Quetico here I come!

Today's big news is that Dave and I are completely packed for our trip to Quetico Provincial Park this weekend. I am quite concerned that going camping in Canada over Memorial Day weekend is a bad idea, but what the hell? It's only four days. I've done this the last two years on this weekend, and we got really lucky with the weather. I doubt we'll be so lucky this year. The forecast currently predicts highs in the upper 50's, with occasional rain. Sounds like fun, huh? I absolutely love Quetico and I am excited to see the park early in the year. I also hope to catch the first Lake Trout of my life. I plan to post my trip log here.

In the wonderful world of poker, I have to express my utter happiness with UltimateBet.com. This site is simply awesome. It doesn't hurt that I've won $100 playing $0.5/$1.0 hold 'em since Saturday. I played for only 30 minutes or so tonight and I won more than $30. I know that this win rate cannot continue, but all I need to do now is to break even for the next 800 ultimate points and I'll have a decent bankroll for $0.5/$1.0 play.

I finally found a legitimate use for Pacific Poker. My no limit/pot limit game is simply awful, so I can work on it at Pacific Poker. If I lose the rest of stack, then no big deal. If I win, then I will eventually build my stack and cash out my bonus money after wagering more than $2000. So far, I have bet almost $800, so I am almost half-way there. Unfortunately, my stack is $60 or so.

Ultimate Bet

I think that I am now addicted to bonus chasing. After completing the chase for a bonus at Party Poker, I decided to deposit $250 into Ultimate Bet to take advantage of their 40% initial deposit bonus. I could have deposited $500 and got a $200 bonus, but I really didn't want to do that without having ever played at the site.

So far, I have been very impressed with Ultimate Bet. I like to look of the tables and the speed of the game. I have also been rather successful so far, increasing my stack to more than $300 so far. The only down side is that it is very slow to satisfy the bonus, although they give it to me gradually, which is cool. There is also no time limit.

Speaking of bonus chasing, I am about done chasing the bonus at Pacific Poker. I've decided that I really hate the site and I don't care if I go bust there; furthermore, it is just a waste of my time considering that I can only single-table there. Anyway, I am playing strictly with bonus money, so who cares if I lose? The play there is so awful that a tight-aggressive style is a losing approach... at least it seems that way to me. This morning, for example, I am dealt QQ on the button. I raise it and I get 5 callers. I flop top set with no flush or reasonable straight available. Unfortunately, some joker with J7o catches runner runner for a straight and beat me. I just hate this site. Right now, I am playing $1/$2 limit hold em even though my entire bankroll there is just $63.

An up and down morning

I decided to play 6-max $1/$2 limit hold em this morning. I started playing tight-aggressive and I won a few pots, nothing big... but good. Then somehow, I went on a string of suck-outs. The most notable was QQ vs. 87 and 89. The odds of me winning this hand are pretty good, right? Well, the flop was 8 8 7 (not kidding). I endured numerous other suck outs and I was stuck for $50 at one point. I managed to win my last two hands at the table, though, and I think I finished that session down only $35. I quickly won this back playing full table $2/$4 limit hold em.

After clawing my way back to even, I stupidly decided to play pot limit ($25 max buy in). I played one hand ridiculously bad (JJ) against a guy who played it even worse (KQ), but he rivered a flush and I lost my whole buy-in. Rather frustrated, I intelligently decided to play $0.50/$1.00 and start grinding again.

Fortunately, for me, I got bored with limit hold em and I opened a single table of PL Omaha ($25 max buy in). I immediately noticed that a bunch of players were calling huge bets with relatively weak hands (for Omaha, that is) like two pair. I have very little experience with Omaha, but I do have the ability to recognize the nuts (apparently these folks did not) and I also know how to count my outs.

I played two orbits without much action when I decided that it was time to quit. I generally like to play the last hand of the session, and I was dealt 9QKA, not great but playable in an unraised pot. The table was really passive, so I limped as did a bunch of other people. The flop was 3 T J (rainbow), giving a nut draw to numerous straights. I checked-raised the button and got one other caller. The turn was a 9, giving me the nuts, although there was a straight draw. I made a pot-sized bet and both people called. The river was a blank (thankfully), and I tripled up (almost) against a guy who flopped two pair and a guy with the bottom end of the straight. Like i said, there were alot of people at this table who were willing to call big bets with mediocre hands.

