After a few very unsuccessful attempts to advance from the microlimits I've decided to re-instate some structure into my game and my goals. Currently I am able to live off my unemployment insurance so I no longer have to sustain myself off my bankroll, and obviously I will have plenty of time to play poker as long as I don't decide to do something reckless like go outside, or talk to people.

I've been playing poker for almost exactly 2 years now. At first I played sporadically and was mainly losing money with my stupid and bad LAG style but since November last year the changes I've made in my game have resulted in some nice profits and I haven't had a losing month since.

My strengths as a player is that I am fairly disciplined and I love reading and learning. I've read about 14 books on poker and try to pick up new things all the time.

My main weakness is that I simply don't like gambling. I'm serious. I wish they would just give me the money instead, I get totally stressed out when there's a lot of money (like $50!) at stake. I'm the opposite of gambling addicts that live for the adrenaline. Of course I have other weaknesses but I doubt you've been able to read this far without falling asleep so I won't bore you any more than I have to.

At the time, I play 0.1/0.20 NL at Prima. I just removed some money from my account to get a nice and even sum and I'm going to start this project with $400. The rules and objectives are as follows:


Levels and Bank Roll
To play at a level I will need 10+5 buy ins. That means I will start playing at the level when I have 15 buy ins and if I ever drop to 10 I will go down a level.

Stop Loss
If I ever lose 4 buy-ins I will stop playing for the day.

Main Goal
Make $10.000 until March 2006 for an around-the-world trip.

Secondary Goal
Become comfortable playing at higher levels.

Status
Bankroll: $400
Level: 0.2/0.20

Starting... now!

Good Luck

I'm sure that you can make your goal if you stay serious and disciplined. I like the idea of keeping a journal as well ( I just started mine a few weeks ago ) because it forces you to keep reflecting upon your play from week to week. Also, it's nice for the rest of us to follow you as you work towards your goal. Good Luck!!

Thanks for the well wishes, but they don't seem to be needed. I may be the greatest poker player who ever lived. After only a measly four hours, I am already up (brace yourself now...) twelve dollars!! That's right folks. At the current pace this would mean that I'll have achieved my goal sometime around September 2008. I may need to pick up the pace...

Some hands from today:

gauneyno posted to play - $0.20 ($19.80)
mikezi folded
Iinkan folded
piffgurkan folded
gauneyno checked
cayennetok called - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $1.20 [Ac]
mede12 folded
Jan81 folded
okcorralwyat folded
gauneyno raised - $2.20
cayennetok folded
Stoneburg raised - $7.20
gauneyno called - $7.20

** Dealing the flop:
gauneyno checked
Stoneburg bet - $2.00
gauneyno called - $2.00

** Dealing the turn:
gauneyno bet - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $4.00
gauneyno raised - $7.80
Stoneburg raised - $11.60
gauneyno went all-in - $3.00
gauneyno shows:
** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg wins $40.20 from the main pot

In hindsight I am giving him excellent odds to draw. Needless to say I didn't have him on T8.



** Dealing card to Stoneburg:
guta folded
tom52357 called - $0.20
okcorralwyat folded
ziddax folded
Nubyk folded
Laeelina folded
dennismoore called - $0.20
Stoneburg bet - $1.20 ($39.98)
tom52357 called - $1.20 ($12.00)
dennismoore called - $1.20

** Dealing the flop:
dennismoore checked
Stoneburg bet - $3.60
tom52357 went all-in - $10.80
dennismoore folded
Stoneburg called - $10.80
tom52357 shows:

** Dealing the turn: 10 of Hearts

** Dealing the river: 4 of Clubs
tom52357 wins $24.90 from the main pot

Really awful call. Against a LAG, sure, but this guy has an aggression factor of <0.8, he's not going to push with a draw or a pair.


Bankroll: $412 (+12)

I am still laughing from tonights session. The ending was crazy. The beginning, however, was anything but a laughing matter. I started out losing a bunch of pots with stupid all-in bluffs on the river, and couldn't catch a hand to capitalise on my new laggy image. Before I started playing I had decided to really try hard to be more aggressive... and I sure tried my damndest.

