Power move to goal

Had my best week ever from pure poker play. I made an awesome $2650 for the week. Any time I lost money during the week I made it back and then some, it was pretty awesome to be doing...obviously. That big score means I reached my goal for the year of $35k so from now till New Year I am on a break from poker. Will I be able to take a break for that long?...who knows.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!

Going good

The week is going well but I wont post daily amounts right now, I will wait until the end of the week. I am up - lets see if I can stay up and how much up I can stay. Still aiming for my $35k ;-)

Paradise Poker

Downloaded Paradise Poker this week and from what little I have seen of the tables so far is that a big chunk of the players are very loose and overly aggressive...ie. easy money. All I need to do is wait for a hand and they should pay me off nicely. They also call BIG bets PF so I have had to up my PF raise amounts a little to try and keep my callers at 1-2. Here is a hand from last night which is a prime example.

UTG raises to $4.50 and 4 others call and I have AcAs in the SB and raise it to $31, UTG calls as does one LP calling station who calls any amount with god knows what. Flop comes 4TQ all clubs so I lead out 12 pot $50, UTG raises $50, LP folds...what do I do? Well even if at this point I am beat I still have a draw to the nut flush so I push and UTG calls. UTG has KhQh!! Not even a flush draw. I held up and took A $510 pot and decided to quit for the night :-)

I also tried to play 2/5 NL on Paradise last night but you was informed you must have a remaining $2k balance to be able to play 2/5 NL...ummmm, ok.

Paradise looks to be a gold mine but I already know there are going to be some horrible suckouts as well. Bring it on!

Game on

Slogged through yesterdays play and managed a $300 win which is nice. See if I can slog through it again today...

Patience

Standard session, not really much happening either way and then I get a nice couple of sets at the end to give me a $300 profit for the night. Thats the way I like to close out. SO another good start to the week.

My goal (that I really, really, really want) is to reach $35k by the end of next week - not including my live poker win in LV. That means not including last nights win I need $2100 over the next 13 days. Yes its a reasonable yet tough goal and it would mean a lot to me to do it. If I do it I will be taking the last week of this yr off from poker.

It also hit me for the first time last night how successful poker has been for me this yr. I was very happy, ecstatic even and decided I MUST have a party with my close friends to celebrate the yrs good fortune...on me of course.

The Comeback Kid

Wow, what a week. I got dealt sooo many tough beats this weak I dont know how I came ahead and came ahead well. Profit for the week was $1.4k + my $3k bonus from Bodog. Like the previous post the bad beats kept coming on BIG pots. For example:

I have KK, raise, called. Flop AKx. Opponent has AK and another A comes...ugh!

I have TT flop comes T7x, x turn all our money is in, river 7, opponent holds 77 for quads.

This frustrates me, its my own little pet peeve. I have lost with the best set vs set 5 times now to rivered quads but not once has the reverse happened to me. 5 vs 0. That blows. Every session I was blasted down, somehow I always scrambled back.

I was very proud of this weeks achievements considering some of the all-in beats I took. Definitely one of my best weeks, both game-wise an emotional wise. Maybe I am maturing as a player....

Ass raping time

Wow. Just had one of those shitty sessions where your monster hands get shat on. Got sets 4 times, one I doubled on and the 3 other I lost. But the real kicker was on the 2/4 table where I had QQ in the SB, UTG limped, UTG+1 min. raised, MP called and I raised to $32, UTG+1 and MP called. 447 flop and I bet $75, UTG+1 calls, x turn I check UTG+1 bets $150, and I rack my brain to think what cards he might have and decide on 99-JJ so I push in and he calls. River is a T and he has TT....UGH!!!!!!!!! And then I just played another hand w/QQ in SB again, LP limpes and I raise to $18, KJx flop I bet $25 he calls, check check turn, A
river I check again he bets $100, fold. Oh I forgot one other hand, I am in BB and see a multi-way flop w/89.
Flop is TJQ, I bet pot and get 3 callers. Turn a 9, f-ing great. Its checked around and the river is a 3rd heart, so if no one had a straight someone for sure has a flush...actually two people had a flush, lol.

So I lost w/3 sets, to a two outer for an $840 pot and, QQ to some donk, and a straight...FUCKING AWESOME!!

Thats twice now on a 2/4 table I have managed to suck in the losing hand on the turn to put all their money in and their miracle card has come...very annoying.

