I would say that I've been running pretty well over my last 500 hands, which all took place in about 24 hours. In 178 hands late last night I picked up another $35.60. That makes the total +$131.20 +51.15 bb/100 over 513 hands in that 24 hour period which included 3 seperate 2 table sessions.

The only loss to speak of in the late session was when I limped in EP and called a 4x PFR by the BB. The heads up board came [3c][3d]. He bet 1/2 pot on Flop, I raise to $3 and he called, bet out $2 on Turn which I thought was wierd so I called, on the River and he bet the $12 pot. I seriously thought for a while about calling, but folded and he showed [Jc]

I lucksacked my way to a $12 pickup w/ KQo. There was an MP limp, I raised to $1 in CO.
[5c][6h] Pot $2.35
I bet $2 and get called.
Pot $6.35
For some reason I decide to fire a rare 2nd barrel, $4, and get called again. I had him on a possible flush draw, now I add a medium pair to that mix.
Pot $14.35
And here comes the value bet in case he has the middle pair. $6 and he calls and shows 8's. Although now that I think about it, what can he really beat there that I'd bet 3x. AK now beats him as well as a higher PP. So it's pocket 7's or AQ/AJ I guess he had me for. He called me a lucky expletive and I agreed, but he was able to laugh it off. I've taken a decent bit of money from some good natured people the past day or so.

Here is the one that really shocked me. Not only because I got called, but because I actually held up.
KK UTG+1 (8 handed) I open-limp, 1 other limper, and the Button raises to $1. I have $34 left, double the Button's current stack. Usually I will make it somewhere between $3 to $5 there, but for some strange reason I decided to push here. Button considers and calls with AKo.
OK, but I'm almost always folding to the EP limp-reraise. I'm way behind too often there with AK. The only thing I can think of is that my push instead of a smaller re-raise led my opponent to think that I had something that I didn't want called like Jacks or Tens, but even then I'm slightly behind in a coinflip and lean towards foldling.
OR my opponent was not thinking anything other than "I have AK".
Even more shocking was that there wasn't an Ace on the board by the time it was over.

It's amazing how quickly a bad month has turned profitable now. This is now 3 months in a row where I get crushed for the first 2-3 weeks of the month, and come back with a great week (or in this case a day so far) at the end of the month to bust out of the negative. Also cleared another $20 of the FT bonus. My month now stands at a profit of $5.71, but I guess that's better than being down and I still have a week left to make it a good month.

Limit. Always fun.....

PFR w/ [Jh] in CO after one loose aggressive limper. You bet [Jd][7h] flop and the limper (a known BS artist) c/r's you so you 3-bet and he calls you down w/ only 1 OC and a BDFD. You turn top 2 pair and bet again, but he backs into the flush w/ [Th] and c/r you again on the River. I never seem to put the guy c/r'ing on the flop and calling the 3-bet on the BDFD. That seems to be a big flaw in my play.

or....

The guy playing a 10/4 game after about 100 hands at the table (YOU!) PFR's [Jh] from EP. The table has a 22% VP$IP, but they wake up and you get 3 cold-callers behind you + the UTG limper (the BS artist again). The flop is [6h][3d]. UTG BS'er bets into the raiser (again, YOU!), you raise, a cold-caller 3-bets, and the Button caps, UTG calls. So you fold and it's UTG w/ [3h] taking down the pot with a boat vs the Button w/ [4s]. WTF??!!! Again, this table had a VP$IP of 22!!!

So what do you do? Keep your mouth shut and take it out on the dummy you just took a few bets off of on another table after he cold-called a raise w/ [Qh] flops [2s][4h] and decides to just call you on the flop, and the turn , and wait until the river to raise his TPGK. But wait! I HAVE ACES!!! So I type in......

"Was that a slowplay? Very nicely done."

Happy Turkey Day BTPer's and take the Chiefs tomorrow!

I have been playing, but I haven't had the time to post the past couple of days. I've been working on some semi-unrelated poker things. I'm researching the possibilities of starting an income generating blog. I'm always on the lookout for new things I can do to generate some income while sitting on my ass. I also took my mother on her first trip ever to AC yesterday. I found it strange that she said that she had never been there since she has lived her entire life in the NY/NJ area (the past 19 in NJ and the previous 11 in SI). The Taj had sent me some silly Bingo promotion and I figured I could send her and my sister up there while I played poker, but they told me I had to be present for her to get in. SON OF A B****! So I ended up playing Bingo with 2,000+ senior citizens who almost rioted when the MC read the wrong number near the end. At least it was quick, but I didn't get to play any poker. I did hit up a 25 cent slot machine for $57 very quickly on the way out to cover my expenses for the day so that was pretty cool.

