Lesson of the day...

Know when to stop playing.

Bingo, Sunday Hundred Grand & NL10

What a busy week end! From me pushing to close the small gap to NL10, to my first experience in a "big" online tourney to a friendly session of bingo poker. So much stuff about this week end that I'm not too sure where to start. I won't go in chronological order since the load of online cash games I've played this week end is just a big blur and, anyway, I'm not a big fan of order.

Saturday night, Mel and I had a small casual poker night with a few friends we had not seen in a long time. With 60,000 chips, blinds at 1000/2000 and doubling every 15 minutes, this was pretty much a crapshoot. Add the fact that half the people there did not care about cards and were there just to hang out, and that we were playing for ridiculously small stakes (2$) and this was pretty much a crapshoot. I still managed to do well and finished 2nd.

Even though that saturday night bingo session was entertaining, this week end was all about 2 things : my push to get my bankroll big enough to take a shot at NL10, and the sunday hundred grand. I played cash games like a mad man the whole week end and finally, late sunday night after the tourney (more on that later), I made it. Having taken my monday off, I immediatly jumped on 4 NL10 tables and went on a close to 20$ downswing. If you recall my post about my bankroll management guidelines, this was close to throwing me back to the fscking penny games. I closed all 4 tables, took a short break and decided to take things a bit more slowly. Started playing on 2 tables and managed to win back most of that downswing before going to bed. Then on monday I went on a sick tear. I just couldn't do anything wrong, and when I made a bad call the poker gods would help me by giving me a nice suckout. When I went to bed last night, my roll was up to around 137$, giving me some breathing room at NL10.

A few realisations from my quick dip in NL10.
- My bankroll management guidelines for microstakes are VERY aggressive. And I do mean VERY aggressive. I have to admit that at first, with barely 10 buy-ins I was not quite comfortable there, especially starting with a nice 2 buy-ins downswing. I've now settled into it and playing fewer tables at once helps. Will see if I change my guidelines to move up to NL25.
- I have to get used to playing shorter stacks.
- NL10 is WAY more tight and players have a better grasp of how and when to be aggressive. Don't get me wrong, this level still seems relatively easy to beat with basic ABC poker, but that and the shorter stacks mean I had to make a few small adjustments.

Now about that sunday hundred grand... Well my @#$(*&! piece of 5H17 PC decided to die on me in the middle of it. Not only that, it died on the river, when I had top 2 pairs, a lot invested in the pot and about to call a bet from someone. I managed to come back and play on Mel's laptop (she generously put aside her work to allow me to finish my tourney! thx!!!). Anyway, I came back short stacked and SEVERLY tilted from the whole thing. Needless to say it didn't go really well. I am still happy to have tried it though and it gave me precious hindsight for my next try. Even with 3000 starting chips, I thought the whole thing moved pretty fast... way faster than I expected. Next time I will play more aggressively right off the bat.

So there it is, my whole week end. I have to say that it was a very good week end. I had set myself the goal to be at NL10 before the end of the year and here I am. When I first deposited to pokerstars last January, I wanted to make poker some sort of sideline income before the end of 2007. I am not quite there yet (how little did I know back then!) but I am definitly on the right track.

So now what's next? NL25. I want to be there before next summer, then up to NL50 by the end of 2008. When does that make me move to being a professional poker player? I don't know yet, but I'll make sure to keep my eyes on the prize.

Surely, step by step, I am going through with my poker plan...

Downswing and a nice comeback

It seems like an habit for me to start a month with a downswing. I don't know if it's just a random trend or if I'm on to something. But anyway, last night I decided to start playing and grind the few $ I needed to finally move up stakes. Well turns out it was one of those nights where I just couldn't hit anything and people would keep hiting against me. I ended up with a 350 BB downswing and a steaming a bit.

I decided to take a short break and when I came back I thought "what the heck. I want to play but feel like it's one of these nights where I need to do some damage control". That's how I decided to invest a small amount to enter a satellite for the Sunday Hundred Grand on stars.

It took me some time to get this thing rolling and I did not really pick up a hand until the first break. Then after the break I had to take some chances and I doubled up twice to put me back to the average stack. Then I turned on the aggression and managed to steal a few pots and I was finally in good shape. Then I just hit the zone. I don't know how else to describe it... When I play tournaments I sometimes end up feeling like everything just clicks. I instinctivly know when to steal, when to tone down aggression and when to go all out.

Anyway, when we got 6 handed I had a stack I had managed to build up to about 16K (about 10K behind the chip leader) and I picked up pocket Kings in mid pos with blinds of 300/600 and a 50 ante. UTG calls the BB and I make it 2400 to go. The shortest stack pushes his last 1818 chips in the middle and another relatively short stack pushes half his remaining chips in the middle for a call. Dlop comes J-J-5 rainbow.

The guy in the small blind then checks with only 2587 chips left, so I bet 2600 putting him all in figuring that there's a good chance I have the best hand and even if I lose the main pot AND the sidepot I will still be left with plenty of chips to play. He thinks for a while and calls.

The small blind flips 9-9, the shortest stack flips A-K. Turn comes a deuce and the river brings a harmless ten and that's all she wrote. I now have a seat in next sunday's hundred grand!

November 2007 online results

Quick update

I can't wait to post my November graph. It might not be the best graph as far as constant results go, but it sure as hell would make an entertaining roller coster plan! I'm still managing to put up gains though and around 50% of my sessions are winning ones (which I consider pretty good). So far November is bringing more profits than September or October... that said the month is still not over so who knows where that roller coaster will bring me!

Alex and me have made a nice prop bets. Whoever logs more ring game hands until January 17th. So far I am about 400 hands ahead and I feel pretty comfortable about this bet even though my holidays should be busier than his. I think it will be a race to the finish, but still, being ahead early is always fun as it puts the pressure on him.

I have been dealing in another tourney last week. Went pretty well, not much to say about this except that bad poker players seems to like to throw their cash away in rebuy tourneys.

I'm doing OK in both my fantasy football leagues. Could be doing better but I am still in a good spot to make the playoffs, and once in I'm pretty confident my team will get me money.

Rebuy maniacs!

What a busy week end! On friday night I had my first night as a professional poker dealer. It went pretty well even though my services were only required for the first hour. I had lots of fun. It was a big 200$ + rebuys fundraiser. Judging by the amount of maniacs rebuying like crazy at my table, I'd say the event was a success. Then on sunday we had a smaller fundraiser to help finance a good friend's new company. Also went really well. It's funny because in these two events I was facing very different crowds with very different budgets. Yet in both cases, lots of rebuys/addons were sold. There seems to be something in these types of tournaments that unleashes the degenerate gambler in everyone.

In between these two event in which I was a dealer, I snuck a long online session on saturday. Well, as good as September and October have been, November sure starts rocky! So far it's a catastrophic month but hey, it's still early to throw the towel on November!