Well I had some very limited success and was only slightly up after several hours. Then I started running bad at my pot-limit tables and almost lost my buy-ins there (I played 2 PL and 2 NL tables). I was also getting bored so I decided to close down those two tables so I could put more focus on downloading porn and surfing. At this time, the NL tables started getting interesting...

I had started betting really aggressively now, and usually over-betting the pot. I was also raising suited connectors in position and generally being a nuiscance. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't betting and raisng with nothing, I had at least a draw or something but I can understand that people started getting annoyed and wanted to call me... and that is when I started hitting some hands.

Talk about getting hit in the face by the deck:

- dinamo84 sitting in seat 2 with $13.59
- Erik-H sitting in seat 3 with $8.60
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 4 with $48.64
- puffepigg sitting in seat 5 with $4.96
- a_wiklund sitting in seat 6 with $19.31
- cheyenne95 sitting in seat 7 with $47.17 [Dealer]
- andlalse sitting in seat 8 with $16.55
- fishes sitting in seat 9 with $4.50
- Laeelina sitting in seat 10 with $21.25

Laeelina called - $0.20
dinamo84 called - $0.20
Erik-H folded
Stoneburg called - $0.20 [6c]
puffepigg called - $0.20
a_wiklund called - $0.20
cheyenne95 called - $0.20
andlalse called - $0.20
fishes checked

** Dealing the flop:
andlalse bet - $0.60
fishes folded
Laeelina folded
dinamo84 folded
Stoneburg raised - $3.60
puffepigg folded
a_wiklund called - $3.60
cheyenne95 folded
andlalse folded

** Dealing the turn:
Stoneburg bet - $32.60
a_wiklund folded

---------------------------------------

- dinamo84 sitting in seat 2 with $12.39
- Erik-H sitting in seat 3 with $8.90
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 4 with $60.19 [Dealer]
- a_wiklund sitting in seat 6 with $12.41
- cheyenne95 sitting in seat 7 with $44.07
- andlalse sitting in seat 8 with $20.11
- fishes sitting in seat 9 with $4.30
- Laeelina sitting in seat 10 with $20.75

andlalse called - $0.20
fishes folded
Laeelina folded
dinamo84 called - $0.20
Erik-H folded
Stoneburg called - $0.20 [8h]
a_wiklund called - $0.20
cheyenne95 checked

** Dealing the flop:[2c]
a_wiklund checked
cheyenne95 checked
andlalse checked
dinamo84 checked
Stoneburg bet - $1.80
a_wiklund called - $1.80
cheyenne95 called - $1.80
andlalse folded
dinamo84 folded

** Dealing the turn:
a_wiklund checked
cheyenne95 checked
Stoneburg bet - $7.80
a_wiklund called - $7.80
cheyenne95 folded

** Dealing the river:
a_wiklund checked
Stoneburg bet - $16.20
a_wiklund folded

Thank you for chasing against huge overbets, better luck next time!

---------------------------------------

- dinamo84 sitting in seat 2 with $21.65
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 4 with $71.99 [Dealer]
- cheyenne95 sitting in seat 7 with $42.89
- andlalse sitting in seat 8 with $18.90
- Laeelina sitting in seat 10 with $17.14

Laeelina folded
dinamo84 folded
Stoneburg raised - $1.00 [Ac]
cheyenne95 raised - $1.80
andlalse folded
Stoneburg called - $1.80

** Dealing the flop:
cheyenne95 checked
Stoneburg checked

** Dealing the turn:
cheyenne95 bet - $1.40
Stoneburg called - $1.40

** Dealing the river:
cheyenne95 bet - $5.60
Stoneburg raised - $50.40
cheyenne95 folded

---------------------------------------

- dinamo84 sitting in seat 2 with $21.25
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 4 with $80.69
- cheyenne95 sitting in seat 7 with $33.99
- andlalse sitting in seat 8 with $19.45 [Dealer]
- Laeelina sitting in seat 10 with $16.84

Stoneburg raised - $0.80 [As]
cheyenne95 called - $0.80
andlalse folded
Laeelina folded
dinamo84 folded

** Dealing the flop:
Stoneburg checked
cheyenne95 checked

** Dealing the turn:
Stoneburg bet - $3.60
cheyenne95 called - $3.60

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg went all-in - $76.29
cheyenne95 went all-in - $29.59
cheyenne95 shows: 10 of Diamonds, 9 of Diamonds
Stoneburg wins $67.98 from the main pot

