9/29/07 turneys

Just played 3 turneys then got out of the mood to play:

$50 PS - 287/1250 Short the whole turney lost AQ vs TT
$50 FTP - 154/378 Played with Chip Jett I think he sucks. Lost AQ vs AK on an A high flop I might've been able to get away from this hand but I decided not to.
$10r PS - 637/1617 made a +ev play and lost

I'll probably play a bit more in a bit.

Played 3 more turneys no cashes:

$50 PS - 561/960 had AQ vs JJ with a bunch of overlay in the pot
$50 FTP - 232/872 Did a move didn't work out
$30 PS - 316/408 made a stupid call with 2 over + oesd vs AA for my stack

The 50k turneys are pretty sweet they seem to be getting overlay every night.

Finished the 3-month deal with 'MT' +$171.73 on it so not great but not terrible. I set up another 1 month deal with him.

9/29/07 10 hour session

10 hour session, didn't plan on it, havn't played one this long in a while - or at least where I've noticed it. Turney Results:

$10r PS - 511/1533
$5r PS - 631/2142 went out with 66 vs AK on a AK6xA board AI on turn.
$10 1r 1a PS - 57/558 bubbled again
$10r PS - 207/1521 A9 vs J9
$8 PS - 941/1406
$50 PS - 629/809 spaced out and made a big mistake PF
$15 PS - 172/360
$50 PS - 866/989
$25 PS - 108/1261
$24 FTP - 111/1073 Made 2 big mistakes vs the same guy.
$50 UB - 13/77 bubbled FT - not ITM
$50 FTP - 304/892
$24 FTP - 378/1092
$10 FTP - 73/348 AJ vs QJ AI on J high flop
$10 PS - 1699/2309
$2r turbo sat PS - 82/329 Good value but I wasted too much $$ on this

Total for today: ($380.06)
Total Since blog started: $760.98

Oh, also I sent $100 to stake a guy in the wcoop ME - we'll see how that goes. PT's deal isn't going so well he's down under $400 - he's optimistic I'm less so, we'll see how it finishes.

Few things I need to do better: Be more selectful in what I play, concentrate better. Give a couple of lines more respect.

Overall, I was satisfied with how I played except for a couple of brain farts which ended badly.

9/28/07 Random thoughts

Alright so I'm playing and thinking about random stuff so I'll post some of it.

I donate 10% of my winnings to charity, however, one of the places I was going to donate said they'd prefer to get stuff like iPods and shit from my FPP rather than $$. I was happy about this since it saves me $$ because I never use those points. Yesterday, 2 iPods came in the mail and the 8gb nano is awesome. I'm almost tempted to get one myself but I know I wouldn't use it. There's also a wii coming in the mail! I don't know why I'm so excited to get stuff I won't use but I am.

I logged into AP for the first time in a while and noticed I had enough points for a wireless mouse so I ordered it. My mouse right now totally sucks I'm not sure why. Hopefully it'll come sooner rather than later.

Umm yeah I was going to write something else but I lost my train of thought oh well. Just had belowabove at my table in the $10r . . . changed tables.

9/28/07 Turneys all day!

W00t! Finished 3rd in the 25k on stars. Sickest turney I've ever played - I hit 2 1 outers along with maybe 5-6 other suckouts. Just incredible luck from the last 70 till the end.

All the turneys I played:
$10 UB - 140/157
$10 FTP - 101/235
$15 PS - 50/360 - bubbled I guess
24 FTP - 139/549
$10 PS - 643/2290
$24 FTP - 233/1056 bubbled
$25 PS - 3/1303
$5r - 1251/1866
$3r - 707/2452
$10 1r 1a - 120/522 bubbled

Total for today: $2,238.33
Total since blog started: $1,141.04

I actually won 2 days in a row, wtf is going on? OK, so $50 turneys are back in. Gonna start playing some more $100NL as well - hopefully with less tilt/bad play.

