On the Scottwire

Last day of August and tomorrow I will post my monthly results. It's been a good month and hopefully I can finish it on a good note.

Yesterday I played a mix of 1/2 and 1/2 6 max and came out ahead about $65. Add $60 for a cleared bonus and it was a nice day.

I lost both my sports bets yesterday. Both my teams had leads going into the late innings only to lose it so I ended up -15.

Sports picks so far: 6-4, +$6 overall

We got our poker table from Overstock this morning. It is a beautiful thing :) Much nicer than the other piece of crap we had to send back. This one is a lot nicer and its not broken! Yay! Maybe I will try to pick pics in my next post. Til then....may the flop be with you!

6max is truly truly crazy. Again I started out in the hole almost $70 and managed to get it all back. This time it was a combination of passivity and just getting owned by chasers. A5 stays in on 245 board when I have KK and he hits 3 on river after I raised him on the turn. My 77 hits its set but guy UTG flopped the straight with 96 on T87 flop. All my big pocket pairs were getting owned. I was 4 tabling when I started the table. Played 2 of the 1/2 tables and made $10 there and played a juicy 2/4 table I found and made $35 there.

Made 4 sports bets last night. Went 3-1
Picks-
Win - A's over Orioles
Win - Cards over Marlins
Loss - Padres over Dbacks
Win - Padres/Dbacks Over 8.5

Overall: 6-2, +$21

Tonight's Picks:
Tampa Bay +160 over Red Sox
Rockies +123 over Giants

May the flop be with you!

Once again I started the day extremely down. I couldn't find a good full table so I decided to play a juicy 1/2 6max game on Bodog to help finish my PSO promotion. There were 2 guys at the table who played almost every hand and called down with everything. I was just getting owned at first. They were even checkraising me on the river! Ugh. Hands like trip 8s fall victim to runner runner straight. Trip Qs fall victim to a 7 hitting the river and guy has 77 to make his full house. It was unreal the beats I was taking. I was down $65 in the first hour. But the game conditions were good. I decided to ride the swing and plug away. 2 hours later I finally hit even and at one point I was +25. They pounded me again though and i ended -18. Oh well. What can you do? I'll take -18 over -65 any day though. 6 max is a nutty game. Too bad PokerTracker doesn't work with Bodog. I would love to see my stats.

I was playing a $7 tourney on Bodog while playing the 1/2 6 max table and did pretty well. 392 entrants and top 36 got paid. I made it to 18th which just snuck into the $30 pay out level. I was in the BB with ATo and it was folded to SB who just called. I pushed all in only to get called by AK. And thus ended my day.

The PSO freeroll at Absolute was last night and I managed to finish 52 of 192. 46 was in the money. I probably could have coasted into the money but I only had 5BB left and found KK on the button. I pushed all in and BB called with A7o. Turn Ace, River Ace and I'm done. ARGH. I hate that. Pocket Kings are ace magnets.

Jumped back on a 1/2 6 max table at bodog again and won $30 and won another $40 on Gaming Club. So overall about $100 day and all was well. Today will be bonus clearing day at a few sites. I have a lot of work I should get done though on some websites so I'm not sure how much I really will play. That's about it...may the flop be with you!

I haven't played a whole lot the last couple of days but I've focused for the most part on playing rather than websurfing and other things. I'm slowly winning back my money I lost on Thursday.

Friday:
355 hands at 1/2 and ended +$10
50 hands at 2/4 and ended +$20

Saturday:
244 hands at 1/2 and ended +42.52

This is super reload bonus weekend as well. I now have bonus money pending at 6 sites. I will work on Gaming Club and Pokerroom this weekend along with Paradise and Bodog and I'll throw in an occassional UltimateBet table when I find a good one.

Now that I've joined Bodog I am going to play around with Sports betting a little as well. I'll start out with $5 bets and see how I do. I'd have to put in a lot of money to make anything off it so I'll make sure I have a proven track record before I do anything nuts.

Tonight is the PSO freeroll at Absolute so hopefully I can finish ITM for that one.

That's about it for now. May the flop be with you!

Ok so the U2 song is really Sunday Bloody Sunday but you get the point.

Started out in the whole and just continued to get hammered. Unlike other days where I felt I wasn't playing correctly out of the gate, today I just got hammered on my good hands.

