Played for an hour and a half before work today, then for a couple hours when I got home. Ugh. The first session was pretty mundane and breakeven till a nice little set-over-set suckout on my last hand put me up about 60...this evening's session, on the other hand...well, ugly. Mecos and BK showed up, which led to me playing like quite the fucking idiot! As always, it was a smashingly fun time right up until I realized I was about 200 down.

I can tell I've started to lose my focus over the last couple days, and I'm not just talking about when I'm playing with other BtPers. That might make it easier, but even my "solo" session have been a bit sloppy. That's kinda frustrating. Earlier in the week, I was on a massive rush of amazing cards, and although winning can blind us to leaks in our game, I also think I was playing some extremely solid, focused poker. The cards have cooled off over the last couple days (though by no means are they brutal), but that's really no excuse for some of the spewing I've done.

Ahhhhhh well, it's a long road. Maybe eventually I'll be able to hammer it into my head that, as piers often says, the line between winning and losing is very small in limit, and it's very tough to be on the winning side when you're not playing your best. It's funny, you'd think that when I play like an idiot poker is less profitable, but more enjoyable...what I'm starting to learn is that idiot-poker is both less profitable AND less enjoyable. What really makes me love this game are those sessions where all my moves and decisions are dead on, or at least made for good solid reasons. I think what I REALLY need to do is to learn to trash-talk without my game turning into vomit, lol. Once I start hitting up that chat window, things generally seem to go to shit! Just stuff to consider.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : 2874

-TW

So much for finishing the week on a high note! Had one of those sessions where you get tons of AA-QQ, flop a bunch of sets and TPTK, and everything goes wrong. I think I stayed pretty solid for the first 3 hours of this butchery, but then it began to take its toll and I steamed off a bit more. Finsihed a rather irritating 270ish down for 4 hours of work. Here's the week's numbers.

Hours played...45:04
Total gain...909
Hourly rate...$20.17/hour

Really not a bad week as far as the numbers, but I'm quite upset about how much I managed to fuck it up near the end. Thank god I was running so good in the middle of the week, because if I can't get myself to always play my A-game, I'm not gonna have a lot of weeks like this one.

Nevertheless, I'm definitely happy with the result. I cashed out 300, leaving me with about 2300 in the bankroll. Next week, I'm gonna change things up a bit. Instead of 3 3-6 tables, I'm gonna switch up to 2 3-6's and 1 5-10. Definitely not gonna incorporate any more 5-10 than that until I hit at least 4K, maybe even 5K in the roll.

A definite plus side was that I put in 45 hours...I suppose my somewhat tiltish sessions near the end of the week could be blamed on putting more time in than I'm used to, but I really don't think that's the case. I haven't felt burnt out or bored with poker despite playing a lot, if anything I feel more into than I have in a while. I think I just really need to make a constant effort to focus on being proud of good decisions, rather than gay-ass calldowns and bets that don't work nearly often enough to be profitable. If I can manage that, I should be in good shape.

Current limit : 3-6 / 5-10 LHE
Current Bankroll : 2304

-TW

Not a very auspicious start to the new week. Managed to put in a total of 9 hours, 14 minutes...and came away with a net loss of $35. My morning session went pretty smoothly and uneventfully, but a few nice hands near the end put me up around $200.

The evening session started with cold cards and shaky play, then switched over to good play but still cold cards (I remained between 200 and 150 down for about 2 irksome hours)...then I started getting good cards and still playing well, which worked me ALMOST back up to even for the session...but alas, the last hour or so was filled with bad cards played like a moron. ACK! I really hate when I do that.

Ah well, I'm off to get some sleep, as I have to wake up at the RIDICULOUS hour of 7:30am tomorrow for work. I get out at 5, after which I'll probably try to put in another good 7 or 8 hours. I'll also have to do my best to keep the emphasis on the word "good" there, as experience has recently been telling me that putting in a lot of bad hours is not really a key to success. I suppose you could say I should just play shorter sessions, but I'd really like to improve at staying sharp and focused over longer periods. I think I'll try a bit of a compromise by playing one long session, but throwing in the occasional 10-15 minute breaks.

Anyway...

Current limit : 3-6 / 5-10
Current Bankroll : 2268

-TW

Alright. It's been decided. I've got to get in on some 2/4 or 3/6 action with you, Piers, Mecos, and BK sometime.