I've read a football piece today on ESPN in which the writer was saying how much Running Backs are usually more successful when they keep their eyes on the goal line instead of looking around trying to avoid being tackled. It might sound silly but it made me realise that the last few days I have been trying to avoid mistakes instead of trying to win. Time to turn this around and go back to the proper mindset! And it all starts tonight at the homegame!!

I am almost done reading Sklansky's Theory of Poker. Great, great book. I know it's a book I will take time to digest, and then come back for a second serving. Next in line for my poker readings will be "The Poker Mindset" by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger.

Well I just learned as I'm writing this that we might have another new player tonight so it should again be a fun homegame!

New beginning

Tonight will be my first night as a poker dealer. While it's not a new career for me, it has the potential of being a friggin nice side job.

I'm pretty nervous about it... it's going to be a long day with a full normal day of work and then a night dealing cards.

Wish me luck, oh dear imaginary reader.

October 2007 online results

The poker Gods hate me...

First hand at a new table online I get pocket aces... against a player who flops quads against me. Ugh...

Gut shots and sick calls

Well tonight's home game was pretty quiet, played only 3 handed. It was all going really well until the following hand happened (2 hands before the end of the night too!)

I am on the button and look at KJ offsuit, so I raise it to 3BB and the SB calls. Flop comes 9 J 3 rainbow. SB bets and I call. Turn comes a J. SB checks, I bet and SB pushes all in. I go in the tank for a while and end up calling. SB flips 33... and I lose a huge pot.

What pisses me off in this story is that I thought about it for a while and got stuck on 2 hands I was thinking that could beat me (AJ and J9). Figuring that either needs the case Jack, I call. I never even considered pocket 9s or pocket 3s!!! I guess I had a few too many beers/baileys/ports... I don't mind losing a hand and I can't even say with absolute certainty that I would have folded this hand if I had thought about it. I just hate the fact that, like a fscking noob, I called without seeing the obvious hands that could beat me!!! Oh well... let the steam go away and learn from it I guess...

On a good note... tonight was a gut shot fest for me. I seriously got at least 6 gut shots the whole night. This caused in me an epiphany : the way I play gut shot is a big leak in my game. I guess that's the good that came out of the evening... I lost a few bucks but discovered a pretty blatant leak. Now time to analyze hand histories and go back to the drawing board! Let's fix that!!

Hello my name is Nic and I'm a skate-aholic

Well I've made a big mistake last week which really took its toll on my poker playing. I fell victim to a new addiction. I bought EA's skate for the Xbox 360. That game is friggin addiction, I find myself playing for hours telling myself "just this one challenge and then I stop!". Of course after that challenge I forget to stop and move on to another challenge... and so on and on and on...

Anyway, last night I managed to put down the Xbox controller for a while and went to play a bit of poker. I have to admit that I was a bit scared having not played in almost a week. If you've read my old posts you know that most of the time after a short break my first few sessions are... not optimal to say the least. So I went and sat down at my usual stake pretty much expecting a rocky session. My goal was to minimize my downtime "tilt" and try to bring in a short profit or at the very least break even. I did not play very long but to my surprise I managed to get in the proper mindset right away and I picked up where I had left about a week ago. Once again everything seemed to click and my decision making was as good as I remember it being for quite some time. I ended up playing about 115 hands and raking in about $2 of profit, finally putting my bankroll above $70. My goal is still to just bring it up to $100 to climb up in stakes.

As I've said in my last post, I have decided to adhere to a strict bankroll management formula to climb up in stakes. I just figured that posting it here would help me keep it in mind and at the same time kinda make me accountable for it? I know it sounds silly since pretty much no one reads this blog but hey! If it works for me! ;)

So here it is :

Micro-stakes : Go up at 10 buy in, go back down at 8
Low Stakes : Go up at 15 Buy ins, go back down at 12
Med stakes and above : Go up at 20 buy ins, go back down at 17

Nothing earthshaking, but it's the first time I set myself guidelines like these and I think they help me a lot to stay disciplined and at the same time have my next goal always in mind.

If any of you (my imaginary readers) have been interested in the Absolute Poker scandal then I've stumbled upon a reading that might interest you. Some high stakes online player (whose name I always forget) made a pretty thourough investigation that he detailed on his blog. The evidence is pretty damning, and despite AP's effort to drown the story I find it hard to ignore. Anyway, you can read that and reach your own conclusions... In the meantime I have to go grind 60ft and land in a manual...

Focus

Well it's been a while since I made a blog entry. I've decided to drop railbirds for my real "blogging" so far, so good old blogspot will be the only place where you (my imaginary readers) will be able to check how things are going with my poker "career".

September was good for me on the poker side of things. Not only did I have a REALLY good month online after a slow start (finally coming back to playing seriously), but my live game in our friendly home game has brought constant gains. If the first few days of October are any indications, that hot streak seems to be still going on. Funny how sometimes some time away from an activity can bring you insight into it. I really feel that it all clicks now and I've been posting pretty much constant gains in micro-stakes. After putting some money back in my online bankroll and setting up my playing environment properly I have had very good results.

I have set goals for myself and I think this is one of the reasons everything is going so well lately. I stepped down in stakes, going back to 0.01/0.02 and I now follow a more rigorous bankroll management system. I'm not stepping up in stakes until I get 10 buy ins for the next stake and will step back down once if I'm ever down to 8 buy ins. At first, reloading and going down in stakes was a bit hard on my moral (and let's face it, my ego). So that's where my focus is right now. Getting my bankroll to $100 so I can move up to 0.05/0.10 again. Then up to $250 and so on.

I have been mostly focusing on No Limit Hold'Em cash games. I've stopped playing the daily railbirds freerolls, have not really done any Sit & Gos, have not played other games much either. I definitly feel that cash games is where you can get a more constant income. Tournaments involved too much variance for it to be really profitable although the payout when you win a big one is hard to beat. As for other games well I still love them, but it's all about focus right now so I try not to divide my energies on too many different things.

Sit & Gos are a place where I've traditionnaly performed pretty well, and they provide a pretty interesting return on investment when you can do well in them. I will most likely start playing a few sit & gos again (always with the same bankroll guidelines), even though lately I'm enjoying the cash games so much that I have to say I don't miss them all that much.

Last week we had a record home game, sitting an awesome 9 people! People were in a gaming mood too and multiple times people added more money on the table. As usually (and as you can see from my homegame ROI% posted in the results sidebar) I've performed very well there. The action we had last week was just awesome and makes me think that we might be able to up the stakes a bit pretty soon. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while and as a first step towards that I will try to introduce more and more straddles. Having quite a few new people last week it was definitly not the right time for it though.

I have been asked by a few people on railbirds to post a guide to using pokertracker and although I still haven't had the time to sit down and write this (ok that's a bit of a lie... I would have had the time I just decided to play instead) but I think it's an interesting project and should get down to it pretty soon.