Oh, I was checking out my stats today so I'll post them here:

# of tournaments: 1,671
ROI%: 85.4%
ITM%: 14.8%
FT%: 4.1%
avg buyin: $61.32
avg entrants: 895.81

9/26/07 Tournaments

Yay! Finally won something. Only played 5 tournaments 2 at 10am and 3 at 11pm:

$24 FTP - 214/381
$24 FTP - 173/587 this was 6-max. I did alright in the beggining but I don't think my 6-handed game is very good for long periods of time when it not on the FT with $$ involved. I just don't pay attention enough and then I either get too aggressive or too passive.
$30 PS - 124/411 This sucked I got KK vs 88 AI PF and lost to cripple me. Other than that I played well.
$10 FTP - 1/213 Yep I took it down. 3-handed lasted forever (maybe an hour) I had a nice chip lead from about 12 left forward. The key hand was when I won AJo vs AKo vs A7o for about 1/3 of my stack against 2 shorties when there were ~16 left. Last hand was A6o vs K9o - I min-raised OTB he 3xed I pushed he called. Comparably the HU match took no time - maybe 10 hands.
$8r PS - 74/880 I woulda much rather won this this morning, but alas it wasn't meant to be. I lost with AA vs A8s for 90% of my stack (I was top 15 at the time).

I'm going to start color coding my tournament results.
Green = Win
Blue = FT
Red = Cash

I'm glad I got pokerstove. Though I've been playing for like 3 years now I hadn't gotten it cause I didn't see the point, but it's helpful in analyzing certain situations. Here's one that I played in the $8r:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1523012

I wasn't sure if the call here is good after I made it. So I did a pokerstove on it and I'm a 51% favorite if his range is AK, JJ+. It's not even a terrible call if he only has JJ+ since it's pretty much even money.

Good day I guess.

Total today: $468.21
Total since blog started: ($1097.29)

Oh yeah and the deal with 'MT' is ending in 3 days I'll hammer out a new agreement with him. He's a good player just has a bit more to learn, fast learner also. I think I'll only make $150 or something from staking him for the last 3 months which isn't as high as I was hoping, but it's better than losing.

9/25/07 Tuesday live play

Just got back from my live game. Played from 7:00pm till 1:30am (total 6.5 hours) and I made $254 at 1/2NL which is alright.

9/25/07 A little online play

Played 3 tournaments didn't cash no surprise:

$13+2 bounty UB - 132/180 I busted with KK vs JTo vs 67s on a 9s 8h 4s with 2 spades flop. I was probably around even $$ all-in 3 ways cause there was a bunch of dead $$ in the pot. Oh well.
$5 winner takes all HU PS - 12/64 lost in the third round after I took a nice lead and lost it and then got coolered.
$50 PS - 1014/1285 don't remember how I busted probably bad play.

Total: ($76.8)
Total since blog started: ($1565.50)

My BR is spread thing so I won't play any more $50 turneys till I start doing alright again.

Gonna go play my tuesday night homegame. I like it - should be fun.

9/24/07 Turneys all day

Well came home played two turneys, nothing much on any of the sites:

$50 UB - 21/86 lost on a flip.
$8 PS - 708/1219 lost on a play I saw on TV. You can learn things from watching you just have to know how to interpret them. The situation was actually pretty bad for it - oh well, only an $8 turney.

Gonna take a break come back in an hour and play some more turneys.

Stupid me: I lent $50 to a guy last week, stupid because I knew he wouldn't pay me back for like a month - but I'm trying to use the guy to get into some good cash games around town. I really need to start playing 2/5 live. Playing 1/2NL live with an 8k roll is a bit ridiculous. There's a 'charity' game that I want to go to (runs 2-3 times a month from thursday-monday) - it's like an hour away though and I haven't nailed down it's exact location. I should probably do that.

Alright well it's 1:30am right now but I finished like 2-3 hours ago. So I had a bad day - again. I hate downswings :p.

I played 6 tournaments (6-tabling):
$24 FTP - 225/1074 Went from a good stack to out in 2 hands, almost busted Huckelberry Seed as well, but it wasn't meant to be.
$10 FTP - 18/370 Same tourney I finished 14th in yesterday, dissapointing.
$25 PS - 345/1396 This tournament was going well finished 1st hour with ~13k in chips then dumped off 11k in about 5 hands in retarded ways. Doubled up and was on my way, busted - don't remember how but I didn't deserve cashing/winning.
$30+5 bounty UB - 108/271 I knocked out 1 person but nothing else happened.
$10 PS - 810/2458 I don't remember how I lost, but I need to FT one of these.
$10 1r 1a PS - 68/599 I bubbled this for the 2nd day in a row.