Actually, last night I remained very disciplined during the cold spell, so much so that my VPIP dropped to unprecedentedly low levels and yet I still remained solid. The only problem is, when the cards heated up and cooled back down, I was unable to gear back down. Personally, I blame mecos for that! Seriously, though, I do think I'm getting better at riding out dry spells, but there's still some room for improvement. As much as it annoys me to admit it, yesterday still could've been a modest win. My late session was pretty much fated to be a losing one, but during the final couple hours, I pulled some shit that was really just dumb, and if I could've layed off, I probably would've managed a 50 or 60 dollar win for the day. Ah well!

-TW

Hey, blaming me?!? Ha!

Well, i always said to myself: NO. NO WAY SHOULD WE POST ANY HANDS FROM OUR RIDICULOUS MIZEFESTS--, NO NO THOUSAND TIMES NO.

Well, i am going to have to violate the rule just a little bit to give you all an idea of exactly what TW means. Observe his somewhat questionalble 3bet of my UTG raise with Q7o, and the sharpness of TWs poker intutions with regard thereto (seeing as he had me thoroughly dominated, me having 97o), and the vicious beats thereafter ensuing.

Dealt to AKsoGay
Lucia_Cortez folds.
hakmanII folds.
pokr_partier folds.
AKsoGay raises [$6].
GulfGarlic folds.
poka4fun folds.
TangRocks raises [$9].
tjbdogg004 folds.
AKsoGay: uh oh
apkassacpTOM folds.
AKsoGay calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop **
AKsoGay checks.
TangRocks bets [$3].
AKsoGay calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn **
AKsoGay checks.
TangRocks checks.
** Dealing River ** [0h]
AKsoGay bets [$6].
TangRocks calls [$6].
AKsoGay shows two pairs, nines and sevens.
TangRocks shows a pair of sevens.
AKsoGay wins $38 from the main pot with two pairs, nines and sevens.
ZING
bookends!

Of course, he got me back and then some when i ran my 23 into his Q2 to the tune of about sixteen bets. (pair of 2s won, Q kicker...argh!)

So apparently, this is the type of stuff that happens when a session becomes 'unfocused' so to speak. NIHAN SAH!

However, let me add that i got stuck in that game for about $120 after being up about $150 at one point... so i dont wanna hear it!

Im going to do one of two things: Either i am going to stop donking off chips at TWs 3/6 tables, or else i am going to keep on doing it, and go for a 5k loss playing 3/6 by the end of the year. I am 20% of the way there already, no reason to stop now, right?

I don't think it's fair at all to ignore the cunning logic behind my 3-bet.

Fact 1 : Approximately 73% of your raising hands from that position include a 7
Fact 2 : K7 and A7 can both be excluded from your range of hands, because you'd most likely attempt to limp-reraise with these powerful holdings, rather than risk just coming away with the blinds.
Fact 3 : You're a mizor.
Fact 4 : I'm a mizor.
Fact 5 : mizor + mizor = jolly good times!

So yeah, obviously anything other than a 3-bet here would be TREMENDOUSLY weak-tight.

-TW

Well, it certainly feels good to get back on track! I played for a health six and a half hours today, and quickly shot to about $200 up in the first 20 or 30 mintues. I then went on a MASSIVE tear...of cold card that eventually catapulted me to about 200 down. I stayed in that generally vicinity for three painful hours, but then things finally started to click and I recovered all the way to about 260 up. Tacked on another 160 or so at a subsequent mizor-fest involving Norton, Mecos, myself and a bunch of stiffs who couldn't believe what they were seeing. All told, $428 ahead for the day, which I never could've hoped for after the rough first few hours! Interestingly, 5-10 made up the bulk of my profits at a solid +377. 3-6 was actually negative until the fun times with MK and nawton.

I gotta give few assists here. First off, to piers for generously telling my to get my ass off a 5-10 table I was on (that had utterly turned to shit)...I moved to another and won some very nice pots, such as a $300 WHOPPER with my QJs against a lousy set of aces and set of kings! Also, to norton and mecos for helping to transform a table of nits into one of the wildest affairs I've ever seen. I feel bad because Mecos dropped a bit for his efforts, but then again it's hard to feel bad for a guy whose bankroll is EASILY more than ten times the size of mine. You fucker!

