Drawing Dead

Wow, a real long time!

2007-07-02T18:42:00.000-04:00

Well, the reason you haven't heard from me in so long is due to some big life news....

I am now officially a member of the "Real world". *cheers* *applause*

Well, its not really that exciting. But since the middle of April I've been gainfully employed by Citigroup and at the beginning adjusting to what it takes to bring home a real paycheck severely cut into my poker!! *booooo*

But now that I'm settled in to a regular routine, I'm able to get in more hands at the tables.

For now, heres the quick results of how I've been doing since I last wrote.

April: I only got in a touch over 6000 hands and ended the month +$205.

May: A few more hands, 9200 for the month. And +$511 for the month.

June: Now this is where it gets fun! To start the month I finally made my first trip to the casino to play some 1/2 NL.

It was pretty much a dream scenario from the start. My table from the start was loose/passive preflop...lots of limping. And real weak/tight postflop. I couldnt catch many hands early on, and was stuck about $160 after an hour and a half.

Then, the rush came....

I started running real hot, and playing even better. I was picking up a ton of pots without ever having to show my cards, and on the occasions i got action on my hands, i ended up with winners. I could break down some hands here, but honestly, i don't remember many and am way too lazy to type them right now. After it was all said and done I ended up a +$700 winner.

Online also went extremely well for June. I played about 8200 hands and won +$1200. Splitting between 50nl and 100nl.

The plan for July is to play 100nl full time. I've been playing real well for the past few months and feel real comfortable with what 100nl I've played so far (about 2k hands or so).

I guess that's it for now, as always, ill try to write more often for the 2 people that are bored enough to ever come here.

bahhhhh

2007-04-06T13:50:00.000-04:00

April is off to a bad start for the following reasons: 1) I'm running bad....im always making 2nd best hands, ive only had AA 2 times in the last 2000 hands (and its lost both) etc, etc... 2) I'm playing bad. I dont know what it is, but I'm not focusing well latley, im making stupid bluffs, stupid call downs and sometimes im just not all that interested while im playing.

So I've played about 2500 hands and im down about $250 at 50nl.....i'm gonna take today to read up some strat posts on fcp and 2+2 and watch a few vids that always seem to get me focused on the game, then we'll turn this around and get back on track for the month!

March Results and Goals for April

2007-03-31T01:55:00.000-04:00

Well, I guess that says it all doesnt it? March was a really good month. +$830 or so in cash games, and I only wasted about $50 on Tourneys. As you can see I took a shot at 100nl towards the end of that big heater (hands 10.5k -16k) I actually played and ran well during my session at 100 and was up well over a buy in when this hand happened...

FullTiltPoker Game #2042598891: Table Peak (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 2:59:02 ET - 2007/03/22
Seat 1: PedroCerrano ($121.10)
Seat 2: TwentyOneAerow ($54.50)
Seat 3: Undie28 ($194)
Seat 4: Arc Reaper ($44.50)
Seat 5: JPLG9 ($106.30)
Seat 6: jjdylan ($176.20)
JPLG9 posts the small blind of $0.50
jjdylan posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [As Ad]
PedroCerrano folds
TwentyOneAerow folds
Undie28 folds
Arc Reaper raises to $3
JPLG9 folds
jjdylan raises to $10
Arc Reaper calls $7
*** FLOP *** [2c 7h 4s]
jjdylan bets $13
Arc Reaper raises to $34.50, and is all in
jjdylan calls $21.50
Arc Reaper shows [Qd 8d]
jjdylan shows [As Ad]
Arc Reaper: haha
*** TURN *** [2c 7h 4s] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [2c 7h 4s 5s] [6h]
Arc Reaper shows a straight, Eight high
jjdylan shows a pair of Aces
Arc Reaper wins the pot ($86.50) with a straight, Eight high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $89.50 | Rake $3
Board: [2c 7h 4s 5s 6h]
Seat 1: PedroCerrano didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: TwentyOneAerow didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: Undie28 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 4: Arc Reaper (button) showed [Qd 8d] and won ($86.50) with a straight, Eight high
Seat 5: JPLG9 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 6: jjdylan (big blind) showed [As Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces

After that hand I lost a few other mediocre pots over my tables and ended up only a few bucks. But I have no doubt I can beat that game just as well as ive been beating 50nl the past few months. I would have played more 100 this month, but I took some time off and didnt play much the last week or so, so when i did play i took it easy on myself and stuck to the 50nl games I'm comfortable in. I figure that once April starts I'll start taking more shots when I find good tables, and once my bankroll is $2500 or so I'll move up for good as long as I dont lose 6 or 7 buy ins right away.

As for the goals I set for myself at the Beginning of the month...

Play at least 15k hands. - Easily done. I hit close to 18k and could have booked well over 20k if I didnt take most of the last week off.

Reach 'Silver' in FTP's Iron Man Challenge once again. - Check. Like the last goal, I could have easily reached 'Gold' status if I pushed on through the last week.

Play/Run well enough to stay at $50nl and not have to drop back down again this month. - BOOM! I started off really hot...basically broke even for 8k hands....ran super hot for the next 6k then came back to earth a little at the end of it all.

