Nasty session

...but I survived. Thankfully my recent sessions have been kind enough to me to make yesterday's cooler not hurt nearly as much as it should have, but man was I steaming last night. I dropped around 3.5 buy ins in the span of 800 hands, almost all of them to outright coolers or beats.



These were two of the bigger disasters:

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $96.85
UTG+1: $215.10
UTG+2: $122.25
MP1: $205.05
MP2: $99
CO: $97.50
Hero (BTN): $104.80
SB: $178.40
BB: $78.35

Pre-Flop: 4 4 dealt to Hero (BTN)
5 folds, CO raises to $4, Hero raises to $13.50, SB folds, BB calls $12.50, CO calls $9.50

Flop: ($41) 6 4 8 (3 Players)
BB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $31.50, BB calls $31.50, CO folds

Turn: ($104) J (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $59.80 and is All-In, BB calls $33.35 and is All-In

River: ($170.70) A (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $170.70 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero mucked 4 4 and LOST (-$78.35 NET)
BB showed A A (three of a kind, Aces) and WON $167.70 (+$89.35 NET)

...and...

Poker Stars, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $100
UTG: $143.65
UTG+1: $114.65
UTG+2: $97.50
MP1: $87.20
Hero (MP2): $216.70
CO: $79.50
BTN: $67.80
SB: $116.05

Pre-Flop: 3 3 dealt to Hero (MP2)
UTG raises to $4, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls $4, MP1 folds, Hero calls $4, 4 folds

Flop: ($13.50) 6 9 3 (3 Players)
UTG bets $6, UTG+2 calls $6, Hero raises to $28, UTG calls $22, UTG+2 folds

Turn: ($75.50) Q (2 Players)
UTG bets $25, Hero raises to $184.70 and is All-In, UTG calls $86.65 and is All-In

River: ($298.80) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $298.80 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed Q Q (three of a kind, Queens) and WON $295.80 (+$152.15 NET)
Hero mucked 3 3 and LOST (-$143.65 NET)

There were tons of other nasty spots; some full-stacks, many more were half-stacks. Unfortunate stuff but I do know that aside from two small plays that were definitely the result of tilt, I played well. I'm going to basically chalk this up to variance and come back today to try to log some more good play.

As I've mentioned my mom's business is in a little bit of trouble. She's asked me to come help with mailing out letters to her clients to inform them of her changing locations, and she wanted me to do it all by hand. Now this may not seem like a big deal to some, but trust me, if you sit there trying to write out addresses for 1000+ people, it takes it's toll on you. I suggested getting a (goddamn) new computer and she said she'd think about it. I don't think she can afford it right now, but I can and I think I'm going to go and pick her up a shiny new laptop soon. Right now she's working with an iMac G3 - one of those first-generation ones. The thing's a damn fossil.

Anyways I'm keeping busy as usual. Aside from all that turmoil with my mom's business I'm doing fine. I'll log some more hands today and let you know how it goes.

No pics :(

Probably more poker to play today, so I'll post results when I do.

Farm trip (we have audio!)

Just trying out an audio entry today - let me know what you think and if you prefer this to the written blogs, or vice versa.

Board games, profit and headaches

Had another short session today and it went well. Ran at a nice ~35ptbb/100 for over a buyin and a half in profit; I actually recorded the session but my narrative was really sloppy. I think I'm going to wait until I smoothen it out a little before I post a video, but I'll have one up soon enough.



We're around half-way through the month as well, so I'll give you guys an updated graph here of the month's progress so far. Lately things haven't been going to quickly, but overall my results have been great:



My brain was absolute mush for the last week or so - as I mentioned, I've been on a binge for a few days and it was really starting to make me feel shitty, so I slowed down on Saturday and had a quiet night with my buddies. We actually played chess and other board games for a while - completely sober I might add - which was kind of odd since we're more of the killa12packasfastasyoucanandrunarounddowntown type. Anyways it was actually a lot of fun and we've all developed a small addiction to board games.

