2 Days Left in This Stupid Year

Played the Monday night tournament. Same ole shit. I see a couple flops and hit nothing. Then I get QQ with no raises in front of me. I limp and instantly ask myself why am I doing that. 5 to the flop and its 8,6,3 with two clubs. We all check to the button who bets big. He bets 600 into a 500 pot. This guy is very aggro and I figure he isnt that strong. So I raise to 2500 and I got 1000 left. He knows he is beat. He thinks for a while. I think he just decided he didnt care. So he called. The turn is another 8. I put my 1000 in and he calls. He had 8,5. No draw. Just a naked 8. Im sure I could say that he shouldnt have been in there because I shoulda raised preflop but fuck that. I was supposed to win a 7000 pot there. Actually I was supposed to win an 1100 chip pot cause he was supposed to fold to the raise. But preflop I had two hyper aggressive people behind me who coulda raised just to try and steal the limps so it was worth it for me to try and limp reraise. Anyway I said screw the cash game and left. Short night. Im still waiting on 2010. I need 2010 to get here. I need something to help me put this last year to bed.

Ive been swingin wildly online this week. I started by winning 8 out of 10 $20 Heads Up SnGs. Then I played some .50/1.00 full ring games. I went up another $150 and have come back down $160. Most of the come back down was from my only 2 all in preflops where I lost to AK suited both times by them hitting a flush. I had KK and QQ. I win just one of those and its a $100 swing. The shitty part is Im playing wild and loose so when I have monster hands I get action. My preflop stats are like 40% VIP and 20% raise. I know I cant win like that. I should just grind heads up SnGs. But lately Ive been liking ring games. So after all that Im up to $310 from last report of $210 and down from my high point yesterday of $455. Im going to be at $1000 by the end of January. Im sick of this piddling around shit.

Wanna Play Higher

I gotta do something different online. I keep going up and dropping down but its all in the little stakes games. My win rate goes up so much the higher I play. I get bored and cocky and have little regard for money in the .25/.50 game. I lost a full $50 buyin in two hands last night because of this. I had 8,5 on the button and a few limpers so I call. Flop is A,K,5. Small blind guy leads out. I figure he has an Ace. Someone calls and I call. Thats the problem. I called hoping to hi a 5 or an 8 because the money wasnt significant enough. Well the turn is an 8. He bets again. I didnt really like the bet. Now Im wondering if he has pocket 5s. But I call. The river is another 8. Yatzeee. And it makes the flush. He bets into me again. Now I can beat those pocket 5s or Ace,5 or a flush draw with a pair. I push in hoping he has the flush. He calls. A8. I lose. How fucking brutal. My own fucking fault. I should never seen the turn. Then I get pissed and buy into a $50 Head Up SnG. I dominate the guy but never kill him. The blinds get high and the pots get big and he runs good and I dont. Out. So I lost $80 total because I was playing .50/1.00 and up $30 and decided to play lower for shits before I had to go. ANYWAY.

My point is this. I want to play the $1/2 game. Historically Ive done well I that game. When my backer cashed out. I dropped down in stakes and started doing poorly so I cashed out. I couldnt bear the thought of him making money and me not. I left $80 bucks on and have run that up and down between having my last $20 in a SnG all the way up to over $700. Im at $210 right now. Im want to put $2000 on and just play higher. My hesitations are the current state of legality in terms of cashing out and that $2000 is a lot for me and I will be bummed if I lose it. Also Im worried that I might become to focused on playing and neglect my life if I invest a lot into it. Maybe I should just quit my job and uber nit multi-tables and be a rake back pro. I dunno. Stupid laws. Stupid time management.

Mutha F'in Mondays

So I played Monday night before last. Played the tournament and pretty much broke myself the first big pot. I raised big in late position and the big blind called. I had AQ and an Ace hit (along with 2 deuces) and he bet into me. So at this point I have to fold my AQ and give him credit for AK or AA or I push because my all in raise is only 1.5 times his bet. I push. He calls with AK. Im out. I played cash and did ok.

I played this Monday too. Nothing but crap cards and a steal attempt that ran into QQ. I played cash. Miserably card dead all night. I had AK about 3 times and JJ a coupla times and that was it for 5 hours. I did however win some pots with two pair to stop bleeding. I never had better than 2 pair until my last hand. My last hand I had AK and I raised large and only got one caller. The flop comes K55. He checks. I decided to check. This kid is aggressive some I thought I would maybe get a turn bet from him. An 8 hits the turn and I saw him react on his face like he liked it. He bet $40 and I just called. The river is another 5 and he checks. I think he may have been fishing with a medium pair on the turn. I without thinkng very hard bet about half the pot. He ista shoves. Now I gotta figure out if he has a K and just doesnt want to split or if he has 88 or a 5 or even AA. I think forever and I had everything I needed to fold. I saw the tell on the turn but couldnt believe he checked the river to me. While I was deciding he asked i I had Aces and I said yeah something like Aces and he grimaced and I knew if he was bluffing he wouldnt engage me or act like Aces scared him there. He threw me a few reverse tells while I was lookin at him. Since I raised preflop he didnt have a 5. So I Put him on 88 or a dry King and I had sick feeling it was 88. Why did I have to bet the damn river. I coulda saved $275 because I dont lose the $50 value bet and I endedup saying fuck it and called the river. He had 88. What a fucking check. That check made me think my turn read wasnt very good. For $220 more I found out it was. Broke. Lost $460 in the cash game. Fuck 2009. I shouldnt have been playing on sinus medicine anyway. FML.

F 2009

Dammit I had written this long ass blog post and the power went out and I was writting on a simple text editor where no auto backups were happening. Im gonna write it all again. Im sure it wont be as detailed because I frickin hate redoin shit.

Two Saturdays ago I went to Harrahs. I have been running pretty bad. I havent been getting coolered as much as just not getting cards and everytime I stick my neck out I get whacked. As tight as I play I should have a pretty good percentage on bluffs. I only played two hands that were memorable. In about the third orbit I pick up 10's in middle position with no limpers so I raise it to $15. I get a call from the small blind. Of course he called. Its only 7.5 times the big blind and he did have a half a blind in there and his implied odds are great cause Im a short stack. The flop is 223 and I overbet the pot and he called. Spade flush draw. I know if the turn isnt a spade or an Ace I have to push. My stack is about pot size. Its a red Queen. He checks. I push. He calls. He wins. Q6 of spades. First buyin gone. My other big hand I straddle and 8 people call and I make it $45 to go with AJ and get 5 calls. I dont hit and dont put anymore in. Later I played 3/6 limit with $80 and drag zero pots. I go sit with my friend and wait on another friend to cash out. I stick $5 in $1 slot and lose. I decided to play that machine instead of the one right next to it because the one I didnt play had 777 on the bottom row and all blanks on the pay line. Too symerical. After I lose my $5 an asian guy plays the machine with the 777 and his second pull wins $1000. My friend is laughing at me while the machine keeps ringing and three asians yell and scream and jump around right behind me. FML. We did hang out at the Masqueade some and I saw a guy I went to Vegas with last year in there totally coke or crystaled out and he was basically making an ass of himself by dancing in front of the psuedo strippers like they were the only people in the room. Then he eventually sat down in front of the dancer and stared at her through a triangle he was making with his fingers. Kooky. I decided not to play again until 2010. Ive already broken that pre New Years resolution.

Wow Two Long Session in 3 days

Well I finally played a coupla long stretches of poker. I went to the Love Shack Saturday night about 11pm and left about 4am. Lost my first stack with QQ against a flopped set. I bet my over pair on the flop and got 2 callers. Well I guess I shoulda realized there werent many draws out there but hell these guys stack of with top/top all the time. In fact when I shoved allin on the turn which was about a pot sized bet it wasnt the tight one who called it was the other guy. So I rebuy and lose that down some and put another hundred on that. I was playing too many pots but I was picking up quite a few and probably breaking even on marginal hands. Then I hit 2 sets against the same dude and got back even. The one I remember was when I smooth called behind a raise and a few callers with QQ and hit it. I didnt feel like pushing my QQ there like I normally would. It worked out. He bet the flop and I smooth called. Then he insta checked the turn and I said "so I guess you're done" and bet $40 and he pushed in behind me and said "good read". I call and dont say nothing because he was just being funny not an asshole. So I got even and then eventually the game broke and I was down $65. I would return on Monday night.

