I got bored at my mom's house, so I decided to play a tournament. Once again I think the only reason I play tourneys is so I can remember why I hate them. I played the $25 on paradise. I flopped a set of 10's early and busted a bad player who had A high. So I'm up to 3200 in chips. I got AKs I just called because the maniac at the end of the table has been pushing in every hand. He pushs in and I call, he has A3o and the flop is 339. I'm now down to 750 chips. The blinds are 50/100. 4 players including the SB limp into my BB, I look down at AJd. I push all in. I get called by 3 players. Flop is 238 with 2 diamonds. Turn is a J, river is an offsuit 9. It has checked around until this point, utg pushs all in. He has Q10o and I'm gone. I swear I just play tournaments just so I can get frusterated, tourament players are morons. Ok not all, but at these levels they are. Low buy in tournaments are only good for agro agressive players who cant playpoker they have no chance at be winning players but they can get runs of cards and win occasionally. I guess I could win if I had more patience and didnt get frusterated by consistanly getting beaten by worse hands and players. I probably shouldnt have even played, since I am trying to take a little break. This didnt do much for my stress level. Whatever I think I'm going to go for a run. Later all.

I played a $20 STG on paradise. Finshed 6th. I won 1 hand in 44 and that was just stealing the blinds with AK. Knock out hand, I was in the blind with 107, flop came 1098 with 1 club. I push all in for my last 600 chips. Get called by 97c turn with 10c then Jc and I'm gone. Tons of fun.

I had a little revaltion today that I figured I'd share since it is poker related. I was at the hardware store getting some stuff to fix my moms sprinkles systsem. The girl at the register looked like she would have rather been anywhere else other than there. She was a little younger than me, but it made me remeber how much I hated working in retail. The last 6 months have been great not having to deal with customer who think the world revolves around them.

All this made me think about my recent poker frusterations. I realized how freakin lucky I am. I make more money playing poker. I get to spend time in Vegas which is fun. I really have no reason to bitch, yes poker can get frusterating sometimes and the stress can be worse than working at trader joes, but poker is something I enjoy and I get to make good money doing it. I hope to never go back to working retail and I will try to keep life in a little better perspective the next time I have a bad run.

I know for someone reading my journal consistantly you are probably thinking I'm bipolar or something. I can be a little up and down when it come to my poker feelings, in real life I am a pretty calm laid back person. I am working on being that way with poker too, though to this point it has been a bit of a struggle.

I think I might go back to playing live this coming weekend. Though my birthday is on Saturday and I'm probably going to go out and get hammered, so maybe I'll play after school on Friday. School starts on thursday so I will be heading back to San Diego on Wednesday. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed for more than two days at a time.

Well chalk one more up for the outters list. The only problem is I forgot the actually count. I am now at either 5 or 6. This one is an omaha high tourney. $20 buy in on paradise again. I have 1400 chips to start the hand. I get A 10. In the BB, 5 callers in the pot. Flop is K8. I bet pot, get called in two places. Turn is the so I now have top 2, the nut flush draw and a gut shot str8 draw to the nuts. I have about 1100 chips left, so i check, knowing I can only get all in if I check raise. 2nd player bets pot, 3rd player folds. I push all in, get called by 2nd player. He has A 8 , the river is the and I am now gone. Fun times. I just went through them in my head and it is 6 total one outters this year, I think I am finally ahead of monk.

wouldn't an 8 give him a boat since he also has 2 pair?

I just looked through the hand history and we are back to six one outters for the year. He actually had A344. The turn was actually a 7 not a 6 which I also changed.

Ahh man, it's so nice to be around other poker players in a community like this. I was getting sick of my friend and I arguing over who had the worst luck. Now I am in what feels like a small little family of people complaining about how their luck is the worst!

No my luck is ok. I like my journal because it gives me a place to bitch and moan. I do feel like Phil Hellmuth sometimes, "If it werent for luck I'd win every hand." I get a lot of bad beats because I almost always have my money in the pot with the best hand. Its pretty hard to take bad beats when you are all in on gut shot. Usually the difference in a good session or a bad one is if my hands hold up or not. I am up to six one outters which is a lot and I guess that means I have taken some bad luck but I also have played a ton of hands this year. The more hands the addition likelyhood of taking bad beats.

Just to end a day of fun, i played another $20 STG on paradise. I didnt win a hand for the first 30 hands. I finally doubled up with A10 vs 810. Got down to 5 players only to get all in with A9 vs A6 and lose to a 6 on the turn. Occasionally on paradise I would like to actually win with the dominating hand. To make it even more fun, I had 120 chips left, went all in with Q10 only to run into QJ in the BB. No moron luck for me of course.