Week 32
Poker is a fickle game. At 10:00 PM last night I was in a position to post
my biggest week ever. Unfortunately I played until 3:00 AM, and a great
week turned into simply a good week. I started with a fantastic Sunday
night winning $900. Monday was a struggle (again) but I did manage a small
win of $175 in 8 hours of play. Tuesday was a shortened day due to
curling, but I still managed my 6th straight win, this time for $950.
Clearly I was running good (pardon my English). As well as I have been
doing for the last 4 weeks I have never felt like I was on a rush, but for
the last week I have certainly been getting better than average cards. I
have been posting big wins in shorter than normal sessions. I have been
playing only 2 hours in the afternoons instead of 3, and usually 4 or 5
hours at night instead of 6 or 7. Wednesday was a dose of reality as I
lost $350, but Thursday was a monster day, with a $1,150 win. Friday was
my older son’s 13th birthday, and the kids had the day off from school. I
was only able to play for less than an hour in the afternoon, and not at
all in the evening. I lost $9 in my hour of play. Then last night I
started well and was up around $300 quickly, giving me a $3,200 week, but
then the bad streak hit. KK vs AA, QQ vs KK. I started sinking and never
was able to bounce back. I ended up down $650 for the night, giving me a
$2,150 week. Not bad but a big disappointment from a few hours earlier.
I received an e-mail from the people in Seattle asking what days I was
available to work in the next 2 weeks, so I told them anytime, but I
didn’t hear back from them after that. It certainly seems like they want
me to come out once at least. Then I had a head hunter call me on
Wednesday about 2 possible jobs nearby. December is usually a bad month to
look for work so I’m very surprised.
The rake rebate money was paid out this week. It will make for some nice
Christmas shopping.
Some weird happenings from this week. I won 8 hands in a row at the same
table. I don’t ever remember winning more than 4 in a row before. I hit
the wrong button and folded a flopped set of Tens, heads up. I was trying
to act on another table and the screen with the tens popped up. The pot
was already a good size, we had capped it pre flop, and he had bet into me
on the ATx flop. That was an expensive mistake. And on a hand where I
raised with JJ and got 3 bet, then called from the blind, the flop came
down AQ3. The blind bet into me and I folded, the button raised and I
congratulated myself for getting out before the raise. Of course not only
did the J turn, the case J rivered. Doh!.
On the good side I had a hand where I turned the nut flush, and got raised
3 times before showdown by a smaller flush. I admire his persistence.
When you just call on the turn and river, and win, you always feel you
should have gotten another bet in by raising. But sometimes I think you
have to just call down. I had AA and raised two limpers from the button.
The BB played too and 4 of us saw the flop. The flop was an unappealing K
T T rainbow. UTG bet and MP called. I decided to wait until the turn to
raise. To be honest, a K or a 9 are probably the only cards I don’t want
to see here, so I’m not sure I’m risking much waiting. If a T is out there
I’m almost dead anyway. The turn was a 5 putting a second diamond on the
board. UTG bets again and now MP raises. I know him well and he would
definitely make a move here. If I raise now, only a T will call (Raise
me), or 2 diamonds or QJ. So I just called again. I decided his raise was
the one I would have made anyway. 3 of us saw the river which was an
offsuit 6. MP bet and again I just called. Same reason. I think he folds
or 3 bets. I was good, he had K6. I’m not sure if I played this too weakly
or not.
I like this guy. I raised JJ UTG. I was 3 bet on my left, and the CO
called 3 bets cold. I capped it and they both called. Flop is Tc 7c 2h. I
bet and get raised on my left. CO calls 2 more cold and I just call. Turn
is Jc. I bet again and get raised again on my left. CO again calls 2 cold,
and I 3 bet. Guy on my left folds, and CO calls again. River is the case
J. I bet my quads and he calls again. Look back over his play and guess
what he had. He called 3 cold pre-flop, called 2 cold on the flop and
again on the turn, then called the 3 bet. And called on the river. He had
Ts 8s.
