What's wrong?

I am either totally unlucky or have zero poker skills. I've been doing so horribly that it's really not even fun the last day or so. It really started Sunday in Tampa I just felt like I was playing lousy and while I felt like I played well yesterday and today I've had crappy results with today being nearly disasterous.

I'm seriously considering not going to Vegas now. I know I'm kidding myself. I'll never be more than a low to average level player. All I can say is that it's cheaper than  golf.

Hard to believe also that I can manage to be lonely playing with all those people but I have NO friends who are poker players. Connie plays but would rather not discuss the game. It's purely casual entertainment for her. I had one friend who seemed to have a bit of an interest and to be fairly serious but that is no more.

I've found one more thing that not only am I seemingly any good at but am all alone doing. Oh well I'm not really surprised I guess. I should have figured  it would go this way. I'm tired of going on alone with no feedback or anything.

Sunday Tournament

Connie loves tournaments and when she decided to play Paradise Poker's 4:00 Big Buck tournament I figured why not, it's only a buck after all. The blinds in this one go up very rapidly so you really have to play a lot. I was doing pretty well when, with blinds at 200/400 with 25 antes and 3600 or so chips I got pocket tens. One smaller stack went all in and had one caller, I raised all in and was called. My pocket tens were in second place it turned out as the small stack had 7's and the bigger stack (naturally) had Q's. The flop came QTA meaning the 7's were just about drawing dead and I was drawing really thin with only very few outs. My hopes were for running JK to make a straight or the sole remaining T. The turn came another A giving us both full houses but mine was the smaller. I now had one out on the river. A 6 fell and I was done in 319th but out of 1234 who started I guess it could have been worse. I think I put my money in when I needed to so I feel good about that.

The weekend's cash games have been disappointing. Yesterday I could get nothing going at all. On the other hand I didn't lose much so considering that I spend hours being card dead that's not bad. I had a so so session this morning that at least has me ahead for the weekend so far. I'm sure I'll play some more, maybe even trying some cash games on Poker Stars or one of their two table sit and go's.

 

Fun over profit

I think sometimes I focus too much on trying to make money playing and not enough on having fun. Last night I felt like playing a Sit n Go but didn't feel like investing much because I've not been playing much no-limit this week and was feeling pretty un-lucky anyway. I decided to just play a $1+.10 one on UB. At first I thought, "why bother, you stand to win a whole $5 for over an hours work." Then I figured out I was kind of looking at it wrong. Not only would I get just as much fun out of playing a $1 SnG as I would a larger one but it would be good practice and besides what other game can I play for an hour or hour and a half and MAKE money? I mean if I was to go play golf it would take four hours and cost $30 with no hope of making any back. (I stand a LOT better chance making money at poker than I EVER will at golf!!!)

Anyway I played it and I won it. Not only am I $5 richer (minus the $1.10 cost) but I got about an hour and fifteen minutes entertainment as well as some decent practice. The competition was a tad soft, the table very loose passive which makes it very easy to play with my tight aggressive style. In the early stages I just mostly sat and let them bash each other apart. Once it got down to 6 people and the blinds got up around 50/100 I started to play a bit more. Luck was with me and I got the hands I needed when I needed them and I found myself with over 11,000 chips (of 15,000 on the table) with three people left. I got a scare briefly when I got down to heads up and lost a couple of hands to find myself tied with the other player. I just hunkered down and pulled it out though finally winning on pocket tens against AJo.

In the future I'll be more prone to play for fun I hope and put profit second. Somehow I have a feeling profit will follow eventually and thankfully I don't have to play to eat. I can't even imagine having to play with that kind of pressure.

A Royal Flush!

I just finished a nearly 3 hour session at a $1/$2 table on Ultimate Bet. I felt like I was playing well. I had to wait 20 minutes to get my first hand to play but that was pocket Aces and they held up. I went on a mini rush then and was up a bit before going into another card dead period.

Almost two hours in I got the hand I'm including below. I think I played it about right except that against most opponents I could not have checked the river with any expectation they would bet but I had a feeling he thought I was weak and would bet. I'm not sure WHY I thought that since I had check raised him on the river. He struck me as a decent player having a bad run but I don't understand his play on this hand at all.