...and finally, at the end of the month have at least $2000 in my FTP account. - This is the only goal i didn't meet, I did come really close, I broke the 2k barrier at my highest point of the month but fell back below over the last 2k hands or so.

April Goals:

Play at least 17k hands - I know I played 18k in March, but I dont think I'll have as much time to play in April so I'll set this as the goal.

Reach 'Gold' Status in Full Tilt's IronMan Promotion. - I could have done it this month, so I'll try to push for it in April.

Move up and become profitable at 100nl. - I'm going to wait until I win a few more buy ins at 50nl before i move up, but hey, its something to shoot for.

Build my bankroll over 2.5k. - If I have a winning month, this one should be easy, especially combined with the rakeback I'll be getting from march, so I guess all im saying is that...I want to win!

The ides of march

2007-03-20T03:39:00.000-04:00

Wow, what a month its shaping up to be. As I said in my previous blog, I ran really hot over the first 3 days of the month. After that It was basically a week and a half of breaking even, every session I was either posting a small win or small loss, no real movement either way. Then I logged on to FTP on the 16th of the month. I played a real long session and ran amazingly hot, when it was all said and done I played almost 2000 hands and ended up +$303 all at 50nl. I felt I also played really during this session and it was exactly what I needed for both my bankroll and confidence. Other than the cash games I also took down a small sit n go on Absolute along with a small cash in a MTT also on absolute to combine for another $40 or so on the day.

The St. Patricks day weekend didnt involve much poker playing (thank god). Because i spent the weekend in a drunken haze, as can be expected! Today (well, i guess technically yesterday at this point) was my first day back to playing, and again I ran super hot. I put in a touch over 1000 hands today and booked a $163 win in the 50nl games. Early in the session I hit my second ever royal flush :-) (as pictured below, lol)

Not long afterwards, I flopped Quad Tens, and took down a medium sized pot. Today was definitely all about having the deck hit me in the face, because i dont think i played all that well. The cards definitely turned against me near the end of the session, but there were a bunch of hands I felt I played badly and was bailed out by the cards. I also left a lot of money on the table in certain hands early on. After i got done on the cash tables i played 4 sit n gos over on absolute. I've been playing the $6+1's just as something different, and to try and build up my bankroll over there, i didnt see any hands at all in the 4 i played tonight, well, save for AA in the very last one, but lucky me....i was up against a KJ who ended up making quads. Anyways i didnt finish higher than 5th in the SnG's tonight which kind of kills the good vibes i had going from the past few cash sessions.

Hopefully the month keeps going as is, I plan to keep putting in a lot of cash game hands on full tilt, and use the small roll i have over on absolute to play sngs and some small mtt's because i dont really care if i lose the money over there, and id like to improve all areas of my tournament game. Till next time...here's to running good!

Its been a while

2007-03-02T02:31:00.000-05:00

Well, i guess to begin I'll recap the past month or so.

January went well, I made just shy of $600 profit and met all the other goals i set for the month.

February....a totally different story. I dropped about $600 in the first week and a half of the month...took some time off, dropped back down to $25nl and grinded out a nice rebound before losing another $150 back at $50nl on the last day of the month.
When it was all said and done, i ended February a $300 loser. I also only got in 11.6k hands and fell short of maintaining my status in FTPs Iron man challenge. Needless to say, im very unhappy with how that turned out.

Anyways, its officially march now, and i started off the month with a touch under $700 to my FTP account. I played for about an hour on the afternoon of the 1st and dropped about $35 playing $50nl...no big deal. I sit down for my nighttime session and proceed to go on one of the best heaters ive had in a looooooooooong time. I played about 1500 hands, had AA 12 times...winning 11 times. I hit about 8 different sets and my oppponents basically acted exactly how i wanted them too in every hand. By the end of it i was sitting with just about 4 buy ins on 2 different tables and ended the session up $280. Doenst sound like much, but running at 18.5PTBB/100 sure is fun for a change!!! If only it could last.

Anyways, my goals for the rest of the month:

Since i got off track last month I'll keep them modest.

Play at least 15k hands.
Reach 'Silver' in FTP's Iron Man Challenge once again.
Play/Run well enough to stay at $50nl and not have to drop back down again this month.

and finally, at the end of the month have at least $2000 in my FTP account. I'm hesitant to even say that because its been a goal for months and months now, yet ive never broken that barrior. It seems every time i come close, i hit some sort of big downswing/monkey tilt to put a major hit on my bankroll. If i play well and put the hands in i should get there, so hopefully i can do it.

nearing the end of the month

2007-01-25T01:05:00.000-05:00

With a little less than a week left in the month, I've just crossed the 15k hand mark and Goal #1 for the month/year has been achieved. So far this month ive put in 11.2k hands at 25nl...3500 hands at 50nl and about 3oo or so at 1/2 LHE. The way things are shaping up I think I'll end up with 16.5k or 17k hands this month. And even better than getting in as many hands as i wanted (and more) Is that I've been winning, all month long. Its been a real long time since ive played a full month and just steadily won. Even more reassuring is that in the past I haven't played as many hands per month as I do now (due to 4 tabling now vs 2 tabling in the past). So it's very reassuring to see results like this over a larger sample. My game has been FAR less swingy and I've been making far better decisions.
My bankroll is nearing 1k at this point and as i said in my previous post, I'll take a few shots at 100nl at that time. With some time between all that neteller news and the following days, i don't think the situation is as desperate as when i wrote that post, but things are definitely still unsure as to how long online poker will be this good. I think that due to all the recent developments, right now, more than ever its important to constantly work to improve my game and start taking it to the next level. As the fish dry up, and lack the motivation to jump through whatever hoops are going to be necessary to fund a poker account, the games will get tighter and I'll have to be a truly better player to be the type of winning player i want to be. As for now though, i couldn't be happier with how im playing and how the cards are falling.

