Just donated $11 to an imbecile in a tournament I was debating playing until the last second. Took me 10 minutes and 4 hands.

Opponent had played every hand so far and 2 hands ago had limped and called a raise from UTG+2. Flop came 489 and he called a bet and a raise for almost half his stack. Turn K. He gets all-in with the other player and ends up showing K8o. He ended up dumping half his entire profit off again the very next hand.

Then he limps again UTG, I raise w/ [Td] knowing he has garbage and is going to call. He does. Flop [8h][Jh]. He check/calls a pot sized bet. Turn is a blank and we both get our money in. Imbecile has 79o for the flopped straight. Seems about right. The world of poker needs brain damaged participants as well. Good luck to whoever eventually takes my chips from him. Which was probably about 2 hands later.

On a positive note I did cash for the 1st time in 4 $26 tolken attempts, upgrading to a $75 tolken and I'm about 50 cents from clearing another $20 in bonus money.

As it's the end of the year, I guess it's time to take a look at my monthly numbers and bankroll situation. I know have about a $1500 bankroll. $1300 of that is at Full Tilt right now. I know I've had a profitable year, but even I'm not sure what I'm going to find now digging through pokercharts.com. I may have missed a session or two over the year, but for the most part the info should be accurate.....

Stakes played: 1/2 limit and below, $25NL and below, MTT buy-ins mostly in the $5-$15 range with some higher or lower.

January
+$137.85
74h 36m or

February
+$323.42
45h 8m

March
+$37.22
72h 42m

April
-$45.17
82h 37m

May
+$13.23
21h 22m

June
+$29.70
33h 29m

July
+$169.26
99h 19m

August
-$211.38
122h 19m

September
+$222.99
83h 56m

October
+$403.34
79h 29m

November
+$78.82
100h 59m

December (to date)
+$596.07
81h 51m


So nice start, crappy middle, great ending.

Is There Such A Thing As A Good LAG at $25NL?
I ask this because I've seen a couple of players come into games and just start raising from the very beginning and turning over T3s and the like to show their bluffs. Many times these players will have stats like 40+/15+/20 and come off winners after 100 or 200 hands in my database. The important number to look at is the last one in these cases. They may get into a lot of pots and raise it up, but they generally have a fold button. I know what they are doing after a while and I just simply call them down with good hands because I know they will continue to bluff, but fold if I get too aggressive back at them. The thing is though, does anybody else care what they are doing? Is it actually worth their time and money to throw this crazy image out there when many players will just pay off their good hands anyway? Many times they'll call their bluffs as well without much of a hand too.

There was one player I was playing against today (56/28/25 after 200 hands). The 1st time I saw him, he tripled his stack. I actually helped him along when I ran QQ into his KK. I raised, he re-raised as he often did, and against him and only him, I pushed QQ. He got that push because of his image. Today, however, he sat down and lost his stack in 60 hands. I took about half of it calling him down with top pair hands (I tried to slowplay a flopped set of 9's on him, but the ran QQ on the turn and river putting 3 Q's on board and kinda counterfeiting my hand so I had to just call his river bet). Everyone else at the table was just calling every time he bet.

So maybe he was just an idiot, but if he had a plan, is it even going to work at this level? They may as well just save it cause in the longrun it probably won't work here.

WTF Am I Still Doing Here?
I have now had 10 straight winning sessions at $25 NL and 11 out of 13 on the month.
I'm running at +12.77 bb/100 over 2,716 hands this month.
I'm at +10.07 bb/100 over 5,623 hands since joining Full Tilt last month.
In fact, if you take the debacle at AP out, I am running at +8.9 bb/100 over 10K lifetime hands of $20/$25 NL. (Including AP makes its +4.35 bb/100 over 14.5K.)
I have over 25 buy-ins for $50 NL just in my Full Tilt account alone.
So WTF am I still doing at $25NL? Am I too comfortable because I've been winning so often lately? This weekend I am definetly moving up to $50!

Played my last session of $25NL today.....I hope.
+$8.35 +13.58 bb/100 123 hands

The big hand....
I open-limp MP [3d], one call, Button raises to $1. I call and limper calls.
[6s][Qd] Pot $3.35
I bet $4.25, other limper folds. I had done this one other time to this PFRer when I flopped an OESD w/ 2 OC's. He folded that time. This time he pushed for $13.25. Easy call.
Turn
River

Not the outs I was looking for, but it does the job.

