Ok let's see now...... a member journal. Can my journal be of any interest to you, maybe or maybe not but foremost it will be a way for me to keep track of my play, my earnings and hopefully get some feedback from you concerning posted handhistories that seem crucial for my playing developments.

My background: Started playing NL poker online late 2005, only had about 50$ to deposit and Bet365 was the chosen room. Lost it all in 6 days, but man had I triggered a new found itch that wouldn't leave my mind. But a major problem was that I had promised my wife not to deposit any more cash for playing poker so I had to find other ways of funding my needs. Lucky for me there was freerolls and free cash to be collected from different rooms. Slowly I started to build my bankroll by playing microstakes and sng. It took me about a year to learn the game and my earnings came mostly from bonuses, otherwise I was probably break even.
Then finally it all started to come together and I was winning my sessions at NL25. Now I'm playing NL50 with an occasional stab at NL100 every now and then. My game lately hasn't been all that great, with my biggest flaws being calling with to many marginal hands to the river and also getting caught up with bluffs and not being able to let it go.

When it comes to MTT I recently placed third in two different $3500 GT tourneys which was very welcoming to my BR.

Now here's what will follow: my current BR is $2500 and I will split it into two different pots. $2000 will be my cashgame roll and $500 will be put aside for tourneys. I'll start with a deposit into Cake Poker of $500 for cashgame then I'll have to look around for a suitable room with good valued tourneys, any suggestions are of interest.

Date: 2007-06-13
CG roll: $2000
Tourney roll: $500
Total BR: $2500

Greetings from KeLLoGsX!!

Got an email today saying I have qualified for a $12.500 package WSOP Main Event tournament this sunday. The really good thing about this tournament is that there are only 61 possible entrants. This is frigging HUGE...... have to get my shit together, will try not to play any CG until then.

Btw, this hand occured yesterday when playing NL50 6-max and I picked up [Ah] in utg+1. It was a pretty loose game and there was one limper before me so I wasn't sure of how much I should raise with pre, standard x4 or higher x6, but I settled with $2. Normally I would raise $3 here but I guess I wanted some extra action, surprise surprise...... button called, as did BB and the limper.
Flop: [5c][6c]
BB did a minibet of $0.50, I figured he only wanted a cheap turncard (he'd done such bets before). UTG called and I now wanted to get rid of all foolishness and cranked it up to $8. Button then folded as did BB, but the limper called. The turn showed an and he checked it to me.... what's my line here??

Hand also posted in No Limit Holdem section

//KeLLoGsX

Have a confession to make...... I suck at poker, atleast for the last couple of weeks. Just this past week I lost $600 at NL50-100. Ofcourse there was an occasional bad beat suckout but I've really been playing very bad poker.

But that was then, and this is now...

Did some thinking and reading and decided to revert back to NL25 for a while. My plan is to play 2-3 tables at NL25 and when I double up at a table I'll takeit up to NL50 and go from there. I can actually say I'm getting the good feeling back. I can even loose a stack and say "I played ok, not my fault he's a donk...", I've been able to make some good laydowns, stop my own bluffing all the way when I can't force a fold, not calling every other turn/river allin bets thinking they have to be bluffing me.
I've played solid winning poker and it feels just great. hopefully I will keep it up to next limit.

Total bankroll today: $2230 (-$270 this month)

//KeLLoGsX

Here's a couple hands from last night, both the most and the least profitable...

