Down and then up and then down again...

I've played quite a bit of poker over the last two days, which is good cause I won't get to play for the next week or so. The best part was I finished 3rd in a MTT out of 60 for a $66 cash. I lucked my way into it so I'm not complaining. I also managed to lose two $25 buy-in's, one when my JJ got run down by AK and another when my straight got run down by a flush. I also managed to lose a sports bet. It seems everytime I win a sports bet, I lose the next one.

Here is a picture for your entertainment...















I won't likely be posting again until after Christmas.

One of the better days in a while...

The BR at WPEX stands at $306. Quite a nice upturn considering where I've been lately. Some of the upturn is due to TCU thumping Northern Illinois and some of it is due to good fortune at the tables. Started yesterday with $223 and I only won $40 on TCU. The rest came from winning a $11 SNG and a nice run of cards at the NL tables. I played in two $10 MTT and didn't cash in either so I had to overcome that. I'm think Rice will have the opportunity to help the BR on Friday night so ya'll be pull'en for them.

A final table...

For once, I managed to make it into the money on one of WPEX MTT. I finished 9th out of 100 in the nightly $1,000 gtd tourny. I should've done better. I was 5th in chips heading to the final table and donked off my whole stack on a flush and straight draw. Obviously I didn't get there. I raised pretty big after the flop, which had a Q and a 10 plus the 6 of clubs (I had K-J of clubs). My opponent called my large post flop raise with Q-3 and I proceeded to go all in after the turn and got called again and neither the turn nor river helped me. I was out in 9th with a pay out of $35. It costs $10 to enter. On a more positive note, the Colts did cover the spread and earned me a nice $40 profit so the WPEX Br is at $223. I need everyone to pull for TCU tonight. The bet will be small (most likely $30, but I need it anyway).

Sports betting...

I really shouldn't be betting on sports, but I can't help my self. I went 1-2 in sports betting yesterday and that put a crimp in the WPEX bankroll. I think it now stands at $130. I'll be back at it tonight, grinding away and hoping to make a few bucks. I managed to blow through the money I had on FTP so I doubt I'll be playing there anymore. And I'll be out of town for about week around Christmas so there probably won't be much poker played then either.

I did manage to attend a wedding with Sarah on Saturday night. It was one of her friends from Cabot and I actually knew a few people in attendance.

It was a pretty good day...

I won a $20+2 SNG and a $10+1 SNG on WPEX, each for a nice profit and I finished third on in a $5.50 HORSE SNG on Fultilt. It was about the best day I've had in the last month or so. I hope it can continue. The totals are pretty good. I also played in the $1,000 grtd. tourny on WPEX last night. I busted 14th out of 94. Only 9 got paid. I had few good hands in the tourny but WPEX tourny are an all in fest at the end and I didn't win my last one.

Poker is Poker...

I finally got the $56 of rake that Fultilt owed me so I played on there most of last night. I played two HORSE SNG's, one for $5.50 and one for $10+1. Didn't cash in either. I did enjoy playing them though. Then I played varying levels of NL. I currently have $67 in the FTP account so the NL was pretty good to me even though I'm not very good at it. I'm kinda hoping to run it up to around $100 and then move it over to WPEX.

I played on WPEX for a few minutes yesterday. Long enough to win a $10 SNG and lose about $4 in NL. I think the WPEX account has $91. It was about as much of an uneventful day as I can remember poker wise.

About three weeks ago, Sarah and I went to Las Vegas for a few days. We didn't do so well gambling, but we had a nice time and got a much needed vacation. We also got to meet the founder and lead blogger of Pokerworks.com. Linda Geenen was extremely gracious and gave us a few minutes of her time at the Bellagio Poker room before she took her seat in a 4-8 Limit game. I enjoyed getting to meet her as I have read her blog almost daily for two years now. If you ever get the chance to meet Linda, you won't regret it. She is very friendly. Below is one of the pictures we took in the Bellagio Poker Room. Thanks Linda!

move'n on down...

Didn't do so well yesterday. Dropped more than I should have and, while I wish I could blame it on bad beats, I can mostly only blame it on myself. Bad calls and loose play. It seems every time I'm in a big pot, I'm up against AA. And when I get AA, I rarely get a call. I wonder what that says about me?

It was a down day...

but it could've been worse. I made a couple of bad calls and didn't hit a couple of flush draws so I lost a few pots. I think I was down almost $50 for the day. The "no rake" thing is definately keeping me afloat. In three weeks of play I have received $260 of rake returned to me. And in one of those weeks I only got $13 in rake returned. I'm gonna keep on keep'en on til I can't keep on no more.

When considering the last few weeks...

This weekend could be termed a huge success. I actually made a withdrawal from WPEX to Neteller. That hasn't happened in a while. And the WPEX account still has money in it. I got a lucky a few times (My 10-10 rivered 3 of a kind to beat KK) and I made a few good calls (6-6 to beat AK with a weak board) and a few bad calls (I had AK, the board was K-Q-7 and my opponent had QQ) but I guess I made more good calls or had more good luck than not. I accumulated $115 in rake for the week which was in my account this morning. It's hard to beat the "no rake" poker room. I love it. I'm a bad player but no rake it going to keep me in the game a lot longer.

I was also 1-1 in sports betting this weekend (stupid Cowboys).

a break even day, FInally...

I didn't really win anything yesterday, but I didn't lose anything either. It was the first day in a while where I didn' t end up in the negative. I did manage to break even while enduring one seriously bad beat. My QQ was beaten when my opponent, who had JJ, flopped a J. GG me. I'm pretty much used to it now. Onward I trudge, hoping to break out of this streak and actually win a few hands for a change.

Still not going well...

I can't decide if I am in the middle of a horrendous downswing or if I am just a really bad poker player. Two hands from yesterday leave me really confused. The first hand: I have KK in the hole. There is one raiser in front of me. I reraise him to let him know I have a strong hand. One guy behind me goes all in for less than I have. The origional raiser folds. The person behind me who goes all in flips over 10-3 of hearts. He turns a straight and rakes the pot. Is this a bad beat or a bad play on my part? The second hand: I have 6-8 of hearts and limp into the pot as do three others. The flop is 5-7-9. I flopped a straight. The turn is a K. leaving me heads up against one opponent. He goes all in and I call. He flips over K-7 for two pair. The river is a 7. GG me. I'm not sure what else I could've or should've done in either of these situations. It is very frustrating to continually get beaten at the river. I hope it turns around soon as I will not be putting any of my money into the game. I'm still playing on profit from Pokerroom but at this point, it won't last much longer.

The rake came in...

I got my $140 in rake from WPEX yesterday. It was nice to see that money sitting in the account since I was pretty much down to nothing and wasn't going to put any of my money in there. I managed to run that $140 up to a little over $180, mostly by winning a $20+2 SNG but then thru a couple of bad beats and a couple of bad calls I managed to drag it down to $123. I did accumulate $13 in rake in one day and I hope to be able to continue to get at least $10 per day. Plus I have $56 rake coming from Fulltilt.

As bad a player as I am, I am a firm believer in the concept of no rake poker.

even worse than before...

the poker has gone south quickly. I lost another $100 and I also lost about $150 sportsbetting. Not a smart thing to do. Had I not been making the sports bets, the poker would be alive and well. I'm still waiting for my rakeback from FullTilt and I also have nearly $150 of rake coming from WPEX. So I will be playing poker again, I'm just not sure how soon. I've read stories of people going broke several times before finally hitting a nice winning streak. I'm not sure I can hold out long enough for my streak to get here.

Slow Going...

I managed to win a $20+2 SNG yesterday for $70 and I played a lot of low limit NL games. The total at the end of the day is $198. That is $18 more than yesterday which tells you how I did in the ring games. I also played two $10+1 SNG's and didn't cash in either.

(Opinion Piece below)

I realize that Fulltilt and Pokerstars and just about any other site that still allows U.S. customers has a bigger clientel and bigger prize pools and a wider selection of games. However, rake free is the only way to go. If the players on these other sites started playing at WPEX the game selection would increase, the prize pools would increase and the games would be better. How can players continue to pay the rake they are at these other sites? I'm as low level at it gets when it comes to playing poker and I'm probably gonna make about $100 per week in rakeback. That is a signifigant boost to the bankroll. I guess the point of this rant is: Why do we continue to pay rake? Any comments?

It occured to me that I didn't post yesterday. It was just as well cause I am down to my last $100. However, I have taken that $100 and run it up to $180 and that is in the face of several bad beats. I also have $56 in rake back coming from Fulltilt and I am amassing a nice hunk of change from the rake free business at WPEX. I don' t know why more people don't use that site. It's hard to get a handle on Rake Free until you play there and realize how much you have paid in Rake. I started playing there on Sunday afternoon and I have already accrued over $45 in rake. That's just in three days! Most of their SNG's are five handed and I've placed in more than a few of them. They also only pay two places.

I'll keep you posted. I'm gonna have to start spending more time working on my dissertation so that may cut into the poker.

Not doing well at all, not at all, in fact, even worse...

I managed to lose all I had on FTP, even redeposited another $300 and lost that too. The losing at FTP has eaten into my profit from Pokerroom. Boy do I miss Pokerroom. So I am now playing on World Poker Exchange. WPX for those of you not familiar with it. It is a rake free site so I'm hoping that will help me a little. I've got to stay within my bankroll and learn to make big laydowns though I gotta tell you WPX seems pretty loose in the first day I played it.

Arkansas lost to LSU and I'm not sure they will have anything left for Flordia.

I had a good time in Vegas. Didn't get to play any poker cause the wife didn't have anything to do and would not have liked not having anything to do while I played Poker. I did win a couple of sports bets.

I also managed to make it on Table Tango. Check it out...

http://table-tango.pokerworks.com/2006/11/24/meeting-readers-of-tango/#more-956

It may be the highlight of my life.

It's almost comical..

the way I play poker these days, some of the calls I make, what am I thinking. JJ will never beak A-K with a K on the flop. A-J will not beat a flush. Even when I have two pair. The FTP bankroll is down to $165. That is a $60 loss from yesterday. Mostly on the basis of the two previously mentioned bad calls. I did finish second in a $10+1 HORSE SNG.

I'll still be plugging along hoping to hit a good streak and not blow it all by making rediculous calls.

Not much is changing...

The FTP bankroll is $226. That is down $11 from yesterday. However, considering I cleared $20 worth of bonus it isn't that good. I played in a $11 HORSE SNG and a $5.50 HORSE SNG and didn't cash in either. I did lose $20 in a .50 NL game but I got some of it back in another game. I'm starting to think I may not be able to beat the games at FTP. I'll continue to play there until I clear the bonus and because I have a pretty good rakeback deal there. The play on FTP is rediculously loose and that isn't my style. I get run over too much.

Odd, how it happened and all...

