1/2 works for me

So one of the reasons I am not perservering at 2/4 is because I am in escrow for my first home and would like some extra income, which I am simply not getting at 2/4. So far 2/4 has been a big loser for me (-8bb/100hands). Yet 1/2 remains a consistent winner. Last night I played for about 2hrs and won $450 after being down $150 in the first 15 minutes (my AKs ran into trips). That is crazy good money for that level and I just cant pass it up right now. Truth is I will be happy to avg. $600 a week at that level; average being the key. I'll hopefully be moving into my new home mid August so it would be nice to have a few extra thousand behind me when I do.

Some (well actually many) people would consider me crazy because I bought a home outside my financial means. Why? Well I am counting on a steady monthly income from poker to help me out. Yep, thats where people would consider me crazy. But the way I look at it is, I only need about $600 a month from poker and I will be fine. If I withdrew $1k a month then I will be more than fine. Playing at 1/2 I expect to make $2400 a month so in my estimation I am not relying on an income from it beyond my means. Thus even with bad months my good months should more than carry me. If I ever get successful at the 2/4 level then I will have no concerns at all as there is plenty of money to be made there.

So last night...how did I make my money? Well I played aggressive as I tend to do at 1/2 now as the money just seems so much smaller after being at 2/4 for a while. I am able to let loose a lot easier. For example when I lost early with AKs it didnt bother me even though I got him all-in with only TPTK. I recovered some a bit later w/99 which I raised a bunch of limpers up to $10 with about 3 callers. Flop came QQ3 and I bet $40 and I was raised $40 more by one opponent which put him all-in. I figured I may be behind but I will call. Last two streets helped neither of us and his 55 was no good, HA!

Another hand I limped from EP with 55 and a LP person raised to $10; I was the only caller. Flop came 56Q and I checked and he bet $12, which I raised $12. He then raised my bet $12 and I paused to show hesitation and merely called. Turn brought an Ace and I checked and he bet about $70 which didnt leave him much left so I pushed in and he called. River was another 6 and he showed AQ for the losing hand.

The other big hand of the night I had 89s and raised to $6 from LP and the BB was the only caller. Flop came 865 (65 were diamonds), giving me TP with a flush draw and a gutshot straight. He checked and I didnt want to appear too strong so bet $8 which he called. The turn was a Jh. He checked and I wasnt going to slow down so I bet $20 which he called. River was the 2d and he went all-in for $150 (huge overbet). I of course have the flush but a very low one. I cannot fold the hand scared of a higher flush so I call and he shows 34o for a straight. BAHAHAHA!

Obviously a good night and a nice comeback to help relieve some of my losses this week. I am still down about $550 for the week, so if I manage to make that back I will be very happy.

Bunch of junk

Last night was the longest streak of junk hands I have ever had the misfortune of seeing. I saw 300 hands, saw the flop with 10% of them (which is equal to seeing the flop only with the BB!!) and won 3% of the hands (in other words won 1 hand in 100!!). While this was incredibly frustrating it was amazing to watch the endless stream of crap. KJs was a monster hand to me. I lost about $200 on missed hands and $200 in blinds and besides getting up from the table there was nothing I could do.

After last night I have decided to say goodbye to 2/4 NL for a while. My BR is back down to $10,300 and hasnt moved anywhere for weeks. I want to make some profit so I am going to grind it out at 1/2 until I reach $12k. That will probably take 3 weeks, but could be anywhere from 2-5 weeks. It doesnt matter. Now that I am in the process of buying a home I need to be playing a game where I am making a consistent profit. Once I reach $12k I will take another stab at 2/4 but I am just sick of it right now. I know there is a lot of money to be made there but I want to get back into the winning frame of mind, so its "goodbye for now".

Quick update

For the last week I made an $1800 profit which made up for the week before lasts $1100 loss. The $1800 came so very easily last week and I wish it was always like that especially as I played only half as much as I normally do.

2/4 NL continues to be a loser for me. I am not sure if my game isnt sophisticated enough or I am just having a bad run. Last week I lost $620 in a session so I dropped back to 1/2 and made it all back in a quick 90mins!! That was crazy cool. But everytime I go back to 2/4 I end up losing a buy-in or two.