Going for broke.

2007-01-19T04:18:00.000-05:00

Well, in light of recent events, such as NETELLER pulling out of the US market. Noone really knows whats going to happen with Internet Poker in the US in the coming months. If anything, the games are going to get a lot tougher as the "fish" wont want to jump through all the hoops its going to take to get money onto a poker site now. So, I say fuck it. I'm going to try and make the most of online poker while i still have it. Right now my bankroll sits at a little over $700 and I'm playing $50Nl. Basically I'm just going to accelerate my goals for the year. I'll play $50Nl until my roll is $1000 or a little more, and then I'll start taking shots at $100NL. Hopefully those shots go well, and I can stay at $100nl....if they dont, i'll drop back down to $50nl if my roll drops to $600 (moving back up again at 1000). If my shot at 100 goes well, I'll start taking shots at $200nl once I hit $2000. Again, dropping back down to 1oo if my roll drops to 1k. If i do in fact make it to 200nl...I'll probably stay there for a while before ever taking a shot at $400nl.
The reason being, from all those I've talked to, the skill level jumps between $50 and $200nl isnt all that significant...and right now I'm fairly confident that i can easily beat $100nl once I get some money behind me.

Well, thats basically it....im going to give up a little cushion in the bankroll in order to more quickly move up limits while things are so unstable in the online poker world, hopefully I succeed, if not its not the end of the world to have to drop back down...after all, id rather have to cash out $1k from online and head to the B&M casino if the damn government brings it to that rather than be a total idiot and blow everything I have right now. We'll see how it goes...wish me luck....

Political Semi-Rant

2007-01-17T18:19:00.000-05:00

So over the past few days news has come out that the two founders of "Neteller" have been arrested in the US. This is just the latest arrest in the witch hunt for anyone associated with online gambling. The US government is really starting to piss me off, they pass this law outlawing online gambling (well, really just funding it directly from your bank account or Credit card) because they're scared of not getting their cut from this multi-billion dollar industry, under a veil of morality, preaching the horrors that come from American adults enjoying a poker game or two while at their home on the internet. So instead of finding a way of regulating and taxing the industry here in the US, our fearless leaders prefer to hunt down and persecute anyone involved with the industry.

It seems for now that the idiots in Washington may be winning, but from my seat i see this playing out very similarly to a simiar fight that happened a few years ago with the RIAA and Napster.

You may recall that back in the late 90's downloading free music online exploded in the US. And of course...instead of embracing and working with an obviously exremely popular new technology the suits in the RIAA used every lame scare tactic they could think of to hunt down and persecute anyone involved with downloading music on the internet...only because they werent getting their cut of the pie. Finally somewhere a long the line someone with a brain came a long and Apple introduced Itunes, and well, the rest is history. I really think that all that needs to happen is someone in the US to come a long and talk some sence into our government.

Perhaps one of the large gambling companies in the US such as Harrahs or MGM will come a long and realize that the only reason the poker rooms in their casinos exploded over the past 6 years or so is because of the online game. Maybe that will drive them to work with the government and set up some kind of new product in the US. Or maybe the right palms will get greased and the new congress will do something (although I highly doubt this is a huge issue to anyone there.) Only time will tell, but for now, where theres a will theres a way....and I wont be leaving the online game anytime soon.

Grindin

2007-01-11T03:40:00.000-05:00

Well, we're about 1/3 of the way through the month and so far, I'm right where I want to be. I've played about 6800 hands so far this month, so it looks like 15k will be a breeze. And the better part is...im kicking ass. For the first time in a long time I'm feeling real confident in my play. I'm trusting my instincts and making very decisive decisions, and thus far its paying off.

Tonights session was probably my worst of the month so far, at times I played great, at times I played horrible....at times I ran good, at times I was getting coolered, all in one session. Needless to say If you saw the graph of my session tonight it looks like a seismograph from a major earthquake. I think i ended the night down 2.5buy ins or so...which isn't bad considering where I was sitting before i took a break. The bankroll is in the best shape its been in a while too, once i get my rakeback payments from last month (hopefully sometime next week). I may jump back up to $50Nl. I'm not really sure yet, I may take my time and give myself a bigger cushion to work with, but knowing me I'll jump up at the first opportunity. Either way I still have some things to work out in my game. Namely, momentary lapses in judgement/sanity that have led to losing a few buy ins on some stupid calls& bluffs.

I also need to find a new "second home". I have been playing on Absolute Poker as my #2 site latley, but they've recently made big changes to how their bonus' clear and how they're calculating rakeback which take them from being one of the best sites in these area's to one of the worst. I think i may head back to doyles room, but its really hard for me to play more than 2 tables there, which causes a problem. Oh well, I'll figure something out...and if anyone actually reads this and wants to recommend a site with good bonuses + rakeback...I'm all ears. (not full tilt though, thats my home :) )

A new year....

