LOL, yeah we only rented one and didn't feel quite as compelled as you to go back to the rental shop the same night to get another one. Went back the next night though and rented the next 2 discs of which we have now watched 1.5 of. Very good show even if quite unrealistic. At least now I understand what all the fuss is about. We don't watch much tv around here unless it's movies, poker or sports so there are quite a few series on DVD that we will be going back and seeing now I think. The "Lost" series is another one everybody said was good so that's probably next on the list.
There's just no way in hell I would watch a series like this on a weekly basis and have to worry about missing an episode and then having to wait until it came out on dvd to see the whole thing. Not to mention the fact that I absolutely HATE tv commercials with the possible exception of the funny ones they do at major sporting events like the Superbowl and the Daytona 500. With these dvd's there's not one commercial. What could be grander than that!

Only played 2 really short sessions today. .50/1.00 6MAX at Martins. Players there seem to be trickier than they are at Empire. Lots of folks willing to slow play a flopped monster until the river if nobody is betting into them. Luckily, I didn't fall for any of them. Just waited til I did get something solid and then bet at them until I knew I was beat.



Martins 1/2Euro 6MAX, 40 hands, 29 min, $6.93

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
9 pts cleared towards Martins bonus. Next level, 71 points to go.

-------------------------
Total: $6.93
Time: 0h 29m

Not much to report other than I do not like Bodogs software now although the color scheme is nicer than the ugly old green they had before.

Jan., 11 Totals
Martins .50/1Euro 6MAX, 62 hands, 45 min, $2.59
Martins .50/1Euro 6MAX, 16 hands, 9 min, $2.41
Martins .50/1Euro 6MAX, 27 hands, 15 min, $20.68
Bodog .50/1 Full Ring, ? hands, 25 min, -$14.00
BetFreds .25/.50 6MAX, ? hands, 2 hours 53 min, $10.35
BetFreds .25/.50 6MAX, ? hands, 1 hours 3 min, -$10.00

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
25 pts cleared towards Martins bonus. Next level, 46 points to go.

-------------------------
Total: $12.03
Time: 5h 30m

I have a new hero.
Her name is Chloe O'Brien.
Just finished watching 24 hours disc5. At this point the absolute best scene of the ENTIRE series has to be Chloe blasting away at the bad guy who was about to ram her car with his bronco. No flinching, nothin but lead baby! AWESOME! LMAO!!!!!!!!!
Jack needs to dump the perpetually worried looking married/widow broad and bone Chloe now! She's totally perfect for him! Get's him whatever he wants AND can shoot a tight group under fire. What could be more perfect?

2 sessions today. One at Martins during lunch and then another nice one to finish up the evening at Paradise.

Can somebody PLEASE tell me what the hell the odds are against someone getting pocket aces 5 PHUCKING times within a span of 100 hands? I don't know what the odds are but they have to be huge! I saw Sklansky do it once on tv when they had all the poker authors playing each other but I NEVER thought I would see it again. Unfortunately, I was not the person doing the getting! This bastard was so lucky that even if he didn't get pocket aces, if the board had AA on it, he had one in the hole! I am NOT exaggerating! So much for random number generators. The funny part of the whole deal is that he was such a poor player, he could have the absolute nuts on the turn but he was too afraid to bet it! Thankfully that saved me a few bets against him. In the end though, I finished up a nice chunk which definitely took some of the sting out of losing to his Aces so many times.

Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 23 hands, 14 minutes, $4.84
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 217 hands, 2hours 6minutes, $33.25

RB: 0
Various: $10

Bonus Progress:
11 pts cleared towards Martins bonus. Next level, 28 points to go.
$10 cleared at Paradise. $104.50 left to go.
-------------------------
Total: $48.09
Time: 2h 20m

Well, lets see now. Year to date, $13.59 profit, 55.44 hours spent playing. Hmmm, that's pretty much $0.25 per hour so far.

It would appear that although I started the year out looking to kick ass and chew bubble gum, I have yet to run out of the bubble gum part of the equation.

I hate bubble gum.

Hey, at least you're in the green... which is more than I can say...

Crappy day for the most part but ended well at least. Finally started making the jump to 2/4. The difference in size of the pots between 1/2 and 2/4 can be an awful lot sometimes. I won a $65 and a $77 pot tonight in my very first session of 2/4. Both were very nice but I'm not sure I played them right. I ended up getting a friendly river on both hands to win them. Let me know if I should have obviously done anything differently. One was SH and one was a full table.

