Still going well

Week is shaping up nice again and it is my mission this week to clear my bodog bonus. Last night I got a whole bunch of great PF cards but they were mostly losing all session long. The session had started well so that cushioned the slide and I only lost $50 total for that session. The better news is my prior session had been great, hehe so all is well in paradise.

Have created some new accounts at the poker sites on my laptop to take advantage of rakeback and will no longer be chasing bonuses but playing where the games and rake is best. Considering how much I play rake owns bonus hunting anyway. Just another step in the right direction.

I sure hope the week continues as well as it has started :-)

New Record

Set a new record last week for greatest profit in one week. This new system continues to prove itself and its making me dream of big things. I just need to stay grounded and grind away at it and let what happens happen. I lost an all-in PF hand, TT vs JTs, on the weekend and I didnt realize how close a match it is --> 63% in favour of TT. Not exactly a huge favourite, oh and I lost to a rivered flush.

Yesterday I only got to play for 90 mins but still managed to bring in a sizeable amount, lets hope it continues.

Fully recovered

Weds. was another nice day for profits and I made more than I lost on Tuesday so the week is shaping up very nice again.

In bigger news the company I worked for announced they are merging with an even bigger sub-prime lending company so evetually I will be out of work. Whatever positions that they end we will be given a min. of 60 days notice and that notice isnt likely to happen for about 90 days so I actually dont have to worry anytime soon about finding a new job. Truth is I already have. Once my expected termination happens and I finish here I will be become a Poker Pro. Yes you heard it here first.

The idea is very scary and very exciting all in one. Fortunately with this new style I stumbled across my confidence this can not only be a career but a successful career has doubled. As long as the poker boom is here to stay and the competition doesnt get significantly better I believe I can live a comfortable life without risking too much money. That is, I think I can live a very nice life playing at the 2/4 and 2/6 no limit levels. I wouldnt even have to go up to be just dandy. If I do and am stil a winner at a higher level well that would just be icing on the cake.

Quite simply the main reason I want to go pro is because of the felxibility of work, no boss, no deadlines, just me and a computer whenever I want. I want to be able to go play golf in the middle of the day. Go to the gym in the morning after a session of poker. Be able to hangout with my father in his semi-retirement. Travel! In my mind it feels like I will be retiring in my early 30's.

I am not one of those poker players obsessed with the game. I dont think anytime I am hanging out with friends I am missing out on winning $200. Nope, not me. I play here and there, enough to win me a nice chunk of change and then I want to relax and live life. Thats the whole idea of doing this for me. I dont want to get rich (though I wouldnt argue with it), I want an easy happy and comfortable life on my terms.

I am no doubt making this sound far easier than it will turn out to be and I may find that out. But at least at this point thats how I envision it being for "me".

Bad Beat

I had a great day Monday then a bad day Tuesday. My losses Tuesday were 2/3's bad beat and 1/3 donkeying it. Its funny I had just been saying to a friend that day at work that I really hadnt run into many bad beats --> I put the f-ing hoodoo on myself. Its still good though because Monday was a GOOD day.

The game is still great and I am attempting for the umpteenth time to get my best mate interested in it. He is certainly interested when he sees what I make but whether he has the inclination to put all the effort in that is needed to become a winning player we'll have to wait and see.

5th winner in a row

Last week was my 5th straight profitable week in a row. I checked back over the last yr and a half and my record is 6 winning weeks in a row followed by a bunch of 5 weekers. My typical patter is about 2-1/2 winning weeks to 1 week loss. The loss is generally a lot smaller compared to the wins. The difference in this 5 week stretch is the last 3 weeks have been using the new LAG style and the profits have been A LOT more. Last week was another very nice win and all of it came from the last 4 days.

Ironically this system is going so well I am almost scared to play some times because I feel like the rug is going to be pulled out from under my feet. I know, I know, I cant think like that but geez this sytem feels too good to be true. There is no doubt in my mind though that a bad week will see me lose anywhere from $2k-$4k in a week depending on how bad it really is. Hasnt happened yet. Dont look forward to when it does. Knock wood. I am trying to prepare myself mentally for when it does happen as I am not used to a loss that big. I think my biggest loss in a week is about $1300 to this point. Anyway I am going to enjoy this newfound success and go with it, how can I not?!

It still amazes me. I think back how I used to play --> very tight agg., and how I thought anyone who played the LAG style had no idea how to play consistently profitable...BAHAHAHA. What an arrogant idiot I was. There is sooooo much more money in the LAG style and it can still be very consistent if you play it right.

I bought a laptop on friday which I should get in about a week so I can now be a mobile poker player, hehe. Its a dell 2 ghz, 1 gig mem, 80 gig drive, 17" screen, carrycase and I decided to buy a wireless mouse as I am not sure how quick I would be with the touchpad. The resolution is capable of 1600x1200 so I will still be able to 4 table if I choose - not that I do right now. I am still only 2 tabling the short handed games but sooner or later I will bump it to 3.

I am still mixing up the stakes and playing 2/4 and 3/6 split about even and both levels are equally profitable and I am getting more and more comfortable with the higher bets at 3/6 the more I win.

