A New Month...

I hope March brings better poker results than February did. I played enough poker over the last two days to accumulate $10 in rake each day. However, the results have not been what I would've wanted. I won a sports bet yesterday and still ended the day only up about $10. That tells you I lost money playing poker.

The only good hand worth mentioning came when I was in the big blind with 7-6 os. The flop came 4-5-8. The turn was a K and the river was an 8. Some guy who limped had 10-8. I stacked him.

Arkansas won a game last night. I still think the Heath era is over, but who knows.

Poker and Basketball???

Well, the two rarely, if ever, mix unless a sports bet in involved, but this post will contain a little of both. Only three relevant hands from yesterday's poker, but they both resulted in big pots. Two I took down, the other one I got felted. All are in a .25 NL game with a $12.50 buyin.

#1

I have QQ in the big blind. It is folded around to the small blind who thinks for a second before raising it to $2. I raise it to $6 think he is on steal. He goes all in and I call. He flips over AA. GG me. I rebuy for another $12.50.

#2

There is a guy at the table who is literally raising every hand to $2. I mean every hand. Not just some of them. All of them. The previous hand he had picked up A-10 and been beaten in a big pot by JJ. He was left with $10 which as about the same as me. So the next hand he is in the big blind. I picked up 88 and limped in. Per his usual move, he raised to $2. I went all in. He called with 6-5 of diamonds. He almost sucked out on me, but the 8-8 held on and that guy was essentially done. As soon as the table figured out what he was doing people were lying in wait for him. His strategy was very effective short term but it was doomed in the long term.

#3

My favorite of all. I'm in the small blind with A-5 os. It is folded to me. I raise to $2. The big blind calls. The flop comes out 2-10-5. I bet $2. He calls. "uh oh." I might be in some trouble. Except, the turn came a big ole beautiful 5. I bet $4. He calls. The turn is a blank and I go all in. He calls. SHIP IT! It was a nice $40 pot.

Arkansas appears to be in the market for a basketball coach. Several of the local media outlets have reported that if the Razorbacks do not win the SEC tournament then Heath will be out. I hate that Heath did not succeed here but the reality is he did not. A change must be made.

Poker hasn't gone so well...

nor has sports betting. I keep getting high pocket pairs (JJ, QQ, KK) and they keep running into aces. Each time I lose a big pot. And I'm not afraid to play big pots. Two other hands that come to mind that maybe I could have or should have played differently.

I pick up 88 in the small blind. I raise to $2. The big blind goes all in. I call. He flips over AK. There is an A on the flop but it's all spades. I have a spade, he doesn't. The turn is the king of spades giving me the flush. The river is another K giving him the full house. GG me.

I pick up 5-6 in the small blind. I call the big blind as it's just me and him. He raises it to $1 (we're playing .25 NL) so I call. The flop comes 7-8-9 with two diamonds. I check, he bets $1 and I go all in for about $10. He calls and gets a diamond on the river. GG me.

I also lost two sports bets for a total of $55. That certainly didn't help.

Hopefully Arkansas will have a new basketball coach soon. Stan is a nice guy but he has severly underperformed for five years.

Not Much Poker...

I played a little bit last night with virtually no success. I did win a sports bet which was a nice BR boost. I did not play at all on Tuesday night as it was FAT TUESDAY and I spent the better part of my night on Dickson Street enjoying the reverie.

Arkansas basketball is done for. They might play in the NIT, but I wish they would just fire the coach and move on.

It was a bad day for poker...

I didn't play well and I made some really loose calls that didn't pay off. My KK got cracked by trip 10's. My QQ ran into a set of 9's. My AK couldn't outrun 8-8 and on and on. It wasn't my day. The previous day had been pretty good. This one was bad. I think the final tally was $34 for the day.

Softball season is starting. If you haven't been to a collegiate softball game, save yourself the trouble as they usually ain't worth it. I doubt this year's team will be any different.

I'm such a donk...

I played a lot of ploker over the weekend. I made the final table of a $5 MTT. I stacked a few people in the ring games, I finished second in the only SNG I played. I had the rake up to over $60 which was gonna leave me with a really nice BR. But I had to go and donk off $75 dollars last night so the BR is about the same as it was on Friday. It currently stands at $329.

Arkansas routed Ole Miss on Saturday to stay one game out of first in the sec west. They have a losing conference record and they are one game out of first. Amazing.

Frank Broyles announced his retirement on Saturday. There may be a lot of people excited to see him go but I am not one of them.

Happy Anniversary...

Five months. And they said we'd never make it.

