Doing OK. I got by BR to over $600, lost it down to close to $500. Then I kept pogo'ing. I'd bring my BR to a new high, followed by a big loss on at one table on the weekend which would erase most of the week's winnings. I was still making a profit, but slightly less (at the $25 tables) than I was at the $10 tables.

I think I fixed a mental glitch in my thinking. I'd always make $600 the goal, then when I hit it I just didn't care anymore. Now I made $800 a goal, and that seems to have worked. My average win for the week has doubled. I'm at $680 now.

I cashed out what I deposited awhile back so I'm only playing with winnings right now.

I've been playing some HU tournaments. I won 9 of my first 10 tables. The one loss was after I flopped a set and shoved, he called with J/J, and he hit a Jack.
Now, I've lost a few since then, but I'm still winning better than 2/3 of the games. I'm either pretty good heads up or people are pretty bad. I lean towards the latter theory.

Last night I played a CardsChat $3 tournament. I don't play too many tournaments. I played the same torunament last week but Lost and Survivor (my two favorite shows) were on and I got wild just before Lost came on and was knocked out. I was actually glad to be out, so I guess I shouldn't have been playing.

Last night Survivor was cancelled due to the NCAA game, and Lost was a repeat. Friends were having one last ring game so picking where to play was a bit difficult. I figured I'd spend more on food and drinks than I could win at the private ring game, so I stayed home and played on PS.
Because I had missed out on the live game I was determined to make that game worth my while. I considered putting a bounty on myself, but I'm not sure what the CC policy on that is.
Anyway, I caught some cards and was a chip leader for much of the tournament. I made a c-bet bluff that allowed me to turn top pair (well hidden) and got someone all-in... who had a set. Doh! That knocked me down to nearly half the average stack.
I was able to climb my way back to chip leader but lost that right about final table time.

People were making a lot of mistakes at the final table. I found them really easy to read. I made some really good folds. Some were even shown down.
As the table got smaller, I think I played better and better. They were letting me get away with a lot. Nobody (except the chip leader, kat) was pushing people around. A lot seemed to be playing to move up rather than win.
Kitkat's lead seemed insurmountable so I even make a joke along the lines of, "I wonder who will get second place?"

Anyway... it came down to three of us. Two women and myself. I don't think I've been in the final 3 with two women before. I was shortest on chips but not desperate. All of us swapped the chip lead but kat was the first to go.
The game ended soon after that. A hand or two later I had T/2h. The flop was K high with two hearts. I called a small bet and turned the flush. The river put a second 8 on the board and I shoved. She called, having King/rag and I had her covered.

I'm really pleased, as I don't play $ tournaments often. Maybe I'll start playing more?

Anyway, I caught some good cards early (getting Q/Q twice and A/K a couple times) and they all seemed to hit. I almost always got my money in good, and won the hands where I was a favorite. (That last sentence means I got lucky. )

I'm back

Back in October I think I had $50.
I earned more, then I had a period of a couple weeks where I just wasn't motivated and would pretty much stay even at the $.01/$.02 tables.

I decided to hit the $.05/$.10 tables and wow, that really motivated me to improve my game.

In November I decided that when I had a bankroll of $3 I'd try the $.10/$.25 tables, but I hat too early so I made it $350. Well, I hit that in December just before a long trip to CA, so I decided to wait until New Years Day.

Again, moving up was a good thing. The 11 days after New Years I averaged $20 per day in earnings. I had been averaging about $3.

On December 12 however, had an extremely bad run. I'd raise with J/J, hit a J on the flop, get someone all-in on the turn, and he'd river his flush.

I lost a ton. In one game I was down $175 at one point, though fate managed to stop kicking me in the junk long enough for me to cut it down to $120.

I lost a bit in another game as well, though not nearly as traumatizing as that one.

The next several days I had trouble regaining my composure. I played too aggressive and even though I seemed to always get my money in good I'd get burned.

I also had a few lucky moments. For example, I remember a small stack being over aggressive, and losing 3/4 of his stack. The very next hand he shoved on the button. I had 7/7 in the SB so I called.
He had A/A.
The board came up 2/3/4/5/6. He was playing the board and I beat him! How sick is that? I'm not sure, but I think I owe that guy the privilege of punching me in the face once.

