No Hands Logged: Hitting the Books (4.30.2010)

I decided to take a small break from grinding out hours online and put a good amount of time into poker study.  It is important to sometimes step back, take an in-depth look at your play, be honest, and re-evaluate everything.  I have built a huge database of my hands using HEM over the last few months and I haven’t put in the necessary time to analyze this database and appropriately look for leaks.  All of this incredibly valuable raw data is just sitting there just screaming to be broken down.  It is screaming:  BAGLIFE LOOK AT ME YOU FOOL, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LOOK!  Yet I’ve made the fatal error of neglecting my personal analysis, I kept chugging away during the down-swing losing money even with the bonuses.  Part of the reason for my chugging along was I knew how bad I was running, and I thought a massive amount of hands would balance the EV out.  And sure I’ve been running bad, but just how bad?  Well sadly I didn’t fully know.  I should know the exact answers to questions like: if I ran normal EV (net zero) over this downswing, what would my exact win-rate be?

The analysis is tough based on a few factors, but I need to get a ball-park answer that is over 90% accurate for the important questions.  I can specifically focus on my 100NL stats, which I have 82,000 hands logged.  This is still a decent sample size to break down based on the stakes I will be playing at.    

These are topics I may be touching on during upcoming posts.  I’ve been running bad, but I know I’m not doing everything optimally just by glancing over some key stats on the HEM.  The good thing is that I have a battle plan in place going forward.  By the end of the weekend I will be a drastically different player; some major adjustments will be made.  I can make them or bleed money with another inevitable swing.   

Here are 7 leaks/adjustment/issues (A-G) that I will study before logging another hand online.  It may take an entire night of studying, hell it may take 3 full nights:

A)  Leak 1- My open raises are not fully polarized.  I won’t probe into this; but I’ve decided to generally polarize my open pre flop raises from every position.  This is an adjustment already in place going forward.  This leak-plug will make me a less exploitable player.

B)  Leak 2- Pre flop range analysis.  One of my major weaknesses has been playing too tightly pre flop.  I’m simply not playing enough hands pre flop to support the natural losses from the blinds.  My VPIP% and PFR% need to increase from all positions when opening DRASTICALLY.  Just by how much?  Well this is a major area that I will be studying this weekend.  I’m going to cross reference my opening pre flop raise % from each position against a composite average of the PFR% that the most winning short-stackers at my stakes have.

I have already picked out the 5 best short-stackers based on win-rate who I have logged the most hands against.  Combined I have over 23k hands of theirs logged.  I’m going to lump these 23k hands into an average and compare against my stats.  I wish I had a larger database to compare against, but this isn’t an exact science.  It’s simply a way I can estimate just how much I do need to increase my pre flop open range, VPIP, and PFR.  For example, if the 5 pro short-stackers combined are opening with a pre-flop raise of 8% UTG, and I am opening with a pre-flop raise of only 2% based on my 80k hands played, then this would be a A HUGE LEAK that I must plug up immediately.  This is an example of how I plan to cross reference for my benefit.       

C)  Review a massive amount of hands shown down and begin making guides up on how these hands play out.  The hands reviewed should be from solid-short stacking opponents and myself.  Study these hands at your worthless day job to improve.  And DON’T just do this a few hours and stop.  I should be doing this for a few hours EVERY WEEK whether I’m winning or losing.

D)  Read fully a very well known short-stacking strategy thread that contains some nice articles.  This will take a few hours since it is 20 pages long.  I can also complete D at my job tomorrow if I have time.  Not that I will instantly be changing my strategy to implement everything in the guide, but picking up one small idea could make it a worthwhile read.  The chance of picking up that one small idea can never be underestimated.

E)  Continue thinking about poker every-day.  I have been in this mode for over a month now; especially when I’m not playing.  I’m always thinking about poker.  This is good, I will continue to let it consume my thought processes.  I guess I can’t force E on myself, but I’m glad I am still thinking about the game each hour of every-day.  This shows I am still passionate about improving.  I refuse to restrict my drive to improve; it's not like I have anything better to think about.

F)  Work out what you are willing to comfortably invest during the next month.  During the month of May I’m going to set a max on what I’m willing to invest into online poker.  This will be a specific $ amount that I just don’t want my checking account to fall below.  If I take a big variance down-swing I simple won’t pull out any more money until the next month.  I’m not going to keep making deposits while forcing myself to put volume in with too much money in play at once when I’m already bleeding money.    

