that I'm really lookin forward to Paul's this weekend. I usually like going, but right now I have this feeling that I really, really wanna go. Tournament weekend was great fun and it made me really realize how much I enjoy everyone's presence and how much fun I have when I hang out with the Paul's Game group.

Insert closing statement here.

Bankroll: $1,056

Uh oh here I go...........

I know that I might run into some serious trouble if I start overextending my bankroll and jump into a regular game with only 5 buy-ins, but I know I can beat the game. The plan was to work up my bankroll until DECEMBER doing this whole Sit N Go thing, but not cashing in a tourney after a long time (especially when it's only 1 table) can really get a guy's hope down. A consistent cash game might be the only cure.....

As I shared in my last entry, I only played the 5/10 on UB for 44 minutes before the game broke and I profited $220; a huge pickup for one hour of play as far as BB/hr are concerned. Well the next day I decided to give it another go, as the $20+2 SnGs just didn't seem appetizing to me. I bought in for 200 and ONE HOUR later I left the table with $384, a $184 profit. One hour again, and 18BBs up. In the hour and 45 minutes that I played in the 2 days, I made a profit of $405. That's not bad for under 2 hours of play at a 5/10 table. Of course that's only 1 hour at a time, and that's completely unreasonable to think that I would make that much on a consitant hourly basis. I know that, every poker player knows that. But what makes a poker player? Being able to grind it out and profit overall at the end of the day/week/month.

Last night I decided I would play for a bit again, maybe 2-4 hours. Well I bought in for 200 and within the first hour I was down to $70 and the table broke. I had actually been down to around $30, but I played HU with this guy for a few before he decided $40 was enough to give me and jammed on me. So I took my $70 to another table and decided it was time to get it all back. I grinded it out, dropping back down to around $25 before I boosted it back to over $200 and found myself getting tired. I had played for a little under 2 hours, but since the first hour I had made back what I lost and profitted $13. I decided to quit before I started playing stupid, and took my small profit with pride.

I might have been able to keep playing and probably could've easily got past that $200 profit mark at the table I had moved to within the next 2 hours, but I've been sick since Thursday night and my head was still kinda wobbly, so I decided just to call it a night, content with the fact that I got my buy-in back. If I ever have time to put in a real session, I might have more to blog about, like maybe some HH's or specific instances besides Well I made money cuz I played for an hour.....

I'm starting to concern myself, however, because with only 5 buy-ins, my "bankroll" will always be on edge. But after that extended run of getting my ass handed to me in the SnGs, the 5/10 just seems to be calling my name. Maybe it's the insta-wins, or maybe it's because I miss playing limit, but whatever it is it's pulling me in. I've read numerous blogs where the writer/player overdid himself and put too much on the line, which left that person to hang dry. Of course those were on much bigger scales, considering I have a 9-5'er and all that good stuff, but at the same time I think that once I play on a schedule I will be able to play at least 6 hours a night, 4-6 days a week, and I'm really looking forward to feeling that I might be able to use some of this poker money for life.

Probably the main thing that's keeping me wanting to play the 5/10 with no BR is the fact that at this level I don't have to play creatively (though I can and it will work sometimes). At this level all I have to do (and all I've been doing) is playing basic, by-the-book limit poker, and I get paid off most of the time! It might be boring compared to some of the higher level, higher thinking competition, but it still lessens the swings of the game and I still profit, which means that I don't necessarily HAVE to have a bankroll to play in it semi-consistantly. Now if that's just MY rationilization of the situation, then someone should tell me so that I don't blow what little I have worked up so far, cuz I'm thinkin I might just start playin the 5/10 regularly already instead of waiting. What do you all think? Utilize that comment box.

Bankroll: $987

I know I know.......

I did a bad thing yesterday, but I just couldn't help myself. As many of you may know, I fancy myself to be a good limit player. The reason I'm not playing low limit to build my bankroll is the fact that, simply, I can't stand the way that people play low limit Hold'Em. I know I know I should be able to adjust my play to profit in low limit games, but the truth is that I don't have enough care in me to grind out the low limits. I'll play in low limit games, that's not a big deal, but to play in them on a consistent basis just doesn't fly by my standards. I don't care about the money in $0.50/$1, and I don't understand how people play so poorly. That's probably one of my biggest flaws as a poker player is not being able to grind out micro/low-limits on a consistent basis. That's why I'm waiting until I have a decent enough BR to sustain playing AT LEAST 5/10, or at least I thought I was waiting....