---------------------------------------

- dinamo84 sitting in seat 2 with $20.45 [Dealer]
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 4 with $115.63
- andlalse sitting in seat 8 with $18.85
- Laeelina sitting in seat 10 with $16.84


Laeelina folded
dinamo84 raised - $0.40
Stoneburg called - $0.40 [Ks]
andlalse called - $0.40

** Dealing the flop: 10 of Spades, 9 of Clubs, 9 of Spades
Stoneburg bet - $2.60
andlalse called - $2.60
dinamo84 folded

** Dealing the turn:
Stoneburg bet - $24.00
andlalse went all-in - $16.05
andlalse shows:

** Dealing the river: 3 of Clubs
Stoneburg wins $38.20 from the main pot

---------------------------------------

After this hand the table died and I logged out. Bad start turned into an excellent and unlikely finish. This days result, up a hundred and four buckaroos!

Level: 0.1/0.2
BR: $516 (+104)

i wish i could hit hands like that. I would say that you raising all in lost you value on some of your hands but it seems you got paid off later by people tired of you just going all in so they were calling you with anything.

Well today I decided to turn up the LAG knob a few notches. I've seen several LAG players score a bundle at the low stakes, and not just over a few hands but pretty consistently. Obviously there are qualities and advantages to that kind of play. My normal TAG style is working fine but why not give this a shot? It should be fun and a learning experience, is what I'm thinking.

Here are my LAG stats for the day:
vpip: ~28
Pfr: 7.5
Aggr: 7.4

The day turned out profitable after yet again starting off horribly. For a while I was down 3 buy-ins but thanks to these hands I managed to turn it around:

-------------------------------

- LilleBy sitting in seat 1 with $12.55 [Dealer]
- Super-man sitting in seat 2 with $14.45
- smiskgubben sitting in seat 5 with $9.20
- joora sitting in seat 6 with $12.00
- jonasrock sitting in seat 7 with $27.70
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 8 with $18.65
- Korngold sitting in seat 9 with $8.20


joora folded
jonasrock called - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $1.20 [Jc]
Korngold folded
LilleBy folded
Super-man folded
smiskgubben folded
jonasrock called - $1.20

** Dealing the flop:
jonasrock bet - $0.80
Stoneburg raised - $2.40
jonasrock called - $2.40

** Dealing the turn:
jonasrock went all-in - $24.10
Stoneburg went all-in - $15.05
jonasrock shows:

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg wins $37.30 from the main pot

Ah the old "limp/call-then-over-play-Aces" move.. wonder why that never caught on. Oh wait, it did.

-------------------------------

- Daoniel sitting in seat 1 with $19.80
- kentaboy sitting in seat 2 with $29.05
- Dofr sitting in seat 3 with $11.60
- city69 sitting in seat 4 with $30.55
- nr1melldorin sitting in seat 5 with $7.35
- frippe_ sitting in seat 6 with $18.90 [Dealer]
- affroman sitting in seat 7 with $26.00
- Vond86 sitting in seat 8 with $7.05
- fahr9nheit sitting in seat 9 with $15.00 [Sitting out]
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 10 with $16.60


Stoneburg called - $0.20
Daoniel folded
kentaboy folded
Dofr raised - $1.00
city69 folded
nr1melldorin folded
frippe_ folded
affroman folded
Vond86 folded
Stoneburg called - $1.00

** Dealing the flop:
Stoneburg checked
Dofr bet - $1.80
Stoneburg raised - $5.40
Dofr called - $5.40

When he just calls I'm thinking AK/AQ.

** Dealing the turn:
Stoneburg checked
Dofr checked

When he checks behind I know he's got AK. Now I'm thinking "Will he call all-in on the river after I checked the turn, hoping that I am bluffing..?"

** Dealing the river: 2 of Spades
Stoneburg bet - $5.80
Dofr went all-in - $5.20
Dofr shows:
Stoneburg wins $23.20 from the main pot

The answer is Yes!