G)  Embrace the two-headed dragon known as variance as a part of your life.  How can one embrace such an ungodly evil creature as part of their life?

This is the most difficult challenge going forward.  Variance is not something that can be analyzed and attacked.  Attempting to slay this powerful monster with your pathetic sword would be futile.  Similarly, you can’t defeat variance by heaving a chair across your room.  If you threw a chair at a dragon it would only become angrier and mess you up more.  The only choice is to accept that this creature is always lurking somewhere in the shadows.  When the beast attacks and launches a massive fireball your once peaceful village will erupt into a raging inferno.  All you can do when this happens is take the children (and most attractive women) and hide in the awesome under-ground tunnels until the dragon leaves.  The dragon will always come, but he will EVENTUALLY leave to go harass another village or whatever a dragon enjoys doing in his spare time.  But once gone you can simply rebuild as the village has been doing for generations; this is the way of life.

These are 7 topics that I will fully address before playing another hand.  Hopefully I will have it all worked out by Saturday night where I can play another session.  Extremely tired, but I’m going to aim for a post tomorrow on topic B (pre flop hand rankings).

Cheers,

-bag

Stumbled Half Way to Supernova (4.28.2010)

Last night I put in a 2.5 hour session during an interesting time slot.  After I got home I decided to destroy a nap from 8:00p.m- 9:00p.m.  I was then going to wake up and put in a session.  The problem is I slept well past 9 p.m.  Eventually I woke up around 12:15 a.m with some energy.  Since I felt awake I decided to play; ended up logging out at 3:00 a.m.  I then woke up for work around 7:00 a.m.  So last night I slept 7.5 hours, but the sleep was broken up into two segments.  I’m not sure if this counts as a full night’s sleep, but I don’t feel terrible at the moment.

Well it was another miserable session.  I’m running under -$500 in EV for the last 20 hours of play.  I remember getting all in pre with AA on two occasions and getting crushed by a miraculous board.  The first was AA < AQ all in pre (opponent spikes trip queens).  The next was AA< K9s (opponent flushes the river).  There were a few other very unlucky hands as well.  If you can’t hold AA over AQo, and K9s all in pre flop you aren’t going to win much money playing poker; let’s be honest.  Ended up down around -$100 for the session.  Luckily a $100 stellar reward bonus saved me and brought the session to even.

I did reach the 50,000VPP mark at least, which is half-way to Supernova.  My online bankroll is around $1980.  This number fluctuates drastically with 12 table sessions.  I usually have a minimum of around $250 in play at any given time.  The upcoming stretch REALLY worries me.  I’ve been on a massive –EV down-swing the past month, and if it continues over the weekend I’m really not going to be a happy person.  Also my bonuses are dried up for the upcoming stretch.  I don’t see another $100 stellar reward until I hit 60,000 VPPs.

Damage Control Plan for Variance.

I’m expecting to not earn enough combined FPPS for another cash bonus until I earn about 12,000 more VPPS.  This means for the next 10k VPPS I am absolutely on my own.  This could very well eat into my bank account if I continue to run as badly as I have been.  And I’m really not sure I am ready to deal with this fate.  During the next 50 hours of play I feel it is crucial that I run at least average from an EV standpoint.  The problem is I can’t control what I run EV.  I could run -$3000 more in EV over the next few months, it could keep going until I’m forced to temporarily retreat (even if I pull off a few nice bum-hunts to balance it).

This weekend (and the upcoming few weeks) I really need to set a stop point if things aren’t going well.  I have to look at my checking account and ask myself what I am comfortable depositing in during a continued worst case scenario.  If I hit a massive downswing this weekend I have a few choices:

A)  Set a stop point where I will invest $600 more into my online poker account.  That stop point would be $1350 for me right now.  At $1350 I don’t think I can comfortably short stack 12 tables at 100NL without worrying about the bankroll.  It just fluctuates to damn fast.

B)  Set a stop point ($1350) where and immediately drop to 6 tables.  This way the swings well be less dramatic and I can focus on getting every fraction of positive EV.