Hand #5156122-10373 at Arlington ($1/$2 Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 08/Apr/05 20:50:49
 
     jonrash is at seat 0 with $101.25.
     btn72 is at seat 1 with $36.
     jknow56 is at seat 2 with $24.
     WinConsultant is at seat 3 with $44.25.
     Rich_P is at seat 4 with $55.75.
     tjrdawg is at seat 5 with $100.
     VampireFox is at seat 6 with $53.50.
     GAMBLERMAS is at seat 7 with $26.
     Kirker is at seat 8 with $27.
     guru4yall is at seat 9 with $110.75.
     The button is at seat 7.
    
     Kirker posts the small blind of $.50.
     guru4yall posts the big blind of $1.
     tjrdawg posts out of turn for $1.        jonrash:  -- --
     btn72:  -- --
     jknow56:  -- --
     WinConsultant:  -- --
     Rich_P:  -- --
     tjrdawg:  -- --
     VampireFox:  -- --
     GAMBLERMAS:  -- --
     Kirker:  -- --
     guru4yall:  Qc Kc   Pre-flop:
 
          jonrash folds.   btn72 folds.   jknow56 folds. 
          WinConsultant folds.   Rich_P folds.   tjrdawg checks.
           VampireFox folds.   GAMBLERMAS raises to $2.   Kirker
          calls.   guru4yall calls.   tjrdawg calls.     Flop (board: Jc 2d 3c):
 
          Kirker checks.   guru4yall checks.   tjrdawg bets $1. 
          GAMBLERMAS raises to $2.   Kirker folds.   guru4yall
          calls.   tjrdawg calls.     Turn (board: Jc 2d 3c Ac):
 
          guru4yall checks.   tjrdawg bets $2.   GAMBLERMAS
          folds.   guru4yall raises to $4.   tjrdawg calls.     River (board: Jc 2d 3c Ac Tc):
 
          guru4yall checks.   tjrdawg bets $2.   guru4yall raises
          to $4.   tjrdawg calls.                 Showdown:
 
     guru4yall shows Qc Kc.
     guru4yall has Qc Kc Jc Ac Tc: straight flush, ace high.
     tjrdawg mucks cards.
     (tjrdawg has Jd 4d.)
            Hand #5156122-10373 Summary:
 
     $1 is raked froma pot of $30.
     guru4yall wins $29 with straight flush, ace high.
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Still going well...mostly

Lots to write about since it's been a while since I wrote last. I still feel like I'm on top of my game. Oh I've got plenty of room for improvement make no mistake about it. I fully intend to just keep improving. I've been mostly playing small limit games online, $0.50/$1.00 and $1.00/$2.00 and for two weeks now have been averaging around 10 big bets an hour or more. It's almost scary but considering the hands that show down when I win I guess I'm not surprised. I keep asking myself "what WERE they thinking?"

I made my first trip to the new poker room in the Melbourne Dog Track. It's an interesting place. Nice enough, better than Daytona but not as nice as Jacksonville. It's easier to get to than either though. It's got its downside. First off its a $2 straight game. $2 ever round not a $1/$2 like it should be. I"ve never been able to decide if it is an expensive $1/$2 game or a cheap $2/$4 game. I know I don't like it nearly as much as a real $1/$2 game. I wonder if the state of Florida will ever allow higher limits. Even a $2/$4 game would be nice. I'd love if they'd allow a game like the 1/4/8/8 spread limit game I like in Gulfport. Probably never happen though. The other thing I didn't like about the Melbourne poker room is the 8 person tables. They do it, no doubt, to get 20% more rake by having the extra 2 people from 4 tables make up a 5th table. I'd much rather play a full table of 10. The blinds come around slower and the pots are bigger when you do enter one. Just that may get me to Daytona a fair amount since other than road work on I-95 right now they are just about a wash time wise.

I did fairly well though in my two visits to Melbourne. I was up $62 the first time in two and a half hours and was down $36 in 4 hours the second time. The second visit I was getting sucked out on by unbelievable hands. I know that is a hazard of low limit "no fold 'em hold 'em" but it gets old after a while. It can make for a very up and down day and it did that day. Of course the first day I took advantage of the people playing crap because they did NOT manage to suck out on me so I guess it all evens up...actually since I came out at least a bit ahead it is not so bad.

I'm going to wrap up now but will have more later, including a bit about our home game this past Saturday night.

Have I found something?

I'm back to playing more cash games than tournaments but will try hard to continue to focus more on tournaments at least through WSOP time. Actually playing in that this year is probably not realistic but I'm sure there will be worse players there. I would rather not play being only dead money though. If I play I want to feel I have at least some chance to win it. Can I really play poker on that  level? Realistically no but on the other hand I don't see how I can  learn to play with the big boys if I don't try. Yeah it may not be pretty for a while but I learn pretty good so I have hopes I'll learn every time.

