Online Texas Hold 'Em Dynasty

[kingnebwsu]

Just yesterday I started playing Texas Hold 'Em online for real money, so I figured I'd start a dynasty thread. It'll be good for me to gather my thoughts and also for me to receive help on my strategies. I play as KingNeb on PokerStars. The only tables I will be playing for the forseeable future are the limit hold 'em $.02/$.04 tables. I purchased the minimum amount of chips ($50) and I will not allow myself to purchase anymore until at least the end of August (about 2 months or $.83/day for me to lose). I figure I'll be losing more at first, but hopefully I'll improve.

Last night I played several sessions, and had a solid beginning to my online gambling journey. I will post my stats for each individual session, as well as my running over/under total. Any feedback/suggestions/dances are as always appreciated. Thus begins my adventure...

First session: Won $.40
Avg. Players 7
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 45 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 5 out 7 times while in small blind (71%)
- 15 out 32 times in other positions (46%)
- a total of 25 out of 45 (55%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 9 (44%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $.40

I played 45 hands and the session lasted around an hour. I had some nice hands, but I played too loose in general. I was able to steal a couple of pots, which surprised me. Only one was a legitimate bluff, whereas the other two I was in solid position to win. Those percentages are way too high for my conservative taste (but I was breaking my mold, which helped sometimes). After a brief break, I was ready for more...a LOT more...

Second session: Won $.92
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.62 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 88 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out 14 times while in big blind (85%)
- 5 out 14 times while in small blind (35%)
- 18 out 60 times in other positions (30%)
- a total of 35 out of 88 (39%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 14 (42%)
Pots won without showdown - 6
Overall: Up $1.32

All I can say is wow. I played much tighter this time around, and the cards were very streaky to me. I had a great start, but then I literally didn't get any good cards for like 25 hands. At one point my "other positions" percentage was like 8%, which is ridiculously low. I ended up way ahead, plus I picked up a killer full house on the river, which netted me my largest pot of $.62 (though I think my 2-pair would have won even without that card). Something I've discovered is that if you have the "nuts" hand, you can't lose (duh). But I mean, if there's a straight draw and you pull out the straight, generally nobody else who's still around will have the straight to match you (aka you get the whole pot). That session lasted for over 90 minutes, but it was a good time. I went and watched some TV and played some games, and I felt tired. But I wanted to continue playing, even though I knew it would be a bad idea...and I was right...

Third session: Lost $1.13
Avg. Players 8
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 86 hands and saw flop:
- 13 out 13 times while in big blind (100%)
- 3 out 12 times while in small blind (25%)
- 18 out 61 times in other positions (29%)
- a total of 34 out of 86 (39%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 10 (30%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Overall: Up $.19

I played like a complete moron in this session, but I couldn't let it go. A lesson I will have to learn will be to just walk away when I'm not playing smart/the cards aren't coming my way. I did make a lot of stupid mistakes. My biggest flaw at this point is staying in too many hands when I know I'm beaten (but just hoping to catch that one big card). If I can get this problem under control, I'll be in much better shape. I see this problem with a lot of other people on the small tables, too. They play too many hands too long, and in the end it costs 'em. My other problem is playing too conservatively. Something I've noticed is that a lot of the people on the $.02/$.04 tables play too many hands pre-flop. The crap I've seen people take just sickens me. I can't tell you how many times I've thrown my hands up and said "HOW COULD THEY DO THAT?!?!?" They'll put in $.30-$.50 with just a medium pair. Makes me sick. Then again, I'm a rookie and I'm making some awful mistakes, too. I just need to try and learn.

So that was my first night of Texas Hold 'Em poker. I went to bed around 9 AM this morning, but then was awoken when the maintenance guy came to fix my toilet. I figured, why not, I'll try a couple of hands while I wait for him to leave. Boy, did I hit it big...

Fourth session: Won $1.00
Avg. Players 9
Biggest win: $.79 Flush
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 10 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out 1 times while in big blind (100%)
- 0 out 1 times while in small blind (0%)
- 1 out 8 times in other positions (12%)
- a total of 2 out of 10 (20%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 2 (100%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall: Up $1.19

Yeah, I hit a straight that netted me $.50 then I hit an ace-high flush on the river that got me big money. I had A/Ks pre-flop, so I raised it to $.06 and several people called me. This made for a huge pot that I took down on the river. This makes up for the crappy session I had at the end of last night.

So yeah, that's my first day of Texas Holdem online. It was pretty fun overall, and I know I'm hooked. I have a book by David Sklarsky called "Texas Hold 'Em" that I need to continue reading. It will help me to limit my losses in these early days. This is way different from the no-limit free holdem I've been playing, but it's a lot less riskier and actually a lot more fun. Playing for real gives it a different edge and when people make stupid plays, I don't get mad...I get money

I'll post another update tomorrow night after another lengthy session. That is, if I actually get to bed soon. I have to be awake in four hours...good times!

END OF DAY ONE

[kingnebwsu]

DAY TWO

17 views today...well, at least some people are checking out my "dynasty." Hopefully it'll be something that maintains people's interest over time.

First session: Won $.23
Avg. Players 9
Biggest win: $.60 Flush
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 52 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 6 times while in big blind (50%)
- 2 out 6 times while in small blind (33%)
- 14 out 50 times in other positions (28%)
- a total of 19 out of 62 (31%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall Up $1.42

Playing my conservative style again, and it's going okay. People are raising a whole bunch pre-flop, so I need to make sure I have a solid hand before I put any money down. I won $.44 on a solid hand early with 2 high pair. I then lost a crushing hand when he got a full house on the river (and the river card only gave me a Q-high flush). I invested heavily on that hand and he won $.67. I struck back a bit later and won $.26 on a pair of sevens. I'm still sticking around too long in hands, but I'm making small improvements in that category. I'm playing kind of slow at times because I'm doing the pot/implied/bet odds in my head, making sure it's a wise move for me to proceed. I start to run low on chips and then I hit it big when I get a Queen on the river to give me trip queens. That wins me $.54. The next hand I have a J9s and I flop a flush with a straight flush draw (!!!). Thankfully though, no more diamonds are shown and I take down a $.60 pot. In two consecutive hands, I move from being down almost $.75 to being up $.23 for the session. A few more hands of crap pass, and I decide to call it a session. Just over an hour of poker and I played solid.

Even though it's a small amount, I'm really proud of my 80% showdown number. It shows I didn't stay in hands TOO long (though I know I saw some turn cards that I shouldn't have). I'll probably do one more session tonight, but I better not wait til it's too late

[Vince]

I'm enjoying it (the dynasty )...keep it up!

I should plop down a reasonable amount of money at one of these sites eventually...none of my friends like to play for money anymore, and that makes for very bad poker.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 2, Session 2: Lost $.55

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 72 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out 8 times while in big blind (50%)
- 5 out 8 times while in small blind (62%)
- 11 out 56 times in other positions (19%)
- a total of 20 out of 72 (27%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 4 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $.87

Wow, what more can I say? It was another late-night session and I lost money (though not nearly as bad as last night). I did play much better than last night. I played pretty tight generally and was getting no love from the cards (I think I played like 1 "other position" hand out of the last 15). I made some smart moves, properly calculated the pot odds, but didn't hit my card on the turn or the river. It's amazing watching people pour like $.50 to a pot (including several bets after the river) and then fold when it comes to a $.04 bet to end the hand. Even if you have nothing, pay the damn $.04!!! This one guy did it twice, both times the pot was over $1.00 (and once it was over $1.80!!!). Crazy stuff, just folding away after pumping so much money into it.

Some individual hand thoughts:
In one of the first hands of this session, I'm in the big blind, so I check with a lousy 10/8 off-suit. However, I flop two pair! This news quickly turns sour as an ace comes on the turn. An opponent raises me, but I don't think he has my two pair beat. The river is no help, and I end with 10's and 8's and he has A's and 8's. I lose an early $.46 pot. I really thought I had that one.

Much later on, the board had absolutely nothing, but it helped me get a pair of nines. I hung out til I saw the river with my only opponent betting heavily. I folded it away thinking he had to have a pocket pair or a pair of 10's (highest card on the board). When he showed, it was just a K-high hand, and I blew a chance to win $.37 when all it would have cost me was $.04. Shortly after this hand, I stuck around against the same guy with a pair of 7's (when three higher cards were on the board) and he showed an ace-high hand and I took down the $.47 pot! Fool me twice, shame on me

Sometimes I get too caught up in the moment. I flopped two pair (A's and 6's) and was in total control until the river...it was the second nine on the board. I was like, if he's got a nine, oh well. The other thing I didn't notice was that it was the third club on the board, which gave him a flush! I need to not get too excited when I think I have the winning hand. I need to slow down and continue to analyze the situation. I didn't do that here and it cost me about $.20.

After this I didn't get into any serious action for the rest of the session. Thankfully this time I realized it wasn't happening and walked away before I lost too much money. I need to cut down the length of some of my individual hand posts and focus more on the big picture. Sadly, I pretty much summed up all the pots I won this session

Day two is over and I'm up $.87. I gotta be really happy with where I stand. Hopefully the $50 deposit I put in will last forever (that's my ultimate goal), but hopefully I can drag it out as long as possible.

Tomorrow night is our 2nd poker night. Gonna try some quicker blind structures go the game doesn't drag. After that, I probably will play a session or two online for "real."

[kingnebwsu]

DAY THREE

So I had my second weekly friendly (for fun) poker game at my apartment tonight. We cut the time between blind increases to 20 minutes (from 30), so the games moved much faster. We actually had time for three games. I placed 2nd,5th,1st. The first game I played really stupid early, and lost over half my chips in the first 3 hands. Then I came roaring back with some awesome hands, including trips and a full house, and I had a commanding lead. I had the girl all-in twice, and she won both times (with full houses!). It was absolutely amazing/weird. I had her knocked out, but she came back and ending up winning the first game. It's like 6/9o becomes a full house? Puh-lease She also got a full house on the next hand, and in the second game got FOUR kings (!!!) in a forced all-in situation. Lady Luck was on her side tonight.

Second game I don't know what went wrong. I played kinda okay for a bit, then I went too heavy with a straight draw, then I went all-in on a super-bluff and got called. The guy who called me was playing loose all night, and I didn't yield to that. Oh well, at least I got to be dealer for a while

Third game was totally mine. Had a quick start by winning an all-in on the first hand. I had 2-pair: 10's and 8's and he had 2 pair, 8's and 4's. I flopped the two pair, and I slow-played or whatever. I bid like $2000 each round until the final all-in. I was really nervous when he hit me with the all-in. The turn card was the second nine on the board. When he went all-in after the river, I was afraid he had the nine. But I figured he wouldn't have checked AFTER hitting a set. I guessed right, but my heart was pounding through my chest good My hands were shaking for about 10 minutes after that one. I think it was worth it to him just to see me sweat. Anyway, my chips went back to about even before I had a great close to the game. I played fewer stupid hands and won on an all-in at the end with a pair of kings (highest pair on the board).

So yeah, 3 games took about 5 hours or so. Last time we had 2 games take over 5 hours, so this was better. I think 3 games was kinda burnout, but everyone seemed to have fun. We played some video games and watched some TV after that, so it was a good evening overall. I'm going to be gone next week, so no poker night for 2 weeks. Hope I don't go through withdrawal

It's 3:37 AM and I think I may be up for a brief session of online holdem. I may not stick around for that long though, we'll see.

[kingnebwsu]

First session: Even
Avg. Players 7
Biggest win: $.58 Trip 7's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 72 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out 10 times while in big blind (90%)
- 6 out 10 times while in small blind (60%)
- 14 out 52 times in other positions (26%)
- a total of 29 out of 72 (40%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 10 (40%)
Pots won without showdown - 5
Overall: Up $.87

I'm off to a decent start in this one. Down a bit early, then I take a $.22 pot down without showing my cards which puts me even overall. Later on, there's nothing on the table, and I fold with a King in hand, then a king comes on the river, which woulda won me the hand. I mean, about a 6% chance of it happening and it happens. My pot/implied odds or whatever weren't right, so I made the right choice in the long run (but not this game!). Another hand comes along where I'm on the button. Everyone's checking on the river and I have a solid pair, so I bet. A dude in the middle raises me, so I call him. I thought I had the best hand, but he had a Jack-high flush (!!!). I didn't even notice that the third heart had come up on the table. It wasn't even part of my reasoning for deciding whether or not I should call him. I really need to pay more attention to the suit of the card on the turn&river.

Boom! Just got $.41 with trip aces. I flopped a pair of aces, and I knew I had the hand won. When I got another ace on the river, it was mine. Wish there were more than two people in that hand, as I could have won much more (as the flop had potential for people to play "second-place" hands). Also got the next hand without contest and was a 3rd-kicker away from getting the following hand. Solid streak which brought me back to even.

I don't like playing J7s or cards like that. I don't like taking a 10/J/Q with a medium-ranked suited card and going with it. Maybe I'm too conservative (probably), as it woulda just netted me a full boat. That would have been the first hand I'd ever won with a hand like that. (Shrug), I'll learn more over time.

BOOM! Just won $.58 on trip 7's! I checked on the big blind and flopped the sweet set of 7's. Three players called me each of the times I bet and I snagged a solid pot. I wish I was in better position with these sets, so I could raise and get more $$$.

Wow, a crazy end to my first session. I was down probably around $.30 on average for the session til the very end. Almost everyone bailed and I got some brief practice playing 3-way poker. There were six straight hands without a showdown, and I took down four of them totaling $.51! I played aggressive, but most of the time I had the cards to match my style of play. I never get to play with that few people, so it was good practice.

So for the 90-minute session, I ended up dead even, which made me happy. I pulled out even after being down for probably 70% of the session. Overall another good learning experience. I need to bust out my poker book that I haven't read in a while. Tomorrow is a day off, so hopefully I'll play 2-3 sessions tomorrow night.

Again, I need to be less wordy

[kingnebwsu]

Wow! Just played my first heads-up action ever. A 1v1 table where the action is fast and crazy. First, end result:

Day 3, Second Session: Even
1v1 Heads-Up!!!
During current Hold'em 1on1 session you were dealt 44 hands and saw flop:
- 21 out 22 times while in big blind (95%)
- 21 out 22 times while in small blind (95%)
- 0 out 0 times in other positions (0%)
- a total of 42 out of 44 (95%)
Pots won at showdown - 12 of 25 (48%)
Pots won without showdown - 12
Overall: Up $.87

Wow, that was some scary stuff. I had an amazing streak to start out, hitting pairs and trips and flushes like crazy. I was up almost $1.50 at one point! Then I came crashing back down. I think I played okay generally, though I need to fold more. This is good experience for me, as my heads-up play is not that strong. I shoulda quit when I was up $1.50, but I wanted to see how long it would last (and to see how much of it was luck/my aggressive play). Interesting stuff that 1v1 is, though it's very high risk. I'll try another one of those games later.

[kingnebwsu]

After watching the new movie "Shade," (a neat movie by the way) I decided to play one more session of poker today (aka this morning).

