July 9th, 10th, 2005

Well, I didn't play any poker for a few more days. I had planned to sit down on Friday, but on my way home from work, my wife called to let me know that she thought she broke her foot. I took her to the hospital and spent a good long time reading a book to find out she had either severely bruised her foot or it was such a small break that it was imperceptible to the doctors on the x-ray. She's going to a bone doctor on Monday.

On Saturday, while the kids napped, I took it upon myself to play my best and ended up losing ~$130 for my time (about an hour...). Most of this loss was from two hands. The first I had the nut boat and the guy raising me hit a one outer on the river to hit quads (we capped preflop (I had AA2xds), the flop (I had a set of aces and the flush draw) and the turn (nut boat - board paired eights). The river was the third eight and I just called when he bet into me. He shows me 3789 rainbow. Lovely. Just lovely. The other major hand, I don't remember the specifics right now, but it was a similarly improbably situation involving a gutshot straight flush draw that hit when I had the flush already...

However, later on Lindsay and I decided on a whim to play a $50+5 NL HE SNG (I've rarely played NL SNGs...). She played through the first few levels and I played the rest and finished in first. I'll try to get a few hands up when I get a chance, because it was a fun tournament.

On Sunday, I decided to play the $10 rebuy tournament on Pokerstars and was doing pretty well. You can bet I'll put up a review when I get a chance, because there's a lot of bad play on my part and I'm curious what people would think. I just missed the money because of a guy who hit a boat after I hit my flush - but things like that happen. I just wish he hadn't hit the boat while holding 92o...

Anyway, I played some Omaha over at Ultimate Bet and made another $50 or so - so it was a good weekend, bringing me above $400 for the month.

Also, I just got word from the person I know at the WSOP - he's in 97th out of 566 with 160k or so. Not sure if that was where they finished on Sunday night or not - but regardless, this is his fist cashing spot in the WSOP - so I imagine he's pretty happy with it...

It's amazing how fast that bankroll can grow....and doubly amazing how fast it shrinks...especially when you have to withdraw. I feel your pain.

Yeah - I'm actually more happy with withdrawing now than last year - where my average month was $125 or so (but if you take out May from last year that average drops to less than $100/month...). Now that I seem to be making 4+ times that each month, it is a lot simpler, even if I have to reduce my bankroll by 50%.

On another note, I just got an update from the guy in the WSOP that I've been following (read: Living Vicariously through...):

85th out of 185 remaining, 265.5k in his stack and the avg is 304k. He was also at the TV table for part of the day yesterday (Howard Lederer was too among others...).

Well, the guy I was following in the world series finished 125th - not bad at all, since he got knocked out in day one last year. He's taking home about 55k, which to me is a significant sum of cash (to him it probably isn't - but he plays much higher limits than I do.).

In other news, I played a $20 SNG with my wife last night and although I almost got knocked out pretty early (flopped a set my opponent rivered a flush - I had him covered by ~500), I managed to kick around and finished 5th when the same guy rivered a boat when I flopped a flush... he had two pair to start... This SNG finished off the tournament dollars I had sitting around in my account.

I also played some $3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo at Ultimate Bet last night and finished up to the tune of $50 or so - so the night was profitable. Considering I only played for about an hour, I am happy that I was able to make it a winning night in such a short time.

July 18th, 2005

Had an amazing and short session last night. I played again on UB and after the first hand, I was up $106. It was $3/$6 O8, and I flopped top two with a flush draw and an uncounterfeitable low draw. The turn gave me my low and gave me a second flush draw. The river game me a wheel and the only one left at that point capped it with me and didn't take a cent from it... In just a few hands I was up ~200, and I eventually stopped after just about 2 hours, up $300. I would've continued but I definitely was losing my control on the game (getting cocky and such).

I also played the $10 O8 tournament on Pokerstars which I haven't played in quite a while. I did alright, but nothing special. I got most of my stack in with a double flush draw/nut low draw that paired the board on the river and gave me my flush, only to be 4 bet on the river, so I just dropped it (there were 3 others in the pot, so my flush was most definitely not good - and the showdown proved that).

Anyway, almost $300 for 2 hours is definitely right up my alley, and puts me a tad shy of $900 for the month.

End of Month Summary:

Well, I've done remarkably well at not posting this month. It has been a busy month for me, so this isn't all that surprising. Work is hectic and busy, and things are going great at home.

I did have an unexpected downturn, though not from playing. A friend of mine to whom I owe some money called in a portion of the debt in order to make his own bills. I have always intended on paying him back on my own accord, but this was just an opportunity to help him out. So, I transferred $600 to him to that end, covering slightly more than half of the debt I owe him. If I get the chance in the coming months, I'll finish it off in the hopes that he'll be able to make good use of it.

I finished the month up $1073.99 - my second month breaking $1000 in profit. However, with the withdrawal from last month ($1600) and this month ($600), my bankroll has actually gone down slightly.

Soon, I hope to have enough in my bankroll to withdraw money for a new kitchen/dining table and chairs. The one Lindsay and I have been looking at (I think) is around $400 (includes 6 chairs) - so if I make $600+ in August, I think this is doable. I also want to buy her a new digital camera (an actual nice one...), which we've been doing some research on. The camera will probably run me close to $1000 - so I need to plan accordingly. It will be her Christmas present this year.

Anyway, here's some of the relevant stats that I can drum up:

Total profit: $1073.99
Total real hours: 55.050 hours
Total table-hours: 106.617 table-hours

Hourly rate: $19.509/hr
Table-Hourly rate: $10.073/t-hr

$1/$2 7-Stud: 806 hands, +$36.50, 16.867 t-hrs, $2.164/t-hr, 2.264BB/100h
$2/$4 7-Stud: 384 hands, +$40.65, 6.517 t-hrs, $6.238/t-hr, 2.646BB/100h
$3/$6 7-Stud: 103 hands, +$44.25, 1.567 t-hrs, $28.245/t-hr, 7.160BB/100h

$1/$2 Hold'em: 82 hands, ($40.00), 1.183 t-hrs, ($33.803/t-hr), (24.390BB/100h)
$2/$4 Hold'em: 816 hands, +$121.13, 11.283 t-hrs, $10.735/t-hr, 3.711BB/100h

$1/$2 Omaha Hi/Lo: 98 hands, +$45.53, 1.700 t-hrs, $26.782/t-hr, 23.230BB/100h
$2/$4 Omaha Hi/Lo: 1571 hands, +$281.56, 28.683 t-hrs, $9.816/t-hr, 4.481BB/100h
$3/$6 Omaha Hi/Lo: 948 hands, +$48.25, 14.317 t-hrs, $3.370/t-hr, 0.848BB/100h

10 NL Hold'em SNGs, 8.133 hrs, +$138.00

7 NL Hold'em Multis, 14.717 hrs, ($42.30)
1 Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Multi, 1.650 hrs, ($11.00)

$411.42 in bonus money

Total profit for 2005: $4778.29
Total real hours: 482.900 hours
Hourly Rate: $9.895/hr

Total profit from 9/13/2003 through 7/31/2005: $6772.58
Total real hours: 1432.300 hours
Hourly Rate: $4.728/hr

Bankroll as of 7/31/2005: $1884.08
Currently playing: $1/$2 - $3/$6

As a final note, I won't be continuing my journal for a while, though I may pop a journal entry here and there. This is mostly so I can allow for more personal time and to just keep my head around these things. Hope everyone is doing well.