The current FTP bankroll is at $236, which if you remember that it was $157 yesterday, sounds pretty good. However, I had it to $257 at one point and then made some donkey moves and got relieved of $20 pretty easily. Not surprising if you have been following my escapades lately. I played mostly HORSE yesterday. I finished second in a $5.50 SNG for $12 and finished fourth in a $3.30 HORSE satellite into the FTOPS HORSE event. Only two got a seat. Third got $10. I bubbled. But then again, I didn't really have any business playing in it anyway. There were 40 people playing and I was excited to make it to the final table.

Up or down?

If you recall, I was at $140 when we last visited. Well, today, I am at $157. I can hear the collective relief of the readers as they say "alright, a little bit of improvement." And normally, I would agree with you. However, I am at $157 after $36 in rakeback was deposited, after finishing second in a $11 HORSE SNG, after finishing third in a $5.50 HORSE SNG and after losing a large amount at $1 NL. So I'm not sure I can really call it improvement lest I be deceiving myself. I've played pretty well in HORSE SNG's and I probably need to play more of them. I don't know if I have an edge there or not, but I enjoy them and I'm doing well so maybe I'll play more. I've got to stay away from making rediculous calls in NL.

It wasn't good...

But at least I'm not broke. The FTP bankroll is at $141. That puts me at $485 in the hole on FTP. God I miss Pokerroom. I pretty much got rich playing there. I'm not sure if I'm playing worse on FTP or if the competition is better or what. I have learned that while I could easily beat the $1 NL game on Pokerroom, I haven't been able to do that on FTP. So I've stayed mostly with the .50 NL game. I've also done pretty well playing HORSE on FTP at the $5.50 and $11 SNG levels. I shall try to keep on learning and keep on playing.

I will be in Vegas Nov. 19-24. I hope to play a little live poker and maybe even some Blackjack or craps.

Arkansas throttled Tennessee on Saturday. I've been waiting a long time for Arkansas to have a team this good. I just hope we can take care of Mississippi State and LSU. Beating Florida in the SEC Championship game would just be a bonus to me.

not doing well at all...

I've been playing badly and making bad calls. Both of which will get you in trouble quickly. Also, playing over your bankroll will get you in trouble quickly. I've got 2 be more disciplined in my approach to poker. I am currently at negative $475 on FTP.

Ok, I guess...

The FTP Bankroll is now at $277. It was an up and down day yesterday. I lost a huge $88 all in bet when my A-Q with an A on the flop ran up against a set of 5's. But I slowly ground it back up until I made a profit for the day. I finished second in a $5 HORSE SNG. I got lucky on a couple of draws and hit a set of 9's in a pretty big pot to get it back. I am currently down $198 on FTP.

Busto...

and then a redeposit. I managed to lose my last $98 of my origional deposit on FTP last night when my QQ couldn't beat a flush. Imagine that! Well, after a $225 deposit, I managed to run that up to $274. So I am officially down $226 on FTP. I hope to be able to get the money back. I have been profitable on every site I've played and I don't want FTP to be any different. I still have $130 of bonus to clear on FTP.

My bride's mom has purchased tickets to see the San Antonio Spurs play the Milwaukee Bucks on the day after christmas.

Three hands...

It was a terrible day of poker and it was mostly due to three hands. The first one is my KK getting beaten by a set of 3's. I had raised to $7 preflop in a $1 NL game and got called by a pair of 3's. A three on the flop won the all in bet. The next hand that hurt was my JJ all in preflop against a pair of 10's. A 10 on the flop. The last hand that did me in was QQ all in preflop vs A-J with an A on the flop. GG me. The FTP BR is at $98. That is a drop of $117 since yesterday.

I will grind on. My Vegas trip is 10 days away and the Arkansas-Tennessee game is this Saturday with College Game Day in Fayetteville.

Not too good of a weekend...

I didn't do well this weekend at all. I played horribly and made some really bad calls and got my AA cracked once. Most of the losing took place on Saturday morning when I was playing above my BR. On five seperate hands, I was in good shape pre flop or on the flop only to be up against AA. Five times I tell you. I think four of the five times I lost my whole stack. The play on six handed tables is really loose and putting people on AA isn't easy. Still, I made some bad calls. I was down to $141 at one point after starting Saturday morning with $373. The FTP BR is now at $212 even after some stupid calls like calling an allin with AK. I'll just keep on grinding and hopefully learning along the way.

ESPN Gameday is coming to Fayetteville this weekend. It's their first ever visit to the Land of Opportunity. Tennessee is a very tough opponent, but if Arkansas can win this one, they will be tough to handle the rest of the way.

Still loving the positive side of variance...

The upward trend continues as I pushed the FTP bankroll to $340. I had some pretty good success yesterday as I finished 2nd in a 18-man SNG for $54. I also finished third in a $5.50 HORSE SNG. I also cleared another $20 of bonus that helped pad the total. Either way, going up is better than going down.

I'm hoping to get to play quite a bit tonight as the wife is going out with one of her friends to see the movie Marie Antoinette. I have no desire to see it and I"m sure she has no desire to try and force me to see it.

The positive side of variance...

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday when we spoke, the FTP bankroll was at $115. Today, as I write, it's at $257. I hit a couple of draws, had a couple of big hands hold up and won a $5.50 HORSE SNG. No complaints here. I increased the bankroll without clearing any of the bonus or collecting any of the rakeback. I need to continue to be patient, play within my BR and push my good hands.

I'll be playing plenty tonight and tomorrow night. Not sure about Sat. night cause the Razorbacks play a big game against South Carolina on ESPN. GO HOGS!

still going...

I didn't get to play too much last night as we went with friends to see SAW III. It was pretty gory and not near as pyschologically thrilling as the first two. I played a little after I got home and managed to make $17. However, I managed to give it all back this morning. I have $8 left to clear another $20 in the FTP bonus. The FTP BR is at $115.

More later or tomorrow...

A Staggering loss...

I managed to drop $200 yesterday. It wasn't hard. The one hand that stands out to me is this:
I pick up A-6 in the big blind and call the $1 raise. The flop comes 7-6-6. I'm feeling pretty good about this as I have a set with a great kicker. I check, the next guy bets $8 and I call. the turn is a J. He bets $16 and I went all in for about $90. He insta called and flipped over 7-7. GG me. There were a couple of more hands similar to that where I lost a nice hunk of money. I hope its just the down side of variance because I'm on a terrible run right now. The FTP Br is at $114.

Up and Down...

But mostly down. I played quite a bit yesterday and and even a little on Friday evening, but not on Saturday. I was doing pretty well, having run the bankroll up to over $400 at one point, but playing above my head and making stupid calls has resulted in the BR currently standing at $315. I've got to learn to be more patient. I made a couple of good calls, but I also made two really dumb calls that cost me a lot of money. I also had my AA cracked by 9-8 suited when the guy rivered a straight. Oh well, live and learn. Continue to play.

Went to the game in Little Rock on Saturday and had a nice time. I got to see a few ULM people plus I enjoyed seeing Deborah as well. ULM put up a good fight for about two quarters, but Arkansas has too many weapons for ULM to compete very long. I've posted a picture below of the highpoint for ULM fans.

It ain' t much but it's something...

After getting my aces cracked on Wednesday, I was back at it yesterday, trying to grind it up. I started yesterday with $320 and I now have $327. At one point, I had it up to $338 after finishing third in a $5.50 HORSE SNG. I then played a $10+1 18-man SNG and finished 6th. My 8-8 got out run by A-6. There was a 6 on the flop and a 6 on the river. GG me.

I'll be back at it this evening.

My wife has dressed up as a doctor for her halloween work day. Maybe I'll be able to post a picture of it.

Cracked Aces...

The title pretty much sums it up. I was playing in a $1 NL game and I had taken $40 and worked it up to $135. I picked up AA in late position and raised it up to $8. I got one caller. The flop was 8-9-J. The caller checked. I bet $15 hoping to pick it up right there. Instead, the guy goes all in for about $110. I called (I should know better) and he flipped over 8-9. There went all my profit and then some. The FTP bankroll is now at $320. That is down about $25 from yesterday which is somewhat disappointing considering how well I had done to that point.

I did finish second in a $5.50 HORSE SNG.

More Poker...

I played for quite a while yesterday as there was time until the wife got home and I was forced to participate in hanging curtains. I didn't do too poorly as I played two HORSE $5.50 SNG's finishing 2nd in one and out of the money in the other. I also played some $1 NL and made a few bucks. As I recall, the FTP Br was at $316 yesterday and it is now at $345. Not great, but I'll take it. I played a little while this morning and made about $10 which made the total look even better. FTP players seem to be really loose with their starting hand requirements. I get called a lot by players who really don't have anything. And I make pretty good raises when I get a good hand.

Not much to report...

I didn't get to play much yesterday. It was the wife's birthday and we were out with friends. I did get to play a few hands yesterday at lunchand doubled up nicely when my set of 2's held off AK for a $38 profit. I donked off some of that playing RAZZ and a HORSE SNG but the FTP BR is at $306.

Hopefully more tomorrow.

Back at it...

I spend four days in Indianapolis last week for work so there was no poker. I got back on Friday night and started back in on the poker Saturday morning. When I got back from Indy, I had $229 in the FTP account, now I have $284. I have played several $5.50 HORSE SNG's. I won one and finished 3rd in two others. I like the changing games. I have also played quite a bit of .50 RAZZ. It's a game kinda like Stud except in reverse. I've done ok in that too. I'm still chasing a cash in the $11 45-man SNG's. I've made the final table a few times but I haven't made the money yet. Yesterday I was in good shape with 14 to go. I was 7th in chips and a guy called my big raise with a 6-6. I had QQ. A 6 on the river and I was pretty much done for. I finished 12th. The blinds go up really quickly in these tournaments.

On the Move...

I am now playing at FullTilt Poker. The screen name is Smackover1. I played for a little while last night and did "OK" in .25 NL winning about $15 but I managed to donk my way out of a $11 45 man SNG when I raised all in with K-7 and was called by KK. GG me. Then I managed to totally lose $25 playing omaha Hi/lo. It wasn't hard. I started with $250 and I now have $232.

Off to Full Tilt

I'm going to be moving over to Full Tilt for my poker action. The ongame network, of which pokerroom is a member, is restricting U.S. residents so I won't be playing there anymore.

I didn't do to well this weekend. Two hands sum it up. My 10-10, all in for $100 with a 10 on the flop gets rivered by a straight. That one really hurt cause it would've really put me in good shape. Then my KK all in pre flop is up against AA. That one cost me $50.

I did manage to cash in two MTT. I didn't make much in either one, but cashing is better than not cashing.

a down swing..

I played a little poker yesterday and did pretty well in the cash games, but I managed to give it back in the $25,000 rebuy tournament. I had won a ticket to this tournament earlier in the week and decided to use last night. I was in pretty good shape ending the first hour when the rebuy period ends. I had tripled up about 20 minutes in when my QQ held against 9-9 and A-J. I was in about 90th place with 450 players left (725 started) and four minutes left in the first hour when I picked up QQ again. There was one raiser in front of me and he had raised to 400. The blinds were at 150-75 so I raised to 3000 putting him all in. He insta called and flipped over KK. I was down to about 800 had to rebuy. I then added on but my AK got outrun and I was out soon after. I'm not a good player and these tournaments amplify my poor play even more. I have $348 in the pokerroom account.