Game #4758974634: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/06/20 - 18:42:32 (GMT)
Table "Deuceofdiamonds" Seat 5 is the button.
Seat 1: KeLLoGsX ($39.20 in chips)
Seat 2: dwbh79 ($8.30 in chips)
Seat 3: Nille20 ($49.90 in chips)
Seat 4: Pokerflj ($42.33 in chips)
Seat 5: RE34dy ($75.35 in chips)
Seat 6: chipmonky ($55.20 in chips)
chipmonky: posts small blind $0.25
KeLLoGsX: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to KeLLoGsX [As]
dwbh79: folds
Nille20: folds
Pokerflj: folds
RE34dy: folds
chipmonky: raises to $2.50 didn't really give his large raise much credit
KeLLoGsX: calls $2
----- FLOP ----- [5h][Kd]
chipmonky: bets $6 again an overbet??
KeLLoGsX: calls $6
----- TURN ----- [5h][Kd][Td]
chipmonky: checks
KeLLoGsX: checks
----- RIVER ----- [5h][Kd][Td][6h]
chipmonky: bets $46.70 and is all-in a stupid attempt to save a bluff, I never hesitated to call this
KeLLoGsX: is all-in $30.70
Returned uncalled bets $16 to chipmonky
----- SHOW DOWN -----
chipmonky: shows [8c] (A Pair of Tens, Ace high)
KeLLoGsX: shows [As] (Two Pairs, Aces and Tens, King high)
KeLLoGsX collected $75.40 from Main pot

*************************

This was a true lucky flop. I never really put him on a hand, figured he had the T and a slight worry he sat with a K aswell but then he would probably pushed the turn already after my reraise, right...

Game #4761943294: Hold'em NL ($0.15/$0.25) - 2007/06/20 - 22:06:54 (GMT)
Table "Perseghian" Seat 6 is the button.
Seat 1: iveland1 ($10.28 in chips)
Seat 2: KeLLoGsX ($24.85 in chips)
Seat 3: Bananas ($21.06 in chips)
Seat 4: zataric ($27.83 in chips)
Seat 5: pamp85 ($47.93 in chips)
Seat 6: scarbaliu sits out
iveland1: posts small blind $0.15
KeLLoGsX: posts big blind $0.25
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to KeLLoGsX [9c]
Bananas: folds
zataric: raises to $0.85
pamp85: calls $0.85
iveland1: calls $0.70
KeLLoGsX: calls $0.60
----- FLOP ----- [Ts][9h]
iveland1: checks
KeLLoGsX: bets $1
zataric: folds
pamp85: calls $1
iveland1: folds
----- TURN ----- [Ts][9h][Kh]
KeLLoGsX: checks
pamp85: bets $1.75
KeLLoGsX: raises to $5
pamp85: calls $3.25
----- RIVER ----- [Ts][9h][Kh][8s]
KeLLoGsX: bets $18 and is all-in
pamp85: calls $18
----- SHOW DOWN -----
KeLLoGsX: shows [9c] (A Full House, Nines full of Tens)
pamp85: shows [Js] (A Straight, King high)
KeLLoGsX collected $48.83 from Main pot

**************************

When the flop gave me TPTK it was good, but considering his preflop reraise I should be worried. My best guesses should be the KK or QQ and perhaps even AQ but I guess the money would go in there at some point.

Game #4761944084: Hold'em NL ($0.15/$0.25) - 2007/06/20 - 22:14:22 (GMT)
Table "Perseghian" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1: iveland1 ($12.02 in chips)
Seat 2: KeLLoGsX ($48.18 in chips)
Seat 3: Bananas ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 4: zataric ($26.98 in chips)
Seat 5: pamp85 ($22.43 in chips)
Seat 6: scarbaliu ($14.59 in chips)
Bananas: posts small blind $0.15
zataric: posts big blind $0.25
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to KeLLoGsX [Kc]
pamp85: folds
scarbaliu: calls $0.25
iveland1: folds
KeLLoGsX: raises to $1.50
Bananas: raises to $5.50
zataric: folds
scarbaliu: folds
KeLLoGsX: calls $4
----- FLOP ----- [2d][As]
Bananas: bets $9
KeLLoGsX: raises to $18
Bananas: raises to $19.25 and is all-in
KeLLoGsX: calls $1.25
----- TURN ----- [2d][As][8c]
----- RIVER ----- [2d][As][8c][4h]
----- SHOW DOWN -----
Bananas: shows [Qs] (Three of a kind, Queens, Ace high)
KeLLoGsX: shows [Kc] (A Pair of Aces, King high)
Bananas collected $47.50 from Main pot

*************************

What should my turn decision be here anyway almost nutflush draw and a gutshot? Call or fold, perhaps my best way would be to lead??