I show up at the Monday night game about 11pm. They were running 2 tables. I sat at the must move and it was prety nitty. I dont remeber what happened but I lost. I do remember re-raising preflop with JJ against the only loose guy and getting called. The flop came 8 high but he checked to me in a way I didnt like. Seemed to animated like he wanted me to think he missed. I checked. He checked again and I bet the turn and he moved in for like 100 more. I mucked my pair which was still higher than the board. He showed me QQ. Phew. Coulda went bad quick. After I moved to the main table I tightened up a little. I remember going broke when I called $7 with a Ace 2 suited and the flop was Ace,2,3 all spades. UTG bets $6 into this $30 pot and the crazy guy who gets lucky goes all in for $60. I think crazy guy has a spade and Im worried about the UTG but I call. UTG goes all in. Im beat I guess but I call another $100. UTG has the flopped flush. Crazy has King of spades. I dont hit and crazy guy wins when the spade hits the river. UTG got my extra which probably mad him $30 net. It was a fun game. A guy who won an ESPN televised circuit main event showed up to play. I had never knowing played with him but he looked familiar. Of course I had seen the televised tournament though. All of a sudden every pot was big and he was usually in it somehow and he didnt wn any of them. I think he was stuck like 1200 in a half hour. But he wasnt the only one losing. People were calling $200 river shoves with a pair. Also I think we saw about 6 four of a kinds that nite. I had KK once and woulda lost a lot to a guy who flopped a set and river quads but the Ace hit the window and the turn and I didnt bet any street or call his value river bet. I gave him credit for a nine. Just one though. Most of my pots were me winning preflop with a raise or reraise or me winning with a continuation bet. I won a decent pot when I hit a set once. Actually I called with 4,2 after limping to a straddle and hit two deuces on the flop. I check called the flop and check raised the turn. There were 2 flush draws so I figured I better push the turn. He didnt have either draw or he woulda called. I had a lucky hand where I raised with 87 and hit a 7 on the flop and my bet got called but I hit a 7 on the turn too and got called. Unfortunately another Jack hit the river and I decided to check call but he never bet his top pair of Kings. My last hand I limped with Aces and a guy raised it to $12 and 3 callers and I made it $45. He called plus two more. I hated it. I bet $85 on the flop and they all surrendered after putting me through some stalling torture. That put me up about $15 and the way these pots were going that was one hand. I decided to leave since I had no profit on the table and way more than I wanted to risk. Plus it was 4am and I had to work in 3 hours. I had fun. I gambled a little and made some tricky plays. Feels good to be playing again.

Bad Combos

Well crap. I basically bubbled out of the Monday night tournament. I got short stacked and went into all in mode and of course Im pushin all-in with 5 big blinds on the button with no limpers and holding Q2 suited. Of course I get called by Q10. Q10 was my demise earlier to when I raised from the small blind with KQ and Johnny Chan pushed all-in from the big blind. I folded and he shows me Q10. FML. Then I played cash. I have nothing to say about that. Basically folded or limped or called a bet and never hit a flop. Was brutally boring. Thank God the Saints game was on. Had 10s once and took down the limps. I was in the middle of my only shennanigans raise with 10,8 suited when my used to be wife started texting me and like an idiot I read them and forgot how to play poker. I went broke flopping top pair against a set. I shoulda only lost $40 and not $120 but when a very solid player reraised me as I was texting I just through my remaining $75 in. I blame the texting. Whatever. I was also starving because the fucking cook was still in the tournament and I was about to pass out from hunger. So then i start the drive home and I dont even care about the poker Im just all fucked about the girl. Death, broken marriages and poker is a bad combo. And sucking at poker in general aint all that profitable either.

Distractions Needed

I played in a tournament last Monday. The only hand I remember that was sick was I got QQ in late position and there was a tight UTG limper so I was a little worried about getting reraised but I raised it up pretty good and he just called along with a couple more. The flop was jack high and uncoordinated. Everyone checked to me and I made a healthy bet. I got called by the UTG limper. What would he just call with? A set? A draw? 10s? The turn was a K. He goes all in. This guy is usually the bet it when you have it type but apparently he is trying some new shit because after I folded he showed an outside straight draw that didnt hit. I was thinking that had I had either of the other two hands I couldve had I probably would have called him. He gives me the "I thought you had AJ and could call after the King hit". Right. I wouldnt have played it so strong preflop had I had AJ knowing I was going to get 3 or 4 callers anyway and with a tight UTG limper in there. Any way I was steamed up after that but I didnt get jiggy with any pots. I did pull a lot of preflop All-in steals to stay alive. I went out because I raised from the small blind with K8 suited into a big blind whose chips are always there for the stealing. But he pushed back at me and i had to lay it down. He had AA. I thought it was Queens or better for sure. I went out the next hand going all in with 44 and running into a big blind with 99. I wish I would have just sat on my chips and waited for the chop. Got fifth place and as soon as I went out they chopped it even. I got my entry fee back. It was nice to play for a long time though. The Sofa King needs some distractions. My Dad had passed the Friday before that and it was good to go get away from it. No one knew. I was going to skip tonight but damn I need another distraction so bad. Wife shit going on. Looking forward to the Saints game tonight too. Been playing some online. I won an 18 person $10 SnG and I have been doing well at $20 head up. Im back up close to $400. Im sure I will run like a pinto before long and lose my mind and drop back down to $100. I made a comeback from a 2800 to 200 chip deficit yesterday. To get that low I ran a bluff early in the game on the flop with a check raise and I bet the river big and the guy called me with 66 when 3 big cards were on the board. I was floored. We were still in the first level of blinds so I was able to give up the trash hands and managed to double up a couple times. Once I had chips I was able to play his tendencies. He had some really bad bet sizing tells and as you can tell he was a calling station too. So I just kept the pots small so I could hit hands and get him to call me down. So anyway I hope to have good news about tonight. Maybe I will even play some cash game even though I am about a month away from actually having any cash on hand. Sometimes you just gotta gamble for your sanity's sake.

There is No Karma

Ok still out of action but I have been playing some HU SnGs online. I lost two games in a row last night that made me very upset with God. I was playing the first one and I made a move that didnt work out so I was down to a 2000 to 1000 chip deficit. I had Q9 and flopped open ended str8 draw. The guy bet 120 into me. Im never folding here. I can call and peel one of and fold the turn but thats so weak. He had raised preflop but he had done that with a wide range of hands so I cant really put him on a big hand. So far its just a standard continuation bet. So I raise. I figure I have a good amount of fold equity and if he shoves I have a decent amount of outs. Well I make it 400 more and he shoves and I call another 500ish. Pretty standard heads up stuff I think. Well I hit my draw. Happens. Well I get the fucking crying pussy routine from the other guy where he wants to talk about how terrible I am and how if Im gonna shove with when Im 30% to win I should just shove preflop every hand and blah blah blah. So just proceed to call him a crying pussy and tell him to stop sucking his Moms tits etc... Then the suckouts start. Every time after that i get him allin he is dominated and he wins. And every time he talks about how its justice. He wins that game because he makes a flush against my KK after all the money went in preflop. I end up playing him again. I make the right moves and he gets down to 300 in chips. Then he doubles up with A10 vs my AJ, then again with QJ vs my AK. He hits everything he needs and beats me again. I wouldnt even have noticed if he hadnt been yapping the whole time. Its not the odds or the suckouts that pissed me off. That shit happens all the time. But how could the powers that control the universe allow such a whiney bitch to be lucky. Seriously. It makes me feel sorry for those saps who believe in Karma because obviously there is no such thing. Anyway the dude name is LawManAA on full tilt and he is a whiney ass Phil Helmuth type who is pretty passive and stupid. If you play him and he gets lucky on you too then just assume he is sucking some ones dick at Full Tilt and has been awarded the boom switch and move on to the next player.

Still in Gambling Limbo

Still in action purgatory. No recreation. I have played a coupla random SnGs and even an hour of 3/6 limit at Harrahs but nothing interesting to speak of. My mind is mush from life stress anyway. I do remeber one hand where I had AQ in the big blind and flop comes Ace, 7, 4 and I check called $3 with about 5 people still in the hand and then a 3 hits and I check fold. Then they start the raising and reraising and it becomes the biggest pot of the night with a 3 way show down. The river had come a Queen which woulda gave me two pair which was ver obviously no good. Anyway the hands that went the distance were a set of 4s, 65 for the nuts and ....drum roll.....AQ. I didnt tell the guy that I spent $6 total on that hand while he dumped another $50 in the pot but it woulda been fun to. Obviously i didnt win if my best hand to speak of was a fold after $6 invested. I wish I had a few hundred to get in a No Limit game with just because I know I would be able to shut the world out for a little while. I wonder if that sounds healthy or sick. Dont most people use hobbies to do that? I guess people do drugs for the same reason though. Maybe its just the destructive vs. not destructive. If I were to play when I couldnt afford it just to zone out then I guess thats unhealthy. Of coarse I could do it knowing that it was dumb but that wouldnt mean I didnt have a choice. I guess thats the biggest problem. People who cant make a choice to quit until they are under the jail and really have no choice. I have won 2 outta 4 weeks in my office college football pickem pool. Im still not in the overall lead though cause my bad weeks are too bad. My fantasy leagues are above average but I think its gonna go south soon. I dont have anyone who is killing it this year and I havent played the strong teams yet. Oh well thats the update. I know it sucks but I dont want to just shut my blog down. I do plan on playing poker regularly again soon.

