My big day!!!!!

Well it started with me wanting to watch my friend play in the nightly $150 tourney on Pokerstars. Since I had the software open anyway I started to look for a tourney that I could play. I saw a $20 rebuy PLO tourney and thought to myself that I have been doing well in PLO so why not. I threw in $42 for the entry fee plus a rebuy so that I could start with a double stack. In the first 15 minutes I doubled up with the nut flush. I then kept winning small to medium pots and I finished the rebuy period 7th in chips. For the rest of the tourney I was able to stay within the top 11 in chips (18 got paid). The whole 2nd hour I was in the tourney with legggggggy, and he was the only player that I knew.

A key hand that vaulted me to the final table was one that I had AKQJ double suited and looked at a flop of 992. The guy bet about 18k and I called. The turn brought a 5 and he bet 12k and I called again. The river brought a 9 and now he bet 6k. I am thinking he does not have a 9, but he could have had the 2 and now he cannot use it. I am thinking that my AK is still good, so I call. Sure enough he was bluffing and my AK won the pot. That gave me 100k in chips and I never fell below that amount again.

Once I was at the final table I just kept playing solid poker. One guy kept eliminating people and soon I was heads up as a 2-1 dog into the third break. I did not ask for a chop because I thought that I could beat this guy even though I was a dog. Sure enough the first hand I double up with AAxx against his KKxx. After about 6 hands or so we are done and I win first place for $2,633.50 which is my largest tourney win to date!!!!

As for my friend? He busted 3 out of of the money in the tourney when he pushed with AQ against 77. He lost the race and bubbled out of the tourney. I probably would have coasted into the money, but he plays to win, which is why he has chopped the tourney twice in the last month for almost 50k in winnings.

Anyway the bankroll is now up to 25.6k overall. I am going to play a little today since the wife is sick and we had to cancel our plans. I hope that all of you have a happy and healthy New Year.

Results from 12/27

Well after taking a bit of a dip again on Tuesday, I was confident that I was going to turn it around. With about an hour to go in my session I was doing just that, winning about $400. Then I lost a hand that I played rather poorly. I had QQ and one guy made a standard raise from the sb and I called. The flop is all rags and he bets $20 and I call. The turn is another rag and he bets $40 and I call. The river is a J and he bets $75 and I call. He flips over KK and takes the pot. Now if I reraise him on the flop and he comes back at me then I know he is strong and I can possibly lay this down and save myself some money. Instead I just called my way into losing this pot. Another hand I had 7s and the flop comes out all rags and the guy bets and I call. The turn is a K and I check and he checks. The flop is an ace and I bet out $75 and he calls with 88 and wins. After all that I end up leaving up $100 for the night and the bankroll stands at 22.5k overall.

Ben posted yesterday about not pressing to get this back to 25k and I agree with him. Like I have said earlier, if I did not take out any money at all I would be at 30k. I am just going to try and play a solid game and the results will be what they will be.

Best of luck to everyone out there. I am off to an all day planning session at work. Who the hell schedules an all day planning session on the 28th of December. Oh well....

Reports from a slumping player

First of all I hope that all of you had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2007.

After taking out some more money for Christmas gifts for the wife, I sat down to play some poker. I lost 2k over the weekend playing mostly cash games. In 20 minutes I lost 1000 of it. Once allin with AA against KK, the other allin with AA vs 89o. Very heartbreaking. Looking back there are a couple of mistakes I made in some calls when I knew I was beat, but the majority of the losses came on hands that just did not hold up. Of course that will change.

So the bankroll is still just north of 23k overall. My goal is to get back that 2k and finish the year at 25k. That means that I would have almost quintupled my bankroll not counting all the money I cashed out. That to me would be a successful campaign.

So I am out to play solid poker and to make that happen. Best of luck to all of you out there.

Man that hurts!!!!!!

I played and bubbled in the 35k guarantee ($163 entry) last night at Full Tilt. I finished 40th (top 36 get paid) when I pushed allin in mid position with JJ and I was called on the button by a guy holding 88. An 8 on the turn did me in. I pushed because I had an "M" of 5 and I wanted to win rather than just cash. If my hand holds up I would be out of the danger zone and would have cashed pretty easily.

