Wins and Losses

Outside of the internet my luck has seen ups and downs lately. Technically I'm up as of recently. I've been playing satellites to a high stakes game on Mondays and Friday with no luck, but last Wednesday I hosted a tournament and won. With the winnings I bought into a local rebuy tournament on Thursday. This tournament had so many downs for me it was ridiculous. I got down to 2 big blinds more than 3 times and still managed to finish 3rd out of 16. My initial investment of $10 on Wednesday turned into $135. I was tied for the chip lead in the final 3 and me and the other leader both flopped straights. Mine 2-6. His 4-8. lol. A little bad luck, but still a great night. As online goes I'm still having major swings. I've really been off my game and I need to find a way back. I need to work majorly on my multi-tabling skills. Wish me luck.

Streak

Well I have been fighting a bad losing streak. Somehow I've managed to stay even online. I'm hovering around $30 after suffering a $35 losing streak. I played a casino tournament in Oklahoma this weekend and I believe I player well until I was dealt great cards. I was doing pretty well in the tournament and I was a middle stack at the 2 hour point. Let me know this is a $30 rebuy tournament so I've only bought in once, not too bad so far. I get dealt pocket aces one off the button. Perfect, I think. I need to really maximize the amount of money I win this hand. I've been playing pretty tight so when I limp in for $1000, the table knows I must have a hand. There are 5 callers and the flop comes jack queen 7. A dream flop in my mind and I can't wait for the action to get to me. Big stack raises 1000 and next in line raises to 2500. I'm a little worried but I have to raise here, I decide it's time to push and I throw the remaining 7400 of my chips in the pot. Big stack and raiser both call. They check it down and we flip our cards. Big stack first showing queen 4. Top pair but not much. I show my aces thinking I've just tripled up, but raiser turns over jack queen off. Two pair on the flop and a heartbreaker for me. At first I'm outraged that I lost with pocket aces, then I examined my play. Why would I not raise with 2 limps in front of me? I got greedy and let my cards get in the way of my brain. If I had raised pre flop jack queen would have probably folded, cutting his losses. Instead I let him limp into a flop and he hit two pair and dominated my big starting hand. Now opinions differ about how to play aces, but the facts don't lie. When you enter a pot with 5 other hands the odds of pocket aces winning are no longer 80% but much much lower. Probably only around 40 to 50%. Not good odds at all compared to before. What would you have done? Limp or bet? If bet do you think 3x the big blind is enough to get the other guys off their hands?

Lack of blogs

So I haven't blogged lately because of 2 things. 1. Anger because of Poker and 2. Anger because of Poker.

This would be a good time for me to cover the downswings of poker. I have been in one for over 48 hours and I can't seem to break it. I feel like I am playing smart poker. In hindsight though I can see weaknesses. About 60% of the time I was beat by a nasty river card that was one of the persons 3 outs left in the deck. 20% were issues with having to fold with overbetting by other players. This is all to common in lower stakes sit 'n goes. The last 20% is frustration. That 20% means everything. Players have been successful in putting me on tilt so I have been willing to move in with hands like Ace Queen and get beat. Most of the time by crap hands like King 8, but still, I need to play with less emotion and more brain.

Reaching Goals

So I've officially got my bankroll up to $50 online now. Thanks to my many $1 SNGs. I honestly think I might've played 120 of them by now. I win decently consistently though. At $110 I finally get to move up to $2 SNGs. I was in Russellville all weekend so not much playing. I have tons of homework today so a major tournament grind will probably have to wait for tomorrow. By the way check out Full Tilt Poker's Academy. It's fantastic. It has some really good lessons and even some live sessions with hand explanations from pros. Very nice.

Ups and Downs

So playing online lately I have had many ups and downs. I am really working hard on building my bankroll to $50. I have played so many Sit-and-Goes lately I think my regular play might be suffering. Overall though in the past 24 hours I have went from $20 to $30 on my bankroll. I am playing 3 to 4 at a time and doing my best to cash in at least 2 or 3. I have made the progress slowly and consistently which is exactly what I wanted. I don't want huge jumps, because I don't want huge falls to follow. Playing with just $1 buy-ins is difficult though. There isn't a ton of money to be made and it's hard to judge players because they often play differently at such low stakes. This proves difficult. I have found that position means more than cards here. I play my position and use 3x raises and make most of my chips of blinds. 6 mans are my favorites. I wonder if anyone else despises 9 man tables.

11 Goals

So as I have gotten more serious which I will detail in time. I have set 11 goals for the next 6 to 9 months.

1. Bring Bankroll to $50 by October 31^st.

2. Read Super System

3. Read Caro’s Book of Tells

4. Bring Bankroll to $100 by November 20^th.

5. Play more than 40 Tournaments in a week.

6. Win MTT Tourney of more than 100 players.

7. Bring Bankroll to $500 by December 15^th.

8. Bring Bankroll to $1000 by January 8^th.

9. Play first cash game in Tunica on January 8^th.

10.Play WSOP EVENT in Tunica on January 20^th.

11.Play WSOP Event in St. Louis on April 1^st.

A 20 year old amateur

I was introduced to poker at the age of 4. I barely knew the names of the cards, but I'd beg and plead for my uncle to play with me. He's always been my mentor for poker. I started with five card draw. I always remember winning, I guess that means he was good uncle. Somewhere in the years after we started blackjack. There he taught me to read hands. Learning the player meant everything. I know it seems odd to read hands there, but when you're 8, two cards to read are easier than 5. I took a big break from poker for the majority of my young life. I didn't really get back to playing until I was 13, and I was first introduced to Texas Hold 'em. This game had it all, suspense, action, betting, and the dreaded river. It was, as I'd find out, my game. At first I played for the thrill, not much thought put into my cards, just enjoying the rush. I guess at the age of 15 I figured out, you could play this game for money. I resisted for awhile associating the gambling in a bad way. At the age of 18 I started playing my first cash game. I had moved to Nashville, TN to go to college, and I found out rich kids love poker. I played a game with friends and felt like I was getting pretty good. The reality was that they were horrible. We only played for $5, but we felt like superstars when we won. The group played weekly and we learned different games, no big news. I consistently won. I thought I was a good player until I played with adults.