Third Session: Won $.36
Avg. Players 9
Biggest win: $.48 Flush
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 93 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out 12 times while in big blind (91%)
- 9 out 12 times while in small blind (75%)
- 25 out 69 times in other positions (36%)
- a total of 45 out of 93 (48%)
Pots won at showdown - 8 of 18 (44%)
Pots won without showdown - 5
Overall: Up $1.23

I could have won a lot more, but I'll take what I got. I played slightly looser this time around, and I won a lot more pots. This is my longest session yet, and I also won my most pots yet (13). Something is faulty with my play, as I only netted $.36 from all those wins. I played in too many hands too long (my neverending problem). I did better, and almost every time I had the pot odds to continue playing. Ah well, a solid day, and I'm well ahead of my goal of losing less than $1/day

Now some individual hand summaries:

My first big win was with pocket kings that netted me $.34. The dude called me each time I bet, so I made a decent amount even though it was only against one opponent. Not long after that, I got pocket queens, so I raised appropriately pre-flop and had 2 opponents. I then flopped a set of queens!!! One dude stayed in til after the river and the other guy called me the whole way. I've noticed when I have good hands, it's generally tough to get people to raise you, but lots of people have no hesitation to "just" call you. I've only been able to raise when I thought I was going to win about 10% of the time. And sometimes I don't even pull those out Pulling out $.69 in 3 hands is a pretty solid start though. Another pocket hand, this time it's aces and I get $.19. This session is giving me great cards, and I may end the day a winner overall (if I know when to walk away).

Um, yeah, the way the cards are going for me, I should always start my poker sessions between 7-10 AM Just FLOPPED a full boat after holding pocket 2's, but nobody would take it to the river with me. Still got $.40 (highest take this session). I've played about half of my 33 hands thus far and I'm +$.35. It's tempting to stop, but I still feel the roll going, so I'm going to go until I have a mini-thud...like one where I drop $.28 in 2 hands. Boy, I'm good. I hung around $.08 too long in one of them, and got rivered in the other one.

Sometimes, getting a free look at the flop will get ya some money. I just won $.48 on a 9-high flush. Thank you big blind! Not much longer after, two aces came on the flop. Everyone checked once around. I bet after the turn and river. Got everyone to fold but one jerkface who called me. Who'd have known the queen kicker in my hand would accompany the pair of aces to WIN the hand? I then take down another $.37 pot with 2-pair. I'm on a scary roll. I seriously need to quit soon, since I'm up $.68!

Getting rivered is a big pain sometimes. Pocket aces (aka card lovin') gets me the side pot, but the all-in guy rivers two crap pair (argh). I also get bit on another hand by a dude who hit trip 5's on the river (when I had K's). Oh well, it all evens out in the end (or better yet, puts me ahead).

The final pot I win of the session is a flush where everyone quits before the river. Eat my shorts young man!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 3, Session 4 (!!!):

Yeah, so it's almost 11 AM and I have yet to sleep. I promised myself this session would be over by 11:30 so I could sleep by noon. At least I don't have to get up til 5:30 PM. I was just reading the Texas Holdem book by Sklansky. I've leafed through about 3/4 by now. I've only read about 15 pages since I started playing for real though. I will be re-reading the book several times I think.

Fourth Session: Won $1.03
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.64 Q's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 47 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 4 out 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 12 out 35 times in other positions (34%)
- a total of 21 out of 47 (44%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 9 (55%)
Pots won without showdown - 4
Overall: Up $2.26

Overall thoughts:

SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP!!! What a session! I played lights out for most of the session, though I did get some help from the cards. I think with straight percentages though, I was still over at least $.40. This is my most profitable session yet! Wow, I really don't know what to say, except I need to sleep (since it's 11:40 AM!). They have some "sit and go" tables, where you pay $5 to enter or something, and you compete with a whole other table. The top three get money. They have no-limit and limit versions of this table, and if somehow I earn enough extra money, maybe I could blow it on this. Granted it would eat through my $50 fast, but it'd be something I'd do only very rarely. Who knows, but all I know right now is that it's been three days of massive poker-playing by me, and I'm ahead by a pretty fair margin. Not bad for a rookie

Individual hands:

I have pocket jacks, which is the highest pair on the board. However, the turn puts a pair of 6's on the board. Three players left, and one leads the betting both on the turn and the river. I suspect he has a 6, and I'm proven correct...too bad I had wasted $.08 after this initial suspicion. Many times I'm good at guessing the opponents' cards, and I need to listen to that voice more often. However, soon after I bluff my way to an $.18 victory, which puts me almost even. A few hands later, my pre-flop raise proved worthwhile, as I was able to pull out $.22 on ANOTHER bluff!!! Two bluffs in one game...usually people at these low-level tables will call me, especially on the river. Oh well, I'll take it.

Pocket 3's are fun! I picked up another three on the turn to give me a set, which I then turn into $.28. Later, I get an A-5 straight from the river, but my opponent has a 2-6 straight! That would have been a nice $.56 to have, as I played that hand pretty well to that point (had 2 overcards in my hand, plus the straight draw AND a flush draw, but the cards just didn't work out this time).

HA HA!!! Raising pre-flop works again! I had an A/Qo, but raised pre-flop to knock it to 3-players. Low rainbow cards everywhere until the river, where I make my pair of queens and get $.64!!! Sweet merciful crap! It's always fun to take the biggest pot of the session on one pair

Another successful pressure betting round, another $.42! With an A/10s pre-flop, I raised, then another dude raised and I called. Highest card on the board was an ace. I led off the betting each time til they folded like a cheap lawn chair. $.34 on a full boat! 7's full of 8's. Glad I played those pocket 7's on the button. Trip aces nets me $.37!!! I'm +$1.07 for the session!!! Man, maybe it's time to quit or something...don't wanna drop down another $.20-$.30 like I have in previous sessions (it's happened 2-3 at the very end).

I bailed while still up more than a dollar. This time I knew when to say when/win, and I'll take that dollar for a matinee showing, a trip to the candy store, and shoe shine...then I'll have 80 cents left over for next weekend!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 4

Boy, am I tired tonight. Only got about 5 hours of sleep today, after going to bed just after 12 noon. I gotta be up at 2 PM tomorrow, so it probably won't be a late night for me tonight. Hopefully I'm still able to play solid and not lose too much.

First Session: Won $2.29
Avg. Players 9
Biggest win: $.99 Flush K-High
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 117 hands and saw flop:
- 14 out 15 times while in big blind (93%)
- 3 out 15 times while in small blind (20%)
- 21 out 87 times in other positions (24%)
- a total of 38 out of 117 (32%)
Pots won at showdown - 9 of 14 (64%)
Pots won without showdown - 4
Overall: Up $4.55!!!

Overall thoughts:

Wow. Amazing. Unbefreakin'leavable. I don't even know what to say about that session. It was my longest session yet, and also my most profitable. I am improving at cutting my losses. I can think of one hand in particular where I really wanted to call, but knew the odds where against me, and I folded. I had already put in $.10, but I had to put in another $.08 just to see the turn. No way I was gonna do that.

But look at that showdown win %, that's pretty awesome (for me). I thought I had about 2 more of the showdowns, but they didn't pan out, and the other showdowns I didn't play properly (always room for improvement). But look at my 32% flop-seen percentage. That's far below my average (which is around 40%). I think I tightened up my game and played fewer questionable hands like QTo or J9o or stuff like that. I also didn't play suited connectors unless there was already a lot of callers or I thought I was gonna get a lot of callers. I need to take a break and reflect on that session, so I can duplicate that success many times in the future. GREAT night for me!

Individual hands:

Ouch baby. Down $.30 quickly when my sweet money straight turns into a full house of 8's and 9's on the river. Lousy river card. Other than that, I had that hand locked up. I missed out on like $1.70, which would have been my biggest pot ever. Not a good way to start off. Lots of people were betting big, even though I had the hand until the final card. I guess I should have folded, but I really thought I had that. I should have assumed someone had a pocket pair after all the crazy wagering that was happening. Gotta be patient now and not try to get it all back at once. I just started and it's a long session ahead.

Hey, I just met MattJones4Heisman online! We're playing at the same table now, but not doing collusion or anything I'm not getting any cards, and my see-flop % is very low. We played a couple of hands before he left. It'd be cool to have someone to play online with occassionally. I think he's playing the bigger tables/sit&go's more now though.

Things are going a bit better...just got $.24 on a pair of queens. My hands are getting slightly better, but the flops are not. I had pocket A's turn into nothing along with a QKs turn into nothing. No love either time.

Boom! Suited connectors turns into $.52 with a straight and I'm back to EVEN! Considering I've spent most of this session down $.25-$.40, this is great news. Hope it's the start of my swing upward. This table only has like 6 people playing at it now. Weird how the table's population changes so often.

Boy, I sweated that one out! After super pre-flop action (4 players maxing out), my pocket aces are looking great...til two 8's come on the board. I'm first up, so I lead the bidding each time. Nobody is raising me back, so I don't suspect an eight is out there. No other high cards come the rest of the way, and I win the pot with A's and 8's. $.70 with that big pot, sweet action. Now I'm up overall, despite not playing many hands. As MJ4H said, "tight aggressive play" is the key. That's the way I always thought I played, except I didn't think of the aggressive part. I always thought I was too tight, but I actually think I may be a bit too loose for these 10-person games. But when I get a good hand, look out. I put in bids left and right, unless I feel slow-playing is in order (which I only use sometimes).

Is there anything better than a pocket pair in the big blind? That's about my favorite thing to get. I can just check and hope to land trips on the flop. I checked, landed trip 4's on the flop, and won $.78! Holy poo! I'm up over a dollar! Another great session going on right now! Question: do I quit now, or keep going? Since I just paid the blinds, let's give the table at least one more go-around to see what happens. Maybe I can make my original deposit last forever after all!!!

Another pocket pair in the big blind, another set on the flop! I then got a full boat on the turn, giving me the "nuts" to play the hand aggressively Only was able to get $.42 out of this hand though. I was first to act, so I checked, then I got only got a call after I raised. Lousy was hoping for a re-reraise. I did suck a person out though (it's much safer to do on the 'net )

I just lost to a full boat after I flopped a set with pocket 8's. I also just lost to two-pair after flopping the highest pair on the board. I should have suspected he had a second pair when he re-raised me. I could have saved $.08 just by calling him, since he was out of position. He hit his two-pair on the turn, and that's when he started betting heavier. I guess he was in first position though, so it wasn't evident until the river what he was doing.

I win another hand on a K-high flush. Having two spades then flopping two more put me in a solid position to possibly pick up some cash, and I snagged $.52 after getting a spade on the turn.

NINETY-NINE CENTS!!! My biggest pot ever! I won it on a K-high flush! I was afraid he had the ace, because he had bet me so heavily the whole way, but he had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! What a win. ANOTHER WIN!!! $.56 on trip sixes! The flop had three diamonds, so I feared a flush. I just hung around, hoping to get a full house on the board, but it never happened. I guess I shouldn't have hung around that hand, but I did hoping that the guy didn't have two diamonds in his hand, and he didn't! I was actually surprised to win that one. That's the last win for the session.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 4, Session Two:

Watched an episode on my TiVo, now I'm back for more Holdem. Only table available has 4 people. My play has been slowly refined toward the larger tables, and I lack experience at the smaller tables. We'll see how it goes...

Second Session: Won $.46
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.86 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 73 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out 9 times while in big blind (88%)
- 4 out 10 times while in small blind (40%)
- 18 out 54 times in other positions (33%)
- a total of 30 out of 73 (41%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 8 (62%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $5.01!

Overall thoughts:

A crazy guy stayed with me too long the first couple of hands which allowed me to build up my stack. I couldn't get many breaks after that, so I dropped from being over a dollar to only +$.46. But hey, I'M UP $5.01 OVERALL!!! Great stuff. 4 days to make 5 bucks seems worthwhile I'm certainly ahead of the -$3.32 pace I set for myself (to make my original deposit worthwhile ). Again my showdown percentage is pretty high, which is good. I still need to bail out of hands where I know I'm beat. I'm still in the stage where I wanna see what they have, even though I have a pretty good guess. That stage will pass as I get more experience. Well, that's enough for today, back for more tomorrow!

Individual hands:

I try to play looser with the small table and it burns me good. I drop like $.30 really quick. Then I make it back on a hand where I flop two-pair, then it turns into a full boat on the board! 4's full of 8's. However, I have an 8 which gives me the better full house and a big win of $.86!!! I severely need small table experience before I even think about playing in a sit&go game. The table's starting to fill up, so now I can go back to my tight aggressive play.

I win a $.58 pot with a straight from the same putz as before. Geez, that guy is down at least a dollar since I joined (much of that is now mine!). Amazing, win after win after win! I win like 3 out of 5 hands or something, the last one I bet the whole way and in the end everyone folded to my great hand (pair of 5's). The one guy respected me because I had beat him heads-up twice in a row. I started to play too wild while on the winning streak and lost $.40 at the end of it. Now I know it's over and I'll tighten my game back up. Still, I was up almost a dollar after 20 hands, which is lights out for me!

Playing too loose...gotta tighten up or else I'm gonna keep dropping...only up $.60 now. I've seen over 50% of flops thus far. I'm still at 50% after many hands. My money is going down, but I think I'm playing okay. I'm taking my time before staying in hands to figure out the pot/implied odds. There were five people in this huge hand where I had a straight draw (that was the nuts). My odds of hitting it on the river were like 6:1 whereas my pot odds were like 10:1 (because of so much action), so I called it. No love on the river, but it was the right play. I'm still making a living off of the $.86 full house from earlier

I try about 6 more hands the rest of this session, and none of them pan out at all, so I end up losing slightly more money. Another solid session though!

[RPI-Fan]

Congrats man!

On another note, what the heck kind of messed up sleeping schedule are you on???

Look forward to reading more,
~rpi-fan

[kingnebwsu]

Day 5

Ahhh, my messed up sleeping schedule...good times! I work a job that's second shift like 90% of the time, AND I haven't worked a first shift in over two months, so my brain gears towards the late nights/late sleep-ins. Good times. However, I have to open on Monday (ARGH!!!), so I need to work my way back to a semi-normal schedule.

Tonight's first session will be a freeroll tournament with some other FOFC guys. We're all in a big chat room, discussing the happenings and such. Playing for "fun" online kinda blows. People are such asses and go all-in all the time. It really bugs me. Where's my real money limit game? If this makes me mad, I may just quit and go play at my normal tables. I think no-limit is awesome and I'd love to learn it better, but I won't improve that much at these tables (at least until it gets down to the "better" players).

Yeah, I hate free games now. I can't play them. I guess the strategy is to just duck for a lot of the hands and let the goobers sling mud. I let a dude sling mud right in my face, and I lost almost all my money. I think I'm out of this tourney, cuz it's not that fun "ALL-IN!!!" and I won't learn much (if anything). I wonder if the huge tourneys with a $5 entry fee are any better. That would be a learning experience and an almost definite donation

Okay, enough of the free stuff, time to play for real. I'd love to play vs the FOFC'ers at a fun table if we could make it a private one (sigh).

Day 5, Session 1:

First Session: Won $.09
Avg. Players 7
Biggest win: $.72 Four 7's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 69 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out 10 times while in big blind (80%)
- 9 out 11 times while in small blind (81%)
- 15 out 48 times in other positions (31%)
- a total of 32 out of 69 (46%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $5.10

Overall thoughts:

A decent session, but not that good. Hey, if I'm not losing money, it's always a decent session I played too many hands as my numbers indicate, but they were slightly inflated because half my session was played with a smaller table. I wish the tables were always full (10 people). That'd help me a lot. Otherwise, this was a kinda mundane session, with the exception of the four sevens, which was the highlight of my real-money week. Good times. I think that's all for tonight. I have to work first shift on Monday, so the next two nights' games may also be limited...