Played 4 tournies the past 2 days.
1 - Picked up a $26 tolken.
2 - 50th out of 1,155 in the Midnight Madness - Those damn dominated hands again. Lost AJs to A2s on the knockout blow. I really can't complain too much though because I hit a 2 outter on the river in an 88 vs TT hand in the 1st tournament to stay alive. Still, those dominated hands are just sick at Full Tilt.
3 - Bubbled another $26 tolken tourny. This one was completely my own fault. 5 left - 1 super big stack, 2 semi-big stacks, and 2 smallish stacks. I could have folded into the money most likely, but.....
I get AQs and fold. Next hand, AQo and I fold again. 3rd hand in a row, AQs and this time I played it. Other semi-big stack had AKo and the dominated hand didn't hold up for me of course.
4 - Picked up a $75 tolken.

NL$50!!! Go there. You should notice a slightly better competition (probably if your table selection is very good youwont even notice it) but the games are good.

Are you playing FR? I assume yu are not. If you are, I have to strongly suggest you move to 6max. I dnt have that many hands yet but i think the winrate can be as much as doubled from FR. The players are much much worse. FR players are too tight and usually harder to extract nowadays.

Think I'm just going to play some tournaments today. Already played about a half hour of HOSE (50/1). I was lucky enough to find a table full of players that were pretty horrible at every game. I think I was the best Omaha player at the table, which isn't saying much. And they just SUCKED even worse at Hold'em.

Example: I PFR UTG w/ AKo, ENTIRE table calls.
Flop Q88. I get out of the way. Flop gets bet and raised.
UTG+1 cold called w/ QJs, MP1 cold called with 87o, Button had KQo.

Full Tilt Poker
Limit Omaha Ring game
Limit: $0.50/$1
7 players


Pre-flop: (7 players) OneOutWinner is SB with
UTG calls, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, CO calls, Button calls, OneOutWinner calls, BB checks.

Flop: (7SB, 7 players)
OneOutWinner checks, BB bets, UTG raises, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, OneOutWinner calls, BB calls.

Turn: (7.5BB, 4 players)
OneOutWinner checks, BB checks, UTG bets, UTG+1 calls, OneOutWinner calls, BB calls.

River: (11.5BB, 4 players)
OneOutWinner bets, BB calls, UTG raises, UTG+1 folds, OneOutWinner calls, BB calls.

Results:
Final pot: 17.5BB

I figure I have 6 outs to the best high and 4 outs to the nut low so I had to call. I wasn't counting my clubs as outs, but UTG was the biggest idiot at the table. He has previously c/r a flop on a community flop where he didn't even have a pair!

I also played a 90 man DS SNG where I was cleverly outsmarted by the table calling station. It was a stupid move on my part, but I thought since I had been a rock and the only hand I had shown down was pocket Kings to double up that it might work.

- Blinds 40/80. UTG+2 limps, MP2 limps. I have 5,775 and raise to 440.
Only UTG+2 calls.
Flop [Td][5h] Pot 1,080
Check, I bet 800, called.
Turn Pot 2,680
Check, check
River Pot 2,680
I bet 1,700 and he calls with [8s] and then brilliantly explains to me how he knew that someone who raised pre-flop could not have beaten 8's on that board. He had me on AK. Everyone who raises has AK. Jack freakin 9 beats him there. Brilliant bluff on my part.

Alex, I play FR, but know that at some point, probably before NL100, that I'll have to start playing SH. There just isn't any need to add more variance to my game right now when I'm doing well in FR. Tightness doesn't bother me that much on NL tables. It's harder to win against rocks at Limit than it is at NL. Actually, there are some moves in my arsenal that will only work against tight players.

First of all, I know that when they raise they have a real hand, unless it's a LP raise. That means I have a better chance of stacking them with they have Aces and I hit. When I bet against loose player, I am usually betting a good hand, but the loose player is drawing to somewhere between 4 and 9 outs. Real easy to get unlucky and lose a big pot. When I'm in the pot vs a tight player, he usually has a made hand TPTK or an overpair and I have a set or better which leaves him drawing nearly dead.