I woke up around noon yesterday, after being up until about 4 in the morning after a little puking episode. Apparently I ate something that really didn't agree with my stomach...I played a couple $20+2 SnGs, and things didn't really go well. Again. The past week hasn't really been my time to shine. So what did I do? The thing that you're not supposed to do as a poker player, ever. I took $170 out of my $600 invested online and I sat at a 5/10 table. Now normally I would be totally against this, but I had my reasons: 1) I was tilting :), and 2) I trust my limit game like no other. So feeling light-headed, tired, and tilted, I sat the a 5/10 10-handed on UB.

I sat with $170, just because (don't ask me why, I was sick man). There are really no HH's to post here, cuz I really just played my limit game, but to get to the point I played for 44 minutes until the game spontaneously broke. I played 58 hands and profited $220. It felt good, and while I realize that 22BB/58, or 38BB/100, is definitely not typical of a normal expected rate, I know I can beat the game on a regular level. Once I have enough to BR a 5/10, I will definitely start to make some money as I work up my BR till I can play higher. Of course holding a 9-5 job also, playing 5/10 4-6 days a week will probably give me some extra spending cash as I build.

So basically I went outside my plan, but it worked, and I only had to play for 44 minutes to make up a week's worth of losses. That's all I have to say for this entry. I know that this entry probably seems scattered, but I didn't eat at all yesterday with the exception of one piece of bread. I'll eat something and maybe my mind will clear up though. Damn those lost electrolytes......

Also, I wanted to say that it's good to see Tre Momey is doing well again. He was going through some rough times, but it seems like he found some footing, not only in poker but in life as well, and that's great to see. I don't know if he even reads my blog, but I thought this was worth mentioning anyways.

Bankroll: $790

It's baaaaaaacccccccckkk

I tried to snap out of my spell yesterday I really, really tried. I tried so hard. I WANT to win when I have the best hand when the money goes in, I do - I promise you that. I WANT to win when I'm a 4 to 1 or more favorite, but I just can't seem to do it. Yesterday I dropped two 30+3s, a 20+2, and I got 3rd in a 20+2, which pissed me off because of the way some hands went down. Again, I played great all day and kept my steaming to an extreme minimum. But no matter how good I play, I can't dodge the luck. Check out these HH's as I drop a little math on ya.

hard2rock is at seat 1 with 935.
kidcrash is at seat 2 with 14065.
The button is at seat 1.

hard2rock posts the small blind of 75.
kidcrash posts the big blind of 150.

hard2rock: -- --
kidcrash: Ks Ac

Pre-flop:

hard2rock calls. kidcrash raises to 1450. hard2rock
goes all-in for 935. kidcrash is returned 515
(uncalled).
Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

hard2rock shows Qh Td.
kidcrash shows Ks Ac.

At this point I'm only a 64% favorite, so all's fair preflop as far as I'm concerned.

Flop (board: 4h Kh As)

Alright lookin good, I'm an 81% favorite now. He's looking for an inside straight draw (4 outs) or runner runner something, either hearts or QQ or 1010. Again, 81% favorite. He's drawin pretty slim to his straight here, cuz he needs one of four jacks in the deck to hit it. FOUR cards out of 45, or .0889, or 9% generously. One of four cards, there's no way he's gonna catch a…

Turn (board: 4h Kh As Jd)

OK SO MAYBE BEING A 4 to 1 FAVORITE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH ANYMORE!! OH WAIT, NEITHER IS BEING A 6 to 1 IN MY CASE!!

River (board: 4h Kh As Jd 5s)

Showdown:

hard2rock has Qh Td Kh As Jd: straight, ace high.
kidcrash has Ks Ac Kh As Jd: two pair, aces and kings.


Hand #30300924-80 Summary:
hard2rock wins 1870 with straight, ace high.

