An End to a Miserable Live Week (11/15/2010)

I finished down -$185 in about 34 hours live this week.  I busted my ass and tortured my schedule, I really did, but it just wasn't happening this week for me.  The slump just went to first losing weekend in a long time.  It was just absolutely brutal this weekend.  I hit some variance and EXTREME card dead most of those 34 hours, I wish I could say I was kidding.

When you run like shit it's pretty frusterating.  You see people sit down and stack up to +$1,000 NO PROBLEM, it's just so easy.  They run like God, hit 5 sets, get dealt JJ+ 5 times in an hour, you know the usual.  Meanwhile, there you are in seat 5 folding out your standard 59o preflop.

I chased a really profitable game Saturday night until 8:50 a.m in the morning.  I thought I could turn a solid profit the entire time.  To bad I was literally card-dead from 1:50 a.m to 8:50 a.m.  In a game where people were betting $20 blind pref-flop I literally did not get dealt JJ+ ONCE, not one time.  Nor did I flop a set once (though that was standard this weekend as well).  I got dealt AK 4 times during that span, but missed the flop every time.  Every time the pot was three or more players, and contained at least one queen and or one jack.  Absolute shit. 

Eventually at 8:50 a.m I made a mistake and shoved all in pre-flop with AK to try to go after a player I'd been watching for 4 hours.  Well it wasn't really a mistake, but it was over-aggressive.  Any other time I would have folded the hand, but against the 3-betting villian it was correct.  The 3-better was a really bad player, and I wanted to single him out and/or steal the pot.  I thought I could easily have him dominated or use my tight image to fold him out.  He had AK as well, but a nit who had just sat down pre limped, then ended up blindly calling my 4bet with QQ and held.  Oh sweet some dude who was sandwhiched between us got dealt QQ within 5 minutes!!!  I hadn't seen a hand that strong dealt to me in the last 5 hours.  But anyways that knocked me down on that session.  That was the biggest mistake I made all weekend, very uncharacteristic of me.  But it serves me right for fucking up my schedule and staying up at such a crazy hour.  I should have ended at 5:00 a.m on Sunday morning and logged up +$280 on the night and accepted it WASN"T MY NIGHT.  I was incredibly disapointed in myself for really messing up my schedule and losing discipline there.  It's almost NEVER worth it to stay that extra few hours when things are going horrifically live, you just have to keep your schedule in mind. 

This Sunday sealed the weekly loss as I lost -$230 in 6 hours.  Most of it gone on an all in overpair on a flop.  There was $60 in the pot, and the guy calls my $110 all in on a flush draw.  What do I have to raise to get these idiots off a flush draw?  My House?  He binks the river, so there goes that session.  I was also dealt AKo 4 times I believe.  Not once did I flop anything worthwhile.  I stole at least two of the pots that went heads up, but the other three I could not.  Same deal with any AQ or AJ I was dealt.  Was dealt AA once, took down a small pot.  Was also dealt QQ once, which could not hold up on an all in pre against a short-stack who held with AK.  Oh sweet must be nice to hit a KING on the flop in that situation.  I think my last 10 AK's dealt live have whiffed the flop.  Also not one set flopped like usual tonight.  Tonight was bad, but I didn't make any mistakes.  If it wasn't for that suck-out on the river I would have still been up on the session.

So a really bad week and I'm not in a great mood right now because of it.  So exhausted, should get to sleep by 3:00 a.m tonight which is really early for me.  Man do I need sleep.

Bad week, but I guess most people have those occasionally.  I had won the last 8 weekends live played, so it had to come to an end sometime.  Meh, what can you do. 

So my schedule during the upcoming few weeks should be something like:

Mon 15th - Wed 17th (All online)

Thurs 18th-  Forcing myself to take off a day from playing poker.  Going to dinner with my roommate and then probably going out later.

Friday 19th- Sunday 21st  (All live.  Doing everything I can to break out of the live slump and log another solid win)

 Monday 22nd (online)

 11/23- 11/26  (No poker.  Home for Thanksgiving.  I might play some online while home, but probably not.  Friends + Family!)