Second, here is a move that I have been employing while in position, but only against tight players that I know can fold top pair or even over-pair hands against scare cards...

Suppose I have something like [7h] and call a raise from a tight player in front of me.
Flop comes something like [Td][5s] or subsitute the K for some other paint. Usually I'd have to give it up when he makes a c-bet here. I'm only really ahead of AQ or possibly AJs and both have many outs against me while I only have 2, but.....

While that may seem to be the case against a caller, I look at it as having 11 outs vs a tight player. If I call behind it looks like I may be on a flush draw.
- Now if the flush comes I can either bet or raise and often get a fold.
- If a blank comes, I give up unless he gives me another free shot at the flush, then I can bluff the river or even check down if I think my 7's may be best.
- Even better, if a 7 comes on the turn and he bets again, then I have him dead. He's never going to see that 7 as my card.

Onto $50NL and Other Things

My step up to $50NL was about as exciting as watching paint dry. It looked like it was going to be a disaster early, then it evened out, but took a slight step backwards during the last orbit. Finished -$8.75 over 174 hands.

Quick observations on my 1st session:
1 - I wonder if it's just a Saturday thing, but I couldn't keep a table together for a full orbit. Many players jumping in and out after a couple of hands. FR tables were played 7 handed most hands.
2 - The players that were constant were at almost every single table. I looked at 5 different tables and the same 4 or 5 players were at each table.
3 - The players, although tighter than $25NL tables, are just as hard, if not harder to bluff. They play less hands, but they won't fold if they raised pre-flop. They are going to showdown unless you fold no matter what the board looks like. To beat them you just gotta have a better hand.

Example: My first, and ONLY, bluff vs 13/7 player. I limped [5d], he raised to $2 and I called. I flopped the nut GSSD [2d][8c] so I called a pot sized c-bet.
on the Turn and I hesitated before checking, checked behind so I thought the Ace may have scared him.
on the River and I make a pot sized bet hopefully making him think I called the flop with an Ace and intended to c/r the Turn. Instead of getting met with a call, I was faced with an AI and had to fold. Seeing as I had been card dead and very tight to that point, I figured I may get a fold.

I can't tell you how many times I was dealt 73o, 83, 84, 94, or 95. Oh wait! I can because I have PT. How about 16x or 10% of my hands.

I also ended up with a decent share of trouble hands (AQ and 99) in dangerous spots. I was able to avoid disaster on one when the LAGiest player at the table (38/14) PFRed from UTG+1 and I called w/ [Qs] in the BB.
Flop [Th][As] Pot $3.75
I completely intended on going for the c/r to find out where I was, but it was checked behind.
Turn Pot $3.75
I bet $3 which was called, which made me think JJ-QQ. I figured he'd make a move with anything else by now.
River Pot $9.75
I checked and called a $5 bet. He flopped a set of 7's. That was the worst played set I've ever seen. Talk about squeezing NOTHING out of your set. Even more surprising, like I said, he was the LAGiest player at the table.

I picked up my biggest pot though with AQ when I raised and got a caller with $18 left. Ace on the flop and he called off the rest of his stack with ATo w/ a medium sized bet on each street.

With 99 OTB I called a short stacked open-push from CO. Her Q6o cracked my 9's.

Only other pot I won worth more than $5 was when I limp called w/ [6c] and the flop came [Kc][4h] Pot $5.25.
He bet $2.50 and I c/r him AI for his last $8.50 which he called with 2 red Queens. He hit his set on the river. Unfortunately for him it was the .

I had Aces 2x. Both times in EP. Both times I open-limped and both times it was folded around to the BB who quickly folded on the flop. KK once and I took that one pre-flop vs 3 limps when I put in a healthy CO raise. Yeah, I'm actually not to upset about that.

And no sets in 14 pairs. If you take the river bluff on that one hand out of the equation I finish up about $2 so I'm not really that upset about this 1st session. It was just......boring.

I think I'm going to watch the crappy Bowl games the rest of the day (Got San Jose St +3 and they just went up 14-0 ) and use one of my $75 tolkens later in a midnight tourny. Then I think I'm going to take off until after X-mas because I've been basically forcing myself to play the last few days. The most fun I've actually had have been the low limit mixed games the past week.

