Why DaJournal?
I have been meaning to start a poker journal for awhile now primarily because I need to spend more time reviewing and improving my game. So many times I neglect to review my big winners and losers from previous sessions in lieu of some extra playing time. Additionally, I think the added accountablity of having to report my results periodically will help me plug some leaks. I still make 1 or 2 terrible calls per session that are killing my win rate. I know they are bad when I make them and would appreciate it if you guys will ridicule me aprropriately when I post them. Hopefully this will help me plug this leak.

DaBackgroun'
I am a 27 year old living in Memphis, TN. I have a degree in finance and was recently employed as a professional here in town. Unfortunately I was laid off in a "restructuring" effort this past winter. I intend to start graduate school this fall if I get into the program I want. I fully intend to return to my career as an investment professional, however as of right now I am banging it out as a professional poker player.

My grandad taught me how to play poker when I was about 10 years old. He gave me $20 for a present and then proceeded to win it back from me in about 15 minutes of 5-card draw. He wouldn't give it back to me until I memorized the winning hand card in the pack of cards we were playing with. I am forever grateful for that first lesson. I started playing the typical b.s. games in high school. These included Dr. Pepper (2s, 4s, 10s wild 5-card draw, match the pot), between-the-sheets, and Mexican Sweat. I contiued playing these types of games through my college years. During my last year of college I watched a game of Texas Hold'em at the Grand Casino in Tunica. I immediately went out and bought Sklansky's book. I really didn't start playing Hold'em though until about 2 years ago. My friends and I got sucked into the WPT craze and began having weekly hold'em tourneys at my apartment. We soon got tired of having to sit out after busting and switched to playing a ring game. We play 1-2NL with a $100 buy-in. Most of the regulars at our game are good players. Of all the cash games I have played in Las Vegas and Tunica I have not found many games tougher than our home game.

Da Net
I would say that I have been a "pro" now for about two months. I started out 4-tabling NL50 (6-max) games at Party with some pretty decent results. After about 25k hands my winrate was 8.1PTBB/HH. I know this isn't great, but it also includes a lot of hands where I wasn't using PT effectively to pick tables and was playing way too passively. I think my PFA was around 1.8 or something for these hands. The latter half of these hands was played at a winrate of about 11PTBB/HH. At this point my bankroll was up to $3k and I decided to move up to NL100. This is where the journal begins.

I had alot of free time this past weekend so I set a goal for myself of winning $1500. I figured it would take about 7,500 hands at 10PTBBs. To make a long story short I fell well short of my goal despite playing 7,750 hands. Here are the daily results:

Friday: 2,584 hands at 9.95PTBB/HH = $514 (VP$IP = 21.28, PFR% = 6.27%, PFA = 2.05)

Overall I played pretty well on Friday, but I should have won another $250 or so. I took a couple of pretty ridiculous beats that cost me around $180 and then I made a really stupid bluff that cost me around $70. I know bad beats are part of the game, but these two were pretty bad. I'll post one of them in the NL forum. I am going to post my bad plays in this forum though. Here is Friday's moron move of the day-->

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 5 handed)

SB ($99.25)
BB ($129.1)
UTG ($144.56)
Hero ($67.7)
Button ($91)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls $1, Hero calls $1, 1 fold, SB (poster) completes, BB raises to $1, UTG calls $1, Hero calls $1, SB calls $1.

Flop: ($8) , , (4 players)
SB checks, BB bets $3, UTG folds, Hero raises to $10, SB folds, BB calls $7.

Turn: ($28) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $18, BB calls $18.

River: ($64) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero calls $37.70 (All-In), BB calls $37.70.

Final Pot: $139.40

Results in white below:
BB has Kh Qc (two pair, kings and queens).
Hero has 7h Ah (high card, ace).
Outcome: BB wins $139.40.

I almost vomited when I replayed this in PT. My opponent was a known calling station. I think my raise on the flop was good, but I don't know why I didn't just take the free card on the turn. The stone bluff on the end was completely amateurish. One thing that I noticed during the replay was that I only started the hand w/ $67. This definetly means I lost the previous hand as I always reload below $90. Can you say T-I-L-T?

