Taking Care of Business

The night before last I played a few hundred hands of poker and played a couple sng's to turn a profit of a dollar or two. 

I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the year.  I may play a little if I get the urge but I need a break.  Right now I'm working 10 to 12 hours a day and when I get home I'm shot.

Last night I fell asleep on the couch watching a movie.  I woke up at 6:00 this morning with the lights and tv still on.  Guess I have been pushing too hard for too long.  My body said it was time to sleep.  It does that.  In college I slept about 3 hours a night for 4 1/2 years.  Then went on to a job where I worked 1st shift one week, 2nd shift the next week and 3rd shift the following week for 5 years.  I have worn my body down over and over again.  It eventually shuts down and makes me sleep whether I want to or not.

I need to take care of some other things as well so poker may take a back seat for a while.

The last couple days I have started selling on ebay again.  I have started and stopped selling several times over the years.  Right now my niche is back in and looks like I will be able to make some quick dollars.  I used to make a killing on there.  I don't have that kind of time to invest right now so I will start slowly listing 5 items a night.  That should give me a couple hundred dollars extra a month, probably more.

I should have kept selling on ebay instead of playing poker, I would have made a fortune by now if I had invested the same amount of time selling.

I listed 6 item the first day and sold 4 of them, 3 PS2 games and a DVD.  I listed 5 more DVD's last night.  So far so good.  One of the dvd's I had picked up at a garage sale for 2.00.  It is selling on average for 13.00 right now.  Most of my items I make a dollar or two profit on.  To start out with I am just getting rid of some odds and ends I don't need around the house any longer and items I had previously purchased to resell on ebay.  After I get those 10,000 items listed I might start looking for things to sell again.

This spring I want to purchase a vehicle I can pull a camper with as well as take tornado chasing.  In order to do this I need to sell my van and use that money to purchase either a pickup or a small SUV.  Right now we have 3 vehicles and really only need 1.  I could walk to work if I needed to.  There's a lot of things I need to do this next year.

One of the first things, that really needs to be done, is to get the baby room set up.  I only have a little over a month to get this done.  It would be easy but its going in the kids toy room and we need to get rid of toys and move and organize it at the same time.  I also can't just get rid of stuff if it is valuable.  I have to try to sell it first if it has any value left.  I'm not a hoarder yet but I am getting close.  Another reason I need to start selling again.  The extra money will be nice as we have depleted a little out of our savings with Christmas, Doctor's bills, a new 60" LED HDTV, xbox 360, tv stand, vehicle maintenance, etc.

I need to start losing weight.  I am 225 now and would like to be at 210 by March.  It's too cold and I'm too tired to run at night so I think I will start out doing push ups, sit ups and running the stairs at my house.  I might even throw a quick run around the block into the mix.  The important thing is that I start doing something.  I want to be back in shape by spring so I can start running out in the country again, pushing the jogging stroller and listening to my mp3 player.

Whats Under the Tree?

Tonight I was able to get in 533 hands and had a profit of 3.57.  I started the night down again after I caught 2 pair right away and had a chaser catch a flush on the river after he had went all in on the turn.  Shortly after that I had Kings cracked on the river.  Then lost a couple other big pots at showdown. 

Then as it has happened the last few nights, I started climbing back out of the hole the rest of the evening.  My biggest break came from winning 2 hands almost back to back with AQ against AJ and QQ against AK on the same table to double up twice. 

I still need to work on patience and know that I can lay down a good hand when I know I'm beat so I have more chips for when I have a better spot later on.  I also have to start playing AQo differently.  That has been a major losing hand for me.  I might be better off to take it out of my playing range all together as much as I lose with it.

It feels good to have 5 winning days in a row and I'm sure it has a lot to do with me being willing to accept that I needed help and working better my play.

Last night my wife and kids went to a basketball game.  I got off work a little later so couldn't go.  I wrapped presents while they were gone and put them under the tree.  When my 4 year old got up this morning he was extremely excited to see the presents and drug us all out of bed to see which ones were his. 

Tonight he had them all out and stayed next the tree until bedtime looking at his presents over and over again. 

I asked him what he thought was in them and he said, "I don't know, what did you put in here?"

January Poker Goals and Bankroll Management Rules

This weekend I was able to play a little poker.  I was getting low on my bankroll and wanted to make sure I could still deposit before I went busto, so I added 20.00 to my account.  At that point I ran good for a while and recouped most of what I had lost.  The last couple of nights I have been getting drawn out on early then working my way back up to slightly over break even.  It's a hard way to play.

I have tried adding tables but seem to do the best right now with just 2 tables.  I will keep trying to add 1 or 2 tables at times so that I can get better at paying attention on multiple tables. 

This month has pretty much been a bust for making money.  There could still be a little comeback.  It will be difficult since I won't have a lot of time to play between work and Christmas travels.   December has been a great month for learning.  I have learned a lot.  Next month it's time to make some money.

My goals for January are:

1.  Get Back on Track with Bankroll Management. 
2.  Play 10,000 hands (That's around 325 hands per day).
3.  Pay attention to my table selection and figure out which tables are the most profitable for me.

My Bankroll Management for January

Up to 60.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/2.00 buy in.  .50 tourneys & sng's
60.00 - 80.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/3.00 buy in.  .50 tourneys & sng's
80.00 - 250.00 - $4.00 NL 6 max w/4.00 buy in.  1.00 tourneys & sng's

Break Even

Basketball was out of town tonight so I was able to play 711 hands of 4.00 NL Holdem.  I started out with 2 tables.  I have been playing 2 tables so I can focus on each game and make the correct plays. 

I was doing well and was up by 4.00 after 300 hands so I decided to play 3 tables for 100 hands each to see how I would do.  I made some bad table selections and ended up on some very tough tables.  Needless to say they were getting better hands by 1 card every time and I ended the 300 hand session being down 4.40 for the night.

I took a quick break and decided I would play 2 tables for 50 hands each before calling it a night.  I was fortunate and ended up getting paid with pocket Aces twice on one of the tables.  The other table was pretty stagnant and I could not get anything going.

At the end of the night I am down .44 for the day.  It's not a win but with rakeback I should be close to even.  I'll take that after all of the hands I lost in the second session.

Playing Better

Tonight I played 309 hands and showed a profit of 4.71.  I played a lot better tonight.  There was one hand that I could have saved .60 by not calling on the river with a KQo with KJJ86 on the board.  I made the crying call to see him have KK.  I was hoping for a lower pair, expecting to see the J but was surprised to see the KK.