Ok so no big deal, the past couple days hasn't been the best days of my poker life, it has to end soon. Hey let's jump into another 30+3 SnG since I'm playing well and getting my money in as a huge favorite.

gomer is at seat 1 with 1920.
michaelvan is at seat 2 with 1755.
thePROTZ is at seat 3 with 2930.
hodgeman is at seat 5 with 2355.
TheBait is at seat 6 with 1090.
dcshoe is at seat 7 with 1165.
garmiester is at seat 8 with 3000.
kidcrash is at seat 9 with 785.<--You might notice this short stack here. Take a guess as to how it got there if you dare.

The button is at seat 1.

michaelvan posts the small blind of 15.
thePROTZ posts the big blind of 30.

gomer: -- --
michaelvan: -- --
thePROTZ: -- --
hodgeman: -- --
TheBait: -- --
dcshoe: -- --
garmiester: -- --
kidcrash: 9h Th

Pre-flop:

hodgeman calls. TheBait folds. dcshoe calls.
garmiester raises to 60. kidcrash calls. gomer
folds. michaelvan folds. thePROTZ calls. hodgeman
calls. dcshoe calls.

I call here because this hand is beautiful in this situation. I'm in the cutoff with mid suited connectors. We have two limpers, one MIN RAISER, and the button behind me. Almost 100% of those in the pot already, including the blinds, will be calling the extra 30 because min-raising is the most retarded move anyone can make in NLH, ever. So I call, liking my hand for my position and my pot odds.

Flop (board: 7h 9s 4h)

thePROTZ bets 30. hodgeman folds. dcshoe folds.
garmiester calls. kidcrash raises to 435. thePROTZ
folds. garmiester calls.

Bingo Bango Bongo, Vince! This is a gorgeous flop. Even against AA on the flop here I'm a favorite, 52 to 48. Again, some moron MIN BETS (which, if I have to remind you, is the most retarded move anyone can make in NLH, ever) and the original min raiser calls, so I bump it not wanting to let a bigger flush draw in cheap.

Turn (board: 7h 9s 4h 5c)

garmiester checks. kidcrash goes all-in for 290.
garmiester calls.

He check calls here, which is an interesting move considering that I only had 290 left, and he was getting his money in either way. Anyways

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

garmiester shows 9d 8d.
kidcrash shows 9h Th.

Interesting play by the big stack here, but I don't mind it. On the flop I'm an 83% to win. Even on the turn, with his renewed outs with an inside straight draw, I improve to an 89% favorite. 89%. 9 to 1 more or less. 89%. He's drawing to 5 outs, 3 sixes and 2 eights. The 6h and the 8h are still out, so if either of those hits I make my flush and he's no good. 5 outs.

River (board: 7h 9s 4h 5c 8c)

Showdown:

garmiester has 9d 8d 7h 9s 8c: two pair, nines and eights.
kidcrash has 9h Th 7h 9s 8c: a pair of nines.


Hand #30350597-18 Summary:
garmiester wins 1795 with two pair, nines and eights.

.
.
.
.
.
.
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.....I just don't know what else to do. Anyone with advice can leave a comment in my comment box, cuz I'm runnin out of excuses as to why I'm losing. I need to tell everyone why I'm a winning player and why I'm losing if I'm a good player, but I don't know what to tell these people anymore. The percentages aren't adding up. In the past 2 blog entries I've shown you a few of the hands that I've lost as a 4 to 1 or more favorite, but I have more, trust me. I'm refraining from posting them all cuz then none of you guys would ever read it!

In any case, I'm gonna keep playing cuz I know that in the "long run" I should come out winner, right? With the way that these percentages are failing, I shouldn't lose as an 80% for the next 10 years. But we'll just have to keep fighting and see what happens. I hope you guys stand by me, cuz I know it'll turn around eventually.

Bankroll: $660

Eighty percent favorite?

One day I'll learn what eighty percent favorite means. As far as my previous understanding, favorite means that whoever the favorite is is most likely to win, as in that person will win a majority of the time. However, through my whole bad streak from December through January I had discovered that the meaning of a favorite is very closely based on who the deemed favorite is on a personal basis. For example, favorite seemingly has a reversed definition when applied to me.

Take the recent hand where I had QQ against 44 in the $220 tournament at Chumash.
QQ Win: 81.18%
44 Win: 18.82%
As we all know by now, the SD hit a 4 on the flop and I was practically drawing dead, as I was a 10.81% to win after a rainbowed flop of 4-K-9.