Russian Poker Bride

Lemme see I went to the Belle on last last Friday night and played 4/8 limit. Thats right. I decided to let $100 bucks ride on the donkey olympics. I wont be able to do that very often for now until I get my finances back to manageable. The best part about it was the hot Russian girl in the half shirt with her nice chesticles on display. She was very flirty and winning so she was having a good time. Her boyfriend was there to start with but when he left she decided to take a cab later. Being the cynical bastard I decided she was a mail order bride and really didnt give a shit about her dopey ass boyfriend. I was losing but I told Terry that I had sat and lost at tables full of people I downright despised so why would ever think of getting up just because I was losing at limit holdem. The Russian girl flirted some tourist into sitting next to her and playing even though he didnt know how to play. Well up to that point she was running like Ivan Drago before Rocky came to Russia but guess who had some beginners luck and was hitting on her to her annoyance. She got what she deserved. I went broke and headed home. I dont know when I will be able to play cash again. I dont even think I can justify playing in the $40 tournament tonight. I probably will play but I still cant justify it. I played last week but I was not really focused. I played loose passive and eventually my stack shrank to the all-in point and I moved in for 8 big blinds with AK and got called by QJ. I knew I couldnt fade two live cards.

Life Tilt and Staking People Who Cant Read the Board

So its been a long time. Who cares. I have been on life tilt. The Sofa King is single for the first time in 17 years. I know you probably think its because Im a degenerate poker player and thats ok if you think that. I will not be explaining it here. Why no poker tales? I havent been playing because the finances are in the red because I just lost an income and bills wont even go down $100. I have been playing a little online but Im sure you dont want to hear about every single little $10 SnG I play. I have been winning though. Im not playing a lot though. I did enter a 45 person $10 tournament last week. It paid 6. I busted out 7th. Typical. My last hand I pushed with 55 and got called by J f'ing 10. I was the chip leader with 16 players left and then I went dead. I flopped a flush draw that I put some money in with that never got there. I stole some blinds but it didnt make up for the times when I raised the blinds and got defended.

Anyway I returned to the Monday night game last night but only to play the tournament. It was only 9 players because of the holiday and players being in Biloxi for the big WPT dealio. I seriously dont have the funds to play cash or $200 dollar tournaments. I burned through my remaining $400 of poker money in the last 2 weeks. Even putting $40 up for poker was a dumb move but screw it. In the first coupla levels I got KK in the big blind 3 times and won everytime. I raised the first two times because there were multiple limpers. I got called by 2 players the first time and got all in against a flush draw on the flop and doubled up. I took the pot preflop the second time. I smooth called once when it was going to be heads up. It was almost a min raise. The flop comes Jack high and I check. I expected him to bet. He checked. The turn is another Jack. I bet now and get raised. I dont think he has a Jack but I think he may have a set and thats why no flop bet. I also think that I havent shown any real strength and he is probably putting me on representing the Jack. I decide to call. The river pairs a 7 and I check. He bets but its a total value bet. Its confusing. Im scared of AA but why wouldnt he bet the flop? If he had bottom set then he may have just gotten counterfetted. If he back doored a flush would he bet a double paired board? The only thing I was thinking was he decided to play AA tricky and doesnt put me on the J or the 7. Maybe he puts me on 99s. I would. I call and he was bluffing. If he had bet more I probably would have mucked. Thats why the old value bet bluff sometimes sucks I guess. Anyway the rest of the hands were mostly preflop raise and take it down. I did flop top top and got all in against an open ended str8 flush draw and held up.

Oh I did play some 3/6 at Harrahs this weekend. I was in New Orleans for a party and I told a friend of mine I would stake her up to $60 for PaiGau. But the table was full so she wanted to play poker. So I played first to show her what to do. I thought she knew what hands were what etc.. Well when she was ready I took my moster $10 profit and "sold" her $60 in chips and took a seat behind her. Talk about a wild ride. She folded mostly but then she went to the river with Queen high once and called the river with no pair. ???? Uh oh. Then she hit a gutshot straight on the river and folded to one bet. When the hand was over I in my best Richard Pryor pitched voice "What the fuck you folded a straight woman?!!!?!?!?!?" I dont really remember how but we made it through 3 dealers with $60 bucks just folding a lot. It got down to 4 players because it was like 6 am by now. How could you leave that table ever??? She decided to play 10,9 suited and I was happy. I wanted her to hurry up and go broke. We talked about cashing out and playing PaiGau at $30 but she apparently caught the poker bug. At one point she says how cool she feels and I look around at the 3 fat old dudes she is playing poker with and start laughing my ass off. Any way she flops top two and smooth calls the flop. Lets just say that she probably woulda folded at some point during this hand even after she caught the second nut boat on the river but something made her realize she could fold this hand. I cant say what. Just something. She didnt even raise the river. So sad. She coulda won a huge pot against another full house. I convinced her to cash out and play something she knew how to play. She made $6 bucks. I let her keep it. I even gave her the $10 in chips I had forgot to cash out since she had paid $50 total for parking because she thought the valet was free to players. She didnt play anything else. Phew.

No Foldem Holdem

Im thinking about playing low limit for a while. My life and finances are fuct and I do have fun playing no foldem holdem. Plus my mental focus doesnt have to be particularly great. I cant make that big a mistake. I will just enjoy a $100 buyin at the $4/8 table until its gone or Im done. The last time I played $4/8 I won a lot but I know I was on a rush. I think I have a good advantage over the people who call everything and chase gutshots when the flush and the full house are already there. Maybe I can save 4 bets an hour that the majority of the table doesnt (just by folding non-suited 3 gappers). I may need to be more agressive on the turn and river for value. I often give up on betting and start check calling when the board gets a little scary. Obviously I cant bet a set on the river when the flush made it and there are still 4 people in the hand but there have been a lot of times in heads up or against just 2 people that I check the river and they are sitting with top pair only and never folding for the last bet.

Begrudging Update

I know its been a long while. Sorry. Life has gone south. I havent been playing much poker. Im in the process of taking a big and sustained financial hit so poker money has shrunk up and disappeared. The last time I played live was like 9 days ago. .25/.50 at my house. I lost. Like $40. Who cares. The worst players won. One decent player hit 'n ran. The only hand I can remember very well I raised with A2 on the button and got heads up with a tight limper. The flop is J34 and he checks. I continuation bet and he calls. The turn is a 5 giving me the wheel. He checks, I bet and he makes an obvious crying call. I put him on a pair of fives right there. 65 or 75. The turn is a deuce. Fuck me. He bets into me. He is capable of doing this with an Ace since no way he put me on any type of 6. But I did put him about 65% on the 6,5 already. I am just pissed and know I've been screw as is typical lately. He basically made a nice size value bet on the river and I paid him off. Fuckin 65. Typical. Also typical is my lack of big pairs to start. By the time my big pairs start rolling in I will be playing the nickel/dime game with my 13 yo and his friends. As far as online goes I have stop bleeding. I had donked down to $100 and started back to $5 and $10 HU SnGs. I am up to $175. Yippee. I may not have much exciting news about poker. I have major life problems going on which effect my finances and well as my mental faculties. I played golf yesterday and shot like 105 with 20 mulligans. Evidence of my ability to concentrate right now. If you do happen to see me at a game I suggest you have me covered and wait for me to lose my shit.

Little of This and a Little of That

I had a winning night online. I think I won $8. I won a $10 SnG and split 2 $5 SnGs. So after the fees probably $8 bucks. Before that I was like 2 for 22 in HU SnGs which is pretty hard to do since alot of them just come down to big coin flips. Im trying to have the attitude that Im just playing the chips in whatever tournament Im in and not letting the fact that its only $5 effect my play. Let my bankroll determine the stakes. Sounds good in theory but we all have seen what I do when I get pissed about bad luck. Whatever. I shall finish the game Doc. I think I will eventually put $600 together and deposit to a new site and get the 100% bonus. Seems like a no brainer. Just never go broke. I havent gone broke yet. Ive never deposited more than once except for like 5 years ago when I got strung out on Ultimate Bets 3/6 limit game. Pain that will last forever there.

I think Im gonna get a little deeper into football wagering this year. I might pick 3 or 4 games a week and put $10 or $20 bucks on each. There are so many good people rooting for both teams that my cursed luck couldnt possibly effect the outcome of a college football game right? I got a friend who every time I have used his picks in my college pickem pool I have pwned my office. I'd like to start putting some money in stocks too. Seems like it would be fun. Seems like you would need a lot to invest to actually see anything quick and meaningful unless you just get super lucky. Im gonna get my golf game crankin again too. Right now Im about a 18 handicap (I think thats bogey golf right?). I got basketball league coming up and Im playing soccer too which is going to be so brutal I cant even imagine the amount of pain it will cause. My boss wanted me to play so I did. Time is going to be hard to manage pretty soon what with sports and poker and doing homework all the frickin time with my kid. I better make sure I throw the wife a few dates too. Jeez. Keeping myself entertained is a full time job.

