Background: "The Doctor is In"

First, a little background history about me:

About three years ago I was hanging out with one of my best friends, Subzero_Wins, probably playing starcraft or whatever and watching poker on TV. He mentioned he thought playing online poker would be fun, so he asked him mom if he could borrow her credit card and deposit $25 so he could play for fun. His mom said sure and my mom let me borrow hers, so we each made our own little $25 accounts with the intention to lose it all against the "good real money players."

It wasn't long before we discovered there was something different about us at the $.1/$.2 limit tables. We quickly learned we had something speical and unique. I am of course talking about the "pre-flop raise h4ck." We couldn't believe what we saw, people were so incredibly horrible it made our heads spin. As bad as people are now, you really had to be around back then to understand how much worse they were back in the day.

Being chumps at the time (and both in high school), we only had one desktop at each of our houses in those days. We'd been close friends for several years, so we decided if only one of us could play at a time, why not combine bankrolls? This also made it more fun to root for one another, and would help us become better players as we looked out for each other.

Long story short, I've been sharing a bankroll with Subzero ever since. I won all the money at first, but over the last year I'm probably down money in ring games while he's been on fire. I won $4000 in a tourney a few months ago, while he's won over triple that in tournies in the last year. Granted he's a lucksack, but damn.

Either way, I had been running well up until about 2 weeks ago when Subzero switched from limit to NL and I taught him how to play. Since then I've been on a -20 buy in downswing, yet due to his lucksackiness, our combined bankroll has still gone up. To give you an idea, in the last 10,000 hands (all 6-max), I've had AA vs KK 4 times and KK vs AA 6 times. I have won 1 time against a shortstack. There's several statistics like this, but meh.

I go to UCLA right now and don't play as much as Subzero, which makes me feel all the worse leeching off so much money even if I'm running bad.

2007 Goals:

Goal #1: 3000 hands of NL ring per week + 2 tournies with a $30-$100 buy-in.

I just flat out need to play more. I'm very busy at college, but I still should be able to get in about 10 hours a week even with school and my weakass job. I also need to start playing tournaments once again.

Goal #2: Become a 3 PTbb/100 player 6 tabling at NL $200.

Poker is ultimately just about money for me. I did it for fun at first (I had no intention about actually winning), but the bottom line is there is always something I would rather be doing than playing cards. I have no desire to become one of the world's greats or do this for a living, hence I would just like the $$$/hour of 6 tabling NL $200.

Goal #3: I am clearing poker tracker today. If I ever see it at $2000 in the red, I am quitting poker.

I'm already on a -20 buy in downswing, and if I lose another $2000 I'm just gonna take what I've made and quit cards altogether. Honestly, I feel I'm talented enough in other areas and don't parituclarly need poker. I'm pretty interested in screen writing (movies suck ass and I'm convinced I can do a better job), and will just focus on that over the next few years if poker doesn't work out. I don't wanna see this happen, but if things keep up the way they are, I'm prepared to pack up and leave.

Ok, so those are my poker goals for 2007. I will try to post my most winning (or favorite) hand every session, my most difficult to play hand, and my most losing hand every session. I don't know how most journals are, but PLEASE feel free to comment on any of these hands if you feel they're not well played (i.e."LOL he obviously has AA fold you donk!!!!11111")

z0mgz a winning session!

+$150 and I'm clearinng a damn good bonus.

Stacked someone with a set and won a huge pot deepstacked when ATs got a full (won maybe $80 off him).

I'm really not sure if I'm suposed to be this river for about $17 or not.

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $119.18
Hero: $120.50
CO: $150.15
Button: $108.35
SB: $74.65
BB: $119.50

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG+1 with
UTG folds, Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, SB calls, BB calls.

Flop: ($12, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $10, SB folds, BB calls.

Turn: ($32, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($32, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero?

