Didn't I just do this last night?

I played for 2-3 hours last night. I began the night by playing $0.5/1.0 limit at Poker Stars and $25 NL at Party Poker. I won maybe $20 at Poker Stars (stack right now = $121.73 -- I played a little this morning too) and I was up about $20 at Party Poker in the first 30 minutes. I then played about even for the next two hours, which was getting kind of frustrating. I played a little $50 NL and I won $5 doing it. It required some luck, though, as I called an all-in with top pair against someone who flopped bottom two pair.

Towards the end of the night, I was two-tabling 6-max $1/$2 holdem and 6-max $1/$2 7stud (both at Party). In hold 'em, I picked up AA in early position and played it aggressively. Fortunately for me, someone else flopped top two pair, which gave me lots of action obviously. I took down the pot when the river paired the turn to give me a better two pair. I simultaneously won two big pots in my first two hands of 7stud. So, I won ~$30 in five minutes and I went from a decent night (+$20) to a great night (+$50).

After doing some quick math, I think my bankroll is at its all time peak. There is some ambiguity because I think once had $1200 in my Party Poker stack. I have withdrawn $300 since then, and I have made $120 at Poker Stars. My current bankroll at Party Poker is $834. Thus, I think I am at an equivalent of $1250 total. This is a cheerful thought as I head into the weekend!

Poker Stars account

I am sure all of my avid readers (note: this is said tongue-in-cheek; I'm sure that I have precisely zero readers) are concerned about the status of my Poker Stars account. Well, I had a tremendous rush of cards on Tuesday ($0.25/$0.50 7Stud) and I built my bankroll up to $132. But then I played like crap yesterday and dropped it down to $82. I've played a little 6-max $0.5/$1.0 limit hold'em today with consider success and my bankroll is now $103.

My favorite hand so far was when I raised it under the gun with JQo and I got four callers (I was not happy about that). But recall that any hand can win at any time.... and so the flop came down J J J... and I got a TON of action on the flop. After someone else bet the turn, I raised and got called. I also bet the river and got called by ace high. There's nothing like taking down a pots of more than 10 big bets after flopping the absolute nuts!

Grind... Grind... Go Nuts!

My game plan for tonight was to play full-ring $1/$2 limit all night. I wanted to play tight, conservative, but aggressive. I started out great and I was up $25 over my first 150 hands, but then I got AA and KK cracked consecutively and I was back to even. I stayed even for the rest of the night. I became bored with the grind and I decided to buy into a 6-max $50 NL table. I have not played no limit well lately and I decided that I could handle a $50 loss, which I honestly expected to happen rather quickly because I planned to be loose-aggressive. It turns out that I only played 11 hands, but I won more than $100. I am going to describe all 11 hands because it demonstrates the value of a loose-aggressive image. Admittedly, a lot of this was luck but some of it was my aggressive betting that induced several key calls by people who could not lay down weak hands because they were annoyed (or perhaps they assumed that I was bluffing).

Blinds are $0.25 and $0.50

Hand 1, stack = $50. Dealt Q6o. Raggedy flop; I call a small bet on the flop but fold the turn to a more sizable bet.

Hand 2, stack = $49. Dealt J2o. Fold preflop from small blind.

Hand 3, stack = $48.75. Dealt AQo. I raise to $3 after two people limp; everyone folds.

Hand 4, stack = $50.50. Dealt 53o; fold preflop.

Hand 5, stack = $50.50. Dealt K6o; fold preflop.

Hand 6, stack = $50.50. Dealt KQo UTG. I raise to $2 and everyone folds.

Hand 7, stack = $51.25. Dealt KJo in the big blind. Three people limp and I check. The flop is J 5 5 (two spade). The small blind makes a minimum bet and I raise about the size of the pot – only the small blind calls. The turn is 7c; I bet $5 and the small blind calls. The river is a 6h; the small blind bets $6 and I call. The small blind flips up A4s.

Hand 8, stack = $63.45. Dealt Q5s on the small blind. I fold when UTG+1 bets $3.

Hand 9, stack = $63.20. Dealt T8o on the button. UTG+2 limps and so do I and the small blind. The flop is 3 5 8 (rainbow). The small blind (“Mark”) bets $2 and I raise to $6; he calls. The turn is a 2. The small blind bets $5 and I raise to $20; Mark folds.

Hand 10, stack = $74.50. I am dealt AQo in the cutoff. I raise to $2 and Mark (button) calls. The flop is Q 9 5 (two diamonds). I make a pot-sized bet ($4) and Mark calls. The turn is J (clubs) and I overbet the pot $20 – Mark calls. The river is 2 (spades) and I put Mark all-in. He calls with JKo.

Hand 11, stack = $125.01. I am dealt AQo from UTG+1. UTG limps and I raise to $2. The big blind and the limper call. The flop is Q 9 3 (rainbow). The big blind checks, UTG bets $5 and I overbet the pot and put the UTG all-in. He calls. The turn and river are a K and 6, respectively. UTG flips over JQo.

Final stack = $164.56.

The worst played hand I've ever seen

Tonight, I initially played poorly and I was down almost $100, but then I decided to four-table $2/4 limit holdem. I played much better after that, and the results showed it. I am finishing up right now, but my net for the night is a loss of less than $10.

The most interesting occurrence of the night was the following hand, which is the worst played hand that I've ever seen. Preflop, the guy cold calls three bets with 9To in the small blind (pretty bad). The flop comes 9 T T (the nuts). He then check-calls both the flop and turn. Presumaby, he was going to check-raise the river after the case T came on the river, but I checked because I had nothing but ace-high. So to summarize, this fish takes a huge risk with a weak hand preflop. When it hits perfectly, he then plays it sooooo slowly that he wins the absolute minimum with the hand. That's right, risk a lot to win a little. That's a great way to play poker!!!


***** Hand History for Game 1958288134 *****
$2/$4 Hold'em - Tuesday, April 26, 21:54:41 EDT 2005
Table Table 11295 (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: betterup81 ( $269.25 )
Seat 2: rmedcalf ( $40.55 )
Seat 3: frazwood ( $96 )
Seat 4: unclebucky1 ( $174.25 )
Seat 5: Double_Zer0 ( $88.5 )
Seat 6: MajorTJKong ( $49.75 )
Seat 7: BigSick40 ( $0 )
Seat 8: dougrperry ( $65.59 )
Seat 9: partymano1 ( $162 )
Seat 10: hgwillia ( $132 )
MajorTJKong posts small blind [$1].
dougrperry posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Ad Kh ]
partymano1 raises [$4].
hgwillia folds.
betterup81 folds.
rmedcalf folds.
frazwood raises [$6].
unclebucky1 folds.
Double_Zer0 folds.
MajorTJKong folds.
dougrperry calls [$4].
partymano1 calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, Ts, Td ]
dougrperry checks.
partymano1 checks.
frazwood bets [$2].
dougrperry calls [$2].
partymano1 calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
dougrperry checks.
partymano1 checks.
frazwood bets [$4].
dougrperry calls [$4].
partymano1 folds.
** Dealing River ** [ Tc ]
dougrperry checks.
frazwood checks.
dougrperry shows [ 9d, Th ] four of a kind, tens.
frazwood doesn't show [ Ad, Kh ] three of a kind, tens.
dougrperry wins $31.5 from the main pot with four of a kind, tens.

