so, after my last session, i played again a couple times, won a little bit, then lost a little again, and was feeling pretty unconfident. i dont know why, but i was just playing like a puss. i played some this morning, and instead of my normal 20/13 game i was playing like 14/3 and playing just breakeven poker. i was pretty card dead, but i wasnt trying to push at all.

i think part of it was due to playing poorly in a home game the other night. there was a total prick at the table, and he just ruined the whole night for me. not monetarily, he was just a douchebag. he would say "thank you" in this super condescending voice whenever i folded to a big bet of his, like he was bluffing me and i was doing him a big favor.

so that was no fun, and i didnt even want to play cards today. but i told my buddy that i would go play some low limit poker at cache creek indian casino tonight. so, anyway, some girl totally hosed me out of that by essentially taking my car without asking. but this turned out for the best.

i sat back, thought about my game, read a bunch of forums, watched a couple CR videos and got my game back where i wanted it. i then played a good long session - almost 1900 hands, and i played at 9ptbb/100. it would have been higher, but in the last hundred hands i lost a nasty pot, all in on the flop and a guy hit a 2 outer on the river. dang. but i got back to playing my game again, and worked on 3 betting preflop more and really trying to take advantage of weak bets. i played at 19/11 with an aggression factor of almost 4.

so i am up $82 today.

for december i am up $232

and the bankroll is at $877

once i figure out a way to convert hand histories from poker tracker, i will post some hands in the NL section so youall can show me how to play this game.

running well again today, played 670 hands at 11ptbb/100

ran into a a few 2 and 3 outers on the river, and KK vs. AA (I know it doesnt happen at 6max but...), but still posted a pretty good winning session, with $40 profit

for december i am up $280

bankroll is at $925 and i am starting to get excited about moving up a limit when (if) i get to 1250. im assuming there is no real change in play between 25nl and 50nl, is this true?

one other question, if anyone cares to chime in - a good friend of mine, who is essentially a rock when he plays poker, went to the indian casino last night, and lost some money playing 3/6. he said that there were 7 callers every hand whether it was raised preflop or not. in this scenario, what hands is it +EV to raise preflop with? i assume drawing hands get better because of the odds, but should he just call with AK? this is full ring of course...i know absolutely nothing about holdem in general, but im especially clueless regarding limit holdem. i would just push my good cards and hope to win monster pots, knowing im going to lose many small to mid sized ones.

well, ive had a couple frustrating sessions. just kinda running bad, getting all kinds of nasty river cards. got it all in with KK vs. AA 2 hands after i get stacked by a guy catching his flush on the river with all the chips in the middle. ugh.

almost 2 thousand hands at -10ptbb/100. dang what am i doing?

over this time AA is at -4ptbb/100 and AKs is -2.5ptbb/100, and KK is at -10/ptbb/100

my favorite hand of the night was this:

Ultimate Bet
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10./$0.25.
5 players


Pre-flop: (5 players) Hero is SB with
UTG raises to $0.85, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2.8, BB folds, UTG calls.

Flop: ($5.85, 2 players)
Hero bets $3.5, UTG raises to $10, Hero raises all-in $21.95, UTG calls all-in $21.1.
Uncalled bets: $21.1 returned to UTG.

Turn: ($37.8, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $49.75)


River: ($37.8, 0 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $49.75)


Results:
Final pot: $37.8
Hero shows Kh Ah
UTG shows Jh Qh...a pair of jacks for the win

second favorite was:

Ultimate Bet
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10./$0.25.
6 players


Pre-flop: (6 players) Hero is BB with
UTG calls, 2 folds, Button calls, SB folds, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.85, 3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $1, Button folds, Hero calls.

Turn: ($2.85, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $2.5, Hero raises to $7.5, UTG calls.

River: ($17.85, 2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $12, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: $41.85
UTG shows 8c Kc for the runner runner flush

guess ill post these in the NL section so i can learn how not to get stacked here

oh yeah, bankroll is at 811 and december is + uhm not that much anymore...like 165 i think. getting closer to .5/10 than i am .25/.50 heh...

er open the PT hh - cut and paste into box here - tidy up a bit and replace {As Th 8s} with each card in square brackets to get this:

so, ive been playing through a downswing last few days of about 5 buyins. sat down today and lost a couple buyins straight off. just frustrating hands, making it hard for me to play my game. its a total positive feedback loop how your losing affects your table image, thereby making people respect you less, making them float/check raise you more often, which is probably the most annoying thing in the world.

anyway i finally logged a winning session, nothing to write home about though. 2k hands at almost 4ptbb/100 for a win of $38

bankroll is at $841. i was not happy at the prospect of dipping back into the 700's but i guess you cant worry about that, just play as best you can.

here's a cooler hand that bit into my winnings a bit toward the end of my session. its a miracle i dont win at 30ptbb/100 the way this shit goes down...so does anybody fold to this river bet? anyone keep pushing on the turn? anyone else frustrated that the board didnt pair without giving jackhole a boat?

Hand #37041076-13913 at Breaux Bridge (No Limit Hold'em)
Started at 12/Dec/06 02:11:27

Pentafixion is at seat 0 with $34.05.
DA1DNICE is at seat 1 with $24.
martinblank is at seat 4 with $27.30.
HyphyJuice is at seat 5 with $56.05.
The button is at seat 4.

HyphyJuice posts the small blind of $.10.
Pentafixion posts the big blind of $.25.

