Not a Good Night

I played for a while last night but didn't do that well. I dropped about $140 in two sessions of limit. I flopped two pair and got in a raising war with a guy who turned a straight. I also got my QQ cracked by trip 7's. I Played in the $10 rebuy and busted out 68th when my AK couldn't win a race.

I did play some NL at the end and finished +$15 for the session. Hopefully it will be better tonight.

a mix of games.

I played some .50-1.00 no limit yesterday at lunch. I got broke after flopping the nut flush when a guy with AA paired the board with a jack on the river an got all my cash. I had K-10 of spades and limped in. The flop was A-Q-J. The guy with AA raised. I reraised and he went all in. I called and the J on the river sunk me. I don't think I misplayed it. I just got a little unlucky. So I exit that table and and get on another one. I pick up AA UTG and raise it to five. Another guy calls and the flop comes Q high. I bet out $5 and he calls. the turn is a blank so I bet out $10 and he calls. The river brings another blank so I raise anther 10 and he calls. He flips over A-Q so I rake a nice pot and get back most of what I lost on the other table.

After I got home, I played in three $50+4 qualfiers and won one. I also played some 2-4 and 3-6 limit for a small profit.

I ended the day down $7 total from when I started but I also have a $50+4 ticket tournament to use so it was pretty much an even day.

Not much to report

I didn't play too much yesterday. I made about $25 playing 2-4 limit, but I only played for about 20 minutes. I won the first and fifth hands I played and then left the game. I also played two SNG Qualifiers and finished second in both. That mostly means that I can play each of them again.

A Down Weekend

I didn't do very well this weekend. In total, I'd say it was a negative 175 weekend. Saturday wasn't bad. I ended Saturday with more than I started with. But Sunday morning and afternoon, I was card dead. The only hand of note that I will mention came in a 5-10 limit game. I picked up AA in late position. I limped and the guy on the button raises (he raised almost every pot) and got two callers. When it came around to me I reraised. And all four of us go to to the flop with a pretty nice pot already on the board. The flop came A-K-A. I slowplayed it as much as I could hoping somebody had a K, but I didn't get very much more out of it. That was the only had worth mentioning as I didn't play very well.

I did play three 50+4 SNG's and managed to finish second in the last one. The other two were bad beat city. In the first one. I've got about 2,500 in chips and a guy with slightly more chips than I have raises up big in early position. I reraise all in and he flips over 7-7. GG me cause he rivers a straight and out I go in fifth. In the second one, I pick up AA in late position. The pot was raised when it go to me so I reraised. The origional raiser goes all in so I call. He flips over A-Q of spades. GG me cause he flops a flush. Out in 10th. In the third one, I was never really in contention to win, but I didn't make any mistakes and didn't get sucked out on and managed to hang around catch just enough good hands to finish second.

Let's hope this week is better than yesterday was.

Another Final Table, Sort of....

I played in a multi table qualifier tournament last night. There were only 45 people in the tournament. The top five got a ticket to a $50+4 tournament. I finished third. I know some people who think any tournament with more than one table is a multi table and and some people who say if it doesn't have at least 100 people in it then it shouldn't really count as a final table at for a Multi, but more of a SNG. Either way, I'll let you make up your mind.

I played pretty well. I picked up a few hands early, doubling up with KK to about 3,100 chips (1,500 to start with) and then I pretty much increased incrementally from there. The hand that really set me and allowed me to cruise into the money was this: I pick up AA two off the big blind and raise it to $300. It gets folded around to the big blind who calls. The flop comes 5-A-5. He checks, I check. The turn is a 10. He bets $2,000. I go all in. He calls and flips over A-Q. That doubled me to a little over $10,000 and I coasted into the money from there.

The "Donk Hand of the Night" was one that I played and got really lucky with. And when I say really lucky, I mean really lucky. I have 10-7 on the button. It gets folded around to me and I raise it up to $300. The small blind, who had about 1/3 of my stack goes all in. I have no idea why I called him, but I did. He had A-J. The flop brought a 7 and the river brought a 10. That put me up to about $6,000.