Finally a winning day...

I managed to make a few bucks yesterday for the first time in a quite a while. I also won a $3.40 SNG to a $20 tournament. I used the $50+4 ticket I had to play the US daily with a $13,000 prize pool. I busted out in 176 when I called an all in with my KQ suited and was beaten by a AQ. It wasn't a good call on my part but I was starting to get a little short stacked and didn't play it well. In cash games, I did much better. I stayed out of the $2 NL game and made about $100 in either .25 NL or .50 NL.

The PR bankroll stands at $340. I am close to clearing the $30 bonus.

I don't feel much like blogging...

when I'm losing. I've been losing way too much lately. Too many leaks in my game. I did manage to win a $7+1 SNG qualifier yesterday so I can play in a $50+4 SNG or the US daily tournament. The pokerroom br is at $249.

It hasn't gotten any better...

I played enough over the weekend to clear the $100 bonus, but that really didn't help any. I have $280 in the pokerroom account. I haven't been playing very well and I've also taken a couple of bad beats. The one that really stands out is this one: I pick up 6-6 in the small blind and call the big blind. Three of us go to the flop. The flop comes out 6-10-7. I'm pretty happy about this and start to go about extracting maximum value. I'm slightly worried about the straight, but I proceed any way. I make a $2 bet (this is in .50 NL) and get two callers. The turn is a 7 which makes me feel good cause a straight is no longer possible. I check hoping for some action from the other two. The big blind bets $5 and I raise 2 $10. He calls. The river is a K. I bet $5 hoping for a call. The big blind raises all in. I call. He flips over 77 for quads. GG me.

I also played in homegame tournament on Saturday night. I finished 4th out of 10. I had KK and the small stack called me all in with A-6 and turned an A. Then I get the small stack all in again. He has 4-4, I have A-10. The flop brings and A, the turn brings a 10. The river brings a 4. GG me.

I had two concerns about the homegame. I didn't really know but one other person playing and I didn't know him well. Two of the final four were related (father-son) and the other guy was the host. The son (of the father son combo) was the chip leader by a large amount and I'm pretty sure he slowplayed his father. There were several times where the father was low on chips and the son would make a substantial raise, the father would come over the top and the son would fold just giving the pot to the father.

The second concern was that the rebuy period was clearly stated at the start that is would end at 9:00. But three people were allowed to rebuy well after 9:00. Otherwise, I'm certain I would've made the money. I won't likely be going back to this game. Not because I think they cheated, but because I'm an outsider and they don't mind it if I get the shaft.

Still Grinding...

I played for quite a while yesterday and increased the Pokerroom BR from $173 to $218. I played two MTT for $5.50. I busted out pretty early in one when my AK ran up against AA. Oh well. But the second tourny I finished 15th out of 480. I made a donk play getting pushed out when I did. I called a big reraise with 9-9. I know better than to call a reraise in that situation.

I also played a little .25 NL and made about $15. I'm starting to realize that .25 and .50 NL are the games where I have the biggest edge.

I need 267 more points to clear the $100 bonus.

A slight Improvement...

I did a lot of grinding yesterday. A lot. I managed to improve the PR bankroll from $85 to $173. Playing at limits of $1, .50 and .25. All were NL. That is the good news. The bad news is that I had it up to about $224 at one point. I cannot even begin to explain how my aces go cracked by a set and my straight was rivered by a flush. Enough about the bad beats though. I'm trying to be more focused and make better laydowns when I know I'm beaten.

I have 298 points left to clear the $100 bonus.

The implosion continues...

The internet got fixed. I wish it hadn't. I managed to drop $210 yesterday. Again, it wasn't hard. My QQ ran up against A-10 on a board of 10-10-8 and that cost me about $80 cause I raised it pretty big before the flop. I also had two sets get outrun by flushes. And the last hand that cost me a bunch was when I tried to chase down a straight. I had Q-J and the board held a 9 and a 10. No straight for me and $210 down.

I am only 398 points away from clearing the $100 bonus. I have $112 in the Pokerroom account. I need to make it hold up.

Stupid Cox Cable...

There was no poker played yesterday as I am again having trouble with Cox Cable. If there are other alternatives out there, I'd love to hear about them.

A total implosion...

I didn't do very well this weekend. In fact, you could say I did about as poorly as I have ever done. I played way about the bankroll and it wasn't pretty. However, before I say that the world is over, I should say that I cashed out $200 on Saturday afternoon and that left me with $285 in the Pokeroom account. I manged to lose all but $13 of that. I played a lot of SNG's and didn't win or even cash in any of them. Then I played way too much $2 NL and that is very hard on a bankroll.

This morning, I put $300 back on Pokerroom so that I can clear the bonus. I still have 519 points left to pick up the $100 bonus.

I have quite a bit of money in Neteller and I'm thinking of taking some of it out until I have a better feel for how the internet gambling ban will shake out.

It wasn't as bad as it could've been...

When I got home from work yesterday I had $451 in the pokerroom account. Not long after I started playing, I had $507. Well, as of this writing, I have $438. I got coolered with a flush over flush hand for $50 and then my AK ran up against KK with a K on the flop so I lost more than I should have. I played three $7+1 SNG qualifiers and didn't make the money in any of them. I managed to clear about 70 points toward the $100 bonus.

I still need to play on Partypoker to see if I can grind up the free $30.

I love cashouts...

I played only a few hands last night (less than 30) but managed to profit about $70. I then proceeded to cashout $90. That leaves the pokerroom bankroll at $451. I've been trying to decide if I'm running really well lately or if I'm starting to get better at the game. I try to push my edges as much as possible and I try to get out of a hand when I think I'm beaten. This, I think, is a sign of my poker maturation.

I got an email from Partypoker saying they have deposited $30 in my account. I logged in and sure enough, there is $30 in my account. I think I'm gonna try and grind it up starting at .25 NL and see what I can do. I'll have to play 300 raked hands before I can cashout.

I still have 910 points left to get the $100 bonus from Pokerroom, but I have until the middle of November to get it done.

I'm doing pretty well...

The pokerroom bankroll stands at $468. That would seem like $39 less than yesterday's reported total of $507. However, that would not include a $90 cashout. I won a $3.40 qualifier yesterday to a $20+2 tournament. I made good use of this ticket by finishing second in a $20+2 SNG for $60. I also finished second in another $3.40 qualifier so I have that ticket waiting on me.

This morning, I jumped into a .50 NL game with $35 and on the first hand I picked up JJ and though the board was very scary (Q-Q-8) the Jacks managed to hang on and win a $39 pot. I got out of that game with the profit pretty quickly and moved to a .25 NL game for the max buy in of $25. After a few orbits I Picked up KK and raised two previous raisers to $10. One guy went all in and there was a K in the door. He flipped over AK but it was no good and I doubled up. I made about $50 in 20 minutes. Pretty good for me. Then I made the $90 cashout.

I have about 920 points left to clear the $100 redeposit bonus.

Reversal of Fortune...

Yesterday and this morning were completely the opposite of my previous post. When I got home yesterday, the Pokerroom BR was at $255. I deposited $200 to take advantage of the Pokerroom redeposit. This leaves me a $100 bonus after 1,000 points. Well, as of today, I have a pokerroom bankroll of $462 and this is after a $150 cashout. I couldn't do any wrong playing NL yesterday. I managed to do quite well and increased the bankroll to $557 before going 2 bed last night. I played a little more this morning and doubled up pretty early on in a $1 NL game and then made a few more bucks in a .25 NL game 2 push the BR to $612 before the cashout.

I have 950 points left to clear the bonus.

It was a pretty good weekend until....

I cleared the $175 bonus on Friday afternoon and then made a $250 withdrawl. That puts me in pretty good shape with Pokerroom. I have made $250, $200, $100 and $120 withdrawals since my last deposit plus I have $255 still on Pokerroom. I was in even better shape until this morning. I managed to drop $85 in about 20 minutes. It wasn't hard.

Pokerroom is offering a 50% reload bonus so I'll probably be taking advantage of that pretty soon.

The Roll Continues...

I've been fearing the downturn lately, but it didn't come yesterday. The pokerroom BR stands at $400. I know, I know. That's $151 less that yesterday, but that doesn't include the $240 cashout. Nor does it include the $175 bonus that I am about to clear. I only have 31 points left. I will clear that today for sure.

I played pretty well and I'm getting a better feel for the game I think. I made two big laydowns yesterday that I might not have made previously. One was JJ and the other was KQ on a scary board. I also made one really donk play that cost me about $20. I called a big raise with a only a pair of nines on a nine high board (I had 10-9) and the guy flipped up trip 5's. I should've known better.

I am certainly on a roll, for me at least.

No Complaints...

I've been running pretty well lately. I haven't done anything spectacular and I haven't had AA or KK a lot. I have mostly been playing tight, solid, low-limit poker and doing pretty well. I push my edges and a I fold when I feel like I am behind. Yesterday, I played for a short while and managed to make a few dollars. However, I have been focused on my play as of late, making sure that I am making proper plays and thinking about the situations I am in. I think it is paying off. The pokerroom bankroll is at $551. That is up $44 from yesterday and up significantly from last Friday. I am also only 144 points away from clearing the $175 bonus.

I played in a $7+1 SNG yesterday. I had managed to finish second in one of these last week and still had a ticket left to play. I signed up and was a little more than 1,000 in chips with the blinds getting pretty high when I pick up 8-8 in late position. The one guy to my left called everything. And I do mean everything. It didn't matter what he was holding. If there was a big bet to him, he called it. Well, it folded around to me and I pushed all in with my 8-8. Sure enough, he called and flipped over 3-2. There was a 3 and a 2 on the flop. GG me. I couldn't believe it, but I wasn't surprised.

A Final Table!!!

I made a final table of a MTT yesterday. It was a $5.50 tournament and there were 463 entrants. I finished 7th. I never really had a big chip stack but I managed to hang around long enough and doubled up enough times to make the final table. The most I ever had at any point was 48,000 chips and that was with 6,000 and 3000 blinds. I was the short stack most of the way and finally got pushed out in seventh for $68. I was pretty pleased with it but I wish I had managed to move up a couple of more spots. The money would've been a lot better.

I then managed to take the $68 and donk it off in two .50 NL games which took me back down to $408 in the Pokerroom BR. However, after that, I got into a $1 NL game with $50 and doubled up on the second hand. That made me feel a little better.

Then, this morning, I played $1 NL and .50 NL and managed to make about $30. The pokerroom BR is at $507. That is up $108 from yesterday for those of you keeping score. I also only have 240 points left to clear the $175 bonus.

