Short Winning Session

Hail from last Monday's Storm

This evening we had tournament play in soccer.  We came up against the only team that has beat us this season.  The kids played awesome and we won with a score of 3-0.  We will be in the championship game on Thursday.

By the time I got home and settled in to play poker it was already after 9:00.  The session started out with me getting some awesome starting hands against players willing to risk it all with mediocre holdings.  I lost my AA against A2s all in pre-flop when he rivered a flush.  Other than that my pre-flop and flopped pairs and sets started getting respect and players were folding to me.

After 214 hands I was up a buy in so I decided to call it a night.  Even if I played 800 more hands and evened out at 2 BB per 100, rake back would not get me to this. 

I have downloaded a book about someone hiking the Appalachian Trail.  This will give me some time to read before I go to bed.

Experimentatious. Is That A Word? It Sounds Like A Spell From Harry Potter

When I play online, it seems like all of my tables are hitting at once and when they cool off, they are all cold for a long time.  One table may do differently than the rest but the others are usually the same.  I've never played multiple tables live before so I don't have anything to compare it to.  It just seems to happen that way every day.

It also seems that the hands you win with during the beginning of a session will all lose later in the session.  The software seems to favor the grinders for a while, then favor the donks for a while.

Yesterday I decided to play in whatever style was winning at the time.  During the donk time I did better than during the tight aggressive time, but I could definately see a shift on what was winning throughout the session.  It didn't seem very random. 

It was a very small sample size of 400 hands from yesterday but I ended up being up by 3 buy ins at the end of the session. 

Maybe there's something to it, maybe not.  I'm just a pattern seeker and sometimes what I see is not a pattern at all.  There is probably something more to this than just a pattern and maybe the pattern has nothing to do with the software.  Maybe by switching up my style in the middle of a session I am throwing the other players off.  Maybe in live cards I should play similarly.  Play the style that is winning at the time. 

Maybe I'm just a donk at heart and should play donk poker, I'm pretty good at it.  The hands that I pick to donk with aren't that bad of starting hands, if you can get in the hand inexpensively, with multiple players in the hand.  I usually try to get in below the other players range and draw out on them postflop.  I hate players like me.

More than likely if I tried the same technique again, I'd lose.  I just felt experimentatious yesterday.

Lots of Hands This Weekend

This weekend I played way too many hands of poker.  Saturday I was doing good after a couple thousand hands.  Then crap hit the fan and the next 10 big hands that I played got beat.  I had my first 5 way all in on a table.  I held pocket Kings pre-flop.  The guy that had 10 7 off suit won the hand with a straight on the RIVER.  It was pretty exciting and was a huge pot.  I got a little bit of it back as I had a bigger stack, but not as much as I started the hand with.

With all those losses I went from 3 buy ins up to 3 buy ins down.  I took my mandatory breaks, but each time I got back on the players were worse.  The tables were filled with gamblers and they would call with anything, my hands just wouldn't hold up.  It seemed like an ideal situation, but Lock gives lots of love to the donkeys.  I finally quit playing after my 6 buy in swing for the worse.

Today I didn't play as much.  After 400 hands I was up close to 3 buy ins so I called it a day.  I had other things I needed to do like mow the yard.

This evening we met up with my wife's sister and brother in law and played tennis.  The weather was finally nice and felt like spring.  It was fun, but you don't realize how out of shape you are until you do something like that.  My wife and I are barely able to move around the house now.

After all my play this weekend I am back to where I started before this weekend started.

Raining Aces Kings and Queens

It was approaching the end of my session and it was looking like I was going to have another losing day.  Then all of a sudden I got a flurry of cards.  Aces, Kings and Queens were falling out of the sky.  Maybe not that great but I did have a lot of good cards.  I even had a player go all in against my raise when I held AA.  Even more spectacular.  His J9o did not help him at all.  I went from a half buy in down to a full buy in up by the time I quit after 1000 hands.