Total for the day: ($175.55)
Total since start of Blog: ($1488.70)

So, obviously not going great, kind of going backwards. I'll stay off the cash games for a while and continue the tournaments. I'm bound to start playing better sooner or later.

9/23/07 Turneys in the morning Cash at night

Alright, so I just finished my tournament session. I played 8 tournaments and Here's how I did:

$20 UB - 90/101 I don't remember how I busted.
$24 FTP - 51/478 I bubbled this when I called a SB push in BB with TT and lost to K9o
$20 PS - 159/1335 I lost with TP vs flush draw, it was an up/down turney and I don't think I was aggro enough
$10 FTP - 14/301 Lost when I tried a resteal. Definitely became a pussy when it got down to about 30. IDK I needed to up my aggressions but just sat back and let my CL dwindle away.
$20 1r 1a PS - 462/566 didn't get to break so didn't add-on I busted this on 'tilt' it was really stupid.
$8r PS - 364/1042 spent $48.8 on this so not terrible. I don't remember how I busted but I think I got sucked out on.
$100 PS - 46/80 I busted when I lost to a gutshot. I played it mostly because it was early morning and I didn't recognize anyone in it.

Total tournies: ($234.65)

I liked the way I played except for the end stages of the $10 and my retardedness in the $20 1r 1a.

Also, I gambled away I think $20 on HU matches pushing ATC till I either won or lost. I won 1/3. So that's like -$22. I need to stop doing shit like this.

A couple of other things happened this morning: I got paid back $600 of 1.2k that I loaned a guy with the rest hopefully on it's way soon. I xferred $447.5 to FTP via a friend, bought 3% of his action in the 1k wcoop as well.

I'll update this post after I play the cash game. I want to get in ~1k hands I'll take at least a 5 minute break after the first 500 hands.

Just played 400-some hands and lost 5 buyins. It's ridiculous. Mostly cause I suck. I'm gonna play another session of turneys than kill myself.

Total: ($525)

Just finished my tournament session - it went great, didn't cash at all!

$10 1r 1a PS - 82/663 Went from healthy stack to bust in 2 hands - gotta love it.
$30+5 bounty UB - 81/384 I suck at remembering details but I was doing well for a long time and I actually won 3 bounties meaning I only lost $23 on this turney.
$25 PS - 940/1505
$10 PS - 1395/3122
$50 PS - 269/1133 Lost because of these lovely hands:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1513465
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1513457

Total: ($147.50)

I want to discuss 2 hands that I played in the $50 because a) I liked my thought process and b) they look retarded but aren't.

Hand 1 - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1513367
This looks like a very stupid call in this spot but I wouldn't have raised had I not been prepared to make it. I know that Gator93 is a good 2+2er. I'm in a spot where I can basically be stealing with any two cards - none of the guys behind me can do anything without a real hand. However, I understand that gator understands this, and I was fairly sure that he was ready to 'resteal' here with a very wide range - so I raised enough to allow him to think he had folding equity when in fact he didn't.

Hand 2 - http://www.pokerhand.org/?1513457
This just looks like the most bizzare play ever. Why would I limp/call with K5o for 90% of my stack doesn't make too much sense. OK, well it folded to me I have K5 so my option are pretty wide open. 1) I can fold - this felt too weak so I rejected it, 2) I can limp - the BB is very aggressive so I'm probably not going to actually see a flop and have to call a raise or a push, 3) I can raise a STD amount to 1.8k-2.4k - I didn't like this option because I do have to fold to a push, 4) I can push - I don't like pushing K5o here for reasons I don't want to get into right now.

So from all the above options I think most people would choose fold or push. I thought about it and decided that if I limp 1) there's maybe a 25% chance I see the flop and 2) let's see what kind of raise he makes. As soon as I limp BB pushes. Well it just didn't seem right he pushes? Is he pushing AK/AQ/AA-QQ probably not, but I felt he'd push a lot of hands that I'm a 'slight favorite against. As it happened I was right and unfortunately lost. It happens.

Good news: Staked another player 'PT' for 1k for the next month.
Bad news: Not gonna have enough on stars to play 100NL
eh news: Gonna play mostly tounaments.