Session 1

First mini-session over...
1:15 160 hands +12.25
Reaction: Stunned Can NOT BELIEVE how awful these players are. Worse than what I saw at the $25NL level. I should have picked up about 4 stacks today, BUT 4 outter on the river, 3 outter on the river, 6 outter on the river, 3 outter on the river. All they wanted to do was call, call, call, call, call......except when I had a set.
Examples:
-Lost KQ to KJ on A8QAT board. Have no idea why he was in there past the flop.
-Lost QJo to T9o on K2Q2J board. Same guy. Shouldn't be surprised.
There was one even worse....
-UTG+1 limp (62/1/40). I raise in CO to $2 and he calls. He has $25 left. One other caller.
Flop [6c][Kh] Pot $6.25
Checked to me and I made a $5 bet. UTG+1 only caller.
Turn Pot $16.25
For some reason I fired another c-bet of $10 and he calls.
River Pot $36.25
I gave up my bluff and he shows me [3s]. Limped UTG and called a raise with that hand. And just to add insult, hits 2 pair on the river.

- A few minutes later he called a raise in MP w/ J9o. Flop came QK6. It was checked to him and he went all-in. His bluff was called by a set of Queens. A on the Turn, T on the river. and he runner-runners it.

- Then he limped UTG, another limper behind him, Button raised to $2. He called. Other limper re-raises to $8 and he calls that also. [Jc][Qs]. He bets 50 cents, gets raised to $5.50 and calls. . He pushes and gets call. His hand [3h]. Other player had [Ac]. HOLY CRAP! He LOVES K3.

-Again he open limps and calls my button raise. His Q3o beats my 5's.

-Lastly he limps again and I raise in CO. I have AJo. Of course he calls.
[Jd][3c] Pot $4.75
He bets 50 cents, I raise to $3 and he calls. I should have known right there, but I called his his 50 cent bet on a turn blank, and another 50 cents on a river diamond.
Can you guess his hand?
King MOTHER EFFIN Three Offsuit!

My only other hand against him, I flopped a set of 9's and he didn't want to play that time.

Here are the 2 positives from the session:
1 limp, I raise [Qs] to $2 from 2 off the button. BB and limper call.
[4d][5d] Pot $6.25
Checked to me, I bet $5. BB c/r to $13. He's 70/20/29 and had $13.50 left. I didn't believe him and put him all-in. He calls with [3c]. My 2-1 advantage held up.

3 limps and I limp OTB w/ [7s]. Wanted to raise, but they aren't folding.
[8d][As] Pot $2.75
Wonderful development for me as 1st limper bets pot, 3rd limper raised to $5.50. 3rd limper loves his TPanyK so I really wasn't worried. I pushed my half stack for $25.90 and 3rd limper called with [Jh]. Wish I had a full stack there although he wasn't full stacked either so it only would have been another $6.

My worst hand:
Two limpers and I limp [5c] OTB. I was thinking about a raise, but I had been very aggressive OTB and CO at this table lately. BB raises to $3 and others fold. I felt I had to take the heads up flop in position here because if I hit he would definitely pay me off, even if he missed. I'd seen him fire 2 barrels pot sized a few times.
I a dream flop.....[Qc][5s] Pot $7.50
He bets $4 and instead of pushing (we both started with full $50 stacks), I just called him down. I somehow thought my best option here was to just try and catch and let him bluff again.
I missed and called another $10 on his turn bet, again thinking of pushing, but backing off. I missed the river and folded. I don't like the way I played this hand at all.

Session 2

1:10 125 hands -$73.95 + $20 bonus cleared = -$53.95
Now I'm just sick. And numb. Thank god for bonuses and one idiot who actually couldn't suck out on me because he was calling his stack off with OC's vs a set. If this shit had happened a week ago I only would have lost half of what I lost, but of course I wait until I start $50NL to run disgusting.

I posted these hands in the NL section, but because hardly anybody reads this crap, here are the full hands. They took place at just about the same time at 2 different tables.

Hand 1:
[4h] OTB.
MP2 open-limps, CO limps, I limp. Both blinds play.
[9h][6d] Pot $2.50
Checked around.
Pot $2.50
SB min-bets ($8.50 left), MP2 (40/5/30 at that time) raises to $3.50 ($24.50 left), I re-raise to $9.50 (have both covered), SB folds, MP2 calls.
Pot $22
MP2 instantly pushed for $18.50. His money was in the pot just as the card hit the virtual felt. I'm getting over 2-1 on my money. I don't think he has the flush, I call. I was right. He had [2s]. Awesome 3 outter. All day long this is happening to me, but this is the biggest pot.

