Results from 8/28

Well I was able to play some poker again after my wonderful weekend in Savannah with my wife. I started off with a win, playing mostly 1/2 and a couple of tourneys. I ended the day up almost $300 which brings the bankroll over 19.1k. I did not cash in any of the tourneys though I did finish on the bubble in one of them. I played the tournament flawlessly for two hours and then overplayed TP on the bubble. One bad move in tourney play can just kill you. That is why the main event just amazes me. Those guys have to play their "A" game for a week straight or get insanely lucky.

Today I will be back playing 1/2 NL. I will also be playing with my new toy, a 60gb video IPOD courtesy of Pokershare. I have already downloaded over 4500 songs. Last night as I was playing I was relaxing as I listened to some Frank Sinatra. You will find Sinatra, classic rock, classical music, heavy metal, country, and top40 on my IPOD. Today I have another 100 CDs to import into iTunes.

Best of luck everyone!!!!!

Results from 8/28

Well I was able to play some poker again after my wonderful weekend in Savannah with my wife. I started off with a win, playing mostly 1/2 and a couple of tourneys. I ended the day up almost $300 which brings the bankroll over 19.1k. I did not cash in any of the tourneys though I did finish on the bubble in one of them. I played the tournament flawlessly for two hours and then overplayed TP on the bubble. One bad move in tourney play can just kill you. That is why the main event just amazes me. Those guys have to play their "A" game for a week straight or get insanely lucky.

Today I will be back playing 1/2 NL. I will also be playing with my new toy, a 60gb video IPOD courtesy of Pokershare. I have already downloaded over 4500 songs. Last night as I was playing I was relaxing as I listened to some Frank Sinatra. You will find Sinatra, classic rock, classical music, heavy metal, country, and top40 on my IPOD. Today I have another 100 CDs to import into iTunes.

Best of luck everyone!!!!!

Results from 8/23

Well yesterday was a good day, and boy did it feel good to post a win. I played mostly .50/1 NL and 1/2 NL with some .25/.50 NL thrown in when pokershare did not have enough players to fill a 10 person table at the higher levels. For the day I ended up winning $350 which put the bankroll at just about 19k again.

I did lose one big pot, and I am sure I should have made the big laydown, but I just couldnt. I had KK and raised 4x the bb and had one caller. The flop came Q66 with two diamonds. I checked and called the flop and then a Jc popped up. I bet, and called a raise. At this time I am thinking maybe AQ or perhaps a flush draw but I just call. The turn is a 2s and I check and call yet again and he flips over the 10c6c for trips. I was not happy with how I played that hand at all.

Overall though I was extremely happy. Thanks for the continued support, and for some suggestions on what sites I should check out to earn more money. Keep them coming please. Tomorrow or late tonight will be the last update until Monday since I am taking my wife on a 3 day vacation to a B&B in Savannah.

Best of luck to everyone out there.

Results from 8/21 & 8/22

Well the bleeding of the bankroll has stopped, but we have not made any ground at this point. The last two days I have broke even, and the bankroll is still at 18.7k. I lost two huge pots, one on Monday with AA vs KK and another yesterday when I lost a $350 pot with AA vs 56 when the river came up an 8 to give the guy a straight. Eventually these hands will hold up again and I will move the bankroll forward.

So I will keep playing whatever full ring game I can find at Pokershare (usually .50/1), and I will play 1/2 at Party. I may throw in a tourney or two, I am not sure at this point.

How is everyone else doing out there? Hopefully you are all running much better than me. Best of luck to all of you.

The climb back starts today

Well I know that I have said that many times over the past six weeks, but I truly think the worst is behind me. How bad is it right now? Well after this weekend the bankroll has dropped to $18,740. So what am I going to do about it?

Well first I had to examine what lead to my rise in May and June, and then what did I do differently from that time forward. In May and June Pokershare was running a promotion for the WSOP. It caused many people to play the 1/2 and 2/4 full ring games. Those games have pretty much died off. In July and August I have been playing 1/2 and 2/4 shorthanded games since I cannot find the full ring games. That is going to stop as of now.

So the strategy is to play the highest full ring game I can get on Pokershare (which on some days may only be .50/1) and then leave when it drops to 6 people. I will also play full ring games at Party at the 1/2 level since they will always have players.

My rakeback wont be as much during this period at pokershare, but I need to turn this thing around. I am just not winning playing shorthanded. I should have realized this earlier, but we can make the adjustment now. It will be slow going for a little while, but hopefully we see a steady increase in the bankroll.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. I am really racking my brain every night to figure out how I can end this slide. Best of luck to all of you!!!!!