11/27- 12/1  (Most likely taking a needed vaction and visiting Manhattan)

12/2- 12/3 (Grind)

12/4 (party)

12/5- 12/22 (Grind)

-bag

Best Online Session in a Month (11/11/2010)

This isn't a joke.  Absolute ROLLER COASTER of a night.  The first 4 hours (discussed in my last post) represented the worst online net loss I've had in a month.  Then I come back the next 4.5 hours and log the best net profit session I've had (probably during the last year).   I just finished my last 4.5 hours from 12:50 a.m- 5:30 a.m up +$494.  So I won 10 buy-ins in 4.5 hours of play.  This completely negates the session earlier and I finished my online session this week actually up +$66 in 24 hours.  I'll take it, never been so relieved to be up just over a buy in.  Everything went wrong this week until that last session.  Also keep in mind I'm still clearing the VPPs and FPPs from playing 8-10 tables for a good amount of hands.  It was a struggle but I did my job online this week.

How to win 10 buy-ins in 4 hours:

(It's only fair)

First drag a $185 pot with AKs.  A short-stacker pushed $18 all in pre over my open and I called.  I was relieved another guy behind me also called.  With the short-stacker out of the way there I was, myself and the 61/7 toolbox left to fight it out.  This was going to end in disaster or fortune.  Board

Kc 2c 4d Ah 8c

I didn't want to push this all in pre-flop because we happened to be deep stack for this format.  I bet $20 on the flop villain calls.  I shove $50 on the turn he CALLS.  Villain shows JJ.  WOW.  I know it's normally a good play because the two outer comes against me every time, but for real?

Next, attack one of your most hated regular's blinds and stack his stupid ass.  I stole with 8Ts and turned a nut straight.  He instantly stacked off with a doomed set of nines.  His fault, he could have raised me out pre-flop but he wanted to play for the big pay-off (like I'm going to ever pay his set-mine off anyways, haha).  I know this guy was shocked, he couldn't have had the 8Ts hand in my range.  +$140 pot there.

Next hold up all in preflop AKo > A5o.  I open from MP and a psycho jams me $54 all in pre-flop.  I had to call based on the villain.  +$108

KK > JTs +$103.  All in on the flop over-pair kings holds against top pair T, jack kicker.

KK > JJ +$108.  All in preflop here against another bad player.  Kings made a come-back during this session big time.

KK > AA +$100.  This time notice we get dealt KK vs AA (like every session), but wait WE ACTUALLY HIT A KING.  No remorse because he smooth called the $12 3 bet pre with AA despite only being 50BB deep.   It's going all in anyways, feels good to suck out for once.  I certainly never get the situation where I'm dealt AA over my opponent's KK deep-stacked so again no remorse, it was nice to have some justice.

JJ > 88 +$100.  The two outs miss.

TT > KK +$100.  Set mined to hell.

66> KJs +$100.  Flopped set holds against top pair king, jack kicker?

AA > J9 +$90.  Overpair holds against top nine, jack kicker.  Go figure.

KK > JQo +$80.  Overpair holds against top pair quee, jack kicker. 

And that's really the idea.  One of those incredibly rare online session where for a few hours EVERYTHING seemed to be going right for me.  I'll enjoy it until next Monday, when it's back to being sucked out like usual.  I'm glad I finished up the online part of the week week as scheduled and kept fighting.  I really feel I'm improving weekly.  If the live tables are slow tomorrow (Thursday night) I might even put in another online session Thursday night around 2a.m- 6a.m.

The biggest question mark I had going into playing full time would be my ONLINE progress.  The last three weeks I'm doing enough to get by online, which is really exciting to me:

Week 1 (10/25- 10/27):  +$749 in 27 hours

Week 2 (11/1- 11/3):  -$50 in 25 hours

Week 3 (11/8- 11/10):  +$66 in 24 hours

SN Bonus + Tournament Freeroll Cash:  +$2,000

Even if I manage to play just break even during next week or two I'll still be up because I can begin clearing another $1,500 Supernova bonus.  My goal is always to do everything I can to profit every session, but it obviously doesn't always work out that way.  The bonuses are a great security net.

It's 6a.m my schedule is slightly off, but I feel great!

-bag

EDIT:  It's 6:30 haha.