In conclusion, I won $15 from the entire session. If only I could have a little more disciplined playing NL/PL hold'em, I would be rich!

I have copied the hand history from the PLO hand for fun...

$25 PL Omaha Hi - Sunday, May 22, 10:21:59 EDT 2005
Table Table 36964 (Real Money)
Seat 10 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 6: tonyalves ( $45.83 )
Seat 7: billybatts77 ( $18.2 )
Seat 10: bandit1985 ( $18.4 )
Seat 3: frazwood ( $24 )
Seat 8: BrainFart_ ( $30.38 )
Seat 9: axbet ( $15.5 )
Seat 4: bax_ax ( $34.65 )
Seat 5: stonerock2k ( $56.7 )
Seat 1: GRAY_VOUVRAY ( $24.75 )
Seat 2: Tzm5M ( $25 )
GRAY_VOUVRAY posts small blind [$0.1].
Tzm5M posts big blind [$0.25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to frazwood [ Kh Qd Ac 9c ]
frazwood calls [$0.25].
bax_ax calls [$0.25].
stonerock2k folds.
tonyalves calls [$0.25].
billybatts77 calls [$0.25].
BrainFart_ calls [$0.25].
axbet calls [$0.25].
bandit1985 folds.
GRAY_VOUVRAY calls [$0.15].
Tzm5M checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Th, Jc, 3d ]
GRAY_VOUVRAY checks.
Tzm5M checks.
frazwood checks.
bax_ax checks.
tonyalves checks.
billybatts77 checks.
BrainFart_ checks.
axbet bets [$1].
GRAY_VOUVRAY folds.
Tzm5M folds.
frazwood raises [$4.9].
bax_ax folds.
tonyalves calls [$4.9].
billybatts77 folds.
BrainFart_ folds.
axbet calls [$3.9].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 9h ]
frazwood bets [$15.9].
tonyalves calls [$15.9].
axbet is all-In [$10.35]
** Dealing River ** [ 5c ]
frazwood is all-In [$2.95]
tonyalves calls [$2.95].
frazwood shows [ Kh, Qd, Ac, 9c ] a straight, nine to king.
tonyalves shows [ 7c, Kc, Ks, 8h ] a straight, seven to jack.
axbet doesn't show [ Td, Js, 2h, Ah ] two pairs, jacks and tens.
frazwood wins $16.35 from side pot #1 with a straight, nine to king.
frazwood wins $45.4 from the main pot with a straight, nine to king.

More tight play

I just finished another session of 4-tabling ($1.00/$2.00 limit hold em this time) and here are my stats:

Hands Played: 163
Hands Won: 5%
Showdowns Won: 75%
Flops Seen: 9%
Win% if Flop Seen: 50%

Win: $29.25 (or 9.0 BB/100 hands)

Maybe I should keep playing this tight afterall.... but seriously, this is two sessions in a row without a single suck-out. In fact, I even stole a couple of pots. In one hand, I had 22 in the small blind and I basically bet & raised to the river against the big blind who finally folded. I might have had the best hand there, but I doubt it. The other stolen pot was when someone raised in late position and it was folded to me on the big blind with AKs. I merely called and then overplayed the pot when rags fell. I am pretty sure that I had the best hand there, because I seriously doubt that he had a pocket pair and I also seriously doubt that either of his "two big cards" paired the board.

The really good news is that 117 of the 163 hands in this session were raked, which means I am 526 raked hands from my bonus!

I think I might be playing a little too tight

Party Poker announced their monthly bonus program today, so I bought in for $500 to hopefully get a free $100 (requires 700 raked hands). I just finished a short-session of 4-tabling ($0.50/$1.00 limit hold em) and here are my stats:

Hands Played: 103
Hands Won: 5%
Showdowns Won: 100%
Flops Seen: 9%
Win% if Flop Seen: 60%

Win: $8 (or 7.7 BB/100 hands)

I am beginning to think that I am playing a little too tight. Maybe it was just the cards and maybe it wasn't. The problem is that a suck-out here, a suck-out there... and I have a losing session. Winning poker requires that you win enough hands to compensate for the blinds, the rake, and the suck-outs.

The good news is that this session netted me 57 raked hands... only another 643 to go!

Just thinking...

I am at work right now but I don't feel like working. So, I'm just thinking about poker.

