A Good night

I won some money and I have a new girlfriend...what could be finer?! Traci and I made our thoughts for each other known last night and there will be no looking back from here. I have what I hope is my final dentist appt. today to get the rest of my teeth fixed and I think I will call my parents tonight and give them a 6 month update and tell them about my new girl.

I honestly am not playing my "A" game right now but somehow I am squeaking through with some wins. Playing my "A" game would give me the profits from a month ago, currently my profits are very so-so but good in the scheme of things. I played like a fricken over agg. tool today just because that was the mood I was in and lost $400 in about 10 minutes, lol. Then I pulled finger and somehow won $700 over the next hr. I need to cut out that donk stuff because its just costing me good profit.

I think I am going to set aside $1500 of my winnings and give 5/10 NL a shot next week. It will be a one time try and if I lose it I'll go back to 2/4 and give it another shot some other time down the road. I have a large enough bankroll to stomach the loss and have made enough money over my 6 month target to pay for it. Basically I am taking it away from my yearly earnings and imagining I never made it so I wont put any pressure on myself when I play. Will be fun, berve-wracking and exciting to give it a shot. Who knows, maybe it will work out!

Got a busy weekend lined up so cant imagine much poker will be played. Sidenote: my new girl may be good luck. I have been teaching her poker and 3 have played 3 SNG's and come 2nd, 3rd and 1st, placing everytime...not too shabby.

Meh

Playing some ok poker. Still having spurts of donkeyness coming through tho and of course bad beats. I need to improve my game to get back to the original winning levels. I am up for the week, though nothing spectacular, I am up.

Going on a kinda date tonight. The word "dating" cannot be used yet but I am sure it wont be long. I am almost positive she is interested in me as I am in her. Cant wait to see where this goes.

Fricken tool

So I got as high as $650 up yesterday then blew it all, although thats only half the story. I had first played and managed to make a couple of hundred. Took a break and came back later and go on a cooler and lose $1k in 1 hr!! Then I go on a heater and win $1k in about the same time. Take a break, play again and make $400 instantaneously then play like a tool and lose $650. End result: even for the day. What a moron.

Rakeback seems to be a nice little money returner. Following trends June should return me about $1200. Thats no small pocket change to a man of my means. Me likey.

I need to pull finger and start playing some good god damn poker!

Recovered

Worked my way back for the week and ended up winning a decent amount of money. I did not play at all Sunday as I was out all day with my bud and his girl and another girl who I am working on. More on that if it works out. One thing of note about her is she is chomping at the bit to do some poker gambling of her own.

If I have 1 small goal this week it is to make $600 so I can achieve a 6 month goal I would be most happy with. Of course I hope to make more than that but if all I make is $600 I will still be happy.

Lets see how it turns out.

OH! Superman Returns starts Weds. this week and I took a day off work so me and my best mate Alex can go watch it on opening day - should be awesome. Also have a 4 day weekend coming up for the 4th of July. SWEET!

UGH

I cant seem to avoid the worst of it in poker right now. I am getting numerous 2nd best hands and numerous suckouts and there is no balance. I am getting the worst of all of it right now. I am pleased to say I am not tilting or getting emotional more dispirited than anything.

Once again I am going through the questioning myself stage "do I have it?" "have I lost it?" "Am I being outplayed?"

UGH. After all those huge weeks in a row I cant seem to even put together a winning session. Its driving me bonkers!!

And yet I still love to play the game! Go figure.

Down a good amount this week and I guess I'll be happy to break even by the end. Sheesh, lets hope that "even" happens. It could get worse ya know!

Break over

So after my bad start last week and not so stellar play I decided to take a little break from poker. I took 1 full day off and then just played the odd game here and there just one tabling. Just trying to get back into the groove. No miraculous results but I did manage to reduce the loss to only $1k for the week. I actually played pretty good and as has been the theme for a week and a half got sucked out on quite a few times. Here is one example although not a big pot.

People had been calling my raises with junk on this table and sucking out so I had decided to increse my PF raises with my strong hands.

2/4 NL table. EP limps and I raise to $24 OTB w/QQ, SB calls as does EP. Flop comes 257 and SB who has maybe $100 bets pot, EP folds and I put put him in. SB has 2d3d (no flush draw)and the turn and river go A and 4. UGH! That hand was most definitely a prime example of my recent luck.

I have gotten my money in with the best of it so many times and lost its at the point where I expect it now. I know it wont last as I have been through this before and you just have to keep grinding away.

Would be nice to think it is in the past for a little while...

So my winning week streak has ended, lets start a fresh one this week!

TIMING

Sometimes winning and losing is all about timing. Sometimes you have a great hand vs the nuts, sometimes you have the nuts then lose to a river card that makes someone else the nuts. Sometimes everytime you bluff you get snapped, sometimes your cont. bets get raised, sometimes just everything you do will be countered and every situation you get in will fuck you up. Of course other times you play like an ass. This week has been a combo of the above two plus some good ole suckouts.

Had a terrible run over the first two days, so much so I took a break from poker completely yesterday and may for the rest of the week. I am not sure. Its tough because I really do enjoy playing poker and I dont want to give up but I also feel my head isnt in the game and perhaps a break would be good for me.

Losing a bunch is a good test of a persons mental fortitude and as I have always felt I dont have the goods (yet) for handling it. I dont tilt or get majorly depressed but I do question myself and my ability far too much. It comes down to the belief this poker thing is just too good to be true.

Week 7 -- well I didnt lose...

Didnt make the comeback I hoped for and when I finally got $500 ahead on Sunday morning I said frag it thats it for the day I am going to keep the week as a winner. Thus I ended week 7 with a $550 profit.

