Wanted to give a good update....

but the ankle grabbing continues.

Today was the second time this week that I've had a final table chip stack with like 16 players left and end up not even making the final table. Monday's was questionable since I didn't have to get involved in the hand. But today's was just ugly.


Second nuts to decimate me:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10985144625: $20,000 Guarantee (81665626), Table 17 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:17:06 ET - 2009/03/05
Seat 1: cautat (85,721)
Seat 2: bsilva21 (31,640)
Seat 3: cheats99 (68,256)
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo (105,316)
Seat 5: PDCKID (61,876)
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (74,259)
Seat 8: chardrian (113,370)
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (103,763)
cautat antes 400
bsilva21 antes 400
cheats99 antes 400
Mr Bombaloo antes 400
PDCKID antes 400
MrMudd76 antes 400
chardrian antes 400
dollarbaby3 antes 400
chardrian posts the small blind of 1,500
dollarbaby3 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to chardrian [Kd 9s]
cautat calls 3,000
bsilva21 folds
cheats99 folds
Mr Bombaloo folds
PDCKID folds
MrMudd76 has 15 seconds left to act
MrMudd76 calls 3,000
chardrian calls 1,500
dollarbaby3 checks
*** FLOP *** [Qc 7c Ts]
chardrian checks
dollarbaby3 checks
cautat checks
MrMudd76 checks
*** TURN *** [Qc 7c Ts] [Js]
chardrian has 15 seconds left to act
chardrian bets 9,000
dollarbaby3 folds
cautat raises to 21,000
MrMudd76 folds
chardrian has 15 seconds left to act
chardrian raises to 109,970, and is all in
cautat calls 61,321, and is all in
chardrian shows [Kd 9s]
cautat shows [Ks Ac]
Uncalled bet of 27,649 returned to chardrian
*** RIVER *** [Qc 7c Ts Js] [3s]
chardrian shows a straight, King high
cautat shows a straight, Ace high
cautat wins the pot (179,842) with a straight, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 179,842 | Rake 0
Board: [Qc 7c Ts Js 3s]
Seat 1: cautat showed [Ks Ac] and won (179,842) with a straight, Ace high
Seat 2: bsilva21 folded before the Flop
Seat 3: cheats99 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PDCKID folded before the Flop
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (button) folded on the Turn
Seat 8: chardrian (small blind) showed [Kd 9s] and lost with a straight, King high
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (big blind) folded on the Turn

Followed by an ugly way to lose a race:

Full Tilt Poker Game #10985176822: $20,000 Guarantee (81665626), Table 17 - 1500/3000 Ante 400 - No Limit Hold'em - 20:19:05 ET - 2009/03/05
Seat 1: cautat (176,442)
Seat 2: bsilva21 (30,840)
Seat 3: cheats99 (67,456)
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo (104,516)
Seat 5: PDCKID (68,776)
Seat 7: MrMudd76 (70,459)
Seat 8: chardrian (27,249)
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (98,463)
cautat antes 400
bsilva21 antes 400
cheats99 antes 400
Mr Bombaloo antes 400
PDCKID antes 400
MrMudd76 antes 400
chardrian antes 400
dollarbaby3 antes 400
cautat posts the small blind of 1,500
bsilva21 posts the big blind of 3,000
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to chardrian [As Jc]
cheats99 folds
Mr Bombaloo folds
PDCKID folds
MrMudd76 folds
chardrian raises to 26,849, and is all in
dollarbaby3 folds
cautat calls 25,349
bsilva21 folds
chardrian shows [As Jc]
cautat shows [9c 9h]
*** FLOP *** [Jd 3c 7c]
*** TURN *** [Jd 3c 7c] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 3c 7c 9d] [Ad]
chardrian shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
cautat shows three of a kind, Nines
cautat wins the pot (59,898) with three of a kind, Nines
chardrian stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 59,898 | Rake 0
Board: [Jd 3c 7c 9d Ad]
Seat 1: cautat (small blind) showed [9c 9h] and won (59,898) with three of a kind, Nines
Seat 2: bsilva21 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: cheats99 folded before the Flop
Seat 4: Mr Bombaloo folded before the Flop
Seat 5: PDCKID folded before the Flop
Seat 7: MrMudd76 folded before the Flop
Seat 8: chardrian showed [As Jc] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 9: dollarbaby3 (button) folded before the Flop

I keep going into the days very positive. I keep leaving very negative.

Losing is not fun

This blog must be getting pretty boring to read since all I ever do is post about how hard it is to maintain my mental focus when I lose. But there isn't anything else really going on. I need to win more flips - that is all. The omaha tourney continues to frustrate the bejesus out of me. I have played it like 12 times now and I haven't cashed yet. I keep getting deep (like last 2 or 3 tables every time) but I can't for the life of me win the crucial hand deep.

