Vacation over

Just finished one weeks vacation and I am back to work --> yuck. Absolutely loved my time off and cant wait for it to be my regular schtick. For the month of August I played poker 1/3 less than I have the previous two months (I checked the numbers). Why? Seems obvious to me, its because I have a live in g/f now. She demands (not literally) a % of my time and it has to come from somewhere.

I have also agreed with her that once this poker thing becomes my one job I should get up in the morning and play my poker throughout the day and be ready to quit when she gets home. Seems reasonable to me and will allow me a routine that will match with hers. She really wants me going to bed at the same time she does and I can appreciate that.

August was a decent month and if I could repeat it every month life would not be bad.

Poker wont get much attention for the rest of the week but thats ok as I am up a little already and dont mind if it doesnt go up much more just as long as it doesnt go down :-)

Slow week

Had a nice profit last week but nothing this week. Been an up and down ride where I have lost big at the short handed tables and used HU play to get it back. Unofrtunately havent made any headway this week but its still early.

I have taken the next week off of work so I have a ton of time to go hard at the tables.

Here is a way to get money HU though not this time for me. I am playing aggressively against this guy and he is getting frustrated.

I raise KJ OTB and he pots me back.

flop is xxK and he bets pot which I just call. Turn is J making 3 hearts out. He checks and I bet pot which is $108 which is also what he has left and he calls w/Ah8x, no pair. He spikes a heart on the river to take it down. Sux but I want him to do that every time :-)

Fun session

Having a nice week so far plus I got my rakeback from last month.

Was playing 2/4 on fulltilt last night and noticed early one player was betting very aggressively and from oop (out of position). He bullied me out of 1 or 2 pots before I had a read on him. Though when it came down to it my read didnt really matter as I had the nuts when I played him.

He raises EP, LP calls I call in SB w/99 as does BB.

Flop comes Q93 and I check as I expect Mr. Agg. to bet but its checked around.

Turn is another 9...QUADS BABY. Although I think I wont get any action I bet out $40. BB folds and Mr. Agg. raises $40 and LP calls. The board has two flush draws and some straight draws so I think I can probably get some more money out of draw hands now so I raise it to $160 and only Mr. Agg. calls. River is the Th making a heart flush possible. My opponent has $245 left so I put him in and he calls with KJd for a rivered straight and missed diamond draw that came on the turn. Pot: $958. Any good player should know I had a boat (or better) on the turn.

Not long after he raises UTG and I have AA and pot him from the button. He only reloaded for $120 and he decides to push in w/KJd. Same hand goes down again.

A hand sometime before these two I had raised OTB w/KT and him and one other called from the blinds I believe. Flop came KQJ and he leads out pot as I have seen him do before. Very scary board but I am not giving it to him just yet and call. Turn is a K and they both check so I put out a scary 1/3 bet of $65 and only Mr. Agg. calls. River is nothing and we check it down and he shows J9s.

Needless to say this guy made my session. I quit after only 1hr $1k up, 3/4's of it coming from him :-)

My August month is now on track thanks to this week.

Oh and after much thought I instead decided to use vacation time to break up the remaining time left at work. I am taking off 2 weeks with just 6 weeks left to go. I like that idea much better.

I quit

I have come to a conclusion today that I "think" I am going to resign tomorrow and work until the end of this week. I know my boss will be pissed and ask me to stay longer but I dont want to. I am not enjoying myself and nor am I working hard enough for the company. I am merely counting down my days as it is. So I think I am just going to quit. Screw the severance, it doesnt mean jack shit to me anyway.

Poker is going well this week - I hope it continues. I will be able to play soooooo much more once I no longer have a "regular" job.

Lets see if I am able to follow through tomorrow and stand up to whatever my boss throws my way. I really want Friday to be my LAST DAY.

I also have to tell my g/f tonight, though I dont think she will object much if at all.

No poker

Well I am probably playing about 1/2 as many poker hours as I used to before my g/f. Its not bothering much at this point as I know in 2 months I will be home during the day and this will be my job so I'll be able to play plenty then. I did manage to make $1.4k though so it wasnt all bad. I played for about 45mins total over the weekend - pretty sad. But on the other hand I got to go out a lot and went to a great party on Sunday.

Lets see if I can play a little more poker this week.

Patience

Have finally started to come right. I tightened up my game and only open up on the CO or button. On the loose website I play at night I am really sticking to this because god damn the people there are donkeys and call down with anything. So on that site you just need patience and only play the hands that have a good chance to be the best and when you hit bet it out aggressively - you will be paid if they have ANY piece of the flop.

So I hope to stick to this gameplan for all my future games because its safer and will pay off. I have been lucky enough to hit some sets recently though so that helps. I have also come to realize sometimes you have to make big calls with a so-s0 hand.