Results from 8/17

I have honestly never been more happy about a losing day. I played the $30 MTT on Stars and we had 715 people enter, 63 get paid. I finished 128th despite never really having any good cards. I was eliminated when I pushed from late position (one off the button) with KdJd and was called by 66. I could not win the race and out I go. In my cash game I lost a whopping $7 despite all this happening to me....

Twice I flopped middle set only to lose to someone who flopped top set
Twice I turned trips only to lose to someone who had a boat
Once I had AK on a flop of K85 only to lose to someone who had KK

I was a set magnet. Yet I did not go on tilt, and I was able to minimize my losses. Overall a good day even though the bankroll dipped to 20.6k

Here is a question I answered on the bluff magazine forum. I thought I would share it here as well...

IamAfter5 wrote:
Ok ive been playing pretty good poker for about 2 years now , so ive thought, and it seems since I have gotten better the more I lose!!!!!!!!! Ive learned a lot of great moves etiquette and strategy however it seems the "better" my play is the more I lose!!! I make great decisions , I make the proper bet however in sng's i tend to either win the sng or lose quickly !! whats going on ?? Maybe I shouldnt be playing small sng HELP!!!!! FYI im playing great at my weekley home ring game but not good on the internet...




Ok this is about as vague a post as you can get, but I will give it a shot anyway. Many of us who have studied the game, practiced a ton both live and online, and eat, breathe, and sleep poker have gotten too good for our bankroll. What do I mean by that? We try and make "squeeze plays" and other advanced moves in a $10 SNG/MTT or a .25/.50 NL game and then we get upset when the donkey does not recognize it and calls with bottom pair and wins. So should we move up to the $25/$50 NL table and play $500 MTT where the people are theoritically more poker savvy? Hell no, unless you have the six figure bankroll that is required. What you should do is go back to playing ABC poker. Add some suited connectors and small pairs to the equation. When you get a hand, make sure you bet because they will pay you off. DONT SLOWPLAY. If you go back to the basics I am sure you will be fine. Best of luck at the tables.


You may find yourself in the same situation. I hope the tip helps. Good luck at the tables.

Results from 8/16

Well I posted my 2nd consecutive winning day!!!!! Normally I would not be this excited, but you all know how it has been running for me lately. I played in a $30 MTT on pokerstars and finished 45th out of 660 people to win $70. My final hand the blinds were 600/1200 and we had one person raise to 3600 and I am sitting with 1010 on the button. I knew he had AK and so I pushed allin for $5300 knowing that he would call. He did and of course he had AK. Unfortunately a K comes out on the flop and I am eliminated. If I win that pot I have over 14k in chips and I would have had another orbit or two before I was in trouble again.

In the cash game I won over $400, which put the profit for the day at $497, bringing the bankroll up to $20,684. Still a long way to go, but at least we are moving in the right direction again.

Tonight I will be back at it. Good luck at the tables!!!!!

The long road back

Hopefully we have started to make the climb. On Monday was another bad day as I just could not win a hand. It was horrible. I dropped to $19,873, which was the first time that the bankroll dropped under 20k since June 24th. All I could do was to try to stay positive and continue to play solid poker.

Yesterday that happened. I played 1/2 on Pokershare and Party Poker and I finished the day up $300. That may or may not sound like alot, but it sure felt good to post a win again. I used to remember the days when I could just string winning days together easily, but lately I have just not been running well.

So now the bankroll has once again topped 20k. Hopefully I never dip below again. I look forward to playing more winning poker with results that will equal my efforts.

Let me say thanks to all of you that showed support to me during these tough times. There are many days that I just did not want to post at all because I was so upset at my play and my results. I appreciate you guys sticking by me and messaging me your words of encouragement.

Best of luck to all of you. I hope to talk with you soon.

A different view.

Ok sorry for the vent last night. I should never post immediately after play, but I want people to see the ups and downs. If you would have told me at the end of June that I would be at 21k right now I would have said you were nuts. I just finished my best month ever and then the collapse hit.

Well it is time to regroup. I am going to focus on 1/2NL and getting back to the basics. If I can build it back to 25k then I will go back to 2/4. I am going to tighten the opening hand requirements, but play aggressively once I am in a pot. Hopefully I can salvage a small profit this month and move on. I reread some things about players going broke several times before they hit it big. I am determined not to let that happen to me. By dropping my limits again I hope to minimize this downswing and then take advantage again when the upswing happens. I know I will ride this out, and while it is discouraging right now, it will make the story that much better when I can prove myself.