Yesterday afternoon, I bought into a private $0.50/$1.00 limit hold em that was set up by some of the guys on www.thepokerforum.com. Play was very aggressive and much better than any table that I've ever played at... and I held my own, rather easily. Of course, I brought my "A" game to the table and most of the guys there were used to playing no limit.

I was picking spots to play hands aggressively (or not) and I was picking my spots very very well. I specifically remember getting dealt QQ on the big blind. By the time it got to me, it had been raised and called. Figuring that I was out of position and neither opponent would fold to another raise, I decided to just call and see the flop. My thought being that if the flop was bad for QQ... then I could get away from it cheaply, but if it was a good flop... I would be deceptively strong and win a big pot. Well, it was a good flop and I won a big pot.

So, I have been thinking that maybe I need to give up multi-tabling for awhile and go back to playing short-handed limit hold em and concentrate on reading my opponents. I am good enough to beat that game.

Just playing

I just played cards tonight. It seems like it has been a long time since I have "just played". It seems like I have been chasing one bonus or another for a long long time. I played $0.50/$1.00 limit hold em at Party Poker. Things started off well, but then I had a couple of suck-outs and I ended the session down $15 after 200 hands or so. Not the greatest night at Party, but it could have been worse I suppose.

I was also playing at Pacific Poker tonight. I initially started played $0.25/$0.50 limit, but I got sick of playing every hand 7 ways. So, I switched over to some low stakes pot limit hold em and that was a very good idea. I could control the play a little bit better with big raises etc. I also was able to punish the various call stations. The net result is that I tripled my buy-in. My stack there is at its highest since I accidentally bought into the $3/$6 room ($84.65). Of course, that's all bonus money, so I guess I was chasing a bonus tonight. Oh well.

Thank you reload bonuses!

It has occurred to me that the majority of my winnings over the last two months have come exclusively due to reload bonuses and other bonuses. So, I was extremely happy to learn of an extra double-secret reload bonus that Party Poker was offerring to their UK players, but they'd give it to everyone else. Perhaps I should actually thank thepokerforum.com, where I learned about this bonus.

Anyway, I deposited $500 into Party Poker, then 4-tabled at $0.50/$1.00 limit for most of the rest of the day. I had played my 700 raked hands in virtually no time and I withdrew my $100 bonus plus my $500 deposit.

While trying to clear the bonus, I gradually lost $50 before I decided to re-apply myself and plug some leaks. So, I became less aggressive on the flop when it missed my hand and I played a little tighter in early position. Plugging these leaks allowed me to gradually rebuild my stack and I was able to break even during my 700 raked hands.

Because Tuesday night TV sucks, I played a little more last night too. I lost two sit-and-goes at Poker Stars ($5+0.50) and played a little at their open tables and lost another $10 there as well. I lost a little bit at Party Poker playing $0.50/$1.00 limit, but then I won it back playing a little no limit. I also won $10-$15 at Pacific Poker...

Poker is a strange game

I have decided to play poker over my lunch hour today and I've had alot of really strange hands and it's gotten me to thinking how strange poker can be.

I had lost $100 of my $250 Poker Stars bankroll over the weekend. I played poorly at times and I was unlucky at times.

But now, I've won $50 or so basically just by getting lucky. My small pocket pairs are flopping sets. My top pair, top kicker is getting re-raised on the river by fish on stone-cold bluffs. In my current session, I am up over 30 big bets in less than 90 hands. As I write this, I played a hand with JJ vs. K6 and this fish is raising me with bottom pair! What the hell?

Anyway, it's nice to experience a correction in the positive direction, but it does make me wonder about the game of poker. At least it looks like I am going to be better than even in my chase to 500 FPP's and the $100 bonus. My plan is to cashout the bonus and keep grinding from there. By the way, I just got my bonus!

Bad Play + Bad Luck = Bad News

For some stupid reason, I decided to play half-asleep on Friday night and I lost $40 at Poker Stars. That got me into some bad habits, and my bad play continued until I lost antoher $20-$30. I then caught a bunch of cold cards and lost some more. So, my bankroll at Poker Stars went from $255 to $150 or so. Not good. My original goal was to earn my $100 bonus while not losing any money. The good news is that I've almost won my $100 bonus (470 FPP's out of the 500 needed) and I had a good session at Poker Stars last night and I won a bit. My original goal was to win my $100 without losing any from my original bankroll... at one point, that seemed ridiculously easy, but now I am going to have to play well to meet it.