Hopefully tonight is better...

another close but no cigar day

I got 12th out of 2000 in the $55 80k on Stars. I had a commanding chip stack with 2 tables left and got in a big confrontation in a hand where I turned trip Js and my opp happened to have the other J and a better kicker. Soon after that I lost a race and was out. I feel good about how I played but again am just frustrated with the finish. I didn't need to get involved in the hand that decimated me, but I also couldn't fold trips once I did so it just leaves me shaking my head.

Anyoo - tomorrow is another day I guess.

Still downswinging

I got to play a full Sunday and I didn't cash any of the 11 tourneys I played. I tend to press when I am on a downswing and start making overaggressive moves when I need to just relax and let things happen and start making the money. I should have done that in the $163 50k guarantee on Tilt today but other than that I played fine and just lost races/got bad beats/or had coolers.

I am finding myself get into the "I just can't win" mentality while I am playing so I need to get through that. I still haven't even played 200 tourneys this year yet, so this downswing is just a blip on the radar screen.

Charmian works a lot this week, so I'll just continue to get my volume in and things should turn around.

Time for some time off

I am starting to wallow in self-pity which is never a good thing for me or the people around me. When things go well in MTTs you get people to fold better hands than you have, you win races, you get people pushing on you preflop when you have AA. When things go poorly in MTTs, you never win races, you get bad beat over and over, and you get people making hero calls in situations where they really should be folding but it just so happens that this one time their hand actually beats the one hand in your range that you'd make a move with.

Things are going poorly for me.

I played very well again other than one mistake where I should have led a flop when I had like 80% equity in an omaha hi/lo tourney and checked and then let my opp get there. I am still learning that game, so I'll chalk it up as a learning mistake but it still sucked to happen with 14 left when 9 got paid.

So anyhoo I am taking tonight (we're going out for steaks nananana) and tomorrow off. Will try to focus on the big picture rather than dwell on the recent downswing and come back swinging on Sunday.

Ok ok I snapped

I played a nightly session tonight and after a minor bump early, I played extremely good poker. The first beat I took, I laughed off, I mean we all have gotten JJ in pre and lost to 66 and yeah it was the nightly 100k which always sucks, but brush it off, move on.

The second one I took was so bad that I really ended up laughing pretty hysterically. Get it all in on the turn with TT on an ATxx board and lose to AT when an A rivers is pretty funny. And yeah, I already had a fold to cash stack in that tourney and winning that hand would have locked up a pretty deep finish, but come on, it's funny. I mean there aren't that many times when you are a 95% favorite in poker so when you are and actually lose, what else can you do but laugh right?

Third one was at the final table (yeah I even made a final table tonight and still lost money for the session) of the $55 6 max tourney on stars and I get it all-in with AQ versus AT pre flop and even flop a Q on a QKx flop for good measure but still manage to lose when a J turns giving him the straight. Believe it or not, I was still laughing at that point.

But when my JJ got cracked by 2 fricking 8 when I was deepstacked in the sniper tourney on UB with 29 players left and 27 get paid, I lost it. Last straw, couldn't take anymore, flipped, went berserk, and my buddies on vent heard it. Boy did they hear it. The f-bombs were flying, the pity me was at an all-time high, the anger just could no longer be contained. And did it help? Did they care? Did they want to hear that? No, no, and no.

So yeah, I'm getting better about dealing with beats, but I'm still not immune.

Charmian's home today

So I don't know what my poker schedule will be. She has work to do from home, so I might put in a half-day. Good tv night tonight (I'm a big Survivor fan) so I'm thinking I'll take the tonight off.

Poker is continuing to go poorly, but I reviewed my hand histories from yesterday and I feel I played mistake free so as long as I don't let the variance play with my head I should get out of it.

The funny thing with getting better and getting a little (and it really is little) notoriety is that people start really dissecting your play. Someone called me out on 2+2 last week for a spewy play I made in the $50k when my wife got off of work early. I just thought it was sort of funny. Here's the thread.

Blech

The ankle grabbing continues. Nothing else to say.

Back to the grind

Well I am playing a normal schedule again finally. Unfortunately it isn't going that well, but I always get frustrated when I don't win.

I played mistakefree which is really all I can ask for - the cards will come however they end up getting spit out.

Chula's surgery is scheduled but I was surprised it takes so long to get her operated on. Her surgery isn't for another 2 weeks still, so she will be 3 legged for a while yet.

Hopefully tonight will go better than this aft did.

Chula - our 3 legged wonderdog

So I took our dog to the vet today because she has been 3 legged for the last week after doing something when she was sprinting off of her leash. Turns out she has ruptured one of her knee ligaments so it looks like she will be getting surgery sometime this week. We really do treat her as our baby so we both just hope that the surgery is uneventful and successful because although she does pretty well for just using 3 legs she really does look pretty pathetic right now.

Blech

I got deep in the Second chance tourney on Stars, which has a first place prize of 50k, only to have my AA cracked when we were down to the final 4 tables.