So Monday I was off work recovering from a ahngover from Sunday nights farewell party and I played a few sessions. As is typical with 2/4 I sucked ass. I overplayed AA and lost an all-in to J9s that had a pair and a flush draw on the flop then 2 paired on the turn. Then I raised an EP raiser of $11 to $35 with my JJ. him and another called. Flop came Ace high and they both checked so I made a deceptive 1/3 pot bet to see if I had any takers. The initial raiser called so I was basically done with the hand except when the turn put a Jack out there giving me trips. Well unfortunately for me the initial raiser had AA so his trips bet mine and I lost another buy-in. After that I dropped down a level again and won a bit at 1/2 to end the day down $650.

Feck it. That puts my BR balance at about $10,740. I will attempt 2/4 again tonight as I havent given up on it yet but since I moved up I have merely been breaking even and that is only because 1/2 has been kind to me when I have needed to recoup those 2/4 losses. The good news is I am at least breaking even! Better that than down a couple of $k. Looking at it another way though, for all the hands I have played at 2/4 I think I am down $3k -- that is freakin terrible. Something needs to change and quick.

On other news, I bought a condo on Sunday!!! Will be my first home (assuming the paperwork goes through) and I am very excited about it. LA home prices are ridiculous so you dont get much for your dollar but I like what I am got, plus my friend just bought there 2 months prior. If everything goes smoothly I will be living there mid August.

Back at 2/4

Had another shot at 2/4 and didnt lose for a change. In summation, I won $300 for the night in about 2hrs. The $300 was made up of a lot of little pots. Basically the cards fell nicely for me last night and I got very little playback. For example I got AKs twice and AKo twice and none of them hit the flop but I won them all with my continuation bet on the flop. On bad nights you could lose all of those and easily be down $150! I only went to showdown twice and those were for very small pots. My biggest win of the night I had AA in EP and raised to $16 with 2 callers. The flop came K high with 2 clubs. I bet out $30 I believe and only the guy in the blinds called. Turn was a nothing card and he lead out a $40 bet into a pot that had $114 already in it. He only had $115 left so I simply put him all-in and he folded. Pretty much I simply bet $16 with a top tier hand and made a continuation bet on the flop whether I hit or not and won it right there. Was a good night where the other players werent hitting so I got to take it down. Nice way to make an easy $300. It isnt normally that easy!

These last 3 days are a record for me. I have won $1300 in 3 weekdays...by far my best start ever. They have also allowed me to quickly win back my losses from last week and put me back in a positive and confident frame of mind. If I can just get it going at this 2/4 level I will be up, up and away with it.

Freerolling

Managed to scrounge together a $300 profit last night. First session I won $100 and after 90 mins was hungering for some food so went to Jack in the Crack. Came back and played a quick 30min session as I doubled up in one hand and decided I would keep my profit and quit there. It went as follows...

I was a blind and had AhKh, an EP raised to $8 and I was the only caller.
Flop was A48
I checked expecting a continuation bet but he also checked.
Turn was 5h (2 hearts on board). I figured he had a PP and would bet the turn if I checked, so I checked. He bet $8. Wasnt much, but whatever, I'll take it down now so I raised to $30. He paused and reraised to $60. Now I thought he was either testing me with my raise or he had AK. I paused and decided to go all-in. If he had a PP he would fold and if he has AK he may call and I would be freerolling for the flush. He called with AKo and I hit the river heart to take it all...BOO-YAH!

That puts me up $1k for 2 days work, made up of about 5 hours total gameplay...bahaha. $200/hr! If only it was that easy all the time. Hey, let me enjoy it while I can ;-)

First time at the gym tonight, eat some dinner and enough time for 1 session. I am going to try two tabling 2/4 again. Maybe THIS time it will work...

Turnaround Monday

WOW. Had a great night last night at poker. Just what I needed after last weeks miserable performance. I had two 1 hr sessions at the $1/2 level. First session saw me win $450 and the second session saw me win $250 --> total for the night $700!!