Lucky Break

Last night I got off work at 5:00.  That has been a rarity for me.  Another rarity was that I decided to play poker all night.  I started off horribly.  Aces cracked, flopped straights beaten by a drawn flush, etc.  Nobody would fold, and when I had the goods I was getting outdrawn every single time. 

I took a break to cook supper and looked to see how bad it was.  I was down over 5 buy ins.  After supper, I decided that I didn't want to go down any more and I wasn't getting that money back today so I searched for a good tournament to sit in, since I haven't played a tournament at all this month.  There was a 5.00 knockout tournament starting. 

My luck changed in the tournament.  My good hands started holding and I was taking people out collecting bounties.  Towards the end I was 2nd chip leader and played big stack poker, opening up my range and calling or raising attempted bluffs or attempted blind steals.  I was able to take a couple people out with hands that I did not think were good.

On the final two tables my cards cooled way down and I pretty much stayed out of most hands waiting for cards that never came.  On the final table I eventually had to push with mid pair and was called by AK.  The A and another A and a K hit on the flop.  My lucky streak finally ended.

With the NL games, I think I am going to start doing what FlushDraww is doing and set a mandatory break if I get down by a certain amount.  That will do a couple things for me.  If I am tilted, I may recognize it and decide not to play any more.  It will give me a chance to review the hands I have played and see if I am playing bad or not.  It may also be enough time that the players that have been getting me will get off the tables, or I can get a better seat against them.

My mandatory break will be a 1/2 hour and will happen if I get down by 2 buy ins.

Sucker Punched by Pocket Kings

This is hail from our storm last night.

Last night I got to go follow some storms around with my son.  We saw some pretty awesome phenomena in the little bit of time we drove around.  We saw a 1/2 mile wide path of hail that was 6 inches deep.  Fog was lifting off the hail and sucking into the storm following the one that dropped the hail.  The cloud formations were awesome.  Then as we were coming into town we saw a cloud that was being blown so hard it was mushroomed out.  He got some good video on his recorder and I got a few pictures.

Tonight was another losing night.  I lost 2.58 in 1200 hands.  I lost a big one with AA vs KK all in preflop.  I was doing well on 1 table and had doubled my buy in.  This guy raises before me and I three bet.  He goes all in for 6.00.  I called.  The King fell on the flop.

Instead of doing what I used to do and play all fanatical for a while, I continued to play normally.  I had a few more losing battles where my cards did not hold up, so I feel pretty fortunate to only be down 2.58.  One of these days I will win with the best hand and be up 15.00.  I play a lot of hands waiting on that situation and it stings when I lose.  I know it doesn't happen often, but it seems to happen a lot when my stack is bigger.

Bad Players and Couldn't Get a Hand

Tonight would have been a great night to get some cards.  I had bet happy players on all of my tables gunning for me.  Bad thing was, I couldn't catch a hand.  The times I did have a hand the action would die and everyone would fold.  I may have been playing a little too tight.  My VPIP on the tables was between 10 to 14.  It didn't stop the one guy that cracked my Aces with a rivered 3 of a kind.  Or the guy that landed his straight on the river against my trip 9's. 

It could have been worse.  After 1050 hands I was down 5.77.  I was down 9.63 at one time. 

I saw all that action and I wanted to get involved.  Most of the time I was patient and was waiting for a hand, but there were a few times that I called a raise with a mid pocket pair only to be squeezed out of the pot by a pot sized 3 bet.  That actually happened quite a few times tonight, costing me quite a bit.

I guess after 5 good days I was due for a bad day.  Now it's time for my end of the month heater!

Good 5 Days.

For the second time this month I am above break even for the month.  The first time was the first day of the month.  Then I went on a 6 day losing streak that has been tough to come back from.  Four out of the last 5 days have been winning days.  The day I lost was .02 so I count that as a win with the number of hands I played.