The rest of the hands I feel I played really well.  I did get lucky in a couple spots and unlucky in a couple others.  That's poker.

I decided to take the win after 300 hands.  I am tired and feel like reading. 

Tomorrow night I will be going to watch basketball so I will be playing about the same amount of hands or none at all.  Friday I will be leaving for Oklahoma City.  I will play a little while I am there.

It will be a good time down there.  I will be meeting up with 2 of my buddies from my college days to plan out a bachelor party for one of them. 

Admitting I Play Poorly

I am admitting it.  I have been a bad player.  I thought I was playing correctly but I am now seeing that I was only playing correctly part of the time.  The rest of the time I have been playing really fishy. 

I saw some stats on myself today and yesterday that were way off from what I thought I actually played.  It was really good to see the numbers and realize that there is so much area for me to improve.  It was also sad that it took me how many years to discover how big and how many leaks my game has.  I'm glad I hadn't been playing cash games much until this year.  

I have read books and thought I was applying what they would tell me.  I would, until I saw hand after hand take my good starting hands down.  Then I would revert to my old ways and play horribly again.  Thats when I would start losing money and go back to studying again.

I'm realizing how much further I have to push my learning to catch up to what others are already doing, even at the smallest stakes.

My results should continually improve over the course of this month.  If I don't lose the 17.00 I have left.  If I lose that, it will probably be next year before I can add more money.

I am really going to focus on Cash No Limit Holdem.  I have been playing a little bit of everything.  It's time to pick one and become a regular at that game until I am one of the better players.

I lost 11.25 today.  I still consider it to be a good day as I learned a lot from losing that 11.25.  I realized that I could have cut that in half by folding on the river on a few hands.  I also made notes on quite a few players that I should be able to capitalize on in the next few days.

I had 4 players all in with me holding 2 pair or better with over 10.00 pots for me to lose on the river.  With any of those wins I would be up tonight.

I finally did get one 6.00 pot to hold. 

I am still buying in for half buy ins for now until my bankroll gets a little bigger. 

Dinner and a Show

It amazes me at how I can play so badly for so long after all of these years of playing.  It seems that I forget the basics and overplay and over analyze poker at times.  In my quest to improve my game I lose sight that I need to keep the basics in the front of my mind.

Last night, while I was playing a tournament, something clicked, and just like that I was playing solid poker again.  It continued on today and I tried to play as much poker as I could.  This resulted in a winning day.

I played around 1100 hands of holdem cash coming out up 9.00.  I also played 2 1.10 sng's that I did not place in. 

I also played the 100 seats to the 109.00 tournament.  There were close to 1400 runners and I was doing good most of the tournament staying in the top 50.  I ran out of steam with 200 left and didn't make the ticket.  I actually got moved tables and sat next to a big stack that would raise me all in if I tried to play any hand.  I never got a hand I was comfortable pushing with so my chips dwindled until I felt I had to push.  I had a 97s.  He had 10 10.  Go figure.  He would have raised with anything and this time he had a hand.  He was really playing good poker but it was making me mad because if I could have just gotten some cards his chips would have been mine and I would have been in the 109.00 game tomorrow.

My wife and I also had a bit of a date tonight where we went to dinner and a play.  The town here has a production each year.  This year we went to the night where they serve dinner before the play.  We had Filet Minion with a baked potato, salad, a roll, and green beans with desert. 

The show was really funny.  The actors and actresses were really good.  Next time they have it I will try to go back for the dinner and a show.

Poor Start to the Month

The last 2 days I have been able to play some poker.  It hasn't been too pretty, especially last night.  I played quite a few sng's and tournaments and made it to the bubble in a few games and didn't get any further.

Tonight I made the final table on a .06 rebuy and a .50 rebuy and finished both in 3rd.  I placed 10th in a .10 rebuy.  All of my 1.00 and 2.00 buy ins fell short of the money.  I played 6 sng's and took first in a 18 man. 

After that I played some cash games and lost 2.50 in an omaha hi low game and won 3.96 playing 4 tables of nl holdem. 

I was down 5.00 after my play tonight.

So far this month I have been playing pretty lousy.  Tonight my hands started holding up towards the end of my session.  The rest of this month will hopefully go better than the first week.

Feeding Frenzy

Tonight after the Pre K - 6 music program I came home and ate some supper, discussed work with my wife then settled in to play about 100 hands of NL Omaha H/L.  It was a .05 .10 game and I took a few beats by a horrible player to start off down for the night.  I never can beat the aggressive bad player right away. 

I was starting to gain chips to where I could put a hurt on him when he got off the table.  The rest of the table was fairly tight.  I had one player try to put a quick move on me but he was way too obvious and I had a great hand so he lost 5.00 to me.

I ended up being 4.94 down at the time I had set to quit for the night.  I just had two more really aggressive players sit down at my table.  I would have loved to have had time to sit and wait for a hand.

35 Minutes Later

I got back on the table.  It was fun.  All I had to do was wait for a good starting hand that wasn't being raised all in and wait for it to hit then get paid off.  After I started typing, I thought about it and I don't see this type of set up too often, where it's easy to make money.  It looked like a goldfish dropped into a shark tank.  Every hand one of us were trying to pick off the goldfish.  I was just hoping there was still some meat on the bones when I got a bite at it. 

I figured I could forgo a little sleep for a little money.  It worked and now I am up 9.73 for the night.  I think I could have gotten more out of a couple of the players but I really do need to get some sleep and it could have taken a while.

Family Day

Today I did not play any poker.  I was at home all day and decided to spend it doing family things.  I have been playing poker when we are at home lately.

We got up this morning and went to church where we participated in the hanging of the wreaths.  Afterwards we came home and put up our Christmas tree and decorations. 

Last night I had sliced up a roast and got it soaking in a marinade to make jerky today.  I had dreams about making jerky all night last night.  Today I got to put the meat in the dehydrator and make my first batch of beef jerky.

It came out a little dryer than expected but was really flavorful. 

This afternoon we watched the town's Christmas parade on main street and shopped at some local stores for Christmas presents. 

The kids went to Awana's. (not sure how you spell that)  While they were there I sliced up a hind quarter of deer to make a batch of deer jerky.  Both the roast and the deer meat were getting old and we might have a couple more deer coming soon, so I needed to clean out the freezer a little.  Dad's neighbor has a deer tag to fill and asked if we would want the deer if he shoots it.  If he does, I will be taking a trip North to go process a deer. 