Still grumpy

I am still grumpy, so I'll keep this short. I cleared my $40 bonus last night from Party Poker, but in doing so I lost $60. I played horribly at 6-max $1/$2 -- I have no idea why. I played a little $25NL at the end of the night and I lost my entire stack when I called an all-in with A3o and a flop of 9 3 2 (not smart). I played a little $25 NL at lunch time today and managed to quickly win $30 or so. The big hand was when a fish semi-bluffed all-in on a flush draw when I held KK. So, I am about even at Party Poker since my most recent deposit.

My Poker Stars bankroll seems to be holding steady somewhere around $100 (right now: $111.08). I have started playing full-ring $0.5/$1.0 limit hold 'em even though I don't have the bankroll for it. My rationale is that if I play anywhere close to tight-aggressive, then I can beat the game.... but if I don't, then I can easily drop down in stakes and rebuild. In the meantime, I can accumulate frequent player points (FPPs) much more quickly. I have my eye on that poker chip set for 8000 FPPs... why do I want this considering that I already have a nice poker chip set that I barely use? I have no idea, but it beats anything that Party Poker offers with their bonus system. Right now, I have a little more than 1000 FPPs!

Berating others at the table

Well, I got some bad news today at work, so I am a little grumpy. I have therefore decided to write about my poker. It's going rather well, although I was quite disappointed in myself last night. I wanted to play 100 hands at 6-max $1/$2 at Party Poker, but I just couldn't concentrate. The television was on and Kelly kept talking to me. I am pretty sure that I could have won 3-5 big bets, but instead I lost 1-2 big bets. Oh well, lesson learned.

Today I read on the poker forum (www.thepokerforum.com) that Party Poker has a one-time promotion for people who use Neteller to deposit money (20%). So, I emptied my Neteller account into Party (only $200) to catch a quick $40 (200 raked hands to clear). I immediately started playing and I caught a bad beat, which put me on semi-tilt. So, I raised it up preflop with JQs and here is the hand that transpired:


$0.5/$1 Hold'em - Monday, April 25, 13:49:05 EDT 2005
Table Table 36485 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: deeble6 ( $18 )
Seat 2: Tha_r00f ( $13 )
Seat 3: frazwood ( $25 )
Seat 4: publiknme ( $49.75 )
Seat 6: kentuckyisok ( $19 )
Seat 8: shapinator ( $13.75 )
Seat 10: Scarydog ( $12.64 )
Seat 7: Olsson ( $24.25 )
Seat 5: TSkinner ( $24.5 )
Seat 9: Jennifer1219 ( $10 )
shapinator posts small blind [$0.25].
Jennifer1219 posts big blind [$0.5].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Jh Qh ]
Scarydog folds.
deeble6 folds.
Tha_r00f folds.
frazwood raises [$1].
publiknme folds.
TSkinner folds.
kentuckyisok calls [$1].
Olsson folds.
shapinator folds.
Jennifer1219 calls [$0.5].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, Th, Ah ]
Jennifer1219 checks.
frazwood bets [$0.5].
kentuckyisok calls [$0.5].
Jennifer1219 raises [$1].
frazwood calls [$0.5].
kentuckyisok calls [$0.5].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3s ]
Jennifer1219 bets [$1].
frazwood calls [$1].
kentuckyisok folds.
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
Jennifer1219 bets [$1].
frazwood raises [$2].
Jennifer1219: u waited for the river
Jennifer1219 calls [$1].
frazwood shows [ Jh, Qh ] a flush, ace high.
Jennifer1219 doesn't show [ Td, Ts ] three of a kind, tens.
frazwood wins $11.5 from the main pot with a flush, ace high.
Jennifer1219: so stupid
Jennifer1219: i hate people who play like that

One of my big pet peeves in poker is when people berate each other at the table. Now, I'm not perfect and I certainly want to berate people at the table, but I rarely do it. First, I am always worried that it might convince them to play better. Second, I believe that you should learn to lose with class. This one is absolutely hilarious because at no time did I not have the correct pot odds to call. So, a piece of advice... if you are going to berate people at the table, then you at least need to know the correct play. :-D

Aggression

I feel like my game right now is in top form. I have tightened up some of my leaks and I am pushing my big hands hard. I played about 100 hands yesterday at Party Poker (6-max, $1/$2) and I won about $25. It could have been much much more.

There was a VERY weak player at my table who managed to go on a rush at my expense. She was at about $20 when it started and built her stack up to $80. These were nasty bad beats too. In one, I was dealt QQ; the flop would be Q J 3; the turn would be K; and the river would be an A. The fish then turned over T8 for the nut straight.

Despite the suck-outs, I kept my cool and I was about even after 60 hands when this fish finally busted out. Unfortunately, being even with this fish at the table was a major disappointment. After she left, the table was filled with mediocre players who I could easily beat over the long-term if I played well. And so, that's what I did. I played tight-aggressive, using position to my advantage whenever possible. I really like playing short-handed because I think position is soooo important and most mediocre players don't get this concept. So, I think it gives me a bigger advantage than a full-ring game.

The rest of the day I spent playing at Poker Stars, which strangely was working great from home (it usually doesn't). I played almost exclusively $0.25/$0.50 stakes, although I mixed it up between stud and hold'em. I simply love the structure of the stud at Poker Stars! It is soooo much better than Party Poker. I will definitely be playing more stud at Poker Stars in the future!

This morning I went into work to catch up on a few things and I multi-tasked by playing some $0.50/$1.00 hold'em. My stack was probably a little short for this game (starting at $82... I did well yesterday), but I figured that I was at the top of my game and it wouldn't kill me to lose $25. Needless to say, I won two big pots my first two hands and built my stack from $25 to $40 immediately. I picked up KK three hands later and I was up $20 with the first orbit!

As I write this, I am re-learning another important lesson about patience. My in-room stack is currently $48.25, which I was somewhat frustrated because I felt like I was simply treading water. I reality, I am up 4 big bets since then (~90 hands), which is a great win rate! Well, I'm on my last orbit now, and then it's time to head home. Later.