Today I played 750 hands for a profit of 4.68.  I was down by a half a buy in within the first 100 hands.  I worked my way out of the whole within the next 100 hands and then had a set over set situation where I had K's and he had 7's for a full stack.  I gradually lost chips for the next several hundred hands until I ran into a guy that was playing really aggressive when I bet. 

Too bad for him I had the goods each time.  My final hand before he left the table was AA.  I did a standard raise, knowing that the 3-bet was coming.  I 4-bet and he went all in this time.  He held 8s9s.  The board did not help him and the Aces were good.

I played another 100 hands.  I wasn't getting any more cards so I called it a night. 

Should I Bet the Flop Here?

This was a very aggressive table as you can see by the number of calls I got when 3 betting.  With the ace hitting the flop I figured somebody had to have an ace but I had outs with any heart and possibly one of the 2 kings left.   

Revolution Gaming Network - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $2.62
UTG (UTG): $1.63
BTN (BTN): $3.82
SB (SB): $6.03

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Dealt to Hero:  KhKs

UTG raises to $0.08, BTN calls $0.08, SB calls $0.06, Hero raises to $0.48, UTG calls $0.40, BTN calls $0.40, SB calls $0.40

Flop ($1.92, 4 players):   2hAh7h
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG raises to $1.15, fold, SB calls $1.15, Hero raises to $2.14, SB calls $0.99

Hero shows KhKs
 (One Pair, Kings)
(Pre 59%, Flop 36%, Turn 24%)

UTG shows  Ac5s
(One Pair, Aces)
(Pre 24%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)

SB shows  2d2s
(Three of a Kind, Twos)
(Pre 17%, Flop 61%, Turn 76%)

Turn ($7.35, 3 players): 10d

River ($7.35, 3 players): 4d

SB wins $1.85

SB wins $5.01

Never Above Break Even

This morning we had 4 soccer games between the 2 boys.  We got back around 2:00.  I loaded up the tables and played 1250 hands.  I hit a wall and couldn't play anymore after that. 

I started out horribly and by 300 hands in I was down by 2 buy ins.  I was playing pretty poorly.  Over the next 600 hands I worked my way back to even.  Then I hit trip K's in the small blind, only to be out kicked by the big blind.  It took me 300 more hands to get back to even and I just didn't feel like playing any more after that.

Should I Fold This Hand?

Tonight I played 900 hands and had a profit of 3.13.  In between sessions I had a good conversation with one of my neighbors.  He's led a really interesting life.  Just hearing about a part of it makes me want to do more with my life.

 He owns his own business.  I've always wanted to be an entrepreneur and have been close to jumping in a couple of times.  The older I get the less I want to take risks, but that is a risk I would still be willing to take if the right opportunity comes along.

This hand came up and I wondered if I should call.  With the type of bet he made it was easy to fold, but should have I called?

Villain had a VPIP of 41, Flop AFq of 36.  I was in the BB.

Hand#3301019840000958 - Rome (6-max) 19840 -- $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em -- 2013/04/19 - 18:38:53
Dealer: Seat 2
Seat 1: Villain ($7.32 in chips)
Seat 2: Elchapo123 ($1.99 in chips)
Seat 3: TimetoDime ($3.82 in chips)
Seat 10: Hero ($4.24 in chips)
Seat 3: posts small blind $0.02
Hero: posts big blind $0.04
Dealt to Hero [Qs,Qd]
Villain: calls $0.04
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: folds
Hero: raises to $0.14
Villain: calls $0.10
*** FLOP *** [8h,4h,5d]
Hero: bets $0.30
Villain: is all in $7.18
Hero: folds
Villain: returns uncalled bet $6.88
***SHOW DOWN***
Villain: mucks
Villain wins $0.84

All But Debt Free

The last 2 nights I was able to play a little bit of poker.  The first night was around 120 hands for 1.00 profit and last night was 350 hands for 2.50 profit. 