I got killed again last night at Pacific Poker. I think that I am going to need to focus myself there, just because I have to prove to myself that I can win at low limit poker at any site. I have lost half of my $100 bonus (no big deal), but it's a matter of pride for me.

I went fishing on Saturday evening in rainy weather and 25 mph winds... in a canoe... by myself. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer, eh? Someone asked me on the way out: any luck? Well, yeah... I was lucky not to have drowned.

The REALLY good news with all of this is that the first Quetico trip of the summer is less than two weeks away! More soon on that. For now, I need a shower.

Let the summer begin!

Yesterday marked the official beginning of summer for me. I turned in my grades and I no longer have to deal with classes until September. I feel like I've just gained my freedom.

Kelly and I went to see Crash last night. It was definitely a thought-provoking movie. It initially seemed like a movie about racism, but I really think it was a movie about how most people are angry all the time and they don't know why... and alot of this anger comes out in racially insensitive comments and gestures.

After the movie, we came home and I played poker for a couple of hours. I won a little at Pacific, and I have my stack there around $70 (I had some bad sessions there recently). I played horrible at Poker Stars, though, and I lost $40-$50. I managed to pick up another 50 FPPs, so I am getting reasonably close to getting my $100 bonus there.

The weather here is really crappy, so I am not going to go fishing even though today is the first day of the walleye/northern pike season. If the weather improves, then I will go out tomorrow. My plans for today are to play some cards and do some odd jobs around the house.

I am playing $1/$2 limit hold em at Party Poker right now. I plan on playing 100 hands and then switching over to Poker Stars to try and earn some more FPPs. I really regret my bad play last night... I was hoping to build my stack there until I could savely play $1/$2 so that I could earn FPPs more quickly. I still would like to get that poker chip set!

Bad beats, grinding, and Poker Stars

I played really really well at Poker Stars tonight. Unfortunately, I sufferred a series of bad beats to start the night and I was immediately stuck $25. These bad beats were something like flopping top two pair or a set and having some call station backdooring a straight on the river. I kept grinding, though, I eventually pulled even and maybe even won $5 or so. My Poker Stars stack is now ~$255 and I have 301 FPP's towards the 500 needed to get my $100 bonus.

The other piece of good poker news is that I successfully cashed out my $400 from Pacific Poker. So, here is a way to a free $100 of online poker money. Deposit $400 to Pacific Poker, collect their $100 bonus, and then immediately cash out the original $400. You can't cash out the $100 until you wager $2000, but you can play with it.

Anyway, I now have 3 months to satisfy their bonus requirements. That should be plenty of time to play that crappy site. My stack there is $70 (all bonus money); I think I can increase that stack in the meantime. For now, I have wagered somewhere around $350... so I am not quite 20% of there.

A really good night

We got home from work reasonably early last night -- I actually had time to mow the grass before it started to rain. The backyard has tons of dandelions.

After eating dinner, I sat down to play $0.5/$1.00 at Stars (two tables) and $0.25/$0.50 at Pacific. I started off playing great and I won about $8 at Pacific before their site crashed and I switched to Party. At Party, I immediately bult my stack by $25, winning a big hand with TT in four-way pot against AK, AK, and KQ... the flop was K T 4 (rainbow). I grinded really well at Poker Stars all night, winning around $20. My stack there is now somewhere around $220.

The only disappointment of the night was that I didn't reach my goal of getting 200 FPP's. I think I finished around 195. The tables were really tight and there were very few pots bigger than $10 (the size needed to get an FPP at those stakes). If only the tables at Stars were as loose as those at Party or Pacific! I would have satisfied my bonus stipulation long ago!

So, to sum up... my stack at Party is more than $600, my stack at Stars is $220, and my stack at Pacific is ~$75. Pacific still hasn't cashed out my initial $400 deposit... I hope they do it soon.

Time to kill

I have a few moments to kill, so I decided to write a quick blog. I have been playing very little at Party Poker lately... just enough to get a few of their meaningless bonus points each day. I keep hoping that one day they'll come up with something useful that I can purchase with them.