I know it's a part of the game, but when I get that close to such a big score it still stings quite a bit.

I think I played basically flawlessly today tho, so hopefully it should be just a matter of time.

On a non-poker related note, our dog injured herself last week so I am taking her to the vet tomorrow. We're thinking she's probably going to need surgery since she isn't putting any weight on her hind leg so hopefully it won't be too traumatic or expensive of an ordeal.

Close...

but no cigar.

I got 7th in the $50 rebuy on stars for a little under $2k. I took a horrendous beat against the chip leader when we got all the money in on the turn, but I can't win em all. Still doesn't mean I don't get frustrated though.

Ok back to playing for reals

I am at the Audi place getting our car its 5,000 mile service so I figured I might as well update since I have the time.

I finally got a full session in yesterday and felt I played well so I feel it's just a matter of getting my hours in and results should follow.

Playing with two monitors on a computer that doesn't crash felt really nice.

It looks like I might catch up with a couple of highschool friends this weekend so I am looking forward to that.

My WSOP plans are also progressing. I have sold out (or reserved) about half of the shares I have put out. So hopefully I can get the other half sold out in the next couple of months and then I will actually be able to play the entire series this year. We'll see...

Other than that, it's just the same old, same old.

Finally feeling truly professional

So the new computer is now set up and today I got the cable for the second monitor and somehow figured out how to set that up as well, so I now truly feel professional. I have two monitors (can fit up to 6 tables without overlap on each), my new tracking software is set-up (I got Hold'em Manager), I managed to get my new printer to work even though it is set-up for windows xp and my new computer came with Vista, and my computer is running fast and isn't crashing on me whenever I play on Fulltilt.

Now all I need to do is get back to playing. This week should finally be back to basically normal so I should get some volume in again.

Back Home

I am home and getting resettled. I went and picked up my new computer from FedEx yesterday (my wife wasn't around the three times they tried to deliver it since she works 100 hours a week) and got it set up so I am ready to play today. Unfortunately the monitor did not come with one of the cables I need, so I will be playing with just one monitor still, but it will come. I still haven't kicked this cold and the cough is just bugging me more than anything at this point.

Anyhoo, I'm back, I should be playing again starting today.

Reuniting and it feels it so good...

So last night I met up with one of my old Peace Corps friends who is living in D.C. and we had a joint poker game with some of her and her boyfriend's friends as well as some of my poker buddies. One of the few downfalls of my profession is the social isolation - I just don't get in contact with that many people on a day to day basis since all I do is play poker from my garage. So it was nice to actually talk with people face to face.

Today we went to the Maryland/Pennsylvania border and joined up with another of my old Peace Corps friends and her boyfriend at a ski resort. I just chilled in the nice 60 degree weather enjoying the sun and reading the paper as they frolicked on the slopes. We then had a nice dinner and good stiff drinks and just enjoyed shooting the shit and reminiscing. The one thing that is always good to remember is that even if you don't keep in super good contact with good people everything still basically falls into place when you meet up again because good people are just good people.

Anyhoo, I had a great time, I wish Charmian could have been with me because I know she would have enjoyed it too, and I hope that people will come by and visit us whenever they are in the in Northern Cal. area.

Some culture

My mom wanted to go see a dance performance at the Kennedy Center and didn't want to go alone so used me as an escort. It was an Alvin Ailey dance performance which I guess is supposed to mean something to anyone who knows anything about dance, which I do not. But we got the added benefit that the Obama's decided to come watch as well and the crowd went into a tizzy when it realized they would be watching with the president. Our seats were basically directly below his - the presidential seats are the front center seats of the balcony - so we didn't get to see his face but we saw his hand whenever he stood up to wave. To be honest I had more fun watching the crowd ogle at him and take pictures with their cellphones than I would have in joining them. Anyhoo, I am not a big dance guy but these dancers were so powerful and the music so good that I would have enjoyed even without the added Obama show.

Tomorrow I am meeting up with peace corps and poker friends and playing a home game which should be fun.

Off to D.C.

I'm just going for like 5 days to visit my mom but it should be fun. It looks like I have some hockey, poker, reuniting, and eating good food on the agenda.

Jonesing to Play

My new computer has not arrived yet and I gave my old one to my younger brother so I am sitting and waiting and continuing not to play. I leave for D.C. on Wednesday to visit my mom and hopefully catch up with some Peace Corps/poker/old Madison friends and will then be back the following Tuesday. So it looks like the lack of volume will continue.

I also added the number of shares I am selling for my WSOP action to 1000 (for $50 each) so that each share is .1% of my action instead of the original 100 shares I had planned on) as it looked like there were some smaller bankrolled players who wanted to invest in me but couldn't. So if $50 is more to your liking then feel free to invest.

WSOP Ad

Ok the ad is up. Hopefully it takes off - it not, I have time to tweak it.

http://forum.parttimepoker.com/showthread.php?t=481205