I played a little this morning on Party. I was meant to be at work but something recently consumed did not agree with me so I took to my bed. Since I don't have Sky or cable there are only so many DIY shows a guy can takes before the urge to flip some cards takes hold.

When I say I played a little though, I mean a little...

Hands: 64
Amount Won: $120.08
BB/100: 187.62

Ha, bet you thought I had lost again. Truth being this is a ruthlessly engineered win but you know what? Some times it is all about the money and today is one of those days. In my defence anyway there were two mega fish I was stalking, one who by some miracle had got up to $300 but had just blinded off and the guy I stacked. After that the action looked dry so I figured I would bank my good luck for the day.

I am still about $123 down for the month on PT, reality is this is nearer about $100 with the money I have gleaned off UB. I am now hunting down a $100 Party bonus so if I can keep things running good I will be nicely up by the end of this week.

I am hoping this jump starts my month a bit. Up till now I was about 50/50 for winning sessions but the pain was the biggest win was $20 and biggest loss was $80. Despite this I have been playing well. Currently you can lay $110 of my losses on KK once running into aces then some short stacked wanker rivering a boat to beat me. 99 seems to be my lucky hand, had it 3 times and won 3 times, twice with sets and once on a fold around after I raised on the button.

I guess its just a crappy start to the month. I stack someone quick tomorrow and all is forgotton eh?

Rich

Still home sick so decided to ditch the DIY shows again and play some poker.

Hands: 199
Amount: $152.83
BB/100: 76.80

Happy days.

Two really big hands, one with AA where I raised LP, got a reraise from the SB and another from the BB. Cool. I pushed all-in and both called (the SB was short stack, about $30). $175 gets pushed my way (should have been more, I had $79 at the start and was debating whether to rebuy, doh) as JJ (the BB) and K9s (the SB?!?) bite the dust.

After that I got destroy the table LAG with a special.

Since the converter isn't working I shall give you the disco chorus. I get QQ MP, raise $4 and get once caller, the LAG next to me (who has about $40, I got about $150 at this point). Flop is 9 J 9, rainbow. I decide to be clever as I am sure that if I bet he folds. He doesn't have a stack to really hurt me but I would like his money. I chk the flop, he insta bets $10. Good, this is what I wanted his to do, I go all-in for $150 odd. I think this was important since had I bet enough to just put him all-in he might have smelt a rat. My bet looks lazy. He calls and shows 22. As it happens the board made me a straight just to really kill him.

After that I bullied a few pots. Won a few times with missed AK hands betting the flop into weaklings. Nothing major and finished nicely up.

I am now in the green for the month at last, about $30 on the tables and another $30 in bonus money. I am 500 hands from another $100 in bonus money so I am hoping this week will be a good one. I am playing well, feeling good. It is nice to have dug myself out of a hole from the start of this month and I am feeling better for it.

Till tomorrow. GL

Rich

Whatever buddy

I am still having big issues with MSN but I am available on Skype as ever. I am back on UB this weekend, just got the small matter for 500 hands at Party. Then we can figure a time and play a few sessions.

See you double through with AA while mine gets folded around or trashed again.

Rich

Did two and half hours at the office tonight.

One hand that stands out so I have posted it:

forum/viewtopic.php?t=6460

Overwise it was a case of hit and miss with slightly more missed.

Hands: 303
Amount Won: -$41.55
BB/100: -13.72

This was a bit if an anti-climax but comes after getting stacked early and fighting back pretty well. I was never up in this session, best being getting to within $30 of level so I guess I am happyish. It is sometimes tough to walk away from these kind of sessions as you are searching for the pot to make things right. I think I kept to my game plan pretty well. Overall I had a VP$IP of 10.23% and PFR of 2.97%. Cold cards it be. No kings or aces all night and not a lot of action.

I did make one nice hand with AKo when I missed the flop heads up with a muppet. Turn was my ace so I checked it and he went all-in. Given I had played for the check raise if not so aggressive I figure he is playing for fold equity (must have read about it on the back of a cereal packet) or has something gay since surely a good hand would have been played smarter. I call him for a $140 pot. All he has is a pair of jacks, middle pair on the board. Quite funny as the missus was watching this and we had the webcam on so I could see her hand going over her mouth the pot suddenly gets big. She isn't used to NL where a small pot can suddenly go balistic in a flash.

I am back tomorrow hoping to get within touching distance of finishing the Party bonus. 370 hands to go so I am prob two session away since I am two tabling at the moment.

Well speak more tomorrow.

Rich

Edit as wrong link posted... whoops

Rich,

I am so used to hearing about the really bad hands from you that seeing big pots you are in now scares me! I will be gone all weekend, so good luck while you play until you can't play anymore. I hope you have good cards and boards to match them.

Love you baby, W

And this is the woman I am going to marry?

I have decided not to play tonight since I am pretty tired after a tough day at the real office. I am going to chill out, watch some TV and get to bed early. Tomorrow since I am on Party I can start mid afternoon and will try to put in two good session tomorrow to finish the bonus off. Then I am back to UB.

Right now UB is actually working well for me. I have an enormous amount of hands on that site from loads of datamining and since there are fewer players but a lot of regulars so I will often play tables with 4 players plus who I have at least 500 hands on. Also the new datamining thingy on GT Plus rocks so within a couple of orbits I have roughly the last two hours of play logged. The key now has been not to over use this information and make sure I am stil playing the hands using my eyes.

Well I am off to enjoy my evening. Laters.