I played a different game for most of last week which was HU cash game. It was a lot of fun with some huge swings. Lost a lot of big pots, won some too, got pushed off hands, got bullied and bluffed and overall I dont think it is for me just yet. I need to practice at the smaller limits to fine tune my skills. If you can play it well though there is a quick way to win money. But when I think about it, I think the variance would be huge. Probably not what suits me.

Anyway, I look forward to finishing off these next 3 weeks and finding out where I will stand at the 1/2 way mark for the yr. Just need 3 decent weeks for me to hit a mark I will be very happy with. Game on!

ME = DONKEY

Okay I have had some bad beats this week but the only reason I am not up is because I am not playing my "A" game. Yesterday was a very up and down day and I cannot hide from it anymore --> this week I am playing like an ASS. As of last night I am down around $350 and deservedly so. So for the last 3 days of the week I want to get my game back on track and play some solid poker. If I do that this week I can still turn a profit.

I really want to have 7 weeks in a row with profitable weeks. I want to keep the momentum going. Lets pull finger people!

Big losses early

Yesterday for the first part of the session I was running into every bad situation possible. Unfortunately for the thrid time this week I hit a set and then got outdrawn on the turn. Check it out though because I thought my opponent played it terribly.

I have 77 LP and raise to $14 2 callers. Flop comes 785 and I bet $30 and the blind calls. Turn is a 9 and the blind pushes in for $300ish into a pot of around $100...WTF?! Now I cannot believe he would play any nut hand like this, so if he has the 6 I will pay him off and try to boat on the river. Cant think of any hand he should overbet the pot like this, perhaps 2 pair? Well I wont fold my set to that bet so I call. He had pocket 9's. I just dont get why he would try his absolute best to push me out of the pot on the turn with the nuts to everything bar a straight. Almost everytime his opponent wont have a hand that can call that bet and he has missed out on making any extra profit. And why not try for a check raise? If I check the turn also it would mean my hand isnt that strong so a push would be stupid also. Anyway he got paid nicely but I think it was a moronic push.

After that hand everything went downhill and I was down $900 before too long. I never tilted or even got slightly emotional. I just stuck to my game and tried to play solid poker and then the tide turned I got paid several times when I shouldnt have. Three times I flopped the flush and all 3 times I stacked my opponents and no their hands were not very strong at all. The best example is as follows.

I have KcTc and raise MP and get I think 1 caller. Flop comes 4c7cAc and I bet $20 and the blind c/r me to $72 so I smooth call. The turn is another A (not good for me) and he bets pot of around $200 and I push in. He thinks for a while and bets his remaining $125ish. What does he have?...5c5s!!! WOW.

Anyway I went well and somehow ended the session up $500. Puts me a little above even for the week so now its time to start working on finishing the week solid.

Not playing much

Really havent played much this week so havent had much of a chance to recoup my Monday losses (and I didnt play much to lose that!). The good news is though for the short amount of time I have recouped a good portion of it. I am going to be busy today as well so I wont get to play much again but I will play some.

I got cosmetic surgery on my teeth yesterday and they are looking fiiiiiiiiine!!!! Cost me a pretty penny but was all paid for by my friendly fellow poker opponents, hehe. I have one more session with the dentist in 2 weeks for it to be all done. The end result is I will now enjoy smiling :-D

6 weeks

6 winning weeks in a row now and I would love to see 7. Last week was another big week which had a chance at breaking my record but on sunday while multitabling on two of my tables at the same time I flopped a set where I had raised PF. Both tables I got all the money in and on both tables I lost. On one AA had smooth called me PF and got his set on the turn, I had TT. On the other I had 88 and was beaten by a flush draw 54s. Brutal. But obviously if I was close to breaking my record those two losses couldnt hurt me too much and thus it was stilla great week. On top of that I cleared my Bodog bonus of $1500.

Monday followed in the same fashion as above and unfortunately I am $1k down to start the week. Tons of time left to recover though and I would like to make a new record for most consecutive winning weeks. Lets do this!

Strong day

Had another great day at 2/4 winning a big chunk of change and as has been typical when I played 3/6 last night it didnt go as well. Got plenty of good cards that just never went anywhere, got outdrawn or didnt win. So it was topsy turvy at 3/6 again but somehow I managed a wee profit at the end. 2 days more play at 3/6 on bodog and I will have cleared my bonus which will be a cool $1500. Cant argue with that now can I.

If I can keep up anywhere near the momentum of this week so far it will be a huge week and that isnt including the bonus! Dont want to get ahead of myself though we'll see how the weekend goes.

The good and the bad

Overall I had a very good day and it was quite the see saw compared to most days I face.

Two suckout hands 1 for and 1 against me.

2/4 NL, I have AK and raise it to $14 and get two callers. Flop comes AK7 and the blind leads out with a pot bet which I decide to call and then the button pot raises it. The blind folds and I figure it will be a split pot so push in, button calls with a set of 7's...River is a K :-) ($850 pot)

3/6 NL, I have AK and raise one limper to $30 and get a call after me. Flop comes QJx and I dont like my position or the flop so check it as does caller. Turn is a beautiful T rainbow board and I decided to bet it strong and bet pot $75 and caller raises me to about $225. Once again I assume its a split pot and push in. Caller instantly calls w/QJo and rivers a J :-( ($1250 pot)

The rest of the day was all over the place. Lots of ups and downs but way more positives than negatives. I believe it comes down to the fact that I do my best to maximize my strong hands and minimize my medium to weak hands as any winning poker player must.

So the week is going great...if only I had also won the $1250 pot hand!...aaahhh, dreams are free.