Game #4758974494: Hold'em NL ($0.25/$0.50) - 2007/06/20 - 18:41:06 (GMT)
Table "Deuceofdiamonds" Seat 4 is the button.
Seat 1: KeLLoGsX ($48.20 in chips)
Seat 2: dwbh79 ($8.30 in chips)
Seat 3: Nille20 ($49.90 in chips)
Seat 4: Pokerflj ($33.48 in chips)
Seat 5: RE34dy ($75.60 in chips)
Seat 6: chipmonky ($55.70 in chips)
RE34dy: posts small blind $0.25
chipmonky: posts big blind $0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to KeLLoGsX [Qs]
KeLLoGsX: raises to $2
dwbh79: folds
Nille20: folds
Pokerflj: calls $2
RE34dy: folds
chipmonky: folds
----- FLOP ----- [6s][2h]
KeLLoGsX: checks
Pokerflj: bets $2
KeLLoGsX: calls $2
----- TURN ----- [6s][2h][Th]
KeLLoGsX: checks
Pokerflj: bets $5
KeLLoGsX: calls $5
----- RIVER ----- [6s][2h][Th][Ad]
KeLLoGsX: checks
Pokerflj: checks
----- SHOW DOWN -----
KeLLoGsX: shows [Qs] (High Card Ace)
Pokerflj: shows [Qc] (A Pair of Tens, Ace high)
Pokerflj collected $17.85 from Main pot

*****************************
//KeLLoGsX

The discipline is not what it was supposed to be, the plan was to play NL25...... yeah right!! It's just not that funny to step down, atleast not two levels. NL100 was the way to go today, fired up two tables and decided to loosen up a bit with more pfr raising and it paid off. Started out with stacking off a guy with my [Th] which ended up filling a straight and later my [Ac] went to showdown vs. a solid LAG who truly thought I had crap probably only because a few hands earlier this hand took part:

GAME #661160235: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-09-19 21:17:26
Table Barkly East (No DP)
Seat 1: ($269.49 in chips)
Seat 3: ($26.43 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: FI ($105.10 in chips)
Seat 6: HERO ($205.88 in chips)
ShowM4n: Post SB $0.50
Monsign2: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [d9][Th]
Dealt to FI [7d]
SEAT 1: Fold
SEAT 3: Fold
FI: Raise $3.00
HERO: Call $2.50
*** FLOP *** [2d][Kc]
FI: Bet $6.00
HERO: Raise $15.00
FI: Call $9.00
*** TURN ***
FI: Check
HERO: Check
*** RIVER ***
FI: Check
HERO: Check
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $35.15 Rake $1.85
HERO: wins $35.15

It might look like a dubious hand to play but the Fi in this hand was the guy I stacked earlier with TT and ever since I had been working him. I was reraising the flop almost every hand he raised and he folded every time.

At that point I was up about $170 but then my QQ wouldn't hold up two times:

The FI here was a real donk and I just couldn't lay this one down, I was pretty sure I had the best hand to go with but ofcourse I would have been better off seeing the flop first. The preflop mini-reraise (or miniraise) is very often Ax(s)