First hand I won for the night was admittedly a marginal play by me but I went with the coin flip (probably still tilting from last week and forcing the action). I had limped in LP w/Ah8h and the blind raised to $6 (now if he had raised to $8 I probably would've folded) and I was the sole caller. Flop was 8xx. Memory fails me but I can tell you the flop was low and the two x's were both hearts, so I had a medium pair plus a flush draw. Opponent bet pot and I called. Turn was a miss and still a low card and opponent bet pot $60 and I called. To answer why I called...I put my opponent on a big pair and felt I had 14 outs to hit (an 8, Ace or heart) so I loosely called. The river was a low heart and I had the nut hand. My opponent bet $15 into the scare card and I paused to decide what to do. In the end I decided simply to push and he called. He had QQ.
I then one another medium pot with 99 that ran into a TT9 flop. Bet 2/3 pot all the way where my opponent called all the way after hitting his nut straight on the turn. Obviously he wasnt confident with it. Then I unclicked autopost to end the session $200+ up as is my want to do nowadays and had one other all-in hand which I wish I could recall but I cant. So that ended that quick session $450 the richer.

Took an hr break and then hopped back on. Lost an AK hand early with an $8 PF bet and a $15 flop continuation bet. Then I lost a gut wrencher. I had QQ in MP with one limper in EP and two callers after me, the n the limper SS pushed in for $60. I decided to just call not really expecting the other two also but they did. The pot was over $200 and I was salivating for it. The damn flop came with an Ace in it and I checked and the guy next to me bet most of his stack so I folded. The freaking moron had called with ATo. Grrrr, that pissed me off. I was then thinking I am $100 down and its just going to get worse (but it didnt!). Bit later I got AKo in MP and raised to $8 and got one caller. Flop was JTx and I made my usual continuation bet thinking I probably have 10 outs, he called. Turn was a pretty Q so I bet again $25 and he called. River was a nothing card and he had about $55 left so I put him all-in. He called and wasnt too happy. He was like "I figured you for a flopped pair but when you continued to bet on the turn I didnt think you would bet so strong with the nut straight, typical party play". If he wanted to get me off the hand he had to raise me big on the flop. If he had min. raised I may have still called.
Bit later came my big hand for the night. I was on the button with 22. Couple of limpers then a solid MP player raised to $7 which I and one EP player called. Flop came 288 (Jackpot!). Ep checked and MP bet $10 (very small bet). I figured he may have AK so I wanted to give him a chance to catch up and just called his bet as did EP player. Turn was a 4. EP checked and MP bet $25. This bet was too weak and I wasnt going to let it slide a 2nd time, especially with 2 opponents out there. So I paused deciding what to raise to and went with $60 which they both called! Now I knew MP must have a big PP. River was a 6 and EP lead out with a $55 bet and MP called. Now I needed to decide what EP had. My gut told me he had 8x (I just hoped not 86) and if he somehow had 88, 66 or 44 I would just have to pay him off. Thus I pushed in. EP called and after pausing for quite a while MP folded. EP had 87o. I believe the pot was $586 and I was ready to quit for the night. Before I quit I got dealt AA and raised to $8 and the SB called. Flop came T9x and I bet $15 and he called. Turn was a T and we both checked. River was a K and he bet out $40. I figured he sucked out with the Ten turn card but I had to call. He had QTo. The freaking dumbass sucked out with a crap hand. This has been my luck the past week, but obviously I didnt complain too loud as it was a huge night for me overall. Just seemed Ironic that my two most powerful PF hands that night were QQ & AA, both which lost me $60 each!

I have decided to go to my local gym tonight and see if I can get a 3 month membership. I just lost 15 pounds and ended my diet last night eating a Togo sandwhich with chilli soup and then choc. cake for dessert. To balance out my life I feel I need exercise and another hobby besides the all-consuming poker hobby.

Bring it on!

BR Week 23

My worst week to date and only part my fault, pffft (at least thats what I tell myself).

