Hope everything goes well and that nothing else is amiss besides the hernia.

Thanks for the well wishes guys. I'll let you know how it goes. My fingers are definitely crossed.

Poker:
Well, shit. Don't know if there is a better way to sum up my day at the tables. Shit, just seems to fit.
After losing so badly 2 nights ago, and then making a good chunk of that back last night, I was looking forward to making one last charge at the 1K mark for the month.

Did not happen.

Decided to play off some of the bonus at Noble this morning after my CT scan. Played 2/4 because of how much faster it clears the bonus. Took me all of 19 hands to lose $40. PHUCK! as they say. (still not sure who the hell "they" are)
Then I made the stupid mistake of trying to make up that loss by jumping on a 3/6 table. DOUBLE PHUCK! The play at the ipoker sites right now is definitely NOT the play that made me fall in love with BetFreds 2 months ago. Now you have folks who will play 80% of their hands and raise preflop 25% of those. And the other 65% of those hands they will coldcall 3 bets with 74 offsuit and suckout on your 1010 of AKs. Case in point, I am on button with AA and 3 bet preflop, get called by 3 players including UTG dickwad who has 87off and limped in. Flop comes 727. Turn was a 2. You can probably imagine how this hand went for me. Lucky for him and me that we weren't playing live and sitting next to each other or I would be in jail about now. Lost $97.50 in 11 minutes at that table. Pissed off that my day was starting out so poorly I played a bit of .50/1 just to get my confidence back. Made $1.50, LOL. What a confidence builder! Decided at that point that even as bad as work is, it's still better than losing money to F'ing retards so I went to work for the rest of the day. Post office was busy as usual so it kept my mind off the losses for a few hours.
After work, we watched a few episodes of 24 season 2 and then I went back to the poker tables. fired up 2 .50/1 tables and one 1/2 table. Started losing on both of the smaller tables so shut them down and just concentrated on the 1/2 table. Up, Down, Up, Down. Then the wife came in and gave me a neck massage which calmed me down a bit and I was able to start gradually making it up the winning side of the pool. Finished up ~$23 or so after 174 hands. Not a huge number, but not a bad BBper100. decided to give the Paradise pond a cast or 2 before calling it quits. Glad I did! Jumped on a 3/6 table and made $100 in 58 hands! Almost got me to even for the day and after the start I had I would have been dancing in the street if I had been able to pull that one off! But in the end I finished down about $30 for the day. Which is kinda weird because that is almost a mirror image of how I started the month. Started the month with a $30 loss and then a day or 2 later I had a HUGE loss! The middle of the month went splendidly though and if every month goes like this one went, I will be sitting very pretty at the end of the year. In fact, if they all go like this one did, my goal of winning 5K this year is going to happen way earlier than I had originally thought.

I had an urge tonight that I'm kinda glad I was able to overcome and that was to give the 5/10 tables at Paradise a shot for the first time. I'm not yet even to the 300BB mark for that stake and I usually go for much more than that before I move up a level (closer to 600-800BB usually) but for some reason I really wanted to try it out. I managed to talk myself out of it and that was probably a good thing considering the beatings I've been taking lately, but still.... part of me wishes I had done it. It will come. But I think I'll wait til I'm on a hot streak before doing it though. I don't want to start out at those stakes with a bad losing experience.

This is getting long so I'll finish up.

Noble Poker 2/4 Limit 6max, 19 hands, 11 minutes, -$40.00
Noble Poker 3/6 Limit 6max, 25 hands, 11 minutes, -$97.50
Noble Poker .5/1 Limit 6max, 33 hands, 29 minutes, $1.50
Pokerstars 1/2 Limit 6max, 174 hands, 1 hour 44 minutes, $22.75
Pokerstars .5/1 Limit 6max, 47 hands, 27 Minutes, -$13.50
Pokerstars .5/1 Limit 6max, 21 hands, 13 minutes, -$6.75
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 6max, 58 hands, 27 minutes, $100.00

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
Cleared 91 crowns at Noble poker for a total of 335 now.
_____________________

Total: -$33.50
Time: 3h 42m

This is a perfect example of the kind of dipshit that has been killing me lately. And there are LOTS of them! Why are more people playing like this these days? To be honest, I didn't care that there was a backdoor flush draw completed on the river. Up to this hand this guy hadn't given me any reason to think he was bad enough to play this kind of junk preflop. But there are more and more folks doing this to me lately and it really raises the stress level for me. Very hard to not tilt after crap like this.

PokerStars 1/2 Hold'em (3 handed)

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

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

Turn: (4 BB) (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, SB calls.

River: (6 BB) (2 players)
SB bets, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 12 BB

Results in white below:
SB has 7c 3c (flush, jack high).
Hero has Jh As (two pair, aces and jacks).
Outcome: SB wins 12 BB.

They were suited, you can't blame him

Sorry golden, I can't tell if you are joking or not.