My bankroll at Poker Stars is at an all-time high: $205! I was 5-tabling at lunch today (3 at Stars, 1 at Pacific, and 1 at Party) and I won several big pots to push my stack beyond the $200 barrier. Now, I just need to keep it up long enough to get my $100 bonus. Right now I have 157 FPPs.

Sadly, I keep losing at Pacific. The play there is so bad that I am getting frustrated. I keep pushing mediocre hands against complete call stations. The result is that I am losing losing losing. I simply need to tighten up to win their. I have been playing alot of 7stud, but I am going to play more hold 'em now. I think hold 'em is my best game... at least I feel like I can play it with more discipline.

Bad connection and bad play

I have played relatively little the last two days because my dial-up connection from home has been bad. I always seem to disconnect whenever I have a decent hand too. I am sure that this is merely karma balancing itself out for me.

My play has been generally good, although the speed at which I lose money in poker is much faster than the rate at which I win money. So, I had about 10 bad hands at Poker Stars, resulting in me losing $25. I have been grinding away since then, and I have won back about $15 of it. I have 150 FPPs of the 500 that I need to clear my bonus. So far, I am about even while trying to satisfy this bonus.

The play, in general, at Pacific Poker is just horrible and I should be able to kill these games. I have been playing mostly 7-card stud there lately. I feel like I can dodge the bad beats better playing that game. I also went on tilt there, running my bankroll from $110 down to $60. I have somewhere near $70 right now. The nice thing about Pacific Poker is that I deposited $400 and they put $500 in my account (i.e., $100 bonus). They let me withdraw my original $400 deposit and now I am playing strictly off of my bonus. I like their structure for 7-card stud, so I'll probably continue to play a there a little bit -- even after I clear my bonus. Right now, I am only about 8% of my way there.

I haven't played very much at Party Poker since Sunday. I had a series of tough hands and I lost virtually every that I made during my hot session that I reported in my last blog. Oh well, I am mostly bonus whoring these days.

The big news is that this Saturday is the fishing opener, which is the unofficial "Official State Holiday of Minnesota". I can't wait!

Grinding at Party Poker

I have decided that my poor results at Party Poker are completely the result of impatience and my inability to grind. In contrast, my bankroll at Poker Stars has been steadily climbing (but slowly) because I have been grinding well. So, today's task is to grind at $0.50/$1.00 limit hold em at Party Poker. I played 155 hands with a positive net of $31.25. That's an amazing win rate of 20.2 big bets per 100 hands. The sad thing is that in the past, I would not consider this a big win. But in reality, it's huge and I need to remember that. I think that I am going to try and keep better track of my stats and hopefully it'll help me play better. I think my problem is that a $30 win with a bankroll of $500-$1000 seems pretty insignificant, even if it is not. Anyways, it's all about grinding. I've talked about grinding ad naseum in the blog before, but it's really time that I do a better job of it.

In other news, I deposited $400 into Pacific Poker today to take advantage of the 25% bonus on first time deposits. Rumor has it that I can withdraw all of my money and simply play with the bonus until I run out of cash or satisfy their bonus-clearing stipulation. I am not sure how many hands that I have to play... actually, I have to wager so much money, but I am not sure how much or how long I have. I played maybe 40 hands of $0.50/$1.00 limit hold em and I won $0.25. I basically played only 2 of the hands, losing with 99 (raised preflop) to a call station with J2s who caught his flush on the river. He played the hand correctly post-flop, but I can't believe people would cold-call a raise with that crap. The other hand that I played was when I was dealt AQo in early position (UTG+1). I raised it up, got 4-5 callers. The flop was K J X, with two hearts. I bet it anyway (I was a little on tilt) and got raised. I called it anyway. The turn put another heart on the board and everyone checked it. The river was a 10, giving me a straight. I bet out (figuring that no one had a flush) and I called the button's raise. He flipped over two-pair and I took down a good-sized pot.

The play at Pacific is absolutely horrible, worse that Party Poker by far. There were numerous hands that saw 9 people to the flop -- I was the lone pre-flop fold. I should be able to kill these tables. Of course, I can only play one table at a time and I've heard that the software sucks. We'll see. As always, my goal is to simply break even so that I can win the bonus cash.

That's all for now... I'm off to home depot.

The hills are alive with the sound of music

Kelly and I went fishing tonight at a little lake near our home. We caught a bunch of tiny fish on meal worms and I even caught my fish first ever on my new fly rod. Unfortunately, the fly rod-fish was so small that the hook-set sent him flying towards me. Hopefully, I can actually fight a fish on my fly rod next time.