2007-01-03T14:43:00.000-05:00

2006 wasn't a very good year for me. Although I came out ahead at years end, it was a struggle all year long and I never felt very confident or satisfied with my game and results. But hey, It's a new year, a fresh start, another chance to turn it all around.

Currently I'm still grinding it out at the 25NL games, once i dropped down last year I found that i had a lot of work to do on my game and am still working that all out along with getting a decent bankroll back together after blowing it all on my vegas trip last summer.

For now these are the general goals I'll be working towards in 2007.

- Play Roughly 15k hands per month
- Earn enough points for Plasma TV from Full Tilt Store (roughly 290k points to go! lol)
- Reach and Maintain a bankroll of at least $5000 before year end.
- Maintain a comfortable bankroll level so that Rakeback payments can be cashed out and invested in some form.
- Be playing and winning at $200NL (or higher) by year end.

As for non-poker goals id like to see happen this year:
I'd like to finally start putting my degree to work in some kind of full time job! Hopefully this will happen later this month or early February.
I'd also like to save up enough money to buy a new car sometime this year. But obviously this wont be happening unless the first one does! (unless i hit some kind of ungodly year long heater in poker?!)

Thats about all i have for now. Hopefully these will be the minimum of what I'll achieve this year! Maybe I should have added keeping this blog updated to one of those lists, oh well.

For now, its time to get started....

A little better.

2006-11-21T01:24:00.000-05:00

Today was a real swingy day. I played about an hour and a half this afternoon and booked a $95 win. I made made some draws, over pairs didnt get busted up and I played pretty well.

Tonight however, started off horribly just plain running bad. I swear to god if one more person hits a one card straight on my overpair, im going to kill someone.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [As Ac]
drdoctor: dang
AndMor folds
Wreckz folds
RiverBelle888 folds
jjdylan raises to $2
drdoctor calls $1.75
oriV folds
*** FLOP *** [Jc Ts 6c]
drdoctor checks
jjdylan bets $4
drdoctor raises to $8
jjdylan raises to $19
drdoctor calls $10.75, and is all in
jjdylan shows [As Ac]
drdoctor shows [Kh Ks]
Uncalled bet of $0.25 returned to jjdylan
*** TURN *** [Jc Ts 6c] [Qs]
drdoctor: ouch
*** RIVER *** [Jc Ts 6c Qs] [Ad]
jjdylan shows three of a kind, Aces
drdoctor: wow
drdoctor shows a straight, Ace high
drdoctor wins the pot ($39.90) with a straight, Ace high

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [Ks Kc]
Plum All In has 15 seconds left to act
Plum All In calls $0.50
BadLuck02 folds
iceflush14 folds
ButchCssidy calls $0.50
jjdylan raises to $3
DoubledownA folds
Plum All In folds
ButchCssidy calls $2.50
*** FLOP *** [5c 8c 4d]
jjdylan bets $5
ButchCssidy calls $5
*** TURN *** [5c 8c 4d] [3s]
jjdylan bets $11
ButchCssidy calls $10.85, and is all in
jjdylan shows [Ks Kc]
ButchCssidy shows [6s Qs]
Uncalled bet of $0.15 returned to jjdylan
*** RIVER *** [5c 8c 4d 3s] [7d]
jjdylan shows a pair of Kings
ButchCssidy shows a straight, Eight high
ButchCssidy wins the pot ($36.80) with a straight, Eight high

Thats how my night started...i also had AQ lose to K9o when a short stack overpushed my raise. Thankfully I sat down at a dream table, 2 loose (vpip's of 45+) idiots with big stacks. I had built myself up to $166 when the following hand came up (note stack sizes)....

Seat 1: Mr_Nick_River ($50)
Seat 2: El Subestimado ($52.25)
Seat 3: jjdylan ($166.25)
Seat 4: DoubledownA ($52.95)
Seat 5: Plum All In ($153.45)
Seat 6: BadLuck02 ($72.75)
DoubledownA posts the small blind of $0.25
Plum All In posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [4h 4s]
BadLuck02 raises to $1.50
Mr_Nick_River folds
El Subestimado folds
jjdylan calls $1.50
DoubledownA folds
Plum All In calls $1
*** FLOP *** [4c Ac Qh]
Plum All In bets $4.75
BadLuck02 calls $4.75
jjdylan raises to $16
Plum All In calls $11.25
BadLuck02 calls $11.25
*** TURN *** [4c Ac Qh] [9d]
Plum All In bets $17
BadLuck02 calls $17
jjdylan raises to $148.75, and is all in
Plum All In: wow
Plum All In: this sucks
Plum All In has 15 seconds left to act
BadLuck02: SICK
Plum All In folds
BadLuck02 calls $38.25, and is all in
jjdylan shows [4h 4s]
BadLuck02 shows [Kc Jc]
Uncalled bet of $93.50 returned to jjdylan
*** RIVER *** [4c Ac Qh 9d] [2d]
jjdylan shows three of a kind, Fours
BadLuck02 shows Ace King high
jjdylan wins the pot ($177.25) with three of a kind, Fours

I was hoping the call would come from the other guy who still had $100 behind, but at this point I'm more than happy that I just had a hand hold up in a huge pot like this. And thankfully, after leaving this table with around $270 i managed to book a small win on the evening and come out ahead a little over $100 on the day.

Hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow, because its probably the last I'll play before the holiday, and ive got a busy work week coming up after Thanksgiving, so im not sure how much poker will be in there. We'll see, if i dont play i'll keep reading NLTAP.

Downswing time!

2006-11-18T01:25:00.000-05:00

ugh, Why does it seem like i run either extremely hot or extremely cold?? Theres no inbetween with me. The past 2 days have been horrible, im dropping buy ins like its my job. Probably around 6 over the past 2 days. You name it and its happening, one card straights, backdoor flushes, sets, two pair on the river...im running into it all.

Hands like this have become the norm...

[Nov 18 05:29:37] : Seat 4 : jjdylan has Kc Kh
[Nov 18 05:29:39] : Who_Farted? called $0.50
[Nov 18 05:29:42] : lucky799 raised $1
[Nov 18 05:29:47] : jjdylan called $1.50 and raised $6
[Nov 18 05:29:48] : cookiesman folded.
[Nov 18 05:29:54] : daisy453 folded.
[Nov 18 05:29:55] : Who_Farted? folded.
[Nov 18 05:30:01] : lucky799 called $6
[Nov 18 05:30:02] : Dealing flop.
[Nov 18 05:30:02] : Board cards [As 2h 5c]
[Nov 18 05:30:06] : lucky799 bet $2
[Nov 18 05:30:12] : jjdylan called $2 and raised $8
[Nov 18 05:30:17] : lucky799 called $8
[Nov 18 05:30:17] : Dealing turn.
[Nov 18 05:30:17] : Board cards [As 2h 5c 3s]
[Nov 18 05:30:22] : lucky799 bet $8
[Nov 18 05:30:24] : jjdylan folded.

Anyways, ive fallen way behind the goal for 3k by years end, but thats ok....one nice heater can turn it all around.
I also got the new Sklansky book, No Limit Hold 'em: Theory and Practice in the mail today from the pokerstars fpp store, i haven't really heard much as to what people think of the book ,but i'll probably spend more time reading that than playing this weekend. Regardless of how good it turns out to be, im sure i'll learn something from it, and its always nice to have something around to re-affirm that things i've been doing are actually "right".

Once I finish it I'll write something up here, till then....

what the fuck.

2006-11-16T14:15:00.000-05:00

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [As Ac]
LooseSlot raises to $2.25
whaahhahahah folds
Leperkahn folds
ELZAPO folds
tnight folds
jjdylan raises to $7.25
LooseSlot raises to $33.85, and is all in
jjdylan calls $26.60
LooseSlot shows [Ad Js]
jjdylan shows [As Ac]
*** FLOP *** [9h 7d 8h]
*** TURN *** [9h 7d 8h] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [9h 7d 8h Th] [7h]
LooseSlot shows a straight, Jack high
jjdylan shows two pair, Aces and Sevens
LooseSlot wins the pot ($65.45) with a straight, Jack high

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to jjdylan [Ac As]
pjb109 folds
bigfish5000 calls $0.50
stayls24 folds
jjdylan raises to $2
Bl44tSch44p folds
RiverRat1969 folds
bigfish5000 calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [6d 4c 8c]
bigfish5000 checks
jjdylan bets $4
bigfish5000 raises to $8
jjdylan raises to $45.50, and is all in
bigfish5000 calls $18.30, and is all in
jjdylan shows [Ac As]
bigfish5000 shows [4s 5d]
Uncalled bet of $19.20 returned to jjdylan
*** TURN *** [6d 4c 8c] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [6d 4c 8c 4h] [6s]
jjdylan shows two pair, Aces and Sixes
bigfish5000 shows a full house, Fours full of Sixes
bigfish5000 wins the pot ($54.50) with a full house, Fours full of Sixes

Shit like this is really starting to make winning a little bit harder. How big of a favorite do i need to be over these people when all their money goes in to have my hand hold??

Leveling off

2006-11-16T03:16:00.000-05:00

The past few days have been kinda rough. I've been just a little above break even this week, and Tuesday (the 14th) I dropped 4 buy ins on the day. I did come and get 2 back the next day though. But thats how things are goin. KK has lost the last 3 times ive had it. and AA has gone down 3 of the last 4 times ive had it (Including a preflop all in against AJo tonight.) Despite the trouble with big pairs I am still coming out ahead for the most part and haven't had any REAL big bumps in the road.

Today i played the $8 + .80 $1500 guarantee on Doyles Room. I started off real hot winning a nice pot in the first hand i played with a set of deuces and then busting out 2 people in one hand a short time later with AA. At the start of the 2nd level i was sitting with 10k in chips (from the 2000 starting stack). I did lose one big hand where I limped in to the pot with A8 of diamonds after a limper before me. The flop comes A6T with 2 diamonds, he checks to me, i bet the pot of 200. He calls and we see the turn....an offsuit 8. He checks, i bet about 600 and he goes all in for about another 1200. I obviously call, expecting to be miles ahead but he turns over 79of diamonds and im drawing to an A, 8 or one of 7 remaining diamonds. The river is obviously is a blank and im knocked back down to about 8800 in chips. From there on I didnt get much by the way of cards...I maintained my stack by stealing some blinds and around bubble time I had an M of 6.8. I fought my way into the money by pushing all in stealing blinds when I could (had the agressive chip leader on my right which hurt badly.) When finally, i caught a hand.