I've been working on organizing a fundraiser tourney for a friend. This should be held on November 4th and we still have quite a few things to settle but it should be fun. I won't play in it, I will either be dealing or doing floor. Still not sure which one. Will keep you posted. That's it for now! As part of my "focus" moto I will try to keep this blog updated more regularly.

September 2007 online results

Starting now I will post my monthly results graph. These will include only my NLHE cash games results for now.

Testing my hand at H.O.R.S.E.

Played quite a few freerolls again. Started off by finishing in the top 30% in Pot Limit Omaha on saturday. Then on monday, being at home all day, I decided to participate in both HORSE freerolls, not too sure what to expect.

The first one went ok (except for the fact that it took me about 5 Omaha hands to remember that this was Hi/Lo and not simple Pot Limit Omaha Hi like I've been playing quite a bit lately). I ended up busting about 420th out of 870 players, so a little under the 50% mark. Not bad but not quite as good as I expected from myself.

Then I registered for the 21h00 one. It went pretty well and although I started off slow (don't I always?) well after the first game rotation I had about twice the average stack. From there I kept building up my stack, mostly from the stud games. For quite some time I was pretty close to the chip leader. In the end, I made a few bad calls that busted me in 77th position. Other than a few hands I'm really happy with the way I played in this tourney.

I find it kinda funny the number of people I see in the HORSE freerolls who say things like "I love HORSE but I hate Razz". If you don't like one of the 5 games involved in HORSE then you do not like HORSE! HORSE is by definition a rotation of these 5 games! It also amazes me how many people participate in it even though they don't like it just because "it's a freeroll". Guess these people have time to waste, if I don't like a particular event, I just won't participate in it even if it's free! I don't find myself participating in every Hold'Em freeroll I see even though I enjoy Hold'Em!

Guess I just don't understand why people do, by choice, something they don't like.

I've been having good tourney results lately. I'll keep trying to build up on that and then go back a bit to cash games, which I've neglected lately. This reminds me, last night was our weekly homegame and boy is that game a lot of fun! We play for ridiculously small stakes but I think overall, everyone is really enjoying it. We had a new player last night, showed good instinct overall and I think he'll be one to watch out in the future. As for me, well I ended up the night with a small profit, which is pretty much the norm for me lately in that homegame.

Dead tired but happy about it.

Well last night I came back home completly soaked from torential rain exactly 4 minutes before the start of the Railbirds freeroll on FullTilt. So I rushed, started my PC, grabed a towel to dry myself a bit and changed in dry clothes. I managed to sign up to the tourney with less than a minute to go before the start!

It all started out pretty slow for me and ended up shortstacked after a while, but I stuck to my gun and kept playing my game. I managed to get back to my starting stack just before the first break by winning small pots left and right. Then it all started to click. After the first break everything was seemingly falling into place. I was stealing just enough blinds to build up my stack slowly, my hands were holding up when I was at a showdown and I was pretty much in controle and I felt I was dictating the action at my table. I grew up my stack a little above the average stack size before the second break and it would stay above the average until I busted out.

It's still all a bit blurry to me so I can't post specifics right now (specific hands are slowly coming back to me but I want to sort it out a bit by browsing through the massive hand history files) but overall I felt good the whole way. Managed to build up my stack and stay one step ahead of the average, even grabbing the chip lead a few times. When we got to 2 tables left I was chip leader and I stayed in the top 2~3 in chips for the rest of the game.

In the end, at 2h30 in the morning, I busted out on a bad play from my part. I was pretty tired at that point so my focus was down. We were now heads up and had about same stack size. He was covering me but barely. I don't remember exactly how the action went, but basically I went all in with my straight and as he called I just realised that my tired brain had not seen the possible flush there. We bot flipped our cards and he had the nut flush and I was drawing dead.

So even though I went out on a bonehead play I'm still really happy about my result here. 2nd out of 1500+ people is what I'd call pretty good! Hopefully this is just a start! Particularly happy that it just started my bankroll on FullTilt!

First time doing a Fixed Limit tourney

Well doing a Fixed Limit Hold'Em freeroll tourney tonight so I will post my thoughts here. I am really a Fixed Limit noob so we'll see if I get a clue how to play this ;)

Ok 3rd hand I pick up KcQd in the Big Blind. It's folded around and the small blind calls and I raise it. He calls.

Flop comes A-5-9 with 2 spades. He check I bet he calls. Turn is 9d he bets I call. River is the 6c, he bets and I figure there's no way a raise will make him fold and I'm most liekly beat. I fold realising how much I am clueless at fixed limit lol. This might not last too long after all ;)

Ok now about 10~12 hands into the tourney, I've already lost about a third of my stack. Need to tighten up and change my style A LOT. Trying to adjust and change gears now.

Ok started adjusting now. Won a few pots and doing ok so far. Just had some problems picking my spots at first since the pot odds in limit make it so enticing to play most of the hands. Really weird feeling for me so far. Can't put as much pressure so it's tougher to bluff your way in hands too. Still I like it so far.

Wow! What a hand. I pick up Ac 8h UTG and decide to call and get one caller and the big blind in the pot. Flop comes Ad As 9h. Big blind and me both check and the player in late pos bets. BB folds and I raise and get called. Turn comes Ac !! I bet and he calls. River is a blank since I have the nuts. I bet again and he calls.

The very next hand I pick up 9d 8c in the Big Blind. There's one call and then a raise. The small blind, me and the original caller all call. Flop comes Qs Js 2d. Wel all check to the raiser who bets. The small blind and me both call. Flop comes Td and I figure it's time to see if someone has a flush. Small blind checks, I bet, late pos raises. Small blind and me both call. Turn comes Jc. Small Blind checks, I bet and everyone call and I rake in a nice pot with my straight.

Now sitting on more than 2500 chips and doing great.

Now up to 2800 chips. Posting hands while playing is a bit tough so I'll slow down. Plus I don't want that post to be 300 pages long. Guess I might edit it at the end before publishing it.

21h45Wow... spent some time with only me and another guy not sitting out at our table. Now we're 3. Been like that for almost 30 minutes.

21h50 Funny how my limit noobness gives me bigger stack swings in fixed limit than I usually have in no limit. Now down to about 1000 chips.

21h56 Just managed to triple up from my miserable 800 chips with pocket 8s who helpd up. Back in business! Gotta play more carefully now.

22h00 First break. Sitting on about 1600 chips, so not in great shape but not in critical condition either. I'm finally getting into the FL groove and have to admit I really enjoy it.

Well busted out a short while after the first break. Was a pretty fun tourney, definitly took me a while to get used to limit play though. Next time I'll do better!

Freerolls galore and a change of scenery

Ok first thing's first. No my PC is not fixed yet. I ended up bringing back my 6 years old piece of shit former PC to life just to allow me to play poker until I find replacement parts or just decide to buy a new one.