I could have gotten in several hundred more hands as I am only playing when I have time to play now.  I quit early because I did not feel that I would end any better than that for the 2 nights, and if I didn't need to put in a long night to get those numbers I could just take the win and relax the rest of the evening.

Last night we drove 25 minutes to have a soccer game in 42 degree weather with 25 mph winds.  We got there and the other team did not have enough players to play so we got to come back home early. 

Tonight we will have 6 of my sister in law's kids until they get home from a track meet.  Saturday we have 4 soccer games between my 2 boys. 

I was thinking of driving 4 hours to my parents to pick up my riding mower, but I think I'll be ready for a restfull stay at home. 

Next Saturday will be the end of soccer.  I'm not sure how long I have after that before T-ball and Machine Pitch start up.  I won't be coaching either of those, I hope.  I think those games are all in town, so I don't mind going to those, plus I won't have the stress of trying to get everybody equal playing time and winning at the same time that I have had with soccer.

On a good note, I am all but debt free again.  I made a large payment on my truck with our tax return.  I could have paid it completely off, but I had purchased it on a low interest personal line of credit.  I left a little bit on there to show I have active revolving credit.  My payment will be like 50.00 for another 12 months with very little interest.

I had been making very large payments to have it paid off a year and a half after I bought it.  That money will now be going into savings.

Holy Crazy Life!

Has it been a week since I last posted? 

I wasn't in jail. 

I just failed to get back on here once I returned to the normal world.  Still recovering.

The bachelor party was great.  I got up Friday morning at 4:30 AM to pack and drive to Wichita to pick up the first accomplice.  We were on the road from there shortly after 8:00 AM on our way to Ponca City, OK to pick up the organizer of madness.  We joked around and had a good time the whole way to the lake.

We arrived at the cabin around 2:00 and cracked open a beer the minute we stepped out of the truck.  The rocky mountain goodness set the pace for the rest of the trip. 

We met with the owner and were not sure if we really liked him or were scared of him.  He would say whatever he was thinking, and I mean whatever.  He had let us know up front, that he was like that due to a head injury, so we knew what to expect a little. 

We got our rooms picked and went to unload the boat to get started fishing.  The boat wouldn't start.  We eventually found out the battery was dead so the owner let us borrow one of his batteries until the bachelor and accomplice 2 arrived with a new battery.

We fished for a couple hours.  The other 2 had arrived, so we met back at the cabin and began the party. 

Several shots and beers dissapearred.  We decided to go to town to get some food.  We ate at an awesome bar and grill that had the best burger I've ever had.  We had more shots and beers at the bar.  The mixture was working well and almost took down accomplice 1.  He rallied and hit the water.  The waitress was on board with the bachelor party and grabbed accomplice 2 and boobed his face. 

After the boob face experience the groom decided to get in the spirit and drove us to a gentleman's club.  He no longer drinks, but likes to get the rest of us beyond repair.  We dropped some 1's and had a great time.  Apparently that club was so much fun we took off to find another.  We got lost and ran into a casino.  Why not? 

We went in to find the tightest slots I've ever seen.  I got lucky and hit a small jackpot for a 100.00 right before we left.  Not bad.  The rest of the party didn't have any luck.

We got back to the cabin and started fishing off the dock for catfish.  We broke a few off, but never got any in.  I was tired from getting up 20 some hours earlier so I went to bed.  The rest of them continued to fish.  I don't think they ever got one in.

The next morning we were all up early to go out fishing on the boat.  We had all gotten fish after a few hours and headed back to the cabin.  We decided to take a trip to town to find a liquor store.  On the way one of the guys suggested a shot n run.  We stopped at a biker bar, had a shot and continued on our way.  We found a liquor store then ended up going back to the bar for several hours.

We got back to the cabin and a couple of the guys laid down, so the other 3 of us headed to another casino.  The line at the cashout place was long so I suggested we go around with my 20.00 and play max credits until I hit big or bust. 

We continued to go from slot to slot hitting up to 100.00, down to 20.00 up to 100.00 down to 20.00 for over an hour before we finally busted out.