Individual hands:

Off to a quick start after my pocket 9's turns into a set on the flop. I only win $.20, as none of the jerks stay in long enough for me to get money. C'mon! There was a freaking King on the flop! BOO!!!

I hit a flush on the river, but there wasn't enough money in the pot (because the table dropped to like, 4 players that hand), so I only snagged $.22. Later on, I get AKo, but get no love on the board, except for THREE jacks which gives my opponent a full boat. Lousy pocket pairs when they're not mine.

Random hand note: I saw three queens on the flop, that was a first. Too bad I had a 25o that I folded

Yeah, I can't get the stench of 15 minutes in a free game off of me. I just hung in a AQo pre-flop hand way too long. The flop comes 457s and I'm screwed. I then bet TWO times before getting out. The dude ending up winning with trip 5's. I dunno what I was hoping for by staying in. One bet maybe, to steal the pot (since I was leading off and had just raised pre-flop).

Finally, I flop a pair of A's and bet out to bring myself back to even overall with a $.33 win. I'm trying this new paragraph per hand concept, to try and make each individual thought clearer. I thought the other way was kinda messy/cramped. This will be longer, but should be clearer. Let me know if it sucks

I flop two-pair (Q's & J's), which is a great hand. I beat the other person after he called me the whole way (which bankrupted him good!).

These small tables are making me mad. Know what makes me even madder? THREE straight pre-flop awesome hands that turn into crap. It's like, THREE times, I have a solid hand and THREE times the flop is suited. WTF?!?!? So angry. The worst was when I had pocket kings and the flop was like 568s. So so awful. Yeah, it happened again, and the table only has 5 people, so I'm moving to a bigger one. I hate it when tables super-shrink on me. It totally kills my whole strategery.

HOLY CRAP!!! WHAT A START TO THE NEW TABLE!!! It's like, welcome to the table KingNeb...I check with a 79s, then I flop trip 7's!!! WOW!!! I get some players (who even raise me), then the turn comes which makes me drop my jaw. FOUR SEVENS!!! AWESOME!!! I got the "nuts" now, so I raise the dude, who only calls me. The crappy river comes and the jerks only call me. I crush their souls of course That's the 2nd best hand I've ever had in holdem (best was a 5-9 straight flush for "fun"), so I guess that's my "official" BEST HAND EVER! STOP THE PRESSES!!! Ah well, it only gets me $.72, but it gets the bad taste of the last table out of my mouth.

Man, my flop % is way too high, over 50% right now. Part of that is because I've had some really nice pockets and I'm still in the fallout of such a small table. Most of it is caused my blind %'s, which are 88% combined.

Bless you A-high flush! I win this round and take home $.53. Didn't get a chance to re-raise until the river, so I only got an extra $.04 (argh). The table had like a 4578s, which scared the hell outta me. I had the ace, but feared the 6 of diamonds. Who would stay in that long with that stinking card though?

AKo pre-flop, which gets everyone to max out and have $.30 in pre-flop!!! But sadly, the highest card on the board is a queen, and some jerk wins with a pair of Q's. If only there had been a frickin' overcard for my dominant hand!!! I did fold after the turn was no help, so that was good play by me (facing a raise&re-raise). Wow, the table is about full now (finally), just in time for me to heat up some late dinner.

Some jerk just slow-played me with pocket aces when I had a pair of Q's with an ace kicker. That shoulda been my pot...lousy pocket aces

Yeah, I'm hungry so that's enough for the night.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 6

Good news dynasty followers! My shift on Monday got changed from 9-5 to 12-5! That means more poker this weekend!!! HUZZAH!!! It's not even 1 AM and I'm starting tonight. I may have time for several sessions tonight, we'll see. Hopefully I have some better luck and I play better than yesterday. My goal is to play much tighter tonight, and hope that when I do get some cards that I get some serious pots.

Another note, if you just wanna skim my dynasty, just check out the stats and my "overall thoughts." The individual hands are just for those people who wanna see in-depth how I play/how I do. The overall thoughts and numbers should sum it up pretty well though.

First Session: Won $1.03
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $1.00 Two Pair
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 56 hands and saw flop:
- 4 out 7 times while in big blind (57%)
- 3 out 7 times while in small blind (42%)
- 18 out 42 times in other positions (42%)
- a total of 25 out of 56 (44%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 10 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Overall: Up $6.13

Overall thoughts:
Wow, another solid session. I keep playing tight aggressive poker, which is netting me my money. Anytime I get stupid and vary from this gameplan, I usually lose some money. But this session had a lot of bad flops/cards for me, except for that awesome two pair which netted me $1.00!!! That's my biggest pot ever, and it was a very scary hand (more info below). Other than that, it was a break even session. I guess when you play the way I do, a few hands make all the difference in a session.

Individual hands:

Well, an awful start for me this time! I have a straight, flush, and straight flush draw, and I play it, but don't succeed. Going for it was a good play because I had the odds, but I was on the button and tried to steal the pot (with NO hand), and got called. That's a wasted $.04, but I think it was worth the effort.

On the plus side early on with a two-pair hand! Highest card on the board was a jack (I had AJo), but then two 7's came at the end, which slowed down my betting and cost me some money. I feared the set. But there was no set and I took down the pot of $.32. Argh, the table is down to 7 people already (from 10). I hope it doesn't hit 5-6, because I need as many people as possible (if for no other reason than so I don't have to put in the blinds as much).

Dang, just missed a flush, which would have given me a huge pot. Missed out on $.80+ there, now I'm under for the session thus far. Argh! I hate when people raise it when I'm in the big blind. If I'm wasting the two cents, I at least like to see a free flop. Lousy pre-flop raisers Wow, it happened again when I was in the small blind. When I get a good hand at this table, they're all gonna pay...

Well, they paid a little! I start with the highest pair on the board, which evolves into a full house by the end of the hand. Sadly I wasn't able to get them to raise anymore and I only got $.45. Oh well, on the plus side for now!!!

AQo doesn't even see a frickin' face card on the board. I hang around because my pot odds or whatever are pretty good. 11:1 to see the river card. I went for it and didn't get a pair. I tried stealing the pot and both people called me...go ace-high hand! They both had a pair...argh. Under $.06 for the hand now. People are raising pre-flop like 2/3 of the time. I really gotta watch what cards I play, as I should expect pre-flop raises all the time now.

Boy, these are some of the worst flops I've seen. I've had some solid starting hands, but not many of them have panned out. I've had high suited cards like 4 times, but have yet to get a flush draw or even a pair with any of them. Down $.19 after 33 hands, hopefully I improve. I'm not playing that bad. I'd take back maybe 2 moves I've made so far. The first one when I tried to steal the pot, and just now when I called with two pair after a 2nd ace came on the river. The way the person had bet, I thought there was no way she had an ace...but she did. She had a weak kicker, which I guess explains why she didn't raise before (though I think she should have). 2 bad plays in 30+ hands isn't too bad for my noob status though.

$.25 with a no-showdown hand! I had AKo, but again got no love until the river. I raised pre-flop, then led off the betting each round. I guess the last person didn't get what they wanted, cuz they folded. All I had was a pair of kings...

BIGGEST WIN EVER!!! $1.00 WIN AFTER HAVING POCKET ACES!!! WOW!!! That was sweet. I had pocket aces, and the flop was rainbow and crappy, which was great. I bet aggressive the whole way, and had like 4 people see the flop (after a pre-flop max bet). Almost everyone dropped out, except for one person. A second 7 came on the river, and I feared a set, but my fears were unfounded as my A's and 7's took down my largest pot ever! HUZZAH! Boy, I was shaking bad for the 5 seconds before they mucked their hand. That was one of the most intense hands I've ever played online. So exciting though...wow. I'm up $.68 now, which shows how bad my luck/playing was before that. Eat my shorts young man!

What kind of a person leads the betting each round hoping to complete an inside straight draw? Argh...then he DOES complete it on the river. My 2 pair are no match for his crappy straight. Stupid the man, trying to control me. Again, some jerkface raises/bets like crazy with a crappy hand. Three people (including me) stay in til the end. We all had 2 pair-J's & 5's, but I had the amazing 10 kicker (cough). I was curious to what he had, so I played when I shouldn't have. But if he had a high pocket pair, he would have raised pre-flop. My curiousity got me some $, but I shouldn't have called him. Maybe I should have though, cuz I thought my hand was at least as good as his (except for maybe the kicker). (Shrug)

[kingnebwsu]

Day 6, Session 2:

Tried to sleep, but couldn't, so I'm starting a session just before 6 AM Dunno how long I'll play for, cuz I just found out about a huge game sale and I wanna be there tomorrow morning when the store opens (so cold).

Second Session: Lost $.57
Avg. Players 6
Biggest win: $.52 Two Pair
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 59 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 9 times while in big blind (55%)
- 6 out 9 times while in small blind (66%)
- 13 out 41 times in other positions (31%)
- a total of 24 out of 59 (40%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 8 (37%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $5.56

Overall thoughts:
Yikes all around. A pretty awful session. Sure, the cards were giving me no love, but I also played sloppy (as evidenced by the showdown win %). That needs to be at least 60%. I probably should have won 2 more, but I didn't. I should have also tried to steal more pots, as the game started with 8-9 people, but halfway through dropped to 4-5. I needed to play more aggressive with the smaller table. Oh well, I know I screwed up and hopefully I'll have a chance to play some more tomorrow to improve on tonight. At least I'm still up overall for the night...that's still an accomplishment for me!

Individual hands:

Wow, what a crazy first hand. I check in the big blind, then flop a straight. It turns sour the rest of the way, as a board eventually shows two 7's and two 8's. Someone's gotta have a full house. There's so much in the pot though, so I wager. Two people fold and one dude calls and beats me with his full boat. He snags $.90 on that first hand. I'm down more than a quarter to start...just great. Gotta be patient, and I should be able to make it back. That just shows how crappy the cards have been for me tonight. Holding the nuts until the table shows 2-pair. Stupid cards pissing me off

ARGH! I blow it again...this time with pocket kings. He ends up getting two-pair on the turn. I have just the one pair, so I lose another $.20. Boy, maybe I should bail on this session quick before I lose all my freakin' money. I thought I played it right. I suspected he may have two pair, but there was a JQ2o on the board, so I thought he may just have 2 queens. He did...until the turn, where he got Q's and 7's.

People are dumb. I'd never raise with an A5s pre-flop. Especially with a full 10-person table. That's way too risky for my tastes. At least see if you'll have the ace-high flush draw first. He ended up with two pair, but got beat by two higher pair.

HEY! I'm back in the game! I flop two pair with my suited connectors. I get into a mild bidding war with another dude who ended up with two pair, though they were lower than mine! I win $.52 which puts me -$.16 for the session. I can pull this session into the positive dagnabit.

Boy, the person to my left is playing way aggressive. ARGH! I just folded with A9s after the flop gave me 9's, but no flush draw. Then the turn was a 9!!! The aggressive person then wins the pot when everyone else folds. I could have had this one, argh. Boy, that person is playing crazy aggressive, but people are backing down to her. She's up over $1.50 this session, half of that from no-show pots. If I had seen more hands when I had the A9s, I woulda played it out, then rung her neck with her own money!!! Wow, she left after winning over $2.00. She figured to quit while she was ahead. I've never seen that kind of aggression/luck in my many days (6) of online poker. Wild stuff. This is the first night where I've felt like the cards were out to get me I'm sure this is a common complaint in poker. Hopefully the cards' luck will even out this session

Geez louise, that table emptied quick. It's down to 4 people and I'm down more than $.50. I need practice in smaller groups, so I'm gonna keep on losing my money this session. I'm not getting the cards for one thing, and I'm kinda playing like an idiot for another I'm trying to loosen my play a bit for the smaller group. Okay, 5 people now, so hopefully I can semi-play my normal game. I need to try and steal more pots with the smaller table.

Boy, I want this too much. I'm seriously getting turned up the river like crazy. Those 2 cards alone have cost me $1.50 tonight. Crazy times. Boy, hopefully I don't complain about the cards this much in the future. It's a sign of a crappy poker player I'm sure. I think it's about quittin' time, while I'm down.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 7

Ahhhh, good times. I don't have to be up til 11:20 AM tomorrow (which is still way early for me), so I can play some poker tonight. Going to have another poker night at my house tomorrow, which should be fun. One of our people has to work, so we're looking for someone else to come take the 5th spot. Otherwise, we'll just play with 4 people.

Hopefully my session tonight will go well, and I'll do better than last night. We'll see what happens.

First Session: Won $.15
Avg. Players 7
Biggest win: $.56 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 60 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out 9 times while in big blind (88%)
- 4 out 8 times while in small blind (50%)
- 10 out 43 times in other positions (23%)
- a total of 22 out of 60 (36%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 6 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $5.71

Overall thoughts:

Rollercoaster poker now boarding! That was one of the craziest sessions ever. The great pocket cards come fast&furious to start, but nothing pans out for me. Then I play a couple hands here and there, and get into a semi-large hole ($.50). Then I start getting some card love and take down 3 pots over a period of 6 hands. It puts my head above water and I decide to quit for this session. Staying patient is the hardest thing to do when things are going bad. I watched last year's celebrity poker today (with ben affleck/willie garson), and willie kept being a lucky SOB. Ben got impatient and it cost him the tournament. Clearly Ben was the better player, but he let his emotions get the best of him. He would have eventually won I think, but he got too excited/antsy and blew it with a mediocre hand. Lessons learned from TV are always good

Individual hands:

Wow, I play in 4 of the first 5 hands with solid starting hands. However, none of the flush draws/overcards pan out, and I fold each time after the flop and I'm quickly down $.10. One of the times I had a 4c and the board had three clubs. I folded cuz I figured one of the 6 players had a higher club than me. Ahhh, now I'm getting some foldable hands...don't wanna lose too much money too quick. I can't panic being down early, as this has happened before and I've more than made it up (remember the $1.00 hand from the other day?!? ).

Dang, I stay in a pot with a flush draw and it doesn't show. I try to steal the pot at the end, but one of the two people call me. I have nothing so I lose I'm down $.31 after 18 hands, but that was my first showdown so far. Hope my luck/playing improves.

Sigh, no love still. I had KTs, but the flop had low cards. I waited out because I had two straight draws (plus the potential for a high pair), and nothing hit, so I folded after I saw the river. 28 hands and I'm down $.47.

I WIN MY FIRST POT OF THE NIGHT!!! Holding JAo, a J comes on the turn, which gives me a pair. I bet the last two rounds, and nobody calls me on the river, so I win an uncontested pot. Hey, I'm back in this thing!!! Cuts my losses to $.25 for the session, hope I can hold out for my next good hand (but what's better than a pair of JACKS?!? ).

After seeing the flop in 4 of the first 5 hands, I've only seen it in 6 of the last 27 hands. After the wild start, I've tightened up appropriately (as have the cards I've been dealt).