-------------------------------

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $28.25
- craftymom sitting in seat 2 with $23.07
- marreking sitting in seat 5 with $18.00
- TheRealJoker sitting in seat 6 with $16.65
- MacExcelsior sitting in seat 7 with $16.40 [Dealer]
- mangrogg sitting in seat 8 with $10.00 [Sitting out]
- qwertyabc sitting in seat 9 with $9.70

** Dealing card to Stoneburg:
craftymom folded
marreking called - $0.20
TheRealJoker called - $0.20
MacExcelsior called - $0.20
qwertyabc folded
Stoneburg checked

** Dealing the flop:
Stoneburg bet - $1.00
marreking folded
TheRealJoker called - $1.00
MacExcelsior folded

** Dealing the turn:
Stoneburg bet - $2.00
TheRealJoker called - $2.00

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg bet - $3.40
TheRealJoker went all-in - $13.45
Stoneburg called - $13.45
TheRealJoker shows:
Stoneburg wins $33.50 from the main pot

I really don't know what the hell he's doing on the river. I guess he thinks I've been bluffing the whole way.. I mean could it be any clearer that I have the 8? I was close to folding this but figured that with my new LAG image I have to call.

-------------------------------

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $84.90
- congmingdewo sitting in seat 2 with $4.90
- wirre68 sitting in seat 3 with $23.33 [Dealer]
- eatmycrabs sitting in seat 5 with $9.79
- soder101 sitting in seat 6 with $13.90
- linuspeterss sitting in seat 7 with $10.00 [Sitting out]
- anyany888 sitting in seat 8 with $8.50
- -Led_Zep- sitting in seat 9 with $32.91
- mystiqueways sitting in seat 10 with $9.20


anyany888 called - $0.20
-Led_Zep- folded
mystiqueways called - $0.20
Stoneburg called - $0.20 [Ad]
congmingdewo called - $0.20
wirre68 folded
eatmycrabs raised - $0.70
soder101 called - $0.70
anyany888 called - $0.70
mystiqueways folded
Stoneburg called - $0.70
congmingdewo folded

** Dealing the flop:
eatmycrabs bet - $1.60
soder101 folded
anyany888 called - $1.60
Stoneburg raised - $4.80
eatmycrabs called - $4.80
anyany888 called - $4.80

** Dealing the turn:
eatmycrabs went all-in - $4.39
anyany888 went all-in - $3.00
Stoneburg called - $4.39
eatmycrabs shows:
anyany888 shows:

** Dealing the river: 7 of Clubs
Stoneburg wins $26.30 from the main pot

Those are som pretty misplayed AQ's. I may have been wrong calling preflop but what the hell is "anyany888" doing calling off his whole stack with no pair and no draw?

I didn't get many premium hands today. In fact, I feel robbed! In almost 700 hands I only got AA and KK once, statistically I should have had them three times at least. An e-mail to that effect has been sent to the support at Expekt and I expect to be compensated the next time I play.

I guess it looks like I'm just a lucky moron judging by the hand histories but that's not true. Ok, it's half true... but I'm really not that lucky. Check this one out:

-------------------------------

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $125.77
- congmingdewo sitting in seat 2 with $3.10
- wirre68 sitting in seat 3 with $13.85
- Newsome79 sitting in seat 4 with $19.70
- Rudeseal sitting in seat 5 with $13.05 [Dealer]
- soder101 sitting in seat 6 with $9.50
- linuspeterss sitting in seat 7 with $8.80
- anyany888 sitting in seat 8 with $17.75
- -Led_Zep- sitting in seat 9 with $34.51
- mystiqueways sitting in seat 10 with $7.50

anyany888 called - $0.20
-Led_Zep- called - $0.20
mystiqueways called - $0.20
Stoneburg called - $0.20
congmingdewo called - $0.20
wirre68 folded
Newsome79 called - $0.20
Rudeseal raised - $1.00
soder101 folded
linuspeterss folded
anyany888 called - $1.00
-Led_Zep- folded
mystiqueways called - $1.00
Stoneburg called - $1.00
congmingdewo folded
Newsome79 called - $1.00

** Dealing the flop:
anyany888 checked
mystiqueways checked
Stoneburg checked
Newsome79 bet - $0.80
Rudeseal called - $0.80
anyany888 folded
mystiqueways called - $0.80
Stoneburg raised - $3.20
Newsome79 folded
Rudeseal went all-in - $11.25
mystiqueways folded
Stoneburg called - $12.05
Rudeseal shows:

** Dealing the turn:

** Dealing the river:
Rudeseal wins $31.10 from the main pot

Got to love getting all your money in with no pair and no draw. I quit after this one since I was getting bored anyway and this hand kind of left a bad taste in my mouth. I got out-drawn a few times today, but this one was probably the worst this week.