Then last night I was playing my SnG and I was cruising as usual down to the bubble. The blinds were at 50/100, I was the chip leader with around 5500, with the rest of the chips evenly disbursed among the 3 others. I raised to 300 on the button with AKo. Then the shortest stack pushed from the small blind for about 2500. Now from watching this guy from earlier I knew he wouldn't have pushed anything huge here, he most likely would have made a decent reraise given the blinds at the time. He had also seen me trying to bully the table with my aggressive style, but I had made laydowns on several occassions preflop. My read here was that he was on a steal trying to take control of my button raise.

If he had a small pocket pair, I was ok with a coin flip. I didn't think he had a medium pocket pair because of the way I'd seen him play throughout the tournament so far. My reads had been dead on so far in this SnG, so I went with my read that he was on a steal and, figuring I might even have him dominated if he pushed AQ or KQ, I called the 2500. He flips over KQh.

AKo Win: 69.33%
KQh Win: 29.55%
TIE: 1.12%

As you'll notice here, the AK is a 70-30 to win, or a 2.3 to 1 favorite. Yeah, there's that word again. Favorite. As you may notice, I am the favorite in this hand here preflop.

Flop: K-J-5 (rainbow)

AKo Win: 85.05%
KQh Win: 13.74%
TIE: 1.21%

Let me get into some math here. Even rounding up to the nearest percent, the AK is 85 to 14 to win, or over 6 to 1. A 6 to 1 FAVORITE. So any normal person would be happy in this situation, knowing that they're almost a sure lock to win the hand. The KQ has 3 outs to win on the turn with a Q, 3 outs. 3 out of 45 cards. 3/45=.0667. .0667, given the benefit of the round-up, is 7%. He is 7% to catch one of the 3 queens in the deck, but is given extra outs because of the runner-runner straight draw he has. So he's 13.74% to win the hand, and 7% to catch his Q. A normal person would have to expect to win this hand. But here's me: "NOOOOOOOOO DON'T DO IT!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Flop: K-J-5
Turn: Q

OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY!! He comes through with a Q, and just as I'm trying to convince myself that my bad streak is over. Through the 2 months that I deemed my bad run, this happened to me more than once out of every 10 times, thoroughly destroying the barrier of mathematical probability. But I have redraws though, a 10 for a straight or an A for a higher two pair. That's 7 cards I can catch to win out of the 44 left. 7/44=.1599, or basically 16%.

River: 9

Of course the river blanks and I'm knocked down to around 3000. So he catches his 7% Q, and I don't catch up. Ever.

After that hand the chips were just passing around and around and it was a pretty evenly matched game. Then a hand came up where I had a pocket pair and decided to push the flop. One player called off most of his chips on an overcard and a straight draw, where he was a 38% to win on the turn, and lo and behold his 38% comes through when he hits his straight on the river. So I took 4th and no money.

After that I decided to jump in the $20+2 $5000 added Sring Cleanup Bonus MTT, where first place was $2500+. I played like crap the whole way, but ended up as another over 6 to 1 favorite when my A9 was all-in against 88 on the flop.

Flop: 9-K-7

A9 Win: 86.36%
88 Win: 13.64%

Flop: 9-K-7
Turn: 10

A9 Win: 77.27%
88 Win: 22.73%

Let me tell you that right here, even though I am still over a 3 to 1 favorite, I already felt like I had lost the hand.

Flop: 9-K-7
Turn: 10
River: 8

88 wins and kicks my 6 to 1 favorite's ass. I decided to watch a movie and ended up falling asleep before I made it back to my computer, which might have been a good thing since I apparently wasn't going to win yesterday.

Now I know that you all might be thinking that losing hands like that in 3 games is nothing, and that because of how much I play (or used to anyways) in the long run of things I will win those hands. But like I said before, there was 2 months of hands like this where I was actually scared if I had someone dominated, cuz I could already sense that their magical card was coming on the turn. I came out of that state of mind and started trusting the mathematics of it all again last month, but the weird thing is last night in those hands I had those feelings again that I was going to lose. It was almost like ESP, and I could tell that they were going to catch one of their 3 outs on the turn, or fill their straight on the river.