I caught QQ on the button and pushed all in for about 8k chips...the short stack in the SB called me with J9s and I won the hand, along with his 1500 or so chips.
The very next hand, i wake up with KK! YES!! I'm getting hot at exactly the right time! UTG limps, the chip leader puts in a raise to about 4k. I push all in for my approx 10k chips and get called by both UTG and the chip leader. KK holds and im up to 18k in chips. Now im in a spot where I can play some poker and head into the final table strong!
Except, the very next hand I pick up AKs. Chip leader raises again to 6k....i push for my 18k...and get called by the SB (who i have barely covered) who woke up with KK. I dont improve and now im super short stacked with 5500 in chips. I pick up the blinds with one push and the next time i push (LP with K9s) i get called by ATo and I'm gone. 37th place out of 367 players and i take home a whopping $13 and change.

I thought I played well in this tournament but I really have to find a way to "play more poker" in these things instead of relying on catching good hands. I feel lost in the middle stages of a tournament where I have a moderate stack. Its in these spots that i really dont know how to play against a raise. I have too few chips to be calling and seeing flops, but re-raising/pushing with hands like KQ or AJ just feels dumb. And folding these hands really feels weak. Any ideas??? Maybe i'll go back and re-read the 2nd volume of Harrington on Hold'em to see if I can pick anything up.

Well, for now, the BR is holding right around $1100. To stay on pace for $3000 by years end I should be at $1300 by the end of today (Nov. 16). I'm close, but need to step it up. Hopefully the rest of my sessions later today go well. Till then...

Up and Down...

2006-11-14T02:09:00.000-05:00

The past 2 days I've been running kinda bad on Full Tilt, nothing too horrible but ive had a few big suckouts and the like recently. Thankfully, Doyles Room is full of idiots!! Just tonight i dropped about $100 on Full Tilt, so I changed scenery and had people just handing me money over at doyles room. Eventually pulling in about $130 there and ending the day slightly ahead. The scenario was similar the night before, with a late night comeback to end ahead about $20 or $30.

I dont know an exact number, but the BR is up around $1200 right now and hopefully growing some more tomorrow.

Rollin along

2006-11-09T02:52:00.000-05:00

Nothin much to write about right now, but poker has been going really well lately. I've been playing really well and the winning has been steady, just how i like it to be!! The bankroll is up to a little over $900 right now and I'm well ahead of pace to meet my goal before the end of the year as long as the downswings stay well away.

easy money

2006-11-07T03:56:00.000-05:00

Need i say more? Today was a great day at the tables. I dominated at every table I sat down at, this even includes dropping a buy in each with KK and JJ to some tough beats. If only poker was this easy every day!

Booyah! (days 8&9)

2006-11-04T02:15:00.000-05:00

After the bad session i talked about in my last entry, i came back on Thursday and made a little over $60 in a few short sessions.

Today (friday), I didnt play at all except for a $10+1 90Man SnG on Full Tilt which started at 1130pm. I've been coming close in tournaments latley so I wanted to put together a solid effort.

Things started out really well, I doubled up on the 5th hand of the tournament when i caught a set of 2's which turned into a full house and luckily my opponent made the trips on the board and was more than happy to play for stacks. That was pretty much all there was to talk about for most of the tournament. I played pretty tight, picked up a few small pots and tried to stay out of trouble.

The top 18 places paid and with around 25 people remaining i was pretty shortstacked. I still had a fair number of chips compared to the blinds at that point, but against the field i was near the bottom. Then i picked up QJ in late position, i put in a smallish raise to try and take down the blinds. I got one caller from the SB and we took the flop which came out 972. He checked and I followed suit behind. The turn brought a J...he checked I bet a little more than half the pot and he called. The river brought an Ace and he insta-pushed. At this point i was committed, so i closed my eyes and called. He turned over K10 and i doubled up. 2 hands later, i raise with 89s...get one caller who folds to my cbet on the flop and what do ya know. with 20 players left I'm the chip leader with 44k in chips.

I didn't get crazy with the chip lead and did just enough blind stealing to keep the chip lead heading into the final table. The final table turned out to be the tightest final table I've ever played. 25 minutes into the final table and we still had 6 players remaining. It was even more absurd because the average "m" at the table was around 8 or 9. As the chip leader mine was only 11. Finally the pace started to pick up as I busted out the next player and 2 more followed shortly after. Down to 3 handed all our stacks were pretty even. We traded chips between the 3 of us for a few levels when finally I raised from the button with T5 of spades. The small blind called and we took the flop which came out 743 with one spade. He checked and I pushed all in for what was about a pot sized bet. To my surprise he called and turned over his monster...K10 offsuit. The turn brought the 8 of spades giving me a little more hope, but the river bricked and I was out in 3rd place. I may have been able to play the hand differently, but I knew for sure that he didnt hit that flop so i figured i had plenty of chips to get him to lay down most over card and Ace high type hands. I think his call was pretty bad, but I guess if he thought i was stealing with rags then he made a good call. Either way, I cashed for $99 (much needed as i had to cash out 50 today) and walked away happy with how I played.