This week end I played in two railbirds freerolls. I don't have my notes with me right now so I can't post specific hands right now but I'll do so later on when I get home. The first freeroll was a Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Now I'm nowhere near an expert at Omaha Hi/Lo, that said I still feel that I had a better understanding of the game that the majority of the field there. That's not to say that I didn't make some newbie mistakes because I sure did. Stuff like betting strong for the low in a three way pot while I had absolutly no shot at the Hi. The particular hand I'm thinking about I ended up splitting the low pot with another player, which means that even though I had a good low hand, I actually ended up with only 25% of the pot after having contributed roughly 33% of the money in it. Silly me, I should have realised that this contested pot would most likely end up like that. Guess that's part of the learning process! That said I had a ton of fun and I will most definitly participate in these Omaha Hi/Lo freerolls whenever they come up.

On Sunday I signed up for a NL Hold'Em freeroll on FullTilt poker. I had never really tried seriously FullTilt. It might sound silly, but I think that actually playing on a site helped me focus a bit more. It had been a while since I last felt that good while playing poker. I was really focused and everything seemed to click. I was getting good reads and acting accordingly. Stealing from opponents I felt weak, getting out of the way when I sensed strength etc. In the end I didn't make the money but I still finished in about the top 30% which I am definitly happy about. After the first break I was in the top 10% and stayed that way until a few hands ate a huge part of my stack. (I will post more about these hands later on). This good session put me back in the state of mind I was in when I had constant winning sessions, before the cold streak I was in hit me.

Watch out people! I'm back!

Ego check...

Lately I've had a few really bad sessions. Reasons are mostly playing by short burst and not as regularly and mostly, experimenting with small pot poker a lot. (with mixed results)

Anyway, bottom line is, that afer quite a few bad sessions I managed to blow most of my bankroll. Now what to do.

There's no way I can play comfortably at my usual stakes with the bankroll I now have. So I'n left with either :
a) Go down stakes and grind it out.
b) Reload.

I'm still not 100% sure what I will do. On the one hand I think reloading makes sense since poker is important to me and it's an investment. It would also allow me to play at my usual stakes comfortably. On the other hand, going down in stakes for a while and use proper bankroll management habits would be great for me I think. Would teach me a good lessons I guess lol.

Anyway, just thinking out loud. Think I'll try option A.

Still no PC :(

Well, still have not got to getting my PC fixed. Which mean SEVERE online poker withdrawal. Online poker withdrawal, in turn, means that I play like a fucking donkey whenever I use Mel's computer. I really need to get to buy that new motherboard, it just seems that I always end up having something better to do with my money and time and with my touch football season just around the corner I don't expect to have much more free time. Anyway, will try to do that stuff asap, most likely after my vacations.

On the plus side I've been twice to the CPR in the last two weeks. Results have been so-so (3rd to bust out once and finished about 25th the other time). The good thing though is that I am getting more and more comfortable playing live (hear that Alex?? you should be coming too! :P ).

Tonight everything started very well. I actually managed to play the style that I want to and it worked well for a while. Then for some reason I need to find out I just started playing poorly. I'm always pretty loose, but I turned into loose passive which ate away my stack. Then I got a streak of cards colder than Alaska and ended up being blinded away.

I have problems remembering particular hands I played, I really need to bring a notebook to take notes during breaks for further analysis. My game is a real roller coaster and I definitly need to find my leaks and work on fixing them. I'm really determined on being a winning player and moving up the stakes.

That's all for now, hopefully I'll post again from my own PC pretty soon!

Dead PC, CPR, home game...

Just a quick overdue update. My computer is dead which has pretty much prevented me from playing online. I've played a bit here and there on Mel's computer but have to admit that I have problems getting into it when I only have a short bit of time, can't really place myself in a comfortable spot etc. So my online results have not been really good.

I've also gone to the CPR again last wednesday, busted out pretty early, not much to say about it. I did not really feel good about playing that night but went anyway.

Last week's home game was at Alex's place. I goofed around a lot and decided to just have fun. Ended up losing a bit of money but I don't mind cause I had a ton of fun.

Anyway, I will try to post more soon and hopefully my computer can be fixed pretty quickly.

Live tourney

No I am not talking about the WSOP!

I went to play at the Club de Poker Rosemont last night. Went pretty well, although I found myself short stacked. Still managed to make the final table and finished 10th out of 43.

A few interesting hands that affected my results.

Quite early on, blinds are something like 75/150 and I have an above average stack. An early position player pushes all in and is called by another player who is on an even shorter stack. Now I'm on the cutoff and action is folded to me and I look at pocket Jacks. Guess I was affected by the Phil Hellmuth mantra "it's just Jacks" cause I folded. Calling would have cost me bout 20 to 25% of my stack which would have been far from disastrous at that point and would have allowed me to pick up a really nice pot (yes my Jacks would have won. Turns out both players had really borderline hands and a Jack came on the flop). I think I just played that hand too tight. To be perfectly honest, this was still in the early stages of the tourney and I was a bit overwhelmed not being used to play live. I find there's so much more informations to take into account in live play. I have to get more live experience under my belt.

A bit later, blinds are at 100/200 if I remember correctly. Alex raises to 600 from middle position. Action is folded to me in the cutoff and I look at pocket aces. I re-raise to to 2000. The button folds but the SB pushes all in for about 1000 more. Alex folds and of course I call. I flip my ace and he then flips K-9 of clubs with a face like he's just bitten a rotten lemon. Board came K-9-T-8-4-9 breaking my aces. Now the good things about that hand is that I played it correctly and that I did not allow it to tilt me. I stayed focused and kept on playing. The bad point is that it moved me from being an above average stack to a below average stack. Still, things were going pretty well at that point, but then I hit a real shitty streak of cards and my stack got slowly whittled down.

With blinds at 400/800 I was left with around 5900 chips. Being a bit overwhelmed by live play at the start, I had been playing really tight from the get go. With less than 8 big blinds left I felt I needed to make something happen when I looked at Kh 6h under the gun. I fired 2400 in the pot right there figuring if I'm called I might be able to pick up the pot with a continuation bet. Everybody folds to the big blind who hesitates for a while and then calls. Flop comes J 9 3 with 2 clubs, no hearts. Big Blind checks. Now THIS was my chance to get out of my bluff. Why should I have done this? Well the BB was a really nice guy but I had a definite tell on him saying he was not in a gambling mood. I should have given him credit for a hand better than mine. Still, as I said I had been playing really tight sine the beginning and I guess I wanted to make a stand here and show the regulars of the club that I was a baller. I fired 2000 more into the pot. He went into the tank for quite some time, in fact another player called a clock on him, but in the end he called. That was it, I was left with too little to chase him out on the next card and at the same time I KNEW he had me beat. Turn came a 5. We both checked. River came an A and he said he was going all in. I just threw my hand away, crippled.