OK then, didn't play a whole lot today but did manage to start the month out on a winning note. Not a huge win but at least it was on the plus side of the ledger. To be fair, I think my mind was on other things a little bit today what with my upcoming surgery and all. I made a few donk call downs when I was pretty sure I was beat that gave back quite a bit of winnings which would have made for a halfway decent day. Oh well, nothin I can do about those now but to try not to keep doing it. I think part of the reason that I get so pissed at people after hands like the one I posted above, is that I rarely, if ever, do that kind of crap to other people. I know everybody suckouts out on hands but I feel that there is a basic poker strategy that I think most people should be able to understand semi-intuitively. When they don't at least "try" to play smart and follow that basic strategy for the most part and instead try to be a Gus Hansen because they saw him do it on tv, it kinda grates on me like the golfer in your foursome who just has to "grip it and rip it" and then make everyone wait while he searches for his ball after every tee shot. They aren't Gus Hansen or John Daly. And when they succeed and then think that they really are as good as Hansen and walk away from your table before you have a chance to show them how solid poker wins in the long run, well, it really starts to chap my ass. Yes, down the road, they will probably lose it all back when they inevitably keep playing like that it will invariably not be at my table. They say vengeance is a dish best served cold but JEEZ, how long do I have to wait for things to cool off?!!!

Pokerstars 1/2 Limit 6max, 53 hands, 27 minutes, -$10.00
Pokerstars 1/2 Limit 6max, 134 hands, 51 minutes, $0.00
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 73 hands, 38 minutes, $17.00

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:
None today.
_____________________

Total: $7.00
Time: 1h 56m

I give up. I just cannot play this game anymore. Nothing I do seems to be right. I play tight, I lose. I play loose, I lose. I play a bit of both, I still lose. I play aggressive, and passive and lose doing both. Two weeks ago, I thought I had a handle on it but now I am lost like the family Robinson. I've lost so much money today, it makes me want to quit playing altogether. I can't even win at Paradise! I just don't know why I can't win anymore. I've lost about 50BB just today playing 3/6. I've tried it at 1/2, 2/4 and 3/6. Same story at all three stakes. My VP$IP is good, my PFR is good, and my aggression is normal for me which is kinda neutral between very aggressive and slightly aggressive. I look at at this and my head says it's just a major bad case of variance. But my emotions say otherwise and I am fed up with it. I'm almost ready to go back to playing NL25! I think maybe it's depressing me along with the thought of upcoming surgery.

So far in February I am losing at a rate of 4.35 BB/100!!!!

To top it all off I can't even get "lucky" enough to get a bonus popup the last 2 months at Party!

Pokerstars 1/2 Limit 6max, 29 hands, 15 minutes, $1.00
Pokerstars 2/4 Limit 6max, 39 hands, 17 minutes, -$80.00
Pokerstars 3/6 Limit 6max, 33 hands, 12 minutes, -$60.00
Pokerstars, 3/6 Limit 6max, 164 hands, 1 Hour 27 Minutes, $16.50
Paradise Poker, 3/6 Limit 5max, 8 hands, 7 minutes, -$14.00 (server connection went bad)
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 101 hands, 1 hour 6 minutes, -$111.00
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 261 hands, 2 nours 4 minutes, -$62.00

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:

None - Don't even have any good ones to work on right now. Not that it would do me much good right now anyway.
________________

Total: -$309.50
Time: 5h 28m

Alright Piers. I did what you suggested and played a little Limit Omaha H/L last night. Just one session at the .05/.10 stakes at Pokerstars. Bought in with $5 and left with $10 an hour later or so. Was nice to not lose again. $5 isn't much but it kept the stress level down for a night and that was worth a lot more than $5. I don't own SS2 but I think I may rectify that today. Any other good book suggestions for that game? How high up in stakes do the folks play as poorly as they do at this stake? I'd like to make a bit more than $5 per session if possible without getting my clock cleaned by an Omaha shark on a regualr basis.

Here's the stats for yesterday.

Pokerstars .05/.10 Limit Omaha H/L FR, 61 hands, 1 hour 21 minutes, $5.18 Not a lot but it is 51.8BB

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:

none
_____________________

Total: $5.18
Time: 1h 21m

The other good book is Ray Zee's book that contains info on both O8B and Stud 8B.

I just played a $1000 freeroll at Noble that I was entered in for depositing there last week. I finished 2nd and walked away with $200!!!! 1st place only paid $50 more so I didn't leave too much on the table. When it got down to HU play, he had me 4 to 1 in chips and it didnt take too long after that.

This sure helps alleviate some of the depression from my career tieing worst loss the other day. And it gives me a little confidence in my NL tourney play. I outlasted 424 other players for this so I am pretty damned proud of myself right at the moment. I had 2 hands where I got fairly lucky. First one was right after I got sucked out on for most of my stack and I was now at ~800 chips left early in the touney. I pushed with ATsuited and got called by the button with AQsuited. Flop came down rags, turn and river were both 10's! Ya gotta love hitting 2 out of your 3 outs when you are dominated!!!! LOL.