Wow, seriously no love from the flops again tonight. I have yet to see a flop that puts me in solid position to win. I flop a flush draw, then I get a straight draw on the turn, then the river gives me neither! No flushes yet tonight and I've had a chance at them like 3-4 times. Oh well, the 36% chance of hitting a flush on the turn/river will surely come back to help me soon enough.

I woulda flopped trip 5's there, but who in their right mind would play a 58o? I made the right move, but I'm still slightly upset for now Wow, got pocket 10's, but an AKo come on the flop, and I fold. The eventual winner had pocket A's. That's some harshness there. Next hand I have pocket 4's, I don't get a set on the flop there either. 46 hands played, 1 pot won, down $.49 this session. Ouchness baby. I don't think I'm playing that badly. If I was playing better, I'd probably have $.10 more from stupid calls I made. I think going for the pot earlier was the right move, as I almost got him to lay it down. Gonna ride this table out for a bit longer, hoping my love will improve.

FINALLY! The table is shrinking and a dude raises pre-flop. I have A8o, but I call him anyway. Flop comes, two 8's and an ACE! A full boat for me, and nobody will touch me. I get them to play the whole way (with minimal raises, sadly) and I take down the pot of $.56 with a full house. Maybe this session will be okay, after all.

Wow, only 4 people left now. But BOOM! I win $.42 with trip 2's. I get pocket 2's in consecutive hands and flop a set BOTH times. But the first time, there were 3 spades on the board. I stupidly called the first time, but then another spade came and I folded. Next time it was a rainbow flop with a 2 on it. I was able to milk some money out and won. Soon after that, I have A8o, but since the table is down to 4 people, I call and I flop two pair! I take down another solid pot, to put me over for the session! It's down to 3 people, so I bail on this session while I'm up. After being down more than $.50 at one point, I come storming back to have a winning session. I'm quite happy with the end of that. I earned my treat! My patience and staying in MY game paid off that time. I bet I'll be up for another session later tonight.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 7, Session 2

Well, I watched some of the 2003 WSOP, and I've scheduled some more recordings of it this week for me to study. 2004 WSOP also starts this week, so that'll be interesting to watch (in segments). Hopefully I can keep learning stuff from watching the masters play.

Second Session: Won $1.42
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.83 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 98 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out 14 times while in big blind (78%)
- 6 out 12 times while in small blind (50%)
- 15 out 72 times in other positions (20%)
- a total of 32 out of 98 (32%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 9 (77%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $7.13

Overall thoughts:

Wow, a long and fantastic session (2nd best ever!). I played really well, and didn't make too many mistakes til the end. I didn't play very many hands (relative to normal), but when I did play, it was very aggressive. I only played when I thought I was gonna win. As is evidenced by my showdown win % and my non-showdown pots, I did an excellent job with that today. I need to remember the things I did right today, and continue them in the future. Not playing so many hands definitely seems to be paying off. I mean, I was only 6/12 in the small blind. The old me (aka last week ), would have played 10/12, which would have essentially been a wasted $.04. That may not seem like much, but it adds up over days and weeks. I bet I've wasted at least $.15 just this week in playing stupid hands out of the small blind. I've been getting better so I won't be playing as many in the future (hopefully).

Individual hands:

AKo on the first hand! I re-raise the pre-flop action and 5 people stay in! The flop comes and it's awful...Q95 of hearts. I hold no hearts I stupidly try to steal the pot, but get raised and I fold. Oh well, still nice to have AKo on the first hand.

Third hand also brings a great hand...POCKET ACES! I re-raise and max out the pre-flop bidding with 3 opponents. The flop comes JJ5 rainbow. I'm 3rd up, so I bet and everyone calls me. The next round is another crap card, and I'm again the first to bet, then 2 people call me. Nobody is raising which either means they're afraid of me having a jack or they don't have one themselves. The river is another nothing card, which means my two-pair are almost certainly the best hand. I bet again and only get called by one person. He mucks his hand and I take an early $.57 pot. Much better start than the last session! I didn't even need any help from the flop this time Again, I've played 4 of my first 6 hands. Two of them were blinds, and the other two were lights-out pre-flop hands, so I made the right choices.

Maybe I should quit right now, since I'm up exactly six dollars for the week. Pretty good first week of poker eh?

$.28 on a bluff! HUZZAH! I had AQo on the button and bet, then the flop came and was a bunch of low crap. I bet since I had two nice overcards, and all 4 people called. The turn came, which made two 6's on the board, and everyone checked. The river came and everyone checked to me. I bet, and because I led the betting the whole round, everyone folded. Eat my shorts young man!!!

Argh, table is down to 5, but I'm gonna stick with it a bit longer. I badly need practice at the smaller tables (even though it's more expensive with the blinds, but I'm up now so that's okay). Okay, screw it, I'm moving to a 8-person table I'm up $.44 after 19 hands.

BOOM!!! A BIG WIN OF $.83 on a full boat! I had ATo, and a dude raised pre-flop. There were 2 guys in, and I called the $.02 raise (I was in the big blind). The flop comes as TT7! I have trip 7's with an A kicker. One guy folds, me and the other dude re-raise to the max. The only hand that could beat me now is pocket 7's. A 9 comes on the turn, which gives a semi-straight draw. We still bet heavy ($.08 each), then the river comes...another 9! This gives me a full boat, 10's full of 9's. I have the nuts I force him all-in and he mucks his hand in sadness! A hand like that was great. I probably wouldn't have called the pre-flop raise cold, but since it was only $.02 more, that made it worth it to me. 3 pots taken out of the 10 flops I've seen. That's about my average % for my 7-day career. The key to the session thus far is that the pots have been HUGE!

Another win, this time with trip 7's! $.59 is the pot I take down. I had pocket 7's, and I call...then another dude raises. Three opponents are in, so I figure it's worth $.02 more to go for my set (9:1 odds of hitting my set on the flop). It comes, and I go in a couple of heavy bets with the guy. His all-in pocket Q's mean nothing as I win the pot. That's two people I've knocked out tonight! This puts me more than a dollar up for this session! After only 38 hands! That's the 2nd fastest I've ever hit +$1.00 (the other was a flukey 10-hand session where I won two amazingly huge pots).

Boy, this post is much more talkative than my other bitchy ones! I'm in a place where the cards are being decent to me, as opposed to what happened the previous 3 sessions. It's easy to complain about the cards, but now I'm complimenting them. The universe is slowly balancing itself out...

Why did I try to steal a $.05 pot? I went for the steal, and he called me. Only showdown I've lost so far (a big $.06 from me...ouch ). I've been tearing up the showdowns like crazy.

Dangit! Pocket jacks and I flop a FULL HOUSE! None of the 4 losers calls my original bet though (argh). I showed that hand (which I never do in non-showdown situations), because it was just that impressive/lucky. Wish I coulda made some money on that. Maybe in the future if I go to bluff, people will respect my authoritie!

$.58 on a flush! Two of the players hung with me, then I hit the flush on the turn, and it was dance-time. I only had a ten-high in my hand, but there was an AQs on the table, so there were only 2 cards that could beat me. Nobody would raise me in the end, so I only got a solid return (wish it coulda been more). This is in a 5-handed game right now. I wanted to join the big table, but got scared off by 3 of the people who were playing with over $100! One guy had $5,000!!! Scared me good.

Okay, I found another table. I really should quit being up over a dollar, but I feel like I'm playing very tight, very aggressive poker. It's really paying off this session for me. If I drop $.36, I'll bail (so I still end the session +$1.00). I'm doing an excellent job of cutting my losses. I've made maybe one bet too many in 70+ hands, which is f'in awesome for me. Hopefully I keep it up at this new table (my third this session, another record!).

I've been playing so tight tonight, that I felt uncomfortable playing KTs. I called it anyway, then it was raised (...), and I stupidly called it again. The flop sucked and I folded. Two bad calls in one hand, and $.04 lost.

Wow! An effective slowplay! I win with Trip Jacks baby! I hit the set on the flop, then I bet on the flop&turn to make sure the flush draws would bail, then I was against two guys at the end, and I checked. The other guy checked and the last dude bet! I raised him and was able to snag another $.04. That's maybe the second time ever I've done a successful slow-play online. Many times they'll just check around, but I think this time they thought I missed my flush (count the number of T's in that last sentence ).

Wow, I just played a poor hand. I had QJs pre-flop, so I raised. The flop was KQ7 rainbow. I stupidly kept checking, then calling the guy. I lost $.12 because he had two pair (K's and 4's). My Q's were no match for that. Maybe it's time to bail if I'm gonna keep playing like that

Yeah, I stuck around a bit too long in that hand too. I'm proud of my fold though, because I had the highest pair on the board (J's). The dude who won had pocket jacks which became a full house. Glad I got out when I did. I'm out as soon as it's time for me to pay the blinds again. I split one more pot, but that's it! Great session for me.

Lucky for the $.02/$.04 online players, tomorrow night is poker night, so expect only one medium length session

[kingnebwsu]

Day 8:

Boy, I didn't get any sleep the night before day 7, so I didn't play any online poker. We did play two games in our weekly poker night, however. The results were...just terrible. 5th/5 and 3rd/4. The first game I was short-stacked, so I went all-in with 2 pair. The noob I was playing against had an inside straight draw, and hit it on the river. I couldn't believe it. 8% chance of him winning and he hits it to knock me out. Just awful. The second game I got a good start, but couldn't really get anything after that. I need to learn how to play better in the smaller&no-limit tables. I don't get that experience online, so I'm still not very good in that game. I need to bluff more, as my super-folding technique that I use online doesn't work in a small no-limit game. Oh well, another learning experience. That first loss was just bad luck (which happens), but the rest of the time I played too tight and I folded too much. I also didn't hit any of my like 8 flush draws I had in the two games. I need to figure out a new playstyle. I have some reading time coming tonight at work, so I'm going to take my roomy's poker book. It's a thick one, so it'll keep me plenty busy for about 2 hours tonight. Hopefully I can pick up a few tips on that.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 9

Yesterday was the first time all week I haven't played any poker online. I was so dead tired though, and I got 13.5 hours of sleep last night!!! I needed that sleep. The side effect is that I don't work for almost 4 hours, so I should have time for a session before work (which is also a first). Hopefully I'm able to regain my semi-skills I didn't have last night in the "poker night." Boy, I'm still kicking myself for the way I played last night. I needed to loosen my starting hand requirements, especially with so few people. Argh...oh well, gonna do some no-limit research before the next poker night (next Wed.).

First Session: Lost $.82
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.46 Flush
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 78 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out 9 times while in big blind (66%)
- 5 out 9 times while in small blind (55%)
- 20 out 60 times in other positions (33%)
- a total of 31 out of 78 (39%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 14 (28%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Overall: Up $6.31

Overall thoughts:

Wow, just awful. All of my stats scream "I SUCK!!!" I wouldn't disagree with that assessment too much right now. Stayed in some hands way too long, didn't play others long enough. Just wow. I didn't get much love from the cards either. Is my beginner's luck wearing off? Or was it just a bad session? Time will tell. I know I'm still a rookie, but I thought I was better than this. Oh well, just one session, don't wanna freak out too much. Gotta work late tonight, so I dunno if there will be another session today. I'm hoping to fit one more session in before I go outta town tomorrow. We'll see what happens. Forgive my overall negativity in this post, as I'm kinda pissed right now

Individual hands:

Well, I had to wait in a 2-person line to get in this game, so hopefully the table will stay full all game. That'll help me a lot. Folded after the flop on the first hand, then got a 45s on the second hand (which I normally would play), except that everyone in front of me folded, so the odds weren't good and I folded.

Wow, some idiot is saying how he likes to play 27o, just to see if he flops something good. Says people really get mad if you hit something with that hand (which would be um...about never). He's also almost broke after betting big with trip 6's with a 2 kicker (!!!). The other guy also had trip 6's with a 9 kicker. Blamed it on luck...riiiiiiiiiiight. Luck with that crappy kicker he had!

Hey! I snag my first pot of the day ($.27) with a pair of tens! It was the highest card on the flop, so I bet and had 3 callers. Then a king came on the turn, and everyone checked. The flop came with a small card, so I bet and only got one caller. He mucked his hand and I took down the pot.

Now I'm 1/3 in showdowns, even though seeing the other two showdowns didn't cost me anything. I would have tried to steal those pots if I had anything that resembled a hand (c'mon jack-high!). 18 hands down and I'm up $.04. Pretty good for not winning any decent sized pot. I've played 5/18 hands at this point, which is pretty tight. I'm still reeling from my crappy play last night here at home

CRAP! He had two spades, then a spade came on the river for him to hit his flush. I thought I was set with my set of kings. He raised me on the turn, which I thought indicated he also had a king. My 3 K's with an ace kicker I thought would be enough, but he hit his flush on the river. He didn't play like he had a flush draw though. Why would you raise with one card left, needing a spade for your flush? Doesn't seem to make sense. He may have been trying to throw me off. If that was his goal, he succeeded. Dang, I thought I had that one. Now I'm down $.27 after 30 hands. I only bet that much because I thought I had him. $.65 that were almost in my pocket, but got rivered out.

Ouch! Just got rivered again! I had a pair of aces with a 9 kicker. The other dude also had a pair of aces with a 4 kicker...that turned into A's and 4's after a 4 came on the river! BOO!!! $.28 that I thought I had again (even though it was with only a mediocre hand). I'm down $.41 after 36 hands. I need to start winning some of these hands I think I'm gonna win. My judgement needs to be solid or else I'm gonna keep losing.

Awful...I win $.18 with a pair of nines! Whoo-hoo! I woulda bet more, but I feared the king (which was on the board). Ah well, I'll take what I can get right now. 42 hands done and I'm down $.32. Gotta stay patient and I'll hit my big hand that'll put me even.

Moving tables after 50 hands to find a fuller one. I'm down $.42 thus far, but we'll see if my skills/luck can improve. Wow, these people are pre-flop raising like crazy! I only had Q5s, but with 7 opponents, it was worth it to see the flop (which had no hearts for me!).

Wow, got a great flop for my Q6s hand. Saw a 25s then another queen! I had the highest pair and a flush draw. I raised in the first round, which left me with 2 opponents. I never did hit that flush, but felt pretty good with my Q's. I won the side pot with Q's and 5's, but the other person won the main pot with Q's and 5's with an ace kicker! Stupid my kicker was far inferior to that. Down $.51 after 54 hands. I'm due for my big hand any day now...

Wow, this is what happens when I wake up before 4 PM! Getting up this early is for chumps! Down $.65 now, so maybe it's time to quit?...I dunno. I'm playing okay, though if I were playing smarter, I'd have $.16 more. I have stayed too long in too many hands, and I just called someone who I knew had me beat, but I just had to see it to make sure I'm better than that, and I don't know why I had to call her.

A SEMI-BIG WIN!!! FINALLY!!! I snag $.46 with an ace-high flush! That's my first flush in almost 36 hours I semi-slow played it. I checked/called on the flop, then bet first on the turn, then check/raised on the river. It was 1v1 by this point, and I was hoping to make it look like I hadn't hit my flush (which I already had). He bet right into my trap and I raised. He called me and I had the "nuts." Only down $.41 for the session now! Maybe I should quit now that I've won a decent hand Instead, I'm moving to my third table of the session. I need to play in a full table, so I can minimize my blinds and maximize my betting. Boy, these guys are playing fast and have lots of money...I'm kinda scared

Now I know I'm in a rut...the flop was three K's, and I had pocket 3's! My full boat should win right?...WRONG! The jerkface next to me had a freakin' king in his hand. Ouchness. I thought I had that one. He played with a K2o pre-flop. Maybe I should way loosen my starting hand requirements, and play 27o every hand! I seriously need to bail, as this session has turned way ugly.