I have the bug to play live again. It’s been a year since I played in a
casino, and for some reason I want to do it again. I’ve picked Wednesday
of this week to go to Brantford (about 25 minutes from home) and play some
10/20. I won’t count it towards my regular results, combining the Cdn and
US is too difficult. Unless I am flying off to Seattle that’s my plan.
It’ll be fun to try and shuffle chips again (I’m terrible at it, I can
only do two stacks of 3 chips). I’m quite excited now that I’ve decided to
go.
In review, I’m quite happy with the shorthanded games lately. Other than a
greater than normal number of table experts (I think I’ll rant about this
next week), I seem to be winning at an increased rate. And I’m playing a
lot more hands which is great for my affiliate for rake rebates. Have a
good week.
Week 33
Well much to my surprise, they want me to come out to Seattle for 2 days
this week, so I’m starting my journey today. I have a 2:30 flight from
Buffalo to Washington DC, then a 5:00 PM flight to Seattle. Hopefully I’ll
get in in time to catch the Survivor Finale. I’m to work for 2 days and
then we’ll see if they want me on a regular basis or not, and whether I
can put up with the trip. I think between this and Christmas I will take a
break from keeping the journal and we’ll see about resuming it in January.
I rented a laptop again so I can play from the hotel at night. If I get a
contract with them I will buy a laptop to take with me. I’m also hoping to
get to a live game on Tuesday night, since I can’t get a flight home until
Wednesday morning, and I wasn’t able to play live this week as I had hoped
because I spent Wednesday running around making travel arrangements. I had
to give them a fixed price quote for the 2 days work, which means they
won’t pay my expenses, and I’m already ahead for the trip. I gave them a
price of $750 US for my flight, and then discovered the quote was in CDN
dollars, and the price had gone down, it was only $620 CDN. I’m up over
$300 already. I’m also thinking of checking out of the hotel Tuesday
morning and just playing cards through the night. My flight is 8:30 AM so
I need to be at the airport by about 7:00, and if I go out to play after
work I can’t imagine I’d be home much before 3 or 4 anyway. Another $155
US in my poker budget.
It was another strange week for poker. If you remember, I had a horrible
finish to last week, turning a great week into a good one, and I continued
to struggle on Sunday, having my first Sunday loss in 8 weeks. I lost
$206. Then the usual Monday troubles and I lost another $181. That made 4
losing days in a row, and 5 out of 6. Strangely enough though, they were
good results as far as I was concerned because I had a huge number of bad
river losses. I can handle the KK vs AA losses, and the AQ vs AK in the
blinds, those are just going to happen. It’s the times that you make the
perfect read, hold your raise until the turn, make him pay the max only to
get beat by a kicker matching deuce on the river that seem to set me off.
But as it always seems to happen, just when I’m completely fed up,
something good happens and Tuesday I ran hot. A good afternoon followed by
a great evening after curling and I won $1,387. Tuesday is now officially
my favorite day of the week. Not only do I get out with the boys for some
curling and beer, but in the last 3 weeks I’ve won over $4,700 on Tuesday
alone. Maybe I should just play 1 day a week. The frustration returned on
Wednesday where I lost $306, making it 6 losses in 8 days, which is pretty
unusual for me, but most of the losses were pretty small, and again a huge
day on Thursday made me forget about it. I won $1,499. I have felt for a
few weeks now that I was about to have a huge week. Just one week without
a $900 loss and I might do something spectacular. I thought last week was
going to be it until the big loss on Saturday. Well it turns out it was
this week. With 2 huge days already in the week I had the greatest hour of
my poker life on Friday afternoon. I took my 8 year old out for lunch and
only got home at around 2:00 PM. In the one hour before I had to go get my
son I won $1,200. That’s a pretty good hourly rate. I continued to run hot
and while I only played about 4 hours for the entire day I won $1,876,
putting me at $4,069 for the week. My best week by a mile. I decided not
to play Saturday night since I have to drive to Buffalo Sunday morning.
Weeks like this make me wonder why I want to go back to work at all. I
need to go back and read a post from a bad week before I leave.
