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.