Saturday April 16th

I stayed up until about 4am Friday night/Saturday morning and then walked 18-holes of golf at about 8am. I won about $10 playing golf, but that's for another forum. Despite a nap I was still exhausted when I started playing poker at about 7pm. I think this affected my play as I was very irritable which generally leads to me making calls when I know I'm beat, but can't accept that my opponent "played that crap." This is my #1 leak and it showed up on Saturday. Results:

Saturday: 1,822 Hands at 4.13PTBB/HH= $150 (VP$IP = 24.70,PFR% = 6.81,PFA = 3.55)

I played pretty poorly on Saturday. Although it wasn't too dramatic my VP$IP drifted up towards 25% which isn't necessarily a killer, but is a sign of less discipline than usual. The lone bright spot for the session was that I was aggressive. (PFA 3.55) This is something I've been working on recently. Unfortunately I was unable to back down when people fired back and I should have known (or ignored) that I was beaten. I had a couple of unfortunate situations. (not bad beats, but big time traps). I lost about $115 with Kings versus Aces. My opponent was a huge LAG that I know would go in Pre-flop w/ Jacks, Queens, or AK. I stand by that decision despite the result. There is another tough one that I'll post in the NL Forum. On to the ugly. Moron moves of the
day-->

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed)

SB ($111.95)
BB ($149.45)
UTG ($61.7)
Hero ($154.56)
CO ($39.9)
Button ($19.95)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, Hero raises to $4, 3 folds, BB calls $3.

Flop: ($8.50) , , (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB calls $6.

Turn: ($20.50) (2 players)
BB bets $10, Hero raises to $30, BB calls $20.

River: ($80.50) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $50, BB calls $50.

Final Pot: $180.50

Results in white below:
BB has Qh As (one pair, aces).
Hero has 4d 7d (high card, ace).
Outcome: BB wins $180.50.

Wow, with moves like this it is amazing I ever win. First off, who the hell rasies with 74s in middle position? Me apparently. The flop bet wasn't that bad, but similar to Friday I should have taken the freebie on the turn. And the bluff, please verbally flog me for that one. I must have thought there was a 6th card and decided to bet the gutshot draw I picked up on the river.
#2
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed)

BB ($221.35)
UTG ($100)
MP ($428.7)
CO ($73.55)
Button ($652.82)
Hero ($145.05)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , . Hero posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, MP raises to $3, 1 fold, Button calls $3, Hero (poster) calls $2.50, 1 fold.

Flop: ($10) , , (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $3, Button calls $3, Hero calls $3.

Turn: ($19) (3 players)
Hero checks, MP checks, Button checks.

River: ($19) (3 players)
Hero bets $15, MP folds, Button raises to $55, Hero calls $40.

Final Pot: $129

Results in white below:
Hero has Js Ks (straight, king high).
Button has Jh Ad (straight, ace high).
Outcome: Button wins $129.

Why did I check this turn? I should have bet and hoped to get raised. I had the nut straight and a flush draw. The call on the river was pretty bad as I called off $40 to AT BEST split the pot.

#3 This may be the worst of the bunch
Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 max, 5 handed)

MP ($50)
Button ($80.1)
SB ($47)
Hero ($241.71)
UTG ($79)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
1 fold, MP raises to $2, Button calls $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.

Flop: ($6.50) , , (3 players)
Hero checks, MP checks, Button bets $8, Hero calls $8, MP calls $8.

Turn: ($30.50) (3 players)
Hero bets $15, MP calls $40 (All-In), Button folds, Hero calls $25.

River: ($110.50) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $110.50

Results in white below:
Hero has 5s 3s (high card, king).
MP has 4d 4h (three of a kind, fours).
Outcome: MP wins $110.50.

So I was drawing to the low straight with a flush draw and a bigger straight on the board. Good thinking genius. bbrrrrrrring Calling Station, how may I help you?

If not for these three blatant mistakes I would have won another ~$200+ for the night. Not good. Not professional.

Now for part three of this weekend's trilogy. We'll call this episode the never-ending story. Sunday's results:

3,344 Hands at 2.40PTBB/HH = $160 (VP$IP = 24.34, PFR% = 6.97, PFA = 2.40)

The stats and results do not even begin to describe what actually happened during this session. At one point in the night I was stuck for about -$500 so needless to say I was absolutely thrilled to finish in the green. I was really frustrated in the beginning of the session because I was treading water for about two hours and could not find (or keep) any good tables going. Every time I found a fish another player would bust them and the game would break. This proved to be the least of my worries as I soon took two horrific beats and proceeded to tilt for about an hour. This wasn't the typical "Party Fish" tilt where you make huge bets on a bluff, but more just me making loose calls for moderate amounts of money. A couple of bad plays and yet another runner-runner bad beat and I'm down 5 buyins in about two hours. Once I saw the big negative # on my PT screen I got up and walked outside for about ten minutes. I took some deep breaths and vowed to myself (cheezy I know, but it worked) that I would play my best poker for 2 more hours and try to make back some of the money even if it was only a couple hundred bucks. Well the two hours turned into more like 6, but I got all of my money back and finished up $160 for the day. This was a huge victory in my mind and showed me how good I can be when I really focus.