Circling the Drain

I dont even want to begin to write this. I had one of my biggest losses ever. $850. Half of it I lost playing holdem and like a genius I decided to play Omaha which Im not nearly comfortable enough to play. It really didnt matter though. I never hit a hand really. The one hand I would hit that I got raised out of woulda probably pulled me even for the whole night. I had AQJ9 and the flop is A,10,8. Basically by the time it was raised and reraised to me I realized I would be playing for the whole $400 I had in front of me. I folded. I figure I was somewhere around 40% to win against 2 players but I didnt have any money invested. Actually I was about 60% to win having just put it into an odds calculator. I didnt see all the outs like the Ks and 7s. I woulda won. Whatever. Thats why I shoulda never played Omaha. I woulda turned the straight and woulda boated the river. Oh well. Then I went about donking off the rest chasing shit in a sleep deprived haze. As for the holdem I started out by playing one hand of the tournament and turning a set and getting it all in with a guy who had turned a straight. I coulda got away from it having only lost 700 of my 4000 chip stack. Oh well.

The best hand of the night I wasnt in. A guy raises and the dude on the button goes all-in and says he hadnt looked at his cards. It gets around to the original raiser and he goes in the tank. Then he turns his KK over and still doesnt call. We are all trying to figure out why he hasnt called yet. He is worried that the dude has AA which he would never ever ever ever ever have in that spot. Well I take that back. He is more likely to have Aces since he hadnt looked at his cards because had he looked he would most certainly not ever ever ever ever have AA there. We all think the guy with KK is cruely torturing the guy. And then he mucks KK. WTF. The guy on the button turns his hand over to see 10,4 off suit. Mr.KK was sorta in a stupidity trance and said something about not "ridischooling" him. So pots come and go but at least we have a new word in our home game. Ridischool. Apparently it means not ridiculing a person who has done something beyond the 100th level of stupid. Something so stupid that to ridicule it would simply lower your IQ. To analyse that hand in any true and meaningful sense would make you dumber and subject to future ridischooling.

Anyway so what happened to me? Every time I raised a pot with my good ace I would miss and since the other person would flop the absolute nuts every time my continuation bets werent very effective. I did have KK once. There was $45 in the pot so I just made it $120 and took it down. I surprised I didnt get 3 calls. I had QQ once and reraised the UTG raiser and he just called. I shoulda figured AK but when the flop comes K high I still continuation bet and get check raised. Maybe the biggest hand of my night was when I straddled and a bunch of callers and I make it $45 to go with KQ. I get one call. The flop is AKsomething with 2 hearts. I continue bet $65 and the guy goes all-in. This guy could have anything. To break it down Im think he could have an Ace about 30% of the time, a pair of something else 20%, a set 10%, a flush draw 30%, and total air 10%. He is really unpredictable. I saw something which he did before he pushed which was either serious frustration or way over acting. It really didnt help my decision. I just decided Id rather call and be beat than fold and be wrong. He had a flush draw that never came. He only had about $220 to start so it was only about $120 I had to call. Whatever. All my big hands lately are gut wrenching decisions. I havent been able to trap anyone in a month. Most of the time Ive had to call with a pocket pair not as high as the highest card on board. Ive been right every time I can remember.

So my bankroll is decimated. My online one too. I played 4 SnGs last night. Lost all 4. As is typical they just hit every card they needed. I just laugh now. Im starting to really believe that God wants me to focus on something else. The run Im having can not be explained by odds. Yes Ive played bad too but everyone plays bad eventually when they run this bad. Snowball effect. So many just like me lose it all steaming and playing bad over a rotten extended run of terrible cards. I know so many people who work all week just to pay back their poker debts so they can borrow some more once they get square. I sure I will join their ranks pretty soon. At least it will throttle my loses. I know in the last month this has become a cliche way to end a poker post but I dont care. Superbad is one of the best movies ever and thats where its from. FML.

Been Beachin

bout to be home. Didnt wanna alert the media that I was not home ya know. I know too many degenerates in debt to let em know I was goin to da beach. I will be in actio Monday and blogging again Tuesday. Peace.

Expecting the Worst

Im thinking there are no laws of reality. Only traditions of reality. The world is an abstract construction. God's ever mutating piece of art. The laws of probability exist but our own expectations can change them. Since there are an equal number of optimists and pessimists, the overall probabilities are upheld. But individually we can change our luck. Im talking about expecting the worst possible card to come increasing that likelihood. Lets say I run bad for a while but within the laws of probability. Since Im the pessimistic type Im likely to get discouraged quicker and start to believe the cards are against me. There are several new age spiritual books that talk about being able to manifest things through thought. Maybe the most well known is The Secret. Many theorize that fear of something increases its probability of happening. Maybe its a built in punishment for lack of faith. I believe this stuff but I cant seem to do anything with it. I forget to be positive. TJ Cloutier talked about people changing their games but that its very rarely truly successfully changed because people tend to revert back to playing how they are naturally programmed. Thats why few people are naturally Tight and Aggressive players. Because these are conflicting natures (I think that's a Sklansky observation). Naturally tight people tend to be conservative. Naturally aggressive people tend to be risk takers. Logically interweaving these is a conscious choice usually caused by many sessions of losing poker and learning some very hard lessons. So back to my point. Its hard to change my nature from pessimist to optimist. In the book Conversations with God, God basically tells the guy he can have anything he wants by deciding it and then believing it will happen. The problem is that we rarely ever believe something can happen in that way or we choose a path to what we want and quickly get distracted. The trick is to keep choosing and re-choosing it with every fiber of our being and keep trying to believe it and trying to remove all doubt that it will happen. The faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain but its hard to truly have faith that the mountain will actually move. I bet a mustard seed of doubt is all it takes too. Why am I droning on about this? I keep playing people who are just terrible at heads up poker. I have them green tagged as players I want to play. Yet they are winning. They seem to catch every card they need and/or win all the coolers. I said "they seem" which is just to say they win way more than their fair share. I had this feeling before I moved from full ring to headup. Maybe switching games gave me a boost of optimism and I felt the benefits of that and when the laws of variance swung low I moved back to my natural way of thinking and now Im experiencing the consequences of that. The three games in a row I lost last night force me to step back and figure this shit out. Obviously from a poker theory all I can do is get my chips in ahead. But if thats not working I have to believe there is a deeper reason for what is going on. Im going to give this some serious thought and I will come up with a plan of action other than just trying to think positively. Im sure there are some daily drills which can keep my mind right for the long haul. Im sure the problem is that its hard ot stay positive when you are pissed off at the 2 outers you get crushed by on the river. Ok thats enough philosophy. Oh and I also have another conspiracy theory that once I green flag someone Full Tilt has it written in their program keep them in the action. Yeah I know that is very far fetched but its just how my mind works.

Hit or Miss

So last night was my regular Monday night game. Lotsa new faces for the $40 tournament. One guy who busted out and left made the cardinal sin of driving through the grass. Not only did he drive through Dave's grass but he drove through the wettest part of the yard leaving a giant rut and the neighbors lawn too. And he ran over a landscape light. It was quite the topic for pretty much the rest of the night. As far as the tournament went, I played very few hands but at least I played them poorly. My first significant hand I raised with 76off which is pretty unusual for me but I got 4 callers so when I blanked the board I didnt try to take the pot. I turned an open ended str8 draw and bet it. I got called. Then I check folded the river and was shown the 2,3 for an even lower missed str8 draw. I went out by getting moved to a new table and the first hand raising with AK utg and calling all my chips to a reraise from KK. Once again my blog was an occasional topic of discussion. In fact I had one friend on the phone with a guy who runs a different game explaining to him who the fuck I was. No big deal or anything they just wanted to know who was writing it. Kooky.

The cash game was pretty tame. There was a guy who was new who bought in for basically a double stack which propted our local self-made-thousandaire to buy up to equal his stack and say something about needing to have the biggest dick on the table. My first real hand Im on the button with AQ and Mr. New Guy Double Stack limps UTG and it folds around to me. I make it $12ish and he calls. The flop is AKQ so I continuation bet $20ish. He calls. Im thinking he has a worse Ace or maybe a King and a gutshot. The turn is another King. He checks, I check. If I bet he can take me off the hand so easy but by checking Im just begging to be tested. I can call a reasonable bet on the end with the current size of the pot. The river bricks and he bets out the pot. I dont like it because I dont know him at all. Generally when people check big hands to me hoping that I will bet for them and I just check behind they like to over bet the river just because they are pissed the pot isnt as big as it could be and they want to get a few extra bucks for their monster. I tanked and looked at him and finally decided that since he bought in for double stack he may have been planning on slinging the chips around. I knew he could make that bet with a naked Ace which we would be chopping. He looked comfortable. He was shuffling his checks with no problem. I guess if he was strong he may have tried to give me a weak tell and look very uncomfortable. I finally make a crying call and he mucks pure air. He got himself a lot more action after that and a couple hours later left way down. I never got to participate in the feeding frenzy. I didnt pick up any hands. In fact I should just stop because the rest of the night was pretty boring. Mostly I would call and miss or I would raise and hit my Ace and win it on the flop. I limped and folded to a raise quit a bit. Rarely regretted it. I limped once and flopped open ended str8 flush draw. I bet $15 (about the pot) and got 1 caller. The turn paired the high card on board. I wanted to bet enough to get a competing flush draw out. If I get raised I would just have to decide if I wanted to gamble. So I bet the pot which was about $40. I get a call but it seemed like an over pair type call or a second pair. Well the river pairs the second highest card. I have 7 high out of position. I give up. Fucker has a flush draw (and bottom pair). I played that hand the way I would normally play a big made hand like a set against a bunch of limpers. If I just have the flush draw or just the str8 draw I dont play it like that. Oh well.

