if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out
if I just keep getting my money in good, things will work out

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1060317

But why would you call with 97s? Did you think I pushed 87? I had played 1 hand in the past half hour. I had an 11% VP$IP for the tournament. Thought process: He's been waiting for 2 completely garbage cards to push with all tournament so I'll call with 97?

But believe it or not, that was not even the most ridiculous thing I witnessed tonight. That was only the most ridiculous hand I was involved in. Check out UTG limping in, callling a raise and then a re-raise all-in, then calling another push, with 96s.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1060343

Cash games continue to run well though and I tied my record for this year today with most consecutive winning days to start a month with 3 which I did back in January too.

Today was my ugly session. Add in another MTT loss and it was enough in just 1 day to knock me down for the week even though it was my first losing day of the week.

For the 5th time in as many MTT's played this week, I got my money in good, but it wasn't enough. It wasn't as disgusting as yesterday, but I (again the rock) raised TT, got 3-bet by the Button, I pushed and he insta-called with AQo. Queen on the flop.

Cash session was just ugly. 189 hands of YUCK. I made a couple of bluffs, usually into the nuts, but I never went on tilt. Also just couldn't beat the 50% VP$IPers.

My first hand I got it all-in preflop from the BB vs an LP short stacker. I had AK and he had AJs. J on the flop.

Got it all in with [Th] on a board of [Td][Ks] as an 82% fav vs another short stacker with [Js], but he hit runner-runner better 2 pair.

AJo and 44 seem to be the best hand you can have on Full Tilt. I rarely see those 2 harnds lose.

I pulled off my first, and only successful bluff vs a TAG who I have over 771 hands against. I have him at +8 BB/100, but I know he hates showdowns. He PFR from EP, I called in CO. Cards didn't even matter here as I knew what I was going to do.
Flop [9s][5h] Pot $5 - Perfect! Now I'll float him and scare him off if the flush hits. I actually flopped a pair too so I can try to catch 2 pair effectively giving me about 14 outs.
SB checks, PFRer bets $4, I call, SB folds
Turn Pot $13 - Miss
PFRer bets $7, wait, that's kinda weak, I min-raise because that scares the shit outta tight players. He folds. Bluff #1 successful.

Next interesting hand.
[Kd] UTG+1
I limp, MP1 limps and 2 more limps, SB min-raises to $1 ($8.90 left), I re-raise to $5, MP1 (46/10/25 over 130 hands and just getting DAMN lucky and sitting at over $100) insta-calls the $5. SB now pushes for $9.90 total and I have to decide whether I want to keep MP1 in and try and win a decent sidepot incase SB has the goods or just get him out and take a shot with the dead money. I ended up pushing for $72 total and he folded.
SB had [Jh]
I picked up a K on the flop, he turned a Q, but missed on the river. Now if he had AJ I think I woulda lost.

But I soon gave it all back. [Qd] in BB. An EP limp and SB (rock 10/5) checks.
[Ad][6d] Pot $1.50
SB bets $1.50, I just call with my pair + FD, limper folds.
Pot $4.50
SB bets $4.50, I don't like this, I just call again.
Pot $13.50
SB bets $5, I still don't like this and think about just calling for a second with my 2 pair, but I raise to $14, and he actually took a while before calling with [Qh]. My instincts were good and I didn't lose too much.

Stupid me, my last bluff didn't work out so well.
I limp [4s] in EP and get raised to $2 and call
[6s][Ad] Pot $4.75
I check and then call a weak $2 c-bet.
Pot $8.75
I c/r a $4 bet to $12.50, but give up when it's called.
River $33.75
I think of taking a bigger stack again, but think that it's just stupid and check. EP turns over [5d]. I wonder if it would have worked.
Stupid thought....that will only get me in trouble.

I'm still running well, +26.28 BB/100, but the MTT's have brought me down (0 for 5). But I've gotten my money in as 60%, 60%, and 57% favorites last 3x and lost all 3. Nothing more I can do.