GAME #661262353: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-09-19 22:43:48
Table Bathurst (No DP)
Seat 1: Monsign2 ($99.50 in chips)
Seat 3: phennigan ($75.40 in chips)
Seat 5: Ratatatata ($68.50 in chips)
Seat 6: Akko1 ($69.93 in chips) DEALER
Seat 8: laDeluxe ($84.80 in chips)
Seat 10: OMFGfiish ($98.85 in chips)
laDeluxe: Post SB $0.50
OMFGfiish: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Qh]
Dealt to FI [Ac]
HERO: Raise $4.00
FI: Raise $7.00
SEAT 5: Fold
SEAT 6: Fold
SEAT 8: Fold
SEAT 10: Fold
HERO: Raise $20.00
FI: Raise $34.00
HERO: Allin $75.50
FI: Allin $34.40
*** FLOP *** [Kc][8d]
*** TURN ***
*** RIVER ***
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $173.40 Rake $3.00
HERO: wins $24.10
FI: wins $149.30

A few hands later at the other table I get QQ against a TAG which I think I could have got away from a little cheaper. His flop-check made me very suspicious since I was certain he would CB, and that feeling I should have held on to.

GAME #661208718: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-09-19 21:58:54
Table Barkly East (No DP)
Seat 1: ($229.84 in chips)
Seat 3: ($36.23 in chips) DEALER
Seat 5: ($97.50 in chips)
Seat 6: HERO ($267.63 in chips)
Seat 8: FI ($109.90 in chips)
SEAT 5: Post SB $0.50
HERO: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [Qc]
Dealt to FI [4c]
FI: Raise $4.00
SEAT 1: Fold
SEAT 3: Fold
SEAT 5: Fold
HERO: Call $3.00
*** FLOP *** [7h][4d]
HERO: Check
FI: Check
*** TURN ***
HERO: Bet $8.00
FI: Call $8.00
*** RIVER ***
HERO: Bet $20.00
FI: Raise $40.00
HERO: Call $20.00
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $101.50 Rake $3.00
FI: wins $101.50

The NL100 session ended +$60

After that I fired up 4 tables of NL50 at cryptologic and played like a maniac. It was real fun. I raised all kinds of hands and called as many and it felt exciting. I got paid when I shouldn't and even more when I should. Of course it didn't hold up forever but it was great fun, the worst hand was when my TT lost against 23s, he actually hit trips of both 2 and 3....crazy.....

This session ended at +$71

Bankroll: 3024 +131 = $3156

//KeLLoGsX

Thanx Kenny, as long as I take it pretty easy I manage to play pretty well. But sometimes when I get some spare time I tend to play bad since I have little time and wants to win..... and three kids running around me. Not the best circumstances perhaps.

Anyway... today I had two sessions, one NL50 with above stated problems. Played like a maniac on crack and lost 4.5 buyins.
NL50 session: -$227

At night when everyone was fast asleep I went on with NL100. Started out with only one table and there just happened to be some pretty juicy value. Two calling stations, running at 75/7 and 44/6. They handed some cash over my way..... much appreciated. Other donks came and went donating there stacks to us all. Later I fired yet another table, and my last hand for night was just what I needed after my loss earlier:

GAME #662383909: Texas Hold'em NL $0.50/$1.00 2007-09-21 00:38:09
Table Sandton
Seat 1: FI ($201.70 in chips) DEALER
Seat 3: ($97.50 in chips)
Seat 5: ($50.85 in chips)
Seat 6: ($137.00 in chips)
Seat 8: HERO ($120.20 in chips)
Seat 10: ($96.75 in chips)
ImHighLOL: Post SB $0.50
yamaha2000: Post BB $1.00
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to HERO [As]
Dealt to HERO [4c]
SEAT 6: Fold
HERO: Raise $4.00
SEAT 10: Fold
FI: Call $4.00
SEAT 3: Call $3.50
SEAT 5: Fold
*** FLOP *** [3d][4s]
SEAT 6: Check
HERO: Bet $7.00
FI: Raise $21.00
SEAT 6: Fold
HERO: Call $14.00
*** TURN ***
HERO: Check
FI: Bet $176.70
HERO: Allin $95.20
*** RIVER ***
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $323.90 Rake $3.00
FI: wins $81.50
HERO: wins $242.40

NL100 session: +$307

Bankroll: 3156 -227 +307 = $3236

Goodnight!