(Continued)

Well I don't have the numbers from the rest of weekend, so I'll just do a quick note on my Friday night at Foxwoods. For those who don't know, this was my 3rd or 4th time at Foxwoods and the first time I was planning on playing any poker there.

In any case, we left my house at about 4pm and arrived at just before 5pm. I was really surprised it took so short a time (even though mapquest put the travel time squarely at 62 minutes...), because I always thought it was around 2-3 hours away. Shows what kind of a memory I have... The Bill Engvall show started at 9pm, and when we arrived the others wanted to do dinner. We hit up the buffet (The Festival Buffet), which was reasonably priced at $14/person or so. Considering the variety of food offered for the buffet - I was pretty impressed. I wasn't terribly impressed with the quality of the food that I happened to try - but I think I just had a series of less-than-par dishes. I tried most of the Chinese offered, as well as the roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes - etc. It wasn't bad - but it didn't impress me. My wife, Erin and Rob were all happy to have eaten there - so I really can't complain and of course although it was a busy area - it was cozy in its own way.

After dinner, Lindsay (and this was her first experience at a casino) and the others wanted to hit the slots for a little bit. Since we only had about an hour or two before the show - I wasn't going to go to the poker room and instead sat down at a Carribean Stud table. It was a $10 table and I bought in for $100 at around 7:45pm. I hit a couple of pairs that held up when the dealer qualified. I also had trips and 2 two pair hands where the dealer did not qualify. What could've been a good session turned into rather lackluster and I cashed out $115 around 8:30pm when the others came to get me. Lindsay lost about $20-30 on the slots - so we were down a bit but not hurting too badly.

The show - let me just say - was fucking hillarious. Tight Wad - you could learn a thing or two from this guy. Although it was probably not the best way to spend my money - it was still a great time and although we had the "bad" seats - the view was perfectly fine and of course we had no problem hearing him.

After the show, the girls wanted to go to one of the clubs and get a drink or two (read: they wanted to go dance and get TRASHED...) for a half hour. I went to the poker room and Rob went to the slots.

I went into the poker room confidently and went straight to a desk and asked the guy behind it what he had for Omaha8. He presented me with 2 options - $5/$10 and a list of interest for $2/$4 (which he said would not be running tonight). He then slipped in that I needed to go to another desk to get on any lists (I didn't hear this until after my next question...). I only had $200 on me - so I wasn't too keen on $5/$10. I asked him what he had for $2/$4 hold'em and he said the list was 100 players long and that I'd have to go to another desk to get on a list... I took the hint - went around to the other desk - and lo and behold they had a screen with all of the lists. I saw that the $1-5 spread Stud list wasn't too long, so I opted for that one. I was 17 names down. I found a clear spot near those tables and observed while I waited.

And I waited. About an hour or two passed and Lindsay and Erin came by to check on me. Lindsay was surprised to see me standing and then saw that the $5/$10 O8 list had "Open Seat" listed. She insisted I sit down there and gave me another $150 to play with. It was still above my limits - but we weren't going to be there much longer - so I said WTF. I bought my chips, found the table and found that someone had just sat down... I was put on the list. I waited some more. My name came and went on the Stud list and eventually (around 12:30am) I got to play. I sat down with 300 in seat 10 (to the right of the dealer - right next to the plaque for the table that explains the rake). The whole time I was watching I didn't see this, but 2 hands after I got there - I found out the game was a full kill... I was already seated though - so I didn't care.

Most of the table were elderly men (70+ by my guess). 3 of the rest were probably in their 50's and only 2 people other than me looked to be under 40. The player on my right (from my observations) seemed a good player who could be a little on tilt from the play of the others. The player in the 7 seat was a guy who liked to call people by labels. I was "kid" - the guy in the 6 seat was "Rock" (he was one of the elderly guys). One of my first hands was against "Rock."