Not Much Poker

The Ongame network was down much of last night so I didn't get to play too much poker. I did manage one $7+1 SNG and finished second so I'll get to play that again. I should've won but my opponent sucked out on me twice. Once I had 10-10 vs his 6-6 and he hit a six on the river. Then when we were about even in chips, I had A-10 and the flop came 2-4-10. I put all the chips in and he called with 7-4. A 7 on the river and GG me.

I have 308 points left to clear the $175 bonus.

A Nice Weekend...

I was able to play quite a bit this weekend inspite of all the other committments I had. On Friday, I made a $200 cashout from pokerroom and as of this writing I have $404 on pokerroom and I have 324 points left to clear the $175 bonus.

I am thinking of moving to Hollywood Poker next because they give a 100% signup bonus and they are a member of the Ongame Network so I'll be playing the same games.

Another downturn...

A few weeks ago, I was running really well. All my draws were hitting. My low pocket pairs were turning into sets on a regular basis and every bluff I made worked. I wrote at the time that I feared the downturn. The downturn came, but I managed to survive it. Well, I'm running really well again and now I'm wondering when the downturn will come. I played for quite a while yesterday... wait, let me back up for a sec... yesterday morning, when I got to work, I had $400 in the Pokerroom Br. Well, I went home at lunch and managed to turn that $400 into $345. I made a couple of loose calls and it cost me. So when I got home yesterday, I got into a game and the hot streak took off. I was in a $2 NL game with $100 and doubled up pretty quickly. Then I played mostly $1 NL making a small profit while waiting on the $3,000 freeroll I was entered in.

In the freeroll, I had a sizeable chip stack most of the way. There were 558 entrants. The top 100 get paid. It gets down to 105 and I have about 5,000 in chips, a little above average at the time. I pick up QQ in early position and raise to 3,000. I get reraised by one of the big stacks and I call. He has AK and there is an A on the flop. GG me. I played for over two hours and got nothing. Oh well.

The pokerroom Br is at $460 and I only need 575 points to clear the $175 bonus.

A positive day

I managed to get back some of my losses from Monday. I managed to finish third in one $11 SNG and second in another. I also made a little cash in a $2 NL game. My K high flush was better than his 10 high flush for about $90. I also managed to double up in a $1 NL game after starting with $50 but then I gave it all back when a guy rivered a straight against me. I started yesterday with $326 and I ended it with $400. I also cleared a lot of bonus points. I now only have 684 points left to clear the $175 bonus. It should be done by the end of next week if not sooner.

I really haven't been keeping track of any interesting hands lately. I should do that more. I doubt that I get to play much on Friday or Saturday but I plan on playing the $3,000 player points freeroll tonight.

How to lose $125...

Call off your whole stack with A-Q when your opponent has AA.

Call off your whole stack with two pair when their is clearly a straight draw on the board.

The pokerroom br is at $326. I have 779 points left to collect the $175 bonus.

Weekend Wrap Up...

I deposited $350 on Pokerroom on Friday afternoon to take advantage of their 50% redeposit bonus. The bonus requires me to clear 1,250 points. As of this morning, I have 931 points left to clear. On the whole it was a profitable weekend. As of this writing, the Pokerroom Br is at $450. But that doesn't include a $120 cashout. I was pretty stoked to have done as well as I did. I managed to lay down QQ which is pretty big for me. I also finished second in a $11 SNG. I won a $7+1 SNG qualifier and I am waiting to use the ticket for a chance to qualify for the Pokerroom Big Deal.

I don't really remember any hands from this weekend that stand out. I managed to make $83 in a $2 NL game when I called a $50 raise with only a pair of eights. The guy was holding AK and there were no face cards on the board. It may have been a stupid call on my part, but it worked out.

I also played in a .50 NL game. I started with $35 and cashed out $88. Mostly on people making really loose calls against me.

Not surprised at all..

I pretty much donked off the $64 I had on Bodog yesterday. It wasn't hard at all. Since I wasn't able to get the Mansion bet in the Steelers killed the Dolphins and I wasn't able to make a dime off it.

Pokerroom is offering a reload bonus of 50% so I'll be getting ready to take advantage of that soon.

For your viewing pleasure I have posted a photo below of a pic from CNNSI. Enjoy.

It ain't pretty...

The bodog Br started at $150 and is now at $64. The hand that really did me in was this: I picked up Q-10 in the BB. There are three limpers. The flop comes 3-5-Q. I raise to $6 to see where I stand. I get one caller. The turn is a Q. I feel pretty good but my kicker isn't the greatest so I raise to $8 to see where I stand. My opponent calls. The river is a 2 which I feel pretty good about. My opponent goes all in and I call. He flips over 6-4 for a rivered straight. It was the ultimate chase that ended up paying off.

I also played in a qualifier to the $100,000 tournament. There were 35 people entered. 3 get seats. I finished 5th. I was in pretty good shape until my A-J ran up against AA from the big stack at the table. I also played two $11 SNG's and busted out of both.

I've about decided that I'm a pretty bad player.

Bad Bankroll Management...

The title pretty much sums it up. I have never been good at practicing bankroll management. I like 2 play at about 2 levels higher than my bankroll will support. This doesn't mean I'm a bad player (which I may be) but it does mean that when I'm on a downswing, I lose considerabley more of my bankroll than I should.

Yesterday, I deposited $150 on Bodog and managed to run it up to $239 by the end of the night, mostly playing .50 and $1 NL. I also won a $11 SNG. Then, this morning, playing higher than I should and getting sucked out on once and one time making a rediculous play, I donked it down to $118.

This also applies to me losing almost $400 of profit on Pokerroom over the weekend cause I like playing in the $2 NL game. That is way above my bankroll.

My total bankroll is at $962, so I am far from going broke, but I didn't get that much by playing high, I got it by grinding it out on the .25 tables and at the $11 SNG's.

I guess it's a profit...

I played a lot of poker over the long weekend. A lot of poker. I managed to cash out $200 from Pokerroom on Saturday after I finished second in a $54 SNG. I also cleared a $120 bonus and a $30 bonus. After cashing out, I had $453 dollars in the pokerroom BR. Well, last night, I cashed out my last $53 from pokerroom. After donking off $400 playing in the $2 NL game, I figure it might be time to try another room until PR offers another reload bonus. I put $300 into pokerroom and I cashed out $353 so I came out ahead, but I made some dumb plays and blew a lot of money that I shouldn't have.

I'm lining up for the Pittsburgh bet on Mansion on Thursday. If that happened to come thru, I'd be in good shape and really, really happy.

It could've been worse...

When we last talked, the PR BR was at $465. As of this writing, it is at $426, which to me doesn't sound too bad, but it certainly could've been worse and at one time was much worse. At the lowest, it was $356, but I manged to win back some of my losses. I missed a couple of draws and got sucked out on for a big pot that cost me quite a few dollars, but tight solid play helped me get back some of the losses.

I lost some of my money yesterday at lunch and some more last night before KK bailed me out in a $1 NL game. The only really dumb play I made was pushing all in on a flush draw after someone had raised in front of me. I held A-2 of hearts and two hearts came on the flop. I reraised all in, got called and no hearts on the turn or river. It wasn't a smart move even if a haert had hit.

I have 193 points left to clear the $120 bonus and about 122 points left to get into the $6,000 free roll on Saturday.

I fear the downturn...

I have been running so well lately that I fear the down turn that is surely coming. The Pokerroom BR was at $400 yesterday. Well, as of this writing it is $465. I managed to make $24 yesterday and I made $41 this morning.

I played in a .50 NL game this morning and the first two hands were JJ and KK. I managed to get half of a guy's stack when I flopped a set of J's and the other half with the K's.

I have 289 points left to clear the $120 bonus.

I'm lining up the br to take advantage of the Mansion Poker bet. I really hope it pans out as I need the money.

On A Heater!!!

I must say I did pretty well yesterday. How well you ask? Well, good enough to make a $100 cashout and still have $400 left in the Pokerroom BR.

For a short time yesterday, I was three-tabling. Two $1 NL games and one .50 NL game. I made $8 on one of the NL games and got out. Then, my JJ got busted on the other $1 NL game and I was down to $17. I wasn't really happy, but I made the right play and got sucked out on. Oh well, I'm battling with my $17 when I pick up AK and raise to $5 I get one caller and the flop comes K high. I go all in hoping 2 pick it up right there but I get raised all in. I call and he flips over K-Q. I double up to $35 and hang around for a while. Then I pick up KK in the SB. There are two raisers in front of me so I raise to $15 to let them know I'm serious. Well, I get two callers. The flop is all low cards, so I go all in for my last $20 and get two callers! I'm certain I'm up against AA. The turn is a J and the river is low. One guy had A-5 and the other had a pair of 8's. Yeah for me!! I tripled up and was sitting with $105. It didn't take me long to book that profit and focus on the .50 NL game. Well, after quite a while, I was able to cash out $68 from the .50 NL game. There weren't any memorable hands, but I played solid and picked me spots.

So after the cash game wins, I played two $7+1 SNG qualifiers. I finished second in both so I still have a ticket to anther that I can use.

I still have about 350 points left to clear the $120 bonus. I should have it done by the weekend.

I am thinking of taking advantage of the Mansion Poker sports book promo. If you haven't heard about it, go to www.pocketfives.com and check it out.

Weak or Solid??

I played pretty well yesterday. I played one $11 SNG and finished third and played one $7+1 qualifier and busted 8th. I also played some cash games and did pretty well. The pokerroom BR, when last we talked, was $369. Well, now it is $415 which includes a short session this morning.

There are only two memorable hands. The first one is this: I pick up K-Q in the BB. There are four limpers. The flop comes K-Q-Q. I was pretty happy about this. I only made about $8 but it was the easiest $8 I've ever made.

The second was this: I picked up Q-7 of hearts in the small blind. I called and the flop came A-J-10, all hearts. I checked and called one bet and then on the turn, I rasied pretty big to chase every one off for about a $10 profit.

Every other hand that I won, I pretty much had the best hand each time and took care of business.

Little has changed...

I don't remember where I left off on Friday, but I think the Pokerroom BR was at $393. Well, as of this writing it is at $369. It may sound like a drop off, and I guess it is, but I dropped $100 on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the weekend trying to get it back. I have noted to my self that I am down $24 from Friday afternoon, but that total includes 5 $11 SNG that I didn not cash in and several other SNG qualifiers of various limits that I did not cash in either. So I think the cash games went pretty well but the SNG's didn't turn out so well for me.

I did clear about 300 points towards the $120 bonus that is waiting for me.

I played a live home game on Saturday night. I didn't do well mainly due to the fact that I lost a big pot with flush over flush. It happens. I played ok, but I lost.

Not too shabby...