I need to start making more playing poker so that I can hire an assitant to help me keep up with all the journals here that I'd like to.

Results for the week: -$8.29

This is not something that happened by design. I didn't try to play to make up a loss or quit beforer I lost too much. This is just how it worked out. I got killed in the MTT's (1 cash out of 9) and did well in the NL cash games. But apparently ED has found a player that knows how to dodge MTT bad beats so there may be hope.

I've posted a short update in my blog on the Limp/Push Experiment and some other stuff just to amuse myself and blow off some steam about MTT beats that I won't re-hash here, but there are 2 areas in my game that I have identified as my most important leaks. Or at least the 2 I want to focus on immediately.

1 - This may seem arrogant because it's not a leak that has much of anything to do with my play. I like the way I've been playing lately and I can't find many mistakes this week, but the one thing that bothers me is my inability to deal with a loss without stressing over it. I've been able to control tilting and stop playing when I feel that it may negatively affect my play. But I'm still having trouble stressing about it for hours afterward. I'm too competitive and I feel like I have to win all the time and I know this is wrong. I really need to stop obsessing about every loss and letting it ruin my entire day.

2 - My on-going inability to beat a maniac. I remember posting something in a thread about this a while back and I think it was Zmej who said that anyone with a VP$IP over 50% is not a good LAG, they're a maniac. Agreed, in theory, yet these people continue to tear it up in my database. Over 80% of them are overall winners and that is no lie. I, myself, continue to have a terrible time dealing with them.

For example, there was one hand today vs a player (50/20) that was the difference between me having a winning or losing session or even week. It was the only real confrontation between myself and this player, who had been raising, calling, check-raising every hand without being challenged and was up about a half a stack.

Anyway, without opening up PT because I'm too lazy right now, here is the hand.

I open-raise to $2 from MP2 with AKo. Maniac is in the BB and he calls as expected.

Flop [6s][3s] Pot $4 or so.

He checks, I bet $4 and as expected, he min-c/r's to $8. That's his MO. I bet, he c/r's. Had to happen. So I, as backup, re-pop to $16. He thinks and calls.

Turn Complete blank - don't remember exact card Pot $35 ish?

He checks, I bet $20 and he calls. I'm thinking he could be on a flush draw.

River Blank - don't remember card Pot $72.

He pushes for $30 ish. I am actually thinking about calling this nut with A-hi but I'd be sick if he actually spiked a small pair on the turn or river and thought he was bluffing and fold. I have a funny feeling though that I was lucky not to have something like JJ or flopping an Ace because that is usually when he has the 3 in their hand. It just never seems to fail that whenever I'm against a 50%+ VP$IPer, I'm loosing at least a half a stack. I just can never seem to beat the maniacs.

Took 172 hands today to put myself into a nice little hole to start the week. There were 4 significant hands, but I'm only going to post 1 of them here because 2 of them I'm fairly certain I made the right play but not positive and on the last one I'm not so sure.

Anyway, this is the 2nd almost big hand:
[6d] CO $58.65
BB is full $50 stack and a TAG (19/8/15 over 150+ hands)
UTG+1 (Rock) limps, I limp, SB calls, BB checks. (I should have raised, 1st mistake but I'd been LP raising too much and getting called down recently)

[5d][4s] Pot $2 GSSD + BDFD
SB checks, BB bets $2, UTG+1 folds, I call because he's the type of player that will put me on a draw and fold if the flush hits so I gave myself some extra outs.

Pot $6 OK now I feel like I have a TON of outs, the biggest ones hidden.
BB bets $6 and I call

Pot $18
Possibly the worst card for my hand because now I feel like I have possible showdown value even though the flush hits so I don't bet when BB checks just as I predicted he would on the flush card. He shows [5s] for 2 pair.

Fudge! Other 3 hands in the NL section coming up including to flopped 12 outters to the nuts (Royal Flush draw).