Party Poker Reload Bonus

I played $0.5/1.0 limit hold 'em tonight at Party Poker. I deposited $400 into my account to get an $80 bonus. I had to played 560 raked hands to clear that bonus, so 4 tables of $0.5/1.0 seemed like a good idea. The session was simply amazing. First, I was up $50 over my first 200 hands (i.e., 50 big bets/100 hands... absolutely ridiculous). Second, I lost about all of the that, ending the night with about a net of $5. I'm not complaining since I actually won $85 with the bonus. I just cashed out $500.

The main point of the session is that I re-learned tight-aggressive. I folded many hands that I would play previously, but I was 3-betting and 4-betting sooooooo much more. I think I have been too loose and too passive. Hopefully, I can play this fearless when I move up limits tomorrow. Right now, I think I will play some 6-max $1/$2.

The bad news of the day is that I managed to lose about $50 from my Poker Stars account. I played some $1/$2 limit hold 'em and I certainly did not have the bankroll for that. I played poorly and I got nailed by some serious suck-outs. That happens though, and that's why bankroll management is so important.

Well, I'm tired and the Legend of Bagger Vance is on television. Ergo, it must me late at night. Good night everyone.

Leaks and Cold Cards

Yesterday was an interesting day from the poker perspective. I played well at Poker Stars and I finally have my stack at more than $100. I played reasonably well last night at Party Poker ($1/$2 limit), but it seemed like I had nothing but cold cards and bad beats for the first 2 hours. I did realize that a few of my leaks were making matters worse, so I tightened up a bit and managed to recover about half of my losses for the night. In summary, I lost somewhere around $35, which is not too bad. I am actually up-beat about the whole thing considering that I played very well for the last hour or so.

The hand of the night was very late (last 10 hands?). I was dealt QQ in early position and I raised. There was one caller, then a re-raiser, and then the big blind capped it; everyone called and four of saw the flop. For this game, I felt like at least one person had AK, KK, or AA (and possibly more than one). I literally said outloud, "please flop Q 2 2." I almost got my wish when the flop came K 2 2. The big blind led out, and everyone else called. The turn was a blank and I folded when the big blind led out. Curiously, one of the original callers raised here and the pot was then capped between this guy and the big blind. It also got capped on the river. The big blind flipped over KK and the other flipped over 22! I am sooooo glad that a queen did not come on the turn! I was drawing dead to runner-runner queens on the flop!!!

This weekend's big plan is to reload $400 into Party Poker to take advantage of their reload bonus. Hopefully, I can manage to at least break even and net $80 this way. I planning to 3 table at $0.5/$1.0 limit; I really am trying to tighten up my game and work my way up the limits.

Four of a kind! Three Times!

Yesterday was a rather boring poker day. I did a great job of grinding at Poker Stars ($0.25/$0.50 limit) and I increased my stack by $15 or so (> $90!). Ok Ok... not big money, but I am learning to grind again and that's the whole point. The game at this level is very very soft, so it is not like my ego is becoming overinflated or anything. However, it is teaching me (again) that grinding is good and my confidence is increasing.

I two-tabled last night at Party Poker for about 90 minutes ($1/$2 limit)... and I won $10 or so. That was a really weird night. About the fourth hand, I was dealt KQs and I raised it up and got two callers. The flop was rags so I pushed, hoping to bluff my way to a small pot. One caller. The turn was a rag, so I bet again (call). The river was a queen, so I bet and took the pot down. The guy had a pair of three's and started screaming at me how he was going to bust me etc. I'm like "ok ok whatever" (i.e., in the chat box, not just to myself). A couple of hands later, he raises from EP and I re-raise (KK) and he calls. The flop is rags; he bets; I raise; he calls. The turn is a 7; he bets; I raise; he re-raises; I call. The river is another blank. He bets; I call; he shows 77 and takes it down. He continues to scream about how I am going to go bust for another 10 minutes. Eventually he tells me to stop crying and just play. I found all of this quite comical. Anyway, I basically was about even the entire night on both tables until...

After I had decided to quit for the night, I picked up AQo in mid-position and I raise it up. The small blind re-raised me (uh-oh) and I called. The flop came Q-high; he bet; I raised; he re-raised; I called. I have him on KK or AA -- clearly the Q-high flop was of no concern to him. The turn was a queen, so I raise him and he calls. The river was also a queen, filling him up and giving me quads! That was a decent sized pot and gave me a net win of about $10 for the night.

The only other interesting thing was that I caught quads at Poker Stars yesterday twice! I had quad 8's and quad 10's. Both times I had multiple callers on the river (like I said, the game is soft).

A good day of poker

Needless to say, I had a good day of poker yesterday. It certainly involved some luck, but I played well also. I think that I am back to my best game; I've been grinding away at both Party Poker and at Poker Stars. I have a few leaks that I still need to tighten up, but I know where they are.

I posted two incredible hands immediately after they happened. The second hand (the one from Party Poker) was for a pot size of 33BB's. I've never seen a pot that big in limit poker. It helped that it involved two fish. The first played 69o out of position in a raised pot pre-flop, caught a non-nut straight and played it really aggressively on the river even though there was a three-flush, paired board. The second fish also raised on the river with his nut-flush with a paired board. In the end, I got a little lucky in that the perfect river card hit, but I played the hand well.... aggressive pre-flop (best hand), aggressive on the flop (best hand), less aggressive on the turn (not the best hand, but I had outs), and aggressive on the river (best hand). The amazing thing is that the guy with 69o started whining about getting rivered after the hand. About three hands after this one, I picked up TT and played another big pot with a guy on tilt who raised every opportunity with 9-high. Prior to the big hand, I was stuck about $40... by the time I quit the table (playing only ~20 hands), I had won $100.

After all of this, I decided that I really wanted to work on grinding so started playing $0.5/$1.0 limit and a 30-player MTT ($5+1). I grinded well in the limit game and I ended up about even (no cards). I played really well in the MTT until it got down to 4-5 handed, where I became tired (bed time!) and I had to pee. So, I became a little too aggressive because I wanted out of the tournament, win or lose. In the end, I took down third. Up to that point, I played an almost perfect tournament, although it helped that I had no bad beats.

To summarize, I added $120 to my Party Poker stack. If not for the hand where my AA got beat by 24o, then I would have had a fantastic day at Poker Stars too. As it was, I added $20 to my stack there, which is a great day playing mostly $0.25/$0.50.