I raised to $16 in EP w/JJ and the button called me. Flop came 578 and I bet $28 into a $36 pot and the button insta minraised me (he had $150 remaining). Now I took some time to think about this and figured he didnt have QQ-AA as most people reraise them. So he could have 2pr, the dreaded set, 99-TT or a 6. I wasnt sure whether to call, fold or push. If I call will I fold to a turn push? What happens if a Q-A comes? I decided I have an overpair, he doesnt have a big stack, he also insta raised which usually isnt a sign of major strength so I put him all-in. He insta called. But guess what this dufus had, lol, Q5s (no flush draw). Thankfully I held up.

Lets see if I can finish off the week in the same fashion.

Disciplined Folds and Bigger Raises

Just cant get it going this week. I win a bit then I lose a bit. It "feels" like I have been scoring like that for weeks.

I feel there are two major problems with my game right now. Problem 1: I am not raising with my strong hands or not raising them enough. Problem 2: Compounding on that error, if the card my opponent needs hits on the river I am not being disciplined enough to fold. I have a prime example from last night.

5 handed I raise a limper OTB to $20 w/AKo

Flop comes AA9 and I make my standard 3/4 cont. bet which he calls. Flop is a 4 and he bets out $45 and I only raise it to $125 (initially I typed in $160). In hindsight I think I need to raise it 4x his bet to $180. It will define his hand much better and charge him to draw from behind. There is also now two spades on the board. The river is the 5 of spades and he insta pushes and I insta called.

I hated my call as soon as I pressed the button. Besides to a donk I cannot be ahead in the hand anymore. If he doesnt have the boat he most assuredly has the rivered flush. He ended up having A5o. Quite simply I didnt protect my hand enough on the turn and charge him to draw to his 3 outs. The pot on the turn was about $110 and he bet $45. I think I have 2 options there, either 4x his bet ot pot it. 4x = $180, pot = $245. Either bet pretty much commits me to the hand so perhaps the $245 is best so its makes the river call automatic no matter what hits.

Anyway I need to ramp up my aggression when I have a strong hand that can be beaten and understand when to fold even if my hand is great. Every fold I havent made recently that I should've, would've saved me approx. $1k. That $1k saved is just the same as $1k won.

Another site I have recently joined is choco-block filled with fish. These donks are massive calling stations and loose maniacs. I wasnt quick enough to adjust to their style and it has cost me money. I think it plays a lot like party. Thus going forward I will be playing a much tighter game and when hitting a hand betting it aggressively.

Example: guy limps I raise to $20, flop 249 he checks I bet $35 he calls. Its checked down and he has QTo!!! Unfortunately I had T8s, DOH!

This type of play above is rampant - there is some serious money to be won there. I need to stop donating and start taking. BRING IT!!!

Up and Down

Played bad poker for 1/2 the week and good poker for the other 1/2 and ended up $100 and change...WOO! Didnt play over the weekend again. Having a g/f has definitely made me cutback on the number of hours I am playing - is that good or bad?

My final day at my current 8-5 job is Oct. 2nd and after that I will be fulltime poker baby. One of the best things I am looking forward to is not having to get up in the morning...oh I am so looking forward to that! My g/f is most jealous of that one.

Hoping I can pull finger this week and book a couple of $k...lets see.

Rivers havent been kind for a while

WHy oh why oh why oh why oh why oh why....

Rivers...

So many all-ins so many bad rivers. This month has just been brutal and its all about the river. If it can hit it will.

I struggle so hard and a couple of rivers cause me to drop down a ton. I am now down hard for the week and I am not in a good mood.

Meh

Nothing going on this week. It usually goes as follows...lose a lot, fight my way back to even, then lose some. Cant seem to get it working right now. Am even for the week and not to happy about it but considering I have been $1.2k down I aint crying to loudly.

I may need to relook at my game. Most likely I am playing to loose and making some bad calls.

I'll try and pull finger for the rest of the week.

Better

I managed to win $2k last week so I was pretty happy. I didnt even play over the weekend as I bought a comp. game and decided just to play that instead as well as the usual g/f and friend stuff.

Yesterday nothing went well for me and I lost a decent amount. Just couldnt get it going and couldnt fold my set to a flopped flush board. He had called my raise w/K3s. I shouldnt have called his river bet...

me w/77 raised to $15, Kc3c called. Flop 289 all clubs and I bet 20 and he raised to $40. I had the 7c so I decided to call (mistake #1). Turn was a 7, I checked he bet $50...not a big bet perhaps I am good...I call. River a nothing card, I check and he comes out firing $200 into approx $215 pot...ding ding ding! I didnt listen to the warning bell and called. UGH!

I lost a ton of small to medium pots on top of that and just NEVER got anything going. There's always tonight...