Had a very swingy last couple of days. Yesterday I played for 3 hrs, and was actually up 40 after the first 2. It went downhill from there. Lost 2 pots $250+ each. One was heads up when I flopped top and bottom pair on a QJ10 board in a raised pot. He called me down and tabled 89. Blah. The other I got all in as a 3 to 1 favorite on the turn. I had AA and he had top pair, OESD, and rivered the straight. I was trying to bust this guy for 2 hrs and he ended up busting me. AA not doing well for me lately. Started to get a little tilty. Got AJo in the SB, and reraised the button's min raise. Flop is all lowers, I bet the flop, bet the turn, got minraised, and folded. Whoops. I stopped soon after that hand. All in all down $237 for the night. This was the first time I've been very frustrated in a while. That is a huge amount of money to me. I remember back when I started playing when I'd lose $50 and go to sleep pissed off. My how times have changed. But when I take a step back and look at the amount objectively, its really less than 2.5X buyins. If I can't get used to the swings, I may as well move back down to the $50s, since I can expect runs worse than that in the future.

Woke up and played an hour long session. Was a little gun shy at first, and allowed someone to river the flush when I checked the turn. Tried to take down another pot on the turn, b/c I thought he was drawing. I raised in CO w/ K10o, BB calls, flop is Jxx, 2 hearts, he bets half pot, i reraise to 18, he calls, turn blank, I bet $28, he instacalls, river is the 3rd heart, chk chk, and he tables AJ. Blah. Added a note on him that he is willing to play for his stack w/ TPTK. Started catching some cards though, winning some good sized pots, and made a VERY tough call with TP good kicker when I put villain on a complete bluff. Up $308 for the session.


Thats poker for ya.

Hour long session after dinner tonight. Up ~$50. Only hand of note, I raise UTG w/ [Kc]. Guy who has $50 calls w/ 72o. Flop is 7xx, 2 clubs, he minraises my CB and I push, turn is no help, river, unfortunately for him is the and I scoop. 3/5th done with the $150 Holdem Poker sign up bonus.

Played 4 hrs today, down $3.35. I played very bad, and was lucky to only be down that little. Trying to bluff waaaay too much. Mistakes probably cost me around $150 or so. Maybe more. Called a marginal all in when I just barely didn't have pot odds to call. UTG raises to 3, and everybody calls, so I call in the BB w/ [7d]. Flop is [Js][Td]. SB who is solid, leads out for 10, and for some reason, I raise to 25. Folds back around and he pushes. So it was around $75 to me to win a pot of of $140, and I was a little more than a 2-1 dog if he had a set, which I put him on. Had I just called, I get away from it on the turn for sure. There are so many $100 players who will call with ANY pair. It gets frustrating, but I have to make the adjustment and not CB as much. I think I get too set in my thinking that I gotta CB, gotta take control, etc, that I don't make the adjustment until he shows up bottom pair at the showdown a few times. It should take me only a few hands to realize this, but instead, its taking a lot more. And also, it seemed like every short stack was catching monsters against me when I had top pair or something. At least I'm done w/ the Holdem bonus, a nice $150 to pad the ol' Bankroll, which currently stands at $5,429 and change. Off to Interpoker now to work on their monthly reload bonus

What a frustrating day. Played an hr session in the afternoon, and went up $136, no suckouts, and one $25 dollar mistake, when a short stack bet like 3 into a $28 pot, and I took the bait and pushed and he showed the nuts. Tonight, just finished a 2 hr session. It was horrid. Card dead for the first hr and a half. Then a few bad beats, AK not hitting at all, and I made a questionable all in call when I was playing heads up. I raise OTB/SB w/ KJ, guy calls, flop is Kxx, 2 diamonds, chk, I bet, he reraises me a little more than a min raise actually, I call, he then immediately goes all in on the turn, a non diamond lower card, betting $80 into a $40 pot. I use up all my time, and make the call, and he shows AA, and I don't improve. Looking back it definitely was a questionable call, but gosh it seemed like a big time bluff. That kind of set me off, then on another table I have QQ, and raise, BB, who is solid, reraises to $12. I call, flop is JJ10, he bets $15 into a $23, and it just seemed a little weak to me, so I push, and he calls w/ AA, and I don't improve. And after that I stopped. Down about $200 in that session, so down about $65 on the day. Finished the $100 monthly INterpoker bonus though. I'm running at 3 BB/100 so far at $100 NLSH over 12k hands. Its maddening!!!! Maybe I should move back down to the $50s. Less stress, and I was running at 8 BB/100.