I so decided to cash out and leave on time. I was only up $60 in the cash game. I figured if I stayed and hit big I would feel too guilty to leave and I also didnt want to limp and call away $50 trying to hit a flop before I went home. I got a big family week coming up so I would rather not have a fresh bad memory of me pushing my Jacks into Kings.

Oh yeah and RDG aka LoveShack apparently made a coupla final tables in Tunica. I saw one 10th place. I see where Chris Moneymaker and Chad Brown are 1 and 2 going into the final table today. I wonder if its easier being a celeb. Maybe you dont get put to the test quite as much because people are scared you are going to pick them off or put them back to the test.

Poker is Hell

Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Cooler. Fuck me. I dont wanna talk about it. Im down to fucking $198. I was at $750+ a pretty short time ago (a week to the day actually). A month of playing blown to fuck because I run bad and move up anyway. It's hard out here for a degenerate. I just lost $200 on a 1/2 full ring game. I laughed pretty hard when I went broke. Typical. I had my whole online account amount on 2 tables. So fucking stupid. Now Im back to the $10 level. I dont really want to grind $10 SnGs. Maybe I should just move down to $5 SnGs and make a 30 buyin rule for myself. Self torture as punishment.

Probably Should Back Off Internet Poker for a Few

I guess Im gonna take a break from online for a few days. I played last night and lost 3 outta 4. One I lost by getting all in with JJ vs KK. My bad. The other two as usual I had them in bad shape most of the time and couldnt win a coin flip or just plain got sucked out on. I lost two allin hands with AA in the same game and I was ahead both times when the money went in. My last game I went all in with JJ after the flop and got called by K7 with no pair. I guess since the pot was big from my 3 bet preflop he decided he couldn't fold with 500 left. I had him covered but after he rivered me I only had like 300. I then put it in with A rag and got called by 10,7 and lost. I looked at my stats and I have only won one match in the last 11. I could have a better win rate if I just went all in preflop every time. I swear in probably 8 out of 10 of those matches Im feeling very comfortable most of the time and getting it in good. Because they wont die all these games are getting to the 25/50 levels. A couple got to the 40/80 level. Im down to $500 now. I got soccer and basketball seasons coming up so maybe I should just concentrate on exercising for a while. I doubt I will be able to leave it alone. My computer will certainly be calling me. Im afraid if I keep playing Im just gonna stick it all on one game.

Decided to Moderate Comments

OK I guess Im gonna start moderating comments. I didnt want to but Im a little hesitant to let openly hostile people have their say on my site. They may not be as respectful for leaving out names and places that may not want to be named in a public forum. A good example is the bar room that was named by a commenter with no tack. I dont really care if anyone thinks its because I am upset that this guy is calling me a liar and that I need to censor him because he is right. He's not but its really irrelevant. If anyone cares if I were to lie then you care too much. It would be pretty pathetic of me but obviously there are pathetic people in the world so think what you will. I just dont like having to keep on top of what is said here so much because Im nervous someone is going to say the wrong thing. I also dont want people showing up at games just because I say I play there. So please leave your comments if you have them and I promise they will be posted shortly unless of coarse I find them inappropriate. I will still post your insults and criticisms to a degree but not if you just keep saying the same stupid shit over and over. Thanks to all for reading. BTW I wouldn't mind having actual relevant posts to playing poker.

Poker Purgatory

Shit Im nose diving again on SnGs. I went from $775 to $600 in one session. Mostly from just two players who I like to play. They are very weak. They barely ever raise their button. I get them to put their money in bad a few times every game when they are low on chips and they just keep suckin out. I mean I have little green flags next to these people because I want to sit them. Now Im in poker purgatory. Thinking about where I was and how I got where Im at. Not quite hell but one more session like that and it will be bad. To quote the movie Rounders as my favorite reader has requested I do more of, " I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can't stop thinking of how I lost it." Thats poker hell. Of coarse he was talking about $30k and Im playin the kiddie games. I dont think Im gonna go crazy and play higher this time though. I think Im just gonna keep playin. Fuck it. Its not like I was cashing out anytime soon anyway. I can remember a month ago whenI was happy that I was over $200. Hell I started with $50. I can see clearly that its not me. That Im getting the best of it most of the time. I could tell you about all the coin flips I havent won and all the turn cards that have killed me but its not relevant. Some times cards run bad. Ok well I cringe to think what boring ass negative comments my stalker has for us this time. I thought it was good for the blog at first but now its just embarrassing how lame the dude is. The price of free speech I guess. Actually this post is pretty boring just on its own. I guess that ok. Its just a log of my poker play. Thats what a blog is. Short for web log. In case you didnt know that.

Played Well, Ran Good, No Complaints (except for the poots)

Finally they updated the results for the Tunica tournament at Bluff Mag (still not anything at PokerPages)

Skipped the Monday night tourney to go see a skateboard demo under the Mississippi Riv Bridge. It was fun. Food, old friends, and some sick skating. I did make it to the after tourney game though. I wonder if I have a better mind set when I skip the tournament because I dont feel like Im already 40 down.

So lets recap the action. Caught nothing for a couple of rounds except the whiff of these stanky ass farting muther fuckers which prompted me to get the floor fan out. Then I limped dark 3 times in a row and had AQ and won and KK and won and then AQ and lost. I think I tried it again a few hands later only to have 10,2 so I stopped the dark limp run.

One hand I called a small raise from a tight player and I had the A of clubs (and a 10) on an all club 10 high flop. I raised the tight preflop raiser who was continuation betting 20 and he quickly folded what surely was AK. I usually overplay AK there so Im glad he isnt me.

Once I made it 20 on button with AJ and got two callers who had limped for $2. Flop K,Q,rag and I get two checks so I bet 40 and get two calls and give up on that hand when a 10 or A doesnt come on the turn.

There was an interesting topic being discussed about how can you just limp and then call a massive over raise. I personally dont do it very often. If I limp for $2 and you make it $22 to go, Im usually either folding or raising. Unless 5 people have called and I have a hand that if it hits will be very good like a set or an Ace high flush I will usually muck (unless Im steaming). Now the guy making this observation seems baffled by the callers but he's the worst on of them all. I think they were ragging him for getting $200 in preflop with 8 high last week. Of coarse he won that hand. I also talked in a past blog about him calling my raise to $50 preflop with K7 and winning vs my QQ but I digress.

Later I pick up QQ and reraise from 12 to 60 and get put all in by the UTG limper who is the same guy from last week who did it with 99. This time its 77 and he doesnt hit a set. I woulda went full Hellmuth I think. Then I call 6 in SB with AK against the whole table and flop AAQ and make about 60 more by check raising the same guy who this hand had a Q and a short stack from the QQ vs 77 debacle. I say I check raised him but he went all-in and so did I to shut out the flush draw (which got there).

One hand I have AQ and raised to 26 from the SB to limpers (including the same guy who couldnt understand calling the over raise after you limp) and get 6 calls (he was the second caller). Flop Q87 and I check. Im not betting into 6 people with one pair. All check and a 3 hits turn so I bet 45 and get a call from the luckbox who also loves to move people like me of our winning hands. There really isnt a draw out there. I think the board was rainbow even. River is K and I check and guy chickened out of his bet because he thought I had AK and hit the riv. I probably woulda called given his willingness to bluff there in the past. He put me on AK because I checked and then put out a weak bet on the turn. I was just trying to get to the showdown cheaply and without getting trapped by someone with 87 suited or pocket 3s.

I made a straight flush and was scared I was behind. Playing 76diamonds outta position I flop a flush with 6 people in the pot. I dont want to get trapped by a bigger flush so I check and call the bet of the last guy to act. Everyone else folds. I dont want to see a diamond on the turn but it comes. 9 of diamonds on a 810Q of diamonds board. Jack of diamonds is the nuts. I check and button checks. I bet pot on the river and he folds. I played it very conservatively but I was winning at the time and I dont mind playing conservative against a loose aggresive table.