I had A25x suited to the ace and limped from MP with 2 others. 2 others called behind me and the rock - in the BB - raised. Everyone called. The flop was KTx with 2 of my suit. The x was a low card - but not an Ace, deuce or 5. It checked around to me, I bet and I got 3-4 callers, Rock was one of them. The turn made my flush with the 8 and the Rock bets out. He gets one call to me - I raise and it folds back to him. He grumbles audibly and calls. The river pairs the 8 and he checks. I bet - he calls. I show my flush and he shows his J7 flush... I take the pot and lucky for me - it is a kill...

I played until everybody came back itching to go home. Rob had lost all his money playing slots (about $140 or so), Erin was up about $80 (again from slots), but most of that was spent on booze and dinner - so she was pretty much even overall. Lindsay had hit a $150 mark on the slots, but lost a fair amount of it back - because she was having fun. She ended up down $50 for the night overall. I was down $65 on the $5/$10 table - so I was down $50 overall as well. The whole night was a $150 loss, but considering I wasn't playing in the optimal conditions and Lindsay was there mostly for the fun of it - I think we did fine.

Most importantly, Lindsay wants to go again and play some poker (which she's quite good at). We might take some money and just go on a whim before our trip in May. If we do - I'll try to keep my wits about me when choosing my games...

March 28th, 2005 (Monday)

I promise, I will do a run down of the weekend's play and how it has affected my bottom line for the month. I don't think I played any on Saturday (god - I hope I didn't - I don't remember much from that day...), and I played a little on Sunday around noon-ish - where I'm pretty sure I lost some - but I digress - it'll come - just be patient.

For tonight, I'm working some more on my application to work out a bug with the developer. I should be done by the time my tournament starts at 9:15pm, but if not - I may just play the $10+ rebuy tournament instead. I might play it even if I do make it into the first tourney... We'll see. I'm also doing well on dropping my bonus on Ultimate Bet - I think I'm down to around $70 or so. By playing $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo over there - it has been releasing at a reasonable pace, so it should be done soon. Once I do, that money will be freed up to put into Neteller and move elsewhere.

In a couple of days, I'll be starting up the bonuses at the Crypto sites again, and if no other bonuses creep up in the mean time, I'll probably pick up another site - possibly Gaming Club. I also, want to log some serious time in at $2/$4 for the rest of this month and next month and make a decision about $3/$6 - since I currently have the bankroll to handle it.

On another note, I checked my balance and Lindsay's balance on our Wampum cards after the play on Friday. Lindsay only played slots and earned 3 points (worth $3). I played less than an hour at Carribean Stud with a $10 minimum bet and about 2-3 hours at $5/$10 Omaha Hi/Lo (full kill) and earned $4.48. I guess I was optimistic that I would've earned more than this - but I could see getting a free night stay there sometime in the future, so I guess I can't complain too much.

Tomorrow - my wife and I are taking delivery of our new couch and recliner. Its been a good long wait - but I'm glad its coming. My sister-in-law (one of 3) stopped by today and took our old couch and chair, so when I get home tonight, the living room will be very empty...

March 26th - March 28th, 2005 (Saturday, Sunday, Monday)

Sometimes there are times that I really feel like I've screwed up. I'm up more money this month than I ever have before. I'm taking in a sizeable chunk of cash to the tune of $800. And yet, when I post a couple of losing days, I feel like I'm the worst player around. I feel like I should just quit and do something else. I feel like this month has been a loss. And yet - when I look at the numbers, I'm still up more money this month than I have ever done before.

That's my mindset this morning. On Saturday, it turns out I did play some poker, but made it a light day overall. I was mostly looking to work on the UB bonus situation, so I played a bunch of Omaha Hi/Lo over there. Here are those numbers:

UB 3/26 1:17pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 1:53pm, 30 hands, +7.50, 23.75 UB points
UB 3/26 1:17pm - 1:53pm, 30 hands, +2.37
UB 3/26 9:48pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 10:41pm, 61 hands, -27.25, 48 UB points
UB 3/26 9:56pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 10:43pm, 44 hands, +27, 33.25 UB points
UB 3/26 9:48pm - 10:43pm, 105 hands, +8.12
$546.04 ($94.56)

PS 3/26 9:54pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $80 buyin, 10:54pm, 38 hands, -7
$318.37

So the net for Saturday was around $10 in the black. Not a big day - and my ring game play pretty much cancelled itself out - so its all bonus money.