Posting in this journal has been both fun and theraputic, but slightly time consuming as well. There are other things I need that time for at least until the holidays are over, so I while I won't stop posting, my journal posts may become less frequent and less lengthy (cheering throughout the BTP community) for the immediate future.

Poker has been up and down, as it always is, the past week. I posted my sickest triumph in the LC forum a few minutes ago. I've been playing mostly limit because it has been clearing the FT bonus faster. I have now also qualified for the last Iron Man Freeroll next month + I am in profit for the month again in total as well as in both NL and Limit now. The MTT numbers are slightly misleading because I've played mostly satellites this month where I've won the 1st stage, but missed on the bigger ones.

For the month:
Limit (All .50/1 at Full Tilt) 3,240 hands 17/7/26 +$8.65 +0.27bb/100
NL (At $25NL at AP + FT) 3,575 hands +$37.10 +2.08bb/100
(Up $116 and about +20 bb/100 over last 1K hands)
MTT/MTSNG's (At AP + FT) -$53.79
Bonuses +$80

I wish I had one of those equity calculators because I've been playing almost flawless tournament poker the past few days and just seem to be taking disgusting beats in every MTT. I've played 15 tournaments the past 2 days ($10+1 MTT's/$10+1 90 man SNG's/$6+.60 $26 token SNG's) and even though I've come out ahead I'm still pretty bummed because there just seemed to be too many big pots where I made my opponent make a mistake, or at least I played it perfectly and lost. I am pretty happy with my overall Full Tilt $26 token results though. 4 tickets in 10 tries.

1 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 4th - Win 1 $26 ticket
With 6 left, I open pushed AJo for 1,835 with 250/500 blinds. I got a call from a same size stack with ATo and held up. I'm a 3-1 favorite and win.

2 - $10+1 Midnight Madness 1,095 players - Finish 584
Got it all in w/ [9h] vs [6s] on a [8d][5d] flop as a 4-1 favorite and lost to the runner-runner flush.

3 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 4th - Win 1 $26 ticket
Bout midway through (blinds 50/100 w/ 1020 left) in back to back hands I first get it all in w/ AK in the BB vs an UTG limper w/ AQo. Flop comes QKA. How do you like that? I win as a 3-1 favorite when money went in. Next hand AKo again in the SB. Button is a short stack who open limps, I push again and he calls w/ A6o. I'm a 3-1 favorite again. He turns an OESD giving him 11 outs on the river, but I hold up and never look back.

4 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 7th
I open-raise CO w/ KTo and get called by Button. Flop QTx. I make a 2/3 pot c-bet and button min-raises, I fold. Short stacked I open push KTo (595 left w/ 60/120 blinds). SB has TT. I turn the flush draw w/ the OC, but miss the river.

5 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 9th
UTG raises, I push 2,180 in the SB w/ AKo (Blinds 120/240). He has KK and holds up.

None of that was too bad, but here's where it starts to get really irritating.
6 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 18th
QQ in the BB on the 1st and only hand. 1 limper + SB. I make a HEALTHY raise and SB calls. [4c][8c] Flop and I have . He checks and I push. Pot was 540 already. He called w/ [9s]. So dipshit calls a big raise w/ A9o out of the SB, catches an awesome flop for his mistake, I make the right decision and put him in while I'm still ahead and I'm gone after 1 hand when an Ace hits the turn. I couldn't have played it any different on either street if I had known what he had and I still lost.

7 - $10+1 90 player SNG - deep stack - Finish 38th
I couldn't catch a freakin hand. I was never above the 3000 I started with and any hand I won, I won only the blinds. With blinds 100/200 and 2,135 left I push AJo UTG. UTG+1 had Queens. Seemed about right.