That last hand got people talking a lot and a few people were quite interested to know what I had. In fact some guy said he folded Queens to my original raise. Anyway, I promised the guy who got me to lay down my bluff I'd tell him what I had at the end and I did. As I said this crippled me, but at the same time it might be an investment for future tourneys.

A few hands later we got moved to the final table and I ended up in early position with less than 2 Big Blinds so it was shove or fold time. I picked up A-T for my first hand, pushed and picked up blinds and antes. Then the very next hand I pick up A5s under the gun. I push again but this time I get called by A-T and bust out.

Overall I'm pretty happy about this whole tourney. Made the final table and had lots of fun. Will try to go again next week.

So much for taking a break!

Well after taking some time reading tonight I decided to go and play a bit of hold'em. My mind was fresh and I was feeling pretty good.

Overall was not a bad session. Much better than the last few I've had. That said there were a few pretty bad players. Here's an example of a hand that I played that just boggles me.

The guy under the gun limps in and I raise it to 0.30 with AQ. He calls. The rest of the hand played up pretty straightforward and I ended up losing it. What baffles me is that he called my raise (pot offering him 2 to 1) with 10-7 sooted!

Here's another interesting hand. That time I'm just not too sure if I like how I played it so I guess I'll review it while typing it in here.

I'm in the small blind, 2 people complete the blind including a guy who's been playing a lot of hands. I look at Ad 5s and decide to complete the blind since I'm getting 7 to 1. The big blind checks and we're 4 to the flop. Flop comes Ah 10c 5c, I open up by putting 0.25 in a 0.40 pot. The big blind folds, a player I don't really have a read on calls, and the loose guy also calls. Pot is no 1.15. Turn comes 10h not only voiding my pair of 5 but also putting a potential heart flush out there. Still, I have top pair and figure out an A or a 5 will give me a winner, so I bet 0.75 to chase out any flush draws out there. Unknown dude calls and the loose player folds. Pot is now 2.65. River comes Jh. Right there I'm at a loss. I decide to fire another bet of 1.25$ and the guy raises me to 4.50. What can he have here? I guess he could have limped in pre-flop with A-T or A-J. J-T is also a possibility as is KQ. Anyway, I figure there's no way my ace is good there and I throw it away.

Was just a weird hand. Re reading it I think I played it correctly though.

Anyway time to go to bed now.

Playing horribly...

Playing horribly lately. Posting bad session after bad session after bad session. I have to admit that I'm pretty shaken by it.

I just finished another session where a super aggressive player started tossing me around and I never could recover. So instead of just leaving the game and taking a break I ended up losing my whole buy in.

Not too sure what the next step is. I guess I will focus more on sit & gos for a while, maybe take a few days off from online poker. At least I've had decent results in sit & gos lately.

Anyway... gotta find a way to clear my mind right now before going to bed.

May recap

May was a pretty big losing month for me in cash games. I had a few very good sessions but most of the time I've been playing really unfocused. I intend to correct that in June.

The goal for June is to get back on track with Hold' Em and to keep posting good results at Omaha too.

Not much else to say today, just thought I should start doing small recap posts. Might come back with more a bit later on.

Terrific home game!

Last night was a blast! We played lots of Omaha, a bit of Razz some 7 card stud and, of course, LOTS of Hold'Em. I was hit by the deck harder than I've ever been. Managed to triple up my buy in. Guess that's why I had so much fun! We also had a record 6 people. Hopefully this is sign of things to come.

I won a sit & go last Sunday which felt good. I've had mixed results in Sit & Gos and tourneys lately so I'm really glad about that one. Especially since I had to fight for it. Was a really fun game. (once again I guess winning it all has something to do with me enjoying it so much!)

Here's a hand I am still not too sure I like the way I played. We're 3 handed and I'm the big blind. Blinds are 50/100 and I'm the chip leader with about 5500 chips. The button folds and the small blind raises it to 300. Looking at 7d 7c I call.

Flop comes Kd 7h 3h. The small blind checks. There I was putting him on something like AK, KQ or just a weak K so I was pretty convinced I had the better hand. The flush draw did not bother me that much I guess so I wanted to give him a chance to improve his hand so I checked. That's actually the part of the hand I'm not too sure about. Sure, I most likely have the best hand at that point, but if he's on a flush draw a free card could be dangerous for me.

Anyway, I checked and the turn came Qd which I was pretty happy about since if he was on a heart flush he missed it and if he had KQ well then there's no way he's going to fold this. He bets 300 into the 600 pot, I raised it to 900 and he called.

River came Ac, he checked, I fired 1200 and he raised all it for about 400 more. I called and he turned over JT for a nut straight. How could I be stupid enough to not even think about that possible hand! Of course I did not give him the proper odds to call on the turn, but still, I hate the fact that I completely missed the fact that there was a possible straight draw on the board!
Anyway, I managed to get those chips back and win it but I hate the way I missed an obvious possible hand.

I went to play raquetball with Alex tonight. Looks like he'll need to give me good odds if he wants us to bet on this lol! Played 2 games against him and lost them 11-6 and 11-2 if I remember correctly. Give me a few weeks though and this will turn around!

Raquetball baby!

I have not played much poker this week end. Been playing a lot of raquetball. God I love that game! I am supposed to go play again with Alex on Wednesday, I smell some prop bets coming!

Played a bit of hold'em and a bit of pot limit Omaha this week end. As is usual lately I lose at HE and win at PLO. That said, I'm starting to itch to play a good Hold'Em session soon, so I expect I'll try to find some time this week to get a good, focused session.

For the next few week ends I won't have much time to play, believe it or not I have lobster parties on the next 3 week ends! I like lobster but can't say I like it THAT much!!

Alex and myself are playing with the idea of organizing a fund raiser poker tourney with the office, will most likely do our pitch this week. Doubt I'd play in that event, most likely I'd just deal and do floor.

I'm also hoping the home game takes off again this week. I want to introduce a bit more Omaha in there!

Hold'Em slump

I don't know if it's playing Omaha, but my Hold'Em game is way off right now. Funny thing is, I'm running really good at Omaha, making money constantly in the penny games. I know I'm just going through one of my slumps with hold'em where I have problems focusing, which I need to play my game well.

Anyway right now I'm having a lot of fun playing Omaha. I really enjoy discovering different types of poker. Right now I'm only playing Omaha high, but I will most likely give Hi/Lo a shot too at some point. I just need to read a bit on that game first.

My bankroll is doing ok, it's basically staying afloat right now. I make money at Omaha and then lose it at hold'em or buying in sit & gos.

Sit & Go, Home game & Omaha

Well I have not posted here in... well... way too long.

My cash game has been pretty good lately. I have way more winning sessions than losing which is pretty much a good sign that I'm back on track. When I put myself into it and focus on my game I usually have pretty good reads on my opponents. Been playing only 0.05/0.10 lately and I see no reasons to step down.