As I go deeper into this experience I’m handling the losing better, since
I’m confident the winning will return. I’m actually quite surprised how
small the weekly variance is overall. I’m starting to feel like the house
must feel in the casino business. As long as I play the hours the money
will come in. In 33 weeks I only have 2 losing weeks, and none of those in
the last 5 ½ months. My biggest week before this week was $3,100, and I’m
averaging around $1,800/wk since moving to the shorthanded 5/10 games. The
full table 3/6 games brought in around $1,200 / wk. My game has improved
so much in 7 months, mostly in the area of hand reading. I’ve also gotten
better at leaving tables where I don’t have an edge. I think I’ve proved
that you can make a living playing low-limit online games by playing
multiple tables, even a comfortable living if you don’t have 4 kids and a
mortgage to worry about.
Had an interesting experience on Thursday night. I had started to run real
hot after struggling all day, and I sat down at a table where a known
strong player was berating someone for his general play. I’ve seen this
guy do this again and again, you know the schtick…”You are so bad”, “Q4o
is my favorite hand too”. The kid answered back and it became clear he was
a young kid, 20 he said, who was just having fun. He had run his bankroll
up to around $600 winning with outrageous hands, but he seemed to be
taking the abuse to heart, he was folding more pre-flop anyway. I sent a
private message to the abuser, asking him to back off, saying something
like “your going to drive him to buy a book”. Anyway he left the table at
the same time I sent the message (coincidence I think, it was the exact
same time I sent it), but I promised myself I wasn’t leaving that table
until the kid did. We played 3 handed for a long time (I usually leave the
tables at 4 handed or less because the hands go so quick I can’t maintain
focus on 4 tables) but I made an exception for this guy. Sure enough
within an hour his $600 was gone, and I had $300 of it. I just can’t
believe that seemingly good and successful players continue to abuse the
bad players, and then leave before letting time wear them out.
I made a royal this week, my 5th I think, and I also made a straight flush
against the A high flush that was good for a huge pot. The funny thing
about the Straight flush was that I didn’t realize it was a straight, and
thought I had flush under flush when his hand showed. It took me a minute
to figure out when the chips slid to me.
Weirdest happening of the week. 2 hands in a row, heads up with the same
guy. 1st hand I have AQ and the flop is AKx. We cap the flop and bet out
the turn and river. He has AQ also and we chop it up. Very next hand I get
AQ again. Flop this time is AA7. We cap the flop and the turn, and bet
call the river. He has AQ again too. At least on the 2nd hand we each won
$6.
The big event around here this week is my wife graduating from school. She
has to write a provincial board exam in January to get a license, but she
is a college graduate now. I can’t describe how proud I am of her, and
what a fine example she is for our kids.
When AK misses. I picked this hand because this happens so often, and
there is clearly no set way to play it, although heads up this is probably
my standard. UTG limps and so does utg+1. I raise from the button with Ah
Ks. Both blinds fold and the limpers call the raise. Flop is Th 4s 3h.
Checked to me and I bet. 3 handed I will almost always bet no matter what,
and with that flop there is a good chance it missed everyone. I only get 1
call. Turn is the 5h. Checked to me and now it’s decision time. I’m never
sure what the right play is here so I vary it by opponent. I believed I
was behind, but I had a lot of outs. I like the maxim, bet when you have
few outs, check when you have lots so I checked. River was the 2d, giving
me the butt end of the straight, and he came out betting. I just called
and I was good, he had turned a set of 5’s. This is one of those hands
that can go either way on the turn, and my good read actually cost me $20,
since I’m sure he was going to raise the turn.
Here’s what happens when you’re running well. I have Jh Th in the SB. UTG
raises and 2 cold callers to me. I call too and the BB plays as well 5 of
us to the flop. Flop is pretty good for me Js Jc Ts. Normally I would be
tempted to slow play this, but someone else has to have a piece of this,
and the pot is already pretty big. I bet out, and it is quickly raised and
3 bet. I smooth call this time and it gets capped anyway. 3 of us see the
turn. Turn is the Qh. I check waiting to raise, and the flop capper checks
too. Oh no! Luckily the 3rd guy bets and I raise. The guy in between us
calls and the other guy 3 bets. I cap and they both call. River is the 2h.
