I had some very dicey play yesterday. For the past three days I've been riddled with errors. Things are looking very bleak from my point of view. On the other hand, the cards couldn't possibly have come any better. Even on some hands where I made errors I ended up being payed off. Additionally, due to an error I made, and an ensuing conversation I got virtually no credit at a table for holding a hand. I had someone push their stack against my trips with A4. That felt pretty good. Growth out of the ashes.

Of course its not my long term plan. The next session my plan will be to focus as closely as I: can on not getting fancy, and playing the cards I get how I should. Hopefuly I can reduce the damage I'm doing to myself this way.

Major Mistakes:
Called down AQ on really dicy board on river for 18
Misplayed AA following weird AQ hand 30
2nd bet into calling rock on drawless board 15
bad bluff on good board for raisor 20

Stats:

5.5 hours
23.8
2615.56

So despite some advice from fellow BTPers I went ahead and signed up for Poker-room to clear the $200 dollar bonus. First thing I noticed is how much the software sucks. I can't resize the windows and I have to sit out to rebuy. Additionally, the amount of money you have at tables is "temorarily unavailable".

The worst part of the day occured when I was dealt AA with an AJJ board and the opponent held a J. Unfortunately I had software or connectivity problems, something I've never had problems with elsewhere, and the hand was folded pre-flop. On the other hand, due to me not knowing the software right I accidently slowplayed an AK into a turned straight and took the guy for all his money where I most certaintly wouldn't have otherwise.

4.75 hours
47.07
2662.63

I'm getting used to the pokerroom software and am making significant progress on the bonus. 666 points to go. No joke. 666. I didn't plan on that happening.

Anyway, I played fairly well today. I called down one hand with trips that I probably should have avoided, but it wasn't against any of the major major warning signs. This guy decided to call through rather than set off a signal flare with the min-raise. Still, I called down 20 dollars on the river when I had lost most of my confidence with the hand. He turned out to have trips with a better kicker. I doubt a good caller would call drawless twice unless he had something big on a weird board. I was debating over whether this hand was played as a major mistake, or even a mistake at all. However since I lost the hand history due to not knowing how to work PT with pokerroom.

Anyway, big winnings today. I suppose the good news is that most of the players suck. I've had all kinds of stuff called down with wacky hands. All in all a good day. All I have to do is maintain and I'll get that sweet sweet 200$ and can move on to my next victim. Maybe Hollywood, but I dread having to deal with another 5 days of the software.

Major Mistakes:
Called down river with trips and small kicker in unraised pot 20

Stats:

6.5 Hours
110.1
2772.73

Today was a pretty awful day. I'm still making mistakes and I see very little sign of change as a result of this past month of work. At times I think maybe I'm focusing too hard upon immediate results, as poker is a game of great variance, but at the same time it is difficult to be happy with the results.

I made a terrible push with a dinky pair against a coordinated board, something I told myself I would stop doing at the beginning of this month. I think its acceptable for me to play my general style as long as I can avoid committing to hadns that I'm not sure to win.

As for the day itself, it was a day of slow loss and no wins. I made one hand in the day and it wasn't nearly enough to offset the slowly mounting cost of playing. The good news is that the shining light at the end of the pokerroom bonus tunnel is almost here. The bad news is that I'll be lucky to clear a hundred bucks at the site.

Mistakes:

All the way with crappy pair on QQ7 board blinds against wild player. 33

Stats:
3.75 hours
-131.9
2549.68

Well, the dark times are almost over in one sense. 70 points to go at pokerroom before I've cleared the sign up bonus. The bad news is I've got hollywood and bet on bet to schlock through still. At least I won't be fresh on the software.

My girlfriend is out of town this weekend which means lots of beer and poker. The ultimate combination. Still no positive progress in the playing direction. So far I've had six losing sessions in a row. I'm hoping that my cold-streak/crap-fest is over. Luckily my losing sessions haven't been major bankroll busters. With last month a losing month, and this one only marginally profitable I'm beginning to get a bit worried. Looking at my recrods though there's always the potential for fast gain on the end.

No major mistakes but I'm beginning to get concerned about some minor ones I've been making. I began feeling a bit comfortable about hour 60 this month with my play and began trusting my instincts again. To some degree this works, when I'm able to control myself. However it also opens the door for me to make "skill plays" that lack skill entirely. Raising in bad spots and so on. Another thing I've noticed is I CB almost every hand and my AF on the flop is near 6. I think I'm going to have to do some digging and find out where I should be attacking.

Stats:

4 hours
-34.3
2515.38

Today was precisely more of the same. Though I made minor mistakes more frequently than usual there was nothing that was glaringly a mistake. Partially at the root of these frequent errors is my newfound recognition of mistakes. Prior to BTP I was unlikely to recognize many things that I now consider a mistake to be mistakes. For example getting stuck for a stack when I held an overpair over a scary board was something I considered normal, as nobody is likely to get away from me when they are in the same situation. I thought of it as a cancelling force, when really I should be getting out of the hand when I can recognize it.

Overall its very unpleasant to be losing money quickly when not making major mistakes. Goes with the game I suppose, and I have to compare this to the overall elation I feel when everything is clicking and going right. Good times and bad times.

5.75 hours
-74.5
2440.88

Just becasue the streak is over apparently doesn't mean that the trend is. Though I played well enough for the day, making a few small mistakes, for the most part I was just running on cold cards. However I suppose I need to realize that as bad as frustrating as things are right now, I've not really seen a significant loss in the overall scheme.

I think perhaps reading the sklansky has toned me down a bit. I don't think that the major errors that were part of my game before are any longer my large problem. Many small errors throughout the day seems to be the new trend. However this may simply be due to the nature of my cards. I'm not being dealt into hands with a lot of action in them, and perhaps thats why the rash emotional calls don't come into play.

Stats:
2 hours
-14.26
2354.75