Well Hi all;

For those who are on the forum and are just interested ... welcome to my member journal. For friends and family who are looking to see a bit more about what it is that I do here ... welcome.

I'm still getting over a hand from yesterday which could have netted me a juicy pot. I can't remember the exact details ... but it all started when I was dealt QQ. After the appropriate raising, I wind up in a 4-way pot with an Ace and 2 clubs on the flop. Not the end of the world, but not good. I threw in my bet to represent the Ace ... I get called, then raised, and then a call for good measure from number 4. I call and we go to the turn. The turn is another club ... but I can't remember which ... nothing terribly important. I check to watch the action ... bet from original caller ... call from original raiser ... and raise from original second caller. The gig is up, and good ole QQ just isn't going to cut it on this pot. Fold. I forget the river card as well ... but I know it wasn't a queen because my blood pressure's still okay.

Recap: 4-way pot. Flush on board. Ace on board. God knows what else someone can make out of any 2 cards on board. Winning hand? TT. Not trip tens ... just good ole TT. These 3 characters even got into a raising war with each other on the river over this hand too ... the final pot was huge.

This was a couple of days ago ... but I'm okay to write about it now I think.

So that's it ... I'm spending my time on the $0.50/$1.00 tables to build up the bankroll. I'm looking very forward to moving to $1/$2 ... I just couldn't take the swings at that level right now.

Well today is Thursday ... I'm happy to say that I registered PokerAce HUD last night ... fully functional ... and table selection has never been easier.

What else? Oh yeah ... I think my journal needs a picture of Hayden Panettiere. Just to ... ya know ... spice things up a bit. Here ya are:

People don't take losing very well ... I come and blow off steam here sometimes ... but a lot of them folk just want to tell you what they think right at the table. One of our more mathematically disabled opponents accused me of being a "flush-chaser" ... on the one pot I took (28BB thank you very much) ... the gentleman wasn't happy that my flush cards weren't very big. 34s I think it was. He said it was a "weak flush" ... he's right of course ... but since I knew he wasn't holding a "strong flush" ... I didn't feel too badly or concerned.

I was called a calling station earlier by a guy with an aggression rating of 5. He didn't like that I would call his bets when I had something instead of raising him. Maybe he figured it was bad form to judo him ... I don't know. I have his chips and that's what matters.

Another was quite good ... I held K3s and there was a King on the flop. There was a lot of betting going on here ... I knew for sure that I was beat as it was by a better king ... but the pot odds were just smashing. Smashing I say. So I called on a 5-outer ... thinking that if I caught the King we could chop the pot ... or that I just might catch a 3. Well low and behold if Poker God doesn't shine on fishies and semi-Loose Aggressives alike! A 3 on the river! Hoorah ... I proudly show down my 2 pair of Kings and 3s. The conversation was just great ... he accused me of the usual incompetence ... offered advice that maybe I should learn to play poker ... insulted my ancestry ... that sort of thing. I politely pointed out that I had correct pot odds to call. (There were so many bets in this pot that even though I was only getting 10-1 ... it was still correct to call.) He says "Pot odds! Of course! Who could forget about pot odds?!" I politely reminded him that I didn't forget about pot odds at all ... which was why I was holding his chips. I actually feel bad for the guy ... cause I know where's he's coming from. There's a certain justice in hitting your longshots though ... God knows it happens enough TO you.

I like your tastes in wimmin, sir.

Okay I've got to write this ... I think I'm having a change of heart over this whole poker-thingy ... and yes I did just get my ass stomped again for the 3rd time in 2 weeks. I'm fortunate enough to be on employment benefits for 8 months ... which gave me the time I thought I wanted to get this game down pat, and hopefully make a run at it.

Well, holy crap. I think this game is best left as a hobby. Not to say that it can't be a lucrative hobby, or even something designed as a long-term wealth growth thingy ... but damn ... the variance!!!

I come home last night ... and sit down for the challenge ... me at the $1/$2 tables ... within 90 minutes I'd made $90.00. Feeling pleased ... I took a walk etc. ... this brought my total bankroll including the expected rakeback to $550.00 (this is from about $150) ... I was happy about my performance on the tables ... I sat back down again ... and lost $30.00 ... decided to put it away for the night ... be happy with my winnings and try again tomorrow. Well if I just didn't get pretty much decimated in the course of an hour or two. It was absolutely insane.

Everybody catching their 2-outers ... my missing every 15 outer I was on ... I went to showdown 14 times and won 2. I flopped the nut straight only to have the guy catch a runner-runner flush for a $40.00 pot. Simply could not win a hand ... and it completely wiped out 3 days worth of work. ... so here I am saying to myself "Self: Look at all the time you've put into this, and yet you're no further ahead than you were weeks ago."

I don't know if anyone can offer me advice or consolation or whatever ... but right now I'm ready to withdraw what I got ... leave $20.00 in to play the nickel and dime tables for fun every now and again ... and learn to teach piano or something.

And another thing ... if you only make a flush less than 10% of the time ... how could my flushes get beaten by another flush every single time at a 6Max table? It doesn't quite make mathematical sense now does it?

And another thing ... how many times is it possible in a day for an opponent to beat your 2 pair by catching a river card for trips ... (and why the hell do they stay in anyway when there are 3 overcards to their pair on board.) Maybe I'm mad and ranting ... but I see the most supremely idiotic play rewarded at my expense over and over and over and over again ... and I think it's sending me tilty. Yah ... I'm definitely tilty. I need to become a swimsuit model photographer.

Yargh.

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Pardon me for being so venomous in my last post. I just realized that I DO in fact catch my 2-outers quite frequently ... of course by then I've already folded because it was mathematically correct to do so.

I just get to sit and watch as $20 pots pass me by because I made the correct choice. Meanwhile Mr. T8o catches every miracle he'll ever need.

Poker, eh? (Oh yeah ... I'm Canadian, eh.)