Session #13

Brutal.

That's how I would describe today's game. I played for 100 minutes and I did not rake a single hand.

Not one.

I've gone on bad runs before but today combined with the other day has really sucked. I won't go through all the misery but I will say that I played a conservative game while stepping out every so often to mix it up. I hit zero flops. The highest hand I had preflop was pocket kings, and betting aggressively I got run down by a straight when the guy had third pair on the flop. My final hand I had $9 in front of me so I made it three bets to go preflop with Q-K offsuit with 5 in the pot. The same guy that made the straight on that other hand rivered a straight with this hand to make me second best with top two and capping my day at $280 in the hole.

Brutal. What a way to end the month.

Session Total = -$280 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are -$387 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$387 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

A Quick Note

A quick note on that quad fours which was a hand I ended up winning in which I had no business being in the hand after the flop.

I had A-J suited in the big blind which was a great position for me to make it two bets to go with five callers in the pot. The flop comes down 4-9-4 and I bet out to test the waters and to hopefully steal right there. Mid-position loose/aggressive raises me and at this point I put him on pair such as 10-10 or maybe even A-K. Right now I'm thinking I'll call him with the intent of bluffing him off on the turn. The turn drops another four and again I bet out with the intent of pushing him off the pot but he makes it two to go again on me. At this point I give up but I was bit on tilt from not having hit so many consecutive quality hands with which I had entered the pot so I decided to just call the one more big bet with the hopes of hitting one of my overcards on the river. Well, the river is the case four. Unbelievable! Even more unbelievable when he turns over pocket nines for the full house on the flop. I busted him out with runner runner quads with my ace kicker.

Poker man.

Session #12

I should have known better than to play poker on my birthday. *sigh* I'm 35 today and the cards were not kind. I had a lot of wicked draws that just never panned out. My high hand of quad fours was beaten within 20 minutes. I played for around 3 hours and just couldn't go anywhere. In the end I cashed out $122 in the hole.

I would give more details but it is my birthday and I'm gonna spend some quality time with the wife and kids. I'll type up some more details (especially the quad fours which was a very odd hand) tomorrow.

Session Total = -$122 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are -$107 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$107 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

Session #11

A couple hours to kill this afternoon. Once again it was the typical $3/$6 day game and I happened to get in to seat one. The same two top tier guys were in the same two seats as yesterday. Seat 7 was an easy read as a supertight/passive player. Only ever plays top hands and only continues if he makes it. Like clockwork. Owner was in seat ten. Loose/Aggressive two seats to my left in seat three.

Best hand of the night came for me in the form of K-3 suited on the button with five in the pot for two bets preflop. Flop comes down K-K-A with the A in my suit. Under-the-gun bets out, one raiser, one caller and I make it three to go. UTG caps it, the raiser calls and the caller folds. Turn is an inconsequential card but it's in my suit. Checked to me I bet, UTG raises, sandwich guy folds and I make it three to go. River gives me the nut flush and I get one more big bet thrown in.

I straddle my final hand of the night and pick up bottom pair. I bluff two out of the pot on the turn but am reraised by UTG and call. River pairs aces on board and UTG bets out to me and after a moments consideration I fold. He shows me the jack high bluff. Bastard!

Always call the river when the pot odds are there dammit.

Session Total = +$100 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are +$15 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are +$15 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

Session #10

I had a good three hours available this afternoon to play poker! Yee haw!

I sat down to the usual $3/$6 day game at the clubhouse. There were two players sitting in seats 8 & 9 who I consider to be two of the top tier players at the club. I sat in seat five to the right of a buddy of mine who is, I would say, an average semi-tight/aggressive player. After a dozen or so hands seat one opened up and I moved there to put the weakest player on the table to my right (plus I like seat one).

I played a nice steady game all day and nothing phenomenal happened. I didn't suffer any bad beats although I did get run down a couple times. Twice I chased and was punished both times. In the end, I left with $190 in chips. Cleared the last $50 off my sheet and put the other $140 in my pocket.

Wish I had time to play tonight as it's $1/$2 no limit but the wife is going to see Brokeback Mountain with her sister and I have to play Mr. Mom.

Session Total = +$90 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are -$85 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$85 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

Session #9

Again I had very limited time in which to play (like, less than an hour) before I had to make a 20 minute drive to an arena to play rec hockey, but what's a day without a few hands of poker, eh?

I got to the clubhouse around 11:30 or shortly thereafter and found myself in an eight-handed game. The same supertight/aggressive was this time seated to my left and I had a passive/aggressive (I think, I'm not sure on this guy yet) to my right. He also likes to make a straddle bet every round which is too bad for my position being under-the-gun when he does it. I like late position for straddle bets especially.

I won the first hand I sat down to with T-J suited when the flop comes Q-Q-T and the club owner makes two continuation bets on his preflop raise. I was mid-position and he was three ahead of me and I figured him for either AK or mid-pocket pair. I checked the river (just in case!) and so did he and I took it down and he quickly mucked his cards (he's good at that).