Worst Online Session in a Month (11/11/2010)

I just finished up my worst online session in a month.  Down -$267, so lost about 5 buy-ins in 4 hours of play.  I needed a break so ate something and wrote this post to justify some of it.  Really the bullshit I experienced during that last session was pretty unthinkable.

How to lose 5 buy-ins in 4 hours:

First get dealt KK into AA twice and lose two full fucking buy-ins.  Each time I had to run into guys with full buy-ins rather then short-stackers.  That’s a great start.  It’s amazing BOTH hands I actually put the opponent’s on KK pre and almost folded.  Both times they made unusual min-raises pre-flop.  Both were opponents who 3-bet rarely as hell, much less make a strange min-raise pre from MP.  So both times I ended up calling pre-flop.  The boards ran out low each-time.  I check raised all in and got fucked by AA both times, almost identical.  In the future I think the strategy would be just 4-bet them preflop to a reasonable amount.  If they 5-bet the only hand they could be playing is AA when considering these types of opponents.  This might sound sort of crazy to people reading this, but based on the stats I have on the villains I can actually get away from these hands.  Then again, it’s never a terrible mistake stacking off with KK pre, just the worst session ever whatever.

Next, stack off a full buy in to a 64/40/20 bomb retard.  Get all in on the turn with KT on a K T 6 J flop.  He will have the AQ of course.

Next get all in on the turn against a calling station 30/13.  I’m holding Ah Kh.  He has Ks Ts.  Board:

Kc Qs 8s 9c

RIVER:  4s

THANKS!

Next, get all in pre-flop with AK.  Three way pot for $100.  We all have AK.  Oh put the 47/18/9 dude has AKs.  He runs out 3 fucking clubs and stacks me.  So there’s another -$50.

So KK vs AA twice= -$100

Stack off with two pair to bomb retard who’s holding the miracle nuts= -$50

AK < AKs= -$50

That’s - $200 right there.

I’m going to keep going because they shit I saw in the span of 4 hours actually made me dizzy thinking about it.  When the session was over and I looked at hands, just WOW.

Ok so next.

AA < A5s  That’s -$35 more gone.  That’s what happens to my AA.  I’ve never sucked one out holding KK in my life, but the opponent sure as fuck has no problem doing it calling a $6 raise pre with A5s.  He flops the flush draw and goes $22 all in.  Another incredible flop.

Now let’s through in the COOLERS/SUCKOUTS.  COOLER SUCK-OUT REMIX BABY:

JJ < KK all in pre -$20

QQ< AQ all in pre -$20

AA< JJ all in pre -$20  (Can’t win with AA pre or KK, why am I even playing at this point?)

QQ < KTo all in turn -$20.  All the money goes in I have 90% equity, but he peel s one of his 7 outs on the turn.

Oh can we get a COIN-FLIP?  COULD WE WIN ONE?

AK < TT all in pre -$20

AK < QQ all in pre -$20

So that’s -$320 adding all that up.  So that’s about right, that’s how you drop 5 buy-ins in 4 hours.

I made a mistake stacking off to the bomb with top two pair, sort of.  Yeah I was bad when the money was all in, but his range his still crushed.  Also, not getting away from the two KK hands were mistakes, because I didn’t trust my instincts that they had AA.  Both times here was the thought process:

“HE has AA, he isn’t playing any other hand like that, he has AA, he has AA, there is nothing else he could have here.  Call it pre-flop maybe you can hit a king or something.  Christ the flop is low, ok CHECK RAISE, he’s all in, FUCK IT, Show-down AA, THANKS AGAIN”.

Going Forward

Now that I have that out of my system I’ll stop talking about specific hands.  I almost want to just go out the casino live tonight and start the live sessions early this week but I won’t.  I’d probably have to get lucky to find decent action on a Wednesday night just walking in.  Then again I’m not going to lose 5 fucking buy-ins.  But I’m going to finish off the last 4 hours online this week.  I’m already down -$430 this week which almost completely erases the tournament win Saturday, it has been absolutely miserable.  Just finishing the last 4 hours mistake free is my goal right now.