Another hand I called the flop bet in position and I made a flush when the top pair on the board paired on the turn. I was calling for my kicker to hit and then when the second Q (of my needed suit) hit I said that'll work. I got checked to. I bet half the pot and get called. The player is tight so Im sure she has a pretty good hand but not a boat yet. She checks the river and I put out a 35%ish value bet. Had she hit her kicker on the river and check raised me I coulda folded. I think she woulda bet out if that had happened though just because she wouldnt have wanted me to just check the river with a baby flush.

Well thats all the significant hands I can remember. I won more than I lost the week before which was sweet. That means I dont have to rethink the direction of my life this week. I hope I can keep this up and have a good roll going into the September Biloxi event. Weeeeeeee.

Im Broke, I Just Dont Know It Yet

Holy Hell what a day. I start out at $730 and proceed to lose 6 or 7 $20 HU SnGs to the same sad ass nit. This guy never bluffed but he never missed either. I couldn't figure out how I was losing. Then when he finally got his $ in bad he shit out. I'd still play him for any amount anytime he wants. Actually I think before that I played .10/.25 full ring no limit and lost 3 buy-ins. Anyway I went into full steam mode. My BR was at $588 and I was on monkey tilt. (added later: I remember now that I had to go take my kid somewhere but I bought in for $200 at the 1/2 table and hit it for $49 in 3 hands to sit at $630ish). When I came back I opened up 4 tables of .50/1.00 and went to work. I bought in for $60 on each table. I cant tell you exactly what happened because that was like 8 hours ago but I came all the way back and got up to $780. My favorite was when I called ridiculous all-in bet on the turn with a gut shot straight flush draw only to see I was up against the nut flush draw. My 74 of hearts vs AJ of hearts. Yeah I spiked a 4 on the river for like a $130 pot. Shit it good. I suck/rule. I was playing one tournament and 2 cash games then and then I went plummeting down again. I bubble out of my tournaments. In the cash games I caught the endless string of turn suckouts. I went down like a sweet muffin all the way to $450. DOWN $330!!!! Now Im in "must get it all back now" mode. I buy into a $100 HU SnG. Wasnt so tough. I won. I didnt want to press that so I bought into a 1/2 NL Full Ring Game for $200. Played about 7 rounds. Stayed around $200. Bought some blinds. Had AA once. My high point was $219 aftter my AA. Well then it happened. I raise in MP with 77. I get 4 callers. Flop is 7,4,2 with 2 clubs. I bet $20 into the $23 pot. I get raised. Im loving it but I know whats coming. I go all-in and get snap called. KQ of clubs. I just look away. I cant watch. I hear the cards coming One, Two, I peek back to see the pot shipping its way down to me. Weeeeeeee. Insta leave. Phew. Back to $750. Seriously. Maybe I could play Magic. Do they bet on Magic?

P is for Pain

Monday was one of those nights where you run so bad and watch the A.T.C. fuckers run so good that it makes you question the metaphysical properties of the universe. I makes you question good and evil. It certainly makes me wonder if I should just take my bankroll to the store and buy a freakin LCD TV. In that state of mind why did I go to the Belle for the first time in a year tonight? It's like William Bonnie said: "I shall finish the game Doc". I'll get back to that Belle of BR trip. First I wanna talk about the state of Monday night poker. Luckbox in early position open raises to $15 (in a 1/2 game), mid position calling station calls. Im in the Small blind with KK. I make it $50. My buddy in the BB who I love but want to choke (and sometimes I want to tackle him before he can put so many bad chips in the middle) goes All-In. Everyone folds, I call. I ask him does he have Aces and as smoothly as the flop comes out he says "No but I have a set of nines now". Holy fucking shit. Felted by a degenerate dream chaser again. Later I would make it $15 to go UTG. I got 5 callers. I have the absolute bottom of my range there: AK. The flop comes like its been coming for me all night when i have AK and I raise, 8 high. This time all hearts. Luckbox #1 flopped the nuts. Thats really the most exciting hands I played. I sat there and watched luckbox #1 and #2 catch every flush and straight they went for. They've been doing it every week. So so so sick. I remember continuation betting once when I missed my 20th flop. That was fun. I got raised and then someone smooth called the raise. I was livid by the time I left. I cashed out my last $100 because I was about to stick it in before the cards came. So livid that I got sick and slept til 3:40pm the next day (works starts at 7:30am). I was like a zombie the next day. Numb from the neck up. I started to use my bankroll to pay bills. Of coarse I couldnt do it. Instead I ran to the Belle and got on the $2/$5 list. I heart pain. I shall finish the game Doc. Some of the usual suspects were there. Some guy named after a utensil. My friend with pocket 9s was runnin the room. I noticed after about 2 hour of playing they had a Bad Beat Jackpot. It was $15kish. The dealer said it hits often. Its Aces full of tens beat by quads or better. Well the NL list was a mile long so I got on the 4/8 limit list and sat quickly. Flopped the nuts the first hand and made a flush on the turn which I had to check but I got to bet the river. Drug about $100 pot. I wouldnt win another hand until I was down $10. Then I went on a steady tear and quit when I was up $245. Had I not given these poker dregs too much credit I woulda made another hundred. The suckiest hand of the night was when I had it capped preflop between 3 players and the board makes a straight to a Jack. I was actually glad we chopped but I see I was up against 3,5 and AJ. So brutal. By the time I left the crazies were busto and the table was bad. Now Im at home writing this blog and dumping in a 6 handed .5/.10 game and talking much smack just for fun. Actually Im down almost $17 and getting pissed. Oh wait. i just got it all in with J6 preflop. Im up against AJ. I win. Now only down $9. Weeeeeee. If poker has an acronym the first word has got to be pain. Good night.

Internet Dink Smackdown Weekend

I didnt play any live poker this weekend which is unusual. I stayed home mostly and watch movies and did yard work. Very domesticated. I did however give me a little more time to play online. Aside from my $20 HUSNGs I played a $6 18 person SNG which I busted out of very quickly and a 90 person knockout SNG which I got 4th and made $50($50 payout plus $6 for knockouts minus $6 buyin). When we made the final table I was second in chips but I got stuck with the monster chip leader on my left and he was being very aggressive. I played fairly aggressive when I could. I stole some pots with the old all-in from the BB to a bunch of limpers. I gotta say it was painfully boring (until the final table) playing full ring tournaments. Playing HU has spoiled me on constant action. I guess I could go back to multi tabling cash games which is pretty constant but I just hate always having to play against premium hand having nits. Sure I can steal a lot but that only makes you so much and then when they actually play back at me Im always behind. In live games I usually play premium hands but thats because a standard raise will insure that you are playing against 6 people so you have to over raise. You need premium hands to win over raising or calling or reraising the other over raisers. You have to punish people for playing out of line. My HU sessions went ok this weekend. My roll is up to $701. Not bad for being down to $22 a coupla months ago. I played a 6 handed cash game .10/.25 and I bought in for $25. It was pretty live and people were slinging chips. I remember calling a raise from the BB. The raiser was early and one guy called and I called. The flop was Ace, 8, 2 and I had 8,7. I checked and the original raiser bets 70% of the pot. The other guy folds. I would typically fold but I decided to try something since it was low stakes. I repopped it pretty large. The guy starts chating about how I suck and I limped in with 88 or Ax and blah blah blah. I quickly turned off my auto muck and when he folded I showed him my hand. Then he called me fish and called him nit. It was entertaining. I dont think he was really upset. I told him to take a valium. He told me he had a gutshot. I love when online idiots talk uber extreme trash. Thats something online offers that live doesnt. There's nothing like being able to tell someone what you really want to. I dont bash bad play but I dont mind bashing people who do. I love calling them little internet pussy geeks who still sleep with their mothers and actually think about their moms when spanking it because their moms are the only girls they've ever talked to. I love telling them if they dont calm down all their pimples are going to simultaneously pop all over their quad monitors. I rarely ever hit the chat box but its fun sometimes.

Played Higher to Recoop Again. Pure Genius.