The week never started well but quite simply I lost most of my money through bad situations. Within 2 a hr play time I was all-in 3 times with trips on the flop with my small pp's and lost all 3 to bigger sets. Two of them they had the bigger set on the flop and the other hit his on the turn. I lost an all-in with KQs that made a flush to A4s. I was betting all the way and on the river he doubled my bet and I sickenly knew he had the Ace high and I went to call and somehow pressed all-in, DOH! Many, many other times I would have TPTK and lose to someone who hit their shitty kicker on the river. I must reiterate how much I hate flushes...I f*cking LOATHE flushes and lost to them many times. As the week wore on my game got looser and looser and I tried to play trickier and tricker in a forced effort to win my money back which of course lost me more money. Nothing went right and with my poor play towards the end I had little chance of recovering. I ended the week down $1100 and my BR was about $9550. Oh I had dropped down to $1/2 early in the week after my initial losses but didnt work my usual magic their.

On to week 24!

Tuesday: A Good Fold

I just remembered a hand from Tuesday night which I forgot to report which is worth mentioning. It was just after my big pot win with Quad Kings and I was ready to quit for the night. I got QJs in MP and limped into a 5 way pot. Flop came QJ6 (2 suits) and I lead out with a pot size $20 bet. The SS on the button called and EP player raised it $200 more. He had me covered and I had a decision on my hands. It was a hand saying I have the best and I dont want to be outdrawn by either a straight or a flush. The question was, is it better than top 2 pair??? My decision to fold was helped by the fact I wanted to quit the night up and I figured he must have trip 6's so I folded. SS on the button called and typed "I have pocket 6's GL". The turn was a J!!!!!!! I would've made QQJJJ. Aahh well, such is life. The river was a 6!! So shorty ended with quads...now then what the hell did EP have?...he had limped with QQ and also had a boat! WOW!! If I had stayed it would've been my QQJJJ vs. QQQJJ vs. 6666. If EP had let me see the turn for a smaller raise he ultimately would've lost the main pot but won a bigger pot off of me and I would've ended the night down.

WHEW!! I really dodged a bullet there.

Much of the same

Bleh. I lost about $280 last night which puts me down about $30-40 for the week. Got outdrawn with the best hand several times last night where the pots were medium size.
Lets see...I had QQ and bet pot on flop of 889 2 spades and the guy with 67 diamonds called and hit his 5 on the turn (I didnt put him on 67, doh!). Had Q5s in the BB and got a 557 flop with many limpers. I bet pot and got one caller, he has 99 and hits his third 9 on the turn. I had another QQ loss which I dont recall right now. And my one bad read of the night was when I had 77 and called a 4xBB PF bet. Flop was Ten high (I also have gutshot straight chance) and I lead out thinking he might have overcards. On turn I bet $60 and he called, at this point I think I am dead and when the river is an Ace I know I am dead, because I originally put him on AK but with his turn call I figured him for a higher PP. Anyway I checked the river and he bet and I folded - he showed AA, LOL. Bad read there. All of those losses put me down close to a buy-in and I had unclicked auto-post to quit and luckily managed to win about $100 before I shut down, thus only losing $280ish.

I keep waiting for a night where I dont get outdrawn on a strong hand and where I actually get paid off on a strong hand. I see it happening around me but not for me. Patience is a virtue and the good news is I am not down a ton. If I can ride the slow times like I am then all is well. When I have been reading big pots which I am not involved in I am doing a good job of reading the winners hand. It is so much harder when you are in the hand though to lay it down. My example would be the hand I had Q5 and he raised me back on the turn when he hit his 9 giving him a boat. I figured at this time I might be behind but unsure, a call is fine here. On the river when he bet $100 I really needed to fold, but didnt. I know if I was watching from the outside I could've picked his hand, being either a straight or a boat. I remember saying to myself if he has the boat I will pay him off...nononono, you know he does, DONT PAY HIM OFF!! This is where I need to strengthen my game. He can see the two 5's on the board and if he is betting aggressive then he must have better than that - FOLD!

Tonight we have a small home game at my place so I will only get in an hr session online before it starts. So lets hope I get some quick luck with a payoff or two!