A few hands later there is a raise to $1.50 and a call in front of me. I push my last $7 from CO w/ AQo. PFRer folds, but caller calls w/ 77 and he holds up. Down 1 stack.

Hand 2:
[8s] UTG.
I limp, MP1 limps, Button raises to $2. BB calls, I call, MP1 calls.
[Tc][Th] Pot $8.25
BB and I check, MP1 (38/5/25 - I must have previously played with him because I have 70 hands on him in PT) donks $2 into the raiser. Button calls the $2, BB calls the $2. Here I was planning on c/r'ing the Button. Usually I'd lead on this vs a raiser, but since the raise came from the Button, he may not have had much and not raised me.
Now I have a too many people in the pot ($14.25 now) so I c/r to $18.25. MP1 takes a while and calls. Other 2 fold.
Pot $48.75
I have $25.60 left. He has $25.70. He's pretty loose and I can't really put him on a hand after just calling my c/r. I guess I'm obligated here so I push and I'm outkicked. He has [Td]. Still trying to figure out how I don't get stacked here. Doyle says to never go broke in a nothing pot, but I somehow managed to EFF that up and still can't figure out where I could have saved myself.

So I was 40 hands in and 2 stacks down before I won my 1st hand on either table. A big $1.40. Another 25 hands later I won my 2nd, $6.25.

Thankfully I ran into this imbecile....
I limp UTG [9d], folded to SB who calls, BB checks.
[9c][6h] Pot $1.50
Checked to me and I don't want to slowplay this flop even with a set. I bet pot. It could also look like a steal. SB calls, BB folds.
Pot $4.50
I like that card and SB is 66/10/35 so I bet pot again and get called. SB has $21.85 left.
Pot $13.50
He insta pushes. I yell FUCK YOU!!!, realize he can't hear me and call. He has [Qh]. Thank god he was drawing dead on the Turn or I may have lost that one too.

Part 3 - Midnight Madness

Someone at Full Tilt needs to be physically assaulted. This was the sick way to end a disgusting day.
First hand - AA in CO. 1 limper, I raise to 135, limper calls. Flop 239 and limper donks into me for a pot sized bet. I push, they call with 98s, none of their suit on board. I double up. Stack = 3045 after 1 hand

6 folds

Hand 7 - AA again, in the SB. A min-raise (to 60), a call OTB, I bet 270 and the Button calls. [Qh]x. I bet 1/2 pot (360), Button pushes for 1725. Call, he has AQo.
Stack = 5070 after 7 hands

9 folds

Pocket 9's OTB. 2 off the Button open min-raises (to 80), I re-raise to 300. SB calls as does min-raiser. I guess there is no such thing as table image to these creatures. x[Kd] and the other 2 go nuts because I can't have anything, I only raised. I fold. Stack = 4760

8 folds

AKo in CO. UTG+1 limps, I raise to 225 (blinds 25/50), and he calls. Flop 5Jx, I bet 350 and he c/r's AI to 1,145. At 2.5 to 1 I called. Mostly out of frustration. He shows [Jh]. I've shown 2 hands (both Aces) and played ultra-tight so far. This jackass is calling my raises with QJ like I'm not raising with anything that might have him crushed preflop? Stack = 3225

AQo in CO very next hand (player was moved - I was CO 2x in row). Folded to me. I raise to 225. Now I've played 4 hands and shown 3 (AA, AA, AK). So of course nobody believes I have a hand and Button calls, SB calls, BB calls. Flop again comes Jxx. Stupidly I throw in a c-bet and get c/r'ed by SB this time. I fold. Stack = 2650

8 folds

99 in CO. Min-raiser just before me. I figure I'm not getting any respect anyway so why not just shove. This time everyone folds and I pick up 210. Stack = 2710

3 folds - The min-raiser from last hand who had been playing every hand decided to try and bluff vs quads with an all-in move on the river. That didn't work out for him. So next 2 hands in a row he just pushes - ON TILT - and nobody calls.