I bet and they both just call. The flop capper had Ks Qs and was pushing
his HUGE draw. The other guy had AK and turned a broadway straight. That
was a $260 pot.
What a chicken. At another table the same night I get 44 UTG and I limp. I
haven’t been playing the baby pairs in EP as much, but I was running
really wel and this table was ripe for it. I got 2 calls and the BB played
too. Flop is 4c 3c 2s. SB bets and I raised. With the flush and straight
draws on board I decided to play it fast. 2 cold calls and the SB 3 bets.
I capped and all 3 called. 4 to the turn and $100 already in the pot. Turn
is the 3d. Yessssss. SB bets, and I raise again. Finally someone folds and
the 4th guy types in “Do both of you have 32?”. Then he calls 2 more and
the SB 3 bets. I type in “maybe” and cap it. He calls 2 more and the SB
calls. There is now $220 in the pot and I’m starting to worry about 33. He
has to know there is a ful house against him doesn’t he? I mean the other
guy has already mentioned it. River is Kh. Finally the SB checks. I bet
and the 3rd guy calls all-in. Now the SB raises me. Uh oh. I finally
chicken out and just call. SB had 65 for the flopped straight and the 3rd
guy had A5 for another flopped straight. And I was ticked I left $10 more
on the table. I guess I should be happy the SB gave me about $80 extra
with excessive raises.
Before I close I want to thank all the guys that have replied each week to
these posts. I am so glad I started doing this. For one thing it gave me
an outlet for my frustrations, but it has also been so lucrative for me.
It was through these posts that I was steered to the Party 3/6 games, then
to the shorthanded games. And I wouldn’t have had anyone sign up under my
affiliate program either without them, so it has probably been the
smartest thing I did during the 7 months. My play will be interrupted over
the next few weeks with the Seattle trip and Christmas, but I’ll keep
posting when I can, and I’ll see about starting the journal again in the
New year. I have to make up my mind about the book thing too. I’ve done
around 4 chapters now, but it seems pretty lame to me. I can’ imagine
anyone other than we die-hards being remotely interested in this, except
then I go to a Party and everyone asks me all about it. Maybe I need to
redo it and instead of using the posts, rewrite them as a story and
explain more about the game to people. We’ll see.
Have a great and safe holiday everyone, and if anyone in the Seattle area
can get to Muckleshoot on Tuesday night please try and say hello. I’ll be
the guy speaking Canadian eh!
Week 34/35/36
Well, Happy New Year everyone. Personally I had a great holiday season, we
spent most of it in Montreal where they actually had snow, and if my scale
is any indication then I had a really good Christmas. For the first time
since starting this adventure in April, I took several days off, and only
played sparingly most of the others. I feel quite refreshed now and I’m
ready to get back into the fray.
When I left off 3 weeks ago I was heading for Seattle. Of course we got
hit with a snowstorm the day I had to drive to Buffalo to catch my plane,
and it was snowing in Washington where I had to transfer so it looked like
a long day ahead of me. I left home 5 hours before my flight because I was
afraid of several things. The weather, customs, and airport security.
Fortunately the Bills weren’t playing that day or the line up at customs
would have been terrible. More than 10,000 people cross the border on game
days. But I was concerned because I’m not allowed to work in the US
without a visa. If I were to get a contract in Seattle I would have to get
one, and it involves getting the client to write a letter explaining that
they couldn’t find an American to do the job, proving I have a University
degree, and paying for the visa. In the past I have usually just said I
was going for training, but on those occasions I was visiting a company
that had a Canadian office. I know several people who have been turned
back at customs because they suspected they were going to work
unauthorized. So in the end I decided to tell them I was going to Seattle
to play in a poker tournament. The Customs guy said “Cool, will I see you
on TV?”. Turns out he watches poker on the travel channel every week and
he waved me through with no delay. The roads were not as bad as I had
feared, and there was no one at the airport, so I ended up over 3 hours
early for my flight. Then I got a good break, the guy at the ticket
counter told me there was another flight to Seattle through Chicago
leaving in 30 minutes. That avoided Washington where it was snowing and
got me to Seattle 3 hours earlier. So I got there in time to watch the
final Survivor Episode. I’ve been a big fan of the show, but I am getting
tired of seeing all my favorites voted off early because they were a
“threat”, then seeing all the zero-personalities slip through and win it.