C)  At the $1350 stop point keep 12 tables, but drop to short-stacking 50NL.  The same volume, but only $120 would now be in play at once.  However, I’d be earning half the VPPS.  I really hate this option since I’ve become so comfortably with player tendencies at 100NL. 

D)  Drop to four 50NL tables and go full buy-in.  There would still be around $200 in play at once, but the variance SHOULD drop significantly.  That is a hell of a theoretical “SHOULD”.  If BH, is reading this I’m sure he is SCREAMING:  “TAKE D YOU BAGLIFE MOTHER FUCKER”.

E)  Short-stack 200NL, but only play 3 tables at once.  This sounds fun and I would most likely be playing more optimally.  However, if I lost a few stacks here I would already be in bad shape.  The money can swing actually faster so TERRIBLE to even have this option listed.

F)  Go out and enjoy the weekend.  Meet up with or find and ask out an attractive girl.  Begin dating and let her ruin your life.  Hey it’s always an option….

Looking at the list I will probably go with A, B, or D when the down-swing occurs.  If it pains me too much to make another $600 deposit within a 10 day period I may go with B for a while.  And I’m just assuming the down-swing will occur because that is the way things are going for me right now; this is simple my fate at the moment.  I’d be lucky to go a weekend running normally, and I will be bum-hunting to try to balance a pending disappointment out.

Another note, I really do have tilt issues.  I’ve recognized the problem as something serious and I’m debating ordering a copy of Elements of Poker, which was recommended to me by Lucypher a while ago.  Lucypher always visits regularly and leaves comments, and I really can't thank him enough.  Feedback received makes this blog worthwhile.  Anyways, I wouldn’t be buying the book for the technical aspects, but I need something to help my psychological part of the game (as ridiculous as that may sound to some).

Defining Variance:

Another note, from here out I’ve decided to refer to variance as the “two-headed dragon”:

 

If you can think of a more bad-ass creature let me know.  This dragon has been kicking the shit out of me for a while now; it is QUITE a formidable adversary.

Wasted Rake-back:

I recently realized it is a damn shame that I’m running bad to a point where I have to waste FPPs at a Platinum Star level for bonuses as soon as I earn them.  This isn’t economically a great strategy because I do plan on eventually hitting Supernova.  This is because at Supernova I would be earning more cash for the same amount of FPPs spent.  When I get some time I have to crunch the numbers and figure out exactly how much money I am really wasting every time I purchase a $650 bonus for 50,000 FPPs.  Actually, let’s do it right now since I’m sort of checked out on corporate for the day.  I believe the standard Supernova bonus is $1500 for every 100,000 FPPs. 

Platinum Star:  $650/50,000(FPPS) = .013  So 13 cents earned per FPP.

Supernova:  $1500/100,000(FPPS) = .015  So 15 cents earned per FPP.

Therefore, I am essentially wasting $100 in bonuses every time I purchase the Platinum Star $650 bonus for 50,000 FPPs.  I have already cleared two of these bonuses.  Also there is a milestone bonus at 100,000VPPS of $1000 for 50,000 FPPs, which equates to a one time rake-back deal of 20 cents for 50,000 FPPs of your choice.

If I stayed on pace during the next 50,000 VPPs earned (this is all theoretical) I would have wasted at least $300 by prematurely purchasing bonuses.  So I guess it would be feasible if I could find someone  who would lend me some money, so I don’t have to immediately convert my FPPs to platinum star cash bonuses.  I would compensate them their money back and an additional +$200 once I hit Supernova status.  But that would be a good amount to lend out for only a $200 return on investment, though it is guaranteed.  I’m thinking $2000 would be the maximum I would have to pull out of an account (factoring in running as bad as I am now, which is the worse I can really run).  If someone temporarily transferred me the money I could give them back a guaranteed 10.0% of their investment.  Maybe I can talk to my 200NL friend… shrug.  It would have to be someone who could transfer the money on Pokerstars.  I would gladly give the lender $200 so the money isn’t going to waste, and this would in turn keep a fraction of the would be wasted bonus.  That being said, I would not be planning to borrow a full $2000 dollars.  The deal would be termed “Borrow X amount of money (anywhere from $1,000-$2,000), and as soon as I hit NOVA the lender would be compensated the amount borrowed out plus a minimum of $200.  Receiving $200 for a $1000 investment actually wouldn’t be so bad if someone has spare money sitting around in their account that is not going to use.  I guess it would be a matter of finding the right person.  So if anybody knows someone, send them my way!