Oh well, must soldier on. We know these days happen...just need to write this blog and get it out of the system. Done.

$3k anyone?

Nothing much happened last night apart from gettting ahead then losing an all-in PF my AK vs AQ for a $200 pot, flop TQK, turn a Q, DOH!

Ended the session $60 up but also eligible for my $3k bonus. Withdrew it all $25k from bodog last night, hopefully it will be processed by the time I get home from work.

Sweet.

A set finally pays

I have been getting frustrated lately at my lack of hitting sets. Well I finally hit some last night, 4 to be exact, but the first 3 got zero action which just annoyed the crap out of me. Finally about the time I was looking to quit I called a big raise from LP w/66. I hit the set and just called him on the flop and turn and when he pushed his remaining chips on the river I called that also. He had AA but no set...YAY! Ended the night $250 up. I love starting the week off with a nice win. Apart from that hand the whole session was pretty much floating around even...winning some and losing some. Both times I had KK the same guy called my bet PF and both times he had a weak Ace and an Ace came on the flop. Whatever!

Tonight I will have enough point to clear my $3k bonus...mmmmmmmmmm

Last month of the year

I made my goal and cleared $1250 for the week. Only had one real bad session this week which was Sunday morning and I lost $400. I didnt do anything real stupid and I actually had a lot of great cards but the board and my opponents cards outdid me...what can you do? In 2 or 3 days I will have enough points to clear my bodog bonus and there will be a cool $3k coming my way...mmmmmm...

I have noticed that my money hands (sets) have not been hitting me as of late. I have had to earn my wins the hard way. I am either missing all my low pp's or the one time it comes no one wants to play. One hand annoyed me last night if the guy had just played it straight up. A guy in MP limped and I raised to $20 (2/4 table) from CO w/QQ, button called and the MP raised another $83. I figured I was behind and folded. Blind and MP got it all-in. BB had 99 and MP had AA. Flop: Q83. Very annoying. If he had just raised PF, I would've called and then taken a bunch of his money.

Saw another interesting hand on a 2/4 table. One limper and the blinds see the flop of TT8, SB checks, BB bets $4, LP calls, SB pushes for $220ish, he was called by the BB who had T4. Now what did the SB have.........T8!! If you can workout that play please email it to me. I saw him do that several more times pushing in about $300 or so into $20 pots. I also saw him limp w/QQ with an A high flop and call down a bet on every street. Have to love these players who have no idea, especially as I managed to get about $250 from him. One hand I had AKo and raised two limpers to $22 and said Donk calls from the BB. Flop comes QTx, he checks and I bet $35, he calls. Turn is an x and he checks and I badly decide he is such a donk I may be able to buy him out (I should've known he is a donk who will call with anything) and bet $75, he calls. Turn misses me and he checks again...do I try to steal the river? No, I have done that too many times in the past and it hardly has ever worked. So I check and...win...huh? Donk had AJ and was chasing the straight...

Next hand against him same scenario I raise $22 he calls this time I have QQ, 789 flop and he checks and I bet $35, he calls, x turn we both check, x river he checks so I decide to value bet and bet $55, he calls. He shows AK for A high, hahaha. He called me based on our previous confrontation. Aaaahhh, life is good sometimes.

So there are 4 weeks left of playing for 2005. I currently have earnt $28k online $1.2k live and will earn $3k in a bonus this week putting me at about $32k for the year...not too shabby. My goal in the next 4 weeks is to make an additional $3k to hit $35k for the year...thats $750/wk. Its good to have goals :-)

Donk for 15 mins.

Boy-o-boy. If the cards arent crappy to me why do I have to make up for it by being an idiot? I played some great poker early and was up about $400. It was beautiful to watch...but then...some of my circuitry got miswired and I started playing like a true donkey. And over two hands I lost that $400, one of them was a 3 shot bluff. UGH...what a dumbass. I have been meaning to put up a note on my wall for sometime now. It would say something like "DONT MIX IT UP!" Whenever...I repeat...whenever I start to mix it up without the goods I get snapped. I dont need to do it. I am putting up that note tonight. I quit after that crap and came back later in the evening to win some more and ended the night $250 up.

So with a mixture of fun this week I am somehow $600 up...cant complain about that. That goal of $1k+ this week is clearly in sight.