I also played a $14 +1.50 multi for a ticket to a $100+8 tournament. I busted out 12th. There were only 20 people in the tournament.

PokerRoom has been running a ton of qualifiers to its bigger tournaments lately.

I now have two tickets to $50+4 tournaments. I haven't decided how to use them yet. I plan on playing one of the $50+4 daily tournaments, but I may use the other one on $50+4 SNG.

A third final table!!

I made my third final table in the last 10 days last night in the $5.50 R&A with 232 entrants. I finished seventh. I never really had a hand to play with and never got above 25,000 in chips. I was pretty much in last place from about 16th place down to when I got knocked out. People ahead of me kept busting. The payout was $75 which isn't much for four hours of work, but its better than not getting paid at all. Had I hung on for one more spot, the payout would've been around $120. The hand I got knocked out on went down like this: I picked up 10-4 in the BB. Its folded around to the small blind who calls. The flop comes 6-6-4. I only have about 7,400 chips at this point, so I go all in. He calls and flips over 2-2. I'm in the lead, but the turn is a 2 ending my night. I wasn't disappointed at all. I never really had a big hand (AA or KK or QQ) and I got lucky a few times in getting as far as I did. I don't know if my tournament play is improving or if I'm getting really lucky or it the fields have been weak lately.

Not much happened

I didn't play at all on Friday or Saturday. I only got to play for about an hour last night, but I managed to drop $150 in a 5-10 game. I never got any any cards. The best hand I had was 9-9 and it didn't hold up. I'm hoping 2 get 2 play quite a bit this week, but I have plans for Thursday night so I doubt I get to play at all on Thursday.

Another Final Table!!!

I made my second final table within a week last night. It should also be noted that it is my second final table ever in a multi. I played the $5.50 buy in on Powerplayer (a pokerroom skin) and finished fourth for $180. It was by far my largest cash. My second largest cash was for $142 in a $20 rebuy with about 900 people. My next biggest cash was the final table I made on Sunday worth $74. I've made several other small cashes but I'm starting to feel like my multi play is getting better.

I need to post my SNG stats on here. The last time I looked, I had played 360 SNG's ranging in buyin from $5.50 to $55.

I played a SNG qualifier to the Pokerroom Daily $50 tournament and it got down to four people when the following hand knocked me out. I pick up A-Q in late position. The guy to my right limps, so I go all in hoping to pick up the blinds plus his limp. He calls and flips over A-J. I'm liking my chances until he spikes a J on the river. GG me. I was kinda pissed about this cause I had played pretty well up to that point.

I don't know if I'll get to play much poker over the next couple of days as I will be at my parents house until Sunday night.

Odd results

Yesterday, I played limit and no limit cash games, a SNG and a multi table. The cash games were a mixed bag as I made a nice hunk playing limit and then donked off $50 playing .50 no limit. The no limit hand where I lost the whole thing was this: I pick up A-Q in the small blind. I raise to $4. The BB calls. the flop comes Q high. I bet another $4 and he raises. I go all in and he calls. He flips over AA. GG me.

In the limit games, I was in two 3-6 games and within a few minutes, I had my $80 buy in up over $140 in both of them. I booked the profit and registered for $20 SNG where I promtly busted out in 10th.

Next, I played in a $5 multi. I was in the top 10 in chips almost from the git go. There were 390 people registered. Top 40 get paid. With about 100 left, the guy to my left calls my raise with K-1o suited. I have KK and I put him all in. He rivers a flush. Not winning this hand would be my undoing. With 52 left, I have A-Q. I raise and its folded around to the guy to my left, who by that time had come back to be the chip leader and by a large amount. He calls my raise and the flop comes three low cards. I go all in and he calls. He flips over A-J and of course, rivers a J to end my night. I was kinda pissed at this because I was playing really well and I knew from the way he was playing after becoming the chip leader that he didn't have me beat. But what are ya gonna do?