Fortunately I did win over $700 in my 8/16 HORSE game. For the day the profit was just about $600, which puts the bankroll at 25.5k.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a great holiday season. Best of luck to all of you.

Results from 12/20

Well I was able to play more last night, and I was able to continue my winning ways. I played some 2/4 NL and some 8/16 HORSE. I also played in the Omaha deepstack tourney on FT. The cash games netted me a tidy profit of $700. There were only a couple of key hands. One was my AA vs QQ. The flop came out Qxx but the turn was a beautiful A to let me double up. About 30 minutes later I limped in with 66 (my favorite hand), and the bb raised to $16 and I called. The flop comes out 6,3,8 and I slowplayed my set until the guy put all his money in with his AA on the turn. He did not get any help and I won that hand as well.

In the tourney I finished 12th out of 195. That makes my 2nd top 15 finish in that tourney this week. Twice I was rivered to ruin what would have been a nice final table finish. I still earned $70 for the 12th place standing.

So the profit for the night was about $750, which brought the bankroll over 24.9K. Hopefully we can keep the trend going tonight. I am also 1-0 in my bowl pool and rooting for Oregon +5.5 tonite against BYU. Best of luck everyone.

A very short session

We had our last week of bowling last night, so we had our meeting at the end to give out prizes. My team finished tied for 7th out of 15 teams. At the midpoint of the season we were 14th, so this was a good run at the end. I believe we will be much better when we start up on January 9th.

So by the time I got home it was about 10:30pm. Since I had to be at work by 7:30 this morning, I could not play much. I did pick up a huge hand when I won with AA vs QQ that really helped make the short session valuable. I won about $700 in an hour, and when you add some modest rakeback to the equation, it ups the bankroll to 24.2k.

Tonight I am looking to play more. Hopefully we can put a couple of back to back profitable sessions together.

You ever have one of those days....

When you just cannot win? I had one of those days. Here are four examples.....

2/4 NL hand and I have A10s in the bb. The button raises to $14 and I call. The flop comes out AQ10 all diamonds. I check and the button bets $25. I figure he could have AK and is feeling me out, though he could have AQ or maybe just a draw. I decide to find out right away by putting him allin. It now costs him $200 to win a pot of $290. He calls and flips over JJ with one of the Jacks being a diamond. He hits the King of diamonds on the turn for a Royal Flush. Then he tells me that he had a "feeling" and that he normally does not call off all his chips on a draw. Now I guess I could have just flat called the flop bet and take a card off or just raise him only $50 instead of going allin. What would you do????

Next hand I would not have played any differently. I have 77 in late position and limp in. The sb makes it $14 and the bb and I call. The flop comes out AA7. Woohoo a boat. The sb bets $30 and the bb calls. I go allin for $500 figuring one of these guys has to have AK and will call. The sb calls instantly and the bb folds. The sb flips over AK and I show my boat. Turn is a 4. River is a 4 and I am out a ton of money.

Now I move to my 8/16 HORSE game and we are in the 7 card hi/low portion. After 5 cards I have 7642A and all of them are clubs. We cap the turn for $64 each with one guy having a pair on board and the other guy only having two cards below a queen. One guy catches the case ace for aces full (all three cards are aces) and the other guy catches a 7 for a 75432 low and instead of scooping I am out on both sides.

So I shut off all my cash games and concentrate on my Omaha deepstack tourney on Full Tilt. With 15 people left (out of 198, 18 cashed) I am 8th in chips. I get 10h10cKsQs and I raise. One guy calls me. The flop comes 10dAs4s and I make a pot sized bet, get raised, and then I go allin. He has Ad4c5dKc. Turn is a diamond and the river is a diamond and I am out in 15th place.

So remarkably I did not destroy my laptop, nor did I curse or kick the family dog. I just shut the day down losing $500 which makes the bankroll at 23.3k. Today has to be a better day.

That is all for now. Best of luck out there to all of you.