Sunday was a quick session in the middle of the day because I had the opportunity. Lindsay wasn't too pleased to see me playing - since the day time is usually reserved for other things - but she only knew because she got out of work early. I can't really argue - this is an agreement we had - plus I had some housework I was putting off. Unfortunately, this meant that I logged off with a loss that could have been recovered if I had played the session out.

UB 3/27 10:51am $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, $100 rebuy, 12:34pm, 99 hands, -78.50, 82 UB points
UB 3/27 10:57am $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 12:39pm, 82 hands, +1, 69.75 UB points
UB 3/27 10:51am - 12:39pm, 181 hands, +15.17
$483.71 ($79.39)

Monday, however, took the cake. Here, I just tried to do too much I think. Although I never had more than 4 tables open and I never really felt rushed - I seemed to always be on the losing side of hands.

I missed the 9:15pm Omaha Hi/Lo tournament, but I made the $10+rebuys tournament. Early in the tournament, I was in the BB with K9 with 2 others - the SB and a MP. The flop was Kxx rainbow, so I checked when the SB checked and the MP checked as well. On the turn was an 8 and the SB bet out the pot. I raised to about 200, folding the MP. SB called. The river was inconsequential (a 4 I think) and he bets 500 into me - I push. He calls. He shows KT - and outkicks me.

And now for the worst move: I rebought. With that hand I should've realized that I wasn't in the right frame and just dropped the tourney. However I didn't and played fairly well for the rest of the first hour. After the break, I had about 3700 when this hand comes up. I'm in MP with AKo and open-raise to 4xBB (blinds are 100/200). I get one other player - and he raises to 2k. It folds back to me and I decide to push - mostly because he was a big stack and I suspected he could make that raise with a lesser hand than mine. I was right: he had AJs. Unfortunately - he hits his flush and I'm out.

UPF had a tournament last night - a $10 PLO8 event that drew a whopping 9 players. I finished poorly in it and failed to last longer for a side bet.

I also played a few ring games and finished down in all but one of them - so its no wonder that I'm in a bit of a funk. I need to review the hands though and see whether I was really playing well - or if I should've just not bothered to play yesterday.

PS 3/28 10:15pm $10+1 NLHE multi w/rebuys (1061) 6452297, 1 rebuy, 1 addon, $31 total, 679th, 11:42pm, 89 hands, -31
PS 3/28 10:30pm $10+1 PL O8 multi (9) 6408505, UPF, $5 last longer bet, 7th, 66 hands, -16
PS 3/28 10:25pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $80 buyin, $40 rebuy, 12:24am, 95 hands, -75
PS 3/28 11:47pm $2/$4 HE ring (10) $80 buyin, 12:23am, 46 hands, -37
$159.37

UB 3/28 11:44pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 12:17am, 26 hands, +20.50, 22.75 UB points
UB 3/29 12:01am $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 12:22am, 19 hands, -8.50, 15.50 UB points
UB 3/28 11:44pm - 12:22am, 45 hands, +3.82
$499.53 ($75.57)

Updated numbers: (this includes 180 minutes and a ($65) loss from Foxwoods)

Net change for the weekend: ($259.77)
Net time for the weekend: 8.650 hours; 15.784 table-hours

Total Net change for the month: $557.82
Total Net time for the month (actual hours): 63.367 hours
Total Net time for the month (table-hours): 148.867 table-hours

Real-Hourly rate: $8.803/hr
Table-Hourly rate: $3.747/t-hr

(Continued)

I've been trying to clear off the UB bonus money I've got and since I moved up to $2/$4, its actually been coming along at a good pace. Of course, UB is doing another bonus tomorrow(just tomorrow, 50% up to $100 bonus dollars), so it will be just that much longer. Of course, the month starts anew tomorrow, so I get to start on my bonuses at the Crypto sites for a little while too.