Paradise Poker 2/4 Hold'em (3 handed)

Preflop: Hero is SB with , .
Button calls, Hero completes, BB raises, Button calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (6 SB) , , (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Button calls, Hero calls.

Turn: (4.50 BB) (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, Button calls.

River: (13.50 BB) (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, Button calls.

Final Pot: 16.50 BB
Main Pot: 16.50 BB, between BB, Button and Hero. > Pot won by Hero (16.50 BB).

Results in white below:
BB has 6h 4d (two pair, eights and sixes).
Button has 4c 5d (straight, eight high).
Hero has 8d 7s (full house, eights full of sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins 16.50 BB.


Paradise Poker 2/4 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with , .
Hero calls, 1 fold, UTG+2 calls, 1 fold, MP2 calls, MP3 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, 1 fold.

Flop: (8 SB) , , (7 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG+2 checks, MP2 bets, MP3 folds, CO calls, Button folds, SB folds, Hero raises, UTG+2 calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Turn: (8 BB) (4 players)
Hero bets, UTG+2 raises, MP2 folds, CO folds, Hero calls.

River: (12 BB) (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+2 bets, Hero raises, UTG+2 3-bets, Hero caps, UTG+2 calls.

Final Pot: 20 BB

Results in white below:
Hero has 8c 8d (four of a kind, eights).
UTG+2 has Kh Kc (full house, kings full of eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 20 BB.


Anyway, like I said the pot sizes really take some getting used to compared to what a 1/2 player is used to seeing. Probably a good thing since it makes me play a bit scared and therefore tighter. I'll loosen it up a bit as I get more comfortable.
First part of the day I just couldn't get anything going. Tried to play at martins but the software crashed and I couldn't get back on my table so I left there with a loss.
The I tried some .01/.02 PLO8 at stars and lost 35 cents so I got on a couple of .50/1 6Max tables and lost about $20 to continuous suckouts and downright bad beats. I made a few blunders of my own as well which didn't help but even with those I would have finished about even had the poker gods been smiling on me even a little bit at the time. This is when I decided that maybe it would be a good time for me to test the 2/4 waters. And since I was a bit nervous I decided to do it where I feel most comfortable, Paradise poker. Made $25 on 2/4, cleared $10 in bonus and then made another $29.75 on a couple 1/2 5Max tables.

Then the wife and I finished up the 24 hours dvd's and realized that we had just watched season 4! LMAO! We didn't know, we thought we were watching the 1st season until we went to put the discs away. That did answer a few questions for us as to why some of the events that they kept referring to from the past never really got explained in detail. Oh well, I guess that just means we now have 3 other seasons worth to watch. Since we had never watched it before we didn't actually realize that this show had been on the air for 4 years already. We got a good laugh out of that.

With the good end of day sessions my BR is now at it highest point ever.


Pokerstars, .01/.02 PLO8, about 35 hands, 0h 55m, -$0.35
Martins, 1/2euro 6Max, 87 hands, 0h 45m, -$12.56
Pokerstars, .50/1.00 6Max, 322 hands, 2h 55m, $0.50
Pokerstars, .50/1.00 6Max, 146 hands, 1h 30m, -$20.00
Paradise, 2/4 Full Ring, 50 hands, 0h 53m, $25.00
Paradise, 1/2 5Max, 19 hands, 0h 7m, $12.75
Paradise, 1/2 5Max, 97 hands, 0h 54m, $17.00

Rake: 0
Various: $10

Bonus progress:
Cleared $10 at Paradise
Made another 32fpp's at pokerstars. 264 cleared out of 750 for the $150 bonus there.
________________________
Total: 32.34
Time: 7h 59m

Lead out on the flop in hand one and see what the big blind does, you have top pair find out where you stand. 3 handed I'd be pretty happy with that, no way in hell am I putting them on those great a hands. Or just hit a runner runner full, that'll work too.

Hand 2 Raise preflop, 8's are pretty good and you want to thin the field. Maybe its just me but I will never limp first in in limit, its not right I believe. As you played it then, flop check raise is good, I think a 3 bet is in call for on the turn, you're only behind 1010 and KK, both which should've raised preflop. As for the river, I can tell you have an overabundance of hella luckiness send some this way please.

Thanks for the suggestions Golden. As for my "overabundance of hella luckiness" as you put it, well, I've been so long over due for something other than bad luck that I can't begin to call it an over abundance. LOL. But I can tell you where to find some. Go to Paradise poker. It's halls are lined with gold(fish), which going by your name, should be quite nice for you.