8 - $10+1 Midnight Madness 1,161 players - Finish 51- Win $16.86
Pissed because I really thought I was going to final table this one. I was in the top 10 in chips with 100 left and owning my table. I was stealing with 38s because everyone folded when I bet. Then I was moved to a table with 3 players in the top 10 in chips with 80 players left. I made 4 in the top 15 and they were maniacs. Player 2 to the left of me, tournament chip leader at times and OTB everytime I was in the BB was a MANIAC. He would raise and then call pushes with 45o and flop straights. Raise and call pushes w/ T2s. It got so nobody would play when he was OTB. He open-min-raised my BB 4x in row which I always called and no matter what I did on the flop, he pushed. I never had anything. The 3rd time for some stupid reason I c/r him w/ 97o on a x9A flop. He instashoved and I folded. Next time I thought about pushing pre-flop with K9o, but decided I would push on the flop no matter what came. Flop 885. I push and he had 86o. Just no beating that. All that for $17. Kinda pissed me off to go so far and have no choice but to play with a bunch of maniacs with big stacks.

Today I played 7 tournaments
9 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 3rd - Win 1 $26 ticket
Got it all-in late in a coin flip situation w/ AJo vs 55. I flopped the nut flush draw as well and hit my Ace on the turn.

10 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 8th
This one was my fault. 77 in the BB. I bet on a Txx flop and called a known bluffer's raise. He had 2x put it all-in and shown a bluff and usually slow played his better hands until the river. He has QT.

11 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 17th
I lasted 6 hands in this one. Guy open-limps in CO. I complete w/ [Tc] in SB. Flop [4s][Ts] I bet 2/3 p, BB calls, LP limper over-raises and I push. He tried to get cute with his AA by limping in late and I caught him. I was a 3-1 favorite when the money went in. Turn was an Ace.

12 - $10+1 90 player SNG - deep stack - Finish 30th
All within the last 15 hands. So I get player that wants to get cute and min-raise OTB w/ KK. I call w/ 44 in the SB, catch my set and double up on him. I turned quads. I lose half of it back next hand w/ TT vs KQ. Guy limped early then called a big raise w/ KQo.
AQo OTB. I open-raise for 3x BB. BB calls and insta-pushes KQ9 flop. I fold. Next hand AQs in CO. Same situation, same raise. BB calls again. Flop [Js][Qs]. I bet pot, he c/r all-in. He's a big stack. I say BULLSHIT and call. He has the flush draw w/ [7s]. His OC is no good. I'm 2-1 and I lose to the on the turn.

13 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 8th
I was way ahead on an AI preflop and the board was a 5 card flush. I saw this happen another time as well when I wasn't involved. I raise from UTG w/ 99. A medium stack pushes. We have about the same. I fold. He shows 99. SON OF A BITCH!
I end up pushing from UTG+1 AKo vs UTG limper. He had KK.

14 - $6+.60 Satellite 2 table SNG - Finish 1st - Win 1 $26 ticket
For the 2nd tournament in a row I end up with someone with the same big pair as me. This time we both had TT and split.
For the 2nd tournament in a row there was a FF AI where the board was a 5 card flush.
I got it all in w/ JJ vs 88. 8 on the flop and for the 2nd time tonight someone caught quads on the turn. This time against me.
So now I'm a short stack and have to open-push JTs OTB. Get called by A9s and hit the flush. He flips out about losing when he was never really that far ahead to begin with. He had an overcard for christ sake.
I double up again with JJ vs AK.
Now as the big stack I have the other big stack limp in OTB and I raise w/ 99. He calls. He was an easy ticket so WHY THE F would he want to battle me. He knows I would only mess with him with big hands. I put him in on [3s][4s] flop. He has [6s]. He misses. I ask him WFT he was doing. He said he had the flush draw + a pair. I said WTF were you doing before the flop? Clearly some people don't get the concept of satellite tournaments where the top prizes are all the same. He said he was getting 2.5-1 odds so he had to call. He was a 3-1 dog. What did he think I would raise him with there? Just because I felt like Effing with another big stack right on the bubble?

Forgot the last one. Probably a sub-conscious decision.

15 - $10+1 Midnight Madness 1,144 players - Finish 915
I last 12 hands. QQ again. Again I play it perfectly. OTB after 1 limper, I raise to 4x because I really don't mind one caller. Limper calls. Flop [9h]x. He checks and I over-bet the pot because there are too many draws there. He calls. Turn and he calls my all-in. He has [8h]. So basically everytime I was dealt QQ over the past 2 days someone limped and called a raise and flopped monster draws. There is nothing I can do expect lose my stack on those hands.