On a 'real life' note, my family's having some issues at the moment, and it looks like I might be moving into my own place some time soon...ish. Big 'might', and big 'ish' there though. I'm not sure if I'd get a place with my younger brother or with a friend, but either way it could prove to be some quality (read: entertaining) blogging material. Either way some big changes are on the horizon in my life and I really don't know what's going to happen, but right now I feel good and that's all that matters.

I think 'changes' suits the mood nicely right now:

Breaking even

Another quicky - unfortunately I don't have much to update you with in terms of poker as I've been on a binge for the last few days and to be honest don't even feel like playing poker right now.

I played in today's team event at cardschat ($5 NLHE) and placed 3rd which was nice. I played fairly aggressively throughout the whole match and after Rex pounded me down a few times I finally found some great spots and rebuilt my stack to a comfortable ~20bbs. I then went on a blind-stealing spree and after getting lucky in a few spots where I had to make pot odds calls, I found myself at the top of the leaderboard. I carried that into the final table where I took a few hits but managed to get 3-way with skoldpadda and dakota. I switched to 5th gear and started to really pound on the blinds, eventually finding myself with KK vs skold's stop 'n' go which rivered a straight. Anyways in the end I busted out in 3rd for some nice points for team sausage, and made like $10 while doing so. I was really happy with how I played and got a little unlucky in the end, but can't take anything away from skold and daks who played great themselves.


I also played around 1000 hands of break-even 100nl the other day but it was pretty uneventful. Unfortunately I'm really not in the mood to play today (sunday, aka the juiciest day of the week) so I'll be missing out on some action.


A few side notes - for one, I've reverted back to the plain ol' white background here on my blog until I find out how to make everything look really schnazzy. I've also split up the monthly summaries into separate posts so that you guys can actually see the updates when I make them as opposed to having to dig up the one single post. I know, I'm a nit-picker.

Looks like I'm not exactly on-pace for platinum this month but it's still definitely possible (13k hands to play by my calculations). I'll be playing a lot more in the near future hopefully and I'll let you guys know how it goes after my head stops throbbing.

December Summary

December 07:

• 8-tabled 25nl at 7PTBB/100hands through 11k hands
  
• Dropped tourneys almost completely
  
• Got 6-month stoxpoker subscription
• Took leaps and bounds in my game
• Moved up to 50nl
• Achieved goldstar status
  
• Finished the month up roughly $1,350
  

November Summary

November 07:

• Started playing FLHE more
• Dabbled (VERY unsuccessfully) in 6-max 25nl
• Achieved silverstar status
  
• Decided to really work on my ring games; looked into poker coaching
  
• Finished the month up roughly $150
  

Tournies:


Rings:

October Summary

October 07:

• Left cardschat's blog to start my own here
  
• Started dabbling in FL rings, razz, other games
• Despised tournament swings
• Roughly broke even; first non-winning month in a while

Tournaments:

Rings:

Another small killer session

Quick update here again; played for a short 35 minutes yesterday and ran like a god. 83PTBBs/100 through ~260 hands for short of $430 is something I could get used to, hah.


I've finally got myself a new mic and after some technical difficulties I've finally got it working so you guys can expect some more videos soon. Actually, if you guys have any requests go ahead and post them here or in the cardschat/stox cross-post threads and I'll see what I can do.

On a final note, I've convinced my brother to possibly get into grinding the felts. I have no intention of turning him on to this terrible habit of mine, but I think that he's intelligent enough to make a solid profit playing rings as well. We play small home games here and there and he's actually got the better of me more often than not. Anyways I think it could be fun if he really got into this because then we could actually discuss a lot of concepts and strategies face to face which could see us progress like crazy. Anyways it's mostly speculation now, but cardschat and/or stox might see a new face lurking around soon enough, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Well I'm off to grind out the tables again, and unfortunately after the other day's monster heater everything else will feel like I'm losing. Just gotta keep at it though - I'll keep you guys updated.

New look

Well I haven't played much since my last post. Not sure why; I've probably been watching more stox videos and studying a little more than I normally do, but either way I've only really logged 300 hands or so. Thankfully they were part of a very nice, short sunday night session (god I love the action on sundays):



Even though I've been playing a little less lately, my overall progress is just great. I'm now a little over a buyin away from reaching $4k in winnings since starting full ring last December (which tbh feels like I just started yesterday), and I'm very proud.



