Today's entry is entitled: "Lost my shirt, but my pants are intact!"

First off, I'd just like to say that this journal is also published on my SUPER-GROOVY BLOG! I have no idea whether or not a single person has actually checked out this wonderful site yet, but the link is in my signature if you'd like to.

If you do stop by and happen to like my little rants, be sure to leave a comment! Ya know, something along the lines of "Yo TW, your blog rocks!" For that matter, if you don't like my blog but possess a kind, sympathetic personality, be sure to leave a comment! Once again, something along the lines of "Yo TW, your blog rocks!" would give me a nice boost. Lastly, if you hate my blog and possess a direct, tell-it-like-it-is personality, then do not hesitate to keep your nasty, vile thoughts to yourself.

Okay, let's begin with a profound statement: Poker is a lot less fun when you're losing. Anyone else notice this phenomenon? Today sucked. I started off with my third straight winning session at the 25NL tables (net win of 54.45), and I really wish I had just ended my day right there. Nope, went on to book about six total hours of 2-4 limit, which utterly BLEW! After the first 4 hours, I was down about 250 bucks. Okay, yeah, that sucks. But that was nothing compared to what happened next.

Let's get one thing straight right now: poker may be my job, but it's not my life. As much as I love to play cards, it's important to always maintain some perspective and realize that certain "life-related-happenings" will always far outway some crummy poker results in terms of significance. Anyway, what happened at this point was something that affected me in a deeply personal way; something I knew was bound to happen someday, and yet I always clung to some forlorn hope that I'd never actually have to deal with it.

I had run out of cigarettes.

So I went out to get more. While I was out, I was pretty much steaming about how awful the day had been going. I'd been getting some pretty cold cards today, not connecting with flops, and getting my strong hands cracked. But there's no sense in concealing the full truth, which is that I allowed those cold cards to affect my judgment, I held on to hands that missed the flop, and I couldn't fold my big hands that were obviously beaten. I think that even had I played perfectly, I would've lost money; but it sure as hell wouldn't have been 250 bucks!

In short, I had a re-enlightenment while I was out wasting my money on my delicious, carcinogenic lung-snacks. And that was that I do not get paid to win the most pots, I do not get paid to look like a "pro", I get paid to MAKE GOOD DECISIONS! It's easy to feel like a pro when your AA scoops in a big pot, or when you hit a set or a straight or a flush. It's a lot harder when you're folding K-4 after Q-3 after 2-6, or when you quietly fold your kings on the turn when you know they're beaten. But a professional is not a guy that can win with AA; any half-brained primate could do that. A professional is a guy (or gal) with the knowledge to recognize whether a situation in a positive or negative one, the strength to over-ride his ego/frustration and act on that knowledge, and enough humility to continuously strive to get better.

Damn, it's a long road!

Anyway, I got back and fired up another session. This one last an hour and a half, and netted me a loss of 120 bucks. So much for enlightenment, huh? Not exactly. Because I played those tables damned well, despite some rather ugly results. I could give you a list of the beats I took today, but what would that accomplish? Would that prove that I'm really a winner that just got some shitty cards today? No. The only way to prove that is to keep smilin', keep playing my best game, and keep getting better. And eventually, the results will speak for themselves.

Now for the ugly part: today's summary (Tuesday, February 22nd)
Results : -$333.30
Hours Played : 8

Holy shit, that's ugly. But Tomorrow's another day, right?

Piers,

Yeah, the bet was bad...clearly, after the lack of interest on the flop, it couldn't be expected to work as a "value bet"...I'd like to say I normally don't bet there, but then again I probably do...just not against that many people. Whoops! Thanks for the input, there's still a lot of things I do I shouldn't, but I'll get there.

EDIT: By the way, I didn't even realize that was you in there, Piers! If I ignored you at first, it's because at that point, I didn't recognize you and didn't realize you were talking to me. When I'm 3-tabling and "reading into peoples' souls" at the same time (yeah, right! lol) I often miss what's going on in the chat window. Point is, I really appreciate you stopping by, so thanks for that and thanks for the advice!