In any case, back to last night. I managed to take a $45 win and make it a $56 loss because I simply didn't stop playing. Its tough to justify stopping though, since I was crushing one table and on the other I was pretty much breaking even for a while. The good table broke up though and then I hit a run of good preflop cards that didn't do well post flop. Here's a good explanation of why I ended up losing at one table last night. I played 196 hands, and won 7% of them. If it was an even distribution, I would've won an additional 6 pots - which - by fair estimation - probably would've brought me back up to even.

On the other side of things, I played well for the most part. There were two hands that I paid off on the end, knowing I was beat - but only because the pots were quite large (one was $120 and I had the nut flush when the river paired the board with only one other player in; the other was $100 and I had the top set on a rainbow board that straightened on the river (yes, the player had 57 to make his 9-high straight...). I'm not really disappointed with my play in either of these hands. I did have one mistake where I got greedy by attempting a check raise on one hand when I had the nut flush with the nut low draw with 4 players in. It checked around and the river paired the board, so the guy with 2 pair made his boat and scooped.

I also played a hold'em table for a short while and on my last hand, I had an overpair and pushed it hard the whole way. My opponent check raised me on the turn when the board was 7692 (I had queens). I reraised him and he called. The river was a 5 and he bet into me again - which I called. He showed 78o and took the pot. That hand brought me from a +$30 win to a -$1.25 loss. I had committed to leaving the table though, so I just left.

So here's the numbers for the night:

UB 3/30 8:52pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, $50 rebuy, $50 rebuy, 11:58pm, 196 hands, -137.25, 144 UB points
UB 3/30 8:55pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 10:55pm, 131 hands, +55.25, 88.75 UB points
UB 3/30 11:06pm $2/$4 HE ring (10) $100 buyin, 11:51pm, 63 hands, -1.25, 34.75 UB points
UB 3/30 8:52pm - 11:58pm, 390 hands, +26.74
$443.02 ($48.83)

Net change for the day: ($56.51)
Net time for the day: 3.100 hours; 5.850 table-hours

Total Net change for the month: $501.31
Total Net time for the month (actual hours): 66.467 hours
Total Net time for the month (table-hours): 154.717 table-hours

Real-Hourly rate: $7.542/hr
Table-Hourly rate: $3.240/t-hr

I wish I was as motivated in my poker play and recording as you, but lately, I'm just not playing too much. Keep up the good work.

Its not so much motivation than commitment and free time at work...

Its easy for me to write up these journal entries because I have free time at work, then it is just a matter of making the commitment to write them...

/d

I have plenty of free time at work but can't seem to put a daily entry. Part I'm sure has to do with me playing less poker recently.

So do what I do - post something that's not poker related in just about every post. Since this is the only journal I keep - you guys get to hear about my couch problem and my obscenely good relationship with my wife... (and believe me - its a lot better than I post).

Also, just between you and me (and whoever reads this post), there's a certain amount of fiction in every post I write. This is to keep my writing up and to come up with stuff on the fly, but also to keep the journal interesting. Since the fiction isn't going to affect anything, I don't worry about the "lies" I tell here. The numbers though, they are all truth (in case you're wondering...).

Tell you what - take the next week and every day make a post about your day, whether you played poker or not and incorporate a fictional element into it (whether it is important to poker or not) and see how it develops. You may find the journal is much more interesting then.

/d

March 31st, 2005 (Thursday)

Well, its been a pretty frustrating week. I went from having a net gain of $800+ last Wednesday to just $500 after yesterday. While I'm still having my best month ever, it sure is a hard time remembering that I am a winning player. Last night was doubly frustrating because I almost stepped away with a $40+ winner, but instead kept playing until I started dropping pots all over the place.