The producers need to work on that somehow.
I spent 2 days working in Seattle, but it was clear early on they wouldn’t
need me long term. The shop was actually in pretty good shape. I think I
was an insurance policy for the new manager who wanted to be sure
everything was good before the year end. I got some Christmas shopping
done while I was there, and on Tuesday night I went out to Muckleshoot and
played cards all night until my flight at 8:30 Wednesday morning. I fell
asleep before liftoff, and didn’t wake up until we touched down in Dulles.
We were delayed in Washington though and it was 9:00 PM when I finally got
back home on Wednesday night.
Muckleshoot was a very enjoyable evening. It wasn’t much to look at from
the outside, but quite nice inside. Has anyone else noticed that casino’s
are the only place I’ve ever seen all the handicapped parking spots taken?
There was a freeroll tournament starting at 7:00 PM that night and all but
3 tables were being used. I got on a list for 10/20, and had to wait 30
minutes for a table to break in the tournament, then they started a new,
must move 10/20 game. I hadn’t played live in over a year, and it was very
interesting. I only saw 1 guy make a bet that wasn’t legit. Very easy to
read, and most of them wouldn’t bet the river for value. They took 4
dollars out of every pot though, 3 for rake and 1 for jackpots, so that’s
pretty steep compared to online. I loved the way the card room ran though.
Every complaint I have about Brantford (the casino closest to my home) is
answered there. Chip runners get your chips immediately instead of buying
them at the table and slowing down the game. They gave me a pager while I
was waiting for my table, and the food and beverage service was fantastic.
The only down side was the smoking. I haven’t been in a building where
smoking was allowed in 2 years. No public places in Ontario allow it any
more, so that was a shock to my system. Unfortunately I didn’t get much in
the way of cards all night. I fluctuated between $200 up and $100 down all
night, and finished almost exactly even in the morning. Only 1 memorable
hand. I limped in with 66, and the joker who kept raising with nothing
raised behind me. 4 of us saw a flop of K 6 4. I bet, got raised on my
left, then the joker 3 bet it. BB folded and I smooth called hoping to
keep everyone in. Turn was another K. I checked, then it was bet on my
left and raised by the joker. I 3 bet and the guy on my left capped it. We
both called. At this point I put the joker on a K, but was having trouble
putting the other guy on a hand. 44 seemed the most likely to me, and K6
and K4 seemed unlikely, so I figured I was still good. River brought
another 6. I bet, got raised and 3 bet again and I capped it. Joker had KQ,
and the guy on my left had K4. I did suck out with my 1 outer.
I rented a laptop to take with me and play in the evenings, and even that
turned out to be a hassle. I thought I would get the same one I used in
the summer, it was configured just fine for me, but this time it was a
different machine. When I asked if he had included a network cable in the
bag, he told me there was no network card in the PC. SO I had to wait
another couple of hours for him to put a card in the machine, and the end
result was they were closed for the weekend when I left the store. I got
home to load the poker software and discovered they hadn’t included a
mouse either, so I had to run out and spend $10 on a mouse. It cost me $10
/ day from the hotel to connect to the internet, so I was down $100 before
I started playing. I could only play 3 games, and even that was pushing it
as the resolution on the lap top could barely fit one table, let alone 3
on the screen. And to finish my complaining, the chair was terribly
uncomfortable. Then I lost $1,022 in 3 hours of play to cap off the
experience. On Monday night I lost another $60, making me wish I had just
left the computer at home. I barely broke even on the trip. Yuck.