But I'm really trying not to think like that, and I will just keep playing well and playing more and hopefully soon I'll be up and rollin like I once was. I'm probably gonna be out tonight, but I'm hoping to get in 2 SnGs at least, and I might blog some GOOD stuff that came out of last night as far as trusting reads and such. I got some sleep last night, so I should be able to make it past 10 o'clock without falling asleep tonight!

BTW, sorry for all the bitching, but I needed to vent :)

Adios.

Bankroll: $755

That's how you win tournaments

"That's how you win tournaments!!" - Random Chumash tournament retard

So apparently the way to win tournaments is to play like an idiot, make unprofitable calls, stupid moves, and draw out on Chris by catching a 2-outer. I was unaware of that information until the Random Chumash tournament retard shouted it across the tournament room on Saturday after catching a miracle.

A quick review of the last $200+20 buy-in will show that the door card was both my glimmer of hope and my introduction to eternal damnation on the day of the tournament. This time was no different. After last Saturday it seems like the door card is going to haunt me in my dreams in every tournament I play. I played well for the first hour and a half, and in one foul swoop my dreams of $50,000 were crushed again. Enter scenario:

Elapsed Time: > 1.5 hours
Blinds: 100/200
Players: < 550
My Stack: 3100

I post the BB for 200 while the action folds around to a middle position player who pushes all-in for 500. A player in late position calls, and the button calls. The small blind folds and I have the option. I look down at

The first player who had called was a superdonk. Let's call him Retard Guy In A Frickin Dumb Yellow Hat......k wait. Let's just call him superdonk (SD). Said SD was making the most retarded calls, yet seemed to be accumulating chips by catching miracle after miracle. In one pot not too long before the aforementioned hand, SD called off 1100 into a 250 pot with nothing but a 7-high inside straight draw. For those of you who don't understand why this is a bad call, please feel free to contact me for specific reasoning.

...I look down at QQ. With 1,800 already in the pot, and my short-ish stack of 3,100, I pushed all in for another 2,900. SD laughingly collects 4 more orange chips and 4 black chips and tosses them into the pot. I flip over my pocket queens, the all-in flips over A5d, and SD turns over pocket 44. Against the pocket 4s I'm over an 80% favorite to win the hand, and I'm not really concerned about the A5 because the main pot was only worth 1,500, while the side pot is worth 5,000. So the superdonk

Every time the superdonk had been in a hand as an underdog (and that was every time) he would start chanting for his one miracle card to hit. "Five! Five!" or "King! King!" For those of you who don't know, you will be seen as just about the biggest asshole in the game if you are heard doing this. This is just bad etiquette, and furthermore is very immature of a poker player. This often irritates a lot of people, especially me.

...So the superdonk starts chanting for a miracle four. The dealer pushes the three cards off of the top of the deck, gathers them, and, lo and behold, as he turns the cards over the first one off (the door card) is a 4. Great. A miracle 2-outer hits home and the motherfu.......the SD smacks his hands together and starts shouting "YES YES YES!!! THAT'S HOW YOU WIN A TOURNAMENT!!"

I'm sorry?

"YES YES YES!! THAT'S HOW YOU WIN A TOURNAMENT!!"

I have this replaying in my mind over and over again, and I can only laugh at the fact that the guy probably didn't even make it past the hour. It sucks to lose, and as I've stated in the past I don't really mind much anymore, as I know it's part of the game. But to lose to an asshole really doesn't sit well with me, and it irks me to know that someone like him ruined my chances at a big score. I'm already looking forward to next time though, so I'm OK.

After the tournament our usual Saturday group went to get lunch and headed back to Uncle Paul's cabin about 15 minutes away from the casino. There we (Darsky, Joel, Dena, and Paul) sat around and played darts, and played some quarter games. Beat the dummy, screw your neighboor, challenge, and few other fun ones were thrown in the mix. And after we finished up with that we all headed to this great steak house, which has kind of grown into a tradition for the group of us after these tournaments every few months.