At the cabin 1 of the guys was still asleep.  The other was already drinking again and insisted we catch up.  We gave it a valliant effort, but he was just too far ahead.

Sunday we woke up to high winds and decided to pack up and head back.

Monday we had soccer, Tuesday we had 9 kids at the house and last night we cooked for 40 teenagers at the church youth group, so I haven't had a chance to relax or update.  Tonight we have soccer again. 
 

Don't Play When I'm Short On Time

I learned a painful valuable lesson yesterday.  Don't play when I'm short on time.  It doesn't work with my style of play now.  When I play I am playing to make money over the course of the whole session, not in a hand or two. 

Yesterday we had a 2 hour delay at school so I thought that meant to play some poker.  First there were only 3 tables running.  Bad sign.  Second, after I got the kids ready for school there was not a lot of time.  Third, I had no stats on the players I was playing.  I figured out quickly that most of the players were horrible at that time of the morning, gambling and not paying attention.  They got paid by me several times as they hit on hands I would not even consider playing, let alone raising out of position, and calling a 3 bet.

Last night I decided to get back on and see what I could get back by playing patiently and correctly.  It was the most rollercoaster night I have ever had.  Up and Down and Up and Down.  My goal was if I was up by 2 buy ins, I would call it a night.  I got close about 10 times over 1000 hands but never could cross over.  Every time I was a dollar or two away I would get chased down or just plain beat. 

It was getting close to end time for me and I was up over a buy in for the session so I called it a night.

Tonight, I start getting ready for the bachelor party weekend at Grand Lake, Oklahoma.  I have to hook up the boat and get all of my gear packed for the weekend.  Tomorrow I will head out around 6:15 in the morning to make the 7 hour drive.

Next week I will work Monday, be off Tuesday due to no babysitter, work Wednesday, then Thursday and Friday I will be taking off again to go looking for storms. 

This is going to be like a vacation with a little work thrown in.

When Will I Listen To FlushDraww

I did.  I was doing good.  Way better than expected.  I was up over 3 buy ins and calling it a night.  The last hand came up and I had QQ.  I get 3 bet from a solid player.  He has a 3 bet of 8 but I knew an AA KK were a good portion of that but only about 50% of his 3 bets.  He also had a lot of A high in his stats.  I did what any good moron would do and called out of position.  Needless to say his KK was good and I lost half my stack to him.

Other than that I ran exceptionally good and ended up over 2 bb's up over 800 hands.  I lowered my starting hand range, really payed attention to stats and played position all the time.  Besides the last hand.  I was greedy.  Flush may just drive down here and whop me upside the head, but besides the one hand I played a nearly flawless game. 

I made 1 questionable fold with a JJ.  It was probably the right play but thought I would ask how you would have played it. 

Hand#3291019858000406 - Rome (6-max) 19858 -- $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em -- 2013/04/08 - 23:38:13
Dealer: Seat 2
Seat 1:  ($4 in chips)
Seat 2:  ($5.90 in chips)
Seat 3:  ($4.37 in chips)
Seat 8:  ($8.62 in chips)
Seat 9: Hero ($3.93 in chips)
Seat 10: ($3.93 in chips)
Seat 3: posts small blind $0.02
Seat 8: posts big blind $0.04
Dealt to Hero [Js,Jd]
Hero: raises to $0.14
Everyone folds
Seat 3: raises to $1.52
Hero: folds

Villain had a 37% VPIP, PR 11, 3B 18, Flop AFq 57, Turn AFq 57, CB 100.  3 bet range after 122 hands is KK, 33, A10o, J7o

Soccer Boat Tornadoes and a UFO Sighting

What?

Today was a great day to be outside, so that's what I did, all day.  Soccer was first on the agenda this morning as both boys had games.  The game I was coaching was against the other town team, and is a pretty big deal around here. 