The biggest limit pot I've ever seen... luckily I won it

***** Hand History for Game 1920350563 *****
$2/$4 Hold'em - Tuesday, April 19, 20:31:23 EDT 2005
Table Table 32177 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 3: Zidane107 ( $63.75 )
Seat 6: JennyLuLu88 ( $89.75 )
Seat 7: trigulater12 ( $70.62 )
Seat 8: frazwood ( $94.5 )
Seat 10: MrRoboto_84 ( $61 )
Seat 5: djraje ( $96 )
Seat 9: jandy13 ( $50 )
Seat 4: MOCOHUSTLER ( $119.99 )
Seat 2: sd_chargers1 ( $84 )
Seat 1: kyrow ( $96 )
djraje posts small blind [$1].
JennyLuLu88 posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Qd Qs ]
trigulater12 calls [$2].
>You have options at Table 32174 Table!.
frazwood raises [$4].
jandy13 folds.
MrRoboto_84 folds.
kyrow folds.
sd_chargers1 folds.
Zidane107 folds.
MOCOHUSTLER calls [$4].
djraje folds.
JennyLuLu88 folds.
trigulater12 calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qh, Td, 8h ]
trigulater12 checks.
frazwood bets [$2].
MOCOHUSTLER raises [$4].
trigulater12 calls [$4].
frazwood raises [$4].
MOCOHUSTLER raises [$4].
trigulater12 calls [$4].
frazwood calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7d ]
trigulater12 bets [$4].
frazwood raises [$8].
MOCOHUSTLER raises [$12].
trigulater12 raises [$12].
frazwood calls [$8].
MOCOHUSTLER calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ Th ]
trigulater12 bets [$4].
frazwood raises [$8].
MOCOHUSTLER raises [$12].
trigulater12 calls [$8].
>You have options at Table 32174 Table!.
frazwood raises [$8].
MOCOHUSTLER calls [$4].
trigulater12 calls [$4].
frazwood shows [ Qd, Qs ] a full house, Queens full of tens.
MOCOHUSTLER doesn't show [ Ah, 2h ] a flush, ace high.
trigulater12 doesn't show [ 9s, 6c ] a straight, six to ten.
frazwood wins $132 from the main pot with a full house, Queens full of tens.

I thought this stuff only happens at Party Poker

PokerStars Game #1550701112: Hold'em Limit ($0.25/$0.50) - 2005/04/19 - 18:05:33 (ET)
Table 'Gismonda' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 2: noisy ($7.60 in chips)
Seat 3: sonofawhich ($38.95 in chips)
Seat 4: GosuBaby ($29.35 in chips)
Seat 5: ganovad ($4.75 in chips)
Seat 6: PZMONEY ($10.70 in chips)
Seat 7: Tommy ($7.60 in chips)
Seat 8: frazwood ($16.90 in chips)
Seat 9: Chamaco10 ($0.40 in chips)
Seat 10: Eye_Raise_It ($19.10 in chips)
Chamaco10: posts small blind $0.10
Eye_Raise_It: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to frazwood [Ad Ah]
noisy: folds
sonofawhich: folds
GosuBaby: calls $0.25
ganovad: calls $0.25
noisy is sitting out
PZMONEY: calls $0.25
Tommy: folds
frazwood: raises $0.25 to $0.50
Chamaco10: folds
Eye_Raise_It: raises $0.25 to $0.75
Circlejerk7 joins the table at seat #1
GosuBaby: calls $0.50
ganovad: calls $0.50
PZMONEY: calls $0.50
frazwood: raises $0.25 to $1
Betting is capped
Eye_Raise_It: calls $0.25
GosuBaby: calls $0.25
ganovad: calls $0.25
PZMONEY: calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [7s 2d Tc]
Eye_Raise_It: bets $0.25
GosuBaby: calls $0.25
ganovad: folds
PZMONEY: calls $0.25
frazwood: raises $0.25 to $0.50
Eye_Raise_It: calls $0.25
GosuBaby: raises $0.25 to $0.75
PZMONEY: calls $0.50
frazwood: raises $0.25 to $1
Betting is capped
Eye_Raise_It: calls $0.50
GosuBaby: calls $0.25
PZMONEY: calls $0.25
*** TURN *** [7s 2d Tc] [3d]
Eye_Raise_It: checks
GosuBaby: checks
PZMONEY: checks
frazwood: bets $0.50
Eye_Raise_It: calls $0.50
GosuBaby: calls $0.50
PZMONEY: calls $0.50
*** RIVER *** [7s 2d Tc 3d] [2s]
Eye_Raise_It: checks
GosuBaby: checks
PZMONEY: checks
frazwood: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Eye_Raise_It: shows [4s 2h] (three of a kind, Deuces)
GosuBaby: mucks hand
PZMONEY: mucks hand
frazwood: mucks hand
Eye_Raise_It collected $10.60 from pot
frazwood said, "you fish!"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $11.10 | Rake $0.50
Board [7s 2d Tc 3d 2s]
Seat 2: noisy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: sonofawhich folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: GosuBaby mucked [8s 8c]
Seat 5: ganovad folded on the Flop
Seat 6: PZMONEY mucked [7c 6c]
Seat 7: Tommy folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: frazwood (button) mucked [Ad Ah]
Seat 9: Chamaco10 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 10: Eye_Raise_It (big blind) showed [4s 2h] and won ($10.60) with three of a kind, Deuces

I'm feeling better

I really have much to say except that I am feeling better -- I no longer feel like I am drowning. My poker is not doing much better, but it certainly isn't worse. The highlight of my weekend was going canoeing on Sunday with Kelly (wife). The weather was nice (finally). Winters in Minnesota are very difficult; depression is pretty common. To be honest, the weather probably has alot to do with how awful I've felt lately.

I wrote an entire blog yesterday that got lost... sorry about that. Basically, I played like crap on Saturday and my Party Poker stack was down to $650. I played better on Sunday and got it back up to $750. I played virtually perfect poker last night ($50 NL, single table) and I won like $11. I had a really juicy table but no cards. I was taking down virtually every small pot imaginable.

Hand of the night: One guy tried to steal my big blind from the small blind. My "read" was that he was on a steal, so I re-raised him (I had 23o). He checked the flop and I went all-in. I showed my hand when he folded. I showed another bluff after that and then played really tight.

My stack at Poker Stars was less than $50 yesterday, so I dropped down to $0.25/$0.50 limit. I need to learn how to grind again, so this will be a good place to do it. As of right now, my Poker Stars bankroll is $57.08, so I'm getting there.

Drowning

I feel like I'm drowning, professionally and poker-wise. Luckily, my personal life is good. Thinking back over the last ten years, my personal life has usually sucked, whereas my professional life has been good. The reverse is better as long as I don't get fired.