After dinner I headed back up to the casino with Darsky to play some 2/5 NL, and when we arrived we were both surprised to see the card room almost dead. Earlier you couldn't even get a seat, and when we got there it seemed like a table couldn't even be filled, which was weird for a tournament night. So we sat at the same table and played shorthanded for mose of the night, as players kept coming and going, keeping the game at 5- to 7-handed. We played for about 5 hours and I ended up $170 winner for the session, which was ok by me cuz we were playing shorthanded and the table was really tight, with the exception of one kid. Also, earlier in the day I had played blackjack with Dena for half an hour and ended up $150 winner there. I then dropped $100 of it back to Let It Ride with Paul, so I was still up $50 for steak later that evening. Overall after expenses, I profitted $180 on the night/morning, and it was pleasure money, not bankroll money, so it's definitely a sweeter taste.

Speaking of bankroll money, last time I blogged I had dropped from $740 down to $644 in a bad run of SnGs. But I played 3 SnGs on Friday, and ended up taking 5th, 2nd, and 1st. Then I played one more tonight before I went out and took 1st for that, which puts me back at $796. I really played well in the one I played tonight, and I should be able to put some time in this week for sure, cuz I keep saying I will but I never find time. I will probably post a few hands tomorrow cuz I'm tired right now and I gotta sleep so I can wake up in the morning, so keep an eye out for some hair-raisingly good hand analysis-es.

Until next time.

Bankroll: $796

Keep Cool My Babies

Well in the 200+20 tourney this Saturday I got knocked out by a 2-outer, which hurt, and it was by a complete a-hole, which angered me. I did, however, have one hell of a good time this weekend hangin out with Darsky, Uncle Paul, Dena, and Kirk, plus I won a couple hundred outside of the tournament, so the weekend as a whole was great. I got a lot of work to do today so I probably won't have time to blog the weekend today, but tonight I should get my writing fingers blazing, so stay tuned.

Shite: Part 2

Hey at least I was playing well, right? Last night I put in 3 SnGs and cashed in zero of them. I made it to 4th, 5th, and 4th. It wasn't that I wasn't playing well, the cards just weren't in my favor. Twice I flopped top two against a set, one bottom and one middle, and twice I got the money in with a better kicker only for one guy to go runner runner straight, and the other to turn his second card to make two pair.

The most unlucky of the night was when a hand came up when I had AKd and raised preflop. The button flat called and the board came up A-J-6. I bet, the button raised, and I pushed him in as he already had a little over half of his stack in there, and from the observation of his play I knew he didn't have to have AJ to make that play so I felt comfortable doing so knowing that I had him covered in case I was wrong. He called with KK. Sweet, right? Wrong. The turn was the case king, and that was just how the night was going to go.

I felt like I was playing right and getting unlucky, so after 3 consecutive non cashes I decided to go watch a friggin movie instead. I've had more unlucky days in my poker life than I'd like to admit, and I'd like to think that it's formed me into a more stable player. Losing those in the way that I did wasn't too upsetting to me, and I'd like to think that I've grown as a poker player and as an unlucky one, because I've overcome my tantrums and my outbursts. I now see these things as part of the game, and nothing to get upset about. I cashed or won 7/10 that I played last week, and 2 of those I was playing badly and I knew it. Now it's just gonna come down to the point of whether or not I'm gonna get unlucky.

I'll play some more today and hopefully pull in some wins, cuz I'd really like to not have to write Shite: Part 3. The tournament at Chumash is tomorrow and if I take home first I can play some real poker and get off of this SnG crap, so we'll see what happens. You all better wish me good poker tomorrow.

Bankroll: $644

Shite

Sleep? What is sleep? For the past month or so, I have been getting a fraction of the sleep a normal person should be getting. Most nights I've been pulling in about 4-5 hours of sleep, with extremes ranging from 2 hours to 7 hours, but never 8 or more. I haven't spent a day to sleep to catch up, and it's taking its toll. Since Alaska chick (Kayla) was out here, the sleep factor has been pulling more towards the 2-4 hour mark, since we hung out every night she was out here except for one and the fact that I work every morning at 830. But I haven't minded cuz it was awesome being able to spend all that time with her.

I kinda picked up strong feelings for her while she was out here and she did for me as well. And while I don't wanna get into it in this blog, I can say that after I took her home from my place Wednesday morning I went into this intense state of nothingness, and I walked around like a sullen zombie all day long. It's still kinda hanging around today, and my guess is I will feel like that for quite some time to come, as she really means something to me now.