I’m sort of rambling on here just thinking of a new idea, but it would be cool to find someone to help with this.  It might be a problem because my variance has been so high the last 100K hands that I have logged.  The last 50k I’ve improved a lot, but two-headed dragon has stomped me.  It might have to be someone I know, and I don’t have many poker friends.

Cheers,

-bag

Updates and Small Sunday Win (4.26.2010)

Something crazy happened Sunday night: I won money playing poker.  I also ran +EV for the first time in about 12 straight sessions.  HEM reported that my EV was +$40, but I finished up +$200 in profit.  This was really the first time I’ve had something to feel good about poker-wise in many moons (despite a few break-even stretches which would have actually been losses if it wasn’t for the bonuses).  I only played 2.5 hours before a power outage ended the session short.

A crazy bum-hunt paid off for me as I turned $20 into $150 on one of the tables.  I decided to leave the stack on that particular table when I initially doubled up to $40 because there were two very exploitable players sitting to my immediate right.  Going forward I’m going to look for more opportunities to bum-hunt and play full buy in poker.  I have been neglecting taking shots like this the past month and a half because I’ve been so focused on teaching myself how to  comfortably play over 12 tables at once.  Well now I am playing 12 comfortably.  And never again will I underestimate the huge pay-off potential of leaving my doubled up stack on certain tables to go after weak players. 

This will be a huge, but necessary adjustment going forward.  It’s an unconventional strategy that isn’t for everyone, but I feel confident in my ability to pull it off.  I’d rather bum-hunt on the side for additional profit, rather than force myself to play 16-24 tables at once.  Besides, I still study full buy-in poker weekly; I might as well put all the efforts to use.  Also, the new 20-50BB tables make this strategy actually more feasible than ever before.  One double up and you’re around the 50BB max buy-in allowed.  On the old tables if a short-stacker doubled up and stayed he would still be at a very big disadvantage to the players buying in for 100BBs. 

The new format further supports my previously forgotten goal of becoming what I like to call a "hybrid short-stacker".  Sure I short-stack mostly due to bankroll restrictions, but if I see a clown-box on my table pissing away chips it is my moral obligation as a poker player to stack up and go to war with that player.  Just one or two successful pay-offs like this per week can make an enormous difference for me.  It can negate the massive EV downswings like the one that has been driving me to the point of insanity during the last month and a half.  The problem with short-stacking is if you run really bad EV you’re going to generally have a net loss, I don’t care who you are.  Therefore, I need to find other ways to earn profit while I’m grinding the VPPs short-stacking.

I didn’t quite get the amount of volume I wanted this weekend.  I would have hit 20 hours for the week, but the power outage Sunday night ruined that goal.  I went out both Friday and Saturday night, pressured by social obligations.  Saturday night I was disappointed that I didn’t get to put in a big session, but it was a friend’s birthday and I never would have heard the end of it if I didn’t show up.  The chick actually left a note at my house saying: “you better be there or else” so I really didn’t want to mess with that.  And you know if it wasn’t for her leaving that note, I would not have showed up.  So even though the act of leaving the note was border-line stalkerish behavior, I commended her efforts to recruit me.  However, this upcoming weekend needs to be different; grind-town is a must.

This week I expect to reach 50,000 VPPs for the year, which would bring me half way to Supernova status.  The 50,000-60,000 VPP stretch should be a hell of a tough time.  I just cleared a $650 bonus this weekend, so it’s going to be a while before I play enough to earn the 50,000 FPPs to required purchase another bonus.  I’ve calculated that at my current pace I earn about 1,700 FPPs playing 3 hours.  So a 21 hour week should yield an average of 12,000 FPPs.  I currently have about 13,000 in my account, so 60-65 hours of play should earn another bonus.  This may not sound like much playing time for a $650 bonus, but I assure you it is; this stretch is absolutely critical.  I know all too well that a TON can go wrong during a 65 hour 12-tabling stretch.  I can’t be bleeding money here.  I absolutely should be at least breaking even by the end of the stretch.  My goal has to be to win every session in any way possible, regardless of how bad I run.  I am not ruling out switching to full buy in bum-hunt sessions to balance out bad EV so I can still profit.  If this is what has to be done so be it.