I then played $5-10 limit for a little while and managed a $65 profit before heading to bed.

The bankroll has climbed above $2,000.

Up and Down

I played for about three hours last night. I played a few hands of cash games, first at 2-4 and 3-6 and then at 5-10. I know, I know. I shouldn't be playing at 5-10 but I did anyway. My bankrool is large enough now to sustain a loss at 5-10 and the play is not as loose at 5-10 as it is in the lower levels. So anyway, I'm down a little in the lower level games when I decide to move to 5-10. I ended up with a $54 profit in the game and decided to invest in a $22 SNG.

I finished 2nd in the SNG. I got it to heads up and was only about 2000 chips behind. The final hand came down like this. I picked up 3-5 in the BB. The SB calls and we see the flop. The flop is 3-5-K. I think, man I need to find a way to double up here. The SB bets the minimum and I call. The turn is a Q. I still figure I've got the lead because if he had a K he would've bet bigger after the flop. The river is a Q and I go all in. He insta calls and turns over Q-6. Oh well. I was up pretty good after that.

Then I go back to 3-6 for a little while and lose a monster hand. I pick up AA on the button and raise two other players. They both call. the flop is J-6-7 (rainbow) which I figure to be good. They both bet and I raise. They call. The turn is a 2. Again, I'm thinking I'm good. They both check and I bet. Two calls. The river is a 9. There are no flush possibilities so I'm thinking I'm ok. The first guy bets, the second guy folds and I raise. I get reraised so I know I'm in some kinda trouble. Probably a set. Nope, guy flips over 5-8 offsuit. He called three bets with 5-8 offsuit and ended up rivering a straight. The pot was over $100 and nearly did me in in that round. It only left me with $5.

This morning I played a little 5-10 before work. A-K held up twice as did A-9 suited from the button. I ended up the morning session +62. I'll take it after the AA debacle from the night before.

Clearing the bonus

I managed to clear my powerplayer bonus yesterday. It didn't take as long as I thought. I cleared 1,645 points in seven days and made a nice profit doing it. Now I have an extra $300 added to my account.

I played in a SNG last night after clearing the bonus. I finished 5th when my A-Q couldn't outrun 6-6. Oh well. I was shortstacked and not too upset about the play.

After that, I did something I had sworn off and now realize why I shouldn't be doing it. With a freshly pumped up bankroll, I jumped into a 5-10 limit game. I love to play at this level, but I don't really have the bankroll to play it. I bought in for $205 and never got above the buyin.

The first hand I played, I picked up 8-8 in late position. There is one preflop raiser before me. I raise to 15 and the origional raiser calls. The flop comes 7-K-Q, all clubs. I have the eight of clubs. My opponent bets, I raise, he calls. The turn is a 5h. He bets, I raise, he calls. The turn is an A. He checks, I bet, he calls. He flips over a red K-Q. It was played poorly by me.

The next hand I pick up AA two off the big blind. I raise and get reraised by a guy in late position. So I reraise him. He calls. The flop 7-3-4. I bet he raises, I reraise and he is all in. The turn and river don't improve me and the guy flips over 6-5 of diamonds for a flopped straight. Now that's what I deem a loose call.

The next hand, I'm one off the big blind and have decided this will be my last hand. I pick up A-Q and raise. Mr K-Q from above calls me. The flop comes A high. I bet, he calls. The turn is another Ace. I bet he calls. I'm a little nervous here because he could have A-K or possibly trips, but I'm doubting trips. The river is a blank. I bet, he calls and I pick up a nice pot. This pot left me only $38 in the negative for the 45 minute 5-10 session and it could've been worse as after the 8-8 hand I was down to $102.