Great tournament day yesterday...
-Another $26 ticket - That made 5 out of 11 tries.
-Finished 5th in a 90 player $10+1 DS SNG
-But got roughed up in the Midnight Madness when I raised KJo in CO vs 1 MP limper. BB and limper just called. I hit my King and limper waited until the turn to play his Aces. Pretty scary way to play your Aces, but letting 2 other players in when he had a chance to re-raise preflop worked for him this time.

Today a different story
-Finished 8th in another $26 ticket attempt. Now 5 out of 12. Still a pretty damn good ratio. Had the short stack push of the week here. Folded to me 2 off the button as the shortie and I push my A3o. CO calls and shows KK. Button calls and shows KK. I was laughing because I didn't know if that was good or bad. At least I didn't have to worry about sets. All I had to do was hit an Ace, but I didn't.
-Finished 42nd in a 90 player $10+1 DS SNG. AQs, JJ, TT all in the 1st 15 hands and lost all 3.
-Completely card dead in the midnight madness tonight. Still made it about 2/3 of the way through the field though. Had to push J8s in the SB vs 2 limpers. I was actually called by T9s. 8 on the flop. T on the river.

Still profited from the cash games today though. Posted one hand in the Low Content section. The best feeling in poker is stacking a big mouth. (Full Tilt seems to have more of those than I've encountered at any other site. Almost feel like I'm playing with mostly high schoolers.)

This is the hand I'm really proud of though. If stacking a big mouth is the best feeling, then stacking a rock is the 2nd best. He was playing 14/2 and I must have looked like a maniac because I had actually flopped a couple of sets already and played some decent sized pots.
I limped in UTG+1 w/ [5h]. Rock raises to $1.25 right behind me. He has $22.70 left so I call. I have him covered.
Flop [Qc][2d] Pot $2.85
I lead pot, he bets $8. I push and he calls with [Kd]

Where as I check-raised my top 2 pair in the QJ vs AA hand I posted in the Low Content section because the PFRer was in a steal position and I thought I may not make any more money by leading, this time I bet into the rock because he ovbiously had a premium hand playing 14/2 game. If he had Queens I was losing my stack. If he had AK then he probably folds, but maybe not. If he has AQ/KK/AA I win a big pot. But damn that rake seemed excessive at $2.40 on a $25NL table. He had a full stack and I only took $21.90 out of it. That SUCKS! Maybe I just haven't stacked enough full stacks to notice the rake yet. Maybe it's about right.

Played in my 1st HORSE tournament yesterday. Just a small one to get my feet wet. I'd never played Razz before and now I, much like the rest of the world, hate the game. I was dealt my 2 biggest blows, including my knockout during the Razz sessions. First my opponent caught an Ace on the river to beat me. Lastly I forget the hand, but I had a 2-7 low while short stacked and my opponent had AA9Q showing. It was also the first time I had played Stud for real money and the first time I'd ever played Stud Hi/Lo. I was dealt 777 in the normal game and won a nice pot. I ended up with unnecessary, but nice quads on the river. I made it about halfway through the 130 player field.

Also had my highest finish in the Midnight Madness last night. This is the 2nd time in the past week that I really thought I was going to make the final table, but I finished 12th out of 1,121. I was in great shape with 25 left, but I was directly to the right of 2 of the largest stacks and the player to my immediate right was in there raising every hand. I went completely card dead and ended up having to push KTo from CO. SB had Queens. A nice cash of $134.52, but I wanted more.

The Midnight Madness has been good to me. Cashed 5 out of 9x for a profit of $123.57. I'm not that crazy about the pay structure as even with about 1200 players you really need to make the top 15 to make any decent money. I feel a final table coming though.
91 - 1006 +$7.11
143 - 1128 +$4.79
61 - 1011 +$15.29
584 - 1095 -$11
51 - 1161 +$16.86
915 - 1144 -$11
447 -1336 -$11
370 - 1331 -$11
12 - 1221 +$123.52

How To Blow Off A HUGE Chip Stack In An Amazingly Short Time OR My Worst Tournament Experience Ever.

I'm posting this here as well as the MTT section just because I feel like it.

This is surprisingly easy to accomplish when you get a big pot, throw in some idiots, mix in a total lack of respect for a big stack, some bad luck, and 1 bad play.