Played 400 hands again today and lost about $40. I would leave Tain right now if it weren't for the fact I'm clearing a great bonus, I would say the vast majority there are bonus whores and have at least some idea of what they're doing even though I consider myself the best player at the table by a pretty wide margin.

The average Tain Player runs at 28/11. Though I abuse the button with limpers, I have not been 3-betting the button with hands like 9[s]T[s] and A[c]J[h]when CO raises. I think I'm gonna start doing that next session, as well as 3-betting the SB with those hand when the button raises. I think I'm gonna leave UTG+1 alone for now as people are much tighter from there.

I decided I'm gonna post a lot of my hands here as every time I look back two months in poker tracker I realize how much better I've gotten over a short period of time. Hopefully the same will happen here and some you NL ballers can comment on these hands as well.

Awesome hand of the day:

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $99.00
UTG+1: $100.90
Hero: $99.50
Button: $198.65
SB: $59.00
BB: $42.32

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is CO with
2 folds, Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: ($8.5, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7, BB calls.

Turn: ($22.5, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $32, BB calls all-in $31.32.
Uncalled bets: $0.68 returned to Hero.

River: ($85.14, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $85.14)


Results:
Final pot: $85.14

Villian had been calling my CBs with any pair.

Weak hand of the day:

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
5 players


Stack sizes:
Hero: $99.50
CO: $95.50
Button: $148.40
SB: $79.80
BB: $100.00

Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is UTG with
Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: ($9, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $8, SB raises to $16, Hero calls.

Turn: ($41, 2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($41, 2 players)
SB bets $14, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: $69

Had no reads, I probably would have called a shove on the turn. I debated shoving myself but thought he either had QJ or 33.

Difficult to play hand of the day:

Party Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
6 players


Stack sizes:
Hero: $106.10
UTG+1: $147.25
CO: $36.40
Button: $71.47
SB: $130.10
BB: $166.25

Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is UTG with
Hero raises to $4, 2 folds, Button calls, 2 folds.

Flop: ($9.5, 2 players)
Hero bets $8, Button calls.

Turn: ($25.5, 2 players)
Hero bets $21, Button raises all-in $59.47, Hero folds.
Uncalled bets: $38.47 returned to Button.

Results:
Final pot: $67.5


Villian was bad and calling my CBs lightly over the VERY few hands I have with him. I thought there was a decent chance he had a low PP or something like TJ. He of course can have something like A[s]5[s] (seems more likely now since he shoved), but I didn't think it was as likely as a solid player.

Now that I look back at it I shouldn't have done it OOP. There's too good of chance he had A[s]Xs or AT or AJ or actually hit the flop and was slowplaying. Guess that's what this journal is for.

Getting pretty close to clearing a $1000 bonus on Tain which should alleviate a good chuck on my downswing.

Awesome, just got $210 in rakeback I didn't know I had.

Subzero came over today and we switched off playing a 6 hour session in order to finish clearing that $1000 Tain bonus. We played 2000 hands together and won a combined $250 (+$100ish in bonus). I felt I played really well other than one big mistake which cost me a $50 pot.

One thing I noticed is Subzero is CBing 100% of the time even into 2 or 3 people OOP on pretty bad boards. He also doesn't know when to bet with TPGK in position on the turn when his opponent is likely on a draw, or when to check behind and call a river bet or bet if checked too. He's pretty much a donk.

I'm pussying on making river calls from running so bad and I need to fix that. All in all a good day, I might post some hands for comments later.

i do not CB into 3 people, and into 2 people i was pretty much always in position...though i admit should cut it down some

First hand of the day I get AA all in vs a $50 stack with 99 and lose.

I finished up $35 after about 400 hands without taking down a pot bigger than $35. I felt I played great today. I already posted the hands I had trouble on in the NL forum, and my weak hand of the day is just the AA vs 99 garbage.

I'm back at school and decided I'm quitting my job at Wetzel's Pretzels and will pursue writing and poker more aggressively (though I remain a business major). Kinda sucks as the whole point of getting the job was so I'd have "work experience," but eff it.