I didn't play too much yesterday, but the results were quite pleasing. I got to play a few hands of .25 NL yesterday at lunch. I was only involved in one hand and it went down like this:

I'm in the small blind and I pick up Q-10 of spades. There are the bet is raised to .50 and called by two people. The flop comes K-10-10. I check and two people bet .50 then a third guy raises to $5. I reraise to $15. Two people fold and the $5 raiser raises me all in. He flips over 8-10 of hearts. The turn and river are blanks and I more than double my $25 investment. Pretty happy with the results.

Then I played a few hands of $1 NL yesterday after work and managed to make about $10. This morning before work I played .50 NL and won $14 on the first hand. I played a few more hands and cashed out a $17 winner.

Hopefully the weekend will bring more good fortune.

I missed a day...

I missed yesterday because work was incredibly busy. That rarely happens, but yesterday was one of those days.

Where to begin. Back on Pokerroom. I got an email from Bonuswhores.com saying that Pokerroom had a reload bonus going but you had to earn 10 points for every $1 in bonus money. That's a little steeper than normal, but I was probably gonna reload anyway. Well, a day later, I get another email from Bonuswhores telling me that people had been reporting that they were getting a bonus from PR that only required 7 points for every $1 in bonus money. I deposited immediately. I deposited $300 and played for quite a while yesterday and this morning and I am happy to report that I cleared 110 points whilst profiting $40. The pokerroom Br is at $340.

I still have $95 on Bodog and I might play there some more. Bodog kinda grew on me and it is by far the loosest site I have ever played on. There is a lot of variance, but if you can take it, it's a pretty good place to play.

Because of the internet or inspite of it???

I haven't been able to play much lately because my internet connection is intermitent at best. I was able to play for a little while this morning and I managed to make $56. That puts the Bodog bankroll at $171. I started in a $1 NL game and doubled up on this hand: I pick up 10-10 on the button. I raise to $6 and get called by the big blind, who is also the biggest stack at the table. The flop comes 10-A-6. He checks, I check. He bets $8, I raise to $28 and he raises me all in. I call and the river was of no help. Yeah!! Double Up.

I then played a few hands of .50 NL and managed to make $6.

Hopefully the internet will be fixed soon and I'll be back to playing more regularly.

I've played better...

I didn't play that much over the weekend as I was out of town. I did play this morning and my AA got cracked by a guy with a huge stack that was trying to give it away. He called me with J-6 and rivered a straight. He wasn't gonna lay it down so there wasn't much I could do. I moved to another table and ended up making back about half of what I lost on the aces.

The bodog Br is at $113. That is -$81 since the start.

playing too much and not playing well...

I've been playing too much, too high and too poorly. I was up against a dude yesterday and I was sure if I was patient, I could make a good score. The guy literally raised every pot and didn't mind calling large raises. I picked up AK and just limped. He raised to $5 so I go all in. He calls with K-2. Two on the flop. GG me. So I rebuy into that game for anther $50. I'm patient and I wait. I pick up KK and the sure enough the guy raises to $5. I go all in. I get two callers. One has JJ the other QQ. Queen on the flop. GG me. So I dropped $100 with the best hand both times. That's just the way it goes sometimes.

Back to Play'en Poker

After spending the better part of two days in another state, I'm back on the poker playing trail. The Bodog bankroll stands at $117 after a $112 cashout from last night. I didn't really do anything spectacular. I doubled up on the first hand of a $1 NL table when I picked up 10-10 and flopped a 10. Another guy with a pair of 6's goes all in. What could I do? I called and won. Up $50 at that point, I proceeded to drop $15 in a .25 NL game and then busted out 4th in a $11 SNG.

The bodog bankroll is at $117 and the total bankroll is at $1117. That is +$74 since I left Pokerroom.

Basically Even

I'm basically even on Bodog at this point. I was up $200 after Saturday, but I managed to give all that back before 8:30 on Sunday morning. I made two donk calls and had two bad beats. All for $50. My AA got cracked by trip 6's and my flopped flush got beaten by a full house. I also thought for some reason that 7-7 was better than 10-10 and that my two pair was better than a flush. So after blowing the $200 profit that put me back to even, I now have $150 on Bodog and I'm hoping to get a little profit out of the deal while waiting on a pokerroom reload bonus.

The internet has been out intermitently and it's driving me crazy. After losing the $200 yesterday, the internet managed to be out the rest of the day. However, when I got out of bed this morning, it was working. Cox has a bunch of morons working for them.

I won't likely be posting tomorrow as I will be out of town.

$100

I deposited $100 into Bodog last night. I played exactly 2 hands and won $10. Add this to the $4.73 I already had in the account and the $10 signup bonus that bodog gives on every deposit and I now have $124 to work with. I won't be redepositing on Bodog. If I lose this $100, I'll be off to another site.

The reason I only played two hands is that the internet hasn't been working.

A Freefall

I managed to take the $42 I had on Bodog and turn it into $76 before turning it back into $4. Don't ask me how, just know that it wasn't hard.

I lost $50 playing $1 NL on this hand.

I flopped two pair and managed to get all my money in against a guy I knew was chasing a straight and damned if he didn't get his straight on the river.

I'm now trying to determine if I should deposit on Bodog or if I should wait on a Pokerroom reload bonus.

The Bodog Sojourn

Last we visited, the Bodog bankroll was at $43. Well, as we visit today, the Bodog bankroll is at $42 after a wild rollercoaster swing yesterday. I started out playing .25 NL and not once, but twice, I flopped a straight and got rivered by a full house. Twice I tell you. It wasn't pretty, but I managed to not go broke either time. The first hand went down like this:

I pick up 7-8 in the big blind and it's checked around to me. I check and the flop comes 5-6-9. I'm pretty excited cause I think I can make some money out of this. I check and the next guy bets $2. I'm thinking he must have trips or a high pair so I just call. The turn is a 9 and the guy fires out $5. I raise him his last $10 and he calls. He flips over K-9 and wouldn't you know it, a 5 hits the river. He rakes a huge pot which should've been mine. I'm pretty sure he wasn't gonna lay down the hand regardless so I really couldn't win.

A few hands later I pick up AA and some guy afte me goes all in for about $12 which is about what I had. I did my obligitory chat box type of "You may suck out on me, but I have to call" and then made the call. He flipped over KK and the AA held up so I was about where I started.

Then a few hands later, I flopped anther straight while holding Q-J in the small blind. The flop was k-10-9. I raised it a hefty bit and got called by a guy holding 10-9 for his last $8. There was a 9 on the river and he raked another pot that should've been mine.

Then I played two $11 SNG's. I busted out 5th in the first one and finished second in the other one for $30 or a $19 profit. When you do the math on all that, it left me with $42. It certainly could've been worse.

I really want to qualify for the Bodog $100,000 tournament they run on Sundays, but the SNG's are 5-handed and cost $24 to enter so I need to build my bankroll a little before I try one of those.

Another Site??

Since we last talked (over four days ago) I've cashed out all my money from Pokerroom. I am not dissatisfied, I'm just waiting on a redeposit bonus before I venture back in. Also, I got an email from Bodog that I had $10 in my account so I downloaded the software and played there last night. I started on the .10 NL tables and turned the $10 into $23. Then I moved to the .25 NL tables and turned the $23 into $43. So I'm gonna see how much I can build this into. I would like to try and qualify for the Bodog $100,000 tournament they have each week. They are constantly running satalites for the tourney so maybe I can get into one.

As for the pokerroom results. I started out with $600 at PR and cashed out $830 so I came out +$230. With a good redeposit bonus, I'll be back in there. My NL game is improving and I'm feeling more comfortable playing higher limits.

Don't Try This At Home...

I didn't play at all last night until about 9:30 and it wasn't a good idea. I had been to Logan's and Jose's and had about five beers so I was feeling no pain. I sat down and jumped into a $1 NL game for $50. The first hand I picked up 9-7 in the big blind. It's only me and one other guy. The flop comes 10-9-7. I checked, he bet $25 and I went all in. He thought for a second and called. He flipped over A-10 and rivered and A for a higher two pair. GG me.

So I was tilting/pissed and moved to another $1 NL game and bought in for $50. I donked that off in about 5 hands. None were memorable except for the bad play on my part.

So I'm down $100 and steaming pretty good. I have no idea what possessed me to jump into a $2 NL game but I did and bought in for $100 bucks. I was making some lose calls and fluctuated from $15 down to $15 up when this hand arose. I picked up J-9 in the big blind. I called a $7 raise from some guy who raised every pot. The flop came 8-10-Q. So I have a really good straight. The guy raised to $25 and I went all in. He called and the straight held up. I had a little over $100 when the hand started so now I'm back to even or maybe even a little on the plus side.

I'm still kinda excited from winning the big hand. The next hand (small blind for me) I picked up 3-6 of clubs. I called the extra .50 and the flop comes 9-K-8, all clubs. I bet out $10 trying to pick it up right there and pad my winnings. But I get called by the guy I had beaten in the previous pot. The turn is a red 2. I'm feeling like I have the best hand so I go all in. He calls for his last $80 with k-8 of spades. The river was no help to him and I won another fatty. I couldn't outta that game fast enough.

So I'm cashing out with $312 all because I was stupid and on tilt and got a lot lucky. I cashed out $125 which I was extremely excited about. All this happened in about 30 minutes. I could hardly believe it.

So the pokerroom BR is at $387 (which is $1 more than yesterday) and that puts me +$272 above my origional investment in Pokerroom.

A blip...

I managed to lose $10 yesterday. It wasn't hard. I played in a $11 SNG and busted out on this hand.

I'm in the small blind. I get dealt AA. The chip leader is to my left. It gets folded to me. I raise the minimum. The guy goes all in. So naturally, I call. He flips over 8-9 of diamonds and, of course, turns a flush. GG Me.

I managed to lose about $20 playing .25 NL but won $15 playing $1 NL. I played longer than I thought I did yesterday as I accumulated over 45 Pokerroom points.

The Pokerroom BR is at $386. That is +$145 from the origional investment.

En Fuego!!!

I had a pretty good weekend! By my standards it was a great weekend. If you will recall, when last we talked, the Pokerroom BR was at $319. Well, now it stands at $396, which doesn't really tell the whole story. In addition to that $396, I cashed out $150. This puts me $155 to the good on Pokerroom, and I'm loving that considering where I was just about a month ago.

There are not a whole lot of hands to rehash, but I will give you a "cliffnotes" version of how things went. On Friday afternoon, I got into a $1 NL game. I started with $50 and it didn't take long for me to have $108. I got out of the game and we went to PH and then to Brewskis for a while. We had to go to Cabot and Arkadelphia on Saturday for various stuff and I didn't get home until late. I played a few hands but hovered around even. On Sunday morning, I started in a $1 NL game with $50. Two hands in I pick up AA and get reraised. After an A high flop, my opponent goes all in. What could I do? I called and win. My stack is now at $125. Pretty good I think.

I also played several MTT and one SNG. I didn't cash in any of them.

I also finished up the $90 deposit bonus so I will be looking for a redeposit bonus from Pokerroom really soon.