I have the meat soaking in a marinade now to dehydrate tomorrow night.  Jerky making is kinda fun.  I can't wait to dehydrate some fruits.

After Awana's we picked up the kids and headed for the theater.  It is only open on Friday Saturday and Sunday nights in town.  They were playing Wreck It Ralph.  It was a great movie and the kids loved it.  I hadn't seen any previews so I didn't know what to expect. 

Now I'm going to go lay down and read.

I started off the day wanting to make my family happy.  In return, I had one of the best days I've had in a long time.  I didn't even want to play poker today.  That's a first in a long time.

I even felt the baby kick for the first time today.  It was really moving.  It must have liked the jerky.

Tomorrow night we have a Christmas Songs Program at the elementary school so I doubt I get any playing done tomorrow night.  It is now basketball season as well so I am guessing a couple nights a week will be spent watching the nieces and nephews.  On Monday nights we usually play volleyball for fun with a bunch of other people in town.

It looks like poker might take a back seat for a little bit.  I'll play late in the evenings and on the nights we don't have anything going on.  Work will be picking up some too as the year rolls to an end.

I'm not counting on making much money online this month.  If I can get to $75.00 this month I will be very happy.

It's going to be a busy month.

December off to a good start

This morning I had to go into work for a few hours.  Afterwards I played a ton of tournaments and sng's. 

Sng's were good to me as I profited 16.63 from those today with a 1st and 2nd in 18 man's and a 2nd in a 27 man.  I played 2 of those with VIP points so that helped even more.

I also loaded up a ton of 1 and 2.00 tournaments as well as freerolls.   I played a total of 28 tournaments today.  7 of those were freerolls including pokerowned games and free seats.  I did well on the smallest of the tournaments and not so well on the 1.00 and 2.00 tournaments.  I took 5th in the .10 rebuy, 4th in the .25 rebuy, and 2nd in a pokerowned tourney.  I lost 11.58 in tournaments.

It was a fun day.  I got a little frustrated once but the rest of the day had a lot of fun and chatted with the other players while I listened to the K-State game on the radio. 

I still don't know how we lost to Baylor. 

I am up 6.18 today and should have a little rakeback on top of that. 

Tomorrow we have church, then I may go into work for a little bit.  After that I'm going to get some jerky ready to make.  I may not play a lot of poker.  This will be the first Sunday at home in a long time that I don't play much poker. 

We will also be putting Christmas decorations up tomorrow.

The Nice Guy Approach to Poker - Don't Be a Prick!

It bothers me when somebody starts mouthing off at the tables.  The little faces on carbon can set me off.  Especially when you are knocked out of a sng or tourney and the guy talking crap types in bye after they raise, you raise all in, and they call your trip aces and catch runner runner straight to take you out of the tournament.  Like they're so good.

There's no call to act like that. 

Internet tough guys make their money by tilting the other players at the table and taking them off their game. 

I make notes of these players and whenever I play them again, I usually get even by taking some or all of their chips. 

The nice guy approach is a money maker too, and you don't have to portrait yourself as an arrogant prick.  People like a friendly player at the table.  It makes the game more fun, and that's why you started playing in the first place.

People are less likely to play back at you when you you are making a move.  They might even feel a little bad if they take some or all of your chips because they are enjoying themselves and don't want that part of the game to end so soon.  They also don't feel as bad when you take their chips.

The other players that are chatting with you will kind of form an unspoken alliance, and you will start playing together to take out the pricks, without playing at each other.

This kind of play promotes poker, it is profitable, and fun.  The other pushes new players right out of the game.  It's not fun to be critisized for something you are trying to learn.  We all started because the game was fun.  We need new players to keep trying to learn, so we need the game to be fun.

Poker Maximus III Event 1 Tragedy

Tonight I went to a Junior High basketball game to watch my nephew play.  They played awesome.  He was on fire.  He drained 2 - 3 pointers and several inside the paint.  He stole the ball a lot of times.  I'm going to start calling him Swiper.  I only saw him miss 2 shots.

At the end of the first half they were up 49 - 2.  The B team played the rest of the game.  The second half they left the clock running and it was over quickly.

When I got home I saw that the Poker Maximus III Event 1 had been playing for about 2 hours.  I thought about not buying in but thought I would give it a shot since I had a ticket.  I didn't last long as the blinds were high and I didn't get any takers when I had Aces on the button. I guess I should have saved my ticket for Sunday.  Maybe Saturday I can get another ticket.

I loaded up a couple tables of Omaha H/L and played for about an hour.  I profited a little bit from that.  I was kind of annoyed at the trash talkers at the table but I was taking their money so trash talk all you want.  It just lets me know how tilted you really are.

Tomorrow evening I will be going to high school basketball to watch another nephew and my niece play.  I will be watching a lot of basketball this year.  Should be fun.  It will also get me out of the house so when I do get chances to play I will be hungry for wins.

While I was playing I watched Sons of Anarchy.  I am on the 4th season getting close to the end of the season.  It is a lot better show than I was expecting.  It is packed with suspense and cliff hangers.  I'm glad I have netflix so I could watch it in order from the beginning.

Re-building

This week I've been working on my other games skills.  I have been playing quite a bit of Omaha Hi/Low8 and have been doing well until today.  I was down from 15.00 in cash as I played a little higher limit than I am rolled for. 

I gained a little of that back then switched to PL 7-2 lowball since there were no players on .02 .04 or .05 .10 omaha.  7-2 was good to me and I was able to make up my lost ground for today.  There are huge pots in 7-2 for a .05 .10 pl game.  I saw some 20.00+ hands.

I am thinking that I am going to not hold myself to any bankroll management rules until I hit 100.00 again.  I will play what I feel comfortable playing until I hit the 100.00 mark.  If I go busto I can reload another 20.00.  I'm going to try not to do that so I guess I am kinda limiting myself.

Right now I'm working through a reload bonus and building. 

Today I did a little revamp work on the blog.  It looks a little better and should be a little more useful for me to do some monthly tracking.

PL Omaha H/L8 Night

Patience, patience, patience.  How did I lose sight of that?  That's always been my strongest asset in poker. 

Tonight I played some nl for a little bit.  I did ok.  I was triple my buy in then came back down to slightly under break even by the time I got off the table. 