I then lost two bridesmaid hands in quick succession costing me half my stack. The first was a pocket deuces that made my set when the flop came Q-8-2. I bet aggressive and was called by the owner again and we were heads up. The turn brought an eight, matching the eight on the board and tightening me up. I bet aggressive again and he called. Now I don't normally do this, but I figured him for an overpair and I wanted to overbet the situation so I bet blind to goad him into calling and he did.... BLIND! Dammitall if the river brought another queen giving him the higher full house when he turned over A-Q.

Now here's where I've been testing myself lately when I take a bad beat. To avoid playing irrationally I have a mandate to only play top ten hands for three hands after a bad beat. This gives me time to cool down inside and to regain composure. I like to think I don't show anything on the outside and the owner made a comment about how unlucky I was that hand. I said 'yep, nice hand' and continued with my play like nothing happened.

I shit you not, four hands later (one after my bad beat layoff time period), I preflop raise with suited A-T in late position and the flop comes down A-Q-T. Second top two for me! Golden right?

Wrong.

I bet the flop and am smooth called by three players. Turn is garbage and I bet out, the next guy in line calls and then the old-timer makes it two to go. Uh-oh. He's a crafty one this guy. Damn near ninety years old and still plays poker every day. Don't get me wrong, I love the old fella and I call him my friend. But he does drive me nuts. He will make the exact same play with either the nuts or a complete bluff. You can never tell with him. All I do when he pulls this stunt is to revert to call mode. I call the second bet and the other two players fold. I check the river, he bets and I call. He turns over A-Q for top two.

Two quick hands early on and 75% of my stack is gone. I never recovered as my time was limited and I walked out after 50 minutes with $85 blown off.

Session Total = -$85 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are -$175 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$175 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

Session #8

Stopped in at the clubhouse yesterday for about an hour. During the day so it was $3/$6 limit. After dropping off $200 to knock 2/3 off my sheet I sat down with $100. I had a tight/passive to my left (who admitted to me he had just smoked a bowl... perfect!), a supertight/aggressive to my right and a loose/passive to his right. I knew I didn't have long to stay, my wife and I were having dinner with my Mom who was visiting from out of town and still had to pick up our babysitter who was a good 20 minute drive away. So basically I knew I had to hit a few good hands and run with what I made.

Two notable hands, one which I won, and one which I didn't, both were on the button. The first hand had five-way action coming to me so I limped in with 9-2 suited and SB made it two bets to go. If it had been made three bets to me I would have folded but for one more bet I was willing to go. The dream flop comes down 2-9-2 and I decide to slow play and hopefully SB would earn me some money betting out and one or two of the three inbetween us would call, with me planning to two-bet the turn. The flop gets checked to me so I decide to check, still hoping the trap would play out at the turn. SB bets the turn (overcard) for me and unfortunately everyone folds to me. Now SB is a buddy and he was getting beat up so I just called his one turn bet and then showed him my hand before he could bet the river.

The second hand was also five-way action and I limp in with T-J offsuit. The flop leaves me open ended with two bets to go, no card on the turn and checked around I opt for the free card which ended up giving a mid-position player runner-runner flush. I fold to his bet and get out with three small bets in the pot.

I wanted to stay but had to go. With $175 in chips I dropped another $50 on my sheet, leaving me only $50 in the red.

Session Total = +$75 CAN.

Live MTD earnings are -$90 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$90 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

Introduction

I intend for this blog to become a running entry of my poker activities, how I've faired, how I've learned and how I'm progressing.

I am one week shy of my 35th birthday and have been playing poker since the mid-nineties. I consider myself a slightly better than average ring game player, both limit and no-limit. I can hold my own in tournament play and I've recently found a love of Omaha hi-low split.

I won't go into previous years because I haven't kept accurate records but I can recall this year pretty clearly (hell, it's only 3 weeks into January!).

Session #1 was at the poker clubhouse I play at here in town. During the day so it was a $3/$6 limit hold em and I netted +$315.

Session #2 was online at Party Poker and I netted +$350 with a mix of Sit-N-Go's and ring games, both hold em and omaha, but mostly omaha.

Session #3 was at the clubhouse $3/$6 limit hold em and I was -$30.

Session #4 was at the clubhouse $3/$6 limit hold em and I was -$110.

Session #5 was online playing Omaha hi-low and I netted +$70.

Session #6 was at the clubhouse and I was -$140.

Session #7 was at the cluhouse and I was -$200.

That brings me currently up-to-date. I've blown all my online winnings via epassporte buying presents for my wife and mine's birthdays (which are on the 30th and 31st this month) and I've maxed my credit line at the clubhouse so I'm stuck for funds for the moment until either a)I get paid or b)the wife gets paid or c) my Party Poker affiliate revenues kick in for the month.

Live MTD earnings are -$165 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$165 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$420 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$420 US.

I am currently reading Doyle Brunson's Super System 2 which I'll provide a review of once I'm finished and I just finished browsing through the latest issue of Canadian Poker Player Magazine which was pretty weak. Although I did like Daniel Negraneau's article on asian players.