Unfortunately the grand I tried to cash out has gotten in a mixup and has been delayed:

Hello Taylor,

We regret to inform you that due to a technical error your 1,007.53 CAD
check was
sent to you by regular mail. Please allow 15 business days for check
delivery.

I have credited 300 FPPs to your account for the inconvenience.

We apologize for the delays in receiving these funds.


Regards,

Steven T
PokerStars Payment Services

So now I have to wait 2+ weeks for the damn cheque, and am already broke as it is - I literally have a $20 here to last me that long, and that was borrowed :(

Anyways, back to poker, I plan on playing a bit tonight and I'll edit in a screenshot of my progress.


Oh, I've also grown kind of bored with my blog's look and decided to add a nice background, as well as a few other minor changes. Let me know what you think; I'll think about changing it back if you guys really don't like it.

Well, off to the tables. I just might record a vid (no mic still) and post it, so I'll update that too.

Partying, the CC team event and more 100nl

Well I'm feeling a little shitty about last night. Long story short I went to a big frat/douchebag party last night, nearly fought two assholes, drank my face off and woke up this morning feeling like dying. I got pretty wrecked (all you can drink will do that to you) and am still getting over my hangover. I did see a few people that I hadn't seen in a long time though which was cool. Anyways, I ended up staying up til 6 or 7 am at a friend's house, passed out, woke up at 2 in the afternoon today, and trekked my way home just in time for the first cardschat team event (thanks for the reminder, Captain Stick!).

The event was a standard $5 MTT with 46 runners; I ended up in 12th after building my stack nicely, losing a big race (AK vs QQ) which crippled me, running into a hand on a blind steal and then busting shortly after. On one hand I had a lot of fun and can't wait for the next event (HU series tomorrow), but on the other hand I was reminded why I hate tourneys so much. Just so much variance. I kept looking for the reload button :p

But ya, it was tons of fun. I hadn't played in a single cc event in ages and it just reminded me how much of a good time it is with those guys.

Anyways congrats to all who cashed and jay who won it for team sausage!

After the event I did some stuff at home (read: moan and complain about my headache) and then sat down for a good ~1400 hand session of 100nl and scraped out a nice profit. Like I've mentioned before, I'm finally out of my 'settling in' stage for these stakes, and I'm actually playing my game. I've been playing a little more lately; the weird thing is that while playing I feel like I'm getting my ass handed to me with beats and coolers, but at the end of the day I play well enough otherwise to scrape out like 5PTBB/100 most sessions now which is great.

I realize I haven't updated you guys with a graph or anything like that in a while, so here it is. 100nl FR and a little bit of 25nl 6-max. Graph 1 is in $, graph 2 in BBs:




That first monster spike in the graph is from 25nl 6-max...something I think I'll be trying more in the near future (probably at 50 or 100nl though).

Once again I'm well on my way to gold, but I think the issue in terms of VIP stuffs is whether I'll make platinum this month. I think once I do I'll be able to maintain it easily since it'll give me an FPP earning bonus (%150) and earning the 10k FPPs per month should be a breeze from then on. It's just a matter of getting over the hump the first month by playing enough hands.

I thought I'd decided on what I wanted to buy with my FPPs earlier (24" monitor), but I think I've reconsidered. I really don't need another monitor to be honest, but I'm really not sure what else I want from the store. I think maybe I'll just save them up and whenever I get the craving for a new toy I'll dip into them and see what I like.

Anyways I finally saw Darjeeling Limited (BIG fan of Wes Anderson), and loved it. Similar to his other movies it was kind of dark, funny and emo-ish and I thought it was great. It's all about the little things in his films. Things like "Anne-Marie, do the interns get glocks?", and "Where are the savory snacks?". Anyways here's the trailer. Watch the movie if you haven't yet. And all of Wes' other flicks too for that matter, he's a genius.

Ed's next student?