I've been focusing on a small, $0.50/$1.00 cash game UltimateBet and have been consistently beating it  for over a week. In part this is due to having poor  players to take advantage  of although there are some really good ones i've had to watch out for as well. I've also identified and fixed, permenently I hope, some leaks in my game. I'll probably stick to this smaller game for a bit more and then try moving up through the limits once  again.

It could be that I'll do better playing two tables at this level rather than playing a larger limit. There is just some appeal of moving up though. I guess it's an ego thing. Of course there  is also the chance of making more  money and while I do truly enjoy poker I have to be honest  enough with myself to admit that i'm really happiest when i'm making money and happier when I'm making more. It's my one and only source of income at the moment and unless I get moving and sell a novel it will continue that way. Since i'm feeling far more motivated to play poker  rather than slog through re-writes of any of a  few manuscripts I've got I'll be hoping poker works well.

I'd love to get to Gulfport soon to play there but with gas prices now well over $2 a gallon i'm not sure it's economically feasible to go. It would be a great vacation but as a business venture it would be dubious at best. I might actually do better to fly to Vegas. I'm exploring that alternative too since i've always done well in the 1/4/8/8 game in Gulfport and am sure I could  find some low limit games in Vegas I could do decent in.

It just feels good to finally feel on top of my game. I just hope it's not all just a run of good luck. That certainly is a factor but I do think there is a little skill there since I'm getting pretty good at putting people on hands. Now if only i'd listen to my instincts a bit more....

One to learn from

Well I just busted out of the Monday morning 10:00 $5+.50 tournament in 130th place. 243 players started this one. I was playing fairly well although I was surprisingly sleepy for some reason. That is no excuse for the hand I went out on though.  I'll just paste it in here I guess. Surely there can be no harm in revealing the other players screen names so it shouldn't matter. I'll stop doing it if anybody complains. I played it too timidly and then made the mistake of calling off all my chips on the river. I know better. I would have been left with a tad over 900 chips, not good but better by far than being out.

Hand #5005153-57 at Mon10amA-017 (No Limit tournament Hold'em)
Powered by UltimateBet
Started at 21/Mar/05 10:51:08
 
     guru4yall is at seat 0 with 1715.
     cleverguy13 is at seat 1 with 2060.
     nickalotpot is at seat 2 with 4110.
     johnnysack is at seat 3 with 2890.
     gamebuff5 is at seat 4 with 2195.
     U4ia is at seat 5 with 915.
     1Mo4DaRoad is at seat 6 with 2250.
     midwest PG is at seat 7 with 2915.
     MrOlu is at seat 9 with 2275.
     The button is at seat 6.
    
     midwest PG posts the small blind of 30.
     MrOlu posts the big blind of 60.

     guru4yall:  Ks Kc
     cleverguy13:  -- --
     nickalotpot:  -- --
     johnnysack:  -- --
     gamebuff5:  -- --
     U4ia:  -- --
     1Mo4DaRoad:  -- --
     midwest PG:  -- --
     MrOlu:  -- --

Pre-flop:
 
          guru4yall raises to 180.   cleverguy13 folds. 
          nickalotpot folds.   johnnysack folds.   gamebuff5
          calls.   U4ia calls.   1Mo4DaRoad folds.   midwest PG
          folds.   MrOlu folds.  

Flop (board: 6d 2d 3s):
 
          guru4yall bets 630.   gamebuff5 calls.   U4ia folds. 
         

Turn (board: 6d 2d 3s 4s):
 
          guru4yall checks.   gamebuff5 checks.  

River (board: 6d 2d 3s 4s Jd):
 
          guru4yall checks.   gamebuff5 goes all-in for 1385. 
          guru4yall goes all-in for 905.   gamebuff5 is returned
          480 (uncalled).  

          Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:
 
               guru4yall shows Ks Kc.
               gamebuff5 shows Kd Ad.
         

         

Showdown:
 
     guru4yall has Ks Kc 6d 4s Jd: a pair of kings.
     gamebuff5 has Kd Ad 6d 2d Jd: flush, ace high.
         

Hand #5005153-57 Summary:
 
     No rake is taken for this hand.
     gamebuff5 wins 3700 with flush, ace high.
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