I started watching some high limit games.  Omaha Hi/Low8 games were the big money games being played.  I love some omaha so I got on a .02 .04 pot limit game.  I was card dead at first but then started catching a few good starting hands and before I knew it I had 3 times my buy in. 

We had family over so I got off the computer for a while and visited.  Then got back on later to play some more Omaha.  The second game was up and down, never below my original buy in thanks to the first hand quad 9's on the flop.

I ended up getting into a 3 way all in pre-flop and taking the pot down later and finished up the night being up more than 3 times my buy in.

My new bankroll is now at 28.47.  I am up for the night.  I loaded 20.00 today and had 2.70 in rakeback from last night so I'm up a little over 5.00.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we are having family over so I may only play a little bit tomorrow night.

Friday, we are heading to my parents so I probably will not play much this weekend.

I need a cool off and re-focus period. 

@%$#^&^$

Holy crap!  What was I thinking?  Or better yet, why was I not thinking.

Last night I went on a bender.  A poker bender.  I broke all the rules, played super fishy and gave all my money away.  Why don't I run into players like me.

I'm a super fish, a donk, an idiot.  Other players are right about me.  I suck.

I took 107.00 and turned it into 0 last night. 

Part of it was frustration from not being able to do anything to make money.  I was moving backwards too many days and not forwards.

I snapped.  I broke and I went broke.

Now I have to start over and try to rebuild.

I feel stupid.

But something happened in that crazy downward spiral.  I feel better about my game.  I lost hands that I should have won.   By the end I discovered patience again.  I had lost my patience and became bitter and angry at the game.  The love had disappeared.  I wanted to play but for the wrong reasons.

I discovered that love again.  Now I'm stupid in love and broke.  Not really broke, but definitely a long ways from where I want to be.  I could load a few hundred on the site and play larger games but its apparent to me that I need to learn and build as my game grows.

I loaded 20.00 and will work on building again.

Pokerowned Win

I ended up taking down a pokerowned tournament after the 109.00 tournament.  I was doing well in some other tournaments too but couldn't finish out in any of them.  I was down a few dollars on tournaments and decided to try some fixed limit cash.  In .02 .04 cash there are a lot of options for play but in .05 .10 it is pretty limited.  I ended up getting 5 tables going between lock and carbon.  I faired like I have all week in cash games.  I lost.

I saw four of a kinds twice.  Neither were mine, and the river suckouts were horrible.  Also not mine.  I did ok on one table.  I sat down at an empty table and one person joined me.  First hand I had 88.  We raised back and forth until we were all in.  He had 44.  The table ran out and I won.  He reloaded and others joined us.

My bankroll is at 107.53. 

109.00 Bounty Elite

I started playing 15 minutes late as I had to complete some things at work today and got home a little late. 

First Hour 10328 chips

My first play was calling a raise on the button with A7o.  Flop brought a 7.  He checked I checked.  Turn came an Ace.  He bet I raised.  He called.  River came and I bet half pot, he called and I took it down to increase my stack by 1000. 

My next play I had an AQ.  I raised and got two callers.  Small stack at the table went all in for 2400 more chips.  He had just lost a hand the hand prior to this one for most of his chips with AQ.  He has been playing wreckless.  I called and he had 88.  The board held for him and I was down to 8000.

I took a couple blinds then had A10d.  I raised and was called by button and bb.  Flop came KJ6 rainbow.  I checked.  Button bet 400.  I figured I would see what the turn would bring and called after the bb called.  Turn and river were J J and it was checked down.  Button had Q10, bb mucked and my A10 took it down to get me back to 10000.

Second Hour 10852 chips

Have been getting some decent cards but no callers to my raises.

Just had a big hand with Pocket 7's on the button.  There was a raise, then an all in Re-raise before me.  I called the 3000 all in.  Another player went all in for slightly less.  The original raiser went all in for slightly more chips than I had. 

I thought for a minute and went over what he had done so far in the game.  He has played from that spot several times.  My original thought was aces or kings but with the way he has been playing an Ace face card could be in his range.

I called.  He had Aces.  Another player had 97.  I was hoping for a 1 outter for my tournament life.  The 7 came on the river and I now have 24000 chips.

Nobody realises the blinds are at 150 300.  Every hand is a multi thousand bet fest.  Everybody wants to go out.  I have a whole table full of aggressors.

I've tried getting in a bunch of hands with medium pairs Ax hands but keep getting raised the hell out of the pot.  I have good notes and if I get a good hand I will play again and they will pay for their wrecklessness.  I was playing their game.  I'm going back to my game.

Third Hour

Had a good KQ hand and A10 hand that both hit on the flop.  I was able to move up to 19000 chips.

Now in 45th place.  Nobody called down to blinds.  I was in small blind with A4 and called 250 more to see flop.  BB goes all in.  I had him covered by 2000 chips and called.  He had pocket 7's.  An ace hit on the flop and my hand held the rest of the way.  Now at 36000 chips. 

Made a call with KQs for double blind.  Player after me goes all in for 8000 more.  I called.  He had QQ and held.  Down to 29000.

Finished 426th.  Just moved tables.  Raised from mid position with AQ.  Everyone folded except for bb.  He re-raised.  I re-raised.  He went all in.  I figured I had a fighting hand with him being in the bb.  I called and he had AK.  The board ran clean and he won.

Late registration just ended.  108 players are getting paid.

Time to Hit the Books

OK, I suck.  I lost 40.00 last night and another 14.00 today.  I'm down to 110.00.  I do o.k. if I just play for a little while but if I put in a long session I'm almost always a loser at the end of the day.  I should stick to tournaments on my long grind days. 

I usually do o.k. on a couple of them.  I started out with tournaments this morning and won a 18 man sng and placed 5th in a pokerowned tournament.  I was breakeven for the day until I played cash.  Then I ran set into over set and flush into full house, two pair into 3 of a kind.  Every time I thought I had an edge I was behind.  Somebody was raising every hand and when I'd 3 bet my kings, I'd get 4 bet all in for them to catch their ace.

Last night I went on Super Tilt.  I played horribly

I'm really questioning my play now.

It's time to give cash games a break and hit the books again before I break myself.

Today I did qualify for Lock Poker's 109.00 tournament tomorrow.  I also won an 11.00 tournament ticket last night that I will use for the carbon 15000 guaranteed tomorrow.

One of these times I'm gonna pull of a decent score in one of the bigger tournaments.

How Long Have We Been Without PokerStars?