I've also started doing sit & gos again. Been having so-so results. Made money in a few of them. That said I tend to play a bit too loose at times. Again, when I play focused I do well, when I'm not putting my mind completely at it, I have mixed results. That said, I really enjoy single table SnG and will most likely do more of these.

The home game has been hit and miss lately. I've gone back to having 2 winning sessions in a row, but we are not really able to have the game every week. Hopefully we get it going on a regular basis but with summer coming I'm kinda sceptical.

I've started playing a bit more pot limit Omaha on pokerstars. Now, I'm far from being a pot limit Omaha expert, but for some reasons I seem to do really well in it so far. I plan on installing the Omaha version of pokertracker to keep track of my results and have a better idea of how I'm doing. I don't know if it's because the field is so weak in the penny games on pstars, but I find that just by playing really tight I end up making money everytime I play.

Anyway, that's all for tonight. I need to get back to posting more often in here.

Taking a break from tournaments

Just a quick entry before going to bed.

Tonight went well, made about 9$ of profits, then went and played a bit of 0.01/0.02 Pot Limit Omaha for fun.

Decided to focus on cash games for a while. At around 40$ I don't feel comfortable doing 5$ Sit & Gos so I decided to grind my bankroll up a bit. Might sneak a 1$ multi table SnG or 2 in there but I want to mostly play in cash games for the rest of the week. Anyway I figure I need about 250$ to climb up to the next cash game stake.

Grinding it out

Well I've been playing in cash games a bit tonight and I've got pretty good results. Out of 3 average length session I got 2 winning session and 1 losing one. The way the losing session was going I'm sure I could have brought it back to break even. So it seems that I've managed to refocus and get back on track.

Will leave that post at that since my sit & go is about to start. I will post again later tonight about our (lack of) home game tonight and other stuff.

Guess I talked too soon...

Well turns out about an hour after posting my last message, I am playing on a 0.02/0.05 table and loose almost all of my buy in.

At first look it seems like I suffered a few bad beats, will have to review that to see how well/bad I played. Talk about a downer though.

That said, the feeling of that bad session is not so bad, I feel I'm getting back on track and playing better than I was lately.

Now time to refocus and get ready for tomorrow's game!

Mixed results, weekly home game and tourneys

Well it's been a while since I posted here so I'm way overdue and have quite a bit of mixed feelings so not too sure how this entry will turn out.

Lately my cash game results have been horrible, either on pokerstars or in our weekly homegame (which has started to pick up and is going pretty well so far). Basically I suffer from Callingstationitisme. I play very undisciplined, don't pay much attention and make calls I know better than to make. THANK GOD tonight I had a pretty good session. Ended up making about 3$ profits in 0.05/0.10 (which I've pretty much permanently switched to now. I feel there's more poker and less random coin flipping in there so I just enjoy it more). Anyway, while I was playing everything was falling into place, I had a pretty good read on a few people at the table, was able to stay focused and act according to my instincts and reads. Once I started losing focus I went to do a multi-table sit & go which went, expectedly, pretty quick lol.

Anyway, that session is a big positive for me, showing me I can still play, I'm not completely fucked and that I just need to focus on it and take it more seriously when I am playing.

Last friday night I had my first money finish on a tourney on PokerStars. Finished 68th out of 1663 people. Pretty happy about it. It all went pretty well except at some point I ended up focusing way too much on the different money bracket and trying to move up in it. That got me to playing way too tight and just anteing myself out. I ended up with about 21,000 chips with the blinds at 1000/2000 with an 100 ante. I look up at Kh Jh from late position (one seat on the right of the cut off to be more accurate). Some guy from middle position makes it 16,000 to go. At that point in the tourney and with the chips I have relative to the blinds there's no way I'm folding KJ suited. Even though it's a hand that can easily be dominated I figure that I have to start taking chances pretty soon anyway since I basically lose 3900 chips per orbit and any standard raise I want to make pretty much commits me to the pot. So anyway, instead of just calling his raise and being left with a smallish 5,000 chips and being pot commited anyway I just push all in right there. He calls with pocket queens. Board doesn't help me in anyway and I hit the rail, still happy that I made some profit on that tourney.

So tomorrow is our home game. Last 2 weeks I went totally broke both times, I have to do better tomorrow. First step I'll take towards that is to have less beers lol.

I'll try posting again here more frequently in the next few weeks.

Oh, btw, next sunday I have my dealer's course and I'm thrilled about this! Will post more about this once it's done!

Weird Dreams

Wow did I have weird dreams last night! I spent all night turning around in bed dreaming about poker. Everyhand I was playing I was out of position with the second nuts and would always get called by the nuts lol. Not my definition of a good poker session to say the least!

We've had what I hope will be the first of our weekly home game. Played mostly hold'em but managed to have people try Omaha and even some 7 card stud and 5 card draw. Was pretty cool. We were 4 and I came out ahead so that's good. I need to start being a bit more observant at the table, whenever I take time to really look at what's happening I usually have a pretty good feel for where I'm at compared to other players and I even spotted a few tells during the session. That said, I easily get distracted and lose focus.

Lately my online results have been horrible. I basically blew out about half my bankroll in the last few weeks. I still have more then enough to keep playing but I'm considering pumping a bit more money in it. Why would I put more money right now? Cause as stupid as that sounds I want to start playing on higher stakes. I really feel that playing on micro-stakes I'm getting bad habits and my learning process is hampered by it. I've given 0.05/0.10 a shot and I think that already there I might find what I want.

I've started reading Harrington and it liberating when it made me realise that the problems I have right now are not that my game is fundamentally flawed, I'm just trying to play a style that is tough for someone with as little experience as I have. I will try a few different things in the next few days to see where I'm most comfortable and can get results at the same time.

First time moving up stakes

Playing at 0.02/0.05 has been an up and down thing so far. I think I'm pushing my bankroll a bit so when I start losing I tend to go on tilt a bit more easily. But at the same time I feel that I need to stick it out and keep playing there. Also, the good sessions I've had for formidable. Micro stakes can give you really bad habits and I want to push to get out of these ASAP.

Trying to organize a home cash game pretty soon. Hopefully that works and goes well. I miss playing live.

More later I guess... Did not have much to say tonight.

My first time...

Cash game, blinds are 0.01/0.02, I'm sitting in middle position. It's folded to me and I have Ks Qs, I raise it to 0.06 and everyone folds except one player.

Flop comes Jh 8d Ts, I check hoping to get a free card. The other player bets 0.10 into a 0.15 pot. Not exactly the right odds to pursue my draw, but the fact that he did not re-raise me pre flop makes me think he's on a draw himself and wouldn't mind taking the pot right now so I call. Pot is now at 0.35.

Turn card is the As, giving me a nut straight and even giving me a nut flush draw. I check it again knowing full well that no matter how much he bets I check-raise him. He bets 0.10 I raise him to 0.50 and he calls instantly.