It took awhile for me to correct my game but now I have the dedication and patience that I was lacking. I've also been winning the "one of you was destined to go broke" pots, coming out with the best full house a couple times.

During my cold streak I experimented with Heads Up tournaments. I played 3 $2 games and totally dominated them, winning all three. I also tried a $6 game and won that as well.

The other day I tried another $2 Heads Up tournament. I pretty much dominated that as well. Then my 4/4 made a set on the 8 high flop. The other guy raise, I re-raised, he-re-raised, and I shoved. The showed J/J.
The turn was a useless K.
The river was a J. Doh! J/J always hurts me in one way or another.

About J/J...
J/J has always been my bane. Sure I win a lot with it, but when I lose I lose big, and almost always to a suck out. I mean, if I misplayed the hand that's one thing, but losing to flush and straight draws over and over again is sickening.
Looking at my stats a couple days ago, A/A, K/K, and Q/Q have all had over a $110 profit. J/J was in the hole over $7. Heck, even 9/9 had a $75 profit.
Well, yesterday my J/J made a full house against someone who had a set of Aces, which put J/J into the green, so it's now showing a $17 profit. Sweet!

I've been doing well for the past week. No losing days. At the $.05/$.10 limits I had a streak of showing a profit in 32 ring games in a row. Right now I've won 8 out of my last ten sessions, one session finishing dead even and having a small loss in the other. But the earnings have been nice.

PokerTime...
I had won a few dollars on PokerTime via there freerolls, and managed to turn that into $17 or so playing at the tables. Well, that went away when I had another bad beat with J/J.
Yeah, I know that's bad bankroll management but it's not like that was real money or anything. I figured I'd either get something significant quick or be done with it. Now, with no bankroll there anymore I can be rid of the site. I dislike the software.
Of course, they have a juicy freeroll this Sunday so I might play that. But unless I win something I might just delete the software from my computer.

My friends and I had a poker game 90 minutes away at someone's apartment and three of us decided to carpoo in a tiny car. The other non-driver and I decided to hit a freeroll to see who got shotgun. The first person eliminated would have to sit in the back. (Note: Piles of crap had to be shoved aside to make room for anybody in the back seat of this car)

So I sat in the back on the drive up. 90 minutes. It sucked. I stared getting car sick by the end.
We agreed that the first of us eliminated from the home game would have to sit in the back on the way back.

The home game had three tables. My table was weak (which is good). People didn't know what they were doing, and would do no-no's like picking up their cards and making unintentional string bets. Much of the table limped in on every hand.
Much of the shuffling sucked too.
I never corrected these errors though, as I didn't want to embarrass anybody into playing more conservative.
I did make several corrections like "No she actually won that. See, she has a full house" though, as I thought I had an ethical duty to do that.

That was the first game I ever played where I never showed a hand.

The driver and I were about even at the break, but the friend I had the seating arrangement bet with wasn't doing well. He had a guy on his left who kept calling his raises, and would end up winning with garbage. Basically my friend crippled himself by not tightening up enough against a calling machine.

After break, after bailing out of a hand where my A/K didn't connect and my bluff was re-raised (by pocket Queens I was told) I looked up and saw my friend sitting off to the side drinking his punishment beer. Beautiful! It was a relief to know I had the front seat on the way home.

For the record, when we play poker we don't drink. But after the game, while waiting for our friends to finish, we drink beer we brought. Said beer is the cheap and nasty kind, as the beer shouldn't be enjoyed too much. We call this "punishment beer." "Loser beer" is acceptable as well.

I never really caught many cards. I had A/J twice, which both failed to connect with the clop but I won anyway. I had 10/10 which was my big winner after bluffing a guy off a monster pot. I also had an A/K which cost me a lot of chips when I made a continuation bet on rag-filled flop and was re-raised. One other time I was the big blind with something like 9/6 and flopped two pair.

I think my ring games affected my play too much. I probably should have been more aggressive.