I’m going to try to just stay focused an play my game after watching some South Park.  It’s going to be tough to get the last 19 hours out of my mind, but I have to, I don’t really have another choice here.

Anyways that’s all for now.  Running like shit online for extended periods is probably one of the most disgusting things a person can experience.

I'm ready for the next session though understandable a little pissed off.  Either way I'm looking forward to live this week.

Weekly Review and Going Forward (11/8/2010)

Just got back from the live sessions today.  I will be sleeping at ease tonight.  I mean this morning, whatever you get the idea.....

Friday and Saturday were epic struggles as I won only $210 in a combined 16 hours of live play.  However, I came back strong on the tables today and won $475 in 9 hours of play.  I made sure I wiped out the Thursday loss and my live results look back on track again.

Instead of nitting it up even more I was playing more aggressively today and taking more moderate pots like I should be doing.  Whenever I say to myself: "I'm not going to play hands X like Y for whatever reason" it never works out well.  Situations will just naturally arise when I'm playing extended live sessions which I have trained myself to recognize and take advantage of.  I think during some of my mediocre results during the last few weeks I was too much of a nit and did not trust my skill enough.  Going into sessions with a mindset of "I'm going to nit up until I grind back X amount of money" is not correct.  The correct mindset is:

"I'm going to do everything in my power to fully exploit whatever situation I face."

Online Week Results

+$450 in 30 hours

My cash online sessions this week were absolutely miserable from Monday-Wednesday.  25 hours of play and I ended up down -$50 (1 buy in ).  You can't win em all, but yeah it sucked.

Saturday I played an online quarterly Supernova tournament that I recieved a free qualifier for.  There were over 4,500 entrants and I finished around 170th place for +$500.  It took about 5.5 hours out of my Saturday.  I had a GREAT time playing, it was really fun.  I was amazed at how many bad players were in the tournament and the waves of incredibly stupid plays I saw.  I thought it would be like, I don't know; all Supernova players who are good?  The experience if anything really makes me want to mix tournaments into my schedule more.  The final hand I was dealt AQs UTG in an automatic push situation pre-flop.  I pushed, one person raised huge, and another went all in over the top.  At that point I knew I needed a flush to win.  Villain one turned over AKo, Villain two showed KK.  I actually turned a flush draw but no help on the river.

So the tournament win was huge and saved my online results this week.  I'm going to do my best online going forward, but it's not the end of the world if I play around break even a week or two.  I'm still eventually going to clear another $1500 Supernova bonus, so it's still worth my while.  It's also worth my while because it's where my skill is really improving due to the top notch competition.  Also, I'm on 20-50 BB tables so the variance is going to be massive.  Last week I won $750 online (without the bonus).  This week I lost -$50 (without the tournament win).

Live Weekly Results

+$431 in 31 hours

I started live sessions on Thursday again this week.  My mediocrity streak soon turned into a nightmare Thursday as I slipped up and ended up dropping -$250 on a night where I shouldn't have even walked into the casino after drinking.  The most disappointing part was not the net loss.  It was that I shipped $100+ on a clear mistake (something I haven't done in months), and my decision to play after drinking so much.  Once I sat down and had a splitting headache that should have been it.

The good news is I fully recovered and broke into profit this weekend.  Not only did I recover the profit, but more importantly I fully recovered my live confidence.

Total:

+$881 in 61 hours

Don't plan on reporting net profit or loss every week, but I felt like doing it here for whatever reason.  Not ground breaking results, but I found a way and got by.  I've been making much more than I did at my old job.  I'm also much happier and enjoying my life situation.  I also did not rot in hellish commute for one damn minute this week.  My farthest drive is a casino about 5 miles away.  I'm going to be saving over $250 per month on gas alone.  Also, not being stuck in a bullshit office surrounded by corporate drones barking orders at me was a plus.  And I didn't wear one lame ass pair of slacks.  Those days are gone and I'm thrilled.  For the first time in my life I'm doing 100% exactly what I want to do and I can actually say that I'm proud of myself.

Goals This Week:

1)  At least 50 hours of online and live play combined.  Mon-Wed online and Thurs-Sun live.

2)  Work out 2-3 times.  Minimum twice.  Maybe two work-outs and a run one day.