It's nice to be running well. I'm starting to get the hang of NL and I'm playing really tight. Most of my good hands are getting paid off though I occasionally get sucked out on.

The pokerroom BR is at $396. That is +$155.

Two days in a row

Donk moves caused the BR to drop to $311. I could go into all of them, but the one that really killed me was this.

I pick up k-7 in the big blind. It's checked aournd to me so I check. The flop comes K-3-K. I raise to $1.50 and get two callers. The turn is a Q. I raise to $5 and the next guy goes all in for $15. The other guy calls his bet. I call and the river is a 9. The first guy to go all in did so with J-10 and rivered a straight. The other person had A-Q. So that took $27 from me right there. I was kinda pissed off so I moved to a $1 NL game and bought in for $50. On the first hand I pick up 10-10. There are two raisers to $3. I go all in (I was still steaming a bit from the previous loss) and both people call. One had A-K and the other had JJ. Needless to say I lost.

Then I bought into another $1 game and won back $25 before calling it a night.

I played for a little while this morning and lost $9. I have to keep in mind that you cannot bluff at the .25 tables. It just doesn't work.

The Pokerroom BR is at $311. That is down $93 from the start. I have 124 points left to clear the $90 deposit bonus.

It was bound to happen...

I finally had a losing session yesterday. I got stacked in a .50 NL game. I bought in for $35 and lost most of the money in two hands. A pair of Jacks will never beat a pair of aces and A-Q will never beak A-K with only an A on the board. So after playing in a $5.50 MTT and making it to 50th place with 72 left (40 pay) I donked off all my chips on a board of A-2-10 while holding a K-10 and my opponent having A-10. It was a dumb donkey ass move on my part as I was pretty much a sure bet to make the money until I made that play.

So then I go to a $1 NL game and buy in with $50. I managed to get back $20 of the $35 I lost earlier by playing smart, tight agressive.

So the pokerroom BR stands at $350. That is $54 less than the origional investment. I also have 155 points left to clear the $90 bonus.

A little to the good

I played for a while yesterday. I ended up +$13. Not too bad. I mostly played .25 NL. I played two $3.40 SNG qualifiers and busted out of both of them. In one, I doubled up on the first hand and on the third hand I picked up another 900 chips with trip 10's and then managed to blow it all chasing a couple of flush draws and then finally busting out when my K-Q couldn't improve against A-Q.

I've tightened up my play in NL and have been doing pretty well lately. I haven't played a full SNG in quite a few days.

The pokerroom br is at $372. That is down $32 from the start. I only have 193 points left to clear my $90 deposit bonus.

Another Cashout!!!

I managed to do well enough yesterday to cashout $96. I love it when I'm running good. Here is a quick summary.

I got home yesterday around 5:00 and started in a .25 NL game. I managed to make about $8 in three orbits before I had to take Sarah to meet her Mom in Alma. So I don't get back home until about 8:30. I jumped into a .50 NL game and before I know it, I'm up $25. So with my $33 profit for the day I decided to play in a $14+1.50 MTT qualifier to a $100+8 tournament. There were only 15 people in the tournament. The top three got paid. First place got the ticket, second got $70 and third got $30. I played really well and made it to the top three. After third place got knocked out, I decided I'd rather have the $70 than a $100+8 ticket. So I started going all in every hand until I finally lost. That took the BR to $416 so I immediately made a $96 cashout.

Then, this morning, I jumped in a .25 NL game and before I know it, I'm sitting on $69, up from my origional amount of $25. Twice I got sets that held up. Once, I flopped trip 9's and anther time I flopped trip 7's. Both times I got paid off big time. Another time my pocket 10's held up and another time I turned a flush for a pretty big pot. Either way, it was a good run.

The party poker BR is at $359. Including the cashouts, I'm down $55 from my origional investment of $600. It's been a pretty good run. I hope it holds.

Who cashed out??

I did. I had a pretty good runt his weekend. On Friday, I bought into a .25 NL game with $25 and cashed out $91. Then I bought into a .50 NL game with $35 and cashed out $70. I had several sessions like this throughout the weekend and I only got stacked twice. So I made a $100 withdrawal request. It has yet to be processed, but I think that is because I requested it on a weekend. I'll give Pokerroom another day before I send an email inquiry.

I also played in a $5 multi table last night with 447 players. I finished 29th, good for $16.

I only have 251 points left to clear the $90 deposit bonus.

The pokerroom bankroll is $327, that is down $173 from the start.

The pendulum swings both ways?

Well, after Wednesday's debacle, Thursday was pretty much the opposite. I only played for about 45 minutes and banked $57. There were only two memorable hands. The first came up in a $1 NL game. I picked up KK on the button. There had been a $3 raiser UTG. I raised to $10 hoping to take it down right there. No such luck. The small blind called the raise. The origional raiser folds and we see a flop. A-K-Q. All diamonds. A mildly scary flop. So I bet out $10. My opponent goes all in for about $10 more. The turn and river are bricks. He flips over Q-10 and I essentially double up. I started the game with $50 and this gave me $95. I was outta that game quick.

Then I dropped down to a .25 NL game and made $7 pretty easily when I flopped a set and it held up.

After that, GK called and the crew was meet'en up at Powerhouse so off we went. I'll take it cause of the horrible day I had on Wednesday.

The pokerroom BR is at $357. That is down $243 from the start.

It wasn't good

I managed to drop $46 yesterday thanks to getting stacked twice, once in .50 NL for $35 and once in $1 NL for $50. The one that really pisses me off is this hand:

I picked up JJ under the gun. I raise to $5 and only get one caller, who is to my immediate left. the flop is all low, really low. So I'm pretty sure the flop missed him. I bet $10 and he calls. The turn is another low card so I bet $15. He calls. The river is yet anther low card. I bet $20 hoping he had A-K or A-Q and had missed completely. Unfortunately for me, he goes all in and since most of my stack was committed, I called. He flipped over AA. GG Me. I don't really think I could've played that hand much worse. The hand reaffirmed that I am a bad poker player. And what really pissed me off about the hand was that I had increased my starting stack of $50 to $65 and was preparing to sit out after this hand. If I hadn't gotten JJ, I would've just folded and taken my profit 2 the SNG's.

So after that I was tilting a little and I went to a .50 NL table. I'm on the button and a guy in late position raises to $3. I'm on the button with A-Q so I went all in. He called and no help came 2 me so I got stacked again.

After that, I played in the $3,000 freeroll and busted out pretty early. It's limit hold'em and I wasn't in the right frame of mind to play it.

Then I went to a $1 NL full ring game and started with $100. Not very smart considering my frame of mind, but then again, I don't do a lot of smart things when it comes to poker. Any way, thanks to a couple of loose calls, I managed to win $29. This leaves me at $304 total.

The Pokerroom BR is at $304. That is down $296 from the start.

Mov'en on Up!!

I managed to make a little bit last night inspite of getting stacked once in .25 NL. This happened on a hand where the guy made a loose aggressive call and hit his river card. This is from the same guy (KUMB) who cracked my AA with 66 when he rivered a straight two weeks ago (see previous post). Last night, I pick up AK in late position. I raise to $2 and the button calls. The flop comes A-5-K. I bet $3 and he calls. The turn is an 8. I go all in and he calls. The turn is a nine. He flips over 7-6 for the straight and I'm left with nothing. Oh well. That is the second time he has done that to me in less than two weeks. I was kinda steaming but it didn't take me long to get it back plus some.

On a different table, I picked up the beloved A-K. I raise to $2 and get one caller. The flop comes 2-Q-J. The caller bets $1 and I call. The turn is the magical 10. He goes all in. I think for a second, but the flop was a rainbow and I can beat trips so I call. He flips over Q-10 and I double up. Good for me. I was about $1 ahead for the day. After that, I played a $3.40 SNG qualifier and busted out 7th. Then I played a $11 SNG and finished third. I was all in as the short stack with 6-6 and got called by K-10. K-10 on the flop and GG me. That left with $344. I managed to make $8 this morning playing .25 NL. The majority of my money came when I rivered a straight and picked up a nice pot. I lost a pot after that or my take would've been more.

The Pokerroom BR is at $352. This down$248 from the initial deposit.

Also, I have 390 points left to finish off a $90 deposit bonus. I have until Sept. 4 to get this done so at 20 points per day, I should have it cleared easily by then.

It wasn't easy

When I last left you, the Pokerroom BR was at $314. Not bad considering where I was at one point, but when I got out of bed this morning, the Pokerroom BR was at $267. I managed to donk off $49 yesterday and it didn't seem that hard. Especially considering I finished third in two $11 SNG's. But after getting stacked for $35 in a .50 NL game and losing two other $11 SNG's, the BR stood at $267. Well, I am happy to report that as of this writing, the Pokerroom BR is at $331. How did that happen you ask? Well, when I got out of bed this morning, I hopped into a $1 NL full ring game. I play these every so often because they help accumulate points toward clearing bonuses and other pokerroom stuff. Well, this morning, I bought in for $60 and after a few hands, I picked up 9-9. I raised to $5 and get one caller. The flop is all low with two clubs. I bet $15 trying to pick it up right there, but the guy calls. The turn is a red Q. I bet $10 and the guy raises me all in. I don't know why I called, but I did. Well, the river was a 2s and the the guy flips over A-9 of clubs. He was on a flush draw and didn't get there and I am a bad poker player who doesn't really know when to fold so call me "doubled up" at this point. I started the game with $60 and cashed out $124. Not bad for a weak ass poker player.

I know many of you have heard of TAG (Tight Aggressive) or LAG (Loose Aggressive) but I think I'm gonna name my game LAW (Loose and Weak) cause that seems to be the way I'm playing lately. I make too many bad calls in NL and I've been make too many bad calls in SNG's too.

I have cleared enough points to play in the $3,000 Freeroll on Wednesday night. I cashed in this tournament last week. The top 100 get paid. even though it was only $10, it was still a cash.

Pokerroom BR at $331. That is down $269 from the start.

$25

$25. That's how much I profited over the weekend. I played a lot. I got stacked twice in .25 NL, I stacked one guy in .50 NL and I played five $11 SNG's in addition to three or four $3.40 SNG qualifiers. I won one $11 SNG and finished third in two others. I also made a few bucks in .25 NL though it's hard to tell if I actaully made money on the NL play.

There is only one hand that I really am kinda mad about and here it is.

The first hand of a .25 NL session. I'm in the BB and I pick up Q-7. There are two other limpers so three of us take the flop. The flop comes out Q-K-Q. I'm pretty excited because with three limpers I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. The turn is a 7 and now I know I'm going to pick up this pot so I just want to get maximum value. The river is a four. I bet $1 the second guy calls and the last guy goes all in for about $30. I was confused because all he had done to this point was call. Even if he had a K or a Q I still had him beat. I did wonder if he had K-Q but I had to make the call because of my full house. Well, he flipped over K-K for the flopped full house. I'm not sure if he played it well or I played it badly. Sometimes you just get broke.