Result was Ok I guess, with a PTBB of 17.5/100, I guess I am just spoiled with better results. Net profit today was $46 so I'm a bit closer to my next goal, $750 and a new attempt at the 0.25/0.5 tables.

Level: 0.1/0.2
BR: $562 (+46)

Oops, forgot to put my own hand there. I had 66 for the flopped set.

And I really don't like to gamble... at least every time I put the money in I was a substantial favorite. Thanks for the well wishes.

Didn't even feel like playing today but I ran out of Battlestar Galactice episodes to watch. I probably should have downloaded season 2 considering how the poker went. That's right, I lost.

Started off terrible as I am getting used to lately, but after a couple of hours I managed to grind myself back to break even. Well, I would have been break even if it wasn't for an $11 SnG I decided to play to break the monotony. I couldn't catch a hand and was finally forced to push out of the BB with 64o against UTG who had been mini-raising the 5 last hands. This time he had picked up AKs, the flop came AA2 and I was drawing dead.

On the upside I found an unused toastmachine in a cupboard and made some toast. On the downside I didn't have anything to go with the bread and cheese except red onions. It tasted pretty much like I figured it would.

I decided to call it a night as soon as I had grinded the $6 that was missing from a break even score together. An hour later I'm down a total of $35, SnG included, after losing twice against higher flushes. Man. Maybe I should realise that small flushes in big pots equals bad news.

As usual there was a lot of bad poker going on. Admittedly I stood for some of it. But today I just couldn't capitalise on it, very frustrating.

------------------------------

- mslego sitting in seat 1 with $19.42
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 2 with $18.80
- vijomoag sitting in seat 3 with $22.80
- MrMuffins sitting in seat 4 with $20.89
- Azhidahak sitting in seat 5 with $1.30 [Dealer]
- Swippy sitting in seat 6 with $22.65
- Hawkaw sitting in seat 7 with $19.80
- zzbob98 sitting in seat 8 with $14.65
- cellfish sitting in seat 9 with $23.55
- smedjan sitting in seat 10 with $12.80

Swippy posted the small blind - $0.10
Hawkaw posted the big blind - $0.20
** Dealing card to Stoneburg:
zzbob98 folded
cellfish called - $0.20
smedjan folded
mslego called - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $1.20
vijomoag folded
MrMuffins folded
Azhidahak went all-in - $1.30
Swippy folded
Hawkaw called - $1.30
cellfish folded
mslego folded
Stoneburg went all-in - $17.60
Hawkaw called - $18.80
Azhidahak shows:
Hawkaw shows:

I make an all-in re-raise to isolate against the short stack and get some dead money in. I'm pretty sure the caller doesn't have AK or QQ+ since he would have re-raised, and I'm hoping he'll fold a medium pair or call with a dominated hand... turns out I have BOTH my opponents dominated.

** Dealing the flop:

** Dealing the turn:

** Dealing the river:
Hawkaw wins $4.13 from the main pot
Hawkaw wins $39.10 from side pot 1

Yay...

Usually I stick around and try to get my money back but I just didn't feel like it today. Think I'm going to take a few days off, hopefully the weather will be nice tomorrow and I can either go out to some lake or just hang around town and look at scantily clad ladies.

Month is off to a bad start:

Level: 0.1/0.2
BR: $527 (-35)

Weather sucked so no outdoors activities today. Welcome to Sweden...

My sister is passing through and I'm going to tag along with her to Gothenburg, Swedens second biggest and definetely nicest city, for some partying Wednesday to Sunday. Will be nice to get away for a while... wonder if I will suffer withdrawl from the poker? Well, not if the cards keep running like this...

Sat down and got the complimentary KK vs AA as a nice welcome present. It always feels good to start the day down a buy in. A few hands later I flop a flush with my T9s, so I'm feeling great, until I find out that BB flopped the same flush only with K4s instead. Let's make that two buy-ins down.