I'll pick it up with blinds 20/40 very early on in the Full Tilt Midnight Madness $10+1and call this Hand #1 showing you how I became the big stack.
Hand #1
I have 3,420 and the only player with a bigger stack than I have (3700) limps UTG. I raise to 200 in MP1 w/ [Qh], folded to SB who calls (3200) and UTG calls. So we now have the 3 biggest stacks at the table in.
SB - 3090
UTG - 3540
Me - 3220
[8s][Jd] Pot 640
Checked to me, I bet 500. SB folds, UTG calls.
Pot 1640
Check, I bet 1320, UTG pushes, I call instantly. He turns over [4d] and he misses.

Stack size 7080 still w/ blinds changing to 25/50

Hand #2 - I am immediately moved to the BB at a new table.
CO open-limps, Button limps, SB limps, I have [Qd] and raise to 250. CO had 2880 and everyone else had significantly less. All fold and this conversation ensues:
Button: nr
Me: ty
Button: i would have too
Me: would have what?
Button: raised the limpers w your stack
Me: I had a pretty solid hand
Button: sure you did
Observer: of course you did. what do you expect him to say
Me: you could have pushed and found out

So apparently the logic is that if a big stack raises he can never have anything. This was the only time they actually folded to a raise of mine. You would expect the big stack would be the hunter, but in this case they are all coming after me. I must be full of it. Continuing.....we skip ahead just 2 hands when the next big one comes up.

Stack size 7,205 w/ blinds 25/50

Hand #4
OTB w/ [3c]. I limp after UTG and UTG+1 limps.
[Kc][3h] Pot 250
UTG bets 100, I call, everyone else folds.
Pot 450
UTG again bets 100, I raise 400, he pushes for 975 total. I must be full of it so I call. He turns over the straight and I miss my outs.

Stack size 5,905 w/ blinds 25/50

Again I am moved after the last hand, only 3 hands at that table and 4 hands into the new new table this happens....
Hand #8
Blinds 30/60 now, I open-raise to 180 in MP2 w/ [6s]. CO calls and has 3,705 behind.
[As][7c] Pot 450
I bet 360 and he calls.
Pot 1,170
I bet 600 and he min-raises to 1200. I take my time and push. He calls and shows [5s]. He picked a crappy time to slow-play. I win this one.

I am now not only the table leader, but the tournament leader with over 700 left.
Stack size 9870 w/ blinds 30/60

Hand #10 Wasting no time. 2 hands later.....
I limp in UTG+1 w/ [8s] and it's folded around to BB (2720)
[2d][Kd] Pot 150
I bet 100 and he calls. Great, so he has a flush draw.
Pot 350
He checks, I bet 200 and he calls.
Pot 750
He bets pot on his missed draw and I call with trips. But he has the nut flush [9d]. Every single hand monster vs monster after the flop.

Stack size 8,670 w/ blinds 30/60
Hand #11 This is the next hand. [Qc] UTG. I limp, another limp, MP2 raises to 360 and has 805 left. I put him all-in and he calls w/ [Qh] and I win.

Very next hand, Hand #12, I get 99 in the BB, but since they're not really gonna fold to me I check it down with UTG+1 limper who shows [4c].

Stack size 10075 w/ blinds 30/60

Move ahead 10 hands to Hand #22.
I open raise OTB to 300 (blinds are 50/100 now) w/ [6h]. BB (4280) calls.
[9d][7s] Pot 650
I bet 450 and he calls.
Pot 1550
He bets 1000 into me. Only thing I can think of is slowplaying a set. I fold. He shows me [5d]. Maybe this was supposed to tilt me, but I just thought he was very stupid. No respect for the big stack.

Stack size 8615 w/ blinds 50/100

Skip ahead just 4 more hands to Hand #26
UTG+1 min-raises to 200 and has just 680 behind. I have [Jd] and make it 500. When it gets back to UTG+1 he shoves which is what I want. He shows [Td]
Board [4s][Qs][Js][3h]
Awesome. The one time I didn't want to hit a set on the turn.

Stack size 7735 w/ blinds 50/100

Move ahead 6 hands to Hand #32. This is the one dumb play I made, but since nobody was folding to me anyway I don't see how it could have turned out any different.
Blinds 60/120 and UTG raises to 360. UTG+1 calls. I call in CO w/ [Qs].
[Qd][3h] Pot 1260
UTG pushes 1135, UTG+1 just calls and has (4350) behind. I'm troubled by UTG+1's call, but what am I gonna do here? Fold? No way! In retrospect I should have made a big re-raise pre-flop, but like I said...nobody was giving me any respect even though I wasn't really bluffing. I pushed and UTG+1 had the set. UTG had ATo.