Nevertheless, I honestly think it would be in my best interests to stop giving in to the overwhelming temptation to join in these mizorly antics. It's incredible fun, and there's nothing cooler than trading huge pots with Mecos and Norton depending on who happens to have bottom pair (i.e. the nuts) in any given hand...but honestly, I really gotta try to get to the point where I can do that without actually having to do so at stakes that could really hurt me.

In other words, I want to sacrifice some short-term fun in order to achieve the long-term gain of having enough of a bankroll / weekly income to be able to afford to just mize it up! Because let's face it, MK, as fun as it is to mize it up at the ol' 3-6s, you can afford to drop a couple hundred a lot more than I can! Which certainly doesn't mean I don't welcome you to join my tables, I'm basically just saying that I personally have to try to get better and staying disciplined during these times. Seriously, though. Don't stop joining my tables. My BB/100 NEEDS you!

By the way, I should finally note something to anyone who reads this and gets the wrong idea about my many battles with MK. As much as it KILLS me to say it, he is a better player than me. Over our lifetime numbers, I've definitely won off of him, but if he had the decency to play 3-6 at least semi-seriously, the story would be a lot different! God, it hurt me to say that.

Okay, enough pretending to finally rectify my many vices. The main point is, it was a THUNDEROUSLY good day, and here's lookin forward to a good tomorrow! No work and no plans, so I hope to get in a good 7 or 8 hours. I'm kinda hyped because I generally seem to do better playing in the daytime than evening/late-night. Let's see if I can smash across that 3K barrier...YET AGAIN!

Current limit : 3-6 / 5-10 LHE
Current Bankroll : 2696

-TW

I gotta say, I don't know what the fuck has gotten into me lately as far as work-ethic, but I sure hope it sticks! I put in another 7 hours, 45 minutes today...meaning that I'm already above 23 hours just 3 days into the week! 23 hours is more than a lot of the weeks I booked when I was pretending to play full time!

Had another pretty nice day today, obtaining a perfectly swell $449 win. Played for about 4 hours in the early afternoon, much of it with piers. And thank god, because once again he was able to browbeat me into leaving a couple of my tragically rockish tables and joining some far more profitable ones! We both tangled with quite a few loose cannons, which lead to some rather ugly beats being put on the pierster, but he redeemed himself by winning two very large pots with the monster hands of QTo and 86o. I had pretty much the same story, a few silly beats put on me, but a couple biggies to more than make up for it. Came out about $250 ahead for that session, though it would've been a bit better had I not taken a complete nosedive at my 5-10 table. It was a fine table to be at, but I couldn't seem to hit much, or get my good hands to hold up. Near the end, I did bounce back with a couple of nice pots, so I only wound up dropping about 140-150 there.

Played another 3 latenight hours, this time co-starring BKAZ for a good bit of the session. It seemed really dull and mundane, but then again that means no nasty beats were really put on me (Other than a geniusly played A4o gutter to beat my AA)...and the cards heated up nicely at the end to make me another $200.

All told, I came out $78 behind on the 5-10 tables, but I'm up about $150 since my return to 5-10, and I gotta say I'm likin it! Tables seem to be a smidge softer than the 3-6's in general, though definitely more aggressive. Makes for some pretty good-sized pots that feel great for a low-roller like me to win...yet oddly I don't find myself feeling to nervous or pissed when I lose a big one. Definitely not ready to move fully up to 5-10, only because my bankroll isn't where I want it yet. But I'm pretty certain I'm gonna try to make the change for good when I hit 4K, and I'm confident it'll work out nicely. If I keep bookin a lot of good hours, the changeover could happen as soon as a couple weeks!

Nothing else of note to report, really...I'll probably make an early night of it (i.e. 3am or so) and I'm off work yet again tomorrow so I'll probably put in another 7 or 8 hours tomorrow. Wouldn't be at all surprised if I hit the 50 hour mark this week, which would certainly be a first for this slacker! Later.

Current limit : 3-6 / 5-10 LHE
Current Bankroll : 3145

-TW

Dude, that means your on pace for a 20 hour week! I'm so proud. Congrats on that $2K session, btw!