I don't know if there was a full moon out today as well...recurring theme of KK killing me repeatedly. I think I saw KK limp preflop at least 5 times today as well. nuts!


Results:
VP$IP: 16.84%
PFR: 5.54%
W$WSF: 30.39%
487 hands
-$75

Key hands:

HAND 1:

---

bamafool is a maniac - about 80% vp$ip 20%pfr
Texas Hold'em $1-$2
Seat 7: torr2 [ 8D,8S ]

ANTES/BLINDS
thomastem posts blind ($0.50), crice25 posts blind ($1), JJ Okocha posts blind ($1).

PRE-FLOP
bamafool calls $1, sevenout72u folds, kruskal999 folds, Zeetaa calls $1, torr2 calls $1, clarinetlord folds, JJ Okocha checks, thomastem folds, crice25 checks.

FLOP [board cards KH,8H,JD ]
crice25 checks, bamafool checks, Zeetaa checks, torr2 bets $1, JJ Okocha calls $1, crice25 folds, bamafool bets $2, Zeetaa calls $2, torr2 bets $2, JJ Okocha calls $2, bamafool bets $2, Zeetaa calls $2, torr2 calls $1, JJ Okocha calls $1.

TURN [board cards KH,8H,JD,5D ]
bamafool bets $2, Zeetaa calls $2, torr2 bets $4, JJ Okocha folds, bamafool bets $4, Zeetaa calls $4, torr2 bets $4, bamafool calls $2, Zeetaa calls $2.

RIVER [board cards KH,8H,JD,5D,3D ]
bamafool bets $2, Zeetaa folds, torr2 bets $4, bamafool bets $4, torr2 calls $2.

SHOWDOWN
bamafool shows [ KD,KC ]
torr2 mucks cards [ 8D,8S ]
bamafool wins $56.

SUMMARY
Dealer: JJ Okocha
Pot: $57.50 | Rake: $1.50
thomastem loses $0.50
crice25 loses $1
bamafool bets $19, collects $56, net $37
sevenout72u loses $0
kruskal999 loses $0
Zeetaa loses $13
torr2 loses $19
clarinetlord loses $0
JJ Okocha loses $5

---

HAND 2:
PokerStars 1/2 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Qh, Qd.
2 folds, UTG+2 raises, Hero 3-bets, 4 folds, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls.

Flop: (10 SB) 3s, 9c, 4s (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG+2 calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) 4h (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets, SB raises, UTG+2 calls, Hero calls.

River: (12.50 BB) Jh (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG+2 calls.

Final Pot: 15.50 BB

Results below:
SB has 5d 5h (two pair, fives and fours).
UTG+2 has Kh Kc (two pair, kings and fours).
Hero has Qh Qd (two pair, queens and fours).
Outcome: UTG+2 wins 15.50 BB.

---

Then back to back hands on UB:
HAND 3:
Hand #7897808-1958 at Canby ($1/$2 Hold'em Kill)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 25/Aug/05 22:32:28

agilator is at seat 0 with $65.
volcano bill is at seat 1 with $29.
bad bet bert is at seat 2 with $61.75.
Magnum7 is at seat 3 with $50.
sissy123 is at seat 4 with $17.50.
sharke98 is at seat 5 with $112.50.
Bruce Poom is at seat 6 with $62.25.
adamkettering is at seat 7 with $96.25.
bhiatt is at seat 8 with $100.50.
scottwire is at seat 9 with $97.50.
The button is at seat 0.
The partial kill button is at seat 7.

volcano bill posts the small blind of $.50.
bad bet bert posts the big blind of $1.

agilator: -- --
volcano bill: -- --
bad bet bert: -- --
sissy123: -- --
sharke98: -- --
Bruce Poom: -- --
adamkettering: -- --
bhiatt: -- --
scottwire: Ah Kd

Pre-flop:

sissy123 calls. sharke98 folds. Bruce Poom folds.
adamkettering calls. bhiatt calls. scottwire raises
to $2. agilator folds. volcano bill calls. bad
bet bert folds. sissy123 calls. adamkettering
calls. bhiatt calls.

Flop (board: As 6h Ac):

volcano bill checks. sissy123 checks. adamkettering
checks. bhiatt checks. scottwire bets $1. volcano
bill folds. sissy123 calls. adamkettering folds.
bhiatt folds.