We started out down 2-0 in the first couple minutes of the game.  Everybody had to have thought, "Oh Crap, this guy doesn't know the first thing about coaching."  I made some quick changes in the lineup as it was an important game!  We went on a 4-0 run.  They scored 1 more goal toward the end of the game but we came out on top again.  The kids were really excited as they didn't think we could beat the other team before the game started. 

My younger son's team won as well.  We have some work to do with him.  He went to his spot the coach had told him to stand and it was like an act of congress to get him to move from that spot.  I worked with him at half to move with the ball.  Hopefully it helped.  I had to leave right after that to get ready for the other game.

After soccer I came home and pulled the boat out of the garage to wash it and get it ready for next weekend.  It took a while to get it to fire up.  It always does the first time in spring.  Once it starts that first time it's been good for the rest of the season.  I bought some seafoam to put in with the new gas when I fill it up.  It's supposed to help clean the gunk that has built up in the engine.  I got a recommendation from a couple marine mechanics to put it in to clean up the mess that ethanol has done to my motor.

It was so nice out I cleaned up the garage and then decided to spread weed n feed on our yard.  We are expecting some rain Monday and Tuesday to wash the fertilizer in.  It sounds like it could be pretty severe storms and they are predicting a tornado outbreak in our area.

I stayed outside into the evening.  After dark around 9:30 I saw a strange red glow in the sky.  I was on the phone with Mom so I asked her to go outside and see if she saw it where they are at 4 hours away.  I thought it might be a planet.  Then it moved.  First one way, then another.  Just like that it shot off and disappeared. 

A few minutes later I was talking to Dad about a bow that I am thinking about purchasing.  The red glow came back, quite a ways away from where I had originally seen it.  This time my neighbor was walking by and noticed it.  He called me over.  I told him what I had seen just a few minutes earlier.  We watched as it was getting closer to us.  Then it started getting further away again.  It started kind of flickering.  All of a sudden it started getting closer to the ground.  As it did the red glow was not as bright but it got increasingly larger until it got so low we couldn't see it anymore.  It came down fast.

My neighbor said he's never seen anything like it in the 61 years he's been alive.

We kept watching the sky but never saw it come back up.

After that I came inside to play some poker.  I got in 836 hands for a loss of .27.  I am feeling pretty good about my play right now.

What Do I Do In This Situation - Hand History

Here is a hand in tonight's session that I am unsure how to play correctly.  Villain was on the button and had a 35% VPIP, 14% PFR, 50 Flop AFq, 50 Turn AFq, 0 3 bet.  I have played against him less than 100 hands.

Hand#3289019869000245 - Rome (6-max) 19869 -- $0.02/$0.04 NL Hold'em -- 2013/04/06 - 23:23:33
Dealer: Seat 10
Seat 1: hero ($4.16 in chips)
Seat 2: ($7.42 in chips)
Seat 3:  ($5.17 in chips)
Seat 8:  ($1.32 in chips)
Seat 9:  ($2.33 in chips)
Seat 10: villain ($3.72 in chips)
hero: posts small blind $0.02
Seat 2: posts big blind $0.04
Dealt to hero [Qh,Qc]
Seat 2: folds
Seat 3: calls $0.04
Seat 4: calls $0.04
Villain: raises to $0.16
hero: raises to $0.60
Seat 3: folds
Seat 4: folds
madchen: folds
wtflan87: calls $0.44
*** FLOP *** [Kh,8d,3s]
Hero: bets $0.66
Villain: is all in $3.12
Hero: folds
Villain: returns uncalled bet $2.46
***SHOW DOWN***
Villain: mucks
Villain wins $2.47

Should have I 3 bet him?  Should I have bet on the flop, if so, how much?  Or should have I checked, with the assumption that he was going to bet due to his 50 Flop AFq?

2000 Hand Night.

Tonight I was down again and ready to quit.  I pushed on not willing to quit when I hit my low point.  I was down 10.00 again.  I ended up being down a bit more before I gradually came back to being down by 4.00 when I quit after another 1000 hands.  That's a little less of a hit.  With rakeback I even showed a slight profit. 