Poker was pretty good yesterday. I got felted twice. But I doubled up three times. One of the double ups came in a .50 NL game. I bought in with $25 and had run it up to $34 when them hand came up. I had pocket 6's. I limped in as did three other people. The flop came 4-4-6. I'm licking my chops cause I know I'm gonna take this one down. It's just a matter of how much can I get. Well, I check. The next guy folds and the third guy raises to $2. I min raise to $4. The last guy folds. as does the other player. The initial raiser calls. The turn is a K. I bet out $2. He goes all in. I can't call fast enough. I have him covered by a few dollars. The river is a blank and I'm north of $65. His comment was "Nice Flop."

I finished second in a $11 SNG. For the day, it was a $31 profit. Not too shabby for someone who plays as badly as me.

The up and down world of poker...

I didn't blog yesterday cause I didn't really feel like. I had lost about $30 at poker plus another $22 on a sports bet so I was down over $50 for the day. Well, last night, I got that back and then some. So today, though a little late, I feel like sharing. Tuesday nothing was working for me. No flushes, no sets, so high pocket pairs. No nothing. Well, Wednesday there were several pocket pairs, two sets and a flush. All produced a nice profit. And to add to it all, I collected pocket Aces one time and got felted for $13. I immediately rebought and ran that $12.50 up to $40 before quiting that game. Then I won a $11 SNG for a nice profit. In the SNG, I won a really big hand by rivering a full house to beat the other two players left. They both had a club flush. I held QJ and the flop contained a QJ, both of clubs. The turn was a club and we all got it all in. The river was a beautiful J. One guy was knocked out and another was crippled. I won two hands later.

I'll be attending the Arkansas/Ole Miss game this weekend but only because the in laws are in town. The Hogs were blown out by Miss State last night virtually ending any chance of making the NCAA tournament.

Felted on a Full House...

I played quite a bit yesterday and would've been even for the day had I not lost a my whole stack in a .50 NL game. I was dealt pocket 10's. The flop was 8-j-Q. The turn was a 10 and the river was a Q. I have a full house, 10's full of Q's. My opponent held pocket J's. GG me. I guess I could've been worse. I did accumulate $13 in rake.

Poker was Good...

I played quite a bit of poker over the weekend and did rather well. I managed a $70 profit from poker and $56 in rakeback to push the BR well over $300. It hadn't been there in quite a while. I think a lot of my success was because I was very patient. The play on WPEX seemed to be very agressive this weekend. Waiting on some good hands allowed me to take advantage of some of the agression. A couple of times it got the better of me and I lost some big pots but on the whole, I came out ahead. I managed to make the final table of a MTT but I busted out 10th, 9 got paid. Not surprising as I don't really have the moves to succeed that deep in a tournament.

Arkansas lost at LSU on Saturday. They are now 4-6 in the SEC and still right in the thick of the western division race. Unbelieveable.

Bad Poker, Good Sports Bets...

I managed to win two sports bets for $77 total. That is a pretty nice pad to the bankroll. Unless you lose about $90 playing poker. A couple of lose calls and a couple of suckouts take the bankroll down pretty quickly. My diamond flush lost to quad 6's. My kk lost to an A on the river. And 77 will never beat JJ without some help. All three of those pots cost me my table stack. But I am still in the game. My BR not gone. Just a little less than before. I'll keep on plugging away, accumulating rake and hoping for a big score.

Good women's basketball is bad. Bad women's basketball is hell.

Being a bad poker player isn't a good thing...

I managed to only lose about $15 playing poker yesterday, but it wasn't because I wasn't trying. I managed to take $12.50, run it up to $40 and then drag it all the way back down to $0. I also managed to get AA cracked by trips for a $25 loss. Then I managed to lose $33 on a sports bet (sports betting is bad, much like crack). However, in an attempt to lose more money, I called an all in bet for $25 with 99. My opponent had AA. But a 9 on the flop saved me and some of the previous losses came back to me. I know how the guy felt as I've had AA cracked more than my fair share of times. And he claimed it was the second time it happened to him on that table yesterday. So had I not lost the $33 bet, I would've only been down $15 playing poker.

Arkansas hosts Auburn tonight in BWA. They are 11 point favorites which makes me think Auburn is the team to bet on cause Arkansas really only blows out the other team if I bet against them but I might try anyway. If they do not win tonight, the season will be officially done as there will be no way short of running the table that they will get in the NCAA tournament.

I must've won at poker...

because I started the day with $327 and ended with $310. However, I lost $22 on a sports bet so the only thing I can figure is that I won a few bucks playing poker plus I collected $10 in rakeback. So I must be right on track for the week.