I only made one really bad-really big moron move tonight. I made a few loose calls during the bad streak, but they were a multitude of $20 mistakes rather than $100 mistakes like this one. Moron move of the day-->

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed)

UTG ($83)
Hero ($241.05)
CO ($123.58)
Button ($230.15)
SB ($107.8)
BB ($576.68)

Preflop: Hero is MP with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls $1, Hero raises to $4, CO calls $4, Button calls $4, SB (poster) calls $3.50, BB calls $3, UTG calls $3.

Flop: ($24) , , (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $16, CO calls $16, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls $16.

Turn: ($72) (3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $50, CO calls $50, UTG calls $63 (All-In), Hero calls $13, CO calls $13.

River: ($261) (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero bets $41, CO calls $40.58 (All-In).

Final Pot: $342.58

Results in white below:
UTG has 6d Js (two pair, jacks and sixes).
Hero has 6s 5s (two pair, sixes and fives).
CO has 9s Jh (two pair, jacks and nines).
Outcome: CO wins $342.16. Hero wins $0.42.

The semi-bluff bet would have been ok heads up or maybe against two opponents, but with such a large field I had to think someone caught a good piece of even that sorta ragged flop. Nice job being the aggressor with the 3rd place hand huh. 65s OOP is not such a good idea.

Entry #4 (Weekend of April 23rd-24th)

I was in New York for most of the week so I didn't get to play until Saturday. My results for the weekend were a little subpar. As this is the 2nd week in a row that my win rate has been too low I am going to take a hard look at my game and try to plug some leaks. That said I am winning, which is certainly the first requirement.

4,247 Hands at 4.21 PTBB/HH = $357 (VP$IP = 20.58, PFR% = 6.19%, PFA = 2.38)

I'm happy with my VP$IP level for the week as I like to keep it below 21 or so. I tried to focus on pitching the Axs stuff unless I was on the button or in the CO. I'm probably going to cut all of the A8s & below as they were unprofitable as a whole over the last 2 weeks. AK and AQ absolutely killed me this week. I lost $375 with those three hands over the weekend. I made one bad mistake w/ AKs (its posted in the NL Forum) and then got into a tough situation with AKo. (made Ks full of 7s and lost to Quad 7s). I need to get my PFA level up a little bit.

Here is my moron move of the weekend:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ Hero (6 max, 6 handed)

Button ($74.82)
SB ($568.38)
Hero ($212.03)
UTG ($191.05)
MP ($97.5)
CO ($87.05)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , . SB posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls $1, MP calls $1, CO calls $1, Button calls $1, SB (poster) completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($6) , , (6 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG checks, MP bets $5, CO folds, Button calls $5, SB folds, Hero calls $5, UTG folds.

Turn: ($21) (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $11, Button calls $11, Hero calls $11.

River: ($54) (3 players)
Hero bets $25, MP raises to $75, Button folds, Hero calls $50.

Final Pot: $204

Results in white below:
Hero has 7h Th (flush, king high).
MP has Ah 3h (flush, ace high).
Outcome: MP wins $204.

I'm all for making sneaky hands at the right time, but this was not one of them. My opponent was the only (other?) good player at the table and I should have insta-folded to his $50 raise on the river. There is no way he would have raised me w/o a bigger flush. I should have put him on the Ace anyway since he was leading. This was pretty bad play IMO.

Wow, so much for not playing on Mondays. I usually take off on Monday b/c I play so much on the weekends that I need a day off to review my stats and make adjustments to my game. However, I was really pumped up about playing today after deciding to make a couple of adjustments. As I mentioned in the previous post I decided to drop all suited Aces from A8s on down. I also became much more selective about playing middle suited connectors. So far so good. I had my most profitable day to date.

2,749 Hands x 10.57PTBB/HH = $580 (VP$IP = 18.46, PFR% = 7.94%, PFA = 2.25)

I am going to attribute alot of today's success to my much lower VP$IP. I think playing less (marginal) hands really kept me out of trouble. I would still like to get my PFA up closer to or above 3, but I'm not too concerned if I can have more days like this.

Of course no day can be perfect, here is my moron move of the day:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 6 handed)

DaHitDogg ($213.15)
BB ($222.59)
UTG ($124.45)
MP ($98.85)
CO ($99.85)
Button ($132.5)

Preflop: DaHitDogg is SB with , . DaHitDogg posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls $1, 2 folds, Button raises to $4, DaHitDogg (poster) calls $3.50, 1 fold, UTG calls $3.