Joined Netflix today. Anybody here use that service to rent DVD's? Any problems with it? Thought it might save me some money now that I plan on seeing ALL 4 seasons of "24". $17.99 a month and I get to have 3 DVD's out at a time, unlimited number per month. Considering it's been costing us ~$3 a disc to rent them from the local Hollywood Video, just renting 1 season worth of that series will pay for the entire months service. Seems like a good deal.

On to poker.
Literally went up and down all day (Wins vs Losses that is) until I went back to Paradise where I KNEW I would win. The last session of the day was just awesome. I got VERY solid reads on 2 of the players and was able to take a nice chunk off them even with the normal bad beats, suckouts, and my own mistakes. It's just a GREAT feeling when you know what someone is going to do or what they're holding based on how they bet. The wife watched the last session and was amazed how "easy" it seemed for me to take these guys' money. For you unmarried guys, when you've been married for over 15 years and can still find a way to "actually" impress the wife that doesn't involve a toilet seat, you are a major success.

BetFreds .25/.50 6MAX Limit, ?hands, 50 minutes, -$6.00
Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 73 hands, 34 minutes, $59.31
Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 96 hands, 50 minutes, -$35.38
Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 36 hands, 14 minutes, $9.68
Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 257 hands, 2 hours 3 minutes, -$59.76
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 62 hands, 29 minutes, $11.50
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 83 hands, 61 minutes, $56.75

RB: 0
Various: $10

Bonus Progress:
159 pts cleared towards Martins bonus. Next level, 34 points to go.
$10 cleared and released at Paradise. $84.50 left to go.
-------------------------
Total: $46.10
Time: 6h 1m

Decided Iwas going to spend my holiday in paradise. Paradise Poker that is. Started out horribly with a 2 buyin loss at a 1/2 6MAX table. Why can I NOT force myself to leave a table when I am losing? I'm always telling myself that I can get it back because these boneheads' lucksack outdraws have to change sooner or later. And of course it doesn't so soon I find myself reloading instead of moving to another table. And their luck doesn't change so soon after that I am down 2 buyins and thoroughly pissed off at the guys with 80% VP$IP who are actually winning money. Luckily I have an indestructible armrest on mychair and I can beat the shit out of it with my little walnut fish bat that my father made me for Christmas. It's quite nice to get it out of your system like that. I wonder if they would let me take it into the BM casino for the same purpose?

Anyway, after that $80 loss, the rest of the day went well except for one more buyin and a half loss. Fortunately, I had a ton of bonus still left to work off and I cleared $60 in bonus today. Towards later evening, the tables seemed to start getting populated by folks who were a little better players so I decided to go play a bit at Pokerstars to finish off the evening. Went pretty well. Played 2 - 1table sessions made $30 in the first one and $30 in the second. And made another 18 fpp's towards that $150 bonus that will hopefully be cleared before february is over. Sure wish it cleared faster at the lower stakes. Between my pokerstars bonus and my martins poker bonus which also gets cleared in february, next month could be a doozy for me as far as bonuses are concerned. Should finally have enough built up in my rakeback accounts to finally get an actual payment out of them as well in february.

Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 344 hands, 3hours 22 minutes, -$80.00
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 53 hands, 26 minutes, $45.50
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 135 hands, 1hour 10minutes, $30.00
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 79 hands, 42minutes, -$58.50
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 70 hands, 35minutes, $32.50
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 48 hands, 31minutes, $0.75
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 77 hands, 41minutes, $1.75
Paradise Poker 1/2 5MAX Limit, 47 hands, 24minutes, $8.25
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX Limit, 55 hands, 30minutes, $30.25
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX Limit, 47 hands, 28minutes, $30.00

RB: 0
Various: $60

Bonus Progress:
18 fpp's earned at pokerstars towards the $150 bonus. 504 out of 750 required.
$60 cleared and released at Paradise. $24.50 left to go.
-------------------------
Total: $100.50
Time: 8h 49m

Didn't play a whole lot today. But didn't have any losing sessions either so that was very nice!

Martins Poker 1/2Euro 6MAX Limit, 38 hands, 17 minutes, $29.33 (nice lunch break session)
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX Limit, 81 hands, 47 minutes, $17.25
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX Limit, 89 hands, 1 hour 8 minutes, $21.25
Pokerstars 1/2 6MAX Limit, 23 hands, 8 minutes, $5.75

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
8 VIP's earned at Martins, 474 total so far
34fpp's earned at Pokerstars, 546 of 750 total so far
________________________

Total: $73.58
Time: 2h 20m