Rich

I have definately lucked out with Whitney, no doubts.

She has always been supportive which helps and is now becoming a handy limit poker player. The thing she doesn't like is how things can effect me when I have a bad loss. I have got a lot better in handling things but sometimes when I get stacked in a crap fashion I do become gouchy. This is slightly made worse since we are currently long distance till March so I am loath to talk about things. We now have a pretty good code set up where she asks if I am grouchy, I say yes, she asks if it poker related and I say yes. She now knows to leave me to steam for a bit and normally checks out what happened on this journal.

The shining light though has been the way her reaction has made me think a lot about mine. It is the nature of the beast that variance exists and we can't win all the time, no matter how good you are (well except Ice, he just wins less). I have though mellowed. Now it tends to be the odd hand rather than a whole session that steams me (I am thinking of that AK hand right now). When this happens though I know to get straight off the computer and chill. Just means though I am grouchy for a little while.

Good news is when I move she has two cats so I have something to kick...

(Joking honey, can we still get married?)

We haven't really had issues with the parents. I think it is because any conversation about poker is started by pointing out how I am now deep in "other people's money" and her BR was actually free (some clever play with referral bonus'). The fact that I am now just starting to pick up useful money now also helps. Last month I made $400 which was a disaster, nice problem.

While we were in Vegas we did go through one of those addiction questionaires. Neither of us scored enough to start a 12 step program. We are both savvy to this and the people around us know this. I do like to wind up my mum and dad by telling them I won £180 in a single hand. I think at first they were dead against but now that it is over a year on and I haven't hocked the furniture, rather got some new stuff so they are quietly supportive. I gave my dad Poker For Dummies when I was home so you never know...

I know I am lucky with Whitney and if poker has taught me one thing, it is to appreciate when things do run in your favor. She is one in a million who will make me the happiest man alive when she marries me in May. We are spending our honeymoon in the Black Hills and she has already talked about putting a few sessions at the casinos of Deadwood...

Well enough bragging from me, I am going back to the TV.

Rich

Played a roller coaster session on Party today with stacks flying this way and that. I won't post proper results yet as I want to play UB tonight. I am currently about $46 up after the dust has settled.

One iffy hand which affected the bottom line posted here:

forum/viewtopic.php?t=6513

Given this and another $100 pot that went against me when the table muppet hit a set but was short stacked I am happy to be up for the day so far. I feel I am playing really well. Today so far I have been card dead for long periods but I have been patient and waited not trying to force the issue. I am trying to keep my game consistent and make changes according to table texture and not my personal circumstances. I might chuck in the odd raise late with a calling hand if I am looking pretty rock like to mix it up but otherwise I am happy to wait. At least when all you see is K4o, J2s etc it is easy to know you are playing perfect poker by folding.

I am hoping to play tonight but I am suffering with a slight head ache. If this doesn't clear up then I am better off waiting for another day. One of the things I am aware of now is making sure I am at my best when I play. Since a bad night can have such a huge swing on your month I am not putting myself in a position where one becomes more likely. I got the bonus from Party so it is a good BR day regardless so far. Hopefully the asprin will work.

Well till laters GL all.

Rich

Did play again last night on UB but only for about 100 hands and finished about $10 overall. I played with Suhleafs for a bit but I was running cold and not really in the mood. I am making an effort to bail on games when I am not feeling good since I know when I am I good I take in a lot more from the table.

I have been looking at my PT stats, I am currently running only about 2.5PTBB/100 since making the move to the $100NL with about 8500 hands. I know I have a great start to this and since I have been dragged right back. I feel I am due a little up spurt now, I was -$250 for the month till this week and I have now dragged it back.

Looking over hands I have been stacked a few times or lost big pots in real crappy circumstances, the JJ hand from yesterday and the AK hand from last week both bite. I guess I should feel happy I am putting the money in when I am fav and all these will come in my favor eventually. I haven't got hit too much against made hands which shows I am playing well, just need a little rub. The fact I am still making small wins should make me feel better but then I can whinge here if I want.

Looking forward to the BTP tonight. I have decided to bounty myself since its all for charity:

forum/viewtopic.php?t=6539

I will prob put in some table time this afternoon. UB is being rough with me at the moment but I am prepared to stick with it since in the past I have always made hay.

Till laters.

Rich

Decided to play some at Poker Stars this afternoon as a change.

Made 21 FPPs in 137 hands. Might take a while to make 600 then...

Had a nice session of a little over an hour on two tables.

Hands: 137
Amoun Won: $62.65
BB/100: 22.86

I am happy with this as it was pretty unstressful. I made the money from hitting two flushes, one on my first hand and got paid off reasonably. Best A hand I had was AJo. I did get QQ twice in a row, both times raised from MP and got fold arounds, in fact I had raised before with JTs and raised after with 53o for fun.

I am hoping now I can push on this week and recontruct this month, I am up $100 with another $130 in bonus money unleashed. I got another two weeks before the wife arrives for obvious reasons there is not going to be any poker!

I have decided that from next month I am going to start working from my $800 per month target and shall doing a count down to it. This is all part of the "shaping" process as Whitney calls it, getting used to conditions slowly. Since it is not life or death if I miss my target I am not going to stress and as I have already written, I see it as perfectly possible with bonus money etc. I just want to get used to playing with the under lying pressure of having to make money day in day out. It is the mental side of the game that I need to strengthen and I am working on it.

Till later tonight then, when I hope you all suffer awful luck...

Rich