I dont know how much playing i'll get in tomorrow, but i'm sure i'll spend plenty of time at the tables on sunday if nothing else.

Ouch

2006-11-02T02:57:00.000-05:00

Well, today went horribly. I started off the night playing like complete shit while on FTP. I got stacked on 3 different hands that i never should have called off all that money with. Luckily i also caught a couple big hands myself to somewhat cushion the losses. I left FTP down about 2 buy ins ($100) and moved over to doyles room. Things didnt go much better there, as i never caught much by the way of cards. The times i did catch strong hands the boards didnt allow me to really push them hard. So i ended my night there down another buy in. I definitley didnt play my best, and at times played like a complete donkey tonight. Making a decent laydown was apparently out of the question. Oh well, I'll regroup and make sure I play a good game tomorrow.

Days 5 &6

2006-11-01T01:18:00.000-05:00

The last 2 days have been very good for me, playing on doyles room has been a great time. It seems like people have just been throwing their money at me, combine that with running well and it's been a lot of fun. Full tilt hasn't been as good to me although ive been winning there too. Its really amazing how different 2 sites can play. While sitting at a 6max $50nl table on full tilt the loosest person at my table had a vpip of 35. with all the other players coming in at 24 or lower. At the same time, my table on doyles room (same stakes, 6max) had 3 players of vpip's over 50...with one moron coming in at a whopping 92. While both tables can be profitable, its much easier to be sitting at the one where the guy will call off 1/2 his stack with middle pair. (as long as he doesnt turn that into 2 pair or trips....please poker gods, dont throw the switch on me!!).

Anyways, Monday, Day 5 ended up $+94.84
and Tuesday, day 6 ended up $+126.07

i also tried another $8.80 $2000 guaranteed at doyles room which is technically on Wednesday, day 7 which i ran card dead the whole time and busted out in 79th well short of cashing. But I'll probably forget to add that in when i update tomorrow, so I'll throw it in now.

With the end of the month, that means I'll have rakeback money coming my way soon in the weeks to follow. I don't think I'll be getting all too much from either site because A) I'm clearing a bonus at Full Tilt and B) I didn't play on either FTP or Doyle's Room for half the month either. So yeah, rakeback coming...i cleared another $20 in bonus on FTP today and hopefully I'll keep winning! Check back in tomorrow.

Day's 3 & 4

2006-10-29T22:44:00.000-05:00

On Saturday (day 3) i played $50NL 6max on doyles room, i started off at a dream table, i had a maniac (90/33 - vpip/pfr) immediately to my right who was luckboxing the whole table before i sat down. I stayed patient with him, waited for quality hands and laid the hammer down when i got them. My strategy was to come in for a big re-raise on him to isolate and then to continually over bet the pot as long as i felt my hand was good. Fortunately enough, it worked out, all my hands held up against him and after felting him, I left the table $+113.

Things didnt go so smoothly on my other tables during that session, i ended up losing ~$60 on on table and making back a little over $20 of it on 2 other tables for the night. In all i finished the day $+70.23.

Today (day 4) I really havent played much at all. I played the $8 + .80 $2000 Guarantee on Doyles room this afternoon. In which I played and ran really well and was sitting pretty, with a stack good enough to cruise to the money when I imploded.

The same person had check raised me on the flop in 2 consecutive hands that i raised preflop and c-bet to which i folded to his raise. A few hands later i picked up AQs UTG and he called my raise from the BB. the flop came out 36J...he checked, i c-bet and once again he check/raised me. We had roughly even stacks and at this point I thought i was just being pushed around. I figured at most he had a hand like 77, or 88 and i had plenty of chips to blow him off that. So, i push all in and he calls with AJ...i of course lose and finish 39th, about 10 spots short of the money. I know it was a bad play, most likely caused by my lack of tournament experience and a bit of ego not wanting to fold to a 3rd check raise. I promise this though, its not going to happen again.

So i guess that leaves the total for day 4 at $-8.80. As for now, its time to hit the bar and back to the cash games tomorrow.

Day 2

2006-10-28T00:57:00.000-04:00

Daily Results: $-158.80
Current Bankroll: $389.47
Day 2 BR Goal: $540
Difference: $-150.53

Well, today sucked. I started the day out losing a giant pot when i overplayed a KQ....Guy raised from MP to $1.50, and i called from the BB...flop came Q high, i checked, he bet $3 and i check/raised to 8. He called and the turn brought a blank...i led out $10 and he pushed for $18 more. I called, and he showed the one hand i was worried about, AQ. After that i just didnt get much going, i made back like $15 and decided to switch over to playing on doyles room where i ran so well yesterday.

As i should have expected, I am totally incapable of running hot for more than a few hours at a time. I had a guy immediately to my left who's only play was all in or fold. I made a loose call against him early on with A10 and blanked against his AJ. I kept waiting and waiting for another chance at him, when i finally got one....i raised to $2.50 with QQ and he pushes all in for ~$40...exactly what i wanted...i call and he turns over A10offsuit. the flop comes all rags, but 2 diamonds. A Queen of diamonds on the turn makes me my set, but the Ace of diamonds on the river gives him his runner runner flush to take down the pot.