UB changed their Player Appreciation day until Friday, but I'll probably still play there some tonight. My wife actually told me to play tonight to see if I can get myself out of this funk I've been in. I figure I'll play as many $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo tables as they have and try to knock off the last $49 of the bonus I have. If they have less than 3, I might bring up Pokerstars as well and play a table over there to help things along. I'm even contemplating setting a goal to hit - say $100 or $150 on the upside and see if I can hit it. With the bonus money, that theoretically shouldn't be a hard target to hit.

Tomorrow, Lindsay and I will be going down to Foxwoods after I get out of work. Spur of the moment type of thing, and its in the midst of the NEPC - so I expect it will be busy. I'm definitely bringing the phone number to the poker room and see if they'll put me on the list for a game or two while I'm still on the road. I expect we'll probably be there until the wee hours of the morning, but hopefully it will be a profitable venture.

Lindsay has also given me leave to be able to go down to Foxwoods on April 22nd. She's going to a concert that night and we got a baby sitter, so I figured I would head on down. So far its just me going down (though I might be meeting a few people down there from another forum), but I'll probably see if some of my friends feel like coming along.

Hopefully, between those 2 times of playing, I'll have enough on my Wampum card to get something worthwhile (whether paying for part of our dinner one night or something else). If not, its no big deal, but it would be nice...

I also found out that Planet Poker is offering money for aces getting cracked. I've got a little bit of cash left over there (not enough to cash out, but enough to play a single $1/$2 table I think). Maybe I'll jump over there and try to finish releasing the bonus so that I could cash out eventually, or just finish up the account for good because I'm just not impressed with them.

Alright - I've given this some more thought and I think I am going to aim for $100 tonight. Its not the most I've made, but it would be a nice number to hit. I'm still undecided if I will quit once I hit that, but that will have to be a judgment call made at the time.

For tomorrow, I'm going to either play some $2/$4 hold'em (or Omaha Hi/Lo if it is offered...) or some spread stud. Stud is still most enjoyable to me in a live setting (in home games anyway), though I had a great time playing Omaha on last Friday.

Since I won't be arriving at Foxwoods until probably 7:30pm, I'm going to make use of their call-ahead seating number and hopefully that will cut down the wait time some. I'm not sure what the wait time's going to be, but I have to assume it will be as bad as or worse than last week (because the NEPC is going on). I want to bring down another $200 for each of us (or maybe just $300/$100 because I'm more intent on playing poker).

(Continued)

Had a bit of a scary moment this afternoon. I am planning a trip to Foxwoods with my wife and some friends in mid-May. Lindsay and I are staying 2 nights - everyone else just one. Since this is for her birthday, we're staying on site in one of the two hotels.

I went to check the prices today - and boom - no reservations are open for that weekend...

Try it again... still nothing

Adjust it to only one of the nights - still nothing

One more try on the other night - still nothing...

AHHHH!!!

Log in with my wampum card - now there's stuff available... Needless to say, I'm making the reservations tonight and I'll be calling everyone else to make sure they do too...

(Continued)

Now that things have quieted down (and the proper people dealt with...), I can continue posting to my journal.

I played a lot last night trying to make a $100 night out of it. I was quickly down around $120-$200, so at that point, I was just hoping to break even again. In total, I played in 3 ring games on UB (2 $2/$4 O8, 1 $2/$4 w/half kill O8) and managed to unlock the remaining amount of my bonus dollars. The half kill table killed me, but I made back most of it on one of the other tables. The bonus money was offset by my losses at the third table.

When things slowed down, and I was still down over $100, I opened up Pokerstars and played a few games over there as well. I played on three separate tables and finished up on all three for a nice change.