Next and last luckout was when I had QJ and raised 4xBB preflop and got called by a player with K6, flop comes KT6. I figured I wasn't too much of a dog with 8 outs to win and maybe 6 more with the other Q's and J's so I pushed. I forget what the flop was but the river was a 9 finishing my OESD! The guy started whining so I said "Yeah, whatever Helmuth" and left it at that. Dumbass shouldn't have been calling a 4xBB PFR with K6 anyway. Those were the only 2 bad beats I put on anybody so I feel pretty good about that. Does that last one even count as a badbeat?

Didn't play anymore today after the tourney I posted about above.

Went and saw the movie Aeon Flux at the local second run movie theater. It was actually a lot better than I had expected it to be. Charlize Theron isn't quite the hardbody she used to be but she still looked pretty damn good in those skimpy costumes they had her in. Now that they seem to be making movies of all the comic book characters, I wonder how long it will be before the Archie and Jughead movie comes out.

Anyway, here's todays stats:

Noble Poker $1000 NL Freeroll for new depositors, ~150 hand, ~3 hours, $200.00 - Finished 2nd!!! out of 426.

RB: 0
Various: 0

Bonus Progress:

No progress today but did deposit $500 at Paradise to get the $100 bonus. I picked the Seahawks+4 which hopefully will get me a seat in their special freeroll tourney.
_________________

Total: $200.00 New career record for daily win.
Time: 3h 0m

Can't seem to make myself quit playing even though it's apparent that I don't know what I am doing anymore and need to take a break. I tried Limit 5max, Limit 6max, Limit Omaha H/L, and even NL25 & 50 6max. Didn't post an overall win in any of them except for a tiny one in NL25. Conclusion: I suck at poker. I am too unlucky and just plain suck. Everyone else can obviously see my hole cards because they never seem to lose if they are in a hand with me. Think I'll take up Parchisi. Can you lose money at Parchisi? Maybe I shouldn't play that either. Let's face it, I'm a pathetic loser who can't right his boat. How did I ever get this far playing exactly the same way I play now? I don't understand it.

Pokerstars Limit Omaha H/L .05/.10, 44 hands, 1 hour 5 minutes, -$2.57
Pokerstars Limit Omaha H/L .05/.10, 31 hands, 42 minutes, -$0.02
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 150 hands, 1 hour 9 minutes, -$270.00
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 5 hands, 2 minutes, $19.00
Paradise Poker 3/6 Limit 5max, 49 hands, 21 minutes, $80.00
Pokerstars 3/6 Limit 6max, 213 hands, 1 hour 49 minutes, -$114.50
Pokerstars NL25 6max, 39 hands, 29 minutes, $2.65
Pokerstars NL50 6max, 215 hands, 2 hours 28 minutes, -$36.30

RB: 0
Various: $10.00

Bonus Progress:
Cleared $10 in bonus at Paradise Poker.
_______________________

Total: -$311.74
Time: 8h 15m

Could the variance finally be ending or is lady luck just teasing me? First thing today I find out that Martins Poker has finally released the 120€ in bonus that I had earned over the past 90 days. Then I decided to start on the Will Hill bonus for February and made a profit of $81 in addition to the $8.88 I cleared for an hour of play. That makes up for about 2/3 of yesterdays loss with the rest of the day still to go. Of course since today I will be prepping my innards for tomorrows colonoscopy and I don't have a laptop to use while sitting on the can, I'm not sure just how much poker will be played the rest of the day. Oh well, hopefully this little profit today isn't just an upwards blip in my downward variance doldrums. After losing $600 over the last few days, I feel I'm due a bit of an upward spike. Hopefully it will last awhile.
Played on and off today between Dr. appointments and trips to the toilet. At least the day finished in the black this time.

Will Hill 1/2 6max, 124 hands, 1 hour 2 minutes, $81.00
Will Hill 1/2 6max, 101 hands, 58 minutes, $2.25
Will Hill 1/2 6max, 34 hands, 23 minutes, -$22.37
Will Hill 1/2 6max, 28 hands, 17 minutes, -$15.75
Will Hill 1/2 FR, 18 hands, 16 minutes, -$9.00
Will Hill 1/2 FR, 13 hands, 13 minutes, -$2.00
Will Hill 1/2 6max, 79 hands, 51 minutes, -$16.50
Full Tilt 1/2 6max NL, 5 hands, 3 minutes, -$4.00
Paradise Poker Limit 3/6 5max, 19 hands, 11 minutes, $39.00
Paradise Poker Limit 1/2 5max, 29hands, 14 minutes, -$28.50
Paradise Poker Limit 7Stud .02/.04, 34 hands, 45 minutes, $0.07
Paradise Poker NL10 5max, 46 hands, 36 minutes, $1.89

RB: 0
Various: $175.20

Bonus Progress:
Cleared 4 out of 5 hours at Will Hill for Febrary for a total of $35.52
Also FINALLY cleared my 120€ from Martins for $144.25 - But paid $4.57 in transfer fees because they were euros.
___________________________

Total: $201.29
Time: 5h 49m