It looks like I am going to be making two trips to Quetico Provincial Park this summer. I can't wait for the first trip -- Memorial Day Weekend. I hope to catch my first lake trout ever. The second one has no firm date yet, but we're thinking mid-July to mid-August. The plan for that trip is to do alot of paddling, so I am quite excited about that one too. I hope to see Jean Lake for the first time in my life.

The poker lately has been awful. I really need to avoid no limit until I learn to fold. I played some $1/$2 limit tonight and just got killed by JJ. Three times I flopped a good hand (TPTK twice and once the absolute nut flush -- the board paired on the turn) only to have JJ beat me. The one time I get dealt JJ, I am up against QQ and I lose. So, I was stuck about $40 in that game and I decided to play a little $100 No Limit, promising myself that I wouldn't do anything crazy... You know like raise under-the-gun with AK, and re-re-raise all-in in a 3-way pot? I did flop an ace on the hand, which was good enough to be second best (my opponents had QQ and AA). The funny thing is that even the guy with QQ was yelling at me for that play. Hell, I was just trying to steal his pre-flop bet. He called two all-in bets with QQ and actually ended up with the third best hand. The guy with AA played the hand beautifully, I must admit.

After that, I did what every sensible poker player (an oxymoron) would do... I bought into a 6-handed game of $5/$10 limit hold em. Sure, after losing that all-in, my bankroll is down to $650... but what the hell? Luckily, I bought into a wonderful table filled with moronic aggressive types (i.e., as opposed to skilled aggressive types -- avoid these people) and loose-passive types. I won $100 in less than 20 hands. So, I recovered my no limit all-in and basically I am stuck the $40 from the first table I played. No biggie.

I had similar problems playing no limit at Poker Stars today. Crap. That stack was almost $100 at one point, but by the end of the day... it was somewhere near $50. I think I might start playing $0.25/$0.50 limit there.

I'm feeling like I should take a break from poker. I'm not playing well and I'm not all that interested in the game while I play. Certainly, I am not enjoying losing either.

Goodnight to anyone who is bothering to read this. I am going to head upstairs now to sleep next my wife and our unborn child.

A little poker and finding old friends on the internet

A quick poker update: I got killed last night at the full-ring $2/$4 limit tables. I honestly received cold cards for the first 40 hands at $2/$4, and I folded them all like a good boy. I then came down with fancy play syndrome and I lost about $90 at the table (with bad cards). Oops. So much for playing better.

I did quite well at the $1/$2 room, so my net loss for the night was somewhere around $50. I really don't feel that bad about it, although I am seriously considering playing only $1/$2 6-handed tonight. A got a little anxious yesterday and cashed out $100 from Poker Stars even though I only had $195 in my account. Of course, I have been losing ever since and my account is now about $75. No worries.

Other news...

While at work yesterday, I came across a paper written by someone with whom I went to grad school. I was good friends with her sister... so I did a google search for her. It turns out that she's currently attending grad school somewhere in Illinois. So, I e-mailed her to just say "hello" and I got a response saying that she was actually in Minnesota for the week. Wow, small world. So, we're going to lunch today... we'll have to see how it goes. I haven't seen her in at least 8 years (wow, that makes me feel old).

Based on this success, I decided to do a bunch of google searches last night on other long, lost friends. Now, I've always claimed that I went to high school with the world's smartest people and that I was "the dumb kid in class". I don't think Kelly (my wife) has ever really believed me... but last night I proved it to her. Of the first 5 or 6 names I tried, one is a member of the faculty at the University of Washington's medical school, another is a neurological surgeon at Ohio State University, and another is a professor at a school in Virginia. For those of you keeping score, that's 4 doctorates (including me) and none of us have reached our mid-30's in age. The only person we could find from Kelly's list was someone who had shot a 12-point buck. That's also impressive, but in a different kind of way.

Something I noticed from reading my own blog

I've spent a considerable amount of time self-evaluating my poker game and I'm trying to figure out where I've been going wrong. I don't really think that I've been getting cold cards, although I'm generally not someone who passes blame elsewhere. Besides, I've gotten cold cards before and I managed to lose the minimum, so I know what that's like.

Anyway, I read through my blog and specifically focused on the part where I won $50 in two hours playing $2/4 limit and $1/$2 limit simultaneously. I recall thinking that this was a nice, modest win and perhaps a start to bigger and better things. Upon re-analyzing it, however, I realized that this was a HUGE win and that lately my eyes have been bigger than my stomach, so to speak. Let's take the standard "win one big bet an hour" as a baseline for my expectations. Assuming that online games play twice as fast as brick-and-mortar games, that translates to two big bets an hour. Continuing with the math, a "good" win rate playing these games would be $4 x 2 x 2 hours + $2 x 2 x 2 hours = $24! I made about double a reasonable expectation! What a fool I am!

More importantly, I realized that I needed to grind more and be patient. I've had numerous sessions where I've had accumulated a decent amount of chips, got impatient, which led to fancy play syndrome, and then I pissed away alot of money. No more! (or until next time my ego gets inflated!)

After realizing all of this, I played much much more patient last night at Party Poker. I won somewhere on the order of $20 in 90 minutes, and that even included some serious suck-out action at the $2/$4 table (on the receiving end, not the giving end). More importantly, I remembered to be happy about winning $20 and thus confidence in my game is soaring.

On another note, I entered a $5+0.50 sit-and-go at Poker Stars (much slower structure than Party Poker) and I won! My stack there is now more than $190... I am less than $10 from my cash-out goal.

Feeling crabby

For some reason, I am feeling really crabby this morning. I am not sure why. Anyway, I am going to keep this one short. The Master's yesterday was way way way cool. It would have been better if Tiger had lost, but it was still pretty awesome. Hopefully, Chris Dimarco will not tailspin after this...

I played a bunch of poker yesterday with little success. I have decided that I need to start cashing out again, so I am going to do that as soon as I start winning. I had a good session last night, winning $50 playing $2/4 limit and 6-handed $1/$2 limit. I was actually stuck $60 in the $2/$4 due to a string of suck-outs, but I kept grinding and I eventually got back to even on that table. I had a pleasant mixed of complete maniacs and complete call stations in the 6-handed games. It is sooooo nice to flop a full boat and to have 4 callers on the river. I also won a big big pot (~10 big bets) with an unimproved AQ against a maniac who held an unimproved AT. Simply amazing!

Fishing, Tiger Woods, the pain of AQ, and Tilt

The highlight of the weekend so far was catching a 6-inch bluegill on Saturday morning. Ok, that probably doesn't impress you very much, but ice-out was earlier this week and I have never caught a fish in such cold water (except when ice fishing). Of course, I essentially was using my ice fishing technique, but it was fun. I am sure that I would have caught more fish, but the wind was 20+ mph and I had trouble controlling a canoe in the wind (obviously).