!&#(*&!#(&*(!# I just lost to two freakin' pair...that's it. What a frustrating 24 hours of poker this has been for me. Gonna take some time tonight and read my poker book and try to mentally regroup.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 9, Session 2

Huzzah! I have to be up in about 5 hours to go out of town (visiting my bro in Nashville), but screw that! I'm doing laundry, so what better excuse than that do I have to play poker? I thought I was leaving tomorrow night, but oh well. This will be my last session until Friday late-night or Saturday late-night. Dunno how much poker I'll be up for when I get back on Friday. Oh well, we'll see.

So I read about 80 pages of Ken Warren's poker book. It's aimed for low-limit beginners (aka me!). It's got some interesting points in it. I need to highlight/write down some of the sentences, as I think they would help me a lot. I will be finishing that book on my trip this week. I only have about an hour to play tonight before I gotta crash, so hopefully it'll be better than earlier today.

One interesting point in his book was about moving up in tables (to higher bets or whatever). Now that I think about it, if I had been playing at the $.05/$.10 tables instead of the $.02/$.04 tables, I would have won 2.5 times more money, or $15.78! That's scary, but I don't think I'll be comfortable to move up to that level for a long while. I need my initial $50 deposit to last for a while

Second Session: Lost $.07
Avg. Players 7
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 68 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 9 times while in big blind (55%)
- 8 out 10 times while in small blind (80%)
- 18 out 49 times in other positions (36%)
- a total of 31 out of 68 (45%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 14 (35%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Overall: Up $6.24

Overall thoughts:

Yeah, this was my worst day of online poker. I was up big after my biggest take ever, but then I proceeded to blow it all. I moved to a new table and got down, but then was even again. However, I stupidly dropped like $.40 in the last several hands. I was really forcing the action. Trying to get in my last poker fix before I leave town I guess I shoulda bailed while I was up for the day. Oh well, that's the way I blow my money. I really sucked bad at the end of the session. I made about $.14 in bad bets before the last 5 hands, then I made like $.30 worth. Smooth moves by me. Oh well, catch y'all this weekend!

Individual hands:

I was on a waiting list to start the table, so that's a good sign. However, if people bail on this one, there isn't a table with more than 5 people, so I'll be screwed (aka forced end to my session ). First hand I post the blind and fold a K2o on the 345o flop. However, an ace comes on the river that woulda won the hand. With only 2 opponents, I didn't think it was worth chasing.

Hey, I win my first hand of the night! $.29 on an A-high flush! I played a K7s pre-flop. Flop came AQs7o, so I had the nuts if another heart came, which it did on the turn. Sadly, I only had one opponent for the flop&turn, then he bailed after the river. At least I sucked out a player

Wow! Some crazy hands going on. I lose in heads-up action with my pair of tens-Q kicker. He had tens with a K kicker I thought I played it right. The T was the highest card on the board. Oh well, not a devastating loss, but it still stings a bit.

I get it back on the next hand with a split pot on a full house. I take down $.40 (much of which was mine). 2 Q's and 2 6's on the board, and we each had a queen in our hand. At least one idiot was dumb enough to raise me after I led off the betting

Why did I go along with the max pre-flop raise with an AJo? I put in $.04 after one raise, which seemed fine, but then it got maxed to $.08, and I stupidly called that too. 2 kings on the flop and I'm out (along with everyone else). Big pot of pre-flop chips for that guy (argh).

Wow, this one jerk has caught a few cards, and is raising pre-flop a lot. That makes being in the big blind frustrating. Oh well, when I get some cards, I'm gonna kick his ass Heh, someone just did! He raised with a KTo, and another person had pocket Q's to win the hand! Eat it!

That guy is being an idiot! And I profit from it!!! Holding a JTs, I call his pre-flop raise, as he's been raising with crap. He's trying to be a bully and now it's biting him good. I flop a flush AND a straight draw, so I raise it before the turn, which gives me a straight AND a flush!!! He and another person are stupid enough to max the betting for that round, then I crush his pocket 6's in heads up play! I almost feel bad getting $1.17 with my ace-high flush draw, aka my biggest pot IN HISTORY!!! GO ME!!! It's fun stealing from the stupid bullies. Up $.58 after 37 hands, so maybe I should bail. Table is down to 5 people also, so that's not good for me. A pre-flop raiser hurts me at the smaller table.

Well, after 41 hands, I'm going to a high-speed table. Interesting to see how this'll be different, cuz sometimes I'm a bit slow in making decisions. It's not as bad as I thought. Instead of having 20 seconds to make your choice, it's only 10. That's fine by me...no wonder these tables are more popular

I stick in the first hand too long with 2-pair after two 4's come on the flop. Of course, he had trip 4's. It's sometimes hard to read the person left of the button when they lead in bidding. I need to not read into it so much

Pocket 6's mean nothing with a power flop! So I fold. Down $.14 at this new table, but still up $.32 for this session thus far. Thank you dumbass without the full house

Wow, $.51 with three nines! Then I win with three 10's! Huzzah!!! Dang, so close to a rush. Consecutive wins, then 2 near-wins. I was really close to awesome hands, and in one case I thought I had it, but it didn't pan out. Lousy slightly higher flush for the other person I was getting great cards for like 6 hands in a row for the first time in several days. A nice near-rush while it lasted. I'm only up $.47 for the session now (and $.01 for this high-speed table). With this table, it's much harder to type hand thoughts. Like the mini-rush came, and I couldn't get a word in! Lucky for you guys...

Ouch. I make a straight, but he hits a flush and beats me. Then I get hit with my inferior full house (lousy pocket J's when there was an A on the board). I gotta bail after the next hand. I'm almost down to even.

Damn, I got crazy, and I'm down for the session. I shoulda bailed earlier.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 13

Wow, I'm back from Nashville! It was a good trip, and good to see my bro (who I only see a couple of times a year). He and his girlfriend have an apartment that overlook most of Nashville. It's on the outskirts, but you can still see the downtown in the distance. It was quite beautiful. We ate at lots of good restaurants, such as an authentic Italian place (!!!) and a place called the Pancake Pantry. Sadly, after getting home on Friday night, I didn't feel well and I later threw up It was not a good night. I had to work last night and didn't feel like Poker'ing at all. But I still got some time before work now, so I'll do one session!

We're having a poker night on Wednesday, and one of the guys in our group got some nice poker chips online!!! They were $30 and come with an aluminum case. Even if they're composite chips, that'll be fine. Better than the $10 set I got from K-mart

I finished both the Ken Warren book on poker and the David Sklansky Holdem books on my car trip. I picked up lots of little tips that will help me. I wish I had a highlighter/wrote down some of the more important parts. I think that poker books are the kind of books you can read several times and always pick up something new/different. I think that also comes with experience.

First Session: Won $.51
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.72 10's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 82 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 8 times while in big blind (62%)
- 3 out 10 times while in small blind (30%)
- 14 out 64 times in other positions (21%)
- a total of 22 out of 82 (26%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall: Up $6.75

Overall thoughts:

A solid first session for today. I played one hand too long when I had a straight draw. The other dude had T's and I had 9's, and he won. I figured he had a high pocket pair, but thought it'd be higher than T's. No love there I did make a bad play though. Otherwise, I played pretty tight today. This is the tightest I've played online thus far. I also didn't get many playable cards, which was part of it. I still did quite well considering what I was given. Oh well, hopefully I'll be up for some more poker action tonight!

Individual hands:

Wow, two playable hands to start out...pocket 9's and KTs. I play them both, but there are many raises after the flop (even though I had the highest pair both times), so I quickly folded. The winning hand both games was a straight. Glad I bailed facing all those raises Some playable hands thus far, but the flops are unfriendly. Only down $.13, but I'll make it back.

Well, I've played 5 of the first 20 hands without winning a pot. I'm down $.21 thus far. Hopefully I'll get some playable cards in conjunction with a good flop. Low-limit holdem is a tough game to bluff. Usually these people will call with even a low pair or ace high

WHOO-HOO!!! I take down $.72 with a pair of tens!!! The T was the highest card on the flop, and I had KT in the pocket. I was on the button, so I let everyone just bet in front of me. When another low card came on the turn, I raised the guy and got it down to 4 people. Everyone checked to me on the river, then I bet and had a heads-up with a guy, and my 10's took down the pot! The jack on the river scared me, but when nobody bet, I figured I had it. The day is mine! It all turned around so fast, now I'm up $.35. Patience is the key to online holdem low-limit poker

I've only played 6/28 hands thus far and I'm up $.33. Playing pretty tight I am. I think tight&aggressive is the best way to play in this game. I do need to work on my betting ideas for the no-limit game we play weekly. That is by far my biggest weakness right now. That and being Captain Fold. I fold too much in the smaller table we play. I need to play more hands and be more aggressive.

BOOM! Being on the button, I play a KTo and flop trip kings! Two J's come at the end to give me a full boat. The idiots kept calling my bets, so I got a solid pot of $.56 with my K's full of J's. I totally had the nuts there and it was sweet. Only thing that coulda got me was 4 of a kind, and I knew they didn't have that. Though earlier I did see a guy with four 9's check on the river in middle position (!?!?!) and he lost some easy money. I know trying to trap people, but they had already been checking a lot. In Ken Warren's book, he said to play less fancy and more straight-up when playing low-limit holdem. It's a sound strategy, which goes along with my tight&aggressive style. I've played 9/33 hands thus far and I'm up $.71. Getting some good flops here and it's paying off.

Crap! I just folded pocket 8's after a K came on the flop. Everyone checked, but then a dude in early position bet on the turn. I mistook him for someone with a king. A king also came on the river, and there's no way I woulda called him with two kings on the board. He won with K's and 4's, when I shoulda won the hand. Oops, there's $.30 that could have been mine I still think I made the right move though. I didn't flop a set, so with a medium pair, you generally fold after that.

I do assume people have bigger hands than they usually do. It happened again. I woulda ended up with a straight (though it came via a perfect-perfect turn&river), but a guy won with 8's. I didn't have any pair to continue with, but it still bugs me a bit.

BOOM! $.56 with a set of 8's! My pocket pair turns into a set, and some dude maxes out bets with me a couple of times. He had two-pair (as I suspected), but my set whooped him good. 60 hands done and I'm up $.69. Pretty solid session that's nearing an end because I have to work soon. Hopefully I'll be up for some more poker tonight (if I'm feeling okay).

[kingnebwsu]

Day 13, Session 2:

Alrighty! I'm back from work and ready to play poker! I'm kinda out of it, still recovering from my puking, but hopefully I'm still up for a little poker tonight. Don't worry about many more poker hiatuses (sp?) for me, as I should be staying in town most of the time in the future. I may take another 2-day stretch off in August to go to Columbus, but that's all. Good news for you poker dynasty readers!!! Okay, time to play! Hopefully I'll continue to play smart, aggressive, and tight poker.

Second Session: Won $.61
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.99 A's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 110 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out 13 times while in big blind (92%)
- 4 out 14 times while in small blind (28%)
- 16 out 83 times in other positions (19%)
- a total of 32 out of 110 (29%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 8 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall: Up $7.36

Overall thoughts:

I wonder if I'm playing too tight. I mean, tight to where I'm restricting my possible winnings. I remember folding a hand with a K-high flush draw, fearing the other guy had an A-high flush draw. I mean, was that the right play? Everyone folded before I could see the guy's hand. The guy who raised after the flop eventually folded. I guess he didn't have the ace of clubs. But did the first person have it? I got nothing. I would have had a K-high flush, but it never happened because I chickened out facing a bet and a raise (after the flop). I dunno, but I could sure use from tips from the guys who read my "dynasty" Catch y'all tomorrow!

Individual hands:

Lousy 2 of the people quickly sit out at this table, meaning only 8 people are playing. Those jerks better come back or else I may move to another table. Boy, I'm getting lotsa playable hands to start. KTs is my first hand, and I call a guy's pre-flop raise. The highest card on the flop is a ten, but we all fold after the same guy bets again (fearing he has a high pocket pair). Wow! I ended up playing my first four hands. I think that's a record for me Sadly, I didn't win any of them and I'm quickly down $.10. I was smart and got out of each of them after the flop, so the losses were minimal. Hopefully I didn't burn all of my good cards in the first four hands

Gotta fold pocket 7's after I don't get a set on the flop. Where's my crappy crap crap flop? Of the seven hands since I've joined, FIVE have not had a showdown. That's an absurdly high amount for this low-limit poker. That's the lowest stretch I think I've ever seen. I may be able to bluff a few pots with this group (esp. if I raise pre-flop). I'm not gonna go crazy with it or anything though.

Sweet money. I get my K-high flush on the river to crush the guy's 2-pair. $.38 on my first pot of the night! But then...dagnabit! I get a straight draw, but the flop is suited. Five people fold to one guy's bet. This table is playing really tight, and only like 6 people are playing on it right now. It may be time to move on.

I move to a new table, and try to steal a pot (stupidly). Why did I do that with 6 people still in the hand? Cost me $.04 after I got raised. Dang, the winner only had A's. I had 7's, but that's not the point! I really shouldn't ever try to steal pots with a big group. I guess I was used to my last table (fold central).

$.99 with POCKET A's!!! Wow, there was like $.50 in the pot pre-flop. I shoulda maxed out the betting after the river, but I assumed he also had pocket A's (since none came on the board). But he had pocket K's, which cried against my aces!!! That's a huge win to start tonight. I'm getting so many playable hands, it's scary. Ah well, I'll go through a 25-hand drought later to balance out the universe. I shoulda played more aggressive I guess. I did fear trips though. But there weren't any high cards on the board (that would make trips) to justify his crazy pre-flop raising. Oh well, another lesson noted. 20 hands and I'm only up $.70? I suck!!!

As suspected, I'm at 14/46 hands played for 30%. That's a big drop from the mid-40's I was at for the first 20 hands. How long did I say the drought would be? I'm paying a lot more attention to position and what cards I play relative to that position. I know that's a beginner skill, but I'm still getting the hang of it. Like, I shouldn't play suited connectors just after the blinds, because odds are they'll be a raise (which I probably wouldn't like to call with that hand). I'm trying to only play hands in early/middle position where I wouldn't mind calling a raise.

Ouch baby! AKo pre-flop gets zero love on the board, and I lose to a pair of fives. I checked (on the button) on the turn, when I should have bet, which would have indicated a stronger hand than I had. Argh, I tried to take the pot at the end when it was checked to me, but one guy called me. I'm now up $.43 after 55 hands. I shoulda quit after the pocket aces

I get $.23 back with pocket K's. I woulda been more aggressive, except that there was an ace on the flop that scared me. It was heads-up though (after my pre-flop raise), and she checked to me then called each hand. I checked after the river, fearing a nasty raise, but she was beat.