3)  Continue to eat decent.

4)  Take off a day.  It's probably going to be Wednesday or Thursday.  I think it may be wise to force myself to take off one FULL DAY.  I don't remember the last day I went without playing at least 6 hours of poker whether it be online or live.  I don't feel burnt out or anything, but there is no problem with treating myself to a break.  I will most likely set up a dinner with my roommate, and do whatever that night.  If I drink I'm damn sure not going to the casino that night.

Live Downswing (11/5/2010)

It's gone from a really bad week to a straight up downswing live.  I am really not happy with myself right now.  From 10/3-10/29 I won 15 out of 16 live sessions for +$2,048.  During the last 5 sessions I've lost 5 out of 6, now down -$362 in that span.  That includes bleeding an unthinkable -$265 last night, which was my far my worst live 1-2 result EVER.  How did last night happen?  One really bad mistake, combined with running like shit, mixed in with pushing small edges to aggressively.

Starting off the night I made a really stupid mistake and was stuck -$150 (a full buy in) within the first hour.  I stacked off with top pair jack ace kicker against an opponent I really didn't know much about.  He had the set.   In any other live sesion I would have given up my left nut before I stacked off to this clown with a top pair.  But when it rains it pours.

As if it wasn't bad enough that I really have been running atrocious, combine it with a mistake like that and it's over.  I think there are four factors contributing to my current misery:

Played last night after Drinking.

Before I played last night I went out to dinner with a girl and had half a bottle of wine.  This is usually nothing, but it was by far the most I have drank in the past month.  After the dinner I headed over to the casino.  From the get go I was really not in the right state of mind.  I had a splitting head-ache during most of the session.  Also I came in with a sort of gun-slinging idiot mode.  The play with AJ was completely unacceptable and I have every reason to be disappointed in myself for making it.  From here on out if I want to go out and drink a decent amount I will take that night off from playing.  Also I sort of like the girl, but can't act on the feeling because of the situation which complicated things more.  So I had a lot on my head when I first started playing.  I should not have even walked into the casino last night.

Live 1-2 is Not Online Poker.

It's not even close.  I noticed my live results have plummeted since I started playing online Monday-Wednesday each week.  There are very distinct differences.  I've been ignoring these differences, trying to aggressively push small edges, and unnecessarily losing plenty of moderate pots.  This is NOT how you win at 1-2 live.  I think this is really contributing to my downswing during the last 25 hours.  So going forward I have to get into a different mindset playing live.  There are some specific adjustments I will be making for the remainder of this weekend.  STOP PLAYING 1-2 like online low stakes.

I'm Over-Working Myself.

It doesn't feel like it, but I have been.  I've been working out some, eating decent, and getting rest.  However, I have now played poker the last 12 days straight.  My obession to get off to a strong start may turn against me.  I should have taken off last night, serves me right.

Running Really Badly.

Not one set flopped in the last 38 hours of live play.  This has got to be some kind of sick record.  But my opponent's sure haven't had trouble hitting tons of sets looting moderate pots from me.  When you run this bad you want to push small edges, use your skill, and get back on a good track really fast.  Unfortunately, this is not how you grind out a solid hourly rate 1-2 live.  Like last night with the AJo hand when I was probably buzzed as well.  Ok top pair jack in a 4-5 way pot.  Bet $35, one caller.  Turn is a scare card king.  Bet $50 (HUGE MISTAKE LIVE).  This isn't fucking online.  It's now a check fold hand at best.  Ok he calls again.  River  BET $50.  Now it's just gone from a huge mistake to complete stupidity.  Of course he puts me all in for $20+ more and shows the set.  Of course the most annoying fucking dimwit on the table and I paid him.

This has been a really bad set-back for me.  I guess it's better I ran into now rather then dropping $2,000 at 2-5 or whatever.  I can recover from a -$50 loss in the past 38 hours.  Well I'm going to do all in my power to stay focused and get back in the right mind-set.  I have a long weekend ahead of me.

I've made more off the stock market this week then I have with poker, which is really embarrassing.  Let's uh make sure that's a fluke.......

And here I thought investing in stocks was by far the most irresponsible thing I was doing with a portion of my money.