MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2006

Finished up $37.23 tonight. Actually, ended up playing 30 min last night - numbers are included in today's totals. Pretty good session tonight - took some donkey money and didn't stack off with overpairs and such type hands. No stupid laydowns tonight either. I only played three tables tonight because I'm on the tired side today - I really need 100% for 4-tabling. 3 is much more relaxing and almost as profitable for me, at least at this point in my campaign.

Bankroll is over $900 now - getting close...

Tables played: 3 full ring
Hands played: 363
Time played: 279 table minutes

Poker winnings: $32.65
Bonus cleared: $4.58
Total profit (loss) for day: $37.23

Bankroll as of 6/19/06: $910.34

Countdown to $50 NL: $89.66

TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 2006

Finished up $66.85 tonight. Another very good session tonight - firing on all cylinders over the past couple of days - hands holding up for the most part, no stupid plays, etc etc. In an ideal world, I will cross the $1,000 milestone tomorrow night...but as I've leared during this stretch of my campaign, expect nothing with poker. I made the mistake of hapring on the dollar amounts on the table on the $2 and $10 NL "bubbles" if you will. Let's hope the ugly downrun I went through during my $25 NL run has made me a better all-around player and I can focus on the real deal - playing mistake-free poker.

Having said all the above, wish me luck tomorrow!!

Tables played: 4 full ring
Hands played: 656
Time played: 526 table minutes

Poker winnings: $58.65
Bonus cleared: $8.20
Total profit (loss) for day: $66.85

Bankroll as of 6/20/06: $977.19

Countdown to $50 NL: $22.81

Good luck tommorrow sir.

good luck Runner! I enjoy your Journal quite a bit, keep it up!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2006

Finished down $50.03 tonight. Not tonight guys. Ack. Lost a stack in the first five minutes when a set ran into a straight. After that, it was just me getting pummled with second best hand after second best hand. $5 here, $8 there...added up to a real quick browbeating tonight. I left quickly as I knew this was going to be the start of a long brutal session. The tables seemed tougher than usual tonight, that was probably my semi-tilt induced mind playing tricks on me though. Oh well - like I said last night - expect nothing in poker. Back to the grind.

Tables played: 4 full ring
Hands played: 288
Time played: 202 table minutes

Poker winnings: ($53.20)
Bonus cleared: $3.17
Total profit (loss) for day: ($50.03)

Bankroll as of 6/21/06: $927.16

Countdown to $50 NL: $72.84

RR I think we all Seb'ed you. From now on I'm wishing you bad luck.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2006

Finished down $0.63 tonight. Huh. Breakeven session I guess. Aside from one donk-tacular call for a small amount of coin, I wouldn't say it was a bad session, just a waste of time from a results standpoint. But that's not what's important. What's really important is that RHound and Roy wished me bad luck and I didn't lose another two stacks tonight! If someone can just please post and tell me to go f*ck myself I'll be at $50 NL tomorrow night.

Only major suckout was my only set getting cracked by a flush. Of course rather than put out a small value bet with his ill-gained nut flush at horrible odds (it came on the river), he was content to check it to me (board wasn't paired or else I wouldn't be writing this). Not sure if he was planning on a check-raise. Probably.

Tables played: 4 full ring
Hands played: 615
Time played: 525 table minutes

Poker winnings: ($9.30)
Bonus cleared: $8.67
Total profit (loss) for day: ($0.63)

Bankroll as of 6/22/06: $926.53

Countdown to $50 NL: $73.47

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2006

Finished down $43.48 tonight. Wonderful. Actually put up a small win this afternoon before I went out. Came home and fired up the tables and grinded it out for awhile only to deal with a barrarge of suckouts and digusting flops..example: AA, flop of KQJ and heat. KK cracked twice, once ran into AA preflop. No sets. I guess I can put a cork on the $50 NL champagne for now. Looks like I'll stick to my martinis for the time being.

Tables played: 1 & 4 full ring
Hands played: 610
Time played: 513 table minutes

Poker winnings: ($52.30)
Bonus cleared: $8.82
Total profit (loss) for day: ($43.48)

Bankroll as of 6/23/06: $883.05

Countdown to $50 NL: $116.95

SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 2006

Finished down $107.11 tonight. That was no misprint - my worst day ever. Sad sad times. I lost about $60, and took a 4 hour so break to clear my head, came back on fired up ready to go and dropped another $40+ in about half an hour. AA got cracked by QQ once (all $ in preflop), lost a couple of stacks with big hands getting cracked on the river, and a couple with TOTALLY HENOUS calls on my part. So it wasn't all variance. I've got over 20K hands in my database and believe it or not, I'm a loser right now. I don't even know if I can beat the game. I've gone from being pumped up about making a move to the next level and semi-real money to having 100% of my confidence shot in three days.

I'm seriously considering taking the rest of the summer off & away from poker - I've got other life issues to attend to and I'm not sure I need this right now. Having said that, i really would like to get to the next level and start withdrawing some money. I thought my game is/has been pretty strong overall for these stakes, but I really don't know. If I can't beat the $25 NL regulars, how in the world am I expecting to be successful at $50 NL and above??

Tables played: 3 & 4 full ring
Hands played: 420
Time played: 335 table minutes

Poker winnings: ($113.10)
Bonus cleared: $5.99
Total profit (loss) for day: ($107.11)

Bankroll as of 6/24/06: $775.94 UGH

Countdown to $50 NL: $224.06 UGH

RR, I feel for you. You can beat the $25 regualrs and you can beat the $50 games too. One session does not a career make, either in a good way or a bad. There is never anything wrong with taking time off if you need it, I have done it a bunch of times and it always seems to help. I dont know for sure but it sounds like you might have cost yourself some money going on tilt a little. You may want to set a drop dead point for yourself. If I lose X dollars I'm done for the day. I have been playing a lot longer than you and I still do it. The games arent going anywhere, so there is no need to be playing when you are not at your best. A couple weeks ago at the 5/5 $500 game I've been playing. I took 2 really bad beats and lost 2 full stacks. The game was still very juicy but I left anyways. Those idiots will be giving away their money tommorrow and the day after, no need to put myself in a sitiuation where I was already frusterated and could make even bigger mistakes. Good luck whatever you choose to do.