-TW

Today's Public Service Announcement is entitled:
"Random comments on the state of humanity"

You ever have one of those days where it seems like everytime you try to tie your god-damned shoes, you wind up tying your middle finger to your god-damned shoe? No? Me neither.

I woke up at 12:30 p.m. today, which I've been trying to avoid. Last couple of days before today, I've been waking up at 6 in the morning; I find this really helps me build some structure, book the hours, shit like that. But, today, I hit the snooze button about 63 times too many.

What the hell ever happened to the "Macarena?" I found it's lyrics to be very deep and insightful. Really thought that one was more than just a flash-in-the-pan...

Played about 2.5 hours of limit today, pretty mundane session, came out 80 bucks ahead, cool.

I basically only have two "life-goals." The first is to play poker for a living, so I'm getting there on that one. Here's the second: one of these days, I'm gonna buy myself a carton of cigarettes, find the nearest convent, and then chain-smoke one cigarette after another until I can smoke no more. Why? Because eventually, a nun will walk by and say, "You know, that's a bad habit..." to which I can reply, "Nah, sister, THAT's a bad habit!" while pointing at her habit.

Looking over my PTracker stats, I've come to the conclusion that AQo blows. It blows hard. I may just have to start folding it unless I'm in the SB. Seriously, though, reviewing some specific hands, it looks as though I've had some shitty luck with it. Only lost one pot where my opponent had AK, but I've lost tons to two-pairs against opponents with such marvelous holdings as A3, A5, A8, Q9, Q3s, and my favorite, 52. And the 52 guy called a frickin raise. Makes me wanna say, "Awww, COME ON!" which is actually what I did say, in a high-pitched whine, when he turned it over to reveal his riverous treachery. If it was soooted, I coulda forgave him. Anyway, I will admit I probably hung in there a little too long on some of my more dreadful AQ hands...but still...COME ON!

Before I finish up, I'd like to congratulate myself for finally starting my own business! Always been a dream of mine, and now it's finally coming true. Already got three capable guys workin' for me: Manny, Moe and Jack. Tomorrow is the grand opening, so if you wanna stop by, Manny's working 8-4, Moe comes in 4-10 and Jack's off. Get it?

-TW

Cash-out day / Goin' live!

G'day, blog-readers! Through hard work, rock-solid determination and brilliant play, I pounded out a $1.50 loss today. Funny thing, poker...it's the only job I know of where you can put in your hours, clock out, and get a bill. In all honesty, my play today was pretty god-damned awful, so I was lucky to escape with only a small loss.

Today is CASH-OUT day!!! And a pretty shitty one as compared to weeks past. Here's the info:

Total Hours...33:52
Total Gain...298
Cash-out...98

For those of you who do not possess my genius-calibre math skills, the above information means that I am leaving 200 of my total gain (from here on abbreviated "TG") in my bankroll (from here on abbreviated HBCKWWZ). Now, under normal circumstances, a low TG would cause me to cash out (henceforth abbreviated as WTF) the large majority and leave virtually no extra in my HBCKWWZ. But, I'm pretty much covered for the next month as far as bills and expenses, so I decided that it would be in my best interests to bolster the ol' HBCKWWZ rather than WTFing most of my modest TG.

By comparison, my TG LW (last week) was a solid 672, which gave me a WTF of 432 and let me plunk 240 in the HBCKWWZ, so TW ("this week", not "TightWad", who rocks) kinda sucked.

Goin' to AC tomorrow on a bus, which should be cool, aside from the parts concerning the bus, New Jersey, and the obnoxiously embarassing gentleman I'm going with. Last year, I spent a week in Vegas, which is the sum total of my live-game experience. But at least it means I won't be a total virgin as I cautiously penetrate the vast unknown that is the Borgata.

Some guy 3-bet me with 6-7 offsuit today. Never had that happen before.

-TW