I turned in my rough draft of chapter 4 to one of my committee members yesterday. I hope to have the feedback soon so that I can move forward. This represented a really big step.

SNG's, Rakeback and the Colts...

All three were good to me over the weekend. Ring games were not so good to me as I made some loose calls and tried to bluff at the wrong time on more than one occasion. I won a $20 SNG and a $10 SNG each for a nice profit. In fact, those were the only two SNG's I played. I played a couple of $5 MTT and didn't cash in either. I won $50 on the colts and my weekly rakeback amounted to $61 so after playing for a week, my bankroll is the same as it was last week. I don't think that's good, but somehow it can't really be bad.

The Razorbacks blew the KY game on Saturday as we all knew they would. They had a 14 point second half lead and lost by 8. Auburn comes to BWA on Wednesday night so I guess we'll see how it goes.

Poker was Profitable, but it came awfully late...

I played quite a bit yesterday. It started out really badly, then picked up some steam and by the end of the night it was profitable. I should say that I made $33 in a sports bet, but I also won two $11 SNG's and doubled up in a .50 NL game and in a .25 NL game. Both of those double ups came after getting stacked in a .50 NL game and getting stacked in a .25 NL game. Both times I got stacked I made loose/weak calls against clearly stronger hands. One time my 88 was up against QQ and another time my 99 was up against AKs and the flush got there.

After I quite making the loose calls, I ended up doing ok. I didn't play any MTT. I stuck to the ring games and SNG's.

We are supposed to get snow here today and tomorrow. We will probably get some but it won't likely be enough to do anything other than make people drive crazily.

The Ups and Downs of Poker...

I managed to play quite a bit of poker yesterday and all toll, I think I broke even. To accomplish this "even steven" day, I had to win a $11 SNG for $35 ($24 profit), get felted when my top pair ran into quads losing $12 and playing a $11 MTT and not cashing. It could've been worse. It could've been better. I played plenty of ring poker and was neither up or down but did accumulate plenty of rake for the day.

No midweek basketball for the Razorhogs this week. Kentucky on Saturday at BWA.

There was some serious progress made of the dissertation yesterday. Progress to the point that I might actually finish chapter four in January like I planned.

A Good Weekend for Poker...

I played quite a bit this weekend and did pretty well. AK held up twice for nice pots, I flopped couple of sets and won two $11 SNG's for $35 each. I also made the final table of a MTT but the buy in was only $5 and the payout was $14. I finished 7th out of 60. Nine got paid. No complaints though. I've been playing/running bad for the past two months so it was nice to do well for a change. I feel like I'm seeing the game more clearly right now but maybe that is because I'm running good. I just hope it keeps up for a while. Though I have no idea how in the world I would get the money out if I ran up a big score.

The Jeckle and Hyde Razorbacks are at it again. After blowing the game at South Carolina, they come back and crush Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Odd, I know. They sit atop the western division of the SEC with a 3-4 record. They host Kentucky this Saturday. A win over KY would go a long way towards setting them up for a good run the second half and an NCAA tourny birth.

Muy Bueno...

Poker was good last night. Playing at the .25 NL level with a $12.50 buy in I managed to triple my buy in not once but twice. I was pretty pleased. I didn't play all that much either. Less than 2 hours total. I joined Sarah and some of her work friends for drinks so that cut way down on the poker playing.

I'm sure I'll play plenty of poker this weekend. It is supposed to be rediculously cold in NWA so I probably won't be outside except for Sunday when I'm doing dissertation work.

Tutoring...

I am responsible for coordinating the tutoring for this college. It ain't easy. Finding tutors willing to work, at times that are convenient to them, in areas that are needed isn't as much fun as it might sound like.

Played a little poker last night. Didn't really lose anything. I played in a $10 MTT and didn't cash. Then played some NL cash games at the .25 and .50 level and made back the $10 plus a little.

Arkansas blew it at South Carolina. Not that it was unexpected, but it was disappointing none the less.

The big protest at the UofA yesterday drew a total of about 50 people. I would say that is a resounding failure.

A Slave to Variance...

I played for about two hours yesterday. I played one MTT and busted out 14th out of 49. Then my AA got cracked in a .50 NL game and that cost me $25 and then I lost $12.50 in a .25 NL game so it wasn't hard to lose $50 playing poker yesterday. I'm still at it though. Grinding away. There is another regular at my levels on WPEX who told me last night that he was down $70 and all his loses had come with good cards. It was just one of those nights.

Arkansas is at South Carolina tonight. If they lose this one, the season will be officially over.

A Pretty Good Day!!!