As a fan of golf, I tried to watch as much of the Master's yesterday as I possibly could. I visited there in 2001 for a practice round; I highly recommend doing this if you can. The course is simply magnificient and it's worth 3 hours of your life to walk the grounds. Tiger's performance yesterday was awesome and he apparently matched it this morning (third round = 65). Wow. I would be completely shocked if he doesn't win today. I feel bad for Chris Dimarco, but hey... he won't be the first or last person to have the Master's taken away from him by Tiger Woods.

I played quite a bit of poker yesterday and I am leaking money everywhere (at least at Party Poker). I totally need to regain my discipline or I am going to go bust. I don't have the bankroll to play $2/$4 limit anymore, although that may not stop me. I played some this morning and I won $50 by playing solid poker. My biggest problem isn't bankroll management; it's my play. I need to tighten up and perhaps not play so aggressively. I bought in for a multiple table tournament and I busted out with AQ against AK when an ace flopped. I have read how dangerous AQ can be, but I have rarely experienced it. This one hurt. I was totally outplayed on that hand.

To summarize, I have been steadily losing at Party Poker since mid-March. I need to turn this around. Hopefully, I've hit rock bottom and I'll start to play better now. By the way, I also played a little at Poker Stars yesterday... my stack there is up to $164. Once (if?) I hit $200, I'll cash out my $100 buy-in and build from there. Happy Sunday to all of you!

Poker update for Apirl 7, 2005

I played for about 3 hours last night on Party Poker. My plan was to play two table simultaneoulsy: $2/$4 limit and $50 NL. As seems to be the norm these days, the $2/$4 had several complete maniacs at the table (see below for hand histories), which made that just a ball of fun. I was playing reasonably decent at the no limit table, but then I had one of my patented "bad hands" where I went all in with top pair, top kicker against a scary board and got beat. I got my money in on the turn as a substantial favorite, but it doesn't matter as I lost $50 in one hand (see below for this hand history too); it's still poor play on my part, even if my opponent played it worse.

Anyway, I decided to play a little $3/$6 limit after that. My first hand I was dealt QQ and I won a big pot (net ~ $40). A couple of hands, I was dealt AA and I won a smallish pot (net ~$10). In summary, I played 20 hands and I won $50. I also played a little 7-stud ($1/$2) and I won a big pot there too. At this point, I was about even for the night.

Finally, I decided that things were just a little wonky and I wasn't in the mood to gamble that much. So, I bought into a 3-table NLHE sit-and-go ($5+1). Over two hours later, I finally won the stupid thing. So, my net for the night was +$40 or so. I played really well in the tourney, although I had one horrible hand (see below) where I re-raised with QQ and then called an all-in pre-flop. The play technically wasn't that bad except that I had the chip lead at the time, and I could have easily gotten away from the hand with little damage. The worst part was my plan prior to getting re-raised was to fold if he went all-in. Sadly, I cannot lay down QQ even when I plan to do so. I will never be a great no limit player until I learn to laydown QQ or KK preflop to a big raise.

Oh yeah, before I forget... my net at Poker Stars is now +$25 or so!

Anyway, here are some of the more interesting hands from last night:

First, the $2/$4 limit hand against a maniac:

$2/$4 Hold'em - Thursday, April 07, 20:58:05 EDT 2005

Table Table 39286 (Real Money)

Seat 2 is the button

Total number of players : 9

Seat 1: SuperToad ( $158 )

Seat 2: Skender ( $91 )

Seat 3: frazwood ( $73 )

Seat 4: acold2eyes ( $138.5 )

Seat 5: LordEd ( $96 )

Seat 6: Louvster ( $71 )

Seat 7: perlick29 ( $64 )

Seat 10: nomore222 ( $102.5 )

Seat 9: rodsbest ( $150 )

frazwood posts small blind [$1].

acold2eyes posts big blind [$2].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to frazwood [ Ah Kd ]

LordEd folds.

Louvster folds.

perlick29 folds.

rodsbest folds.

nomore222 raises [$4].

SuperToad calls [$4].

Skender folds.

frazwood raises [$5].

acold2eyes folds.

nomore222 raises [$4].

SuperToad calls [$4].

frazwood calls [$2].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 5d, Kh, 8h ]

frazwood checks.

nomore222 checks.

SuperToad checks.

** Dealing Turn ** [ 9d ]

frazwood bets [$4].

nomore222 raises [$8].

SuperToad folds.

frazwood raises [$8].

nomore222 raises [$8].

frazwood calls [$4].

** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]

frazwood bets [$4].

Twe4s has joined the table.

nomore222 raises [$8].

frazwood calls [$4].

nomore222 shows [ Th, Qs ] high card king

frazwood shows [ Ah, Kd ] a pair of kings.

frazwood wins $71 from the main pot with a pair of kings.

Second, the $50 NL where I went all-in and lost:

$50 NL Hold'em - Thursday, April 07, 21:12:06 EDT 2005

Table Table 37133 (6 max) (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Total number of players : 6

Seat 1: TallThinMan ( $49.4 )

Seat 3: norm134657 ( $21.98 )

Seat 5: foulball12 ( $61.97 )

Seat 6: kcaz007 ( $7.25 )

Seat 8: eml23 ( $10.65 )

Seat 10: frazwood ( $50.9 )

norm134657 posts small blind [$0.25].

foulball12 posts big blind [$0.5].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to frazwood [ Qc As ]

kcaz007 calls [$0.5].

eml23 calls [$0.5].

frazwood raises [$3].

TallThinMan calls [$3].

norm134657 folds.

foulball12 calls [$2.5].

kcaz007 folds.

eml23 calls [$2.5].

** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Ts, Qd ]

foulball12 checks.

eml23 checks.

frazwood bets [$10].

TallThinMan calls [$10].

foulball12 folds.

eml23 folds.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Td ]

frazwood bets [$15].

TallThinMan is all-In [$36.4]

frazwood calls [$21.4].
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
frazwood shows [ Qc, As ] two pairs, queens and tens.

<>TallThinMan shows [ Ks, Qh ] two pairs, kings and queens.<>
TallThinMan wins $103.55 from the main pot with two pairs, kings and queens.

Third, my inability to lay down QQ late in a tournament with the chip lead:

NL Hold'em Trny:11103192 Level:9 Blinds (200/400) - Thursday, April 07, 22:57:25 EDT 2005

Table 3 - Table(302254) Table #1 (Real Money)

Seat 4 is the button

Total number of players : 5

Seat 2: TuffPoker ( $7890 )

Seat 3: THOMACKALL ( $5550 )

Seat 4: applezip ( $4330 )

Seat 5: hutchbaby ( $3480 )

Seat 8: frazwood ( $8750 )

Trny:11103192 Level:9

Blinds (200/400)

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to frazwood [ Qd Qc ]

TuffPoker raises [800].

