August 11, 2008

I am surprised by the number of people that have visited my site. I started this to just track my own performance and to make myself accountable. It has been fun, but I have had significant breaks in my play. Poker is fun, but it can really be a grind. I know in the past as I have tried to increase my play it has caused me to burn out relatively quickly. I have never taken a break to flushing my bankroll, however. I have always found a way to be profitable and now i am going to try to find a way to balance poker, a full time job, and a family.

I didn't play any cash games this weekend, but played in the midnight madness tourney on full tilt. I cashed, made about $3. Long day for such a small payout, but I played relatively well. Did not get many hands to play and the ones that I did held up. The more I think about it, the more I think I will not have time to play poker...especially if 2.25 hours of poker nets $3! However, if I can continue to build my bankroll I think positive cash flows will force me to create time. I might have to go back to grinding sngs...I just dont know yet. i think some study time and a few trips to 2+2 will help out with my transition.

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Played cash for about an hour today. I decided to jump into a $24+2 7-card stud hi limit tourney. I havent played stud since I accidentally joined a tourney when I first started playing online poker a few years ago, but I final tabled that tourney. I played a bit poorly early on this tourney donking off half my chips, but just after the first break i was in the top 15. Started with about 120 people and we have about 59 left right now. So, no where near the money. I need to stay disciplined and just play my solid hands. It is fun playing 7-card stud and i am sure there is a lot more equity in these tourneys...anyway, for now its a fun change of pace. Let's see how i fare...

In the second level I played about 2 hands. I got the nut flush draw after 4 cards which hurt my stack a little, but i hit aces up and almost doubled an orbit later...right now, we are 20 mins before the break and i am in about 20th place out of 45. I know I am not the best 7-card stud player...i need to learn a little bit more about starting hands...i am a bit tight, but it seems to serve me well as my natural tendencies seem to do well at stud.

15 mins prior to break, i get dealt 99 10. I call the bring in and 4 of us get another card. I catch a 9 and repop the raise. in hindsight, i should have just called to reraise when the bets increased, but thats just me and my inexperience. I got called down to the river and didnt quite double, but it put me in the top 8 stacks...looking solid going into the 2nd break. 10 mins before the break, the chipleader who has twice the 2nd stack got moved immediately to my right. I lost a big hand on the last hand before break...my 2pr lost to a better 2 pr...need to do some work as I now sit 15th out of 26. If i would have hit my straight, i would have been sitting nicely in 3rd place...had a nice hand, 2pr and an OESD.

Played well, but busted 22nd...all i needed was to hit a 2nd pair...had queens and couldnt improve. lost to aces...solid effort, was fun.

I played a few sngs tonight as well. They are super juicy. I might have to start playing these again...