Went on full cursing, throwing shit tilt last night playing $20 HU SnGs. Especially when we play a raised pot and I have K6 and flop is J66 and get it in against fking A6. I played this one Brazilian who was so aggressive just raising every time preflop and potting the flop and I didnt catch any good starting hands and couldnt hit anything. All I could do was reraise with air every now and then and hope that this wasnt the time he had something. I was wrong quite a few times. The funny thing was he got disconnected and I went into min raise mode trying to get as many hand in before he got back and I saw so many good hands in that stretch. When he finally reconnected his stack had gone from 1900 to 400 (we start with 1500 each). He immediately doubles up to 900 because I have A9 and had raised it into his QQ. I remember having QQ like 3 times during his absence. I ended up winning that one. I played him some more hoping he would lose his connection again. He didnt but I think I ended up winning 1 or two games total over him. They were mostly back and forth long games. I ended up up for the night and decided to goof off and play PLO. I lost $10 and it made me wanna play just one more SNG. Stupid. I ended up losing $50 before I went crazy and bought into an $80 game. Shortly into the $80 game I found myself at the river having overplayed a flush draw and looking at a 1400 chip pot and only having 500 left. I donk it in and HE FOLDS!!!!! whew. CHIP LEADER!!!!! I eventually won after a very long game of cat and mouse but never relinquishing the chip lead. So I ended up being rewarded for a bad decision. Probably the worst possible thing that could happen to a degenerate chaser like me. The old BR is at $524. Weeeeeeeee.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Wild night at the Shack. First we got to hear about RDG's main event and who he played with and how he bluffed Phil Ivey all-in with 5 high. The best story of the night was about RB who was going to fly to Vegas to root for RDG but was so drunk he got tossed off the plane so he went to Harrahs where he has no recollection of running over the table and getting up a few thousand only to lose big since he was wasted and in every pot bluffing. A guy who was there told us about how he was about to actually win a pot but before the guy actually folded RB turned over an 8 high and said "ship it". BUT the best part of the story is about when he went to the bathroom and his table hit the $250,000 dollar bad beat jackpot. Now thats frikin funny. Of coarse they wouldnt have hit it had he not gone to the bathroom and he did get a decent amount of consolation chips from the players but its still pretty brutal.

The tournament started out great as I was chipping up with good cards and big bets but would go south later when I would bluff a river in which a guy hit two pair on. I had turned an open ended straight flush draw and play so good that I didnt bet it in position against 2 guys checking to me but I bet half my chips on the frikin river. I donk it off a hand or two later to Elvis. Oh btw Elvis when you made the super star laydown of the monster A10, I had AK.

The cash game was wild. There was a serious lack of regard for chips. The best hand of the night was when G and J were betting back and forth and J ended up moving in on the River and G after deliberating called him down and they both turned over second pair with a 10 kicker. It was about a $500 pot they chopped. I was up most of the night because I dodged a flush draw and doubled up early but I dwindled over the night. I really never had hands that I could stick $20 in the middle with and thats what it was going to cost. I had a GCP blogger on my left who liked to play big pots. I did make a bad laydown that turned out to be great. UTG limped and in second position I make it $15 with QQ. I think a couple of people call and it gets to Scary on the button. Scary pops it to $50 or makes it $50 more and starts talkin. Scary is a smart player with some gamble. Well before it can get back to me he gets 2 callers. One maniac and one rock. I contemplate the possibility that they all have AK. The maniac who smooth called fifty did the same thing when I had QQ a month ago and won all my chips with K7. So the 2 callers probably have an over or two each. I put Scary on a big big hand. The absolute bottom of his range is JJ. I muck my QQ. Well they get it in on the flop and Scary had JJ but he hit a set so I didnt feel to bad. I actually still think it was the right play 7 out of 10 times. Scary was on fucking fire. I bet he was up $2000 when I left. The biggest hand of the night for me happened a few mintues before my announced cash out and go home time. I raise to $12 with JJ in early position and luckily only the button and G the maniac in the small blind call. The button is a good player who makes moves but I have to respect his moves becaus ehe probably has either outs or a good read or the best hand when he makes those moves. The SB will go crazy with air. The flop comes 10, 10, 7. I hate it. Sb checks I bet 50ish and the button fold thank God. BUT the SB maniac smooth calls. Now Im depressed. He knows I have a big hand. The turn is a Queen which I hate and now SB bets into me and it smells so much like value. $65. Sick. SB has been losing about $200 per pot all night and has been caught bluffing sooooo much. I decided I had to make at least one call. The river is a blank 5. G bets $90. So value. I think I would have felt better had he bet $120. I go in the tank. There's no figuring this hand out. Do I want to be the only guy who didnt call G and let him bluff a pot or do I want to be the only guy who G bet a pot all night. Tough call. Ive got $130 in the pot already. I take a look at him and I cant tell anything. I has a scowl on his face. Whatever. I put my head in my arms and make the crying call. Apparently G didnt seem too happy because the GCP blooger to my left says he thinks I made a good call. PHEW!!!!!! He floated me with AJ just to try and take it away from me. He coulda been doing the same thing with KQ and I woulda have another fucking G story like my buddy to my right who made it $100 preflop with AA and got two caller including G who had 8 high and the board comes 88J. Ouch. I so anyway I book a win finally. Scary reads this blog and called me Sofa King during the game. I wonder if thats inevitable.

Bleeding but not Profusely

Poker, poker, poker aka kiss me poker. Friday night I went to the .25/.50 game at my friends house. Its a very relaxed home game. I lost $70. Most of it in a pot I had no reason to be in which is typical of this home game. The stakes are low and the goofing off is high. I called a raise to $3 with 86 suited. A guy behind me called and then a short stack went all-in for $10. Why the original raiser didnt reraise us degenerates out of the pot is beyond me. We all call. Thats 5 people going to the flop out of 8 players for 20 times the big blind. Flop is 876. I put in a $23 bet and the guy behind me goes all in for $28. I call and lose to his 54. Then I berate the original raiser for not shutting us both out of the pot which he wouldve won had he done so.

Saturday night I went to Harrahs. I sit down next to a guy who I have played with at Baton Rouge home games and he generously gives me the scoop on everyone at the table. We had a good time chatting the rest of the night. He raised it to $4 once in early position and I said he must have J10suited which was funny after he won the hand cause he did. He ran really bad and went bust eventually. I fold a shit ton for a while then I get JJ but the tightwad UTG guy raised and there were a few callers so I just call. The flop is 10 high all clubs. everyoine checks to me and I look to see my Jack of clubs and bet about 70% of the pot. Im very relieved when UTG folds. This crazy old dude who was very abrasive to the table pushes all in but its not that much more. I call. He had a gut shot straight flush draw and an Ace of hearts. Thank you mister nut ball. I feel real smart until a few hands later I raise with 10s and flop a set against a made str8 and the money goes in on the flop and I dont improve. FELTED. The guy that felted me had sat down 15 minutes earlier to my delight. I basically said to my buddy he looked like a good addition to the game. Old, well dressed guy with a flowery print shirt on. Looked very tourist. He played on pot where he called all three streets with Ace 10 on a 10 high board. I told my buddy during the hand he had A10 and was going to be a stubborn old man. Total drooler. Well the drooler busted me. I rebuy for $260 and lose $80 before I even get my chips. I get AQ and raise. The flop is KJbrick so I cont bet. I get minraised by a guy who then has 11 bucks left. I know Im behind but Im not folding to a min raise. He could have Q10. Well the turn is a 9 so I cant beat anything now. He waites till the river to bet the $11 and I throw it in the pot anyway. Fuck it. I get AQ the next hand and raise and lose too. So I rebuy up to $260 which is what i was down. a couple hands later still sitting with a $100 bill on the table i get K10spades. I call a raise on the button and flop broadway. I flat call the flop and turn bet. I cant believe the guy still bets into me on the river. I ship it in after a little hesitation act and get called. He has an unfoldable 1 pair. A pair of Kings with an Ace kicker. Thank you mister nutball #2. How can he not at least check call the river. How can you think one pair is godd after I flat the turn. Just another espn fan that cant fold AK. So I get even for the night. The rest of the night was lame. I lost $120 buck overall. I missplayed a hand so bad one time because I didnt see a guy in the pot and I thought I was heads up. Terrible. Maybe I dont bet the flush draw out on the turn but to let him get there for free is just donkey. I let the flush hit the river after I had turned the straight. At least I folded. The flower print shirt drooler I thought I was trapping called to see the flush. Had we been heads up he wouldve definitely kept betting behind me but the guy who I didnt see in the pot was an uber rock so drooler was rightly worried. I bluffed a river once which was pretty exciting. The guy had his chips in his hand and said "well they're just chips right" and I said "thats true" and he backed off and eventually folded. I realized I was in that stare at the board and dont breathe position once it looked like he was seriously considering calling so I sat up and took a sip of water which was funny because I didnt have any water. Just some random bottled water. Trying to look comfortable. It may have even been his water. I wonder if he woulda noticed me drinking his water would he have called. He finally mucked QQ but the was an Ace, a King, and a flush on the board. I called his first bet with a pair hoping to improve but when he checked the Ace behind me on the turn I figured I would have to bet the river especially if a heart hit. Soon after I left because my buddy I rode with was flat busted and my table wasnt that great. Driving back at 1am was strangely early. I usually dont leave till sun up.

Online is going well. I over $500 now. I think Im going to stick to my $20 SnGs though and not move up. I just have a feeling there arent near as many players or suckers at the $40 to $50 range. I will play a few higher games but Im going to keep the $20 as my main stay for now.