Wow! I just totally called the two people's pocket cards! That's the first time I've gotten both of them. I knew the first bettor had a flush draw (that he didn't hit) and that the other person had a solid pocket pair (Q's). Wow, I totally nailed that one. That's the skill of a true poker player, being able to consistently name (or be close on) the pocket cards of the players. I guess I'm a true poker player now eh? I needed three of those to sum up the sarcasm

I really should have quit after winning $.99 in one hand Oy! $.48 with a pair of Q's!!! I had KQo and the highest card on the board was a Q, so I felt pretty good with that hand. I played that one pretty solid. I coulda been trapped at the end when the 2 people checked to me and I bet, but I won anyway. The last card was the third diamond on the board, but I think the person would have outright bet if they actually hit their flush. I've played 22/79 hands so far (27%) and I'm up $.73. I think I'm gonna stick around for one more pot before I call it a night (or bail if it doesn't arrive in the next 10-20 hands).

Sweet! I take down $.28 with the nut flush. I should have bet after the flop, but I think it's always good to take a free card when you're drawing to a straight/flush. Dang! AKs pre-flop, then the flop is 876s! Wish it was of my suit No love there.

Ah well, the rest was uneventful, so I bailed to play in a 5-minute freeroll tourney I'll mess with it for a bit til it makes me furious, then I'll watch my TiVo. Back for more poker tomorrow night!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 14, Session 1:

Wow! I can't believe I started playing online poker two weeks ago. Time sure has flown. I've played over 1,400 hands and I've won over seven dollars!!! That's a much better start than I could have ever dreamed. According to my math, I should be down more than $11 by now. At least, that's what I figured I'd do when I started playing. I never thought I'd have such a great start. I'd like to thank the academy, my director, who was fannntastic

Enough BS, time to poker!!!

First Session: Lost $.32
Avg. Players 8
Biggest win: $.61 A's&K's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 62 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 5 times while in big blind (60%)
- 3 out 8 times while in small blind (37%)
- 15 out 49 times in other positions (30%)
- a total of 21 out of 62 (33%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 6 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall: Up $7.04

Overall thoughts:

Well, the good thing is that I can justify every showdown I participated in. Two of them were checked all three betting rounds. Two of them I had the best hand until the river (which gave my opponent slightly higher hands). And I won the other two. My flop % ended up being just about right for me, even if it was a little high for how I played yesterday (but the tables were a bit smaller today, also). This session was pretty awful, and still ended up only down $.32. That's pretty good when a terrible session has that result. Oh well, hopefully I'll make it up tonight. I should be up for some poker late-night tonight. Catch everyone then!!!

Individual hands:

I was just thinking about something I read in Ken Warren's book. It said if you have a straight/flush draw, that should raise after the flop, in order to see a free card on the turn. He said to do this because it's cheaper. I always thought that was wrong and then I realized that it IS cheaper. I didn't think the online games played this way, then I realized that after the flop, the first bet is only $.02 (as opposed to $.04 in later rounds). I noticed this before, but I didn't put the two ideas together. I think I will try that in the future against a smaller field (but not against a large one, fearing many raises).

People check all the way around TWICE in the first seven hands. I don't win either 4-player showdown, but I barely lose the second time, having 2's to the winner's 3's. That was a power hand! The first table emptied out fast, so I move to a 9-person one.

I'm still trying to figure out how long I should stick around with the various straight draws. I had four opponents last time, so I paid to see the turn (even though I think I should have raised). But then I folded before the river (which wouldn't have helped anyway). It was only an inside straight draw, I don't think I should have paid that much. If it was an open-ended draw, I think it would have been worthwhile with that many opponents.

I'm down $.23 after 14 hands. I stuck around in one hand too long, and it cost me $.06. I've been in a lot of blinds since I switched tables, so hopefully it evens out. I need to tighten up my game slightly if I wanna win in the next hour.

Ouch! I flop 2 pair, but then an open-ended straight draw comes on the river, and I know I'm beat. I would have won that hand, because both people who won needed that card to make their straights. Stupid river I've played 9/21 hands (42%) thus far, which shows I've been playing too loose. I need to tighten my game up, because I'm down $.39 already. I've had a chance for some decent plays, but the cards haven't fallen yet. All in due time.

I move to my third table of the day, as the other tables keep emptying. I Down $.43 after 25 hands. Gotta stay patient and let the cards come to me. I gotta relax...relax...relax...calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean...calm blue ocean When I'm playing nearly twice as many hands as last night, I know I'm doing something wrong.

Argh, I'm on my FOURTH different table of this brief session. This has gotta be some sort of record. I guess people don't play very long sessions in the afternoon? I only have 30 minutes before work, and I'm gonna try and win at least one pot. I gotta be careful to not force it, as this session has all the signs of being a big loser. Maybe I should bail before that happens?

Ouch! River'ed again! I had the highest pathetic pair (6's) until a Q came on the river to give this guy 2 Q's. He raised QJo pre-flop in middle position. I need to work on playing against stupid people. I need to devise a better strategy, as these stupid people sometimes get me good.

I WIN A FREAKING HAND!!! Boy, I can't remember the last time I was this frustrated with online poker. Oh yes I can, it's the last time I played a freeroll tourney Anyway, I had AKo pre-flop so I raised and I got an ace on the turn! I was out of position, but I still snagged $.38, putting me UP to -$.50 for the day. It took 45 hands for me to win my first pot! I think that's a new (pathetic) record. You can't force the action sometimes though, and these droughts will happen. I'm too much of a rookie to not get frustrated when this stuff does happen though.

I've done really well at cutting my losses (not sticking around just to see "one" more card). But I still get scared too easily (oh boy, there's three semi-close cards on the board, they must have a straight!). The key is to find the happy balance. I have Tuesday&Thursday off, and Wed. night (I work that day) is poker night. I can't wait to see what happens. I need to play tighter then and not bluff nearly as much.

This is unreal. River'ed for the third time this session. I had pocket T's which held up until a K came on the river. I checked then called, and he had a K. Frustrating to lose 3 pots on the river. I had it until then! I blame the cards (and society) for my losses

AKo pre-flop turns into a $.61 winner! I won with 2-pair, but wasn't able to max out my bidding because a straight draw came on the board (again, on the freakin' river!). So I only bet one time around at the end. Again it was me fearing that card, but hey, the way these guys play nothing would surprise me. It was better to just call the last time then to do lots of raises when I could have been beat (I think?). I'm down a quarter now and it's about quitting time. I'm starting to get some love though, so maybe I'll stick around a couple more minutes.

Not much action after that, so it's quitting time. Next time Gadget!!!...

[kingnebwsu]

Day 14, Session 2:

Alright, I haven't gotten much sleep lately, but I think I'm up for one poker session tonight. I need to do some laundry before I sleep, so maybe I should start that first...ah screw it! It's poker time!

I think I'm going to assume I'll lose tonight. I'm going to make an effort to play more hands, and not necessarily back down when I think I'm beat (unless I'm pretty sure I'm beat). I think this may be my biggest problem in low-limit poker...folding when I should stay in. I guess it's better than not folding when I should be out I need to find the happy medium, and that will be my mission tonight. I will just assume I'll have a losing session tonight, but hopefully I don't lose more than $.75.

One final pregame thought: I'm thinking of playing a sit&go table of fixed holdem (what I play now). It costs $5.50 to enter a 9-person table and the top 3 people get paid something. I think I've made enough money where I can afford to "blow" my winnings on what I think could be an interesting and helpful experience. Any thoughts/tips/feedback on this would be appreciated. Maybe I should move up to the $.05/$.10 tables before I think about spending $5.50 for one (possibly brief) session. I don't know how I'll react to the progressively raising blinds in a sit&go, but I think I'll be able to hang around til at least the top half of the table. Then who knows what could happen. My conservative style of play would help me in the early going, but I would still struggle with a short-handed table. But if I made it to the top half, I think I'd have a decent shot at getting some cash. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Second Session: Won $.66
Avg. Players 9
Biggest win: $.70 K's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 88 hands and saw flop:
- 8 out 9 times while in big blind (88%)
- 3 out 9 times while in small blind (33%)
- 18 out 70 times in other positions (25%)
- a total of 29 out of 88 (32%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 13 (46%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $7.70

Overall thoughts:

That session went quite well. I played much more aggressive once I saw a decent flop, and I didn't go fold-tastic like I have before. I'm gonna try this new approach and see if it works in the future. I mean, I folded K-high flush draws before, fearing my opponent had an A-high flush (what are the odds of that?!?!?). I gotta not fear the nuts so much.

But yeah, tonight I played pretty well, and I really should have won at least 2 more pots (just over another dollar), but I didn't get much love at times. Other showdowns were free, and I stupidly played one of them (and it cost me $.20), but it was a fun hand to play

I'm off tomorrow, so expect a session or three then. Huzzah!!!

Individual hands:

Boy, off to a stupid start! Pocket J's are a solid hand, then a Q comes on the board. I call a guy each round and he has KQs. I blew that one. Next hand, I get pocket T's, and the highest card on the board is a K. Everyone checks, then another K comes down. The second guy bets, but I'm not sure he has a king. After the river, he checks, as does everyone else. My two pair crush everyone else and I take down the pot. Dang! This is wild. I see 3 showdowns right away, and win one of them. I got burned on the turn here, which gave the dude a straight when I again had 2-pair. Oh well. Hopefully tonight I can find a mix between aggressive and smart. 1/3 on showdowns after 6 hands, I'd say I'm definitely sticking around more than I normally would

Dang! A chance to have the nut flush, but it doesn't show on the turn/river. I woulda won at least $.70 there, but I folded after it didn't show. I'm down $.25 after 27 hands. If my flush had hit there, I'd be up maybe $.25 overall. Oh well, that flush only hits 35% anyway, but there were 6 players in the pot, so I had to stick with it. One of the next two times, I'm due to hit that flush

HEY HEY! I win two pots in a row! The first one, I snag $.31 without a showdown after my Q's take me through the whole hand (Q was highest card on the board). Then, I snag $.28 after two straight rounds of checking when I hit my pair of K's on the river! I'm in the middle and a dude bets, but I raise him with my Q kicker and crush his soul. Eat my shorts young man!!! (I'll never get tired of that line )

HEY HEY AGAIN! Pocket AK in consecutive hands! I should have won both hands dagnabit. The first time I got ripped by two-pair Q's and 6's. I had K's with A-kicker. I at least got a mini-side pot. Second time I flopped the highest pair and bet strong throughout. A's with a K kicker, but then a Q comes on the river, and a dude who had raised before just checked to me. I feared two-pair, so I just checked and took down the pot.

Not long after, all ten players call the $.06 pre-flop bet and we see a flop. I feel good with my J's and K-kicker. It ends up being a 3-horse race, and I lose to a guy with J's and 3's. I should have known that somebody had two pair in all that. But the pot was so big, and it was kinda fun to play in a hand like that I bet I had the second-best hand (which only helps with hand grenades, I know). That hand knocked me down like...$.20. Oh well, it was kinda worth it to chase it. That's the first time I've had ten people see the flop with that much in it. Wild and FUN stuff!!! 40 hands and I'm up $.39. Was almost $.60, but oh well.

THE RIVER DOES IT AGAIN!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! I have pocket A's, and am in total control of the hand until a second T appears on the river. Of course, I bet the whole way and three guys called me the whole way, and one of them was bound to hit a set (sigh). That $.54 should have been mine dammit. Oh well, I am living by my commitment to get to more showdowns, 9 of the 18 times I've seen the flop, I've been in a showdown. I've won 4/9, when I thought I had another 1-2 of them. That last one was a stinger. I think I've gotten river'ed like 5 times in the last 2 days or something. I did get help from the river once in the last 2 days, so that's almost even Ah well, it'll all even out...or at least it BETTER!!! (shakes fist) Only up $.18 after 45 hands despite getting some pretty good pocket hands tonight. I counted tonight as a loss anyway, so I'll take anything on the plus side I guess.

Wow, I shouldn't have played that hand and I won. J8s in middle position. I called it and started shaking my head that it was the wrong move. Of course, the flop was no help. All 7 (!!!) players checked around. Then the turn was the 4th diamond, giving me a flush draw. Three guys called a bet, as did I (because the pot odds were correct), then my 5th diamond came on the river! I knew I'd hit my flush one of the next two times! I snagged down $.48 when all 3 opponents left called me. I very slightly feared a higher flush, but nobody had it and I won the pot. J8s would be a hand to play in late position, but not where I was. I lucked out of it there, and I'll take it this time. Maybe I'll be smarter next time...maybe

52 hands down and I'm up $.56. I should play all my sessions at this time of night, as it seems like the time where I'm most successful (1 AM-5 AM).

AKo turns into another $.41 for me! I end up with K's and 8's. I fear another guy has a set when he bets after the awful flop (887o), but I raise him to find out, and he just calls. Even though I raised pre-flop, he surely would have re-raised me if he had flopped a set. I bet the rest of the hand and took down the pot. This is one of those sessions that should go forever, because a lot of things are going my way. More aggressive/less folding=I'm a better player? Time will tell, as will my +/- over the next few sessions.

Wow, I flopped 3 J's in the big blind, but don't get hardly any action and only take down $.15. I check after the flop, as does everyone else. I was hoping to raise somebody, but it didn't happen. We didn't even get to a showdown because everyone was afraid of me. I then take down a HUGE $.05 pot on a bluff in heads-up. He checked to me twice, aka "please bet so I can fold!" I bet him alright...bet him...FOREVER!!! I'm up $.83 after 70 hands, which is quite fantastic. Best session I've had since I got back. Now I gotta make sure I don't blow it

I play about 20 more hands, seeing the flop several times without any luck, and then I decide that's enough for tonight. I gotta be careful not to stay up too late, because I have to work at 9 AM on Wednesday (so early!).

[Radii]

One final pregame thought: I'm thinking of playing a sit&go table of fixed holdem (what I play now). It costs $5.50 to enter a 9-person table and the top 3 people get paid something. I think I've made enough money where I can afford to "blow" my winnings on what I think could be an interesting and helpful experience. Any thoughts/tips/feedback on this would be appreciated. Maybe I should move up to the $.05/$.10 tables

You've reported on 1619 hands in this dynasty and are up $7.70 at .02/.04, that's a pretty hefty amount. 47 cents/100 hands(almost 12 big bets) is a very very good win rate, I would presume at any level. Over only 1600 hands it doesn't necessarily say anything other than you're getting good cards or that your opponents at .02/.04 are that dreadful, but it would definitely be enough to convince me to move up to .05/.10

You have 577 big bets for .05/.10. More than enough to give it a try for a little while.

If you start playing it and are uncomfortable w/ the amount you're betting or freak out if you lose $2 or $3 in one sitting,drop back down.

There are definitely people who have learned how to play poker at the micro limits like this, who built up their bankroll and now play for signifigant amounts. You're doing well and have the money, I'd take a shot at the next level.


No comment on the tournaments, I love them but I am not very good at them.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 15, Session 1

Originally Posted by Radii

You've reported on 1619 hands in this dynasty and are up $7.70 at .02/.04, that's a pretty hefty amount. 47 cents/100 hands(almost 12 big bets) is a very very good win rate, I would presume at any level. Over only 1600 hands it doesn't necessarily say anything other than you're getting good cards or that your opponents at .02/.04 are that dreadful, but it would definitely be enough to convince me to move up to .05/.10

You have 577 big bets for .05/.10. More than enough to give it a try for a little while.