Poker today was quite interesting. I played a little at Party Poker and I won like $10. I am not complaining. In fact, I need to learn to win a little at a time. I am doing a really good job of grinding at Poker Stars and I need to do the same thing at Party Poker. I withdrew the extra $500 from Poker Stars just now, but I've been winning there and my bankroll is now $192.98. Furthermore, I have accumulated 93 FPPs toward the 500 that I need to qualify for a $100 bonus. My real goal is to increase my bankroll while chasing this bonus... and so far, so good.

Tomorrow, Kelly and I will run in the Race for the Cure at the Mall of America. Well, I am going to run and she is going to walk. Normally, she'd run, but she's 5 months pregnant. I am not in as fit as I would like, so I hope to run the 5K in 27 minutes. I ran it last year in 24 minutes, which is not bad for a guy with degenerative arthritis in his right hip.

Well, I am going to play a little at Party Poker now. Probably $1/$2 or $0.5/$1.0 limit hold 'em. I need to grind grind grind.

Not making much progress

I have been too busy the last day or so to write a blog but I have had plenty of time to play poker. Bad poker, in fact. I ran my bankroll on Party Poker up to $800, but then I lost $150 over the last two days. I actually had won back $50 last night, but then I decided to play some no limit and I had a small reversal. I also cashed out another $100 so that I could take advantage of a bonus promotion at Poker Stars. So, my Party Poker bankroll is at $550 or so, which is the lowest it has been in a long long time. My Poker Stars bankroll is at $663, although $500 of that is my recent deposit (i.e., it's really only $163, which is good!).

The highlight hand of last night was an all-time bad beat (given, not received) in that no limit game. I was dealt J4o in the big blind. The flop was K K 4. I fired out a smallish bet, trying to steal the pot. I get one caller. The guy is kind of fishy, so I can envision him calling with just about anything. Then next card is a 4, so I have the underfull. I bet out and he calls. Now, I'm pretty sure that he has a king. The river brings another 4. I make another smallish bet and he raises me. I am not positive that he has a king, so I make a minimum raise. He pushes all-in and I call holding quad fours. What fun!

That's all for now. I have been mostly losing but not in a very exciting way. I am confident that I can win as my limit game seems to be in top form. I merely need to grind away and stay away from no limit!

A good idea works

I had a boring game plan tonight: play $2/$4 limit hold em at Party Poker until my bankroll reached $900, at which time I would cash out $100. This sounded like a great plan, except that I started off playing too loose and I was quickly stuck $50. I tightened up, though, and I eventually made my goal. The key hand of the night occurred when I flopped middle set against two opponents who both flopped top pair. The best part was one of them was a complete fish who overplayed his top pair and the other was a call station. So, I had one fish raising and another fish calling. It was a nice pot, to say the least.

After reaching my goal, I decided to play at Poker Stars. I played a $5 + $0.50 sit-and-go and I played just terrible. I also two-tabled $0.5/$1.0 and I didn't play exactly great there either. I was stuck $15 total (I quickly busted out of the the sit-and-go) when I opened a $0.50/$1.0 6-max table. That table was populated with fish and I caught cards -- a nice combination. And so, I quickly got to even for the night on Poker Stars. I am getting ever closer to the poker chip set that I don't need... it's 8000 frequent player points and I have 1175 or so! I had better get back to work!

Why do I even bother with no limit?

As many of my readers know (readers? Hah!), I have not played no limit poker very successfully since Party Poker changed their structure a couple of months ago. For some reason, this bothers the hell out of me and I keep trying to play no limit. So, last night I decided to play a single table of $100 NL at Party Poker (blinds = $0.5/$1.0). I immediately lose $20, but then claw my way back to about even. I'm on the button with KTs; I raise to $4.0, and I get two callers. The flop gives me top pair plus a flush draw. It's checked to me and I make a pot-sized bet (I really just want everyone to fold), but the small blind check-raises me. I think I have the best hand, so I re-raise all-in and he flips over bottom set. I don't improve and I've lost $100 in less than 10 minutes. Borrowing from a non-english speaking golfer: "What a stupid I am!"