Flop: ($13) , , (3 players)
DaHitDogg checks, UTG checks, Button bets $15, DaHitDogg calls $15, UTG folds.

Turn: ($43) (2 players)
DaHitDogg checks, Button bets $40, DaHitDogg calls $40.

River: ($123) (2 players)
DaHitDogg checks, Button bets $50, DaHitDogg calls $50.

Final Pot: $223

Results in white below:
DaHitDogg has Ad Qd (one pair, aces).
Button has Kc Ah (one pair, aces).
Outcome: Button wins $223.

My play was so weak-passive it makes me sick. The really stupid part of this hand is that I had just read about calling raises w/ AQ in the NL Forum the other day. My opponent was solid so I should have folded before the flop. Upon hitting the Ace I should have check raised him on the flop and then folded to any further aggression. I"m going to be much more selective about playing AQ in my future sessions. Especially when I'm OOP and up against a tought opponent.

nice journal.

I don't play 6-handed often and right there is one of my reasons. It's hard enough playing with 10 people trying to figure out what they have..but 6 handed gives you hella varience.

I would probably call the preflop raise with AQ 6 handed (10 handed a simple fold)...but after that i'm unsure what to do. You could raise the flop..but then you have to give up your hand if you get called or reraised. I think you should put at least $40 in on that raise..and that's a lot. I don't like that scenario at all.

An outright check/fold on the flop seems too weak tight on the flop for my tastes...perhaps calling on the flop wasn't such a bad idea.

When he bets again on the turn..that might be a bad sign..tha'ts a big bet too. Should have let it go there. Say to yourself...most likely he has AK...decent chance he has AQ for the split..and an off chance of a lower ace. especially if he's solid.

How about reraising preflop? sounds scary i know...but it would better define his hand then anything else i can think of at the moment....and it's cheap. I just don't think folding AQ preflop to a button raise on a 6-handed table is the correct play.
\
What do you think??

Nothing like jinxing yourself with such talk as "most profitable day yet". Ironically my best day ever, was immediately followed by my worst one. I didn't play on Tuesday and was thoroughly thrashed yesterday.

2,019 Hands x -10.74PTBB/HH = -$433 (VP$IP = 19.22, PFR% = 5.20%, PFA = 1.93)

Yesterday was a devastating combination of bad beats, bad play, and unavoidable situations.

* Set of Tens cracked by a Straight - he flopped it and I never slowed down ($100)
* Set of Tens cracked by a Flush -he rivered it after being all-in on the turn ($99)
* Kings losing to Aces -I played like a passive fool on this one. ($86)
* Set of Fives loses to a rivered flush - Guy called all the way with a Ten High flush draw and then didn't have the balls to raise my river bet ($59)
* Set of Ducks loses to a Set of Treys - thankfully the guy was short-stacked ($40)
* flopped Top pair and a Flush draw w/ KJs vs. a maniac, tried to slowplay and called a big river bet thinking he was bluffing only to be smacked in the head like I should be for calling a big bet w/ top pair weak kicker. ($99)
* Aces cracked by a flopped set of 9s - not sure if I played this correct or not ($139)
* Aces beaten by 98o flopping two pair ($50)
Sound like fun huh! I did at least clear the April party bonus so I made $100 doing that.
The Pocket Tens travesties are posted in the NL Forum.

Moron move of the day:


My god this was terrible play. I knew I was ahead on the flop and on the turn and did not raise or re-raise either. In all honesty his $1 (blocking) bet on the turn really confused me. I didn't raise him partially b/c I picked up the flush draw which I thought I could trap him w/ if I hit. Instead I let him make a runner-runner gutshot and then foolishly called his big river bet thinking he was bluffing. Sometimes I hate me.

I love that $1 bet on the turn..man I wish you hit that flush!! talk about odds. haha oh wait..you won anyway..lol. yeah i would have pushed all-in on that turn. if you're not winning, he might fold..and still you're drawing to the winning hand if he does call.


Anyway..i got your PM about 6 handed vs full ring. Here are my thoughts for everyone to see:

6-handed is more profitable then a full ring game. There are more idiots that play 6 handed...you can play more hands, more rake rebate, etc etc.

However, those extra profits come with a lot of crap you have to deal with. IMO you need a much, much bigger bankroll to handle the varience. Also..you need to have the emotional control to handle those incredible swings. Guys like palman...his LAG play on 6-handed...he's bred for this type of game...but most people (including me)..can't handle the swings. My bankroll can't and I just can't take it emotionally.