I was in the middle of the pack when we were down to two tables. The blinds kept doubling, so it started to become a crap shoot. I had an average stack, which means that I had enough chips for three rounds.
I had an Ace and I thought about shoving all-in but I decided against it. Everyone folded to the big blind. Doh!
I had another Ace the next hand and though about shoving again, but decided not to. Everyone folded to the big blind again. Doh!
The next hand I had K/Q, so I shoved all-in, and was called by two players. Doh! One ended up making a straight, one made a flush, and I made nothing. Since they both had me covered and were playing against each other to the river I never had to turn my hand up. When I saw I lost I just mucked the cards.

The guy who invited us, the friend who drove, ended up winning the whole thing. Good for him.

Hit the 9:00 Railbirds freeroll. It was on PokerStars.
Again, I put my full effort into it.

My only regret was calling a guy's hand and making the call anyway. I even asked him if he had A/Q before calling with my A/J after he shoved all-in after a A/2/6 flop. I had better than 3/1 on my money to call, but still.

Other than that I'm fine with my play.

1,671 players
1st break I was 150/556 with $6k and an average stack of $4.5k.
2nd break I was 2/140 with $66k and an average stack of $18k.
3rd break I was 16/23 with $60k and an average stack of $109k.

Blinds at that point were 4k/8k with $400 antes, which gave me an M of less than 4.
I ended up shoving all-in with Q/9 into an unraised pot and losing to someone who had 10/10, knocking me out in 23'rd place for $.90.
It was the right move for the situation.

Laak & Eslami Vs Machine

The human resistance to the domination of the machine hoard was victorious.
I'm sure this is just a temporary setback for our future computer overlords.

A good rundown here.

Birds Part Deux

Played my second Railbirds NLHE freeroll.
Okay, technically I was in another last night, but I wanted to go to bed so I was all-in with any decent cards so I could bust out early.

Tonight I finished 183 out of 1,712.
I could have folded my way to the money, but I don't play for the minimum payout.

Final hand, I had an M of 8 with over 8k chips.
I made a 2k raise with 10/10.
The table leader (big blind) called.
Flop was 5/4/7 with two spades.
He checked.
I shoved all-in. He called with K/6.
He hit the K on the turn, busting me.
Dang.

Had I shoved all-in pre-flop, the correct move, he'd probably have folded.

The game, like yesterdays, was really soft. Very few continuation bets. My continuation bets almost always paid off.

Last night I had one suck out, which would have only cost 1/4 of my chips. Tonight I don't think I sucked out against anybody. I played the odds, bullied the weak, and trapped the aggressive.

I had a hot streak in the beginning and a dray streak after the first hour.
That is, I had 7,000 at the first break and 8,900 at the second break. (The average stack at the second break was 13k at the second break.)

Railbirds.com

If you want some good freerolls, try signing up for Railbirds.com and making some posts in their forums. They have daily $200 freerolls which are very nice.

I played a Railbirds 5 card draw freeroll on Poker Stars. I'd never played 5 card draw online before, so there was a big leaning curve. Most winning hands are "two pair."
I didn't totally embarrass myself, finishing 898/1,336.

This afternoon I hit my first No Limit Texas Hold'em Railbirds tournament.
Thiry minutes in I disconnected. When I finally reconnected I had a countdown asking if I should fold/call/raise... with A/A. It turned out well.



1,558 entries. $200 in prize money. Pays to 150-something place I think. Winner gets $43.
48 minutes in I was 1/695 with 19k. Average stack was 3.4k.
1st break I was in 4/550 with 19k, average was 4k, and largest 25k.
2nd break I was 6/171 with 42k, average was 14k, and largest was 72k.
2:42 in I was 2/118 with 63k, average was 20k, and largest was 83k.
3rd break I was 45/61 with 21k, average was 38k, and largest was 122k.
3:31 in I was 11/47 with 63k, average was 49k, and largest was 219k.
Then I disconnected for over 12 minutes with 77.5k (11th place with 31 remaining)
When I got back on I had 44.6k remaining, (17th place with 18 remaining).
4:10 in I was knocked out in 17th place.

Payoff was $.82.
Two more places and I'd have made $1.19.

Of course, the cheapest sit & go on FT is $1 + $.25 (yuck), and the cheapest table games are $.05/$.10 with a minimum $2 buy-in.