Are we ever going to get pokerstars back?  I miss multitabling 180 man's, 90 man's and 45 man sng's.  I was destroying the game until black Friday hit.  It has been a huge adjustment moving to the limited games I get now.  I am down quite a few hundred dollars since then, trying to find a new way to make money on a new site.

I had always considered myself a sng and tournament player but had not given cash a chance.  Now I think I have found a game I can win at.  Cash is different because you don't have the exciting big wins.  Instead you have more steady winning days and less losing days.  Rakeback is a huge helper.  Tournaments right now are still keeping me alive but the more I learn about cash the more money I should make.

I have become a little more rounded as a poker player with adding cash to the mix.  Now I'm starting to feel more comfortable playing cash games than tournaments.

Cash games are helpful with having a family.  I can jump on and off as I need to and play shorter sessions.

Still, on the weekends I would love to have 16 tables of sng's pulled up on the screen at once, with my headphones on, listining to 99.7 the blitz or watching football.

Right now I feel comfortable 4 tabling cash, sometimes 6 tabling.  I have tried 9 tabling but I am not catching enough of what the other players are doing. 

As I continue on I should get better.  I wasn't able to 24 table sng's at first either.

Steady Grind

The wheels keep on spinning.  I am up .24 after about an hour and a half of play.  I would keep playing to try to get some more hands in but I am tired. 

Tonight after work I picked up my 2 boys and 4 of my nieces and nephews to watch.  My wife and her sister were going to a Junior High basketball tournament, then out to watch Twilight.  I was volunteered to take on babysitter duty. 

I made enchilada's and spanish rice for the kids.  They got about every toy in the house out.  It was loud and crazy.  After supper I let them run wild for another half hour wondering if I was going to make it.  Chaos is hard for me to handle.  I like the quiet. 

Finally, I had them pick up all the toys and head to the bedrooms to watch some t.v. for about a half hour until it was time for them to get picked up.

I was able to play for a little bit but now I'm wiped out.  Maybe tomorrow night I will get a good session in.  Saturday we are going grocery shopping and Sunday I have to work.

I thought once winter got here I'd have more time to play poker.  I'm still busy all the time and can't play as much as I want to.  

My bankroll at the end of tonight is 132.74.

Didn't take a win

I played an hour of cash along with a 2.00 tournament and an 18 man sng. I did well in the cash games and finished first in the sng. The last hand of the game we were about even in chips I had 8c6s in the small blind.  I called, he raised another bb.  I called.  Flop came 2 7 6 all spades as seen above.  I checked and he went all in.  I thought about it for a second and came to the conclusion that this would be a great spot to bluff for him.  I had the pair and a chance at a flush so I called.  He had QJ hearts and I won the tournament.

I was on the cusp of going out on the bubble.  I went all in twice and won both times to stay alive.  The second time gave me a chip stack to battle with and I used it to make it to 1st and 2nd.

I am going to play another hour of cash games before I go to bed. 

I played cash and was doing well on 2 tables.  Then all went to crap.  I lost my 2.00 3 times to the same guy chasing and catching on the river.  I reloaded 3.00.  Same thing, the SOB calls a huge raise again with nothing and runner runners me.  I reload 4.00 and wait on a hand.  I wait and wait and wait and nothing.  32 Q4 62 over and over.  By the time I catch a hand he has lost all my money and had .25 left.  I TOOK IT!  Everybody else had hit and run so there was no money left on the table.

I got screwed 4 big hands in a row and now the table dynamics have drastically changed. 

Finally got the small stack to play and caught a full house against his flush all in for 2.00 back.  Just stacked another bluffer for 3.00 when my AK hit 2 pair.  I bet big then small.  He went all in on the river.  Lost 3 big hands in a row with AA KK and QQ.  Another buy in for 4.00

Getting tired of players hitting and running. Chasers hitting on the river when they are betting the whole way is fricking annoying me tonight.  And it has cost me like 14.00.  It'd be one thing if they had odds or outs but its going for gutshots with no overs and things like that and catching their 3 outer to beat me.  I cashed out of that game with my buy in.

I loaded up 6 more games with half buy in's for 45 minutes and did ok.  At least I got some hands in tonight so I should get some decent rakeback.  I could have quit when I was 7.00 ahead but I kept playing and now I'm 3.00 behind where I started.  With rakeback I should be 1 or 2 dollars behind. 

I shouldn't be mad about being 3.00 behind.  You have losing sessions, but I should have killed this one.  I want to build so bad but keep running into this.  I saw an opportunity to exploit a player.  He got lucky 4 times on me and I lost.  Next time I'll get him for 4 buy ins and be super happy!

My bankroll is at 131.66

Take a Win

I took a win tonight. I needed it. I was up 7.00 after about 45 minutes of cash games so I took my win. I was playing good and all of my hands were holding up. Instead of playing more cash I decided to play an 18 man sng. That way I would still have a chance of making more money without having to risk much. My good fortune did not continue in the sng and I eventually ran AK into QQ knocking me all but out of the tournament. I finished in 7th place. I still was ahead 6.00 for the night and have a bankroll of 134.28. Today I set up a plan on when to move up to the next level and play 10.00 nl cash games. It could be a while as I will need to reach 250.00. I will have a stop loss at 200.00. With rakeback, studying and good play, I don't see why I couldn't be playing 10.00 nl by the end of this year.

Not my Night

Down 6.00 tonight. I was outkicked and outrivered. I waited for my hands and played them well only to lose to seemingly impossible odds. I did win with a KQ to KQ when mine drew out a flush. I was repaid later with the same thing when another player drew out the flush. It just wasn't my night.

Back to Work

I played all day today. The end result was being down by 2.00 after playing quite a few sng's and tournaments. The cash games kept me alive and with the rakeback I might even be up a little after today. This was my best weekend day so far. Weekends have previously killed my bankroll. I think the difference was paying attention. I listened to music but did not watch any t.v. while multi-tabling cash. When I did watch t.v. later in the day I stepped down to 1 tabling. My results could have been a lot better if I had placed in one of the freerolls or cashed in any of the sng's or tournaments. I have to go back to work tomorrow. I'm kinda dreading it after being off the last week. After what I saw this last week and with having to go back to work, I want to try harder to be successful at this game. I want more. I believe my time will come if I keep putting in the time to play and learn. My bankroll at the end of today is 130.17

Weekly Update

After the last 2 weeks of play my bankroll was down around 20.00. I had 2 big freerolls today and busted out of both of them. I was 5th with 180 left on the 5000.00 exclusive freeroll but kept running into better hands and busting out to the big stack. My bankroll starting this week is 134.00. I need to keep studying and paying attention when I am playing. My limits are still 4.00 nl and 1.00 sng's and tourneys. I will play mostly cash games with a few tourneys and sng's thrown in. That will keep me from getting bored with these limits. I think cash gives me the biggest opportunity to steadily grow my bankroll.