THOMACKALL folds.

applezip folds.

hutchbaby folds.

frazwood raises [2200].

TuffPoker is all-In [7090]

frazwood calls [5290].

** Dealing Flop ** [ As, 3s, 8c ]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 6d ]

** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]

frazwood shows [ Qd, Qc ] two pairs, queens and threes.

TuffPoker shows [ 8s, Ah ] two pairs, aces and eights.

TuffPoker wins 15980 chips from the main pot with two pairs, aces and eights.

Poker Update for April 6, 2005

I played for about an hour and a half last night on Party Poker. I won $30 for the session, although I am not all that sure that I played all that great. I feel like my game is starting to improve. I am still trying to run everyone over, and this really is a bad idea at Party Poker where virtually everyone is a call station. I need to learn to check more when I miss the flop.

I played a $10+1 sit-and-go and placed fourth. I played pretty good, but I made two big mistakes. One, I called an all-in bet pre-flop with KQ from the big blind. I had the guy covered and a decent hand, but I forgot to realize that I was an underdog to any hand with an ace. Unfortunately, he had an ace and won the pot when neither of us improved. My second mistake was when I pushed with an unimproved 66 on the flop against a short stack. He called me with a pair of sevens and I pissed away some more chips.

I played a little $25 NL and I lost essentially my entire stack by folding decent hands to well-timed bluffs and by making bluffing weak hands against the nuts. I also played about 20 hands at $100 NL. This table had a maniac at it so I left rather quickly. I did take down a decent sized pot against him when he passively played A2o and I had T9s. He didn't bet the flop when an ace flopped (I had position) and only made a small bet on the turn, which actually gave me a flush draw. There was one other caller also, which I liked alot. Anyway, he checked the river to me after I caught my flush. I made a smallish bet (1/2 the pot), which he called.

I spent most of the night playing $2/$4 limit hold'em. There was a complete maniac who was catching all sorts of hands with crap. The largest pot of the night happened when he caught runner-runner 3's when he held A3o. Luckily, I wasn't in that hand, and in fact, I played this maniac quite profitably. He didn't suck out on me once, although I knew my time was coming so I left the table sooner than I probably should have. I guess this is the biggest evidence of my waning confidence. If I was confident, then I would have stayed and tried to rake in some serious dough. Below I am going to paste in a few of the key hands that I won. You should be able to quickly identify who was the maniac. I particularly like the $44 pot that I won with ace-high.

$2/$4 Hold'em - Wednesday, April 06, 21:25:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 39288 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: kustak ( $109 )
Seat 2: K_Tsottles ( $30.75 )
Seat 4: egoisti ( $91 )
Seat 5: Streak10 ( $93 )
Seat 6: BCRock ( $105 )
Seat 7: chefrm ( $283 )
Seat 8: edrudd ( $57 )
Seat 9: cthemanb ( $162.5 )
Seat 10: frazwood ( $67 )
Streak10 posts small blind [$1].
BCRock posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Qc Kh ]
chefrm folds.
edrudd folds.
cthemanb folds.
frazwood raises [$4].
K_Tsottles: pretty lucky
kustak calls [$4].
K_Tsottles folds.
>You have options at Table 36806 (6 max) Table!.
egoisti folds.
Streak10 folds.
BCRock calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kd, 8s, Ks ]
BCRock checks.
frazwood bets [$2].
kustak folds.
BCRock raises [$4].
frazwood calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8c ]
BCRock bets [$4].
frazwood raises [$8].
BCRock calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ Kc ]
BCRock bets [$4].
frazwood raises [$8].
BCRock calls [$4].
frazwood shows [ Qc, Kh ] four of a kind, kings.
BCRock doesn't show [ Td, Th ] a full house, Kings full of tens.
frazwood wins $50.5 from the main pot with four of a kind, kings.

$2/$4 Hold'em - Wednesday, April 06, 21:37:28 EDT 2005
Table Table 39288 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 4: egoisti ( $73.25 )
Seat 5: Streak10 ( $87 )
Seat 6: BCRock ( $80 )
Seat 7: chefrm ( $272 )
Seat 9: cthemanb ( $165.5 )
Seat 10: frazwood ( $86.5 )
Seat 8: dadybrawls ( $106.5 )
Seat 1: qa1000 ( $97 )
Seat 3: nothingmaker ( $34 )
Seat 2: TheMaddmann ( $100 )
Streak10 posts small blind [$1].
BCRock posts big blind [$2].
TheMaddmann posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Kh Kc ]
chefrm raises [$4].
dadybrawls calls [$4].
cthemanb folds.
frazwood raises [$6].
qa1000 folds.
TheMaddmann folds.
nothingmaker folds.
egoisti folds.
Streak10 folds.
BCRock folds.
chefrm calls [$2].
dadybrawls calls [$2].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qc, 3h, Jc ]
chefrm checks.
dadybrawls checks.
frazwood bets [$2].
chefrm calls [$2].
dadybrawls calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3c ]
chefrm checks.
dadybrawls checks.
frazwood bets [$4].
chefrm folds.
dadybrawls calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ 4c ]
dadybrawls bets [$4].
frazwood calls [$4].
dadybrawls shows [ Ts, 9h ] a pair of threes.
frazwood shows [ Kh, Kc ] a flush, king high.
frazwood wins $43 from the main pot with a flush, king high.

$2/$4 Hold'em - Wednesday, April 06, 21:41:27 EDT 2005
Table Table 39288 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 4: egoisti ( $47.25 )
Seat 5: Streak10 ( $86 )
Seat 6: BCRock ( $76 )
Seat 7: chefrm ( $250 )
Seat 9: cthemanb ( $165.5 )
Seat 10: frazwood ( $113.5 )
Seat 8: dadybrawls ( $162 )
Seat 1: qa1000 ( $63 )
Seat 3: nothingmaker ( $34 )
Seat 2: TheMaddmann ( $98 )
dadybrawls posts small blind [$1].
cthemanb posts big blind [$2].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Ah Qs ]
frazwood raises [$4].
qa1000 folds.
TheMaddmann folds.
nothingmaker folds.
egoisti folds.
Streak10 folds.
BCRock folds.
chefrm folds.
dadybrawls calls [$3].
cthemanb folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5h, Tc, Jd ]
dadybrawls checks.
frazwood bets [$2].
dadybrawls calls [$2].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]
dadybrawls checks.
frazwood bets [$4].
dadybrawls raises [$8].
frazwood raises [$8].
dadybrawls calls [$4].
** Dealing River ** [ 6h ]
dadybrawls checks.
frazwood bets [$4].
dadybrawls calls [$4].
frazwood shows [ Ah, Qs ] a pair of fives.
dadybrawls doesn't show [ Qd, 4h ] a pair of fives.
frazwood wins $44 from the main pot with a pair of fives with ace kicker.