Seems like since I started this journal a new pattern is emerging to my game. I start out taking a few switf kicks to the balls, then I manage to work myself up to break even again only to get my teeth kicked in as soon as the numbers go in the green. Well fuck a doodle doo, even though the poker gods *shakes fist* are having their sick way with me I ended up +11 dollars. That took me a thousand bloody hands though. This was my favorite bad beat of the day:

-----------------------------------

I limp because there are 3 players behind me with PFR over 10, actually, two of them are over 20. Table is loose and very aggressive.

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $52.58
- Pickboaa sitting in seat 3 with $30.94
- trant33 sitting in seat 4 with $16.40
- Dallaailo sitting in seat 5 with $31.80
- cartrelrmnsi sitting in seat 6 with $18.63 [Dealer]
- Hassebiy sitting in seat 7 with $8.95
- coops13 sitting in seat 8 with $19.80
- freddy321 sitting in seat 10 with $23.20

freddy321 folded
Stoneburg called - $0.20 [Kh]
Pickboaa folded
trant33 folded
Dallaailo called - $0.20
cartrelrmnsi raised - $0.40
Hassebiy folded
coops13 called - $0.40
Stoneburg raised - $3.20
Dallaailo folded
cartrelrmnsi called - $3.20
coops13 called - $3.20

** Dealing the flop: pot size: $9.70
coops13 checked
Stoneburg bet - $7.60
cartrelrmnsi called - $7.60
coops13 called - $7.60

** Dealing the turn: pot size $32.50
coops13 checked
Stoneburg went all-in - $41.78
cartrelrmnsi went all-in - $7.83
coops13 went all-in - $9.20
cartrelrmnsi shows:
coops13 shows:

** Dealing the river:
coops13 wins $55.89 from the main pot
coops13 wins $58.63 from side pot 1

-----------------------------------

I think I need to start drinking my green tea again. Today I had coffy instead and that's just not as pro-poker. Ate some sort of paprika and mushroom pie as well... not sure if that's very poker friendly either. Earlier I have been eating pistachio nuts but I've heard there's a lot of fat in them and fat plus sitting still equals love handles... definetely need to figure out what to do about the food situation. Get something organised.

Here's a hand that I won, but I felt I played it a bit fishy:

-----------------------

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $30.95
- AcidJoe sitting in seat 3 with $27.35
- wolly1 sitting in seat 4 with $21.65
- SKY226 sitting in seat 5 with $36.10
- ybermensch sitting in seat 6 with $8.00
- sapez sitting in seat 7 with $12.05
- Hunden sitting in seat 8 with $21.55 [Dealer]
- freddy321 sitting in seat 10 with $22.45

freddy321 posted the small blind - $0.10
Stoneburg posted the big blind - $0.20
AcidJoe folded
wolly1 folded
SKY226 folded
ybermensch folded
sapez folded
Hunden folded
freddy321 called - $0.20
Stoneburg checked [Ah]

** Dealing the flop:
freddy321 checked
Stoneburg bet - $0.80
freddy321 raised - $1.60
Stoneburg called - $1.60

** Dealing the turn:
freddy321 bet - $2.60
Stoneburg called - $2.60

** Dealing the river:
freddy321 bet - $4.40
Stoneburg called - $4.40
freddy321 shows:
Stoneburg wins $17.30 from the main pot

-----------------------

I just never had an opportunity to fold it. The check-raise on the flop was of the mini sort, on the turn I pick up the flush draw, and on the river he only bets 1/2 the pot. I did make a nice laydown with AQ later against him though when he flopped a set of deuces.

Anyway, here's the pitiful bankroll report:

Level 0.1/0.2
BR: $538 (+11)

Instead of Gothenburg I ended up going to Stockholm. Not even half as nice, actually not nice at all, but at least the weather was OK and there's some good shops. I found an awesome jacket by Birger & Mikkelsen that I picked up. It was on sale, priced down from ~$340 to $120. Very nicely cut, sort of a glamour vintage thingy.