JJ UTG+1 - Tilter pushes again, I re-push and we go heads up. He has A9. Flop is blanks so now he's down to 3 outs. 9 on turn. 9 on river. AWESOME!!! Nice effin hand! Stack = 1580

Just before the 1st break - MP1 w/ [8h]. Tilter raises to 300, I push 1600. He calls with [9h]. I knew he was an idiot. Flop [9d][5s] Turn River . FU - YOU DESERVED THAT! Stack = 3350

KK MP1 Blinds 120-240. I only have 2595 left. I don't want to limp, I don't want to open-push. I settle for something in the middle. I bet 1090. Button puts me all-in. My Kings ran into Aces. King on the turn. WOW! So I guess everybody is catching 2 and 3 outters today on Full Tilt.

[Qc] CO not too long after. UTG limps, I raise to 900 (Blinds 150/300 - 25) Button pushes for 1070. BB (AA from last hand) calls. I call. [Kc][Jd]. I FLOPPED THE EFFIN NUTS BABY WITH THE NUT FLUSH DRAW. BB has 2478 left. He checks and I just put him in. He calls with a set of 10's. Seems he thinks he was slowplaying. He musta been cause he filled up on the Turn. Stack size = 1717

A8 a few hands later and I open push from MP. BB calls with 99. Ace on Turn. 9 on River.

I hope Full Tilt had a lot of fun today and got in all these sick hands in one day so I can go back to normal tomorrow. I took 2 days off, come back today to play, and now I think I'm ready for another 2 days off. (*@#&$()@#*!)*@$(!@# %^)EOIHFO@#*RYF !)(

317 hands of 1/2 limit today didn't go very well. I kept either running into LAG's/Maniacs/Calling stations with bigger hands than me or getting rivered.
Table 1: -16 bb
-Lost 4 bb to 40/18/27 with [4h] in SB vs 1 limper on [Kc][3d] board. He called my flop bet. Turn . I have 2 pair, but he had the other 2 4's. A true 1 outter.
-Lost 3 bb to 44/15/31. He limped UTG+1, I raised next up w/ [Ks]. Flop [Ts][9c] and he bets into me. I raise. Turn. He check, calls. River checked down and he shows me [8c]. That's about right. That's the kinda hand I'm playing from early and then betting out bottom pair into the raiser.
-Lost 4 bb in CO vs BB w/ KK. I had JJ. Board was all undercards and I guess I got lucky for the free turn he gave me. He must have thought I had Aces.

Table 2: +10 bb
-Somehow I won 8.75 bb w/ JJ when there was a PFR UTG, a cold calll UTG+1, I 3-bet in MP1, a cold call of 3 bets in CO, BB calls 2 cold, and both others call. So there are 15.5 sb in the pot pre-flop and it's 5 way.
[6c][8h] Pot 15.50
UTG bets, UTG+1 calls, I raise, CO folds, BB calls 2, UTG calls, UTG+1 calls.
[ Pot 23.50
Checked to me and I check as well.
Pot 23.50
Checked down.
BB has [Th] (only one with a legitimate hand), UTG has [5d] (WTF is up with 85s UTG? Is this something new?), UTG+1 had [Tc]. OMFG!!!
-Won 3.75 bb when my Aces held up vs 3 opponents.
-Won 5.13 bb when CO (62/16/43) open raises and I have AKs in BB. I 3-bet and hit my K on the flop. He called me down. He actually had Queens.
-Won 3.75 bb from same player with KTs in CO when he limped and bet bottom pair on the flop and then called me down. I flopped a King.
-Lost 4 bb to same player. EP player raises, he cold calls, I 3-bet Queens OTB. 945 flop and EP bets, he calls, I raise, EP 3-bets, and we both call. 5 on Turn, EP bets and we both call. 4 on river gets checked down. EP has TT, he had KK (played horribly unaggressive for a maniac!?).
-Won 4 bb w/ AA in CO. I open-raised and got 3 callers and held up again. Thank God for this table.

Table 3: -12.5 bb
-Long story short, lost 2 pair on Turn to Rivered 2 pair.
-Lost TP2K w/ AQ vs 40/18/27 PFRer who raised UTG and flopped a set of 9's. Same guy with set of 4's from 1st table. He did a nice job on me today.