I played for about 30 minutes today with only one hand of note. I bought into a 3-6 game with $80. I'm down to $54 mostly because of blinds. I pick up A-J in late position and call one raise. The flop comes 4-5-4. The guy bets, I think for a minute. Then call. The turn is an A. He bets, I call. The river is a blank. He checks, I bet and he calls. He flips over K-K. I know how he must feel cause I've had my KK cracked too many times to count. Either way, it was a nice pot for me and put me ahead $3 for the 30 minute or so session.

Since I have cleared my Powerplayer bonus, I'm kinda thinking of giving River Belle a try. I hear their bonus, while not large, is easy to clear. Any thoughts?

My first Final Table!!!!!

I finally made a final table in a multi-table tournament. It was a limit hold'em tournment with 149 people in it. I went out in 7th for $74. I made two real donk plays that got me put out. I continued to bet J-J with an A and a K on the board and that cost me a pretty good hunk of my stack and then I had to bet heavy with a 10-10 and a guy turned Q to put me out. I was so excited to make a final table that I think I forgot how to play when I got there.

It was a pretty good weekend playing poker. I had AA and KK hold up more than not which hasn't always been the case lately. I also hit a spade flush when I really needed one and turned a set of 8's for a nice pot.

I haven't really played any SNG's lately as I've been working on clearing my $300 Powerplayer bonus which should easily be done by tomorrow, if not tonight.

A Few Hands of Note

I played for quite a while last night and for about an hour this morning at the 2-4 tables. Both sessions were in the negative. One hand from last night that sticks out: I pick up KK and raise. I get two callers. The flop comes 8-10-4 with two hearts. I bet, again two callers. The turn is the J of spades. I bet, one fold, one call. The river is the 5 of hearts. I bet, get reraised and immediately know the guy has the flush. I paid him off anyway. That hand hurt.

This morning, I pick up 10-10 in late position and reraise. I get two callers. The flop comes K-10-Q. First guy checks, second guy bets, I raise. Both call. The turn is a 6. The first guy bets, the second guy raises and I call. The river is a blank as everybody bets. The first guy has A-J for a straight. The second guy has AA and I have trip 10's. Oh well.

For either of these hands, I think I played pretty well and ended up losing. Its part of the game, but that makes it no less easier to swallow.

I only have 850 points remaining on my powerplayer bonus. Hopefully I'll have it done by Tuesday or Wednesday.

A positive night

I played four about three hours last night and I was +36 when I quit. I played 2-4 and 3-6 limit mainly for the purpose of clearing my powerplayer bonus. I need about 1140 more points by next Thursday, so if the cards don't hate on me, I should be able to get it done.

Two hands from last night. I pick up 8-8 in last position. I raise to $9 (3-6) table. Only one caller in early position. The flop comes 6-J-4. The other guy bets and I raise. The turn is a big ole beautiful 8. He bets, I raise. He checks the river and I bet. He calls and flips over KK. He wasn't happy, but he didn't curse me like the guy from the night before (see previous post).

The other hand. I pick up KK in the big blind. A guy in late position raises to six and the guy on the button raises to 9. I raise to 12 and the other two call capping the betting. The flop comes out K high. I check and both opponents check. I bet out on the turn and they both fold giving me a pretty nice pot.

I also played a hand on a 2-4 table where I picked up AA and it managed to hold up for a decent pot.

I don't know that I played either of these hands well, but I did manage to get a little lucky on both of them. I also know that for about a month, I was on the losing end of hands like that when my AA or KK or QQ got cracked by a set so its nice to finally win one that way.