I would raise the preflop if you are going to play it(and I would fold it alot too)...you are in the CO and you want position and to only play one player. I don't like your call on the flop. On the turn, I probably like a raise there, although with him betting the turn, it probably means he has a decent enough hand. Why didn't you follow through on the rive like you were going to??? You said he would be afraid of the flush...unless you hit your flush or straight on this hand, you are probably bluffing anyway against a BB who bets pot on the turn when an overcard hits, aren't you?

But I think you got in trouble with this hand by not raising preflop or folding preflop IMO. The hand put you in a very tricky situation facing big bets with a marginal draw...I hate these spots.

Yeah. You're right, I already admitted the preflop mistake. I had planned to play this like a flush draw as I said, but then everything got real effed up after the flop.

The turn: Now I pick up a real flush draw to go with the fake one + he pot bets again which makes me think he has a bigger hand than I thought. To be honest, if I didn't pick up the real flush draw or a spade on the turn, I probably fold to the turn pot bet. But I have a LOT of well hidden outs so I call.

The river: Damn makes me think there is some value in a check down, I don't know why. I could have gone for the big bluff, but his turn bet made me think that he may have a good enough hand to check/call a big bet. I can see him fearing a flush, but if he has a set I'm not too sure he's folding now.

Well, to be honest, I like the fact you didn't throw any more money into this pot on the river, even when the bluff card came.

I don't know if you ever read this, but I saw it somewhere on this site link to 2+2 and it's a great read if you haven't...

And this is why I have trouble believing the legitimacy of the guy in ED's journal winning 20% of the MTT's he enters. Nobody ever calls his raises with A3o and hits a monster flop? Am I the only one this happens to?

Can't.......Get.......Money.......In.......Ahead.......And........Win......
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1075667

Jesus.....How much to you raise here? I was a 50.20% favorite on the flop. lol.

The really messed up thing was that I was left with 40 chips after that hand then pushed with 76o in SB vs 2 opponents and my pair of 7's on the flop held up.

Then I pushed OTB with JJ next hand and was called by CO with 99. 9 on the flop and J on the river.

Then a few folds later I'm UTG and push KQo and flop a Q to hold off 66 and KJ and all of a sudden I'm back to 1100 chips.

Then I lose it all 1 orbit later in the BB. SB limps in, I have a feeling he's strong, but raise to 200 with QTo anyway. He pushed and I called with only 800 left. Turns out it was the barely the right call as he only had AJ and I was only a 40/60 dog. But I flopped a 10.....River A.

L-O-FUCKIN-L!

I just got setted by 99 vs. my JJ AGAIN tonight for the 2nd MTT in a row. Just 20 minutes in each time. WTF is going on?

Kind of a big deal......maybe:

Satellited into FTOPS Event #1 tomorrow night. First through a $7.70 buy-in and then through the $50+5 tonight. It'll be the biggest MTT I've ever played in online and come to think of it, I don't think I've ever played anything more than $150 live either. So it could be a big deal.

I'd been on sort of a small downswing the past week so I took yesterday off entirely and only played a short 58 hand NL50 session today before the satellite, but there was enough variance in those 58 hands to almost make up for missing a day. I'm also only playing the FTOPS tomorrow just to try and keep my mind clear.

Anyway, about that variance, I sat at a table with a bunch of players with FPS and all 3 big pairs I was dealt turned into events.

Hand 1: This is pretty interesting. UTG might have gotten my stack if he wasn't being fancy, but his c/r on the flop moved me off KK.
[Ks] MP2 $50.60
UTG $47.70 (28/2/27 - 48 hands)
MP1 $40 (45/14/33 - 29 hands)

UTG limps, UTG+1 limps, MP1 limps, my first PFR to $3.25.
UTG calls, MP1 calls

[2h][6d] Pot $11
UTG checks, MP1 bets $11 - he's been sorta nutty and I figure he could be on a small overpair here, but I just call so I'm not committed which is a good thing because UTG min-check/raises to $22, MP1 pushes for $36.75.

I fold and almost throw up when MP1 turns over [9c], but feel better when UTG shows [Ah]. So I got away from an KK vs AA battle fairly cheap.