Back from Vegas

I got back from Vegas last night. I only got into 1 tournament and only played 1 3 hour session of 1 3 nl holdem. Man has poker taken a dive in Vegas. You used to be able to get into a game anywhere at any time. This time I had to wait on lists for hours for games that I could afford that often did not start. On top of that you could not find a tournament under 100.00. We went to many different places that claimed to have a daily tournament that nobody attempted to show up for. That was sad because I went to play poker. Instead I blew way to much money on slots. I was bored in the motel room and would go down and sit at a slot machine to pass the time. Next trip I will pay the extra to take my laptop. Then when I want to play poker I can play any time. We talked about not going back next year and going to a casino between us or to Oklahoma to do a tornado chase/poker week. You used to be able to find some good deals on food out there. Now it's hard to find the good deals. We walked through casino after casino on the strip one day looking for a low cost meal. We went by shop after shop with 10.00 to 15.00 hamburgers and sandwiches before we decided once again to eat fast food. It was still a great time as Vegas usually is. One of the more memorable experiences was when we were getting back to the Riviera one time. I saw a cockroach eating a fried jalapeno. He had his foot up on the jalapeno and was mowing down. This was not the average sized cockroach either. It was about the size of the bottom of a cigarette pack. I decided to take its picture and got close with my phone. In a flash it was at the edge of the bench about to jump me. I jumped back and ran away. It was seriously protecting its food. The highlight of the trip was checking out the Encore. It was by far my favorite casino I have been in. It was so clean and fresh looking as well as colorful with its reds and whites. Next time I go back to Vegas I may look into staying there. We ate the buffet at the Wynn. That is the best food I have ever eaten. No matter what I got it was better than I had gotten any where else. What a treat. My favorite dish was Mako Shark in coconut something. Now that I am back I ha e been catching up on some poker playing. I have a couple big freerolls tomorrow but should be about break even after playing last night and this afternoon.

VEGAS BOUND

Last night I played some more one table sessions. No matter how aggressive I got I could not get the other players to gamble. I ended up losing 6.00. Tonight I did not play. We had parent teachers conferences. Tomorrow I leave for vegas for a week. I may get into tthe venetion dse. I wanted to take my laptop for some poker in the room but the airline wants to charge 30.00 for that. I will take my tablet. This is my first post from it. Hopefully this works.

Still Rolling

My son started feeling sick this morning while we were getting ready for school so I got to stay home with him for a half day, his mother took the second half. 

He slept so I got to play a couple hours of cards this morning and another couple hours this evening.  I kept the good streak going in both sessions of 1 tabling 4.00 nl.  I made a little over 10.00 today putting the bankroll at 148.04.

Learning Experience

After a brutal Sunday I was down nearly 50.00.  I couldn't do anything right.  It was time to throw in the towel and give up.  I played 4.00 nl and 1.00 6 man's and kept getting owned.  I tried 1.00 18 man's, same thing.  I fell fast playing within my bankroll limits.

Tonight I wasn't going to play until after 9:00.  I started with a single 1.00 6 man.  I won it.  I tried 2 more 6 man's 1 at a time and lost both of those.  Then I tried an 18 man and couldn't even get started when I lost that.  I decided to play a single 10.00 nl table.  I covered my cards and played position and my opponents.  I took notes on each of them.  I ended up losing 2 half buy in's but had great reads on how they were playing so I uncovered my cards, added on a full buy in of 10.00, and played against them.

Less than an hour later I was up to 27.00 and if I would have kept playing think I could have doubled that in the next hour.

I didn't multi-table.  I was able to figure out my opponents weaknesses and capitalize on them.  Now I have notes on those players for the future.  It was a good learning experience for me and a confidence booster. 

I am down for the week but not nearly as bad as I was.  I started the week with 158.00 and now I am at 136.67.  Rakeback from yesterday and Saturday helped too.

Brag Post

I started out bad today losing 17.00 in cash games playing pretty poorly in 2 1 hour 9 table sessions.  I knew I had a chance to make it up in some tournament play today.

I got in a couple pokerowned freerolls, a couple 1.10 18 man sng's and a 1.00 deep stack tourney.  I came close but didn't finish in the money in any of those.  I was 12th in one of the pokerowned tourneys.

I was also registered in a 50 seats to 109.00 tournament and the 10,000.00 vip freeroll on carbon.  I finished right at 100th in the 50 seats and did really well in the VIP freeroll with nearly 2500 runners.  I fought my way all to 12th before I ran QQ into AK preflop all in.  Flop came A K K and I was out with 98.00 winnings.  I am up 80.00 today.

My bankroll is now at 158.66.  This week was rough.  I started out the week at 101.20 and took a couple big losing sessions getting down by nearly 50.00.  This brings my week to an end, being up 57.00. 

I need to keep my focus and move in the right direction.  Bad play this week was killing me.

Sick Day

This morning I woke up with a pain in my stomach.  I knew what was coming but it was the worst possible day for it.  I had to get payroll completed at work.

My wife and youngest son had already had the flu this week.  I went to work and got payroll in.  Then I came home.  What a miserable day.  Every bone in my body hurt.

This afternoon I slept off and on.  Then at midnight my wife comes to bed.  My body decides to feel a little bit better so I got up.  I am able to play poker for the first time today.

I played a 1 hour 9 table session and came out ahead by 9.00.  Bankroll now at 77.81.

I am going to try to sleep since I have the 10,000.00 VIP Freeroll later. 

When I got back up I took some ibuprofen to settle my back down.  It still hurts, but it feels a little better.  If I can get a few hours of sleep I guess that's better than nothing.  I'm ready to feel normal again.

Keep Building

Tonight was fun.  I can't wait to get home each night to work at building my bankroll.

I played a 1 hour session of 9 tables at 4.00 nl.  I also played 12 1.00 sng's.  I was up 5.00 and wanted to play some more non serious games so I loaded up 10 .10 6 man sng's.  Good thing.  I didn't do well in those.  I ended up 4.00 tonight.

Bankroll at 67.56

On the session of 9 tables I got stacked on 4 tables.  I was on a couple really active tables and ended up with 7.50 on one and 9.50 on the other before ending the session.