After a Rest

I played no poker on Sunday or Monday as I thought I needed a little rest. It felt good to not be sitting at the computer grinding it out for a couple of days. I picked back up last night as I realized I still needed 1,645 points to finish out my last power player bonus. I played for about an hour and a half and didn't have any significant hands to mention. I played for about 40 minutes this morning before work and had two nice hands hold up and one very disappointing one. The very first hand on a 3-6 limit table I get dealt j-10. The flop comes A-K-Q rainbow. I immediately start betting and get three callers. The turn is a Q which makes me a little nervous, but I lead out anyway and the other two players call. The turn card is the dreaded K and I'm pretty sure I'm now beaten by a full house. Sure enough, one of the other guys flips over K-5 for a full house of Kings full of Queens. The other two hands had much better results. I picked up KK in early position and it held up for a nice pot. And the other I picked up AA in the small blind and raise, get three callers and the flop comes 5-5-5. A little scary if someone has the other five, but the other callers were not in the blind so I'm hoping they are all playing with high cards. The turn is a Q which makes me a little nervous in case one of them has QQ but they all three call my bet. The river is an 8 and again they all three call my bet. One guy has KK the other 10-10. I picked up a nice $99 pot. I lost two other hands when I called with A-Q and didn't hit the flop and the last hadn I picked up 8-8 and lost when a Q hit the river and my opponent had K-Q. I still booked a nice profit this morning as well as earning a few points toward the bonus.

One interesting hand from last night: I was in the small blind with 2-6 of spades. Its folded around to me and I raise the big blind. He calls and the flop comes J-2-9 rainbow. I bet, get raised and then I reraise. Not a smart move I know, but I had watched the guy and wasn't sure if he was bluffing or not. The turn is a beautiful 6. I bet get raised and then reraise. The pot is getting pretty big off a nothing hand, but we capped the betting after the flop and the turn. the river is an 8 and I lead out with a bet. The guy calls. I didn't check to see what he had, but my two pair held up. The guy, who's screen name is Nicbrezy really berated me for my call. I calmly replied "thank you" but I don't think that helped him any. I make plenty of bad calls playing poker, but I rarely make a bad call and it pays off for me. The total pot ended up being $38 on a 2-4 table.

A short Break

So at this point, I do not have money on any site. I took all my money out of Powerplayer cause they take forever on a cashout. I played on Partypoker on Saturday with less than desirable results. I won a SNG and then proceeded to lose about $250 when my AA got cracked by a pair of KK's when a K hit the river. It would've been over a $100 pot but instead it was about a $60 loss. Then my KK didn't hold up when a guy with A-9 of clubs river a club flush for a big pot.

On Saturday night, I tried Bodog, but I hated the interface. Maybe I didn't give it enough time, but for the few hands I did play I didn't like it and on Sunday morning there weren't hardly any games going. So I withdrew my cash from there.

I didn't play at all on Sunday. Just hung out in the nice weather and rested a little.

I'm thinking of trying America's Card Room. Has anyone ever played there?

An Uptick!

I played respectably well last night. I won a $22 SNG, the only one I played, and had some mixed success in cash games. I ended the night up about $80, but I managed to give some of that back this morning. I made a couple of foolish plays in a 3-6 game and ended up losing $54. In the Powerplayer bonus race, I am falling back of 8th place and it looks like I'll have to try and hold on to 9th which will be worth about $300.

I didn't do so well on Party last night. I'm free rolling with the $50 they gave me and I've already drawn out over $200 and I have $238 left in there. I built up that roll playing agressively in the 2-4 shorthanded game by playing really agressively and now I've kinda gotten tight again and it has cost me a little. I need to use this roll to experiment with more and to work on different areas of my game.

A Mixed Bag

Last night was, for sure, an up and down night. I played few hands that I won but I lost more than I won. Two hands I lost really stick out. First, I had 9-9 and called the raise to $6. the flop came with a 9 so I started the raising. One guy kept calling me down. It ended with him having K-K but rivering a straight and taking a big pot from me. Another time I had K-K and a guy flopped a set of 8's on me to beat me out of another big pot.

I played two SNG's. The first was a $22 on Powerplayer. I was going along pretty well when the blinds got to $100-$200. I was in third with about 2,200 chips. I had been roughing up the guy on my left when I had the button and I didn't figure this time to be any different. He was a somewhat weak player and I had raised all in from the button on several occaisons and he quickly folded. I picked up 10-7 of hearts and raised all in. He insta called with AA. Busted out in 5th. Good Game me.