I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I will do my best to keep updating on my progresses or brutal failures.

-bag

Every Poker Session is the Worst Session of My Life (4.22.2010)

My online poker situation reminds me of an interaction from one of my favorite movies Office Space, an absolute classic that everyone should see at some point.  If you have ever worked a corporate job; I would say it is an absolute mandatory watch.  When the main character Peter Gibbons and his girl-friend meet with the psychologist the following conversation takes place:

 Peter Gibbons:   “So I was sitting at my cubical today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it.  So that means that every single day that you see me, that’s the worst day of my life.”

Dr. Swanson:  “What about today? Is today the worst day of your life?”

Peter Gibbons:  “Yeah”

Dr. Swanson:  “Wow, that’s messed up.”

So if I met with the psychologist and discussed my poker sessions it would go something like this:

Baglife:  “So I was sitting at my cubical today, and I realized, ever since a random short-stacking session a month and a half ago, that every single consecutive session after has been worse than the session before it.  So that means that every single poker session I play, that is the worst poker session of my life”

Dr.  Swanson:  “What about earlier today?   Was that the worst poker session of your life?”

Baglife:  “From a disappointment standpoint YES.”

Dr. Swanson:  “Wow, that’s messed up.”

Baglife: “Yeah tell me about it…….”

And I can’t think of a better way to sum it up.  I put in 9 hours already this week.  A 3 hour session each night.  Session one down -$45, session 2 even, session 3 (last night) down -$150.  Last night I saw some of the best action in a while, but I was brutalized by every suck-out imaginable.  It seems every coin-flip I comically lose, every time an opponent is pinned to 4-outs they hit, every time an opponent is pinned to a 2-outer they miraculously catch.  I’m not sure how long something like this can go on, but it has already gone on for well over two weeks. 

I won't probe deeply into the specifics of the -$150 session last night because I’m at work and don’t have the session log in front of me.  However, the HEM officially reported -$100 in EV, like usual.  I remember a huge two outer catching on an all in.  I also remember 3-4 full buy in’s lost where an opponent was all in pre-flop and pinned to 4 outs, they caught every time:

AK < AQ all in pre and TT < K3 all in pre were two nightmare scenarios I vividly remember.  I congratulated the guy with the K3, what can I say?  He had an instinctive ability to go after the rigged account, I must hand it to him right?   

However, there are some positives to draw from my historic downswing.  I have a solid system down to grind FPP’s, and if I can run normal and at least break even with that system I can earn enough to quit my day job in a few months.  Looking back over the past month my overview stats would say that breaking even is not realistic.  However, based on my personal analysis at least breaking even is absolutely realistic, and the fact that I haven’t been at least breaking even blows my fucking mind.  There’s always a massive amount of coinflips lost each session.  There are always a few enormous suck-out pots that destroy every session.  So many times I looked back at sessions saying “If I hold against the two outer in situation X and Y I win for the session, but I can’t find a way to dodge the two outs”.

So going forward I have the adjustments and system in place.  But it’s going to take an INHUMAN amount of poker during the next few months to give myself a chance to earn my freedom.  I’ve analyzed the amount of VPPs I would earn and there is a massive difference between putting in 15 vs 20 hours per week.  I know I have to play a minimum of 20 hours going forward to have any sort of chance of getting out of corporate by end of June (and even this goal is very unlikely the way things have been going).

I’ll admit this is a tough time of the year to be making this push.  Friends want to go out every night, it’s nice outside, there is a party every weekend, and sometimes I really want to start dating new people again.  But I don’t have a choice, I have to push.  It’s fight or accept rotting in a dark office the entire summer; the choice is mine alone.  No one is going to push me either way; I have to keep pushing myself.  My hate for corporate is pushing me, my goal to be my own man is pushing me, my desire to achieve what I’ve set out to do is pushing me.

My desire to play full time is burning, but I want to do it responsibly.  I can’t quit my day job until I show a break even track record over the span of a month or two.  Then I can leave my own man responsibly.

I have decided to stick with short-stacking in the immediate future.  I see how it would be possibly to earn as much as my day job if I played and ended up with $0 net profit, even starting at the level I’m out now short-stacking.  It sounds so easy, but it's not.  I haven’t ruled out converting to full by in, but right now it’s time to make a push at the format I’ve committed the most time to.  Also, the changes on Stars have not ruined short-stacking, the games are better than ever; and the power of the 24-tabling bots seems to have taken a hit.