Yesterday I decided to clear up some time to play cards, and given my current state I'm seeing now that it was not such a good idea. I haven't played much but I've been dyin to play, though, so it seemed like a good one at the time. I started out by playing my usual SnG, I took 2nd and $60 again when my 99 ran into Ad10h, and the board came d-d-d, s, d. Thanks for that poker Gods, but a simple 10 will do next time :). After that I saw a 20+2 MTT $4000 guaranteed and figured I'd be good for cash, but a bad move at the worst time sent me out in 130th, and needless to say I was pretty pissed with myself, as I'm trying not to make dumb moves anymore.

After that I gave it another go at the SnG, and as chip leader 5 handed I made a move in a hand where I had not paid close enough attention to the board, and I ended up finishing 4th in that one with no money. Insert self-defamation here. So I got this great idea to play 1/2 Omaha H/L, and decided to go with a short buy of $22 to keep things even steven with my buy-ins. I was crushing the 5/10 Omaha H/L on Party at the time Joe was playing 5/10 Stud, but things weren't going in my favor on this night. I ended up losing the buy-in, which I wasn't too upset about because it was a small buy. What I was upset about was the fact that at this point I didn't feel like I was playing my best, and that doesn't fly with me!

Joe showed up and saw how distraught I was about Kayla leaving, so he suggested the only thing that could cheer me up: Taco Bell. Yeeeeeees, heavenly Bell. We went to eat and it was sweet, sweet victory! After that we went down to the Mash to buy-in for Kirk, and now everything is set for Saturday. I talked to Darsky a little bit today about plans for Friday, and it seems like we might just go up to the Mash to play Friday night instead of hang at Joe's, but I dunno I'm in the crossroads of a decision right now, so I'll just play it by ear.

On the night I lost $28 in the poker swing, and while $28 is no big deal it feels more of a mental loss since I knew I wasn't in the right place to be playing. I was sleep deprived and had my mind on other stuff, and I wasn't feeling well. I got a good night's rest last night, and I'll most likely play some more tonight. And while I am depressed about Kayla not being here anymore, my mind is really on my game because of last night and I should be able to pull in some wins tonight, so I will blog it up like none other probably at the end of tonight.

Adios.

Bankroll: $712

Slow Cards in a Fast Life

I've only played 2 SnGs since last time I wrote. I haven't had a whole lot of time this week to play because I found a new hobby in hanging out with a special someone who is visiting from......Alaska. Yeah kinda weird, I know. She's the sister of one of Joe's co-workers, and Joe and the two of them and I have been hanging out like crazy this past week. She goes home on Wednesday, and that sucks cuz she's a badass, but that's life. It's alright though, Joe and I are driving up to Alaska this summer to hang with them both. That should be interesting. I have a lot to say about this person in particular, but I don't think I'll do that on here...yet.

As for poker, the Chumash tourney is coming up this Saturday, and I couldn't be more excited. I'm very hopeful that the cards will not be mean to me, and I know that I will be playing my A-game, cuz that's all I've been doing lately. Darsky and Kirk are most likely comin up here on Friday night, and that'll be fun. Those two guys are great fun and we all have a good time cuz the four of us understand the game on a level above average. Kirk's already in for it, so I'm sure the beers will be flowing and the cards will be flying if Dar's up for it also.

In SnG news I played my first one since a couple days last night and came up fast early on. With 2 people out, I had 4500 in chips, triple what I started with. I maintained chip lead the entire time as others knocked each other out, and I went into the cash zone of the final three still chip leader at 6000, while the other two "playas" (as Matusow calls them) had 5000 and 4000. I got check raised on the turn in a pretty big pot against No. 2 and was down to 3000 with the blinds at 100/200. I quickly jumped back to chip lead the very next hand when I got paid off in the easiest of ways by the No. 3. He was quickly knocked out by No. 2 and we were HU with practically even stacks.

I took a few pots of him early and had a small chip lead, but took down a decent pot on this hand. With the blinds at 100/200 and both of us hovering at around 7000-8000 in chips, the opponent (deemed herein as Playa) raised on the button to 650 and I called with the Ah5c. The flop came Qs-Ac-6h. I checked and Playa bet out 700. I flat called with the intention of most likely check raising the turn, because I was almost positive I could get him to bet the turn, as he was playing really aggressively at this point. The turn was a blank and I checked, sure enough he bet 1300 and I raised all-in. He folded almost instantaneously and he was left with about 5000 to my 10000.