Tough beats aahh keep aahh coming

Damn its hard to make a profit when you keep getting outdrawn. I am trying to recollect all the ones I faced last night...My first major one cost me about $150 when my QQ was beaten by a flush on the river. I underbet the streets, but ultimately I know I saved myself money as this guy would've called anyway. I lost when I had KK and raised a SS's limp up to $16. He only had $30 left so I bet $15 on the flop and he pushed. He caught his flush on the turn. Another hand I flopped the nut straight on the flop but the other guy flopped his boat on the turn. Another hand I had QQ in the BB and only the SB limped. I raised to $12 and he called. Flop came JJ8 and he had KJ. I think they are the main ones...None of them cost me a ton of money, which is the good news but overall they did put me about even for the night until one idiot paid me off.

I had KK on the button and a MP raised it to $15 and a LP called. I dont want two opponents so I raised it to $45. MP player raised it to $75. This $30 raise signalled to me a test bet to see whether I had AA so I figured him for QQ or JJ, possibly AA (cross fingers not). So I merely called to give him confidence he was good for now. The flop came K high so now I didnt care if he had AA. He bet $75 and I raised it $75 more which he called. Turn was an A, ugh...but he only has $100 left so I am not folding if he has it. He checks and I put him in and he calls. River was a K giving me quads. What did he have?......the fool played it out with QQ.

So far my short excursion into 2/4 has run into an unusual amount of tough beats and plan old suckouts. If I can get past those there is a lot of money to be made at this level. Even with all the crap last night I came out with a profit, thanks to the chump QQ player above. The night made me $350 and put me $250 up for the week.

I look forward to playing againt tonight.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

A gut wrenching night for me. For my 2nd attempt at 2/4 I had a plan in mind and was focused and positive. All of last night I played my "A" game and simply was making no wrong moves. In my first session I had a $270 profit, then came my second session...I am in LP w/AdQd, with two limpers before me, so I raise to $20. The SB calls as does the two limpers - not so good. The flop came all diamonds 9 high, EUREKA! MP bet $69 which only I called planning to jam on the turn. On the turn a harmless card came and he bet $300!!! I had $310 left so pushed it in. I knew exactly what he had -- trips -- and perhaps now he realized he was behind. The river paired the board and he won with his boat. That result totally crushed my spirit and really upset me...why?...because I really want to get off to a positive start at 2/4 and have some profits behind me before I run into these situations. I know they happen but let me get going first please! A few hands later I get KK and run into AA and lose another $250...ugh! I continued playing as quite simply reader, all night my game was on form, so I was hoping to get some of it back. And I did. I ended the night $100 down which isnt too bad afterall.

All-in-all I was very happy with how I played and now I feel comfortable at the 2/4 level even though I am overall $1k down for my 3 nights. I know if I continue to play like I did last night I will most definitely be profitable. I havent played so clearly and well for a long time. I cant wait to have another crack at it and as long as I dont have another bad beat I am sure I can turn this week into a nice profit.

May the river fall in my favor.

BR week 22

To the numbers...I managed to turn my losses from Tuesday around and ended the week $200 up. I think this puts my BR to $10,635. Considering I lost $1k on Tuesday night I am very happy with this outcome. $1/2 has been so very profitable for the last month, I have made over $1k every week at it. The past weekend was such a grind and I had some real horrendous beats against me. I had some people play in pots against me where they should never even have dreamed of being in the pot and yet they get their 3 outer on the river. It was amazingly frustrating. The thing is you work so hard to get ahead and then one loser sucks out on the river and takes it all and then some and then said loser gives it all away to someone who is solid, BAH!

I played a ton of poker this week, probably 25hrs, basically because my weekend was empty. So I should have earned a nice amount of rakeback.

I saw Star Wars Episode 3 on Sat. and it was okay. I think it will be a lot better the second time I watch it.

I will be attempting 2/4 again tonight and will make damn sure I dont make the ridiculous mistakes I did last time. God, I honestly played like a retard the last time. I will simply play tight and aggressive when I get a hand and see what happens.

Wish me luck!