Here are the numbers:

UB 3/31 9:18pm $2/$4 O8 ring half kill (10) $100 buyin, $50 rebuy, $50 rebuy, 11:06pm, 99 hands, -122, 73.75 UB points
UB 3/31 9:22pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, 2:41am, 269 hands, +119.25, 217 UB points
UB 3/31 9:24pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $100 buyin, $50 rebuy, 2:00am, 266 hands, -57.50, 202.75 UB points
UB 3/31 9:18pm - 2:41am, 634 hands, $48.83
$200 deposit, $100 bonus dollars
$631.60, ($100)

PS 3/31 11:21pm $2/$4 HE ring (10) $80 buyin, 12:52am, 118 hands, +26
PS 3/31 11:25pm $2/$4 O8 ring (10) $60 buyin, 12:10am, 27 hands, +13
PS 4/1 12:32am $2/$4 HE ring (10) $80 buyin, 2:50am, 240 hands, +32
$230.37

Net change for the day: $59.58
Net time for the day: 5.533 hours; 16.283 table-hours

Total Net change for the month: $560.89
Total Net time for the month (actual hours): 72.000 hours
Total Net time for the month (table-hours): 171.000 table-hours

Real-Hourly rate: $7.790/hr
Table-Hourly rate: $3.280/t-hr

Because that final table of $2/$4 HE was started in April though, it will show up in my numbers there from here on (so my actual finish for the month was $32 less, 0.15 hours less over all and 2.3 table-hours less.

In other words, my numbers for March will officially be this:

Total Net change for the month: $528.89
Total Net time for the month (actual hours): 71.850 hours
Total Net time for the month (table-hours): 168.700 table-hours

Real-Hourly rate: $7.361/hr
Table-Hourly rate: $3.135/t-hr

Also, my total internet profit was an additional $65, making the online profit $593.89. At the start of the month, I declared the following plan:

>> For a month total, if my profit for the month (in online games only) is less than $500 - it will all stay in the bankroll.
>> If my month total is between $500 and $1000, I will keep the first $500 in my bankroll and split the remainder between bankroll and my personal account (for debt repayment).
>> If my month total exceeds $1000, I will put $750 into the bankroll and put the rest into my personal account for debt repayment.

So I would be cashing out $46.xx - but I'll just round it up to a nice $50 because I'm lazy and because I feel it should have been another $100 more...

Hopefully this trend will continue on next month - though, as I said before - I should be playing less than in previous months.

Here's some of the numbers for the month about my play:

1. Bonus money - I made $472.22 in bonus money this month with 49.65 table-hours associated with it. Obviously, this has helped make the month very profitable for me and is part of the reason why my numbers have been on the upward trend.

2. Tournaments - I lost $277.36 in tournament fees this month with 20 tournaments played (some of which were FPP tourneys). I had one cashing spot and was within the TLB range (top 15% of the field) 4 times. I also played 4 FPP tourneys and was within the bubble of 2 of those. For my purposes in large multitable tournaments, the full table before the money line is the "bubble" as opposed to just the one spot before the money.

3. SNGs - I've all but removed these from my regular play. Lindsay played one (which I finished), and finished 4th. I also played 2 satellites to the big game, but didn't finish in 1st in either one. In the future, these will probably remain sparse because I'm having such success elsewhere.

4. Foxwoods - I played one short session of $5/$10 Omaha Hi/Lo with a kill and lost $65 over the course of 3 hours. In the future, I expect I'll be going to Foxwoods more often - so expect there to be more entries of this kind.

5. Ring games:
a) $1/$2 Hold'em, 9 sessions, 19.033 table-hours, 1013 hands, $13.28, $0.698/hr, $1.311/100
b) $2/$4 Hold'em, 12 sessions, 22.200 table-hours, 1649 hands, ($43.25), ($1.948/hr), ($2.623/100)
c) $1/$2 Omaha Hi/Lo, 3 sessions, 7.067 table-hours, 333 hands, $17.00, $2.406/hr, $5.105/100
d) $2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo, 35 sessions, 75.667 table-hours, 3816 hands, $417.50, $5.518/hr, $10.941/100

Obviously, ring games are helping out immensely as well. I'm not restricting the games I play (as opposed to doing a random session of Stud or something), so that I can become more consistent. However, once I am comfortable with my limits, I will probably reintroduce Stud and Stud Hi/Lo since I enjoy them both and the players are usually subpar.

Good luck and see you in April's log.