Altogether I lost 2 out of 4 2 pair hands. Had 1 set which wasn't even needed when I rivered a set of Aces when I was already good. Flopped one flush, the nuts vs 4 limpers, I made nothing but their pre-flop limps.

I've suddenly been running very cold in the MTT's lately, since my final table in the Midnight Madness really. I lasted 43 hands in the MM tonight. I played 1 entire hand outside the blinds, meaning I folded about 40 hands preflop. So w/ blinds 40/80 I finally pick up my 1st real hand. [Qs] in the BB. I have 1045 after posting. CO open-min-pfr. SB calls. I push. CO folds. SB calls with AJo. Immediately says that he meant to fold after a King hits the flop because he had been playing rather tight. No worries. Ace on the river.

There are some really retarded human beings in this tournament. Examples....
Guy open limps with J4s in CO. Gets min-raised by the button. Flops middle pair, no draw, bets pot and then calls an all-in on the 2nd hand of the tournament. Other guy had Aces
Guy has 64s in BB. Calls min=pfr from UTG. Flop is AT4, none of his suit. He check/calls a 1/2 pot bet. Then min-c/r's a turn blank and pushes the river. UTG had an Ace. So much for the min-c/r always being a monster. Sometimes it's a bad bluff at FT.
Guy open-limps 2 off Button, calls a 4x raise from Button. Flop is 7KJ monotone. Limper instantly pushes and gets called. Limper had J9o w/ NO draw. Other player had AQ w/ Q matching the board.
BEST: Guy open-min-raises 2 off the button. Gets called by BB. JK6 w/ 2 hearts. BB min-bets into raiser, raiser min-raises, BB re-min-raises to 150, raiser pushes for over 2000, gets calls. BB had set of 6's. Raiser had no hand, no draw, just the for an overcard.
Then of course there is the limp/call an AI by the guy who has folded 90+% of his hands. You get a little card dead and you really can't win sometimes no matter what you do.

The $50NL experiment has ended. Back down to $25NL. I picked a great time to start running horrible. I feel like I'm back at $10 NL at AP. I can't play vs maniacs and lags. Plus I suck. I feel sick and numb now. More later......maybe.

Final $50NL stats:
735 hands -$135.25 -18.40 bb/100 25/6/23 1.75 Total AF

EDIT: Here it is, pasted from LC forum.

(Feedback and 2nd opinions - like that's bad luck or yes you suck - appreciated)

Hand #24: $45.75 to start.
I open-raise MP2 to $2 [Qs]. CO calls. SB pushes $12.95 total. I insta-call. CO folds.
A word about SB.......
76/33/29 - So far had raised and called re-raise w/ Q5s and pushed Q on flop. Won that hand. Also had limped J7o UTG, called a raise, and was part of a 3-way AI on the Flop of J8A (2 spades). Hit Jack on River.
Here SB turns over [7h]. SB's hand holds up and he/she was nice enough to laugh and call me dumb after the 7 flopped.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?703108

Hand #31: $31.55 to start.
UTG+1 limps, I limp MP1 [Th], MP2 limps, CO limps, Button limps, SB folds, BB checks. 6 to flop.
[7c][Ac] Pot $3.25
Checked to me, I bet $2, MP2 raises to $9.25.
A word about MP2......
38/24/27 - So far he had re-raised a PFR and call w/ 66 and called an AI when 2 paint flopped. He had turned over hands like 23 offsuit at showdown and was working on his 2nd stack.
I call the raise because I want him to stack off with a worse Ace or a non-Ace. I'm really only afraid of A7 because with a 14% PFR he would have raised any Ace better than mine, right?
Pot $21.75
Now I'm afraid of A5 too. I check and he puts me in, I call. He has [Kc].
I've now been stacked the only 3 times I've hit trips at this level. I was outkicked 2x and the other time, my opponent hit his kicker on the river. I don't think I could have gotten away from this hand the way it was played vs this particular opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?703122