Having fun at 1/2

So I am back at 1/2 and grinding away for the week trying to win back what I lost at 2/4. I am trying a new strategy I saw at the 2/4 level which I liked. It is basically tight and very aggressive. It works well but you have to have the sense to fold to any playback or slow down if you arent super strong. Basically with any good starting hand I raise to 6xbb. No matter what hits on the flop I bet pot. So Usually this is a $12 bet followed by a $26 bet regardless of the flop. Thus on a bad night I could imagine dropping a buy-in pretty easy. The thing is people really need a strong PF hand and to hit the flop to play against you. Draws never get the odds to play on the flop. It also disguises your hand completely. You bet the same PF and flop everytime and they dont know how strong you are so they simply play their cards. And as is the case more often than not people miss the flop along with me but I take it down with my aggression. I tried it out on Weds. and it worked well and I got to +$200 and decided to continue to play as I was having fun and wanted to see how the new system worked. As I noted when people hit you can lose a little bit if it happens in a row, So I ended the night $70 up. One thing I am learning is not to follow-up a turn card with a pot bet if I am not strong. Also with more than one PF caller if I miss I can bet strong just dont bet pot.

I played again last night using the same system and made $200 in my first hour or so, so I quit and too a break. In my 2nd hour I also made a $200 profit so I was rather happy with my night. The good thing about this system is when you have a hand because of the way you play if someone does playback I dont need to bet strategically to maximize the pot, because they already expect me to do that anyway.

My first session big win came from this hand...

I had QQ in EP and raise to $12 w/ one caller.
Flop was 753 (2 clubs) and I bet pot and he called.
Turn was low again and I bet pot again which was approx. $75 and he called. At this point I am worried about trips. River is the third club which gives me a legitimate reason to slow it down and I check. He pushes in, its possible I am still the best and I dont put him on a flush and the pot is huge so I call. He has 66 and I win. Funnily enough he berated me for pushing so hard with TP, I wonder what that says about his play?

My double up in the second hand was helped with my image and came like so...

UTG+1 bets $7 and I call w/AcQc, flop is 9x9c5c.
UTG+1 checks and I bet pot $16, he raises me to $40, I pause knowing I am behind but with outs and call.
Turn is 6c (Jackpot!) and he bets $85. I would have $75 left if I called this (he has me covered) so I decided to push and he called w/KcKh. River was a 5 and I took the pot :-)
He needed to raise more than he did on the flop and less than he did on the turn.

With those two wins I only have to make another $400 this week to break even. I will finish out this week at 1/2 and try 2/4 again next week.

I am embarrassed

Played my 2nd night of 2/4 NL and quite simply I played like a chump - the fish of the table. I tried to be trickier than everyone else and pretty much got caught with my hand in the cookie jar everytime. I also ran into monsters when I hit a good hand. I also got outplayed and outdrawn most of the night. And to top it off when I got a monster I got zero action. And to how much I lost last night...are you ready?...$1k! I havent lost that much in a week before but I surely did in a few hrs last night. I capped it off by losing $400 on my last hand. I had AKs and raised 4xbb PF with 2 callers. Flop was A23 (2 diamonds). I bet $35 and one guy raised me $35. In hindsight I should've either reraised here or folded. At the time I called because I knew on the next bet the guy would bet big and I would push. Turn was a Q and he bet pot $191 and I pushed. Once again in hindsight most hands I will be behing to at this point. If he has an Ace he probably just got two pair or we are even. Most likely he has trips. Anyway he had 45 of diamonds. Flop gave him nut straight and an open ended straight flush draw. I was as dead as a doornail and it capped off my spectacular poor play for the night.

I am going to drop back to $1/2 until I have $10k again and will give it another shot.

Sheesh I was such a fish!

First night of 2/4 NL

Yowsers. Wasnt long into my session before I was $100 down. I decided only to two table so I didnt overextend myself at the new level until I was comfortable with it.

