And now, for your viewing displeasure, an ORIGINAL epic poem.

Some gamblers curse their luck as their cards hit the muck,
Others crack a smile and move on.
Some players steam away every chip they've got in play,
And whine about the way it should've gone.

When you're a tilter such as me, you don't care about EV
But just how much you coulda, should won.
Those guys that crack a smile make my mouth fill up with bile,
I ain't in this stupid game to have some fun.

So the next time that I find my flopped three of a kind
Cracked on the river, well that asshole better run,
I'll crack a wholesome grin as I crack his damned head in,
And maybe then this stupid game'll be some fun.

-TW

Another week has come to an end, and it really should've been better than it was. For some of the sessions, I was at my best; for others, I was at my worst. As I've said many times, the way I play really lends itself to tilt, which as we all know, is very bad. But on the bright side, I'm playing very well for the most part, and with plenty of confidence. So if I can just keep the ol' tilt-monster at bay, I should be able to put up some good numbers in upcoming weeks.

Hours played...33:00
Total gain...$640
Hourly rate...$19.40/hour

Considering that I play 3 tables of 3-6 at a time, my rate is just over 1 BB per hour. I know I can do better than this. Goals for next week are (1) hit the 40 hour mark, and (2) Win at a rate of 1.5 BB/hour. If I manage that, I should be able to pull in a solid $1000, which'd really be nice at this point.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1840

-TW

Nice week TW. You're averaging a little over 3 BB per hour on all tables involved so that is pretty good. Anything over that is extremely good and I suspect that if you disable your tilt mode you will be very happy with your end results from month to month as all of us know that it doesn't take too much undisciplined behavior to wipe out some solid work. Keep it going.

Thanks for the comments, Peirs. I'm really not upset about my rate from last week, it's just the knowledge that it would've been a good bit better if it weren't for a few tilty sessions. And yes, I think I probably know better than anyone here what undisciplined behavior can do to a bankroll After all, my bankroll was pushing 5000 at one point. Bleh, I had to bring that up didn't I...

Anyway, I got the new week off to a very nice start today. Played for 4 and a half hours, with NO TILT AT ALL!!! GO TW!!! Early on, it was pretty easy; I just went on a beautiful rush where everything kept hitting and my big hands got paid off quite handsomely. In about an hour, I was more than 300 up! Then things got rough. My AA got cracked in rather humerous fashion by Q6o...the flop was 3-5-K, he called a bet..4 on the turn, 2 on the river, bleh. Ran into a set, ran my QQ into AA, dominated hands hit their kickers, shit like that. But while it was a bit frustrating, it really didn't phase me too much, and I kept playing well.

Eventually, after all this whomping, I was only up about a bit over 100 and I decided to take a break before tilt took over, which turned out to be a very good idea. I cooled down a bit, then got back and had a very nice 200+ session to rap up the day. All told, I made $324 to make an excellent start to the week.

In other news; through a great act of willpower, I've managed to force myself into the shocking habit of waking up in the morning (of all things)! I think this'll really help me get the hours in, because more often than not, I have...well, what for lack of a better term could be called "friends" showing up in the later hours, thus making it rather difficult to get in a solid week. So, now I can wake up early, book a bunch of hours, and express my sincere regret about having to go to sleep when all the wierdos show up in the evening. Yes, on the whole, I think this is a good plan.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $2164 <---YAY! Up over 2K for the first time in...oh lord, it's been a while.

-TW

Good to hear you have the tilt under control, I was wondering though, do you make as much profit during the morning's and weekdays as during nights and weekends, I always had a hard time winning anything during those times, but then again, I'm not very good. Hope you keep up the win streak and grow your BR back to the 5K range.

Okay, I just reviewed some PT numbers, and I gotta say I'm baffled. Confounded even. Downright flabbergasted.

My issue is with my stats on marginal hands like suited connectors, QJ, KJ, stuff like that. For the most part, I'm losing money with these hands. So that means I should cut them out or play them more selectively, right? Seems simple, but here's the thing:

There's been several times in the past when I've tried to gear down to a more tight VP$IP range of 13-15%, and invariable I've done pretty badly during these spells in terms of winrate. When I play in the 18-20% range by adding these hands in (almost always in LP or as a steal-raise), I've generally done a lot better...but the hands themselves are losers! Can anyone explain this? I sure as hell don't get it. All data seems to indicate that I'd make more profit by cutting back on these hands, and yet when I do, I make less money. What the fucking hell is going on?

-TW

Maybe you are losing money on these hands, but are getting paid a lot more on your good hands because your opponents are paying you off since they don't know if you have a great hand or crap. When you play tighter, they probably don't give you as much action.

Yeah, that would seem to be the only logical explanation...but I've always been a little hazy on the idea that most opponents are really paying that much attention. Then again, I have noticed some occasions where I've been at the table for a while and my raises are suddenly getting 3-4 cold-callers when at first they were just picking up blinds. I do think I need to get better at gearing down once this becomes the case, though.

Thanks for the comments!

-TW

If you can limit yourself to playing these hands in multiway pots in late position or with a raise first in in the cutoff or button you should probably over time show a small profit per hand. The major problem is playing these hands in EP or MP where they probably are at best a break even hand if you play very well post flop. Playing in a live game where your opposition is unlikely to change for hours at a time I am all for playing these for variety and to keep your play relatively less readible at even a slight loss in order to get paid on your really good hands but again I will stand by my guns and say that playing these types of hands on the internet where the lineup is constantly changing is just not a +EV move for most players unless the situation is one that is mentioned above.

Well, had quite a session today. Played just shy of 5 hours, and got consistantly raped in every way imaginable. Went 1/6 with KK, the 1 being a blind-steal. Lost QQ to AQ twice, and lost a massive pot with 88 to two guy with KQ after the flop came up K-K-8. Various other shit. The single bright side is that I finally got my $100 bonus, which went to bring my total loss down to the neighborhood of $160. Still a pretty regretable day, but I really feel good about how I played. Other than a few mistakes, I don't think I really could've managed to lose much less than I did, so there's a silver lining for ya.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $2004

-TW

Hell of a day. I played for 7 and a half hours, and managed to book a net loss of 6 dollars. Very strange, because normally I'm not one to only lose a little!

All I can really say is that the cards weren't with me, though it obviously could've gone worse. I played pretty well, but was never up more than about 80 or 90, and never down more than 100. Really just a whole lot of going nowhere. There were a few times where I was getting a bit frustrated and lost some bets I shouldn't have, so I really should've booked a modest win today...but for the most part, I don't think there was much to be done.

It's the end of the month, so I'll post my somewhat disappointing numbers for June. It wasn't an awful month, but I really wasn't playing too great during the first couple weeks. I'm feeling as good about my game as I ever have, so I'm looking forward to "making July my bitch," as Kenny might put it.

All numbers are for 3-6 LHE taken straight outta PT, as my personal records tend to get a little skewed due to laziness/absentmindedness.

Amount won : $1948.56
Hours played : 120
BB/100 : 1.35
BB/hour/table : 0.92
Actual $/hour : $16.17

Not very impressive, really. For July, I'm gonna REALLY try to get in 160 hours, and I'd really like to get my hourly rate up to at least $20, if not higher. During my previous stint at 3-6 (before I briefly moved up to 5-10 and had a complete trainwreck), I was decently over $20/hour. Like I said, I've been playing very well recently, but that wasn't the case during the first half of June, so I fully expect July to be better.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1506

-TW