Anyway... back to the tables today and put in a solid 7-8 hours. Had a few nice hands and played pretty well I thought. However at first I ended up winning the most by playing horribly and sucking out:

- muffmuff sitting in seat 1 with $11.10
- Baital sitting in seat 2 with $7.80
- Uncle_Greg sitting in seat 3 with $41.25
- pixiepat sitting in seat 4 with $8.05 [Dealer]
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 5 with $21.05
- gooogs64 sitting in seat 6 with $20.65
- sysmik sitting in seat 7 with $18.80
- potemkin sitting in seat 8 with $31.55
- pyyz sitting in seat 9 with $7.80
- mslego sitting in seat 10 with $20.30

sysmik folded
potemkin folded
pyyz folded
mslego folded
muffmuff folded
Baital folded
Uncle_Greg folded
pixiepat called - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $1.30 [7c]
gooogs64 called - $1.30
pixiepat called - $1.30

** Dealing the flop:
Stoneburg bet - $2.20
gooogs64 raised - $4.40
pixiepat folded
Stoneburg went all-in - $17.65
gooogs64 went all-in - $15.15
gooogs64 shows:

** Dealing the turn: 4 of Spades

** Dealing the river: 6 of Spades
Stoneburg wins $42.70 from the main pot

-------------------------------------

When "googs" raised I figured he had the J and that my fold equity was huge. He's a super-muppet that will play any two cards and any draw, but will slowplay trips. I figured he would put me on a K this time and just fold... but how can you fold when you have a non-nut-flus-draw and two under-cards on a paired board! Thank god I sucked out...

Soon after I once again decide to over-play my draw, at least this time I was drawing to 15 good outs:

- razzen sitting in seat 1 with $5.74
- dan1010 sitting in seat 2 with $23.80
- Soder sitting in seat 3 with $12.85
- Uncle_Greg sitting in seat 4 with $28.43
- vamp666 sitting in seat 5 with $14.80
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 6 with $23.90
- Gedis sitting in seat 7 with $18.08 [Dealer]
- Flambard sitting in seat 8 with $5.86
- fahr9nheit sitting in seat 9 with $29.68
- Vanzandt sitting in seat 10 with $34.55 [Sitting out]

razzen called - $0.20
dan1010 folded
Soder called - $0.20
Uncle_Greg folded
vamp666 called - $0.20
Stoneburg called - $0.20 [Ac]
Gedis folded
Flambard called - $0.20
fahr9nheit checked

** Dealing the flop:
Flambard checked
fahr9nheit checked
razzen checked
Soder bet - $0.80
vamp666 raised - $1.60
Stoneburg went all-in - $23.70
Flambard folded
fahr9nheit folded
razzen folded
Soder folded
vamp666 went all-in - $13.00
vamp666 shows: Jack of Hearts, Jack of Clubs

** Dealing the turn:

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg wins $30.90 from the main pot

-------------------------------------

Without the added outs for the straight I don't think I would have played it this hard but I figured I was up against Top Pair which would make me a favorite even if I was called. After getting my all-ins called twice in a short time by less-than-stellar hands I decided to slow down a bit, obviously my bets were getting no respect.

I ended up losing a huge pot as favorite going in with AQ against AJ preflop and got sucked out a few times on the river but other than that the session was OK and my pretty solid play has now moved my bankroll very close to the 0.25/0.50 level... if everything goes as planned, tomorrow will be my last session at these levels. Oops... guess I just jinxed it.

Level: 0.10/0.20
BR: $713 (+175)

Played a nice homegame today where I ended up +$100. Practically only played 4 hands. I raise a SC utg, get a caller or two and bet the flop and pick up the pot. Then I do nothing for two hours...

Then I get 76s and raise it up utg. One guy calls. Flop comes 3 face cards with a fludh draw fo rme, I bet the pot, he calls. Turn is a brick, I check, he bets almost pot. I'm pretty sure he's bluffing here because he will always bet when someone checks on the turn so I check-raise all-in and he folds.

Then came the huge pot... I limp behind half the table with 22. Flop comes Q52 with two suited. An aggro player leads with a pot sized bet and mrFish calls, I raise it up 50 (this is SEK, not dollars), aggro guy goes all-in for 140 and mrFish *calls* (Muppet!) so I call and raise my last 239. Mr Aggro shows a very well played Q4o, mrFish shows 43o for the straight draw. Turn is a beautiful deuce and I drag a monster pot.

Last hand I play I have QQ, raise it up to 17, get a loose caller from the blinds. Flop is rags, 7 high, and he leads into me with 15. I raise it to 45 and he pushes for another 125. I think forever, decide that he wouldn't do this with a set and call him. He shows a T8s for no pair no draw... duh!