I won two $11 SNG's yesterday and managed to not lose too much in cash games so I ended the day with a nice $31 profit. I played in two $11 MTT and didn't cash in either one though I went deep in one. The only time I was really disappointed was when my AK got sucked out on by AJ all in for $12 in a .25 NL game. There was an A on the flop and the unfortunate river was a J. Oh well, it has happened before and it will happen again i'm sure.

I've stuck to the low limits and played a little more selectively the last couple of weeks and it has worked out pretty well.

I read Chis Fargis' blog http://www.twentyoneoutstwice.blogspot.com/ and it appears he is returning to the workforce full time soon. Good luck Chris. I'm so glad I don't have to depend on poker for my living.

The dissertation is moving along, albeit at a slow pace. Having to configure 150+ tables isn't easy.

Poker has been good to me...

for the last couple of days, the poker has been ok. I've made two final tables of MTT, one fourth and one eighth. I haven't really had that many losing sessions and the winning sessions are much more frequent.

Arkansas managed to take care of LSU on Saturday. It wasn't even close. They are the most jeckle and hyde team I've ever seen. They play really well against ranked teams and lose to the worst teams in the SEC. They play at South Carolina on Wednesday night. If they lose there, the season will be lost.

I was pulling for the Saints, but I have no problems with the Bears. And the Colts are ok too.

In spite of myself...

I managed to make a little profit yesterday in spite of myself. I hit two big hands in a .25 NL game to run my initial buy in from $12.50 to $60. Not bad. I also made a little profit in another NL game but I dropped $33 on a sports bet to eat up most of the profit. Not really surprising. Arkansas is the most inconsistent team I've ever had the frustrated pleasure of watching.

What are we gonna do now that Neteller has suspended transactions with gaming sites for U.S. customers?

http://content.neteller.com/content/en/member_businessupdate.htm

This isn't a good sign. If I am not able to get a check from WPEX, then I guess I'm screwed. Any suggestions?

A little Poker...

Poker was ok. I played for a little while and lost a few bucks in cash games. Then I played the $1,000 tournament with 95 entrants. 9 get paid. I finished 10th. Not surprising. I hung around pretty well for most of the tourney, but per my usual moves, I made a weak attempt at a steal and lost most of my chips. I was out two hands later in 10th.

I don't know how much, if any, I'll get to play today. The Razorbacks are playing Georgia tonight and I usually go to all the SEC home games. Sarah has friend that is going with us so that should keep her entertained while I watch the game.

In other, more important news, I got the final statistical analysis done yesterday for my dissertation. Now all I need to do is write it up. Easier said than done.

Poker was played...

And I didn't do too badly at it. I suffered one rediculous suckout and I was on the good end of a rediculous suckout on a pair of Aces. When I sucked out on the AA, I made way more money than I lost on the QQ getting sucked out on. Either way, I'm ok.

The Patriots managed to get by the Chargers so they get the Colts in the AFC Championship game. And my friend Keith is a lifelong, diehard Saints fan. He has suffered through the losing with them so I hope the Saints beat the Bears and make it to the Super Bowl.

I'm still searching for the answers to my previous posts about ANOVA's.

ANOVA...

For those of you not into academics or statistics, an ANOVA is short for Analysis of Variance. It's a statistical test to determine differences between more than two groups. A t-test determines differences between two groups. Growing up in Smackover I never gave any thought to this type of statistic, not that I knew it existed. To me, statistics were what you came up with after adding up the totals of a football game or a basketball game. 100 yards rushing on 20 carries, 12 completions on 24 pass attempts, 8 tackles, 3 for a loss. Those were the types of statistics that I grew up with. Now that I live in a different world, I am dealing with the "other" type of statistics. I am in search of a test that will tell me what the differences are once I find them.

For example, if I have five groups and I run the ANOVA and find that differences exist between the groups, I then need to find out what the differences are. Is it between group one and group four or is it group two and group five?

I've heard of Tukey's test, but I'm not sure I have a handle on that yet.

Anyone out there have a suggestion?

Just Rambling...

When wondering about the different types of poker players, I have often considered myself to be the "strong-tight" type of player. However, the more I reflect, I might be the "weak-tight" type of player. I usually only play really solid hands, I don't limp often and when I raise, I raise enough to say "I've got a strong hand." But this doesn't seem to matter at the levels I play. Raises are not respected. Players call with any two cards. And they will call any raise. Also, players will raise with any two cards and I do mean any two. Table image means nothing. I've seen lots of players stick it all in with A-7. That is a terrible hand. But playing at these levels (.25 and .50 NL) has change the way I view myself. Tight-solid is the same as tight-weak. If you aren't willing to call and raise with any two cards, these levels are tough to beat. My raises are not respected and I give too much respect to my opponents raises. I'm not sure if higher limits is the answer though I did have much better success at higher limits on Pokerroom. I think the anti gambling legislation in the U.S. has driven a lot of the easy money out of the game and I doubt this will ever change.