The Pokerroom BR is at $314. That is down $286 from the start.

Doublemeup: Double Makes A Major Final Table

Doublemeup: Double Makes A Major Final Table

$296??

The pokerroom br now stands at $296, which if you have read the past few posts, sounds pretty good. However, the big boost came from clearing the $120 bonus yesterday. So when looking at the bottom line, I am down $304 on Pokerroom. I hope to now get back to my game of playing mostly $11 SNG's, SNG qualifiers and .25 NL. These games are where I made the vast chunk of the $2,000 I cashed out in June.

I played one $11 SNG yesterday and busted out 4th. I tried to steal the blinds with 8-9 suited and got called by A-Q and an A hit the flop. I also played 2-4 limit to finish up the bonus and ended up +$24. So I hope to stay away from the limit for a while as I try to build a little roll and hopefully cash out some more money.

A little bit better than yesterday

I tried to post a blog yesterday, but the system didn't seem to want any part of it. Well, to sum up Tuesday, I lost about $60 and was rather disappointed and disgusted with my play and poker in general. The BR had dropped from $198 to $138 and things were looking bleak. I had played two $11 SNG's and lost them both but I had won about $20 in .25 NL so I was close to even when I decided to play a little 2-4 limit. Not a good idea as I pretty much lost the whole $60

Well, Wednesday was a little better I played a little .25 NL when I got home and made $11 so I moved over to a $11 SNG. Busto in 10th when my JJ didn't hold up against k-7. This was my 11th straight SNG in which I hadn't cashed. I signed up for another one and instead of busto, it was presto. I took it down for a nice $50 payday. Then I had a free ticket to a Pokerroom $3000 freeroll. There were 441 people entered. Top 100 paid. I finished 71st for $10. Not great, but better than nothing.

Then this morning I played .25 NL for about 30 minutes and made $9. So the BR had climbed back to $197 and I only have 84 points left to clear the $120 bonus.

I'm just not that good!

bleh. Same story, different day. I played and lost. Two $11 SNG's and busted out in both. I played 2-4 limit trying to clear the bonus and way above my bankroll. Not good.

The pokerroom br is at $138. That puts me down $462.

Finally a positive day!!

The poker room br took a positive turn yesterday as I had my first winning day in about a week. I started with $150 and ended with $198. I played one $11 SNG, the rest was all cash game, either .25 NL or .50 NL. Three hands really illustrate the day. First, I picked up AA in late position. I raised to $2. I get two callers. The flop came A high so I checked. The first caller raised to $2, the second guy called and I went all in. They both folded. That was about a $10 pot. The next one and my real moneymaker for the day went like this. I pick up 10 10 on the button. I raise to $2 and it folds back around to the guy just in front of me. He goes all in for about $44 (this is a .50 NL game) and, after thinking for a bit, I called. He had AK and my 10's held up. I had started that game with $50 and now had $94. I was pretty stoked but then the poker gods took a little back. I picked up 7-7 in late position and called a $1 raise the flop brought a 7 with 2 clubs. The initial raiser bets out $5. He only had $14 so I raised him all in. The other guy in the pot folds. He insta called and flipped over J-J. Good for me, or so I thought. The turn and river both brought clubs and I'm the loser. Not surprising the way my luck goes with good hands.

In the SNG I played last night I got knocked out on this hand. I pick up AA under the gun with six left. The blinds are $75-$150. I go all in cause I don't like to get cute with AA. I get called by 5-5 and he flopped trips and for good measure got quads on the river. GG me.

Either way, I hope this is the start of a few positive days. I have 169 points left to clear the $120 bonus. This should be done by the weekend.

Can I be this bad???

I'm in a serious losing streak at the moment. I think when I left you on Friday, the Pokerroom BR was at about $300. Well, now it's at $150. I"m playing a lot of 2-4 limit but this hasn't been the problem. Here, in one hand, is a synopsis of my weekend. I got into .25 NL game Saturday afternoon. The second hand I pick up AA. I raise to $4. The only caller is a buy with teh screen name of KUMD. He calls the raise and we see a flop of K-10-9. I don't want to get cute so I just raise all in. The guy calls. He flips over 6-6. The turn is a 7 and the river an 8. GG me. That is about how well it has gone for me lately. I've been playing fewer hands and not getting into raising wars, but it just isn't going my way right now. Another hand that has been pretty typical for me is this: I pick up A-9 on the button in a .25 NL game. I limp along with three other people. The flop comes 9-9-4. The short stack of about $12 goes all in. I call and he flips over 4-4 for a flopped full house.

I also played five $11 SNG's yesterday and didn't get in the money in any of them.

Pokerroom bankroll is $150. That puts me down $450.

Re Deposit

Unfortunately, I had to redeposit on Pokerroom last night for $300.

I played three $11 SNG's with the money I had left when I got home yesterday and didn't make the money in any of them. That left me with virtually $0 in my account, so I went ahead and added another $300. I'm still playing off winnings, but I'm starting to get low. I need to get the bonus cleared so I can go back to my normal limits and SNG's.

I did manage to win a little bit playing 2-4 limit last night. I only need 440 points to clear the bonus.

The pokerroom investment is $600, there is $296 left.

Another Down Day

I only played for about an hour last night and managed to drop $24. Not surprising considering the bad run I've been on lately. When you combine a bad run with a bad player (me) you usually get a serious down turn. Oh well. I'll keep on playing thru it I hope.

The pokerroom br is now at $30. It started at $300. It is likely that I'll have to redeposit to clear the bonus. We shall see.

Not Good, Not Good At All

Well, since we last talked I have managed to get rid of most of the $300 I deposited on Pokerroom. I did this by playing 2-4 limit while trying to clear the bonus. The Pokerroom BR currently stands at $54 and that is after I won a $11 SNG last night. I still have 500 points to clear to get the $120 bonus, but I have over a month to get it done so I'll finish that up eventually. I made the vast majority of my money by playing $11 and $22 SNG's and .25 NL. This is what I need to get back to in order to try and rebuild the BR and hopefully not have to redeposit.

A Downward Slide

I played for a little while yesterday and I didn't do so well. I ended the day down $37. I lost $50 playing limit hold'em, finished third in a $11 SNG and won $1.20 playing .25 NL. Not outstanding results by anyone's standards. In the SNG, I got into the money with the chip lead, but donked off most of them by going all in with 2-2 and getting called by JJ. Oh well, GG me. I have earned 111 points toward the bonus. That leaves me with 729 left. I'm hoping to have it down to around 500 by Sunday, but we'll just have to see how it goes.

I am not working on Monday or Tuesday so there may not be an update until Wednesday, July 5.

Pokerroom

I started on Pokerroom yesterday and while I didn't do as well as I would've liked, I did make a small profit while earning 64 points toward clearing the bonus. The profit was $31 leaving the PR BR at $331.

I played mostly limit hold'em with mixed results. I started in 2-4 and ran up a $60 profit. Then, for whatever reason, I dropped down to 1-2 limit and lost $29. It was mostly due to dumb plays.

I've to to earn 776 points to finish clearing the $120 bonus.

On the Move!!!

Well what do ya know, I came flying out of the partypoker hole yesterday. Let me recap. If you've been reading (and few have) you know that I started playing on Partypoker with $109. When I checked in with you yesterday morning, I had managed to raise it back to $51. I went home yesterday at lunch and played a few hands. I was +$8 for the session when I managed to get all in with my KK vs a limper and a small raiser hoping to pick up the pot right there. Didn't happen. The limper had AA. So I'm back down to $33. I get home from work and start playing again. I manage to increase about $10 and then decide to play a $11 SNG. I won the SNG for $50. So now I'm at $81 and headed in the right direction. I moved back over to .25 NL and the first hand I pick up AA. Now this doesn't excite me too much because I've been losing a lot lately with AA. But in my normal fashion, I raise it up to $4. Some guy across from me goes all in. I'm pretty sure I'm ahead preflop (ha ha) so I make the call. AA holds up for me and I double up putting me at $106. Played a little more .25 NL inching up $7 more.

That left me with $113 on Party and a $4 profit. It certainly could've been better, but it damn sure could've been worse. So I made a little over $80 yesterday and when I was done last night, I cashed out. Pokeroom here I come. I deposited $300 on pokeroom this morning and will begin playing there tonight. I have to earn 820 points to clear off the $120 bonus. Also, Pokeroom offers frequent reload bonuses which I hope to take advantage of. This will likely require me to play more limit hold'em to clear the bonus, but I can do it.

Not Much To Report

I played a little poker yesterday and I actually managed to make about $20. No complaints here. The Party BR now stands at $51. It started at $109.

I realized that while playing six handed that I might be playing too many hands, so I have cut back on the number of hands I'm playing and the results seem to be positive so far. I'll keep ya posted.

The world serious of poker starts today.

Not a Good Run

I didn't play well this weekend and the results showed. I got AA cracked twice, again. I made a couple of weak calls and this leaves me with a PartyPoker BR of $30. I am amazed at what people will call a big raise with preflop. I've gotten to the point that when I get AA, I raise big hoping to just take the pot right there, but it doesn't seem to work for me. The first time I got AA cracked on Saturday morning, I raised to $4 and get one caller. the flop comes 9-Q-2. I go all in and the guy insta calls. He flips over A-Q and get a Q on the turn. GG me. The second time my opponet called a $3 raise and flopped a set of 7's. Oh well. I probably shouldn't being playing so much NL.

On a much brighter note, I did receive the $300 check from Powerplayer. I was quite surprised. I actually have the check in hand and plan on depositing it today. If they ever have a reload bonus on Powerplayer, I might return to the site.

Oh So Bad!

So this is the way it's gonna be. I managed to drop $75 yesterday playing .25 NL and it wasn't hard. This is the way it went down.

Hand #1. I pick up QJos and call. The flop comes A-K-10 rainbow. I flopped the nut straight. I raise to $2 and get raised to $4. I'm thinking the guy must have trips so I call. The turn is the 2C. I raise to $4 and get raised all in. I call. The river is the 6C. My opponent flips over QJ of clubs. GG me. He went runner-runner to beat me out of a huge pot.

Hand #2. I pick up KK in late position and raise to $2 like I always do with big hands. I get one caller. The flop comes 6-K-2 with two diamonds. I bet $2 and get called. The turn is a 9H. I raise to $5 and get reraised all in. I call and the river is a 10D. My opponet flips over 8-9 of diamonds. GG me. He called his whole stack off on a flush draw.

Hand #3. I pick up A-J of clubs and raise to $2. I get called and the flop comes A high. I raise to $4 and get called. The turn brings me a J. I'm feeling pretty good about the hand right now as my stack had built from $25 up to about $40 and the guy calling me had more than $50. I raise to $15 and get reraised all in. I call and he flips over KK when I think is good until the river brings his two outer and GG me.