Hand #37: $48.50 to start.
I royally EFFED up this river. This one was my fault completely. I was sort of on tilt.
MP2 limps, I limp [3s] CO (my first mistake - not raising maybe), Button limps. SB calls, BB checks.
[5s][Qs] Pot $2.50
SB checks, BB min-bets, MP2 folds, I call (I know your not supposed to draw to a flush on paired board, but this looked like it was going to be a cheap one), Button folds, SB folds.
Pot $3.50
Check, check.
Pot $3.50
BB bets $3.50 and instead of hitting the call Button, some alien takes possession of my brain and raises to $8.50, BB re-raises to $29, and that stupid fuckin alien decides to hit my call button. [2c]. I thought he had a Queen too, but not the boat. Of course his boat completes my A-high flush.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?703169

Last Hand: The kicker $19.60 to start.
UTG limps, I limp UTG+1 [Ad] (maniacs still to act), MP1 limps, CO raises to $3.25 (bingo), Maniac calls (jackpot), SB re-raises to $8 (heaven), 2 folds, I push $19.60 total, 2 folds, Maniac calls $10.45 total, SB calls $19.60 total.
Pot $54.40
SB shows [Qc]
Maniac shows [8c]
[Qd][6c]
Knew that asking to win this pot would have been way too much. Can't get it in any better than that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?703235

The 1st session of 2007 started poorly, but ended well. 1.5 hours of 1/2 limit and a little over $300 hands produced a $16 profit, almost entirely in the last orbit again.

Happy Effin New Year
Despite all the superstitious good luck rituals I had to go through last night, my new year got off to a shitty start. I got home at 2:30 am and was asleep by 3 am, which in and of itself is some type of miracle. At 5:30 am my cell phone is ringing. It comes up with my sister's cell phone number. Why the hell is she calling me at this time? I answer and she is hysterical telling me her truck is destroyed. It takes me a few seconds to get out of the fog I'm in and realize that this isn't a dream. As I wonder why I'm getting this call, she asks me where Mom is? Why, in bed sleeping of course. No, she called 5x and no answer. What??? Now I gotta worry about this too??? She didn't think to try her cell phone, which is usually off if she's in bed sleeping, so I did and it was ringing. She answers.

"Where the hell are you?"

"I'm across the street playing cards with the neighbors."

HOLY SHIT! So now I'm starting to think I'm dreaming again. My 62 year old mother, who hasn't been out till 5:30 am since I've been born that I can remember, and doesn't play cards either, is across the street still partying at this hour. WTF is going on?

Anyway, the short end of the story is that my sister is ok, but the car is done. Happy Effin New Year!

PS - I drank 3 nights this week. I don't remember the last time I did that. Not since Vegas in the summer of '04 I believe.

Year In Review

Somewhere around springtime, my roll was totally busted. This was because I needed funds for emergency, not because I had lost. Through casino bonuses and using the short stack system I was able to build up a roll to over $1500 again by the end of the year. I am now playing 1/2 limit (profitably), $10 - $25 MTT's, $50NL (not yet profitably due to a bad run to start), and fiddling around wtih 50/1 and $25NL/PL Mixed games with positive results so far.

Last year income: (from Pokercharts)
Earnings: $1,549.67
BB/hr: 5.50 (means nothing really because I've played many different games)
ROI: 9.06%
Sessions: 696
Time Played: 928 5m

I was close to $2K for the year, but fizzled out the last week or two of the year.

2007 Goals

1 - Poker
I hate to get specific here and end up chasing numbers, but I would like to build my bankroll to $5k before the start of the summer. I want to be able to play live, with a bankroll, at least a couple of times per month.

Once I get to $3k, I'm going to begin withdrawing half my profits each month and hopefully start earning some type of income instead of solely growing a bankroll.

2 - Self
A - I say this every year and hardly ever do it, but I really need to start taking care of myself and try to work out at least 3 or 4x per week. Thankfully I've been blessed with good genetics and a great motabolism where I can get away with laziness for extended periods of time. This may also be a curse as I can easily become too complacent.

B - Be more productive with my time. This means a lot of things. As much as I love this site and as much as it improves my game, I spend too much time reading and posting here. This will have to be one thing I cut down on. Others include video games and general TV watching. Or at least combine TV watching wtih other, productive activities.

3 - Income
This can also be tied into the previous goal, but I want to create other sources of income in addition to what I'm currently doing. One idea I have had for a while, but I have had difficulty just getting started is to generate an income producing blog. I spend so much time writing in this journal that I may as well start making some money for my time.

4 - Stop being a sarcastic dick...........nah, that's too much ask.