Once I was home my luck was no better and I lost 2 of 3 sessions the rest
of the week to have my first losing week in 6 months, dropping $1,451 in
all. I didn’t play a lot of hours, we had Christmas shopping to do during
the days, and Christmas performances at school in the evenings. I also
took Saturday night off for a party at a neighbours house.
I played Sunday and Monday at home before we packed up and went to
Montreal for Xmas, and in two short evening sessions I won $2,000. I
didn’t play again until the Saturday after Christmas, at my sister in
laws, where I decided to only play 2 tables again because of the screen
limitations. I lost a small amount but still had a nice week with a profit
of $1,886.
Finally this week I played once more at my Sister in laws on Sunday and
had a nice $400 win. I drove home with my 3 older kids on Monday while my
wife stayed behind with our youngest. She came home on New Years eve and
we joined some friends for a quiet but late evening. I played full
sessions on Monday and Tuesday, only able to post small wins each day
though. I didn’t play at all on New Years eve, and then the bottom dropped
out in 2004. After a horrible session in the afternoon of New years day I
lost $700. I won it all back and then some in the evening session, while
my daughter and a friend watched the Matrix, and it’s sequel. I drove her
friend home at around 1:00 AM and I was up for the day. One hour later I
was down over $700 again, maybe the worst hour I can remember. It carried
over into Friday as well as I lost another $1,000 in the afternoon, and
only managed to win back $200 in the evening. And on Saturday night I
still couldn’t really get going. The same things that happen to us all
when we’re losing. Big pairs getting run down on the river, draws that
don’t get there, and losing all the heads up battles. I flopped 3 sets on
Friday that turned into full houses, and still lost them all to bigger
boats. I did manage to win $331 on Saturday leaving me down $387 for the
week, and giving me 2 losing weeks out of 3.
So after a really remarkable run through most of the year, it has finished
with some tough times. Curious that it would happen while my usual routine
was disrupted, which probably played a small part in the results, but not
$2K worth. It was nice to take some time off and realize that the world
wasn’t going to come to an end if I didn’t play 45 hours in a week. Of
course the remarkable 4 or 5 weeks I had leading in to the holidays gave
me a nice fat bankroll to rest on, but post Christmas I need to get back
to winning. And playing better. I think I’m chasing too much lately. I
believe it’s a by-product of running so well for 3 or 4 weeks, you start
to believe your card will come every time.
I had a call on Friday about a contract here in Toronto, that will start
right away. I will probably hear more about it on Monday. I’m kind of
torn. There is no doubt, that I would prefer to keep playing poker.
Interesting that when I started this I had no desire to do it full time,
and now I don’t want to quit. But I can’t help thinking it would be pretty
irresponsible to turn down a good contract offer where I can still play in
the evenings. But it will have to be a good offer. I guess what concerns
me most is that if I take too much time off, it will be too hard to get
back into the job market. And although the poker games are good right now,
who knows what they will be like in a couple of years. But I have to be
very honest, the last 8 months has been more fun than any other working
period of my life. I just love this lifestyle. Except for the losing
streaks, but they make you appreciate the winning streaks more I guess.
Funny, but after winning over $47,000 in 8 months, when I lose $2,000 in 2
days, I still wonder if this is the end of the line. In the rational part
of my brain I know I’ll start winning again, but it seems to get
overshadowed by the emotional part of my brain that’s screaming “Your
family will starve!!”
Someone asked me if I thought the 6 max games were getting tougher, and I
don’t think so. I’m still getting rivered by some awful cards. Last night
there were 30,000 people playing at Party/Empire. That’s truly amazing,
and still gives lots of game selection. I even saw poker on NBC in
primetime this week, where the cast from West Wing was playing a celebrity
tournament. If that keeps up we’ll see more newbies in the games again.
One hand for discussion. I’m in the BB with Ac 3c. There is a limp and a
raise, then a cold call from the button and the SB plays too. I call and
so does the limper and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is Ad Qs 4s. SO now the
usual dilemma when you have the A no kicker. I check behind the SB. UTG
limper bets and the pre-flop raiser folds. Button calls and the SB folds.