Flush card comes... Js !! I've hit my first ever royal flush!! I fire a 1.50$ bet and he calls. Turns out he has AK and I win a pretty nice pot :)

First time ever I get a royal!

I'm a fucking donkey!

I am having serious problems with my game lately. Nothing major and I know what the problem is! I just call too much and try to bluff and buy pots too much.

It's really annoying having a problem, knowing what it is and yet for some reasons not being able to help myself! I guess knowing is the first part to fixing it.

To try and change that I think I need to play more disciplined. I think I have been taking this a bit more lightly lately and it shows. Starting today I will try to put myself into my old winning frame of mind I had on my good run. Need to exorcise that tilt demon too!

Roller coaster

Well so far the second half of march is not going as well as the first half. In cash games I am losing money right now. I know why too, I just try too much to buy pots off with crappy or borderline hands. That said tourneys and Sit & Gos keep me afloat.

I am up around to 80$ in my bankroll right now, goal is still 100$ by my birthday (mid april). That said I've now decided to give the mid level between 0.01/0.02 and 0.05/0.10 a try. (that level is 0.02/0.05). I know it sounds stupid moving up in stakes while you're losing but I want to give it a shot. If I start losing I'll just go back down.

I haven't had the time to go back to the Rosemont Poker Club. Hopefully I do that soon. Hopefully I also fix my game and get back on a good track!

What a week end!

Saturday morning I went to Gatineau to spend the week end there with my girlfriend and meet a couple of very good friends.

Melissa was thrilled to hear about my results from friday. She kept asking me how it went, details about specific hands etc. Was pretty cool.

Having a few hours to kill on saturday I just roamed around Hull for a while and stumbled upon a poker item store! There I finally found the Copag EPOC cards I was trying to buy! These cards just look great!


Last night when I came back home I decided to go for a Sit & Go on pokerstars. Well as usual for me I managed to be on the short stack for a while! That said I doubled up and got right back into it and in the end I won it all! Went heads up with 6 times the chips of my opponent. I still have not reviewed the log but I can't wait to do it. Will post more after I do.

First live tournament... w00t!

Wow! Where to start... I went to my first live tournament tonight.

I had not been playing for a while so at first I was pretty nervous and anxious. This almost cost me my tourney life and the shame of being the first to bust.

Early on I got dealth Ac 5c in the small blind. Everybody fold except the button who limped. I decided to test the water and I made a standard raise of 3 times the big blind. Everyone folded except the button who called. Flop came A-6-5 rainbow. I bet about the size of the pot, button calls. Turn is a 6, if I remember correctly I bet again and got called. River was a blank. Turns out the button had AK and took the pot crippling me. I hang in there, taking small pots left and right and losing some too.

When we merged the 2 tables to one final table I was severely short stacked
, with about 6 big blinds left. Once again I hang in there, managed to double up a few times. I don't remember any particular hands, but when we came close to the bubble I had a decent stack and managed to take control of the table, stealing pots left and right with raises. That brought me eventually to heads up play.

The hand that got me out, I had about a third of the chips and the guy goes all in pre flop. I check and I have KQs so I call. His treys held up and that was it.

Well, pretty extatic right now, going to celebrate a bit, have to wake up early tomorrow to go out of town. I'll come back to this blog later on if more comes back to my mind.

Work work work work...

HORRIBLE week at work. Didn't leave me much time to play at all.

That said things should be quieter this week and already this week end I'm back playing. So far so good. I really feel like I'm playing really well lately. I might just be a bit overconfident and too cocky right now, but my feeling is that I can own our home games, I can make money regularly on the stakes I'm playing on and I even broke my psychological of making money in a sit & go!

On the subject of my SnG money finish. I reviewed the hand history and I really did not play my best in there. There is no doubt in my mind that I could have won this thing, but a night of insomnia the night before left me tired and at the end when we got heads up I just wanted it to be over so I could go to bed. Next time I'll take it all.

New goals : by my birthday I want my bankroll to be big enough to allow me to move on to the next stake.

Finally!

I finally managed to finish in the money in a sit & go!

Finished 2nd taking in 13,50$. I still have not reviewed the whole game log, but I was severly short stacked for a long time and still managed to survive elimination and build up a nice stack by outing the 4th and 3rd player.

I will post more about this once I've read the logs.

Overall my poker is going pretty well right now. I've started playing a bit again after a WoW-induced hiatus :)

Home game results

So, came out of our home game with 1 win at a sit & go. Plaid pretty well although I sucked out to bust the last player on the bubble.

One thing that comes to my mind and of which I am really proud is the way I played a particular bluff. I ended up heads up with early position against a player who is usually pretty tight. I made standard strong raises, going for about the size of the pot while having absolute rags. He folded to it and I showed him I had 10-2 offsuit. No big deal there, but later on, I turned a nut straight. My cards were the middle cards of the straight and I played strong all along. When the river came, I reached out, counted his chips and bet an amount that would put him all in. He thought about it for a while, looked at me and said something like "You bluffed me earlier so you might be doing it again." and called my bet. I flipped over my hand and he mucked his. That's the hand that gave me the chip lead and put me in a comfortable position for the rest of the game.

Next week end I might go play in a tourney in a poker room in Montreal. Really curious about that.

Btw, tonight was the superbowl, was really rooting for the Bears but oh well... Guess Manning deserved the ring with all the hard work he puts into this.

Live home game

On friday night we're having a live game at my place.

Pretty excited about it. Lots of good people I like a lot will be there. Most of them are not "serious" poker players but so far the few times we've done this have been really fun. Guess I'll post the results and a summary of how I play here after.

Will most likely be my last fix of poker for the week end, going to help a friend move. Hopefully it gets a bit warmer by the week end!+

Dream hand

Ok I've got to post this. I sit down at a table, not a single player I know, first hand I'm dealt is 10-10. UTG raises seven times the big blind, making it 0.14 to go. I decide to go see the flop with my pocket tens since I have position on the guy. I call as does the small blind. Sweet, now I have a decent hand AND position on everyone involved.

Flop comes Ts 6h 4c giving me a top set. Small Blind checks, UTG raises about a third of the pot, I re-raise him the size of the pot since I have the nuts and I figure this guy has an overpair or is just trying to buy the pot. Small Blind folds and UTG calls.

Turn card comes 4d so now I have a nice full house! Even better. UTG checks to me and I decide to bet about half the pot figuring I will most likely go all in on the river and I want to keep him in as long as possible. He calls.

River comes 3d, UTG checks to me... I figure he's gone but I decide to push all in, hoping he thinks I'm trying to buy this pot. He calls! I win a huge pot.

PokerStars has this weird thing where if you go to the showdown, you can see the other player's hand even if he mucks it. I hate it, but I still went and checked, he had pocket cowboys...

Bursting the bubble

Well lots of things happening this week. I've been playing pretty good, probably the best I've played overall since I started taking this stuff more seriously.