Stoxpoker is holding an interesting competition called the "Stoxpoker Project". Basically it's a promotion wherein 3 of the most 'qualified' premium members (I'm still not sure what qualifies as qualifications, heh) get a chance to get coached by a Stoxpoker pro. I've put in my self-nomination for small stakes player here, and to be honest I think I have a very good shot at winning this.

From the above link:

We are selecting 3 Premium Members to be a part of the "Stoxpoker Project".

A Small Stakes player (to be coached by Ed Miller).

A SNG or MTT player (to be coached by Collin or Matt).

A mid-stakes player that is ready to advance his Limit AND No-Limit games to high-stakes. (to be coached by Nick, Bryce, Dusty, and Kyle).

Every month for the next 12 months, we will have a featured video from each of the participants where we coach them as part of "The Stoxpoker Project". The video will consist of specific hands that the member has submitted along with audio set-up of the hands and even open questions to the coaches for him that month. In the published video, you will hear the advice and suggestions that the coaches provided the participant.

Each Stoxpoker Project member will post a blog each month where you can peak inside as he reveals his achievements, set-backs, personal struggles, and goals for the next month.

Coaching from Ed would obviously be invaluable for me and I can only pray I win this as it would really get me going. By my account I'm already a solid winner, but his coaching would only build on the basis of knowledge I already have and get me ready for 200nl and up.

I'm not sure how the selection process goes, but if there's any way for you guys to vote I'd appreciate you doing so with every ounce of my body :)

Anyways on to my progress...



After running at around -1PTBB/100 for my first 13k hands of 100nl, I've turned it right around and have been running at a very solid 5PTBB/100 since (another 13k hands) and have ballooned my bankroll to more than 4k. I actually just made a withdrawal because I need some money here in real life, so a nice $1000 cheque is on it's way in 'less than 7 business days'. That'll give me some dough to fix some of the things I've been meaning to do the last while (update my passport, get my G1, pick up Professional No Limit Holdem, pick up a new headset, reload my cell with minutes, etc etc).

Anyways, life is good, and even if I don't win this competition I'm past my 'settle-in' time for 100nl, am extremely confident at the moment, and that's all that matters.

Best caption in the comments wins an virtual high five from me.

Turning it back around

For a while there, despite feeling a lot better about my game, the beats and coolers just kept rolling in. I was starting to doubt whether I was playing fine and just on a cooler, or if I was actually playing so bad that I was a losing player at 100nl. After my last post I started to play a lot better but couldn't seem to crack even with most of my sessions. They all seemed to be either slightly up, or slightly down.

I ended up making a few adjustments to my game, namely playing more aggressively and bringing my stats from roughly 14/8/3 to like 14/11.5/4. I'm finding that either a lot of the regulars are more weak and passive than I once thought, or I'm getting better at bluffing/playing my position and I'm getting stronger than I used to be. Anyways aside from today's fun it hadn't yet translated into results; only break-even sessions.

Today was a nice breakthrough session for me though. Unfortunately the event that sparked it was stacking tenbob after we got into some heated battles at a 100nl table. We both know each other quite well, and have played together quite a few times in the past; that of course leads to us trying to beat each other up as badly as we can. Anyways after a few hands against him with plenty of steals and resteals going both ways, we eventually played this hand where I was lucky enough to have trips the same hand he decided to run his biggest bluff of the session on me.

After running quite well for the rest of the day after that boost of confidence, I ended the day up quite a bit - nearly 5 buyins:

Well obviously it's much easier to feel like I'm playing better now, but even back when I was breaking even/losing, I still felt as though my game was taking some strong steps forward. I'm able to deal with the regulars a lot better now, basically pushing most of them around, and the fishies are just my bread and butter.

The bankroll's up past $3k for the first time ever, and I'm feelin goot! Gonna have to make another cashout soon though.

On a side note, I went out for a few drinks and then wound the night down with some all you can eat sushi last night. Needless to say, after downing what seems like 50 pieces of sushi last night I've been shitting bricks of rice all day, but man do I love that place. $15 all you can eat is heaven to me. Just talking about it is making me hungry.

Anyways I've got a few things to do this week, but aside from that I'll have plenty time to play poker. I'll keep you guys updated.