Oh I took one sick loss on the weekend on a 3/6 table. I bet pot UTG w/ATo and LP min. raised me so I squarely put him on QQ-AA, AK. I am not going to fold for a min. raise but will only really continue the hand with a big draw or a 2 pair+ flop. Anyway the flop came JQK!!! So he either had a set, TPTK or an overpair for sure thus I checked it to him and he made about a 3/4 pot bet and I pushed in. He had the best possible hand I could hope for AA, needing runner runner or one of the last 3 Tens. Turn was another Ace, river a Jack...SICK! Luckily he wasnt a deep stack and I only lost about 1/2 a buy-in. More importantly most of my other hands didnt take any bad beats which is why my week turned out great again :-)

Lets hope I equal my previous week winning stretch this week. Might not be a big week as I have plans friday through sunday...lets see what happens!

Tough calls

I have come right in the latter half of the week and as long as I dont screw up the weekend its looking good again. I have had to make several big calls this week and while my hands have been very strong or strong its still a BIG call.

Hand 1:
3/6 6man NL
a very solid tricky player raises $21 OTB and I call in the SB w/TT, BB also calls. Flop come Ts9s8s and I lead out $25 as a feeler. BB folds and Button moves in (he has me well covered). Now this player only makes this play with a made hand or a very strong call. I took time to think it through and honestly thought he had AsAx. I figured he wasnt pushing with a made hand, ie a straight or a flush and even if he was I did have outs. So I called. He in fact did have AsAx and didnt improve.

Hand 2:
2/4 6 man NL
Havent been at the table long but saw the villain make a big bluff pay off on the river. He raised PF and bet pot on flop and turn w/34o and tripped his 3 on the river. 3 limpers in this hand and I raise to $26 from Sb w/AKo, villain in CO and button call. Flop is 4h6c8s rainbow and I pause and lead out $50, villain calls. Turn is Ah and I pause again and bet out $105 into about $180 pot, Villain pots it to about $500. Lots of hands beat me but once again this is a huge raise and could be a steal, semi-steal. I was worred about two pair or a set and was not concerned about a made straight. In the end I thought he might have me on a pair such as TT-KK and felt my pause and medium bet on the turn was weak and he thought the Ace was a scare card for me. Thus I called. He had 97o for the straight draw and missed.

Those two pots certainly recouped my week. Now I just have to get through the weekend unscathed and if I do it would mean my third straight solid week with the new style.

I'll speak to you on Monday!

The learning curve

The second week of this new strategy I got off to a blistering start and then in the second week in went south but I ended up still winning a very nice chunk of change for the week. Starting this week it didnt go so well and to be quite honest starting from half way through last week I got off the path of the optimal LAG play. I was becoming overly LAG and getting a lot of playback forcing me to fold and I was rasing all my pairs and they were all falling short. Sure I got unlucky too but basically I was playing it quite right. So I was down a wee bit this week and went back to the drawing board and reminded myself the best way to play this style. I have got it back to even for the week and will try and finish it off strong. I still love the style and wont be giving it up I just need to be focused. You play a lot of hands in an hour and if you lose concentration and slip up it can cost you a lot. Its not the bad beats or unfortunate hands that frustrate me its when I do something stupid. Eliminate my errors and it will be hard to lose.

A Total Revamp

Long time, no write!

I havent been posting as I got dispirited with the state of my game, got bored playing and wasnt enjoying the game. I was still making money but not a hell of a lot and it was full of rollercoaster swings. I didnt know what to do but I knew I needed to do something. I cam across a site that for a fee was teaching people a style of poker and how to accomplish it. I said WTF, I need something and joined. WOW!! Boy did they open my eyes and boost my game to a whole new level. Before this site, without even realizing it, I was a chump. I now have a much greater understanding of the game and how to play it profitably and in a fun way.

Bascially the knew style is to play short handed tables, ie. 6 people or less, in a loose aggressive (LAG) style based on the power of position. Being short handed tables the action comes thick and fast and you are making big bets with by no means nut hands. You have to make a lot more marginal decisions, good reads and bold bluffs. Its not as hard as it sounds if you play it strong and smart. The variance is a little more swingy, but the wins come larger and faster.

The variety of hands I play from position allows me to make some disguised hands that you would never have seen me playing at a full table prior this revealtion. It is truly fun to make a straight flush with J8s against an Ace high flush :-)

So far the money is coming in thick and fast and I am ahead of target to make my $50k year mark. I wouldnt be surpised if I surpass that by a fair chunk. Too early to tell but the road ahead looks clear.

Now lets talk about the downside. I can DEFINITELY see when I have a bad week or two losing about $3k in a week. Its going to happen sooner or later and somehow I am going to have to be ready to deal with it. Hopefully by the time that happens I have numerous big weeks behind me. In just the short time I have been playing this LAG style I have had 3 seperate sessions where I lost $800 each. Fortunately in a different session of each day I made it back. Wont be like that all the time and I dont look forward to the week it all goes to hell...ah well, that is poker and that is a part of my mentality I am working on --> dealing with the donwswings.

Ending on a good note, I am loving this new style, the money coming in and enjoying the game. A positive side effect of the increased cashflow is the confidence has overflowed into my regular life. I feel more confident and happy and am engaging people with a smile and a sense of selfworth. Just knowing I am winning at poker has made me a more outgoing, happy confident person...I love it!

May the money keep-a-comin!