Update from the last couple of days

Well I have not been feeling well as of lately, which has caused me not to post. I had the flu most of last week, but I did play some. I have been trying my best to multitable with three tables at once, two 2/4 NL tables and one 8/16 HORSE table. This will enable me to maximize rakeback for myself on Full Tilt, while not putting my bankroll in jeopardy. I have done that successfully the last four days, winning $3000 overall to put my bankroll at 23.8k. I am also expecting a rakeback payment from Full Tilt which will put me over 24k. I will keep everyone posted on my progress.

Best of luck to everyone out there.

Update from 12/11

Last night sure was not fun. I was having a bad case of "riveritis". I was playing 8/16 HORSE and 1/2 PL HA and man I was getting absolutely screwed. A couple of hands to demonstrate this was getting Queens full after five cards on 7 card stud only to have a guy river the case ace for aces full after we were betting the entire way. Then losing back to back hands in Razz, one with 7532A to a guy who rivers a 7432A and then losing with 6532A to a guy who rivers the nut low.

So overall I dropped about $600 which puts me at 20.8k. I cannot worry too much about it because I am sure anyone would have lost money with those kinds of hands. There was a hand or two that I have played poorly, but that is about it. You just need to pick yourself up and just move on. Hopefully today is a much better day.

As for the hand that I posted yesterday, I ended up making the call and here is why. I am figuring that if he makes the move with 88-KK, I am a 2-1 dog, but if he is making this move with KQs,QJs, or KJs and I am a 55-45 favorite. I figure if you average the two of these then the 1.5 or 1.6-1 odds I am getting are about right. I made the call and he shows KJs and my ace held up and I won. That shows how putting someone on a range of hands will help you make a much better decision.

Weekend Update

Well I first would like to congratulate my buddy Drew for chopping headsup in the $150 Pokerstars tourney on Friday night for 20.5k!!!!!! This guy is an awesome tourney player who needs to play in more of these level of events.

Now for me I did play a little online and some live with my friends. Online I have been sticking with the 8/16 HORSE game and the 2/4 PL HA game on Full Tilt. I won about $500 for the weekend again which puts me 21.5k overall.

We had a single table $25 tourney on Saturday night which I finished 2nd in for $75. I also won some money in the cash game that we had as well. We always have a good time even though we do not play for alot of money.

There is one hand I want to ask the readers about. We have four players left (three get paid), and I am 2nd in chips with 21k. The blinds are 200/400 with a 50 ante and I make it 1500 to go UTG with Ac5c. The button folds, the small blind goes allin for 7500 total and the bb folds. It is now 6000 more to me to win a pot of 9600. The guy making this play is probably an 8 on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being tight but he is capable of making a play when shortstacked. What do you do???? I will let you know what I did and the result tomorrow.

Take care and best of luck to you.

I am back!!!!!!

Sorry for the long time away everyone. As some of you know, I was on vacation for two weeks with my family, and I did not have much time online during that period. I am back now and ready to play some poker once again.

I did make some changes regarding bankroll while I was away though. I used some of my bankroll for the vacation, and then I took some more out to buy my parents a TV for their anniversary. I am also taking out some for my wife's Christmas presents.

I also decided that I will take out 1k a month to put aside to finish the basement, and do some other house projects. Rather than wait and take out some all at once, I am going to take out a little every month.

So where does all that taking out put me??? Well before today I am still right around 21k. Not bad considering all that I have spent in the past month. I have been calculating and I would have been around 28-30k had I left everything alone. But I decided that I did not want to play cards just to play cards. I want to be able to give something back to my family who gives me all of my moral support. That is what I intend to do.

On the good news front... have you checked out Full Tilt lately??? They have added a mixed games tab that is just awesome. They have HORSE and HOSE and my new favorite, PL HA which is a PL HE and a PLO mix. I love that game.

So now I will be playing mostly the mix games for a while. I won $500 last night playing the PL HA game, and I will continue to give it a shot.

Anyway thanks for all the concerns. I am not broke yet, and I will keep you better up to date on my progress. Best of luck to all of you out there!!!!!