If you start playing it and are uncomfortable w/ the amount you're betting or freak out if you lose $2 or $3 in one sitting,drop back down.

Yeah, the whole "freak out" thing is what I fear. It's like, when I think of some of the sessions where I'm down $.40-$.50 early on, it's no big deal. But that suddenly becomes almost $2 at a $.05/$.10 table. I think I would surely start to press in this situation. I'm not confident enough to play at that table yet, though I'm sure it would be much better for my money to do that instead of playing a sit&go.

Originally Posted by Radii

There are definitely people who have learned how to play poker at the micro limits like this, who built up their bankroll and now play for signifigant amounts. You're doing well and have the money, I'd take a shot at the next level.

No comment on the tournaments, I love them but I am not very good at them.

I think I will be taking a shot at the next level within the next two weeks. I'd like to make it to +$10.00 before I did that. That way if I really do awful, I wouldn't need to press because I'd still have a steady cushion. I think I'll wait til I'm +$10.00 to either move up to $.05/$.10 or to play a sit&go.

Thanks for the tips Radii!!! I welcome any future thoughts from you or anyone else who reads this thread.

First Session: Won $.38
Avg. Players 7
Biggest win: $.38 Three J's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 71 hands and saw flop:
- 11 out 12 times while in big blind (91%)
- 6 out 12 times while in small blind (50%)
- 16 out 47 times in other positions (34%)
- a total of 33 out of 71 (46%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 8 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 6
Overall: Up $8.08

Overall thoughts:

Great short-handed practice early on, then the table filled up about halfway through the session. That's when my cards started getting cold. I didn't make many stupid plays overall, so I have to be happy with that. It was nice bluffing a few pots with the smaller group I think I may try something different here in the next couple of days (sit&go/the higher tables). I'll just play it by ear I guess. Hopefully I'll be up for another session tonight, to practice for tomorrow's weekly poker game!!!

Don't let my high flop % fool you, we had about 5 players or less for half the session, which definitely inflated those numbers. I was about 53% or so for the first part of the session. The second half was still a bit high, but many of those were in the big blind

Individual hands:

I was responding to the above post and I won 3 pots in 11 hands!!! I got some nice pocket hands, and most of them stood up through the river...except for one hand where I had a full boat but the other guy got some nice end cards to get four snowmen!!! (8's). But I'm up $.21 after 15 hands, which is a great start.

I'm starting at a short-handed table, to practice for my eventual sit&go It's averaged about 5 players thus far, and it's good practice for me.

WOW! I'm taking down pots left and right. I'm getting some nice cards on the board, and I'm playing aggressive. I've won 5 pots of the 9 flops I've seen, and 3 of those didn't have a showdown! I'm pretty sure I had the best hand each time, though. Ouch! I didn't bet with the best hand on the turn, and I got river'ed. Odds are he woulda called me, but I still should have bet to protect my hand. Of course, an ace came on the river, giving him two pair. Lousy bum That was my fault for not betting. This is great short-handed practice for me, though. This is where I struggle, and it's part of the reason why I'm not winning our "friendly" weekly poker game. The betting in no-limit is also a part of that, but I'm playing over 50% of my hands thus far. That's still a bit high for 5-6 handed games, but I'm getting solid cards.

What did I stay yesterday about trying to steal pots when there are a bunch of players? Well, I tried to steal after everyone checked 2.5 times around, but then two guys out of 5 called me. I had one guy beat with my Q-high, but the other guy had a pair of 4's I thought it was a decent time to go for it, because the board had just paired and people may have thought I had a 2. Oh well, not a good idea, but hopefully next time I'll only steal with a smaller crowd.

Wow, the table is down to 3 guys. I'm bullying my way to a lot of free pots here. I sometimes have the cards to back it up, but I've bluffed successfully several times today, which is a good thing for me. One hand especially, I had AJo pre-flop and I raised (2 opponents), they both called me. I bet quickly each time, they called me each time. I didn't hit the river card, so I had nothing, but when I bet the last time they respected my pre-flop bet and folded. That was a nice $.30 pot there (but I sure was sweating ).

About 20 hands with no significant action, except that the table is full now! So much for working on my short-handed game 59 hands done and I'm up $.41. Maybe I am ready to take the plunge to the $.05/$.10 game

Ouch! Two craptacular hands knock me back. I play K7s in middle position, but it gets raised pre-flop so I call...then it gets RE-raised! Argh! I called it to see the flop (an extra $.02), but the flop sucked and I bailed. Then AKo gets no love on the board, and I fold after pumping the pot up about $.16 (argh).

I'm think I'm about spent for this session, plus I'm back to about even (argh). I'm gonna try to hang around for one more pot before I bail. I had a great start to this session, but I haven't won a pot in like 30+ hands.

I get my wish and I take down $.38 when I hit set of J's on the flop! Nobody will raise my bets, so my win was minimal, but it puts me back with a solid result for the session. I'm gonna try another session later on tonight.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 15, Session 2:

Argh! I work in less than 8 hours and I'm quite tired...but I can't sleep! I have such low self-confidence, so I'm gonna expect another losing session, and will quit as soon as I feel like I'm ready to sleep. I'm a semi-insomniac, so going to bed before 4 AM would be amazing. Ah well, if I start becoming incoherent in the post, you'll know I'm going night night

Second Session: Lost $.28
Avg. Players 7
Biggest win: $.22 Flush
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 16 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 3 times while in big blind (100%)
- 2 out 2 times while in small blind (100%)
- 3 out 11 times in other positions (27%)
- a total of 8 out of 16 (50%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 of 1 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $7.80

Overall thoughts:

SCREW THIS! I'm going to play a sit&go! I'm scared! Look for it in the next post! Hope I make some money

Individual hands:

I start out with an AKo, but I don't raise out of the big blind. The flop is no help, but I bet cheaply, then fold after the turn. AJo in the next hand, and I stay in too long with two-pair, and I'm beaten by a higher two-pair. I was in great position with the best hand until a T fell on the turn, then when a guy raised I figured he had J's and T's, but I stuck around. I had J's and 3's with A-kicker. Sticking around cost me $.08. Down $.22 after 2 hands means I should just go to bed now probably

Alright! I take down a small $.22 with a flush to bring myself back to $.16 under. Baby steps is the key

Okay, that table is down to like 6 people so I'm moving on. I'm down $.26 after 14 hands. I need to focus more and get back into the game.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 15, Session 3:

SIT&GO TIME!!!

Boy am I scared. 9 players, all vying to get into the top 3 and get some cash. Let's get to it!

Third Session: Lost $5.50
Sit&Go: 5th place/9
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 46 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 4 out 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 6 out 34 times in other positions (17%)
- a total of 15 out of 46 (32%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 3 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $2.30

Overall/individual thoughts:

Well, I've already folded the best hand once. I had the highest pair on the board, but I feared the pre-flop raiser after he bet. I should have raised him to see if he did indeed have the highest pair. I ended up with two-pair and he only had one pair (but I folded after the flop).

I probably won't be as talky here, as I need to pay attention to my opponents. We all start with $1,500 and the blinds are $20/$40 and apparently go up every 10 minutes. The entry fee was $5.50 ($5+$.50). Hopefully I at least make it halfway

I've played 2/9 hands thus far and have folded after the flop both times. I have $1440 and am in sixth place as the blinds go up.

Well, one guy is about out. He's playing like an absolute idiot. These blinds go up every ten minutes which kills my conservative strategy. Oh well, we'll see what happens...

I've played 2/15 hands thus far...where are my cards? They'll show up eventually, but hopefully they don't wait too long. These 10-minute rounds may kill me!!!

I take a $350 with 3 K's!!! Didn't even get to a showdown

YES!!! I GET A FULL HOUSE AND KNOCK A GUY DOWN TO $10!!! I pump my score up to $3,045!!! HOLY POO!!! I'M SHAKING SO HARD RIGHT NOW!!! I played him hard when I flopped a set of 6's. Then 3's came on the board and I knew I had it. I thought he may have four 3's, but I highly doubted it, and we maxed the bet each time.

I'm in a solid 2nd place now with the leader having nearly 5k. 3 guys have in 1200-1900, and 4 guys are in deep poo. Blinds are going to 100/200 with me having played 7/28 hands thus far. These short stacks are gonna have to double up or they'll be out. I gotta wait for my time to strike again.

One guy's out! 5 more to go before I get paid

5000/3140(me)/1975/1820/1435, those are the totals right now. I'm in the top-5, which was my minimal goal, so I'm happy. We'll see what happens now.

I walked into a trap door and got hit hard. My straight wasn't the highest, but I should have folded after my pocket 8's didn't hit a set on the flop. Stupid stupid me. I'm in 4th now...

Fuck. I dropped like a fucking rock there. Wow. Played stupid in a couple of hands and stayed in way too long. My lack of shorthanded experience cost me. I went all-in with pocket A's, but he had two pair (argh). I couldn't believe that one. That's a tough tough suckout for me. I lost $5.50 tonight, and I didn't play that well. The cards were mediocre, but it's my own fault. I think I coulda hung around for a while longer. I forced the action when I didn't need to.

Oh well, I got knocked out by the eventual champ, so I guess that's some consolation? He was playing aggressive and I folded to him several times when he probably didn't have anything. The times I stuck around, I got burned. Wow, that was a rough beat. I guess I should expect two-pair, but the board was crap (other than the king).

The letdown I'm feeling right now is enormous. I knew I should have waited to play one of these!!! Ah well, I better not do another one til I win enough to justify it.

Sigh, I really wanna try another one of these. I guess this is how they get ya hooked! Stupid the man. I should just go watch some TiVo and go to bed. I have early work tomorrow. I'm still shaking from that game. Wow, that was intense, wild, and frustrating. I should have been more patient, but the blinds were going up so fast I didn't know what to do!!!...

So yeah, that's enough money lost for tonight. I may only play one session tomorrow, because we're having our poker night!!! I'll let everyone know how that goes afterward. Expect several sessions on Thursday (if my internet connection stays steady). Party on and I'll get revenge on them later!...

[kingnebwsu]

Day 17, Session 1:

Wow, it's been a crazy couple of days! We had poker night last night and only 5 people showed! We shoulda had 7, but 2 of them didn't show I got 4th/5 the first game, and 1st/4 the second game. The first game I really didn't get many good cards and got beat on something I can't even remember. The second game I played really well and it was never even close. It was the kind of game I think I should have all the time, when in reality it was my first win since our FIRST weekly poker game! We'll see how I do next week. We're going to have two games next week I think, one during the week and another on Sunday. One of our fellow players will be bringing his new poker chips to one of them! Man, it's gonna be sweet! He's gonna just let me keep them here, so we can always have them for games. We're also gonna try and bring along another co-worker to the first game next week, as we always need to be recruiting for more players. My brother is going back to school in about 2-3 weeks, and with him goes a guaranteed weekly player. All we'll have left is me and my roomy as definites each time. Two co-workers have done pretty well of showing up and a couple more friends have been around recently, so hopefully we can always have at least five players per session (just like Celebrity Poker!). So yeah, that's kind of a brief summary on where our weekly poker game is.

Celebrity Poker tonight was awful (with Penn Gillette and Kathy Griffin). I've seen almost every episode ever and this was by far the worst. Which is too bad because the other three players at the table were tolerable and in some cases, cool (Ron Livingston).

Sorry about no poker last night, but one of my co-workers hung around late last night. Me and her were chatting until about 4:45 AM. It was a late night for me and I wasn't up for any poker after that. Expect one session per night this weekend.

This is gonna be weird after playing that sit&go the other night. Hopefully I take the lessons I learn from my poker books, from watching poker TV shows, and from my experience in actual games to improve my play. We'll see how I do tonight. My goal is to get up $5.50 again so I can do another sit&go. I'm halfway there already!!!

First Session: Lost $.29
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $.59 Three 8's
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 50 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 3 out 7 times while in small blind (42%)
- 11 out 37 times in other positions (29%)
- a total of 19 out of 50 (38%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 3 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Overall: Up $2.01

Overall thoughts:

(shrug) a totally mediocre session for me. I didn't get many good flop cards, but I should have won all three showdowns. The big one cost me a lot when I had a straight but he had a flush (which he should have folded before the hand even started, then facing my hardcore betting). The other one I had two-pair, but his were just higher. Oh well, I played pretty well after a crappy start, but the cards weren't too nice. I'll make it up tomorrow hopefully!!!

Individual hands:

Crap, I'm down $.14 after 5 hands! Not a good start for me. I need to get into low-limit mindset. I think my brain is still in no-limit mindset from our weekly game and also from Celebrity Poker. I sometimes have a rough start after playing/watching no-limit. Hopefully I'll tighten up and be okay here soon.

Wow, that was weird. I folded A8o in middle position. It was a playable hand but I was trying to tighten up. The turn and river are BOTH aces!!! I woulda had four aces!!! I'm kinda pissed at that one. I think it was the right play, but wow. Four of a kind aces woulda been sweet. That woulda brought me back even. Lousy "right" play pissing me off

Okay okay, I think I've figured it out. Pre-flop raises. Those things are killing me. I shouldn't go for a hand that's been raised pre-flop unless it's a great pocket hand. I use the same judgement whether or not there's a raise, and that's a mistake. I mean, not all the time. I don't usually call a pre-flop raise cold unless I have a great hand. But with a pocket pair, I'll call a pre-flop raise (if it's only $.02 to me) even though that's probably the wrong play. I only flop a set 1/9 times, so that play doesn't make sense unless there are a lot of players. I dunno. I've played in 9/20 hands thus far (45%), which is kinda high. I have had some really playable cards though, but nothing has flopped the right way. In those 9 hands, I've lost $.33. That indicates a lot of pre-flop raising (since I've only made one bet on the flop). Why am I calling those? Twice I called them with pocket pair, and another time I was in the big blind and called it with a QKo. I gotta just take it easy, limp into the hands just the way I like to (when the cards are appropriate), and get some money back.

Nice! I made a great pre-flop fold there. Q4s in middle position. A playable hand later on, but not in the middle. I folded, and there was a raise (which proved my fold was good), then the flop was awful (again showing a good fold). That's the kind of money-saving plays I need to keep making.

I hit my straight on the river, which was awesome...but the other person had been raising and playing with a 57s and they hit their flush. Lousy perfect-perfect cards giving them the best hand. Down $.52 and I think I'm about to bail on this session. My mind isn't into it and I don't wanna keep dropping. That $.68 would have put me back up, and I fully expected to win that hand. Ouch baby.

Hey! I win a $.20 pot after I'm the only one to bet on the flop! I had an A-high flush draw, but nobody would play with me Fine with me, as I recoup a bit of my losses.

BOOM!!! I'm almost even!!! I call with pocket 8's and I flop a set! No cards come that can hurt me, and I bet as much as possible. I sucked two people out on that one with my $.59 win! 37 hands done and I'm only down $.05. I feel better now Man, I'm not a born-gambler. When I'm down, I get crazy and I kinda panic. If only I was rich enough where the money didn't matter, I'd have a lot more fun. I mean, I've been playing this game to learn it, not to win money. It is nice being up for my career, though

Wow, I thought I had that pot, but his pair was slightly higher than mine, and I'm down $.25 this session. I'm going to play some console football tomfoolery pretty soon, so hopefully I can make it back to even soon.