On the golf front I won 15 out of 17 holes in a wolf game in which we all shot exactly the same total score. I made some big putts on the back nine. I made a 25 footer on 18 to half the hole. I havent played in 6 months and really average about 4 rounds a year. I only played because it was the only mild day all summer with temps never going over 91. I shot an 87 which I thought was pretty good considering I showed up 5 minutes before tee off. I did get to hit a few drives on the range but that was it. No puts and no irons. I think I could get back to shooting in the low 80s pretty quickly. My buddy gave me some clubs about a year ago and the irons hit great. The driver is a big bertha and its so light compared to the walmart club I've been hitting for 10 years. I switched to my old driver after the very first hole and drove pretty well all day.

I hope the Monday night tournament is on for tonight. I wanna hear all about the main event and Vegas adventures.

Trying to Go Broke

I was at $375 online bankroll. Ive been hovering around $400. Ive been as high as $475. Anyway last night I started playing $20 HU SnGs and ran pretty good. Went up to $450ish. Then I lost a few in aggravating fashion. Then the evil gambling monster called Gamblore showed up. I moved up to a $50 HU SnG and lost. Then I went to a $100 HU SnG and lost. That one really sucked. I had two pair on the turn when the money went in and he showed AA. The the river was an Ace. That left me with about 50 chips and I went out the next hand. So now my bankroll is at $220. Full Steam Ahead!!!!!! I decided to put basically my whole roll on a 1/2 NL full ring game. I sucked out on a short stack to be up $50 quickly. Then I lost down a bit calling with small pairs and not hitting. I did have a pair of 4's onetime out of position after the flop but I checked the flop and the preflop raiser checked behind which was weird. AK and missed or he flopped really big. I check called the turn and he pussied out on the river. Weeeeeeee. The hands I raised with I generally won. I had to buy one pot with AQ. I raised in late position and got called by a guy who had limped in front of me. The board came 9 high and I bet out about 80% pot. Call. I guess he has a pair of 8s or something. The turn was a King so I bet again. $32 into a $48 pot. He thought for a really long time. Im begging him to fold and when he finally does I start chatting "Hercules, Hercules, Hercules". So I won my bankroll back up to $350. Pretty much where I started but we all know that its only a matter of time before I do some more dumbshit like that and lose my whole roll. Fuckin degenerate.

Stumbled into a Goofy Little SnG with Rebuys

Played in a game I'd never been to last night. It was in the back of a bar that used to be not a bar and where I used to spend many a days gamblin. I went there cause my normal Monday game was canceled this week because our fearless leader was busting out of the main even out 119th place and someone told me about this "tournament". Well it wasnt quite what I imagined. There were only 9 of us (and I brought a guy sooooo). $20 each with one $20 rebuy before the break and one $20 addon at the break. I had played with everyone before except maybe this one girl. Dinky town. The game had 3 absolutely terribad players (well they played bad that night at least). All but one busted out before the first break having put two buyins in the game. Another guy went out pre add-on who seemed like he could play but was too aggressive with so many bad calling stations and the rest tight players waiting for hands. I guess he was not a great player but compared to the other three he was Stu Ungar. As for my significant hands I won a coin flip with 10's vs AQ. The guy raised to $800 after my raise to $60 so I just decided he really didnt want to see a flop and the only hand he could have that crushed me was JJ so I went all in. I also more than doubled up with 10's again when 5 players saw the flop for $250ish when blinds were 20/40 and it came 577. The first to act guy who in the past was Phil Helmuth jr. but seemed chill last night led out for $600. How could I fold? How could I call? I went all in. Fuck it I could rebuy. My all in caused the QQ behind me to fold (I wouldnt have folded that but yippee for me) and then the original better trys to read me and I look like Im ready to rebuy so he makes a hero call with 22. Whoops. I win. I also won a small pot HU with QQ and a 7 high flop. Standard raise, cont bet and fold. At the break we had 6 players left and everyone bought $1500 in chips for $20 buck EXCEPT ME. I had $4500 and figured I wouldnt need them. I was maybe a little below average after the add-on. Well to get to the not very important point, once it was down to 3 of us I was the shortest stack but still only a 2 to 1 dog. I proposed a chop (which I shouldve waited more than 1.3 seconds to propose after the 4th busted out cause he seemed to take offense to it). My buddy decided since he had more money invested and double my stack that he didnt wanna. The other guy did. So we played. I went all-in on them a couple of times and suddenly the chop was accepted. I took $20 less for being the shortest and since they both had $20 more (maybe $40 more) invested. I made $70 after giving the dealer $10. She thought it was the sweetest thing and is apparently used to getting nothing for her time and effort. Then we played some pool. Not the best poker night in the world but my alternative was to go to a game that might swallow my meager bankroll whcih I was contemplating.

Loveshack places 119th

Oh well. The dream of going to Vegas to root on the Loveshack in the November 9 is over. He finished 119th. Good run. Nice cash. RDG is a tourney beast.

Loveshack has 600k with 150 players left

The next money bump is around 100 players so there should be some short stacks gambling it up right now.

Loveshack has 800k with 180 players left

The blinds are at 8/16k so RDG has some chips to work with. Bring it home boy!!!!

Update

Loveshack has 900k with 200 left. Go RDG!!!!!!!!

Loveshack is in the Money

Loveshack made the money!!! He has 337k with 650 left.

LoveShack at 331K / 800 left (thats 188 position)

Last I heard was at 2:45am and Loveshack was at 331K in 188 position with 800 left

Update

LoveShack is at 300K with 1200 left

Love Shack with $220k at break on day 3

Go RDG. Big Money No Whammies!!!!!!!

Tourneys, Online and Cash-tastic-ness

I wanna go to Biloxi this Sunday or next and play in the tournament but DAMN $20 fee for a $100 tournament! I guess fuck it anyway. Its just the excuse I need to go play the cash game. I love that poker room.

I keep getting rivered in all-in pots online in my $20 HU SnGs. Lucky Im usually ahead in chips and I have more than 40% of the time been able to come back and win. I've been hovering around $400 for a week now. Im ready to push on and maybe expand my game. I have 2GB of RAM coming today so I will be able to multitable should I chose to.

Im also ready to play some cash. My new goal is to minimize my losses. I will concentrate on maximizing my wins later. Not going on tilt is so paramount with half a bankroll. Im proud of myself for leaving early last week and saving $200 I had brought to play with. I have this bad habit of overplaying AK, 10s, and JJ when Im stuck a couple of buyins. Also limping in with any suited or connecting cards and Bad aces. Must become a folding machine again. People used to actually give me credit for having a hand. I'd like to return to that a little.

Send Some Main Event Love to the Love Shacker

Love Shack texted last night that he is sitting with 100k in the Main Event and plays again on Friday. Lets all send some positive thoughts his way. Ommm Ommmm Ommmm Im pretty sure they started with 30k in chips.

Folded the Sucker Straight like a Sucker

Wow. I got a shout out from GulfCoastPoker.net today. I may crack under the pressure to rant about poker and make it relevant to Baton Rouge. I havent been to the damn Belle poker room since they were rockin 3 tables. I hear they have 5 now. I was actually up overall playing there the last time I went regularly for a couple of months. If they would spread a 1/2 Nl game I'd be up there too much. The last time I played up there I had 56 and the 789 flopped out there. I reraised a large amount to the original better and an over caller. The over caller went all-in. I remember thinking in my head that I would raise enough that only J10 could possibly continue. So I had $85 in the pot and would cost me $400 more. I mucked and the all in guy shows Q9. I was so disgusted that I havent been back. I decided that I shoulda called that guy and didnt because I wasnt properly bankrolled to have $500 on that table and even though I was up on that game I said I would play there again till I had $5k set aside for poker. Maybe it was a good lay down and Im beat there enough times versus the random assclown bluff to justify laying it down. People love to play J10 and it was a limpfest preflop.

Going Broke the Loose Passive Way

Well I had someone ask me if this site was mine. I guess that means I had a reader. Still no comments but whatever. I just got from my cash game and Im home 2 hours early. Thats ALWAYS bad. Late is usually bad and early is ALWAYS bad. I dumped. I dumped in a grotesque calling station loose passive retard fashion. My lone reader took many chips from me by playing better. I think 80% of the times I put money in the pot I knew I was behind and 80% of the times I figured I had the best hand I checked. Ummmmmm going broke soon. I dont really have any interesting hands to recall. Just general calling with Ace rag against Ace better or way better. At least I saved $200 I had on me. I know I woulda lost it. I really need to think about this poker game and make some decisions about what I want to do. Do I want to play right and try and maximize my chances of winning or do I want to sit around and laugh and watch tv and throw money into the big hole in the middle of the table. Im down $900 for the last few weeks and I only have $1100 left in my bankroll. I dont even know if I have a bankroll. I have a car in the shop and zero money. I probably play better when I dont have 5 bullets in my pocket any way. But all that aside I really need to make a decision. Pay attentioin and think or just laugh and donk. My bud Dave is playing the main event today. I heard he was up to $70000 chips on day one. For all I know he is out as I write but I hope not. Good luck Dave cause we all know you got the chops. Ok Im goin to go consider whether I can enjoy something more than poker or if I have to get better. Scrapbooking? Heroine?