I just call, but I did it aggressively (OK I’m a wimp). Turn is the good
news, bad news 3s. I check, UTG bets, button calls and I again call
aggressively. River is a 5c. I check, UTG bets and now the button raises.
Pot is pretty big, almost 13 BB’s, but it’ll cost me 20 to call. I figure
I’m beat and I fold. UTG calls. UTG had QT (??) and the button had AT, and
my two pair would have been good. Obviously I needed to play this
differently. Maybe just betting out on the flop, or check-raising the
turn. I hate the way I did play it. As for folding on the end, I still
seem to fold a winner every once in a while, but I do think that happens
when you play properly tight. Of course in this example, I never gave the
guy with AT any reason to believe he wasn’t ahead, so his raise didn’t
necessarily mean a huge hand.
Hope everyone else had a great holiday. I missed writing my updates so
I’ll start them again next week.
Week 37
Well the weather has been freezing here this week, and so has my poker
play. Another disastrous week. In order to keep my bankroll at a
non-critical level I had to cut my usual withdrawal in half. For the first
time in many months I’m actually worried about long term viability of
this. However since I’m not been deluged by calls from prospective
employers, I guess we’ll keep on trying. Logic tells me I haven’t suddenly
become a bad player, so It should turn around, but I also know that I am
just as likely to have a bad run of cards starting right now as I was 4
weeks ago when this started. I’m beginning to think I angered the poker
gods when I went to Seattle.
The Week started out poorly when I lost $611 on Sunday. That made 3
substantial losses in 4 days going back to the previous week. I lost over
$900 on my davidross tables, and actually was up on my Empire tables. Then
I seemed to find my stride and I posted a $741 win on Monday, a $472 win
on Tuesday and another $489 win on Wednesday. But Thursday was the biggest
one day loss I’ve ever had, dropping $1,804. I lost 1,100 in the
afternoon, and was down over 1,200 in the evening, before a late rush
saved me from a 2K loss. On Friday I had a frustrating day, with a nice
win in the afternoon, but giving most of it back in the evening, ending up
ahead by only $209. Finally Saturday started well, and at 1:00 AM I
thought I might get even for the week, I was only $150 short of the
break-even mark, when the bottom fell out again. In the next 2 hours I
lost another $1,000 finishing with a $602 loss for the day and a $1,106
loss for the week.
That’s 3 losses in 4 weeks and is eerily similar to a run I had in June
where over a 4 week period I lost money and switched from paradise to
Party. The difference then was that I could tell the games had gotten
tougher and this time I don’t think that’s the case. I’m still seeing some
pretty dubious play, it’s just running me down again and again.
It’s hard to identify one thing that’s happening during the losing streak.
Some days I just can’t win a hand. Most days I build pots with the best
hand only to get beat on the river, and then of course In the blinds
battles, I’m losing heads up again and again. I’ve lost full houses to
quads, and every time I have top pair it seems like the board pairs and my
opponent makes trips. I can only hope my turn is coming. I feel like I’ve
got a huge day coming to me soon. I could sure use it.
I had posted several weeks back about the problems we were having with my
gifted daughter and her lack of results in school. Now comes word from the
school this week that my 10 year old son has scored even higher than she
did in the same tests they give to all the grade 4’s. But the two kids
couldn’t be more different. My son gets straight A’s and is a diligent
worker. I’m quite shocked to be honest, I thought his results were more to
do with his work ethic than any special abilities. He has a promising
future. Maybe he can look after his father.
The weather finally broke here today, and we’re getting snow. I hope that
signals a change in my fortunes too. The kids have a half day of school on
Tuesday and I’d like to take them skiing. We have a soccer final this
afternoon for my 10 year old. They are a big favorite having only lost 1
game this season. I hope the heater is on. My daughter played her last
game on Friday when it was -30 out and we arrived at the dome (It’s just
an inflatable dome they put up for the winter) to find no on e had turned
on the heat. It was freezing for the poor kids.
If you don’t like bad beat stories stop here. I think almost all the hands
I saved this week were a bad beat of some type. Just the mood I’ve been in
I guess.