It was tough, seemed a big step up from 1/2. In 1/2 you could often limp into seeing a flop but that isnt very common at 2/4. There is also a lot more aggression and a lot of raising. No doubt a lot of test betting too. I got a ton of high pp's, mostly QQ and JJ and most of the time they did me in. They were not good to me last night. Either the flop sucked and/or I got raised on my PF bet. Only one pocket pair all night tripped with 5 in the flopp (88), flop was J8x 2 clubs, I bet 3/4 pot and everyone folded, grrr. But when I hit TP and Invariably ran into something strong eg. trips. At one point I was surely down $300 and on some kind of tilt because I shot three times with a bluff as follows.

4 limpers to a pot I have 98s UTG, flop is 234 (2 diamonds), blinds check and I figure this is a good pot to steal and if the blinds call I will check/fold. I bet $15 and UTG+1 calls & blinds fold. Damn!...the turn is another 2 and I figure maybe that card will scare off any flush chaser so I bet $35, he calls. Shit!...river is another 2 and I wont win the hand unless I fire again so I figure I will put out a bet that looks like it wants a call but is still somewhat big. So I bet $40 into a $100 pot and he folds...WOOHOO!...and WHEW! On other table I win $200 pot when I flop the nut flush and he calls all my bets. So I am still about $150 down and was going to quick but just felt I could win a big hand at some point during the night so I stayed. A bit later I get AA UTG and decide to limp hoping for a raise. Its folded all the way around to the button and he raises to $18 (YAY!) and SB calls. I dont like two callers to my Aces so I am either going to take the pot now or play against one of them and I raise it up to $75 - both call (surprised). Flop is I think 997 or 779, either way I liked it. Sb checked and I bet $150 and UTG pushed for about $135 more, Sb folded and I called. Turn and River were K & T. He had JJ so I took my big pot. Same table I get AK next hand with 4 limpers so I raise to $25 and one calls. Flop is T32 (2 hearts) and I bet $40 and am raised $40 more - I fold. Other table I get QsQd and raise to $20 get 1 caller, flop comes AK9 (3 spades), check check. Turn a J he bets $15 and I call, river an x, he bets $30 and I fold. So two hands later I had lost $100, lol.

Anyway I quit there for the night $99 up and pleased I didnt lose. The competition was a lot tougher and there seemed to be fewer chances to limp into a flop. I feel I overbet AK too much PF making me have to bet a large amount on a missed flop and fold if raised. I hope all nights arent as tough as last night otherwise this new level could be a real challenge. Time will tell and I'll tackle it again tonight.

BR week 21

To the numbers...won $1650 during the week to put my BR to $10,425. I wanted to reach $10k this week and I well and truly did. My goal adjusted during the week as I hit the $10k mark so quick. By Fri. my new goal was to have a $2k week. Sat. morning I only had to win $350 over 2 days (weekend days!) to make it. But quite simply Sat. and Sun. blew. Was a combination of problems: I played subpar, I never got any action with my high pocket pairs over both days. When I got trips I either got zero action or someone sucked out on the river. Likewise when I got a flush it came with a rivered boat. I just could never get it going and was always fighting to recover losses. I cant be too disappointed as it was a great week and the weekend only cost me $100.

One sotry from Sunday I must impart. Was at a table with an aboslute MANIC! He would raise preflop anywhere from $2 to $125 regardless if there was zero limpers or a bunch. In fact he would do it even to raises. His typical flop bet was all-in. He as building his stack as no one was prepared to call his ludicrous bets and quite frankly I hadnt seen any of his hole cards yet. First hand I saw of his he bet $20 PF UTG, MP raised to $40 and he called. Flop was KJx and he pushed in, MP called. Maniac had 22, MP had AA, river bought his third 2. Ok so now I know he is retarded. Also saw some of his other cards to see he would puch on any flop he had a pair of any kind and just total bluffs. So he has made it to about $600 and I get QQ in LP with a few limpers, maniac is a blind. I raise to $12 and only he calls (he will call anything). Flop came 887 and if he has an 8 so be it. He bets $20 and I want to milk him so I call. Turn is a 3 and he bets $75 and I push-in for $80 more, he calls. River is another 3 and he shows down 35s, UGH. So that makes it twice in a row against AA & QQ where he had 2 outs on the river that he has made it. If I had only won that hand I would've been very close to my $2k mark now I am instead down $200. He continues his ways and people are just waiting for strong hands to double up off the guy. One person does against his total bluff (nothing new). I get QQ again same scenario as above and he calls my $12 bet. Flop is T7x I think. I bet $25 he calls. Turn is an Ace (yuck), I bet $50 and he pushes in (S.O.B.), as much as I hate the call he is such a total maniac I am praying he doesnt have the Ace. He doesnt he had T8o and the river didnt help him. So I got my money back. He continues his losing chips on ridiculous bets against two pairs and trips with total bluffs. He got as high as $890 before blowing it all. The only all-in calls he won were against the AA & my QQ. When he left a guy said at the table the maniac is on his buddy list and he has played with him once before and he played exactly the same.