What I read on the internet

I kind of got this idea to start a blog on the internet from several poker related web sites. Two blogs that I like to read are Paul Phillips', Dutch Boyd's, and Daniel Negraneu's.

For those of you who don't know, Paul Phillips is a "dot com" guy who made a ton of money at a young age and essentially retired. He is brilliant with a sharp sense of humor. I also like the fact that he has ethical standards. Oh yeah, it seems that Paul decided to take up high stakes poker in his retirement. The guy is so smart that he quickly became world-class (not that he needs the cash). Anyway, alot of "poker people" hate Paul's blog because it contains little about poker and he is often very critical of products and people. (Paul's blog: extempore.livejournal.com).

In reality, I stumbled upon Dutch Boyd's blog from a reference that Paul Phillips made. For those of you who don't know, Dutch is a quasi-famous poker player because he did really well in the 2003 World Series of Poker which was shown ad naseum on ESPN. Dutch is certainly charismatic on TV, and he was some sort of boy genius (graduated college at 16... that kind of stuff). Apparently, Paul thinks Dutch is ethically-challenged (Paul is rather justified in this). Anyway, I've been reading Dutch's blog and he is clearly a sick sick boy (no sarcasm here). Read his blog if you want more details (www.dutchboyd.com).

Finally, I like reading Daniel Negraneu's poker blog.... or at least I used to. It seems that Daniel no longer posts it on his website (www.fullcontactpoker.com) but rather at cardplayer.com. This seems strange to me, but what can I do? Daniel is also a poker celebrity, in that he was Cardplayer's player of the year in 2004. If that means little to you, he won more than $4 million playing tournaments last year. It kind of makes my $3 of profit on Poker Stars seem insignificant.

Oh by the way, just in case you are Barry Shulman... I'd love to write for your magazine someday. It would be great. Poker articles by some moron with no clue as to how to play poker.

My brief poker history and the most recent happenings

About a year ago, I decided that I want to learn how to play poker. Somewhere I figured out that it was a "skill" game and that a person could win sustainably long term, as long as they played better than their opponents. Of all the casino games, this is the one where I feel like a professional "gambler" could make a living.

I started out playing for play money on Pacific Poker and then eventually Party Poker. I watched the 2003 World Series of Poker and became fascinated by Phil Hellmuth... so I bought his book (Play Poker Like the Pros). Alot of people in poker think this book is awful, but I still rank it as the best book for beginners. In short, the book taught me the basic strategy that is the foundation for my current poker game.

So, full of confidence... I bought in for $50 at Party Poker and promptly lost all of my money. In hindsight, I made two major mistakes. I played alot of the Party Poker's one-table sit-and-go's, which are a true gamble in that their structure is so fast that skill is less important than luck (or at least it seems that way). My other mistake was that I did not fully grasp the tight-aggressive concept.

After losing my bankroll, I bought in for another $50 and promptly lost that too. So, I am now stuck for $100, which wouldn't be that big of a deal except that my wife decided that she can spend whatever I lose on whatever she wants. So, I'm really stuck $200. This certainly did not give me alot of incentive to buy in for me. But, I'm REALLY competitive and I bought in for another $50; I lost that in two days (again, playing sit-and-goes). Because I am not one to quit (this is a problem in poker, but rather useful in most other aspects of life), I bought in for another $50 and lost it too. Now, I'm stuck $200 ($400 with wife's doubler) and it only took me about two weeks. I intelligently take a break from real money poker at this time.

I spent the next month re-reading Hellmuth's book. I eventually formulated a better game plan. First, I would only play Phil's "Top Ten Hands" plus small pocket pairs, A-x suited, and KQ. This is essentially Phil's "beginner" and "intermediate" strategy. I would also ONLY play $0.5/$1.0 limit hold 'em at Party Poker -- that is, no more sit-and-goes. I would also bet these hands aggressively earlier in the hand, but fold frequently if I thought that I was beat.

So, I bought in for $50 for "one last time". It was a Monday night and my wife dropped me off at home before she went to get a haircut. I immediately caught a bunch of great hands and I had doubled my buy-in by the time she got home. This was great and I felt like I could finally start winning at the game, but I then started losing again. For the night, I think I broke even. But this was a start!

After quitting for the night, I decided to re-evaluate my play. I considered the fact that I was losing the majority of money when I was in the blinds and I would play aggressively with a weakish hand. I would play it aggressively if I caught a good flop, but I would usually lose because the players at Party Poker love to chase and I was getting caught. So, I decided to play alot more cautiously in the blinds the next time, but to otherwise continue playing the same way.

The next week or so, I managed to win $350 or so playing $0.5/$1.0 limit hold 'em. I was able to pull out all of my previous losses and I was able to get my wife off of my back (seriously, she wasn't complaining too much). Since then, I've been able to slowly build my stack. I played primarily $0.5/$1.0 hold'em for several months until I felt skilled enough (I had plenty of bankroll by then) to move up.

Right now, I play primarily $0.5/$1.0 at Poker Stars and $2/$4 limit hold'em at Party Poker. I'm playing the lower stakes at Poker Stars because I bought in for $100 and I am trying to slowly build my stack there. After about a month of playing, I have a net winnings of $2.50. I am not taking the game as seriously as I should. I have also been losing at Party Poker for about 3 weeks. This is all part of a dry spell where the quality of my game has declined because I'm being too impatient. This means that I am playing too many hands and I am being too aggressive with them. Hopefully, I can turn this around soon. I know that I still have the skills to play. I played a home game last Friday and I essentially played "perfect poker" for 4 hours. I made several great "reads", laying down monster hands when my friends sucked out on me. It was a game of relatively low stakes against bad players, but still... it gives me confidence.

That's all for now... I posted my yahoo e-mail address (frazwood@yahoo.com)... so if you want to comment, please drop me a quick message.

Introduction

I am not entirely sure why I decided to write a blog, perhaps it is because I've always wanted to keep a journal but I've been to lazy to write it out by hand and too disorganized to keep it. Anyway, I'm going to write principally about my hobbies, which are poker and fishing/camping. I'm sure that I'll discuss anything else that pops into my head as well. For now, I need to get back to work. I'll write more in a bit.