Hand 2: Now I've sill only raised once on this table and just 9 hands later I pick up KK again and somebody else wants to get fancy...
MP2 [Kc] $44.15
BB $34.85 (23/7/27 - 69 hands)

I open-raise to $2, SB calls, BB calls

[Kd][6c] Pot $6
SB checks, BB bets $2 - ok, this board isn't too dangerous, let him bluff. I just call and SB calls too.

Pot $12
Yeah that was probably one of the few cards I didn't think I wanted to see, but SB checks, BB bets $7 again and I just call again, SB folds

Pot $26
BB bets $12 and I put him in for his last $12. He calls and shows [6d] so that on the turn which I thought could hurt me was actually the best card in the deck for me.

Two PFR's, 2 big pairs, 2 exciting hands.

Hand 3: My 3rd PFR
[Qc] in BB.
UTG who is playing 43/11/30 and losing badly raises to $1.50 with only $6.30 behind so when it's folded to me I put him in and as usual when I pick up a big hand vs a maniac, he shows [Kh]. Awesome, I've now run KK into AA and QQ into KK in less than 5 orbits. At least he was short stacked or I probably would have gotten stacked by another maniac.

Hand 4: So now that I've raised 3x and shown only KK and QQ, I actually open for a raise in MP2 with [6s]. Same guy in the BB that I setted and stacked last time is back with another 1/2 stack ($25) and wants to play, but I got 2 other callers behind so I need to flop big to even continue. Unfortunately.......

[2s][5h] Pot $8.25
BB checks, I bet $5, CO and Button fold, BB min-raises to $10. Does he have 52? Unlikely, he may have a 5 though so I just call. If he has 22 then it's just not meant to be my night.

Pot $28.25
He bets $10 again and now I've got the straight draw to go with it so I put him in for his last $6 and he calls showing [5d].

River is

Somehow I escaped the session slightly above even.

Anyway, tomorrow night FTOPS Event #1 and even though I'm not normally a religious person, I may pray a little tonight just for the final table.

So this is how my 1st FTOPS Event goes.....

Table is very tight with the exception of the player directly to my right. He's raising and calling and re-raising and pushing like nut and I'm letting him basically rape me until the following hand. And anybody who has ever read any of this journal knows EXACTLY what happened EVERY SINGLE TIME I've ever stood up to a maniac. They have AA/KK EVERY TIME.

So he had just raised from the SB and I gave him my BB.

And he's playing 53/37/30 after 49 hands.

I'm now SB and blinds are 25/50 with [9h] with 3480. Folded around to CO 3465 who opens for 150. Button (the maniac) just calls with 7375 behind.

I re-raise to 650 and CO folds. Button maniac pushes again, I call and of course he has [Ad].

EVERY FUCKING TIME

So now my range for anyone playing 50/20+ is AA/KK whenever they raise me. They aren't dealt AA 1 out of every 221 hands like the rest of us. They're dealt AA once every 21 hands which explains why they play every fucking hand.

I really don't believe it.

So you've already seen my beat of the night, here's my brag. AP just put $10 in my account as they do every so often since I stopped playing there. I quickly ran it up to $50 in 4 hands of blackjack and then up to $51.95 after another hour of 2 tabling NLO8 $25 and PLO $25. I found 2 complete maniacs who I got all in way ahead of. 1 was drawing dead with a Q-hi flush and no low vs my double nuts in the O8 game, but then I had T9 and got all in on a x9[Ts][9s] board vs someone with K[Ks][Qs]Q with 5 outs who said after calling off most of his stack "Sorry, had to chase the straight flush." He hit the K on the river.

So this made me happy. I checked on the FTOPS Event late last night and saw that the maniac that busted me and had a big chip stack (10K+ in 1 hour) didn't even cash last night. He finished 500 something.

Different subject. My OOTPing is cutting into my poker time. I become addicted during the baseball season. And the oddist part of is that I'm still playing mostly V5 even though I've bought 2007. I have 2 leagues running that I just can't let go of. I spend WAY too much time on this game.