Stack size 1620 w/ blinds 60/120

I did last a few round and even got my stack up to 2500 but as luck would have it I flopped trip Queens in the SB, but lost to CO who open-limped and had me out-kicked with better trips. SICK!

So this is how I took a TREMENDOUS stack and blew it off in a matter of a 32 hand span or about a half hour. So did I play some horrible big stack poker or was it a combination of bad luck, bad yet lucky players, and bad play?

NL Cash games
NL cash play was just as bad today. I blew off 2 stacks. I ended up on 2 tables full of players that didn't fold so I played make a hand, bet a hand poker. As usual, when I do this, I get killed. They must have seen the guy playing 20/4/19 poker Ime) and figured I was a maniac. I couldn't get away with a raise.

- I raise pocket Queens in MP, BB calls and donks into me for a pot sized bet when an Ace flops.

-[Qc][Tc] in BB vs 44/13/29 MP limper. [Qh][7s]. I bet pot - he calls. repeat because I have him on draw. I check and wait for him to bluff his missed draw which he does. I call and he shows [7c]. Sure I would have called that flop with his hand Make a hand and bet it. Yah.

- 0 flopped sets today although there were a few on the turn after I folded.

- I make my 1st raise to $1 at a table where I've been playing tightly. Button calls, SB raises to $1.75 because that the raise he made no matter what. BB calls as well. Flop [Qd][Jd]. I don't have a diamond. I had 9's.

- I make just my 2nd raise at the table w/ AQ. SB calls and BB raises to $1.75 again. Flop 5AA and SB min-bets (WTF??), BB raises to $1 (Hello, I RAISED!) I raise to $5 and they both fold. This was my high-light of the session.

- I make my 3rd raise in almost 100 hands at this table w/ [Td]. Same guy in the SB re-raises to $1.75. He has done this every single time I have raised. He is playing 38/7/38. [6c][3s]. He min-bets into me, I raise to $3 and he re-raises to $5. I have no idea what the hell is going on so I call. and he now bets entire pot so I fold. WTF WTF WTF???

- I flopped my 1st Flush Draw Plus of the session. FDP = 12 outs or more. I missed.

- I flopped TP vs a calling station so I did the make a hand, bet a hand thing again. He turned a well hidden set. A King on board should be no reason to fold your pocket 8's. Especially when the SB bets into 3 players in front of him.

- I raise w/ [Qh] again. Two callers. One a known idiot. One not really known. Anyway it ends up a 3-way all-in on a [7h][6s] flop. We are all full stacks so I am going to TRIPLE UP! They show [Tc] and [Th] (idiot!). [8s] EFF ME!!!

- I flopped my 2nd Flush Draw Plus. I missed. Now 0 for 2 in 12+ outters.

- I flopped my 3rd Flush Draw Plus. I missed, but I'm tilting so I pushed the river and got the fold. Now technically 0 for 3 on 12+ outters with 1 assist from tilt.

Then I quit after I realized I was starting to tilt.

Rant......
Against calling stations, make a hand, bet it all 3 streets. BULL-SH*T. It's make a hand, bet it all 3 streets, lose a big pot. TPTK loses to a 40/3/38 player w/ 58o. She hit 2 pair on Flop.

Rant......
I haven't flopped a set in almost 600 dealt hands (limit and no limit)

Rant.......
I have now missed my last 5 Flush Plus draws (flopped 12 outs or more). One of them cost me a stack today. Of course TPGK + FD had to be against Aces. No other way. There was a 6th, but I pushed the flop and got a fold.

Rant......
I have now just about blown off my tournament win from the other night in NL cash games. This is the 4th straight month that I have started off loser. I have come back strong late in the last 3 months to make them profitable. So I guess this is the way it's going to be.

Rant....
I'm getting crushed fighting back against over-aggressives and pure maniacs. Today it was 88 in BB vs Button who had raised 7x in a row in that position. He hit Kxo. Then it was the guy who raised my flop bet with mediocre hands twice in a row. The 3rd time I pushed w/ AK for TPTK. He had the set this time. Something like this seems to happen everytime I wait patiently and find a spot to fight back against a 40+/20+ player. I get stacked just when he happens to luck into a bigger hand. I should just push my garbage against them. I can't beat calling stations. I can't beat maniacs. But tight players I have a field day against. Go figure.