The stacks remained almost the same through to the 200-400 level, and we were both doing our fair share of pre-flop raising and folding. With the stacks at 6000-9000, my favor, Playa came in with a raise to 1000 and I called with the QcJc. The board came up Qh-10s-9c. Sweet. I bet 1200 into him and he pushes in with his remaing stack. I called after a second and he had AA. CRAP. I thought I made the right call, and here's the reasoning.

When he pushed in I thought about it for a second. I had been letting him push me around a decent amount so as to keep a tighter image and to maintain the big stack. So as much as he might have done this with KQ or AQ, I hadn't called him down more than twice since we had started playing HU, and I was letting him get away with a lot of pushes. His frequent raising meant that he didn't have to have KQ or AQ, he might have had A10 and been trying to push me out. In the end I had to call another 3800 into a 4400 pot, and I called getting more than 2 to 1 on my money with TP/OESD. I would most likely do the same thing again if I could, I think it was the right move. I would like it if you guys leave some criticism on my play in my comments, cuz I'd like to know what you all think.

After that hand the roles were reversed and he had the 2 to 1 chip lead. I raised on the button to 1000 with KJo, leaving myself with 2200 and basically committing myself to this hand, but with the blinds at 200-400 if I had to get awy from the hand for some reason I still had one more push left if I needed it. He calls from the BB and the board comes up J high. He checks, I push, and he insta-calls with QQ. Blank blank and I'm done in second. Oh well. He got AA and QQ back to back, I flop TP with a good kicker both times and that's the way it goes sometimes. I still got $60, with a profit of $38. Again, leave feedback in the comments.

As for the second one, I got crippled pretty early when I got in a tussle with QQ. I raised from the button with 3 limpers and got called from all 3 plus the SB. The board came up J high, the SB bet, I raised, he reraised, I thought about it for a second and put him on a J, maybe AJ, and pushed in. He called with KJ, turned a K, and knocked me down to about 400 with the blinds at 30-60. I failed to improve my A5 against the BB's A8 and I was done. All told I profited a wopping $16 on the day.

I'm still kinda upset that I'm not playing much, as I really feel like I could be making some money if I could just devote some time to playing, but that's definitely not gonna happen this week. Mystery Alaska woman leaves on Wednesday, so Joe and I will be busy tonight. Then we have to go sign up for Kirk tomorrow night (don't worry Kirk, i think we were only like 150 last week), Thursday night I plan on sleeping like a mother since I've been up until 4, 3, 4, and 530 since Friday because of this chick. I'm not saying I didn't want to be, cuz I loved every second of it. But still I want some sleep so we can hang with Big D and Kirk on Friday night, and I'll be set for Saturday.

If you guys would be so kind I'd like to get a few different opinions on these hands from you guys in my comments. PEACE

Bankroll: $740

Making more ground!

UB's been down at the times I've been wanting to play lately, so I haven't played since Sunday. That's fine by me, cuz if the money at least just sits there and doesn't disappear, I'm a patient guy. I did get some playin in at my boss's game last night though, which is a small 6 person .50/1 game. It's loose and crazy, and I haven't gone home loser since we started playin it, which is fine by me :)

I managed to squeeze in one SnG on UB today. I wish I had time for more, but Joe and I are going out to hang with some chicks from his work, so cards will have to wait. I did take 2nd place, which was ok by me since I went into it 3 way with 2000, took the chipleader heads up with 3000 to his 12000. He had pocket aces, I had pocket 9s, and with the blinds at 200-400 it didn't take long to get all the chips in the middle. I pocketed $60, a $38 profit.

Overall I'm up $224. That's nothing at all, I know. But that's only out of 8 10-man SnGs so far, so out of every $22 I put in I'm getting a $28 profit back. Is it small? Yes. Is it a start to something that can grow? Absolutely.

My view counts have been off the charts in the past 2 days, most likely because of all you guys at the Hideout. Sorry this shit gets so long sometimes. I hope everyone keeps readin, cuz I enjoy the writin!! Feel free to hit me up with some comments too. Until next time!

Bankroll: $724