Nice to bad a decent profit but jesus... the way some of these people play is just insane. I guess it's WPT that teaches this sort of play.

I upgraded my comp for about $500 and celebrated by foling around with it for a few hours (I need a girlfriend!). Then I played a short-ish session, less than 400 hands. Made a decent profit but more impressive was my crazy aggression stats. It's become sort of a game for me to see how high I can get it and today will be hard to beat, I ended up with a PFA of 45. No real interesting hands took place so I'm just going to put down my result and go to bed. Nighty night.

Level: 0.10/0.20
BR: $771 (+58)

Wooops!! Looks like I'm playing 0.25/0.50 tomorrow.

Wish me luck... judging by my results so far at that level I am going to need it.

I've made the biggest -EV move ever by buying Battlefield 2. I've barely played a hand since I got it, which I guess should mean I'm a bit rusty. Either way it has been going OK the few times I have actually played and at the moment my BR allows (forces!) me to play at the 0.25/0.50 levels. I find the game to be a lot tighter but I feel I have adjusted and am starting to feel comfortable. Today was a nice session and I ended up with a healthy win of about $120 or so.

The key to my winnings today was *not* being sucked out on. The key to my winning on a different session was *sucking out* and since that is so much rarer I've decided to share the hands where I messed up incredibly and came out smelling like roses in the end:
--------------------------
- whidstar sitting in seat 1 with $11.80
- moofrad sitting in seat 3 with $12.35
- tonyhawkan sitting in seat 4 with $19.80
- Stoneburg sitting in seat 5 with $31.35 [Dealer]
- RoyalPocket sitting in seat 6 with $8.80

moofrad posted to play - $0.20
tonyhawkan posted to play - $0.20
moofrad checked
tonyhawkan checked
Stoneburg raised - $1.20
RoyalPocket folded
whidstar raised - $3.20
moofrad folded
tonyhawkan folded
Stoneburg called - $3.20

** Dealing the flop:
whidstar went all-in - $8.80
Stoneburg called - $8.80
whidstar shows:

** Dealing the turn:

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg wins $24.20 from the main pot

I mean really, how do I find the call there? What possible hand am I ahead of? They guy just loved sandbagging so I managed to convince myself that he didn't have AA or AK, and I was right... but I'm *only* ahead to JJ for chrissakes! My only defense is that I had 6 clean outs... my net profit from this hand was $13.37 but it was hardly an elite move (geek humor!)
-------------------------

- Stoneburg sitting in seat 1 with $17.50
- ApaBapa sitting in seat 2 with $11.57
- Djooni sitting in seat 3 with $17.90
- AcidQuad sitting in seat 4 with $31.39
- Beat_me sitting in seat 5 with $20.40 [Dealer]
- Slikepinne sitting in seat 6 with $13.37

ApaBapa folded
Djooni folded
AcidQuad called - $0.20
Beat_me folded
Slikepinne called - $0.20
Stoneburg checked [Qh]

** Dealing the flop:
Slikepinne bet - $0.20
Stoneburg raised - $0.80
AcidQuad folded
Slikepinne went all-in - $13.07
Stoneburg called - $13.27
Slikepinne shows:

** Dealing the turn:

** Dealing the river:
Stoneburg wins $26.84 from the main pot

I figured that if he's on the flush draw, which is what I thought, I'm both ahead and blocking, and he might be drawing dead. If he's got me beat I at least have the flush outs. Still, not a pretty call. I was actually berated by another player at the table for the call and I said something along the lines of "I love to gamble! " which just goes to show that poker players are liars.

Both these hands were from 6-handed as you may have noticed. I decided that I would start mixing in some SH games in my regular diet in order to keep developing my skills. Actually what I am happiest about so far this month isn't the results, which have been good considering how little I have played, but that I genuinly feel like I have taken another step in my evolution as a player.

I could also be delirious from lack of sugar. For some reason I've decided to stop using sugar altogether. No soda, no sugar wirth the coffy (I mean green tea) and worst of all... no cookies! Hopefully god will reward me by sending Jennifer Connely to my bed, in the meantime I'm off to play some BF2.

Level: 0.25/0.50
BR: 1337 (+566) (<--- elite bankroll! More geekyness!)