Pentafixion: -- --
DA1DNICE: -- --
martinblank:
HyphyJuice: -- --

Pre-flop:

DA1DNICE calls. martinblank raises to $1.50.
HyphyJuice calls. Pentafixion folds. DA1DNICE
folds.

Flop (board: ):

HyphyJuice checks. martinblank bets $2.50.
HyphyJuice calls.

Turn (board: ):

HyphyJuice checks. martinblank checks.

River (board: ):

HyphyJuice bets $5.50. martinblank calls.



Showdown:

HyphyJuice shows .
HyphyJuice has two pair, queens and fives.
martinblank mucks cards.
(martinblank has .)


$.95 is raked from a pot of $19.50.
HyphyJuice wins $18.55 with two pair, queens and fives.
----------------------------------------------------------------

just checked poker tracker for the day, been playing off and on all morning/afternoon, running better again. turns out ive had one of my best days ever, 870 hands at 22ptbb/100 for a win of $95

bankroll is back to an all time high, which is where i *always* want it to be, but i guess thats not feasible. anyway, it is at $935 now, which makes december a winner of $290 approaching the halfway point of the month.

i finished clearing my bonus at UB, and am thinking about moving to Doyles room where i have a deposit bonus, but it will take me the rest of my life to clear it there, and i may have rakeback at UB, maybe not. youall got any ideas for 25 and hopefully 50nl soon? what do you think is the best place to make money considering softness of games and ease of bonus clearing? i 4 table, but am planning on buying a new computer/additional screen if i dominate 50nl for a while (fingers crossed).

anyway im gonna go play some hoops, hopefully put in another session tonight.

I can't comment on the 6max games at Bodog, but FR is pretty soft and so is the limit, so I'm guessing 6 max would be similar. Bonus clears easily, but you can only play 3 tables at a time. I signed up through Pokerlistings.com which was good for an initial 100% bonus up to $100. That gets paid upfront, so deposit $100 and you have $200 to play with though you can't withdraw any of it until you clear the bonus. Then you can deposit more of your roll to get a 10% bonus for as mcuh as you want. Once you have your money on and clear bonuses, withdraw, redeposit and get another 10% bonus. Rinse, repeat. You can also check bonushwhores.com for a list of various bonuses.

is bodog open to american players?

yes it is.

anyway, played one more session, ended up +5 dollars from last session. would have been way more, except for this super duper weak hand that i had. and i mean it makes me mad thinking about it. fuck. anyway watch the lameness unfold:

ps i would raise preflop but there are some very volatile players here and i dont want to face a reraise with this hand...maybe im weak/tight so what.

Alhazred is at seat 0 with $23.20.
martinblank is at seat 1 with $24.65.
Hiss Pead is at seat 2 with $53.20.
Brendan 1876 is at seat 3 with $115.
kiefdaddy is at seat 4 with $15.50.
2newyork is at seat 5 with $12.45.
The button is at seat 2.

Brendan 1876 posts the small blind of $.10.
kiefdaddy posts the big blind of $.25.

Alhazred: -- --
martinblank:
Hiss Pead: -- --
Brendan 1876: -- --
kiefdaddy: -- --
2newyork: -- --

Pre-flop:

2newyork folds. Alhazred folds. martinblank calls.
Hiss Pead folds. Brendan 1876 calls. kiefdaddy
checks.

Flop (board: ):

Brendan 1876 bets $.75. kiefdaddy folds.
martinblank calls.

Turn (board: ):

Brendan 1876 checks. martinblank bets $2.25.
Brendan 1876 calls.

River (board: ):

Brendan 1876 bets $5. martinblank raises to $10.
Brendan 1876 calls.



Showdown:

martinblank shows .
martinblank has flush, king high.
Brendan 1876 shows .
Brendan 1876 flush, ace high.


Brendan 1876 wins $25.45 with flush, ace high.

my idea for my river raise is: extract 5 dollars from hands i beat, and fold to a push (i had half a stack behind)

so played a bunch today. did ok, like 1500 hands at 4.5ptbb/100. got a tricky hand at the end of the night that cost me a buyin. i'll post it tomorrow and you can see how bad at poker i am. another one im not proud of.

anyway, ended the session up $33

bankroll is at $970

december is at $323, which is good for my first couple weeks.

cleared a 50 dollar bonus thing, which means that the bankroll is over the $1000 mark for the first time ever. sweeet.

bankroll: $1020

december is at $373

180 dollars until NL50.

tomorrow im going to try and hit up that indian casino, for real this time. gotta learn how to play limit poker before then. oh well, im off to play basketball and then get drunk. hope to get a bunch of hands in on sunday, and keep on rolling.

ugh. played forever at like 5ptbb/100 just getting sucked out right and left on the river. then 2 hands put me in the red for the day, they happen within 15 seconds of one another - gutshot str8 draw hits agains QQ with on the river, goodbye stack, then half stack calls a raise preflop and hits his trips against my KK goodbye half stack.

im seeing red, so i decide to call it a night. only ended up down 1/2 buyin, and im glad i can walk away, because i am steamed. not just from these two hands, but they did make for a nice nightcap.

anyway roll is at $995 and december is at $348

at least i wont be temped to play anymore tonight after all the rammings i took, and i will be able to get some goddam sleep.

bah!

ok im calmer, its been like 3 minutes and hopefully i will play well tomorrow. goddamit.