In this hand I limped in behind another limper with 33 and got raised. 4
of us saw the flop for 2 bets. Flop comes A 9 3 rainbow. It gets checked
to the raiser who bets and two of us call. I decide to wait for the turn
with the A on board I think he’ll bet the turn. Turn is another 9. Sure
enough the raiser bets, but now UTG raises. I get cute and smooth call
hoping to keep the raiser in, and he stays. River is another 9. Doh!! UTG
bets, I fold, and the raiser calls. Quad 9’s beat 9’s full of Aces. I’ve
been counterfeited so many times on the river it’s unbelievable.
I’m in the SB with A3o. Button limps in 3 handed. I call and the BB
checks. Flop is A T 5. I check, BB checks and button bets. I raise and BB
folds. Button just calls. Turn is a Q and I bet, he calls. River is a 2. I
bet he raises. Jeez. I make the crying call and he shows me the crazy 4h
3h.
I was criticized heavily by my opponent after this one. Again I have 33,
this time in the SB. There is a raise and 2 cold calls to me and I pay the
$8. BB completes too. Flop is 7c 3d 2h. Pot is big enough and I bet out.
BB calls, preflop raiser raises and CO 3 bets. Button calls 3 cold, and I
cap it. Everyone calls. 5 to the turn with 15 BB’s already in the pot.
Turn is the 2s. I bet and I get 4 calls. River is the 8c, I bet and get 3
calls. My full house is good. KK, JJ and A7 all called me down and I won
$238. The guy with JJ was abusive in his comments. I had some fun with him
actually. Of course had he 3 bet pre-flop, I wouldn’t have been in the
hand and he would have lost to KK instead of to me.
This has been happening to me a lot with my free plays. 1 limper to me and
I check the BB with Q3. Flop is Qd Td Jd. I bet and get raised. I call.
Turn is the Qh. I bet and get raised again. I still don’t like folding in
these games where guys will riase anything anytime so I call again. River
is a Th. I figure I sucked out on his flush and bet. He raises again. DOh,
QJ? I call and get shown Kd 9d for the flopped straight flush.
And if you wonder why I call the raises heads up here is another fine
example. I have KQ in the SB. One limper and I call. BB just calls. Flop
is K 6 5 rainbow. I check and then raise the limper. BB folds and the
limper calls. Turn is a 7. I bet and get raised. Here we go again. I call.
River is an 8. I check, he bets, I call. He has 94 for the rivered gutshot.
What kind of balls do you have to have to make that raise? I guess balls
aren’t the word.
I have 88 in the CO and I limp behind another limper. 5 of us see the
flop. Flop is A 8 7. Checked to me and I bet. I get 1 caller. Turn is
another 7. I get bet into and I raise. He 3 bets and I cap. I put him on a
7 and even A7 is behind be. River is another 7. He checks and I bet. I
can’t explain why. He raises and I call. He does have A7 and for the 2nd
ttime in a few hours I get beat by a rivered Quad.
This was my first hand on Friday after the disaster of Thursday. I have Ac
Ah and I limp in first. I get raised and the SB calls. I 3 bet, it gets
capped and cold called again. I call. Flop is A K 5. I bet get raised and
cold called. I 3 bet, he caps, blind cold calls again and I call. Turn is
a 3, putting a flush on board. I bet, get called and the blind folds.
River is the case A. I bet, get raised, I 3 bet and he caps. He of course
had KK. No telling how big it might have got if the flush card hadn’t
come.
A different kind of bad beat. UTG limps and I limp too with KQ. BB raises
and UTG 3 bets. I fold to his presumed AA. It gets capped. Flop is K K 8.
Turn is a Q. They had AA and QQ. Imagine how big that pot might have got.
Finally a fitting finish to the week. I have Ac As and raise an UTG
limper. BB calls. Flop is Ah Ts 6h. I bet and the blind calls. Limper
folds. Turn is Jh. I bet and the Blind raises me. I debate 3 betting but
just call. River is the 7h. He bets and I call. He has Ad 2h, and his 2
wins the pot.
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