Rant....
At myself for not seeing that the Full Tilt Midnight Madness was a Turbo last night. If I wanted to play the lottery, I'd buy a ticket. FT had an update today that added a lot of mixed games, but somehow turned all of their guarranteeds and satellites into Turbo's for the past 2 days.

Rant.....
Although I want to start playing in the new FT HA and HOSE games, I don't know how to deal with my PT. I tried it today in a HOSE game and it was a mess. It only picked up the HE games as I expected, but then it acted as if each new HE part of the game was a brand new HE session on a new table. Pain in the ass.

Rant....
22/17 player w/ an AF of 6.0 is labelled Weak Tight. WTF??? The winningest players in my PT database this month so far with over 100 hands.....
52/25/44 +99.78 bb/100
56/3/53 +54.76 bb/100
14/2/75 +26.72 bb/100
32/2/60 +16.64 bb/100
Moral of the story: Don't fold and you'll get there.

Continuation of rant.....
1st played hand of MTT - [Kh] SB 2 limpers - raise 4x BB - 1 call (loosest player at table). T8A 3 different suits - bet pot, call - rag on turn - bet pot, call - rag on river - all-in, call. Opponent T8o. Make a hand, bet it all 3 streets, lose big pot. T8o calling raises from the rock at the table. YAH!!! AKs is THE DEVIL! When will I learn to just fold TPTK vs idiots?

Next tournament - AKo CO - 1 limper who plays every hand and has no concept of position - he calls large raise - I've been rock-like again - flop Jxx - he checks, I'm all-in - he calls. QJo. Next!

His comment after the hand was priceless as well...."Whew. I thought you had a big one." Why did you call with QJo then? Sir, you have a problem. You don't realize how stupid you are. Then again, I must be the stupid one for thinking he may have missed a flop while playing every hand.

Stupid fucking people. Can't play with them, can't play without them.

Got a bit frustrated playing NL today when every BB w/ an Ace was calling my raises and catching on the flop. After an hour of break even poker I moved over to limit where I found a bunch of comically bad players waiting for me.....

QQ vs cold-caller who was short stacked and all-in after the turn.....River is a 2. He had pocket 2's.

[7d] in BB on [8h][Td] Flop. Gets capped 3 ways. Turn . Best card in the deck for me. Won by [Tc]. Other player had a set of 8's. At least I folded on the turn.

QQ vs same player who won last hand with the GSSD last hand (56/9/33). Naturally I run Queens into him with Aces. This has been the norm for me lately.

Won with [8s] on [4d][2s][3c][As]. Other player called me down w/ [6h]. ????????

Lost TT to 87o on 854A7 board.

Won with [Ts] in BB when SB (26o from 2 hands ago) called [Js][3c][8s][Ah]. His hand [4d]?????? Only calling station I actually beat today. Hands were so bad that he needed more than a miracle.

Lost Q3 in BB on 7Q2 Flop vs 56/9/33 again w/ J8. He bet all 3 streets. Turn 8, River 8. He CRUSHED me tonight.

Raised [Jh], was 3-bet by solid-tight player, another player cold-called the 3-bet. Board [9s][Jd] 3-b3ttor [Ks] Cold-caller of 3 bet [4s].

Lost AA to JJ after QTx Flop. The overcard and the aggressive player UTG didn't give him a clue. Turn 9, River K for the runner-runner job.

2 for 9 overall w/ AA-TT and AK on that 1 table. Good times. Looks like I got another week and half of losing until the end of the month.

I'm exhausted, but wired right now. Just placed 5th out of 1228 in the Full Tilt Midnight Madness for a $417 cash. I've had 3 cashes in the $500 range (2 online - 1 live) so I'm pretty happy, but if I had just moved up another spot I would have had a new high. More tomorrow or whenever I wake up, but Full Tilt tested me as I bubbled the last 2 tournies I played before this one with KK (once vs QQ and once vs 88 - on a positive note, I did find out that my computer screen takes a punch pretty well). I'm thinking of moving up in limits now for cash games too. I'm going to look at my overall stats for NL25 and see if it warrants moving up.