Turn (board: As 6h Ac 3d):

sissy123 checks. scottwire bets $2. sissy123 raises
to $4. scottwire calls.

River (board: As 6h Ac 3d Jc):

sissy123 bets $2. scottwire raises to $4. sissy123
calls.



Showdown:

scottwire shows Ah Kd.
scottwire has Ah Kd As Ac Jc: three aces.
sissy123 shows 6c 6s.
sissy123 has 6c 6s As 6h Ac: full house, sixes full of aces.


Hand #7897808-1958 Summary:

$1 is raked from a pot of $29.
sissy123 wins $28 with full house, sixes full of aces.

---

Hand 4:

Hand #7897808-1960 at Canby ($1/$2 Hold'em Kill)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 25/Aug/05 22:34:02

agilator is at seat 0 with $65.
volcano bill is at seat 1 with $27.
bad bet bert is at seat 2 with $60.25.
Magnum7 is at seat 3 with $49.
sissy123 is at seat 4 with $34.50.
sharke98 is at seat 5 with $114.
Bruce Poom is at seat 6 with $62.25.
adamkettering is at seat 7 with $94.25.
bhiatt is at seat 8 with $98.50.
scottwire is at seat 9 with $86.50.
The button is at seat 2.
The kill game is not active.

Magnum7 posts the small blind of $.50.
sissy123 posts the big blind of $1.

agilator: -- --
volcano bill: -- --
bad bet bert: -- --
Magnum7: -- --
sissy123: -- --
sharke98: -- --
Bruce Poom: -- --
adamkettering: -- --
bhiatt: -- --
scottwire: Jc Ac

Pre-flop:

sharke98 folds. Bruce Poom folds. adamkettering
raises to $2. bhiatt folds. scottwire calls.
agilator folds. volcano bill calls. bad bet bert
folds. Magnum7 folds. sissy123 calls.

Flop (board: Th Js 3d):

sissy123 checks. adamkettering bets $1. scottwire
raises to $2. volcano bill folds. sissy123 calls.
adamkettering calls.

Turn (board: Th Js 3d As):

sissy123 checks. adamkettering checks. scottwire
bets $2. sissy123 raises to $4. adamkettering
folds. scottwire calls.

River (board: Th Js 3d As 2d):

sissy123 bets $2. scottwire calls.



Showdown:

sissy123 shows Kc Qh.
sissy123 has Kc Qh Th Js As: straight, ace high.
scottwire shows Jc Ac.
scottwire has Jc Ac Th Js As: two pair, aces and jacks.


Hand #7897808-1960 Summary:

$1 is raked from a pot of $26.50.
sissy123 wins $25.50 with straight, ace high.

---

So a rough day over all. Just kept getting hammered left and right. Most of the tables were good too. Oh well I'll get it back today!

May the flop be with you! (and me!)

Before I get to my fantasy team, let's talk a little poker. As usual I started off in the whole about $35 only to work my way back up to even. I really need to join Bodog through PSO to get Poker Academy Pro.

Ok here it is -

"With the 4th pick of the Fantasy Footbal Draft, Scottwire selects - Edgerrin James, RB of the Indianapolis Colts."

And off we go...

Round	Pick #	Player	Team
1	4	Edgerrin James RB)	Colts
2	17	Kevin Jones (RB)	Lions
3	24	Terrell Owens (WR)	Eagles
4	37	Lamont Jordan (RB)	Raiders
5	44	Laveranues Coles (WR)	Jets
6	57	Drew Brees (QB)	Chargers
7	64	Baltimore (DEF)	Ravens
8	77	Matt Stover (K)	Ravens
9	84	Daniel Graham (TE)	Patriots
10	97	Isaac Bruce (WR)	Rams
11	104	Steve McNair (QB)	Titans
12	117	Marshall Faulk (RB)	Rams
13	124	Sebastian Janikowski (K)	Raiders
14	137	Vernand Morency (RB)	Texans
15	144	Michael Jenkins WR)	Falcons

Overall not bad. Happy with my first few picks. If my team sucks I have Sporting News to blame. I basically went with their rankings and picked whoever was left at the top of their list. My last two picks were 2 of their "late round values" who will probably suck but could possibly be good. I'll use them as guys to swap once we see who is doing well on the FA list that I can grab.