This weekend is the 10,000 VIP freeroll.  I have missed the last few of those but should be able to make this one.  I plan to play that and some Pokerowned freerolls.  If I can do good in those it could really help my bankroll.

I'm looking forward to my trip out to Vegas next week.  The Venetian DSE is going on and I am thinking of playing a couple of those tournaments along with some 1 2 nl. 

With a week out there I will have plenty of time to get a good amount of poker in.

Losing Streak

My game has turned to the dark side this week.  Sunday I lost 38.00.  I didn't play well.  I can't watch TV and play and do worth a crap.  Monday I played freerolls and took 3rd in a PokerOwned game.  It was good for 4.80.  Last night I played for about 20 minutes and was up about 3.00. 

Tonight.  I have ran 3 of a kind into higher 3 of a kinds.  Flushes have been catching against my made hands.  Aces are getting cracked.  I was down 23.00.  I am now down 16.00.  I am going to play one more session of 9 tables for 30 minutes then head to bed.

Well I played for 30 more minutes and lost 4 more dollars.  Ran into Aces and got stacked on a couple more tables.  I couldn't get anybody to call on any of the other tables.  I'm stuck 20.00 tonight.

Down to 60.84.

Back From Louisianna

Yesterday I arrived home from my trip down to Louisiana.  I loaded up 3 4.00 tables and 1 10.00 table.  I went down by 14.00 pretty quick.  I don't know if it was bad play or bad beats.  I'm sure it was a little of both.  I was watching football so I was a little distracted.  K-State played really well. 

I also played a pokerowned freeroll.  I finished 11 with 10 getting paid.  I was a little ticked as every short stack that went all in with crap that was called by somebody with a pair or AK type of hands sucked out and stayed in the game.  After 30 minutes of this I got an AQ and went all in to be called by pocket 5's.  I didn't suck out anything and even though 1 other player went out before me on the other table I finished after him because my chip stack dwindled while he kept sucking out.

I took a short break and came back to load 4 4.00 tables.  I was going to play smart and try to cut down a little of that loss so I could end the night with a smaller loss. 

All 4 tables went great and I didn't hardly lose a hand.  One table went extremely well and I took a couple buy ins from 1 guy that was trying to bluff me every hand. 

At the end of the night, I ended up being ahead by 4.00.  I am now at 105.80.

Grinding On The Road

My Current Grind Room

The last 2 days I have been playing out of a motel room in Louisiana.  I'm down here for a fishing tournament but have had a little bit of time each night to put in a little time playing.

Last night I played 4 1.00 6 man sng's and cash.  I won 1 and took 2nd in another.  Then I mixed it up a little and played 3 4.00 nl tables and 1 10.00 nl table.  I was up 9.00 at the end of the night.  Today I played the same for a while then switched to all 4.00 tables.  I ended the sessions up 11.00.

I am now up to 101.20.  I will keep grinding away at the 4.00 tables with a 10.00 table thrown in every once in a while until I get over 200.00.

Bad Bankroll Management

I was incredibly lucky and came out ahead 8.00 tonight after going against my bankroll management.  Lets not do that again for a long time.  I was playing at a friends house and was up 7.00 after ending our cash game session.  I decided to play a 1.00 6 man sng.  I lost but felt I could have easily won.  I saw the same people on some sng's so I loaded some more.  I lost those. 

I started chasing my losses and figured I could beat 2.00 sng's  I won a couple but it was not enough.  I wanted to be ahead tonight so I played 4 5.00 sng's.  I won 1 and took a 2nd in 1.  I was down 4.00 for the night.  I wanted to be up so I loaded 4 1.00 sng's and won 1 and lost the other 3.  I decided to try 4 more 5.00 sng's and end the night with however it turned out.  I was doing good on all 4 tables.  Then I took a horrible beat on 1 table when my KK lost to J7o. 

I lost the next table 10 10 to A5s.  I really concentrated on the last 2 tables.  I was way up on 1 of them and was decent on the other with 3 left.  I won the first table pretty fast.  The second table took a while and by the time the 3rd player was taken out I was down 3 to 1.  I flopped a straight and he bet into me.  I raised.  He reraised me all in and I called.  We were even on chips.  I was able to work him down and ended up winning with J6o against his KQ when my J flopped and held.

Rough Night

It was rough but I managed to play back to 9.00 down, from being down 16.00 to start tonight.  Two losing nights in a row.  It's a wonder I was able to do anything as many times as I ran QQ and KK into AA.  One of the 2 times I had AA I caught trips on a AKT rainbow board and the big stack reraised me all in.  He had QJ to take my 6.00 on the table. 

I tightened up and worked on some of my many leaks to try to get back up a little.  I happened to come upon a couple players that played hard at me and I was able to build up to 13.50 on one of my tables from my original 2.00 buy in. 

I get greedy and pay the price.  I need to play my game and wait for the right moments to make my moves.

Goofing Around

Sunday is now over for me.  I did a lot of goofing around today.  Everybody needs a break from the grind.  I played some .10 sng's to goof around and a pokerowned freeroll.  I also played a couple 45 minute sessions of 4.00 holdem.  It was the standard, lose half my tables, get up on half my tables.  I should have destroyed it today.  There were times that I was way up, then I got great starting hands and whiffed the flop, tried a follow up bet and was raised substantially.

Needless to say I am down 6.00 today.  Three dollars of that was sent to a friend to get him back to playing some again before we head to Vegas in a few weeks.

I had one guy talking crap on a cash table after I turned trip 8's against his pocket J's.  He maintained his composure but everyone else at the table came after me.  I kept getting good cards and stacking them, getting up 3 1/2 buy ins.

This morning I went to church and was going to go into work afterwards for a little bit to catch up on some things.  I will be leaving Tuesday night after work for a fishing tournament in Louisiana.  I made the regionals in the Okie Division BFL.  Instead of going to work I had a fish fry and invited family over.  It's just too hard to go into work volutarily sometimes.

We ate, then I drug out our new pop up camper to show everyone.  We set it up and the kids hung out in there while the adults talked and played cards.  It was a great afternoon.

I ended today with 80.80 in my account.  I cleared 1.26 in rakeback yesterday.

Saturday of Play

I ran good in my first 45 minute session including this hand where I was able to get pocket 7's all in with Quads.  I was up on all 4 tables at the end of the session.  I had A8 and limped from mid position.  Big Blind checked.  Flop came 9 8 8 I was able to get a good pot out of that when he bet big with his pair of 9's.  Up 5.00 after that session.