Anyone have any thoughts about this?

Wondering about Scientology...

Not for any particular reason, but there seem to be a lot of people into it, especially celebrities. I need to do some more research before I can speak intelligently on the subject.

Did anyone realize that John Brown University was giving out Engineering degrees? And I don' t mean the type of engineers that drive trains. I mean the kind that build things. I'm not sure how I feel about that.

Arkansas played pretty well at Florida last night, but they didn't win. Not surprising.

Didn't Play Poker...

Did work on dissertation. I managed to make significant progress on the dissertation. I am going to have about 150 tables in my paper and I am done with 56 of them. And when I say "done" I mean they are formated with information in them. It doesn't mean one of my committee members won't make me go back and change one or two or three or however many. I have got to be determined, diligent and persistent in getting this thing done. I've been working on it for about 18 months.

Florida just blew the doors off Ohio State last night. I thought when OSU ran back the opening kickoff that it would be a rout for OSU, but Florida proved the SEC is the toughest conference in the country. The "big ten" kinda flopped in the big bowl games, getting routed by USC and Florida. If Arkansas had done their part, the big ten wouldn't have won any of the major bowls. Arkansas rarely does its part.

Arkansas has the misfortune of having to play Floridia in basketball tonight. I doubt the results will be to my liking.

No Poker...

There was no poker played over the weekend as I was busy and said in my previous post that I would be cutting back on poker playing so as to focus a little more on my dissertation. Well, there was plenty of dissertation work done as I moved to about the halfway point on chapter 4 (5 total chapters). I also attended the Arkansas/Alabama basketball game on Saturday. Arkansas slaughtered Alabama. It wasn't even close.

I've got a few bucks on WPEX and I'll probably play some this week. Stay tuned.

Poker isn't fun right now...

I played a little yesterday and didn't do too well, but I didn't do too poorly either. I'm just kinda blah with poker right now. I'm not winning and that takes a lot of the fun out of it. I'm thinking of not playing as much, if at all, for a while. I am having a hard time beating the game. I really miss pokerroom. I did pretty well there. I'm guessing the anti gambling legislation has driven a lot of fish from the waters and now, instead of being a shark, I'm one of the fish. Also, at the limits I play, people will play any two cards and show no respect for a raise. They will call any amount of raise with anything and draw out on you. Very frustrating.

Anybody have any advice?

Stupid LSU...

Or is it stupid Notre Dame? Either way, I needed one more point to cover the over last night and I didn't get it. Poker wasn't much last night. I finished second in a five-man $11 SNG and I made a few bucks off ring games. I played in two MTT and didn't cash in either one. The bankroll ended up about even for the day.

I've been spending more time on the dissertation and less time on poker lately so the post may reflect less of a poker theme for a while.

The SEC basketball seasaon is staring. Arkansas hosts Alabama on Saturday at 1:05. I'm not optimistic about the chances of Arkansas making the NCAA tournament. I figure they have got to win nine more games to get an at large bid and I don't think they are good enough to get it done. The SEC west is too tough with LSU and Alabama. That will likely be four losses right there plus Kentucky and Florida. That means we could only lose one other SEC game and I just don't see that happening.

I know the picture below has been posted everywhere on the internet and the story of Brandi Hawbaker and Captain Tom has been told and retold 1,000 times, but I'm gonna post the picture anyway. She certainly looks like she's having a good time.

Not Much Poker...

I didn't get to play too much yesterday as we went to see the "Producers" at the Walton Arts Center. It was pretty good and entertaining for sure. I enjoy anything Mel Brooks writes. I did finally win a sports bet with Louisville beating Wake Forest. I'm hoping for another one tonight with the LSU/ND total. I guess we shall see.

Poker good, sports betting bad...

I got to play a little poker over the weekend as we finally returned home from our seven day Christmas journy. It was much too long of a time to be away from home. I've done ok playing poker as I've made a couple of final tables in MTT and done ok in the ring games and SNG's too. But I've blown a lot of it betting on football. I've got to ditch the sports betting.

We did manage to get a few really cool Christmas presents. I got a printer/copier/fax/scanner from Paige and Lynn and a couple of nice shirts. Sarah had a better haul than I did as she got purses, clothes, jewelry, makeup, dishes, cookbooks and other stuff plus some cash.

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.