I felt more confident playing tonight after I hit my low point.  I relaxed and think I played correctly for the remainder of the session.  I hope I can keep playing like that, because I'm sure for the first time since I started playing NL, that I was playing the way I should.

Losing Faith in the Game

The last 2 nights I have quit at the absolute worst times, as I was down 10.00 in NL both nights.  I was only ahead at 1 point last night and that was for a few milliseconds.  I'm playing horrible and need to concentrate on playing better.  10.00 was the most I was down either night and I quit at that point.  I probably should have quit before or after that, but that is the time I had set to be done.  It just happened that I took a big hit both nights right as I was getting ready to quit.  I even remember the hands.  Last night it was another dollar lost as some guy goes all in on a A high flop.  I had KK and couldn't justify calling in that spot against that player.  So I would have only been down 9.00 which was still my low for the night before the last hand.

It would have taken hours to get some of that back and I didn't feel like playing NL any longer.

It is aggrevating having players hit and run all the time.  They do that, then half the table leaves destroying the dynamics of the table.  I am constantly having to close and move to new tables in order to keep playing. 

It also astounds me at the number of times players that play 75%+ of all hands hit with their junk cards when you have a good starting hand.  Is loose passive at all profitable for these players.

Last night I let my cards ride too long and ended up getting caught by the river, trying to string a player along when I hit the nut flop.  The turn and river would change the hand and it seemed they always had the exact cards they needed to win.  Frustrating.

After giving up on NL I decided to play SNG's.  They were slow filling up but I got several of them going.  By the end of the night, I did nothing in those and lost even more money.  I thought in 1 I would do o.k.  There was a guy going all in every hand.  I waited for the right cards and called for a double up.  I waited again and the next 4 times I lost to his all in and was taken out of the game. 

I need to keep my emotions in check.  That stuff is going to happen and there's nothing I can do about it but try to get in with the best hand and hang on.  It sucks when someone relies on luck and is lucky.  I can't rely on luck as my luck kind of stinks.  

Time to study more.

It seems to me that gambler's are rewarded kindly on the site, while grinders are not gifted anything and nobody is making money except the house.

Can't I Just Win Every Night?

Tonight I put in a long session of 2000 hands.  I think that's too many.  It was disheartening to be up by 9 dollars then get sucked out on a bunch of times to be down by 9.00 to grind my way back up to being up 7.00 to get super donked out on to end the night down by 10.00.

I can't take it.  Waiting for a premium hand like a straight or 3 of a kind to hit to have it sucked out on the river with complete crap that should have never been in the hand to begin with.  I see the same donks being rewarded night after night, raising with Q6o and nailing a full house on the flop against others KK or whatever else cards are played. 

It's worse when 3 of them get on the same table.  There's no hope for a decent hand to stand up against their crap hands.

Tonight could have been worse.  I could have flipped out and started calling every raise that was thrown at me.  Which is every hand. 

My Ax hands were all losers tonight.  Most of the time they are break even or winners between all of them, making them worth playing so that I can get some action when I get a better hand.  Every time I had an Ax hand it blanked or was completely dominated tonight.

Donkey Test

I was reading Patrick's blog Down the Rabbit Hole with Pocket Aces about the Donkey test and had to try it.  It gives you certain scenario's dealing with different hands in different positions at different buy ins, etc.  At the end it scores you. 

I scored a 100. 

60 - 74	Donkey (Expected to lose quickly in all games)
75 - 89	Donator (Expected to lose in all games)
90 - 109	Average Player (Expected to lose slowly in raked games, break even in homegames)
110 - 119	Low Stakes Winner (Wins at 100 NL and lower)
120 - 129	Medium Stakes Cash Pro / Tournament Pro (Wins at 200-600 NL and tournament poker)
130 - 144	High Stakes Pro (Wins at 1K NL+)
145 - 159	Poker Genius

At first I thought I scored 115 but that was a sample of their profile score.  The other rankings for the sample profile looked correct as it showed a high tournament score and low score for playing high pocket pairs correctly. 