The second SNG was a $33 on Party. I was, again, going along pretty well but the blinds on Party escalate pretty quickly. With $200-$400 blinds, I picked up 10-10. I raise all in and get called by K-Q. The flop comes K-9-Q and turn a Q. Again. Good Game me. Out in 5th again.

However, the best hand of the night came in a 3-6 game. I picked up AA in early position and raise. The guy to my left raises me and another guy in late position caps it. If I'm not mistaken, we capped the flop and turn also. The river had only one bet from each of us, but the AA held up for a $161 pot. YaHOOOOOO!!! That left me on a $26 loser on the day.

I played for about 25 minutes this morning and ended making $76. I won one hand with 9-9 when a guy with A-Q didn't hit his straight. Then I won another big hand when I picked up 6-8 of hearts in the small blind. I called the big blind but the big blind raised so four of us had to call. With $24 in the pot, the flop comes 7h-9H-KC. So now I have the straight flush draw, the flush draw and the straight draw. The flop was the 5C so I had the straight and was now opening the betting. I got a couple of callers. The 7s came on the river and that was a scare card for me, but the straight held up for a big pot.

I'm barely hanging on to $400 in the powerplayer bonus race. There are two guys who are within 400 points of me and I'm not sure I can hold them off unless they don't play very much. Sarah is very tolerant of poker, but she gets a little whinny and fussy if I play too much so I probably won't play as much this week.

Finally turning around???

The play this past weekend went pretty well. I made a nice profit (finally) and was able to cashout a little to pad the neteller account. I made a nice deep run in a multi table tournament and finished 20th. I busted out on this hand: Blinds 1,000 & 2,000. I pick up 6-5 in the big blind. It's checked around to me. I check. The flop comes 5-5-J. I think "Boy this is my lucky day" cause I'm in about 15th place with 16,000 in chips and hoping to doube up here. I check. The guy in first position raised it a substantial amount. It gets fold to me. I go all in. The guy in first position calls and flips over Q-5 so I'm drawing dead to the three sixes left in the deck. Oh well, GG me. I played the hand about as well as I could I think.

In the cash games, the only really bad beat I took was when my KK went down to a guy who couldn't fold A-J and I don't blame him, I wouldn't have folded A-J in that position either. I had two really good wins. First my JJ floped a set and beat a guys KK for a nice pot. Then on another hand, I pick up 7-7. I call and get reraised so the pot is starting off pretty good for a 2-4 game. The flop comes 4-5-8. I call along with two others. The turn is a 9 and while there is still one guy who continues to bet, I'm getting pot odds (I think) to call. So I call the turn bet, as does one other guy, and the river is the most beautiful six I've ever seen leaving me with the straight and scooping a nice pot. As I recall, the total pot was $63.

I had AA hold up three times for nice pots which hadn't happened in quite a while. I must've been on the down side of variance so long that I forgot what it was like to win.

I'm still chasing down the Powerplayer leaderboad bonus and trying to stay in the top 10.

More Poker

While the poker playing hasn't gone as badly the last few days as it had previously, it really hasn't improved either. I finally cleared my Powerplayer bonus which officially puts me in the market for a new site. I don't believe online poker is rigged, but I have taken an enormous number of bad beats lately and while I hate to blame it on the site, when I play on Party Poker the bad beats don't come near as often so I can only conclude that I might need to change sites for a little while. BoDog and FullTilt have nice bonuses so I'm looking at those two, at least until I clear the bonuses.

Also, I'm getting ready to invest in PokerTracker. I don't know if this will help me or not, but I've talked 2 several people and they seem 2 think it will.

One other thing. The dissertation is actaully moving along. I hope the newer parts that I have written will be accepted by my committee without too many changes.