January 31, 2006

Bad start but good finish tonight. I bubbled and took a 2nd and 3rd in my final 3 sngs...ran into a big hand with my AK on the bubble...unfortunate...and lost a couple bad ones when i got ITM on the other 2. I have been playing well...a bit tighter tonight than last, but still playing well. I am tired, so i am gonna call it a night.

January 30, 2007

I just played a set of 3. Played well and took 2, 3, and 5th. ugh, i played great tonight and feel like i was owning the tables. Its amazing what people will call you with late in sngs. You really must stay disciplined and play your strong hands aggressively because you will get action. I took 2 str8 75:25 beats when we got to the money. That would have set me up with a dominating chip lead heads up, instead i was out in 3rd. I ran into aces with my AKs late in a sng...id do it again if in the same situation. And I took a few nasty ones in the one i took 2nd in...overall, good night and i might play a few more.

One thing i did a bit more of in this set was playing back at raisers. If there is a weakish raise and you are yet to act, i find that if you read any weakness or if they are the big stack, you can make a relatively modest raise and take it down. I think they feel like the smallish reraise is a sign of strength and they let the hand go...i need to start using this more...i am super tight early in sngs, so its best used the in the middle to later part when blinds have creeped up and my table image is definitely tight.

January 24, 2006

so far i have lost 3 buy ins...lost to an opened ender, horrible preflop call with Q10 and he hit...i lost AA to 22 and also lot 1010 to AK on the river ace...never fails! just lost A10s when i flopped a nut flush draw to K10 and i took one of his outs with the K of diamond...and he hit the 2 outter on the river! i lose every fucking coin flip...i fuckin hate poker. just lost kk to AA...not my night...

i am not in the right place right now to play poker...between the issues with online payments to the horrible beats and endless suck outs...i am gonna take a long, maybe permanent break from poker...if things open up a bit and the restrictions let up, i might start again, but right now i just dont have the desire to play...

bubbled when my set lost toa 4 flush. won another and heads up in another...won two...back to damn near even...im a stud again! :o)

January 18, 2007

I am a bit concerned about the news regarding Neteller. They are really making this hard on the casual player to fund their accounts. I am worried about how quickly this will affect the player pool and how difficult it will become to make some $$ playing poker. I hope the casual player is more hardcore than I think they are...willing to open up new accounts at online financial intermediaries to stay ahead of the US government...what a shame and waste of resources.

On to the tables...

January 16, 2007

I am playing periodically. I have decided to make one last ditch effort to pick up playing again. In doing so, I have allowed myself to gamble a bit. I am playing with a modest bankroll of just under $500 bucks and figured I would pick up my play and either crap out or start to make some money. One nice benefit is the money comes in faster and motivates you more, but one short slide and its all over. I dont think i would reup at this point...But I have been playing great since committing. I have won about 200 in 2 days...starting to build my bankroll, work on my game and starting to see the results. I am cashing regularly and taking a few too many bubbles for my liking, but it's a great sign that i continually get there. Time to adjust and play a bit tighter game...

Overall, promising. Periodic updates to follow...

I just ran some numbers and I am truly gambling by stepping up to the $36s. I only had about 14 buy ins...so that is definitely something I would tell others to avoid doing. If you add my current bankroll with the rakeback I have in my account, I now have about 23 buy ins. I dont feel comfortable until I have about 30-40 and truly comfortable when I have 70 or more. I have seen too many swings to feel comfortable with any less then 50.

Part of my game I need to work and focus on is my bubble play. I know how important this stage of the game is, but I have been a bit donkish lately on it...bubbling far too often and regretting some decisions I have made. I was shortstacked when I made these moves, but I was forcing the issue and cost myself some $$. The more regularly I play, the more I will be able to tighten up this bubble situation...repetition is key for me. These decisions must come quicky and be second nature if I am ever going to start to add more tables.