It’s scary to think about where I will be if I keep bleeding money the next few months.  Though I’m in an alright situation to make this push.  Even if I continue running historically bad, it won’t be the end of the world.  To me the purpose of my day job the next few months is to support poker.  To give online poker the chance to support itself.  I dream of a day when my corporate funds are not needed to keep my online poker account on life support.

Even if I lost a -$1000 a month I wouldn’t be set back in the long run.  Normally I would be paying at least $750 a month with rent and utilities, and $400 a month partying and going out every weekend.  This is part of the reason I moved home.  Now that same $1000 is going into taking a shot at my dream to play professionally.  This is how I justify losing like I did during the past month and a half.  Besides it’s just money it really doesn’t mean shit.  I’m taking the blood money and trying to make something useful out of it. 

I will be taking a break tonight and playing tennis.  On Friday a friend is having a moving away party that I have to attend.  But Saturday and Sunday massive volume will be put in.  If I put in 9 hours Saturday and 6 hours Sunday that would be 24 hours for the week, which is a LOT of volume for me, especially with the day job and other obligations.  I want to put in a minimum of 20 hours this week.

-bag

Down -$118: Sunday Commentary (4.18.2010)

3 hour Sunday commentary:

6:10 p.m

I have 12 tables; but the action is pathetic across the board right now.  I’ll have to be constantly seeking new tables to swap in.

Just flopped a set on table 6.  He of course wins with Quads lmao.  Ok sure. 

AK < JJ all in pre table 4.  Standard bull-shit in the first 5 minutes.  IT’s getting to a point where I should instant fold AK preflop. 

Then dealt KK and they fold around. 

So recap:  I can’t win a flip, I can’t dodge a suck-out, and everyone’s a nit somehow.

AK< QK all in pre table 1.  $40 fucking gone because of a river queen.  Against a regular short-stacker as well.  Yes a regular made a $15 pre-flop 4-bet call with QK off amazing.  I can't stress enough how mind-blowingly stupid this play really is.  WHAT COULD HE POSSIBLY BE PUTTING ME ON HERE??? I mean after he thought about it 40 seconds somehow this was the logical choice?  And I bet if I look this God awful player up he's probably profiting over the last month and a half yet I'm getting killed.  This is why I hate poker. 

Is he praying I have JJ or TT and he feels like throwing a coin against the wall?  I'm obviously more likely to have AK or AQ in this situation.  I'm not 4 betting you all in pre with dog-shit.  I'm not a tool-shed clueless tard-bot player like you.  You are completely fucking destroyed; even if I'm assigning you a range and re-shoving with a steal I'm at least holding a god damn ace?  What IN THE HELL are you thinking? 

I put him on AQ the way he thought about making the huge call pre like a tool-box.  Had a feeling the miracle river gave it to him; but with QK off wow even better.

THAT OFFICIALLY PUTS ME ON TILT

I need to chill out I’m about to completely lose it 20 minutes in. 

6:40 p.m

KK> JJ all in pre on table 4. 

AK < 88 all in pre table 3 WOW.  He hits the set against my top pair.  See when you’re holding 88 just shove like fucking clown against me; it will work out fine.  Don't worry there's absolutely zero chance I will be holding TT-AA.

QQ > AKs all in pre on table 6.  Much needed double up there.

7:05 P.M

AA< TT ALL IN PRE.  He hits a river straight against my set.  Now all I can do is accept this session is completely fucking rigged.  I have no chance of ever profiting on this site and that is it.  All I can do is continue to make the right play and enjoy being massacred by ridiculous two outers like this.

Maybe since I purchased a bonus tonight the site decides to do this to me?  Every time a major bonus is purchased I seem to run a thousand dollars under EV the next week until the entire bonus is gone.

7:30 p.m

99 < A 5 all in preflop against the worst player on the table.  He’s doubled up on me twice hitting 3 outers now. 

AA> AJ all in pre table 12.  If that doesn’t hold I just give up

7:50 p.m

The nightmare continues.  All in with KK destroyed by a turned 55 set.  Fucking hilarious.  Incorrect preflop call, horribly incorrect flop call. AND TURN REWARD HERE YOU GO GOOD JOB PLAYING LIKE AN FOOL!!!