Ok so it is more like "playing crappy early on then finally not screwing around and am able to crawl out of a hole". Yesterday I was -65 after a couple hundred hands before pulling a beautiful swing after an hour and a half to be +35. I ended up giving 10 of that back but bonus money from UltimateBet made up for that.

So looking back at that last 10 days or so this seems to be a recurring theme. Start digging myself a hole and then having to climb out. I believe it was Mike Caro who said something like "Don't try to get back to even. Poker expectation is a long term play and you are even at the beginning of each hand." Now while this is true, it is a mental hump as well. How far ahead or behind you are is how you keep tabs on your play. Sometimes you make the correct plays and still end up behind.

I have done some reflection and I have realized that I am getting too paranoid when I first sit down. I always seem to think someone is making a move on me or that the open raise from the button is a blind steal. Rather than making a correct fold play, I seem to call down much more when I may be beat. Now I have this notion also in my head that if I start showing aggression early on and folding right away that people will start taking shots bluffing at me all the time. Perhaps I am taking concepts I've read and applying them incorrectly.

So I started reading Grinder's blog and read a post where he uses simulation software for a few rounds before he jumps on the real money tables. This gives him a good mindset going into the game and lets him work out the kinks so he can start fresh when jumping into the cash games. I really like this idea and am going to incorporate it into my routine. I am going to do a PSO promotion to get Poker Academy software and use that to also hopefully improve some areas of my game.

That's about it for now. Fantasy Football Draft is tonight so I'll post my team tomorrow. My team last year was so horrible. I'll make up for it this time. May the flop be with you.

Sunday: -7.50 : 200 hands
Monday: +24 : 380 hands

Didn't get to play a whole lot the last couple of days. Sunday was a much needed "clean the house" day. It was getting a bit too messy for us. We finally turned the 3rd bedroom into a usuable space instead of the junk pile it has been since we moved in.

Monday was spent thinking of business ideas and trying to figure out more ways to keep us from ever going back to real jobs.

Today I have to mow the lawn and do some yard work. After that I'll probably do some work and hopefully play a good deal of poker tonight while watching the WSOP circuit event on ESPN.

Tomorrow night is our fantasy football draft so at some point I need to put some kind of a list of players I want.

That's about it for this post. Sorry nothing extremely exciting. May the flop be with you.

Chipper asked in a comment if I prefer Limit over NL since Limit is mostly what I play.

I wouldn't say I enjoy limit over NL. I actually enjoy all forms of poker - Omaha, 7stud, Razz. I find them all mentally challenging which is why i love poker (the money's good too though!).

There are a few reasons I play limit over NL. One is that it's where I started and there are a lot more good books on limit than NL. So it was much easier for me to learn the concepts. It is a much more mechanical game and after many books and reading hand analyses in forums I feel like I have a good knowledge of the game. I've played NL cash games and done ok but I'm still not confident in my game. I have played .05/.10 up to .5/1 NL and other than the extremely small stakes where everyone sucks anyway, I haven't felt comfortable with a big stack at risk. In limit, the worst I lose at any one time is a Big Bet. I may compound a few in one hand, but that's easily made back. I have found that I do well at limit and can be a consistent winner over the long term from .5/1 to the occasional 2/4 (i've done ok overall but lost a couple buyins back to back so stopped playing confidently and stopped). Now I have finally made the move to 1/2 and after I am confident I am a winning player I will make the jump to 2/4.

Going along with the "I only lose a Big Bet if I make a mistake" line - I sometimes have a hard time concentrating while playing. I always seem to be watching tv or surfing the web or whatever else and I make some mistakes because of this. I'd much rather make a mistake in Limit than NL :) When I do immerse myself in poker I do play better though.

Chipper mentioned in a blog entry that he didn't like Party because it was hard to bluff and too many players saw the flop. Those games on Party are the games I love. I love multiway pots (preferably no more than 4-5 people). I find it much easier to know when I don't have the best hand and can get away from it easier. I have learned when to push small pot equity edges to build the pot.

I have stepped up levels before at limit and gotten knocked back down after taking my shot because I was having problems in tight games reading single opponents who were extremely aggressive. I still have a problem with playing weak-tight sometimes in fear of losing money but I'm getting better. Short handed play has helped a little with that but I haven't played it a whole lot. The games where I have been winning big lately have been with 2 or 3 semi or very loose (and sometimes aggressive) players at the table. Table selection is key. As I move up and find tighter tables I am still learning the nuances but so far so good.