That being said...it's not like there is no varience in a full ring either. I once lost 4 full buyins on 1/2 NL ($800) in about 20 minutes (granted was playing 4 tables on the weekend.) Bad runs do happen..but they happen much more often 6-handed then otherwise. That is the biggest difference to me.

Oops. I posted the wrong hand on here. I meant to post one where I lost w/ KJs. I'll edit the original post.

I took a break from the on-line action to play in my normal home game. I had forgotten that live action was about 5x as much fun. (except for the slowness of the game) It was a good night, I won about $400 over 6 hours of play or so. Nothing really special as far as the individual hands, just some good ABC poker. Back to the grind this weekend.

Friday April 29th,

A little different strategy for me today as I played 3 seperate sessions of 2, 2, and 3 hours. I had not planned to do it this way, but I may in the future. It kept me fresh and aggressive throughout each session. The results weren't bad either.

1,920 Hands x 15.23PTBB/HH = $584 (VP$IP = 19.84, PFR% = 7.14%, PFA = 3.21)

Sweet, finally kept the ol' PFA over 3 for an entire (winning) session. I played really well and had some nice situations as well. Flopped a nut flush vs. King high flush, Quads vs. a full house, etc. Also the two wicked beats I took were against short stacks so they didn't sting too bad. Only 1 bad play and 1 iffy play that I'll post in the NL Forum. Here is my moron move of the day-->

Who would have guessed its AQ again? This hand is a real pest, I've got to slow down w/ it.


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 4 handed)

BB ($122.34)
UTG ($362.42)
Button ($142.55)
DaHitDogg ($104.7)

Preflop: DaHitDogg is SB with , . DaHitDogg posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG calls $1, 1 fold, DaHitDogg (poster) raises to $4.5, 1 fold, UTG calls $4.

Flop: ($11) , , (2 players)
DaHitDogg bets $10, UTG calls $10.

Turn: ($31) (2 players)
DaHitDogg bets $24, UTG raises to $48, DaHitDogg calls $24.

River: ($127) (2 players)
DaHitDogg checks, UTG bets $50, DaHitDogg calls $41.70 (All-In).

Final Pot: $218.70

Results in white below:
DaHitDogg has Qs As (one pair, queens).
UTG has Ah Ac (one pair, aces).
Outcome: UTG wins $218.70.

My opponents play was fairly tricky, but I should have sniffed it out as either overs or a set when he raised me on the turn. I definitely should have layed it down there, but there's just so many donkeys out there who would do that w/ KQ as well. It wasn't worth the risk though and I should have given him credit especially with out a read on him.

Sunday May 1st:

Hello Loser! This was a really weird session. I played really tightly, but it just seemed that I never could get anything going. I did, of course, make a couple of costly mistakes, but I've certainly played worse before.

1,348 Hands x -12.36PTBB/HH = -$333 (VP$IP = 18.10, PFR% = 7.12%, PFA = 4.09)

I like the PT stats alot, but they didn't work out today. I didn't have any individual losses over $70, and I was undefeated w/ AA, KK, and QQ. I guess I just didn't win any big pots to offset the small, but numerous losses.

This was my only regrettable play of the day and is consequently my Moron move of the day-->


Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $ BB (6 max, 5 handed)

UTG ($92.75)
MP ($43.42)
Button ($47.15)
DaHittDogg ($103.15)
BB ($129.55)

Preflop: DaHittDogg is SB with , . DaHittDogg posts a blind of $0.5.
UTG raises to $4, 2 folds, DaHittDogg (poster) calls $3.50, 1 fold.

Flop: ($9) , , (2 players)
DaHittDogg checks, UTG bets $6, DaHittDogg calls $6.

Turn: ($21) (2 players)
DaHittDogg checks, UTG bets $13, DaHittDogg calls $13.

River: ($47) (2 players)
DaHittDogg bets $25, UTG raises to $50, DaHittDogg calls $25.

Final Pot: $147

Results in white below: UTG has Ah 9d (straight, queen high).
DaHittDogg has 8c 8d (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: UTG wins $147.

Boy I really botched this one huh. That shoud have been a fairly scary flop for a set and I should have ended the pot w/ a big raise. Being greedy I slowplayed it and got burned. I'm still confused as to why I bet on the river.

If you check the river there...he will probably value bet if he holds the straight. Also you give him a chance to bluff if he doesn't have it.

I don't see him calling any bet there unless he has you beat anyway.

You knew all of this already anyway i'm sure. just pointing it out.