Good luck on the tables. I will be hitting the Party 1/2 and the Pokershare 1/2 tonight.

I give up

Actually I don't yet, but I am pretty damn close. After another horrible weekend, both live and online, I am feeling like this game sucks. Tourney after tourney I bubbled after putting my money in with the best of it. Then in cash games I would either get rivered or call with the right price only not to catch. I am really, really sick of it.

Anyway a bankroll update. We are down to 21k as of today. That is about $1,100 in losses this month so far. I know that the month is young, but this is not going to cut it. It better get better quick, because I am very upset as of now.

Before I donk off any more money I am calling it quits early tonight. Take care and good luck.

Results from 8/9

Well it was not a great day for me last night. I played well, but I just did not show a profit. All of my losses stemmed from two hands. Both times I had AA and lost to flopped sets on all rag flops. Once it was to 88, the other time it was 99. I need to figure a way to get off those hands.

So overall for the night I lost $300, which dropped the bankroll down to $23,174. Today I will continue to play some 1/2 and 2/4 NL and I will try some tourneys since I am home today.

Good luck everyone.

Results from 8/8

Well yesterday was a good day for me. I played some 2/4 on Pokershare and I also played in their $500 guarantee at 10pm. I finished 7th in the 500 guarantee. I took a bad beat to get elminated when a guy went runner runner straight on me to win. I won a whopping $20. In the cash game I won over $600 and finished up the night with a $650 win.

So the bankroll is now at $23,489 again. Not bad at all. Tonight will be more 1/2 or 2/4 NL as well as a tourney or two possibly.

I also set up my account at Party Poker. My id there is ionafan1234. I have never played a real money game there so it should be interesting. Of course I will post the results tomorrow. Best of luck to everyone.

Results from 8/7

It is good to be able to post results again, even if they are not good. I did not play poorly, but I was a little unlucky losing to flush draws when I put in enough that they should not have called. Oh well. Overall for the day I lost $98 to put the bankroll at $22,839.

Now just so you know I have started taking out $1000 a month out of the bankroll to deposit in the "home" account. The $22,839 reflects that I took that money out already. Sometime in early 2007 that number will increase to $2000 a month as part of a deal I struck with my wife. This will allow me to look at this more like a part time job, and my wife will support me by staying at home and handling the bulk of the chores. Right now she watches two kids to earn some extra money, but that will stop early next year.

Why am I telling you guys this? So that you will understand the fluctuations in the bankroll. I don't want anyone to think that I am hiding losses. When I receive my rakeback check each month I will then transfer the $1000 out. Hopefully I can play enough that the rakeback check will take care of the entire amount. With vacation last month I cleared $768 and I missed 6 days this month so it should be about the same.

I am also thinking about adding Party Poker into the rotation. I never played at Party Poker. My reason for playing there is that I have a cousin who likes poker and plays there. Plus there is an abundance of full ring games at every level. I am just waiting to hear what kind a deal, if any, I can get there.

Good luck everyone!!!

I am back!!!!!!!

Ok the vacation is over, and man I am tired. Who would of thought that 9 days of swimming, drinking, and playing cards would be that tiring? Now I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

Seriously though I had a great time. Hanging out with my cousins, drinking my Uncle Rich's famous slushes, and playing about 500 games of Euchre. Those of you that know me, know that I am not a huge drinker. I drank more in the last week than I have in the past year thanks to those damn slushes. They are so good I will tell you how to make them.

First you get some frozen pink lemonade. It cannot be Minute Maid lemonade, it must be an off brand (this is a theme, and you must trust me). Pour the whole can in a container and save the can. Next pour in a can of lemon/lime soda into the container. Again it must be an off brand like Kroger lemon/lime. Now fill the lemonade can with Smirnoff rasberry vodka and then pour that into the container. Ok now you have the mix. Now get a blender, fill with ice, and pour the mix about 3/4 of the way up the blender. Mix until it is slush. Now enjoy. You can drink these all day without getting sick or getting a hangover. Trust me again, we tried the theory out.

I talked with some of you while I logged in to show my cousins the world of online poker. I also was able to play one day of live poker at a casino in Indiana. I played in a rebuy tourney that cost $140 to enter with $40 rebuys and a $60 addon. I was eliminated in the 2nd hour with a royal flush draw against someone who had top pair. I could not hit my outs and was done. I did win $375 playing the cash game though.

So the bankroll is now at $22,937. We have a long way to go to get back to the high of 28k, but I feel refreshed and ready to attack. I am sure I will be much more focused this week. Take care and good luck.