I enjoy NL tournaments because they have a fixed buyin and then its just play your game and don't worry about losing money. I do fairly ok in tournaments and want to play more MTTs but its hard to commit the 4-5 hours to play many of the big ones. I have learned how to play better through Harrington's book and I do fairly well. I just haven't adapted correctly to cash games. In tourneys I know I make mistakes but those mistakes just cost me my buyin and time played. NL Cash games I feel like I still make too many mistakes and it isn't profitable for me to play. I can probably hold my own but I still find myself unsure of what to do in many situations. Until I decide to truly study the ins and outs I'll stick to limit cash games and NL tourneys.

When I first started playing (after losing my original $50 buyin and then reading some books) I said to myself I would get 300BB to move up to 1/2 and keep moving up when i had 300BB for the next level. Well even when I got to a $600 bankroll, I didn't feel comfortable playing with $50 on the table. I just psychologically couldn't do it. My aversion to risk was just too great. I took shots here and there and lost money so I kept stepping down to .5/1. I then took some shots at the 2/4 Bad Beat Jackpot tables which were loose and played like .5/1. I have made money there but when I had losing sessions it just didn't bode well for my psyche. I have built a bankroll large enough to play much higher stakes but I'm just not ready. I've played 5/10 live but it was on a cruise where it was the only game and it played like .5/1. After being scared to risk that much money, a few hands into it I finally started feeling comfortable as I knew I wasn't playing out of my league. Play changes as you move up in stakes and different concepts apply. I am learning them as I go and applying new strategies as I learn them on forums and rereading books. The challenge is to continuously make the plays that statistically yield the best results over the long term . I hope I have what it takes to win in the bigger games. Only time will tell.

Oh and may the flop be with you ;)

OK so I did great Monday, sucked it up Tuesday and Wednesday each day to slowly crawl back near even. Thursday was super again and yesterday was again a crawl back to even. I was down $75 at one point after my first session. I took a little break and decided to try something different. I found a site which offers bonuses for casinos similar to what PSO does for poker. (FYI PSO may do casinos one day).

So I put in $100 and got a $100 match bonus. The site bonusbonus.net throws in an extra $50 once you complete 15x wagering of the total bonus. So I had to wager $1500 to be able to withdraw the $100 and get the $50 extra bonus sent via neteller or paypal. I played lots of Blackjack last night and mostly played $2 and $3 wagers. After the $1500 wagered I ended up +$40 (on top of the bonus). Not bad at all. Technically the house edge is about 0.5% on blackjack and the average run should yield about -$7.50 for 1500 hands (I think I did that math right). So it was a nice run :).

I used the strategy chart on WizardofOdds.com just to make sure I got full value out of every bet. I then decided to play a little Let it Ride just because I love the game and had that great win in Vegas last year. Started off well here and was +40 from Let it Ride just doing $1 wagers. I hit some trips and a full house so after all was said and done last night my account was looking nice.

About halfway through my blackjack playing I saw a couple of juicy tables on UltimateBet. The tables in the afternoon were juicy too but I just kept getting hammered by flushes. Trip Ks...someone hits the flush. Flop straight...someone hits a flush. It sucked. Made up for most of it really quickly though at night. 2 of my first 4 hands were huge wins with AA and a flush and I was up $35 right off the bat. I played two tables and when all was said and done I won back $60 of the $75 I had lost earlier.

Variance is knocking me all over the place. It sucks when you are losing. Hard to keep composure and not tilt sometimes. The afternoon session I was emotionally calm the whole time because I was confident with my play. I knew the games I was in were good and I was making correct decisions. Earlier this week I was getting frustrated by the losses but also probably felt a little outplayed at times. I need to notice that earlier and jump off those tables.

I have been playing 1/2 pretty much exclusively for about a month now. My goal is to play maybe 20k or 30k hands and move up to 2/4 as long as I am beating 1/2 for a decent amount.

1 month check-up:
8000 hands
+$351.74
2.2 big bets / 100 hands

I'm happy with that rate so far. I was beating .5/1 at about 3.5 BB/100 so that means I'm making more money on average because I've now doubled the stakes. Excellent. Let's hope that continues to be the case.

Til next time....may the flop be with you :)

Another super duper night. 2 incredible nights in a week.