It's definately an interesting test. 

On Fire, Frozen, On Fire

Our soccer game Monday night was cold and windy.  I was hoping it would be cancelled it was so poor of weather.  It wasn't so as soon as I got off work we rushed down to Oklahoma and arrived 2 minutes until game time.

Some of my team didn't show but we had enough to play so we warmed up and got started.  The drills we worked on last week seemed to help a lot and the kids were kicking the ball around the other players, passing, and scoring like they were an age group above what they really are. 

Most of my kids are 7 playing U8 ball so it was good to see them competing so well.  It started to rain at the end of the 3rd quarter and the refs were freezing so they asked if we would call the game.  We were up 7-0 so it was an easy one to call.

Our next game is tomorrow night.

The last few nights I have gotten in some poker.  I was doing good.  I was up the first 2 nights for a couple buy ins.  Last night I started out on fire and was quickly up over 2 buy ins.  I knew it was just a matter of time before the chasers got their way so I decided to quit for the night.  I should have but I didn't.  After  a little break I got back to playing and instantly had 4 horrible suckouts against me. 

I had gotten it all in on the turn twice against a player that was playing 74% of the hands.  I held AA and KK.  The kings gave me a set.  Both times he sucked out a flush on the river holding 36 suited.  Before I knew it I was over 2 buy ins down for the night due to this idiot, moron, rewarded donk. 

At that point I closed out that table and any others he was on and opened new tables.  About 500 hands later I was up close to a buy in again.  Why can't I win against these wreckless idiots that just want to give their money away?  Why do they catch every time they call large bets on a chase?   

This time I did shut down for good.

It's crazy how often my Aces and Kings get cracked, but when I look at my stats for the last month they are by far my biggest winners for starting hole cards.

Rested and Refreshed

I was expecting to take Friday off and have a 3 day weekend.  With work being so hectic last week, that was not going to happen.  Instead I ended up getting off work to late on Friday to head North.  I stayed home and played poker and packed instead.  I got in close to 700 hands and made a half a buy in. 

I've got to have major self control to continue to play NL profitably.  If I make 1 big mistake it will cost me a profit for the night.  So far each month so far of playing NL has ended in a loss.  I still think I can make a profit at the game.  It is also helping me in tournaments and sng's by learning what I am at NL.

Saturday morning I got up and drove 4 hours North to meet the Pastor that was baptising our daughter on Sunday.  He asked us several questions about what we thought baptism was and why we wanted to have our daughter baptized.  Then he went over scripture on baptism explaining what his beliefs were.

It was very informational and way more than I was expecting.  I'm glad he took the time to go through it all with us as it gave us a better understanding of what we were doing and our responsibilities as parents.

After meeting with him, we went back to Mother in Law's house.  Everybody was outside enjoying the weather, hitting golf balls and grilling.  Dad came by and picked me up to head to the lake.

We fished for a few hours with no success and headed back into town to visit my Grandmother, cousins, aunt, and uncle. 

When we got back to my Mother in Law's, I was wiped out. 

The next morning we had the baptism during Easter Sunday church service.  It was a long service but I always enjoy church there.  It seems like the Sermon's stick with me for a long time after I go there.  The Pastor is great at conveying the message.

After church I met up with my parents and headed to another lake that we can usually catch fish at.  This time was different.  Maybe the weather was too nice.  I had 1 fish on and all the way to bank before it got off and swam away.  That was my only bite of the day.

My parents took off at a reasonable time and I drove around checking new places out for a while too long.  I didn't get home until late last night.

I feel rested and refreshed after a crazy week last week.

Tonight we may have soccer games.  It's cold windy and rainy outside.  I'm hoping they get cancelled as nobody should have to be out in this weather.