I think I need to stop making heroic calls. There have been quite a few times where I've made questionable calls. I'm talking about calls where there is a push, I have little or no read on the pusher, and I have a moderately strength hand, and i call. Sometimes I'm right, and other times I'm wrong. In fact, I wouldn't be suprised if I was right 50% of the time. So basically it has nothing to do with my skills, it is just a coinflip. I'm better than that. I can find better spots with which to take their money. So unless I have a solid read on the guy, I will lean towards folding. We'll see how it goes.

Finally starting to figure things out. Up $270 after 4 hrs of playing today. Lost half a buy in when I flopped low boat against his trips, and the turn paired his other hole card. Made a very bad mistake earlier in the day. I tried out 3 tables for the first time, and my GF called when I just started up, so I kind of lost track of things. I have AQ in the BB, 2 limpers, and SB raises to 3, so I call as do the 2 limpers. Flop is AT6 rainbow.With all the distractions, I lose track of the button, and I think that I'm the SB, and villian is the button. I see him raise 6, so i call as does another person, turn is 2. I don't see him lead out for 12 again, instead I just see a 12 by his name when I come back to the table, and assumed it was checked to him and he bet. Then I check raise him, putting him on a lower ace, he pushes, I get a very sick feeling in my stomach, and he shows up 66. Oops.

Bankroll has just surpassed the 6K mark. I am both stunned and humbled at what is, to me, an inordinate amount of money. Dental school starts up again on Monday. As I look over the schedule, I see a mass of M-F, 8-5ers from now until mid-December. Should be loads of fun.

Milestones

So after adding that $300 from BJ, I came upon a realization. I started playing online poker last March, and I have just surpassed the $10K mark in total profits!! I would estimate 1/3 of that is due to bonuses/BJ/rakeback. BR is at $6820. I have cracked the $2k mark (strictly poker earnings) this month for the 1st time ever. Things are looking rosy, and I hope this good fortune can continue. I only have a few hundred dollars in my bank account now, so I will have to make a withdraw from the BR soon. I'm just holding out for as long as possible.

I swear I just cannot win on UB anymore. The last few times I've played there, I've been card dead the whole time. Down $214 for a 1.5 hr session. Made about $80 worth of mistakes, mainly by paying off short stacks w/ 2nd pair/good kicker type hands. This breaks a streak of 7 straight winning sessions. I did get 2nd in a 10er SNG though.

2.25 hrs on Hollywood. I was up $100 around the 1.5 hr mark, just about to leave, when this hand happens:

Poker Room skin
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.50/$1
3 players


Stack sizes:
Button: $125.95
SB: $13.20
Hero: $142.35

Pre-flop: (3 players) Hero is BB with
Button raises to $4.5, SB calls, Hero calls.

Flop: ($13.5, 3 players)
SB is all-in $8.7, Hero calls, Button calls.

Turn: ($39.6, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $39.6)
Hero bets $25, Button calls.

River: ($89.6, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $39.6, Sidepot 1: $50)
Hero bets $35, Button raises all-in $87.75, Hero calls.

Results:
Final pot: $265.1
Button shows JD JS
SB shows 2H 5H
Hero shows 7C 7S

ARGGG Then a few hands later on another table, guy minraises (he's been doing this all night) UTG, and I pop it to 8 w/ JJ, he calls, flop is 235r, he chks, I bet 15 into a 17 pot. He instacalls, turn is a 4, he has about 50 left, I'm thinking No way he called that w/ a bare Ace, I put him in, and of course he calls w/ A10.