The stats:
1/2: +$91.50 in 207 hands
1/2 kill: +53.75 in 89 hands

AA: 6 times - Won all 6: +$81 net

I'd be up even more but I had a couple big hands get drawn out on. Flopped trip Ks and lost to flush and lost trip Js to a straight.

Another small blip on the radar in terms of hands played and statistical analysis but big wins always feel great. At least it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. Especially after nights when you don't feel like you've made a lot of bad decisions but still get pummelled.

On the other hand, I played in the Chiptalk.net tourney tonight and was doing well until I had TT and ran into KK. It was a stupid play on my part as I called a raise preflop and when the flop came 8 high he bet and I raised. He then reraised all in...and stupid me called after thinking about it for a minute. I thought maybe he was making a play at me cause I bluffed him a few hands before but I should have known he had AA or KK. I normally would have thrown it away if I thought about it some more but I was playing 4 tables of 1/2 along with the tourney which didn't help my concentration. Oh well...I'll do better next week :)

I think I found another folding poker table to buy since I have no skills to build one myself. Hopefully I'll have it in time for the next tourney in a month. Can't wait.

Can't wait for fantasy hockey and football either. Almost time to rock.

I was watching the ESPN WSOP circuit event the other night and the guy's shirt in one segment said "May the flop be with you". As a Star Wars fan I can't help but loving that line. Maybe I will start ending my posts with that and you can all think I'm a geek or dork or whatever.

Til next time...

After Monday's incredible run the last couple of days have been less than spectacular. Tuesday I was down as much as $60 but worked my way back to -$15 and with bonus money I actually ended up +2 for the day. Wednesday was more of the same. I was -$55 and managed to work my way back to -$15 but then sucked it up at the end of the day for a -$30 loss. Made about $10 in bonus money so -20 for the day overall.

Looking back at my hands, I realized that the first few orbits of a table I seem to get too paranoid about people taking shots at me and think I'm being bluffed so I tend to call down more with mediocre hands when I'm reasonably sure I'm behind. I need to work on hand reading a bit more and knowing when the aggressive players have me beat.

Haiku for the day:

One Two Hold'em Yes
PokerStars UltimateBet
Oh how I love thee

What a day at the tables. 4 tabled 1/2 a few times yesterday. Something seems to have changed in my game though because I used to have a hard time on the UB 1/2 regular games and I used to do well at the kill games. yesterday was the opposite. Played 3 sessions:

Session 1:
UB 1/2: +27.50
UB 1/2 kill: +3.50

Session 2:
PS 1/2: +47.50
PS 1/2: +$0.25
UB 1/2: +32.25
UB 1/2 kill: -9.50

Session 3:
UB 1/2 kill: -27.25
UB 1/2: +12.25
UB 1/2: +19
PS 1/2: +54

OVERALL: + $159.50
832 hands, 9.59BB/100 yum

Too bad all days can't be like that but it rocked.

Yes too much food. Too much good yummy incredible food. Too much good yummy dessert. My friend Mike (we'll call him Gu from now on) had his 3rd child recently and we went to the Christening and reception yesterday. His kids are so cute and really great. It's a shame they aren't all like that or we might think about having some ourselves :). Now Mike's wife is great. And as a side benefit, her father happens to own a bakery. So when Mike and Danielle have events, dessert in itself is an event. Cakes, canollis, cookies....yum... so good.

So I played in the PSO freeroll last night and got pummelled early. I had A3 in the BB and flop came AT3. I led out and guy raises...i thought for a second and reraised all in about 800 chips (we all started with 1500 and if i lost this I'd have 600 chips left). Ok he calls. He shows AQ. The flop was a rainbow flop. Now of course a club falls on the turn giving him a flush draw...and of course...he hits the runner runner flush...sigh.

Next hand, I have A9 on the button. flop comes 944 with 2 hearts. First person checks, second bets small so I figured he had the flush draw. I raise then suddenly first person wakes up and reraises. other guy called and I had to drop it. I was right she showed K4 but I was now down to 440 chips.