Upcoming: My first staking deal with 'MT' is ending on the 30th that will free up about 1k plus w/e I get from his winnings. I'm excited about my deal with 'PT'. I'm feeling good about my 3rd deal with 'JM' - I'm not expecting to make a huge amount from JM but I'm fairly sure it'll be +.

Looks like my own staking arrangements for WSOP 08 might fall through won't know for a couple more months. I'd like to go out there either way.


Winnings: ($907.15)

Great way to start the blog!

9/22/07 Satellite hell - Goals for this year

After being busy all day I decided when I got home I'd play satellites till I won a seat to the wcoop 1k event. Well, I played 17 of them and cashed 1 for a net profit of -$406 which is a bit ridiculous. Luckily I saved like $20 by buyin $w320 for $300. Eh, at least it saved some time. Needless to say I didn't win a seat. Probably would've been smarter to just get staked but I've developed an ego since April which I need to work down. Having everyone tell me I'm great isn't good I wish they'd stop and call me on all my mistakes instead.

I'll include some extra stuff in this post just cause it's ongoing and upcoming. I staked a guy I tutored for a while for 3 months with 2k that's going to expire on 9/30 right now it looks like he's up a few hundred so that's good. I think he's making some mistakes in his end game which I'll have to talk to him about (I thought he was being too aggressive based on what he was saying but after watching him I think he's being too passive). I'm also staking another guy at UB for 1k - we'll see how that turns out he plays quite a bit, I'm staking him for 3 months too but it ends 12/17 I believe (I'd have to look but I'm lazy).

Another, ongoing thing is that I'm playing 100NL FR. Why? Cause I decided to I guess. I wanted to see if I was +ev and I guess I am. My goal was 5PTBB/100 (i.e. 1 buyin [$100] per 100 hands) I think I'm running significantly less than that right now cause I had 2 sessions of bad play/tilt. I'm 6-8 tabling at a time and I'm ~17.5k hands into it. I was only going to play 20k hands but I think I'll instead play till I win 20 buyins and then move up to 200NL. I might not move up but that's something I'll have to decide.

I'm also playing live more often working up to next years WSOP. I've turned 500 into 8k in about 2.5 months so it's going well, I want to get out to a casino sometime soon though. Oh, and I'm moving to NYC hopefully in 1.5 months so it'll cut down on my poker time.

Lastly, I have been considering myself a tournament player for the last ~1.5 years. I've only played maybe 1.4k turneys in that time and probably averaged ~30-50/hour which is nice. Unfortunately (or fortunatley depending how you look at it), I reached my goals and my game went down and I started running bad simultaneously. I thought this might happen but now I gotta rework it set new goals.

Goals:
1) I want a 150 buyin BR for the $215 turneys (BR = 10/32.2k)
2) I want to withdraw ~20k for personal use (32.2k+20k = 52.2k)
3) I want to get more proficient at NL cash games
4) I want to play more live and get my live BR up to 20 buyins for 5/10 (8/20k)
5) I want all of this accomplished within a year (9/31/08).
6) Total $$ won goal: $72.2k
7) This goal is just a whimsy - FT the million again in the next year.

Obviously, this is a very optimistic goal, but I hope I can accomplish it. I'm already almost 25% of the way there.

Online withdrawal policies: Once I get above 15k online I will start withdrawing 20% of monthly profit until I supass the 32.2k mark. After I surpass the 32.2k mark I will start withdrawing 60% of profit.

Live withdrawal policies: Once I get above 10k live I will withdraw 20% till I surpass the 20k mark at which point I will withdraw 40%. Once I get above 40k I will withdraw 70%. Also, all bills that I collect smaller than $20's will just go as spending $$.

I'll try to update this everyday that I play poker.

Intro

Well here's some background:

I started playing poker a few years ago and I won a $2 freeroll turned it into a few hundred, bonus chased playing LHE reached 15/30 while it was very soft. Switched to NL turneys did well, I've FTed the stars mil a couple of times and I've won the nightly 100k. Great year ('07) till about June and then I tanked. So here's a 'blog' for my own benefit to track how much I suck. Oh, and the Pokerstars hates me thing is a joke. I'll probably update it daily about how much I suck