January 8, 2007

I havent played any since the first day of the month. Today I decided I am going to play the $36s and just stick with those to see if I make it...If I dont, I can quit poker for a while...I need to move up because I am getting frustrated at the lower levels.

I did play a few bubbles poorly...I need to make sure I play a better game on the bubble...I am getting a little loose at times. I guess that is a balance because being too tight on the bubble leads to blinding into 4th place, or at least making it difficult to money. So, I need to evaluate whether it is bad luck or bad strategy. I guess I was on the bubble with AK vs K6 and lost to my 3 outter...so it is more bad luck than anything...I like the way I am playing and think it will all come around...excited to be playing the $36s.

January 1, 2007!!

Well, a quick few thoughts before I start playing. I am going to try to grind as hard as possible for as long as possible. I need to see what I am capable of because I need to either give up poker or focus on it, but this half-assing has got to stop. I know I can make a good amount of money doing this, but the question has always been if my level of commitment is there. I am going to test that in 2007.

I am halfway to getting a new monitor to start 6-8 tabling. I would like to log about 500 sngs this month while I start to work out as well. Time to bring some discipline back into my life. I am going to try to clear my Full Tilt bonus as quickly as possible. I have been nickel and diming it down, but its time to clear it and start raking up the rakeback.

Here is a quick review of my revised goals for the year...

1. DISCIPLINE!!!!
2. Stay employed at my current job. I am starting a new job and would like to have some stability. As long as I am not going to be a full time poker pro, I might as well keep a decent day job.
3. Win at least $20,000 playing poker (not including rakeback!)
4. Enter at least 1 WSOP event - or play is larger buy in online tourneys with regularity.
   
5. Move up to playing $109 sngs
6. Hit my goals of playing 400 sngs a month. Moving up to 500-800 sngs a month as my game progresses.
7. Enjoy my life more
8. Appreciate my friends and family more
9. Work out!!! Getting too fat!!
10. DISCIPLINE!!!!

There is just so much to say about the past year and my plans/ambition for the new year. I have a great mental state of mind right now. The past year was interesting and I have learned a hell of a lot about myself. The one thing that I have internalized is that I need to work a little harder at my game, concentrate harder while playing, and be much more disciplined in everything that I do. I suppose those are fairly generic statements, but I think we often know how we are supposed to live our lives, but executing the plan is often difficult. I allow myself to be distracted too easily and end up losing a week of my life doing absolutely nothing. I need to quit wasting time and starting looking towards the future. That is why my blog will take a different tone because there is a new level of intensity I am hoping to bring to my game. I have been so lazy at the tables that I feel I owe it to myself to play proper and log the tables. My previous posts were typically afterthoughts...a bunch of yammering about bad beats and just venting frustration. Those are going to go away and I am going to start to focus on the progress I have made because I used to play at a significantly higher buy in than I am now. Now, its time to get back there and get over the next hump...

Full Tilt is down right now, but as soon as it gets back up to 25k+ players, i will start to 4-table.

I got my first 10 sngs in 2007 finished. I am down, but playing disciplined. Still surprised by the aggressive CALLING range that I see. I was called by 89 on the bubble. I think tightening up on the bubble might be in order due to this wide calling range...I also see a lot of King hi calls with kickers all the way down to 2. Getting in ahead and playing well...just need to keep doing what I am doing and I think I will be fine.

Took a beating tonight. Hoping that things will take a turn for me in the next few days. I think today I was able to play solid from the start...donked one sng off with a loose call early. I am finding that I get myself into good +EV situations, so I will take that as a good sign and continue to play this style. One thing to note, I often play slightly too loose when I first sit down...I need to be careful to sit down in a focused mindset...otherwise it takes me a set to realize that I need to pull back a bit. As I increase my volume of play, I am excited to see a hot streak all the way through. I often quit after a hot set...but it would be nice to keep playing and hopefully catch fire. Often, it isnt just the cards holding up, but you just get in the zone...I would like to see what happens when I log 3 hours in the zone :)