Next hand - I'm in middle position I make a standard 3xBB raise with KJ. BB (flush draw guy from before) reraises me putting me all in if I call. I've seen this guy raise with stuff like Q9 and I need chips so I call. He has KT. Can't get much better for me. Except he hits the T on the flop and I'm done. sigh

The 1/2 tables weren't much better. I 2 tabled twice Sunday. Each time, 1 table I did great on and the other table I couldn't win for crap. First I was +35 and -30. Then I was +25 and -35. So I ended up -5 for the day. One make or break hand was a $52 pot I lost when I hit my set with 44 but JJ happened to hit his. the 3rd guy in had AA and didn't seem happy either. But such is poker.

Til tomorrow...

Went to my friend Mark's for a BBQ and lots of Halo 2 goodness. Halo is a good time. Too bad I am in the dark ages with gaming consoles. My Dreamcast is collecting dust! Remenisced about high school a little after we couldn't remember some of our teacher's names. It's been so long now that there are people I used to know that I hardly remember.

Took a night off from poker. Only played a little the last 3 days or so. After that glorious +90 night on pokerstars, I ended up -11 at 1/2 the last couple of days on 3 different sites. I played a couple of $10/1 sit n goes and finished 3rd in each though for +18 net. Not great but not horrible.

Tonight is the $1500 for PSO on Absolute so hopefully I'll make another $25 or $50 in that like last week. I may try to play another Multi table tourney tonight as well. I should really try to play more large tournaments to try to hit a big score. They just take sooooo long. Guess we'll see!

Much much better...
1/2 limit
326 hands
+$91
13.96BB/100

got my $200 bonus from Poker Rewards as well so was a nice day yesterday :)

I finally got my refund for the broken poker table I ordered as well. Now I have to figure out what i want to do with all my PSO points. I am really thinking about building my own table but I have no DIY skills and no tools either. I could probably borrow from people but I don't know if it is all worth the trouble.

In my last 45 minute session at 1/2 on poker rewards... I got pummelled and possibly a little tilty:

lose QQ vs AA
Lose AJ in BB - opponent raised preflop - of course JTx flop...T on river...i bet out he raised so I tossed it

Lost JJ to KK

Lost AK with my K hitting on flop then lose to 88 when 8 falls on river

I have AKs in SB. ...CO limps...I raise...BB folds. I bet Txx flop he calls. K on turn. I bet he raises, I reraise, he caps....sigh. I call on the river. He flips over...AA...sigh

QQ...flop comes KK2. Other guy has AK of course

AJ...flop A98 all spades. I bet...table LAG raises...i reraise...he caps. Turn brings 4th spade. I check fold (weak???) ...he shows A3 no spade. sigh

3 times in the session someone didn't raise preflop with AA to kill my top pair on the river.

Final result: -$55

This is how I felt last night. I was playing in a $2 rebuy tournament (rebought once and then added on after level 4) so it cost me $6 total. I was playing decently and got really lucky a few times. 3 people left I managed to get all my chips in the middle with A9 against 55 and pulled an ace on the turn. That guy got knocked out the next hand and suddenly it was heads up. The guy had a 2:1 chip lead on me and i went all in with 99. He called with QQ. Somehow the flop came 875. Boom 6 on the turn for the straight and I now have the chip lead. I managed to gain a 3:1 chip lead 3 times...yes 3 TIMES and I couldn't put it away. He gained the lead back a couple times. He went all in with a straight draw and I called with 2 overcards. Board was like T95 and he had 87, I had AJ. Of course he hits the 6 and doubles up. After that I got screwed when I had middle pair on J73 flop. I had 97. He called down each street and showed T7 to beat my kicker. he then took a small lead after that hand and I never regained my bearing. We were probably heads up for like 40 minutes when I finally went all in on a straight draw that never materialized. Oh well. The prize was a $100 tournament entry sigh. I'll try again tonight hopefully.

I was up about $60 for the week playing 1/2 and then Sunday hit and I lost 47 of it back. Fortunately the PSO freeroll was last night and I made a 9th place finish out of 222 and won $45. So I didn't do too bad. I have a bunch of bonuses I'm about to finish off and hopefully I'll be able to play enough to make a nice showing for the month.

Launched sites:
http://www.bestpokerprices.com/
http://www.grabamag.com/

more coming soon!

Poker:
Cash won: $282
Bonuses released: $310
PSO points: 21000 (equiv of $210)

Won my first Multi Table Tournament for $130 on Pokerstars chiptalk.net tourney

That's the recap. Been busy working on websites. Have a few more in the works that will be even better!