I don't know if I'm playing these hands badly or just running bad at the moment. I couldn't lose on Monday when I built the PartyPoker BR up to $212. Now it's down to $60. Oh well. I'll just keep on grinding.

Stupid AA!

The downswing continues as I am back to where I was on Monday before I went on the big heater. Yesterday my AA got cracked again. I went thru a period like this about four months agon on Powerplayer when I couldn't win with AA or KK. I hope it's just a temporary thing.

On a somewhat brighter note, I received an email yesterday from Powerplayer saying a check for $300 was in the mail to me. Now, I realize the old "check's in the mail" line when I see it, but the new ownership seems to be credible so I'll give them a week or so to see if the check actually arrives.

The partypoker br started at $109. It now stands at $150.

The Downside

Monday I couldn't lose. Yesterday I really couldn't win. I played for about two hours and lost $35. Not as much as I won on Monday, but still not a good day. I had AA cracked twice. People will call a $4 raise with anything in the .25 NL games. The first time, I get beat by two pair which wasn't surprising cause there were three other people in the pot and they all called the raise. The second one it was just me and the BB heads up. He called the initial raise and then two more before hitting his straight on the river. I made a couple of weak calls and that left me down $35.

The partypoker br is at $177. It started at $109.

On A Heater!!!

I was on a pretty good rush yesterday afternoon. It would've been even better had my aces not been cracked. I started the day with a BR of $151 and ended it with a BR of $212 (this is my partypoker br, not my total br). I was a card catching machine and I guess people thought I was bluffing, which I rarely do. I "stacked" a guy when I had KK and he chose to go all in with 10's. Then I rivered a flush and got a good portion of another guy's stack. I didn't really outplay anybody, I just caught good cards. All this while playing sixhanded .25 NL on Partypoker. I'll take +$61 any day of the week. I had worked it up to $224 at one point, but then the AA went down to a guy who called a $4 raise with Q-8 and flopped a straight. I've gotten to the point that I raise pretty big with the big hands cause I don't want them to lose. It's tough to get away from big hands even when you are sure you are behind.

I'm giving serious consideration to moving 2 Absolute Poker because of their first time and reload deposit bonuses.

PartyPoker BR at $212.

Inch'en on up!

I had a respectable weekend at the tables. For those of you keeping score, and I'm sure there aren't many, the PartyPoker Bankroll was at $107 when we last talked on Friday. It now stands at $151. That makes me +$44 for the weekend. I could've been better. Last night (Sunday) I had managed to work it up to $173, but managed to give back a little over $20 when I didn't hit a flush. The big boost came on Saturday when I played a $33 SNG and finished second, good for $90.

On a different note, I got an email from Powerplayer saying they had changed overship and that they would re-investigate my missing $300. It is likely too much to ask to get it back but I guess I can hope.

A Tough, Not So Good Day at the Tables

I played for a couple of hours yesterday and didn't do so well. The PartyPoker BR when we last talked was at $151. It now stands at $107. And the tough part is that before it settled at $107, I had run it up to $171. I got busted for $30 in a .50 NL game when my QQ ran into a turned set of fours. Then I played in a $11 SNG and busted out sixth. No hands of note. Then I lose about $25 more playing .50 NL on a couple of donk moves and getting rivered on a flush. It could've been worse but, I flopped a set of fours and made quite a bit back when my opponent had KK.

I did see maybe the sickest bad beat I've ever personally witnessed last night. It went down like this. The flop was Q22. Innocuous looking at first. Then the betting started. I wasn't involved in the hand, but two stacks of more than $50 in a .50 NL game got all the money in after the turn. One guy had QQ, the other guy had 22. One flopped a full house and was beaten by flopped quads. The QQ kinda slow played his hand as he only raised to $1 preflop. That's just asking for trouble.

Back to the grind today. I imagine I'll have plenty of time to play this weekend as it's supposed to rain.

Partypoker BR at $107.

Doing some Party'en

Since my debacle with Powerplayer, I have gone back to Partypoker, in the short term at least. I deposited $109 last night with the intentions of playing for a while. The have a 15% reload bonus going on so I had to play 163 hands to earn the bonus. I have 73 left. The results were pretty good on my behalf. I played quite a bit of .50 NL. I also played two SNG's. A $22 SNG (busted 4th) and a $11 SNG (finished 3rd). Every session of .50 NL I played was profitable. I only got below my buyin a couple of times and I always managed to rebound. The first time I bought in for $35 and cashed out $50. Another time I bought in for $30 and cashed out $50. I also had two other sessions where I bought in for $30 and cashed out $38 and $39. Not bad for me. I should note that these games were shorthanded (six players).

The partypoker BR started at $109 and now stands at $151.

Not Very Happy

Grrr. Looks like Powerplayer and the Ongame Network have screwed me out of $300. Not surprising the way Powerplayer does business, but I'm still disappointed. I haven't decided on a new site yet. Kinda taking a break from Poker for a few days. Maybe I'll start a new site on Saturday.

I am not a happy man

In fact, I am angry. There is $300 missing from my Powerplayer account. I don't think it was stolen per se, because there is no withdrawal or other financial transaction listed on my account. I hope it is just a mistake by the Ongame network. Anyway, here's how it went down. I played in a $11 SNG on Saturday and when I busted out, I went to play in a .25 NL game. When I signed up for the SNG, I had $323 in my account. After paying the $11 for the SNG, that left me with $312 in my account. When I bought in to the . 25 NL game, it would only let me buy in for $12. I thought this was odd and when I looked at my account page, There were $0.00 dollars in there. I have sent Powerplayer an email, actually two, and I got one back saying they had turned it over to their investigations team and they will be getting back to me. I'm rather concerned that I will never see this money again. But if I don't, I can assure you that I am done with Powerplayer.

Anybody else ever have a problem like this?

2nd

I only played one tourament yesterday due to Thursday night activities. I finished second good for a $30 profit. I don't know how much I'll get to play tonight, but tomorrow, I should be able to play as much as I want.

The BR is $335.

A withdrawal and a loss...

The good news: My previous withdrawal from Powerplayer was finally completed yesterday so I made another withdrawal for $200 that will hopefully be completed within the next 10 days. Money in the neteller account is much better than money in the PP account.

The bad news: After making the withdrawal, that left the Powerplayer account at $353. Then I proceeded to lose about $36 in various ways. I lost $18 in .25 NL, I lost two $3.40 SNG's and one $11 SNG. The only memorable hand from any of the three came in the $11 SNG. It was down to five and I was getting kinda short stacked. On the button, I made an attempt to steal the blinds by raising all in. Bad timing on my part as I was insta called by the big blind who had AA. GG me.

Back to the grinding as the Powerplayer BR is $316. I'm slowly trying to get all my money off of Powerplayer so that I can move to Pokerroom. The cashouts on Powerplayer take forever. They advertise on the site that neteller cashouts take up to two days, but that is incorrect. I've never had one that was less than 5 days and one took 18 days. This last one took nine days.

Really, it was only $3

I played a lot of poker yesterday and had a really wild swing that ended up with me losing only $3 for the day. I played three $11 SNG's and lost $25 in .25 NL. I lost the $25 not long after I got home from work. It wasn't pretty and I don't really want to talk about it. Then I played three $11 SNG's. The first one I busted out in 8th place when a guy rivered a flush to criple me. I was out a few hands later. The next one I busted out in 10th place (rare for me) when my pair of 7's didn't hold up in a race. These losses have the BR down to $503 including the buyin for the next SNG. Oh well. On to the third one. I took it down. I played really well and was very patient. I eliminated places 2, 3 & 4. My chip stack was strong going into heads up and I managed to put the guy away when my QJ turned into a straight against his A-6. So now the Powerplayer Bankroll stands at $553. I gotta keep growing it.

A Pretty Good Day!!!

I didn't even play that much yesterday, but I'll have to say it was a pretty good day. As I recall, the Powerplayer bankroll (not the total bankroll) was at $505 last we talked. Well, as of this morning, it's $556.70. Yesterday when I got in from work, I played .25 NL and made $8, then I played a $3.40 SNG qualifier. Ka donk a donk. I busted out fourth on a stupid move. I called an all in with K-7. Not a smart move. So then I played a $11 SNG. Book it. Winner for $50. Then more cash games for another $6 or so. Then this morning 40 minutes or so of cash games netted me $2.70. I know, I know. It doesn't sound like much, but I just keep trying to grind it upward. I've played higher stakes. A lot higher, but I experienced more variance and at this point, I'm enjoying the level I'm playing at. I'm one of those dudes that is playing to make money and I'll play at whatever level it takes to make money.

$11

$11. That's how much profit I have after the weekend. I started on Friday afternoon with $494 and now I have $505. It should've been a little higher. I was at $525 last night, but I managed to lose $20 and it didn't seem that hard. The first hand I lost on I picked up KK in late position. A guy in front of me goes all in for about $4.00. I raised it to $8 and the button calls. The flop brought an Ace and the button had called with A-9. Oh well. The next hand I lost I picked up A-J in late positon. I turned a straight. In an attempt to get the maximum amount out of my opponent, I made a small bet trying to get him to call. And he did call right down to the river where he filled up. His trip queens turned into a fullhouse when a nine came on the river. Other than that one session last night, I played pretty well all weekend. I didn't play one single SNG. It was all cash games.

Mov'en on Up!!

I didn't get to post yesterday cause of the stupid Wal Mart shareholders meeting. Oh well, that the price you pay when you live in the backyard of the World's Largest Retailer. I played two SNG's yesterday. In the $11 SNG, it was winner winner, chicken dinner. I don't really remember any hands, but I was happy to take it down. I also played a $3.40 qualifier to a $22 tournament and finished second. Then I managed to Donk off $16 in a .25 ring game. There are a lot of leaks in my cash game play. I gotta work on tightening those up. I'm still in pretty good shape. I cashed out $108 on Tuesday taking the powerplayer BR down to $450. As of this morning, it stands at $494. I'll let you know how the weekend goes.

A Cashout!!!

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I played four SNG's, three of the $11 variety and one was a $3.40 ticket to a $22 SNG. I won three of the four. The $3.40 SNG I dominated from the start. I rarely get a big stack and continually grow it like I did in this one, but when I got it to heads up, I was ahead $12,500 to $2,500. It didn't take me long to finish it off. The other two wins were relatively uneventful except for the fact that I won.

Another big bonus yesterday was a double up in a .25 NL game. The big hand went down like this: I limped with 10-8 of spades. The flop came 7-9-J with two spades. I was pretty happy to get the flop was hoping to make a little bit off this. Well, the guy to my right bets $3. I just called figuring he was trying to run me off. The river is a 2. He bets $10 so I go all in. He insta calls and the river is a K. Double me up. I exited the game pretty quickly after that and went to bed, but not before....

I cashed out $108 to the neteller account. The Powerplayer account had grown to $558 and shipping $108 off to Neteller seemed like a good idea. It takes forever for me to get my cashouts from Neteller so it will likely be a week to 10 days before I get the money.