I decided to make a second deposit, not because I really needed it, but more to give me more options to play on different stakes and do sit & go tourneys.

I've always felt that my style of play was well suited to tournament, probably more than to cash games actually. So I did quite a few sit & go tournaments lately. Overall I am pretty happy with the way I've been playing in these, I feel the way I've played has given me good chances to make money finishes. That said, for some reason I always fall a bit short and seem to always be the one bursting the bubble! One such occurance that happened and can't get out of my mind is this hand.

We're playing 4 handed, blinds are at 100/200 and everyone is sitting between 3000 and 3500 chips. I have a slight chip lead with 3525.
I'm in the small blind, UTG calls the blind, button folds the action to me and I'm sitting on Qh-Jh. I decide to raise 3 times the big blind to make it 800 cause, well, I feel QJ suited is pretty decent and I don't want to let the big blind see the flop for free. Big blind folds to my bet and UTG calls.

Flop comes 6c Qd Jd. GREAT flop for me, I was guessing at that point that UTG must be having pocket cowboys, pocket aces or a big slick. I bet 1000, about half the pot, hoping he has KK or AA and calls. As a matter of fact he does call. Right there the only hand that beat me are either pocket Queens or pocket Jacks. I really doubt he would have called my raise pre-flop with pocket sixes. There are 2 diamonds on the board so I figure that after the turn it's either I go all in, making drawing to a flush pretty expensive, or I get careful if a third diamond comes.

Turn comes 7h. I make my move and go all in for 1725 more. that means he's got to put all his chips in to see the river. Now that's about 1400 more chips to see a 6500 pot. He calls. We both show our cards and he has Kd-7d. So basically right now any diamond or any King kicks me out of that tourney, that means he basically has 12 outs, so the odds for him to call were actually good.

And then of course the river came Kc and I was left with about 350 chips, a prayer and a story. Threw it all in on the next hand and then went home.

A few things about that hands :
1) I think I overplayed it a bit pre-flop considering my position. Just limping in might have been better.
2) If I was to play that hand aggressively I might has well go all in right after the flop. If he had KK or AA he would most likely have called anyway but his pot odds to draw to his flush (which was what he was basically trying to do) would not have been as good.

Overall though I don't think I played it that bad but I realise the few small mistakes that cost me my tournament life in that hand now that I go through it again. Guess that's all part of the learning process!

On a good sidenote I am playing really well in cash games lately and have been making a profit, so who knows... maybe I'll be back for more sit&go action soon enough!

Back on the felt

Last night I went to a party for one of my friend's birthday. Pretty much ended up talking poker a big part of the night. So here I am today, letting WoW aside for a short while and playing poker. So far so good, I feel like the few days away from the table really helped. I'm playing better than I have in a while. Everything just seems to click. Hopefully I can stay on that good track.

I will most likely split my time be splitting my time more evenly between WoW and poker this week. I will try to do a few SnG this week too.

By the way I have to admit to being kind of curious to know if anybody reads this... not that it really matters, I do it more for myself. But if anyone is reading this please post a comment, just to satisfy my curiosity ;)

That didn't go so well

Oh well. Tried playing on 2 tables at once. Didn't work out too well. Lost a bit of money there, then went back to playing on 1 table at a time. Spent some time on 0.02/0.05 and 0.01/0.02 tables trying to grind back up what I lost earlier this evening.

I am not at about 10$ in my bankroll. I will most likely take a few days off with the release of Burning Crusade. Most likely I will still play poker a bit but just not as much. I think it will be good and will help me refocus a bit.

I've watched the first episode of the second season of Rome. Seems like the 2nd season will be as good as the first!

Busy week end

Well played a bit tonight, made a small bit of profit again on 0.01/0.02 tables. Now up to around 15.95$. Not much more really but hey, 10 big blinds is 10 big blinds.

I won't have much time to play this week end so I guess reaching 20$ will have to wait for next week. I think I'll sign up for a sit & go as soon as I reach 25.50$. I have a feeling my style of play works well in sit & go so this might be a nice formula for me.

Twin Peaks

Another non-poker related post. I finished watching the first season of Twin Peaks last night. Wow, is that really a season finale? Good thing I don't have to wait 6 months for season 2 or I'd flip.

Still a pretty good show. The characters are so funny with all their quirks.

The tides are turning

Finally decided to spend the whole night on 0.01/0.02 tables. I feel I'm heading back in the right direction.

Started the evening with about 9$ left in my bankroll, now I'm up to $15.84. I know these are not good gains but it's still better than the losses I was having in the last few days. I ended up being a bit short of my "dream" goal of tonight which would have been to double up my 9 or even better get to 20$... but it's still a nice evening of poker.

I don't have any hands that pop in my memory or stand out particularly tonight, but I have to say that so far I seem to be winning a lot whenever I get pocket queens.

Oh yeah now come to think of it there is one hand that I remember. I was in the big blind and get Ah 9s. 3 people limp before me, I decide to just check it. Now the flop comes 8h Th 3h. Hmmm, nut flush draw. The small blind folds before anyone raises so now it gets to me. I decide to bet pretty strong since I figure people are going to be afraid of the flush anyway so I decide to raise the size of the pot (0.08$ at that point). To my surprise both players call, pot is now at 0.32$... not a bad pot on a 0.01/0.02 table. Now the turn comes, Jh and I hit my nut flush. Now I'm pretty happy because I figure there's a good chance someone else has hit the flush, I hope they did with the Kh. I decide to start slowplaying a bit, so I raise about 0.10, a third of the pot, hoping to trap whoever follows me later on. First player folds, second calls.
Turn card comes... 6h!!! So there's now a flush on the board. I make my move and go all in, hoping the guy thinks I want to scare him away to avoid sharing the pot. To my great joy he calls, all in, at 3.25$. I win the 6.73$ pot with my nut flush while he throws away Kh 8c.

Not in good shape

So I finished last night with just above 9$ in my bankroll... not in great shape.

Decided to make a few adjustments to my style of play. Came to the conclusion that I might have to reload too. I'm ok with that. Part of the learning I guess.

So far I find that my style of play seems to work better in tournaments and Sit & Gos than cash games. Hopefully the few adjustments I'm making will help fix that.

I am also most likely going to buy pokertracker to help me figure out what is "wrong" with my play.

I'll let you know how it goes. Will most likely play on 0.01/0.02 and some 0.02/0.05 games tonight. Trying to grind my bankroll up a bit. No more sit & go's until I get up to at least a 50$ bankroll.

On a non-poker note I've been watching the first season of Twin Peaks lately. Love it so far. I think I have one episode left to watch. Will give it a look if I hit a streak of cold cards or get on tilt... I also have the 2nd season here and the prequel for later on.

So...

I finally decided what I will do with that blog. I will post the ups & downs of my new "poker career".

Finally decided to make the big jump a few days ago and started playing for real cash online.

Not much success so far on cash tables. Finished just out of money in 2 sit & gos...