I have a pokerowned freeroll at noon and a seat in the 100 seats to the Sunday ticket tournament at 3:00.

Poker is fun again!

After another 45 minute session I am down 7.00.  I should be happy that my AQ dominated A9 all in preflop, or my pocket 6's tripped and I got paid, but there were too many losses to make them the important hands of the 45 minutes.  I played JJ into against an aggressive player.  He was overbetting and I should have pulled out after the turn but he got me to put all my chips in to see his trip 9's he caught on the turn.  There was also a K on the board.  He doesn't give chips away so I should have known.  I did stack him on another table so we were even for the session.

Losing 2 buy ins right away hurt and I wasn't getting paid for my premium hands.

I'm down 2.00 for the day right now, getting ready for the pokerowned freeroll.  Time to shift gears for tournament play.

Out 875 out of 2277 in horse freeroll.  Had a good run in stud but got beat up in holdem.

Out 20th out of 55 in Pokerowned.  I had a good hand early Q10 on the button.  I limp.  Flop comes KJ9 rainbow.  I check.  Bet and call behind me.  I go all in and get a call from pocket Aces.  I hold and am in 5th in chips.  Standard play until 45 minutes into the game.  I'm 2nd largest stack at the table on the button with 88.  I have 3 limpers before me.  I raise half pot.  I get called by player to my left.  Flop comes JJ3.  Player checks.  I bet pot.  He calls.  His play up to this point was screaming overcards.  He checks turn and I go all in to try to show I have something.  He called with pocket 10's and put me out of the game.  Pocket 10's in this situation would play like overcards.  I will have to remember that.  I absolutely hate playing with 2 top 5 stacks on tables early.  I should have easily made final table and money but I got greedy and overplayed my hand.

No loss of bankroll since I played freerolls.  Love poker!

The 3rd 45 minute session was dominated by this hand.  There was a raise and re-raise before me.  I called and the first raiser went all in.  With 4.00 of winnable money in the pot I called hoping to catch trips.  When I saw they both had AK I started calling for a ten.  When I got that I called for no clubs and took down a good pot.  I was up 5.25 from the 3rd session.

50 Seats to 109.00.  Nothing I could do here.  Bad call after Bad call from other players that got rewarded over and over.  finished with 200 left out of 800 one hour 45 minutes into tourney.

The 4th 45 minute session was a dud.  Came out 1.00 down for the session.  Right at the end I got QQ all in against AK clubs.  Flop came 2 clubs and river was a club.  I lost 2 all ins and got 1.  I ran JJ into AA on another.  My AA held against KQ.  He couldn't get his chips in the middle fast enough.  All I had to do was call.

I was trying to qualify for the Chip King game for tomorrow.  I had opted in when I first read about it, but after clearing 100 points this week and not getting a ticket I logged into my account and apparently the opt in period has ended and I wasn't opted in.  Between not being able to download money to get my reload bonus and not being able to participate in the monthly promotion, I am getting a little ticked.  I could be making more money.

After a full day of playing off and on, I came out ahead 4.64.  My bankroll is now at 85.16.  I had .17 in rakeback from last night.

1.5 hour session

Tonight I put in a 1 1/2 hour session playing 4.00 nl cash.  I was doing great on all 4 tables.  Then right as I was getting ready to end my session I lost 3 huge hands.

I had AQc and raised a pot sized bet.  I was called by the button.  The flop came out 6c Jd Kc.  I led out a 1/2 pot bet.  Button followed with a re-raise.  I called.  Turn came a 7s.  I checked.  Button went all in for a pot size bet.  I called with a chance of a straight or a flush or possibly a higher pair. He had a king. The river brought nothing.

On another table I had a super tilted player that kept going all in.  I had stacked him a couple times already and he went all in for 1.69.  I had KJo.  He had been going all in with hands like 95o J4o etc.  I called and he had A7o.  He hit his 7 on the flop and I didn't hit anything.  I was still up 4.50 on that table.  I also lost 2.00 KK to QJo all in preflop on another table when the guy  hit two pair on the flop.

I had gotten lucky a couple of hands earlier when I had AsKc and got it all in Against KQ on a flop of KsQs5s when my ace hit on the river.

For the most part I played pretty solid, got decent cards, and got action with them.  I ended up getting 2.86 rakeback from last night so I am now up to 77.36. 

I ended the session up 1.02.  Tomorrow I have a to put in a few hours at work, but should be able to get quite a few hours of play in.

I will probably play about 4 45 minute sessions.  I will get into a couple of PokerOwned freerolls and try a couple 1.00 tournaments.

If I find myself getting bored or playing poorly I'll try to shut it down for a while and find something else to do.  I have a hard time not playing every tournament I can get into on the weekends. 

Introduction

This is the first blog of my efforts to make money at the wonderful game of poker.  I play nl 4.00 holdem right now and low stakes sng's and tournaments.  My bankroll a month ago was at 3.00.  I had a lucky break in a tournament for 50.00 and have been working the cash games since to get up to 73.50 when I left the tables last night. 

Most of the time I 4 table the cash games and buy in for a half a buy in.  I feel like I get more people playing at me when I have a lower stack and can actually get more calls when I have bad hands.

I have been reading the Blueprint of poker.  It has helped to solidify some of my plays and added some new lines I can take when I am playing.

It is almost impossible for me to deposit on Carbon so I will try and use good bankroll management practices to keep building. 

I was going to use 20 buyins at the next level before I move up so I could get out of the 4.00 level quickly, but I will probably go 40 buyins since I cannot add more money to my account.  I play 1.00 tournaments and sng's right now and will only move up if I get to 100 buy ins at the next level. 

Last night I had a bad night and was continuously down all night after my KK did not hold to a Q8.  He hit an 8 on the flow with a J on the board and bet big.  I re-raised and he went all in.  I called to see the Q hit on the turn and lost my first buy in of the night.  From that point on I would go down and come back up but never got above being 3.00 down.  That's the way I ended the night, 3.00 down.  I've had a lot worse nights and the rakeback I should have made after all that play should be around 1.50 to 2.00.

Tonight I will try to play a little better.  I was really loose last night and kept running lower pairs into higher pairs, Q high flushes into K high flushes, low end straights into high end straights, things that I can usually step away from.  Last night I couldn't trust anybody and I paid the price.