AK < K10 all in pre.  FLOP TEN.  IM’ STEAMING.   So on table 8 I have lost 3 full buy in’s to people hitting 3 outers after being all in preflop making a horrendous call.

WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND GETTING SCREWED OVER ON POKERSTARS AGAIN.  THE TEN ON THE FLOP WAS A++++.  THE TEN WAS ALSO EXTREMELY PORTABLE AND GREAT FOR SHIPPING.  EXCELLENT!!!!!

Any human being playing this session would be up around $100 already; instead im totally fucked because I can’t dodge a suckout.

$10 SHOVED all in pre on table 4 with AQ.  He has AK .  It holds.

I have never seen the rig on this bad.  AT least pretend you aren’t rigging my account.  Like can I dodge one out of TEN FUCKING 3-OUTER all in pre suck outs?

What else?  WHAT IS NEXT?  IM SURE stars will think of something that will even shock me after all this fucking shit

8:10 p.m

KK < Q10 all in on the flop. His pathetic top pair, weak kicker ends up sucking out overpair KK.  wonderful turn of events.

One more hour of this bull-shit.

KK > KQ all in pre.  He flopped a queen and almost hit a flush but I held on.

8:30 p.m

AA < QQ all in pre  another -$40 that should be mine.

That's why I like Stars because it's so balanced.  So when you get all in pre-flop with your opponent having two outs he now HITS 4 out of 5 times.  But when you get coolered to having 2 outs pre you lose 20 out of 20 times; like I said completely balanced.

This has gone from disgusting to ridiculous.

9:02 p.m

AK < QQ all in pre.  Thanks again.  I forgot I should insta fold AK on here.

9:20 p.m

3 hour mark.  I think I should cut off at 9:50 max tonight.

9:33 p.m

AK < 44 all in pre.  Another horrendous cold call pre rewarded to the fullest extent.

9:50 p.m

Logging down over $100; it’s been a complete bull-shit night.  I’ve had enough.

10:00 p.m

Logged on all the tables.  Down -$118 in the 2,600 hands.  EV claimed to be around average on HUD, whatever session it was watching that’s very funny.

Let’s look at some hands:

KK < QT -$40.  All in on the flop, he sucks out two pair on the river.

AA < QQ -$40.  All in preflop, opponent spikes the queen on the flop.

AA < TT -$40.  All in preflop.  Opponent runner runners to hit a straight against my top set.

AK < QK -$38.  All in preflop.  River comes queen.

AK < K10 -$35.  All in preflop.  Opponent flops the ten and I don’t improve.

99 < A5 -$35.  All in preflop.  Opponent flops the top pair ace and I don’t improve.

AK < 44 -$35.  All in preflop.  Opponent rewarded with the hold on a ridiculous $16 cold call pre with 44.

KK < 55 - $40.  All in post.  After incorrectly calling pre and on the flop he turns the miracle set.

So that’s just a sample size.  I didn’t include the usual 10 coinflips lost; just the big hands where I feel I need to win a few.  If I win 3 of the above the session is even, that’ s how stupid short-stacking really is.  Check the bolded lines above; I just have to win at least 3 of those.  

If I could have held even against half of the ridiculous hands in bold above I would have felt fine with the end result.  I'm focusing to much on results of individual sessions and I'm extremely angry overall.  It's because I've had such a negative past month and a half.  I mean I could go my entire lifetime on this site without the luck balancing back to my favor.  All I can do is keep playing and accept that I can never run normally.  I mean even if I sit there and play another fucking month, I might not run ONE god-damn session like a normal person.  I might play correctly each time and still lose money.  So I can accept that or stop playing.  If I can't accept that I can do my job 10 sessions in a row and still have a net dollar loss on each of those sessions then I'm in the wrong poker mindset and I have no business playing.  I'm going to try to keep that in mind during the next few weeks, but it's for some reason still a difficult concept for me to grasp.  I guess I'm not mature enough to grasp it yet.

Another dollar loss night that leaves a bitter taste; what can you do.  Time to start slaughtering farm animals to sacrifice to the Gods of probability.  Or to the administrators of rigstars.  So next time I will slaughter a lamb and send it to PokerStars or something.