You could literally feel the rest of us at the table chomping at the bit for a hand to play against him. I am actually moving up to $2/4 NL this week bu if I see him I will drop down to $1/2 to try and get an easy double up.

Speaking of $2/4 NL, it will be my first attempt at it tonight. I am a little gunshy at this point but if I play my same game not much can go wrong. I only really lose big if I lose to a suckout or run into a bigger monster. I dont lose a chunk of chips to any other situation. Of course I can lose a buy-in from antes and missed flops, but lets not be thinking negative!

I will feel a whole lot more comfortable at the new level if I can start with a winning session and a winning week. Wish me luck!

Another day another dollar

Nothing much exciting in last nights poker play. Had two sessions of one hour each - now playing on Eurobet for rakeback. Both sessions totalled together, I won $150. All wins were small to medium-small and all losses were small.

What I found last night was I got either bored or tired of poker rather quick, thus my short sessions. Makes me wonder how it would be even possible to consider doing this full-time. Poker may just be better for me part-time even if it is lucrative. Of course lets see how I feel about this topic in 2 years time...

If I can make approx. $600 over the next 3 days I can have a $2k week - now that would be special!

Bodog bonuses: tick

Well I checked with Bodog this morning to see how many more bodog points I needed to clear all my bonuses and they told me I already have...huh?...ok cool! I had $320 in bonuses due so that is a welcome addition to my BR. Not only that I won $285 last night. So as of this morning people I have now achieved the milestone of $10,000!!! (cue the music)

WOW...how fricken cool is that?! I have only played 3 days this week and have already made $1250 ($440 in bonuses) -- but people, it doesnt matter how you get the money as long as you get it. So as usual barring a disaster and instead continuing as I have been, this week could be HUGE. I think my best week to date is around $1350. With four days to go I could smash that record -- then again using bonuses is kind of cheating when talking about record weeks huh. Whatever, it would still be cool to have a massive week, is $2k for the week out of the question??

Getting to last night I got most of my winnings from this hand...

I was dealt QQ in LP and I think it was folded to me and I bet $6, next guy called.
Flop: QA6
I bet $10 and the other guy raised me $10, I called.
Turn: x (2 of one suit)
I bet $10, guy raised me $10, I raised $25 more, he reraised me about $40 more. At this point I thought he aint folding now so I push and he calls.
River: x
me --> QQ
him -> AQ
Sux to be him.

Lets wrap these last 4 days of the week up with some steady wins and hopefully have it be the last week I am ever in $1/$2 NL. YEAH BABY!

PS Bonus: tick

Played a one hr session to finish up my PS bonus which was $120 and I also won $150 while playing --> who can argue with that?

Took a break and then went and played on Bodog where it will take me most of the week to finish up my bonus requirements. Unfortunately while I got good cards they didnt hold up. I had sets 3 times that were beaten (higher set and 2 rivered straights) and although they cost me a big chunk, I did ok on other hands, so for 2 hrs I was only down $80.

Thus my profit for the night was $70 + a $120 bonus.

I havent had much go against me in the last few weeks and either I am playing better or my time for multiple bad beats hasnt been "due" just yet. Actually I think it is a combo of both. When I have had bad beats or run into better hands eg. set over set, my losses I have managed to minimalize as much as possible. So while I am still losing hands regularly they tend to be small to medium in size and when I get a monster or strong hand I am winning medium to large pots. And that obviously is what makes a poker player successful.