So with this huge hit to the bankroll, I'm pretty behind schedule, but its only the 2nd day of this little experiment so we'll see how tomorrow goes. I think i do need to make a few minor adjustments though, playing full ring on FTP i need to tighten up a little, especially with a raise before me. And 6max on doyles room i just need to be patient and let the maniacs there just give me their chips when i have a big hand. As opposed to going out and attacking them like i did today. We'll see how it works out, and hopefully i'll have something good to write about tomorrow.

The Challenge $500 to $3000 by 2007

2006-10-27T03:16:00.000-04:00

To force myself/give myself a reason to update this every day i've set a goal for myself. Take my ~$500 bankroll and turn it into at least $3000 by the new year.

"But Jay, you suck at poker! How are you going to pull this off??"

Well, it should be pretty easy, i've come up with a new theory, if i actually win at poker, this whole making money idea gets a lot easier! So to reach my goal im going to do the following things:

1. Play winning poker. Right now I'm spending my time at the $50Nl full ring game with a little 6max mixed in every now and then depending on how comfortable i feel with it.

2. Clear bonuses, rack up the rakeback. Right now i'm in the middle of a re-load bonus on full tilt as well as the sign up bonus on doyles room. Those, along with rakeback on both sites should help keep me on track barring any ugly downswings that may come my way.

As i write there are 65 days left in the year. If my math doesnt suck that means if i set a goal of making $40 per day over that span I'll have $3100 by the end of the year.

With that said, here's how I fared on 'Day 1' of my quest.

Thanks to a sick session of $50nl 6max on doyles room, i overcame an ass kicking i took on full tilt and ended the day $ +42.34 Bringing the 'ol bankroll up to $552.77. So far so good, eh?

checking in

2006-09-15T02:15:00.000-04:00

Not too much to report, i havent done much playing latley because ive been pretty busy with other stuff. Namely the numerous interviews ive been on for this damn job im trying to get! The little poker i have been able to play hasnt been much to write about, good or bad. I've been just a touch better than breakeven. The bankroll is approaching $300 (only 10x less than where i thought id be at the beginning of the year!). Coming soon im going to post my daily plan for turning this into a real bankroll and having some money to work with rather than just killing time at micro tables.

update

2006-09-07T14:05:00.000-04:00

We'll things are still pretty rocky on the poker front. I started of at $25NL and am currently running at (58.38) BB/100. Sounds fun doesnt it??!! Luckily i ran pretty well playing .5/1 limit and regained some of my losses. Honestly it really sucks playing these games, i havent played .5/1 limit in 2 years but i guess its whats neccicary right now as i cant really afford to re-deposit.

Starting Over.

2006-09-05T03:03:00.000-04:00

"...and after paying back the professor, I was right back where I started. With 3 stacks of high-society..." - Rounders

I know i haven't updated this in a while, so this is gonna be a long one, and im sure you can guess by the title, things havent been goin so well.

The last time I updated, I was on my way to vegas. Well, vegas didnt exactly go as planned. I had an amazing time, and played a ton of poker, the problem was, I ran horribly bad the whole week. Admittedly i didnt play my 100% "A" game the whole week either, but for the most part I feel I played well, but never really had the cards go my way. So between what I spent during the trip and what I lost at the tables (not even counting what i spent to book the trip) my bankroll was pretty much dead.

Just in case something like this happened, I left myself an 'emergency' $100 in neteller to keep my online habits alive. So, returning from vegas I made a bet. My friend was going away for 2 weeks and i bet that by the time she returned, I would have turned that $100 into at least $1000. And for 2 weeks, the planets were aligned correctly, I ran amazingly hot and played great on top. At the end of the 2 weeks I had run $100 up to $1200 by playing 5max $50NL on FullContactPoker.com

Things were going great, I was unstoppable. So i took that $1200 and deposeted back into FullTilt to clear the reload bonus they were offering. And this is where i hit the wall. Hard. I honestly dont think ive had more than one winning day in a row since then and my bankroll was in a freefall. Between running bad, playing bad and tilting I turned that $1200 back into $160.

So like the quote at the top of the page says, here I am, back down to around $150. Which is how much money I initially lost playing poker before I turned it all around and became a 'winning' player. (although I'm having serious doubts that i ever achieved that title recently.) I really have accomplished a lot with poker though. My initial goal was to make $400 so I could buy myself an ipod, which i did. Then i built my roll up enough to where I was able to pay for a flight, hotel, and spending/gambling money for a vacation in vegas. Now im back at the beginning...i really dont have a "goal" right now other than to build my bankroll and keep moving up the limits.

I think the plan to do so is as follows:
I'm going to put my $160 into FullContactPoker where i'll start clearing the bonus money i have saved there in small amouts as i (hopefully) get back to some winning ways.
After that i'll head over to doyles room and finish clearing the sign up bonus which i started oh so long ago. Once I finally claim that $550 (and some nice rakeback payments along the way) I should once again have a respectable bankroll to start climbing up the ladder again!

That is, if I dont go busto first.....