After castigating myself for playing no limit, especially at high stakes, I open up three $2/$4 limit tables and I start playing. I am playing very well and I am not catching very many bad beats. I even open up a $3/$6 table (four-tabling!) and I continue to play well. After about 45 minutes, I am back to even for the night. I close the $3/$6 table and one of the $2/$4 tables. I continue to play well, but catch a few more bad beats such that I "only" win $30 for the night. I ask again, why do I even bother with no limit?

This morning I played a little 6-max limit ($0.5/$1.0) at Poker Stars. My first hand, I'm dealt JJ and win. My second hand I'm dealt AA and win. After that, I continue to play virtually perfect limit poker but manage to end the session up only $1-$2. It was one suck-out after another. I'd be dealt AQo, catch an ace on the flop, but my opponent would catch two pair on the river. I'd hold 88 and flop a set, but... my opponent holding top pair catches runner-runner to backdoor a straight. I did receive a little justice on my last hand (dealt KK) when my opponent had top two pair on the river... but the board itself was paired, so I won the hand with kings up. It was just a really weird session of bad beats and suck outs that seems to happen very frequently in short-handed play.

I think the bad beats are more numerous in short handed play because everyone chases to the end. In theory, the bad play should make it more profitable, but it doesn't seem to work that way for me. Perhaps it is because the quality of my play gets worse when I play short-handed.

Oh well, I'm off to get a haircut. Right now I look like the 1964 version of Ringo Starr.

Snow? In May?

That's right folks! Welcome to May! And it's SNOWING! Where is global warming when you need it?

I am playing poker at my peak skill level right now. I have been slowly winning at both Party Poker (BR = $832) and at Poker Stars (BR = $143). I have even been winning at no limit! I played mostly no limit ($25 max buy-in) last night at Party Poker. I won enough to pay for a buy-in to a 20-person $10+1 NL tourney.

The tourney: I played almost perfectly for this tournament. I was completely card dead the whole tournament but I still managed to steal a pot here and there to be about even when the blinds increased to $50/$100. Unfortunately, I did not win either of my blind hands so I had abeout $850 on the button when I was dealt KQo (my best hand of the tourney, by far). There was one limper in front of me, so I made a 4x big blind bet... only the limper called. Unfortunately, I was almost pot-committed by this bet (which I knew), so if I caught anything I would have to go all-in. The flop was A Q 6, which was not great, but I felt that going all-in was still the correct play after the limper checked to me. So, needless to say I bet and he called; he turned over 55 and I was quite happy until another 5 came on the turn and I was busted. I really felt good about this tournament despite the bad showing. There was not a single hand that I would have played differently. Furthermore, I would have been in very good shape to go far into the tournament if I had doubled up on the hand that busted me out.

Well, lunch break is over... back to work!

Up and down but generally up

I've been playing alot of cards at Party Poker this weekend (none so far at Poker Stars). I have been playing some really great limit poker, which has compensated for my bad no limit play. I think I need to give up on no limit for awhile and re-think my strategy. I skimmed through Harrington's book on no limit hold 'em last night and I definitely could use some of his advice to tone down my play. Unfortunately, my no limit play was perfect for the old Party Poker structure against weak-passive players (i.e., Party Poker players). But their new structure punishes my play because of the bigger ratio of buy-in to blinds. It's that whole risk-reward deal.

This morning I believe that I set a new personal record for cold cards (i.e., except Circus Circus, but I have no stats there). I played almost perfectly, though, so I lost the minimum despite not winning a single hand out of the first 64 played. Unfortunately, the cards got a little better, which means that I would call/raise preflop only to lose to an inferior hand. At one point, I was stuck more than $70, but I kept grinding and I re-built my stack to almost $890 before a suck-out on the last hand. Oh well, I won $10 for the session, which I'll take. The good news is that I am playing limit poker really really well, which certainly was not the case a week ago.

By the way, bankroll update. Party Poker = $877.22; Poker Stars = $136.08.

I am thinking about opening another account at another site so I can do a little bonus whoring. So far, I am thinking Pacific Poker, Ultimate Bet, and Poker Mountain. Pacific Poker has a good bonus (but the worst set-up overall), Ultimate Bet has a great site (a less good bonus), and Poker Mountain has the least traffic but a good bonus and it's really fast, so I think it'll play best via modem. I don't know what I am going to do, but I do know that I need to raise a little more capital first.