K, that's it for this session. Back for more tomorrow!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 18, Session 1:

I had an early meeting today with the district leader of my work, so I have enough time for a brief game before work! We talked about me running my own store in the semi-near future. It's gonna be cool, cuz that'll mean I'll have more money to gamble with

I just watched the "History of Poker" on the History Channel. It was okay. Nothing too exciting, mostly stuff I already knew. I need college football&hoops to start up so I have sporting events on TV that I wanna watch. 6 weeks from tomorrow...

First Session: Won $.62
Avg. Players 2&7
Biggest Win: $.53 Two Pair
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 51 hands and saw flop:
- 10 out 11 times while in big blind (90%)
- 7 out 13 times while in small blind (53%)
- 4 out 27 times in other positions (14%)
- a total of 21 out of 51 (41%)
Pots won at showdown - 3 of 4 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 11
Overall: Up $2.63

Overall thoughts:

I got lots of good practice with the small tables today. I played lights out and crushed the person in heads-up, and I played just fine at the full table. I'm back to my winning ways, and I'm confident I can hit my $5.50 goal sometime next week. Hopefully I'll play another session tonight.

Individual hands:

2 blinds, 2 post-flop folds. If I stay patient, I can have my first winning session in several days. Three straight losing sessions=kinda frustrating. I'll just relax and let the good hands come to me.

Wow, the table emptied out fast, and I got lots of heads-up practice. I was able to bully my way to lots of hands. Then a third player joined the fun and we maxed out bets several times when I had a pocket pair higher than anything on the board. I was like...wtf does he have? Turns out it was nothing, and I snagged $.53. I won $.50 for the first part of the session (25 hands), but I'm gonna play a full game to see how I do.

Not getting many cards to start the new game, so a few more thoughts on my heads-up action. I was pre-flop raising when I had a decent hand, and most of the time, I was able to steal the big blind. He played way too tight for a heads-up, and the one time he raised my post-flop bet, I knew to fold (even though my hand was pretty solid). Heads-up vs ten-handed are totally different games. I wasn't about to give him any tips, cuz I wanted his cash

Dang! I shouldn't have slowplayed after the river there. Cost me some money. But I still took down $.40 with my A-high flush! It's almost time for work and I'm in a solid position (mostly thanks to my solid short-handed play)

These are some awful cards I'm seeing! I've played 20/50 hands total this session, and at one point I was at like 15/24. Do the math That's 5/26 hands I've played. Go cards!!! It'll all even out when I get pocket aces 5 hands in a row.

That's all for now...time to work!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 18, Session 2:

What a crazy night of work. Lots of personal stuff going down, but now is my chance to put that out of my head and focus on POKER!!! Hopefully I can continue my winning ways from earlier today.

Second Session: Lost $.18
Avg. Players 7
Biggest Win: $.34 N/A 2-pair
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 88 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out 13 times while in big blind (46%)
- 8 out 13 times while in small blind (61%)
- 17 out 62 times in other positions (27%)
- a total of 31 out of 88 (35%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Overall: Up $2.45

Overall thoughts:

By far the best losing session I've ever had. I played really tight, but not aggressive enough. I didn't win super-big pots when I had the best hand. One huge hand made this a losing session when I got an absolute awful beat on an inside straight draw. Ouchness baby. Oh well, I was in the hole deep early, but I almost climbed out of it. I have to be happy with the way I played, even though I didn't come out a winner. NEXT TIME GADGET!!! (meeeeeoooooooooooooow)

Individual hands:

I play the small blind to start out, but lousy flops combined with mediocre hands equal a quick fold. I get A9o on the button, but facing a pre-flop raise, I fold. Like I said before, I'm not a fan of calling pre-flop raises (unless my hand is really solid). That's why I need to work on being more steady pre-flop, and only call in late position (unless I have a hand worth raising early/in the middle).

I just folded a KTo pre-flop in middle position. I really wanted to play it, but the tightness in me said to fold it. I would have had the best hand until the river, when an A showed, giving a guy 2-pair to my K's. Glad I folded and saved myself some money. There were no pre-flop raises, but it was still the right play I think.

3/13 hands played to start out! Glad I'm chatting on IM to keep myself busy

That was a ridiculous beat!!! I flopped a set of 10's and I knew I had the best hand. One dumbass was raising me like crazy and I knew he didn't have anything, because he'd been playing wild all game. The turn came and it was a crap card, then the river gave the board an inside straight draw. I put him all in for $.02, and he had the fucking straight. That $.92 shoulda been mine. That was a ridiculously bad beat...probably one of the worst since I've been playing online. He had ZERO pair, and yet hung with me maxing out the bet after the flop. 17 hands played and I'm down $.53. I gotta stay calm, because I'll make that up.

I make a bit of that up with my AJs, and I flop a J! I'm the last to bet, so I bet each round to put pressure, and after the river card they all fold to me. I'm down $.37 now, which is better than the $.53 I was down a bit ago.

Oh yeah, why did I max the bet against a jerk pre-flop when I had AKo? The board never showed me anything good, and I wisely folded before making any post-flop bets. I lost $.08, but I cut my losses which is very important. I should have just called his $.04 pre-flop bet, since I didn't have a pair in my hand.

I'm down $.44 after 32 hands, even though I'm playing really well. That one hand is all the difference between where I am now and being up $.50. I'm going to be pissed about that hand all night and probably tomorrow too

This table has been full all game, and it's suddenly down to six players! It may be time to look for greener pastures...or to work on my short-hand game

These jerks keep raising me when I'm in the big blind. Where are my free looks at the flop?

Boy, I keep dropping. I raise pre-flop and I get a re-raise from a dude holding a J7o!!!?!?!? It's like wtf seriously. Someone needs a good kick in the balls or something. He won because he got everyone to fold, even though my two-pair woulda won it. I folded after the flop. I'm doing what I did last week, folding too quickly. I bet I woulda won that hand.

J4s in the big blind and I got raised pre-flop, so I folded. The flop has two 4's, and I'm pissed. Everything is coming up against me! Stupid the man.

I take down a modest $.28 pot with a pair of K's. Wow, this one guy is raising pre-flop EVERY time. It's wild. I'm down $.50, and I'm about to throw in the towel. This session is pissing me off, and I'm one bad beat away from being UP $.50. It's weird how one big hand can change a whole session. Wow, that jerk got beat and is now down for the session, and he sits out. What's a matter, a bully can't take a punch back?!?

AJo, I'm on the button and in good shape...right? WRONG! I get an ace on the flop, but it's totally suited. I appropriately fold, even though nobody had the flush.

I'm starting to get some love back from the cards! I have AT in position, so I get a T on the flop and I knock it down to a heads-up. I get another T on the turn, and I force another bet, then I get an A on the river! I get a full boat, say "boom" and collect my $.31. 58 hands done and I'm only down $.23. This is a pretty great session by me, and I'm really close to being up $.70. Such is poker I guess. See how I don't ever let things go?

Three hands in a row with an ace, but each of them contains either a 3/4/5, aka fold me!!!

ATs gets me a flush draw on the flop, but it never materializes and I fold. I should seriously bail on this session, as it's apparent I'm not going to have a winning one.

AKs gets a 789o flop, so I fold. Did I mention I lost on a bad beat about 90 minutes ago??? Letting things go is my specialty.

I'm playing tight&aggressive today, but not aggressive enough. My opponents aren't really paying when I get good hands. I've won less than $.10 TWICE when I had the nuts. That's no love from my opponents.

Yeah, this is my last go around for the evening. Back tomorrow night hopefully.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 18, Session 3:

Boy, it's been a long day, and I can't sleep. I just watched a great episode of Inside the Actors Studio, and it's inspired me. I'm quite tired from a semi-early day for me (1 PM wakeup ), but I'm gonna play a bit of poker before I zzz.

Looking at my showdown win % today, I'm really impressed. Lights out play from me today, and I've had a slightly winning day. I got screwed on that ONE hand last session but otherwise I've done quite well. Stupid the man and his inside straight draw! (shakes fist)

Third Session: Won $1.21
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $1.12 Full House!!!
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 57 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 6 times while in big blind (50%)
- 4 out 6 times while in small blind (66%)
- 8 out 45 times in other positions (17%)
- a total of 15 out of 57 (26%)
Pots won at showdown - 4 of 5 (80%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Overall: Up $3.66

Overall thoughts:

This may have been my best overall day of poker yet. I played quite well, and I was really close to winning almost $3 for the day! Instead, I'll settle with what I got, which is pretty fantastic. $1.84 til I play my sit&go! I think I may try to play it in the afternoon when my roommate can watch me and give me some tips (aka keep me level-headed and not freak out when the blinds go up). If I keep playing like this, maybe I should move up to the $.05/$.10 tables and see how I do. Oh well, I'm out for tonight, catch y'all later!!!

Individual hands:

Wow, a three-way split on a full house to start the game! That was quite a hand, even though I wasn't part of it. I quickly switch tables, as it's hard to find a good full table after 6 AM

0/8 to start out! This is time well spent Hey, A4s and I play it. I flop a flush draw, and I milk $.12 into the pot, but I don't hit my flush. It's okay, because the pot odds were fantastic, and if I hit it I woulda won over $.70. Oh well, 35% of the time I hit the flush, it just didn't happen this time. Gotta spend money to make money in the long run. I'll hit the flush one of the next two times!

Wow! I take down consecutive pots! The first one was checked around 3 times until I bet on the river. I got one caller and won with my sad and lonely two pair. $.20 was worth it though. The next time I flopped the highest pair and then I turned a second pair. Everyone ended up folding to me and I won $.37! I'm up for this brief session, so maybe I should bail now and go to sleep Nuts to that!...I'm going to the movies (Simpsons reference).

Good ol' collusion. Two people are tipping each other's hands. I know it's for all to see, but it's still annoying. I E-mailed PokerStars cuz I'm a party pooper and a baby. It's funny, cuz they're picking up on each other. Ahhhhh, internet love...how sad

I flopped a set, but got minimal action and only took down $.14 before everyone folded. I did what I could (shrug). There were 6 players post-flop, but they all bailed like it was the Titanic. What can ya do? I got another pocket pair, but this time I didn't get a set, so I folded.

Who raises out of the small blind? Ah yes, the person who's in collusion with another one. Fun times. She ended up folding right after the flop.

Boy, I'm really itching to do another sit&go. As soon as I hit up $5.50, I'm gonna bail on that session and sign up for one I'm just about halfway there right now, up about $2.70. I can't start doing it before I have the cash earned though, cuz that will be setting a bad precedent.

Ouch! I folded an inside straight draw, then the card came on the turn! I mean, there were only 2 opponents, so the pot odds weren't right to play the hand. Ah well, we would have split the pot 3-ways, so I didn't lose that much by folding.

Sometimes it's hard to see people win with inferior hands, or win with crappy pocket cards. The latter drives me nuts. It's like, you raised with a 23o??? You're insane!!! People holding out for the slimmest of hopes (inside straight draws) pay dearly to do so sometimes. Ah well, more money for me the 90% of the time they don't hit their super-cards (but that 10% is wild, such is poker).

$1.12 ON ONE HAND!!! A NEW RECORD!!! ! That was crazy. The dude next to me raised like crazy, even though I had the highest pair on the board (with a medium kicker). Then I got 2-pair on the turn, and knew I had the best hand possible at the time (even though the board had 3 potential straight cards). The river came which gave me a FULL HOUSE!!! I couldn't believe it. We maxed out the betting once again, and I showed him my nuts Wowowowowowowow!!! What a rush. I kinda lost my voice from yelling there. Amazing stuff. Those cards help to balance out the universe from my crappy hand earlier tonight. That's the last I'll bitch about that hand, as now the universe has balanced itself out

I think that's a sign I need to get the hell out while I still can. I just took a small hit to go down to +$.85 for the session. I'll take one more free ride until the blinds are due, then I'll bail. Gotta know when to quit eh. Glad I stuck around though, cuz I was at +.15 to +.25 for about 30 hands this session. Just gotta stay patient and then STRIKE!

It's funny sometimes, because rich jackasses will join the penny room to show off their $50,000. Ya know, I'd respect that money a lot more if you weren't such an asshole Oh well, I took some of the asshole's money, $.50 to be exact. That's enough for now! I'll take those winnings and bail

[kingnebwsu]

Day 19, Session 1:

Ahhh, last night was an awful night for sleep. I got hardly any, and I have to be up early again tomorrow (11:30 AM is early for me! ). I'll probably play one solid session tonight and that's about it. Two poker dates next week, the first on either M/Th and the other on Sunday. Should be good times! I can't wait to see the new chips (druuuuuel).

I'm beginning to agree with the people who say that low-limit poker is more of a science and no-limit poker is an art. When I play tight & aggressive, I almost always have a winning session. When I don't, my sessions are usually mediocre. We'll see how I play tonight.

One more thing...about the collusion I reported last night. I got a response back from PokerStars and here it is...

"Hello,

Thank you for reporting this incident. I have advised these players of the
poor etiquette they showed and asked them to refrain from making similar
comments in the future. I deem these comments to be rather innocent and
that they are not aware of proper etiquette so no further action was taken
against them.

Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Best regards,

Matt
PokerStars Support Team"

Hehe, kinda funny it is Not that I'm a big party pooper, but the two potential lovebirds were pissing me off last night. Oh well, I noted their files, and that's all that one man can do (shrug). I hope I never see them again It's weird, because there are about 10-20 regular players I see in the smaller games. I really like having the images to remember them by (unless it's awful, in which case I kick it in the nuts).

First Session: Won $2.06
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $1.04 A-high flush!
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 77 hands and saw flop:
- 9 out 11 times while in big blind (81%)
- 2 out 11 times while in small blind (18%)
- 7 out 55 times in other positions (12%)
- a total of 18 out of 77 (23%)
Pots won at showdown - 6 of 8 (75%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Overall: Up $5.72

Overall thoughts:

Probably the best session I've ever played. I played very tight and very aggressive. Nobody was able to matchup with me this time. I think I may try a brief session at the $.05/$.10 tables, instead of doing the sit&go. Playing at the slightly higher tables has more long-term financial gain than the riskier (but more fun) sit&go's. I think I'm gonna take $2.50 to a bigger table and see how long I can hang around for. Just gonna get a taste of what it's like at that level.

Individual hands:

Boom! I take down $.76 with a full house! I had pocket Q's on the button, and I flopped a set. I feared a straight from one guy, since the board was AQT, so I only called his bet after the turn. The river gave me the nuts, so I raised his bet, and he called. If the board didn't have the icky straight draw, I would have won over a dollar. Oh well, a solid start to this session!!!

Again...BOOM!!! I take down $.36 with my pocket K's! The board never shows anything higher than a T, and I win with two pair. I was in the big blind, but I raised pre-flop, then led the bidding each round, til it was heads-up. I didn't want people drawing out on me (in the end an inside straight draw was on the board). I crushed their souls!!! This table is down to 5 people, so I may move on.

Wow! I take down another $.42 pot! That's 3/3 on pots in my 18 hands thus far. I'm up $.96! Go me!!! I flopped the highest pair with a Q kicker. The board paired up on the turn, and it got me nervous, so I check-called the last two rounds. It turned out he only had ONE stinking pair, and I appropriately crushed his soul. Eat my shorts young man!!!

This is probably the best start I've had in a long while. There's the session where I only played 2/10 hands and won $1.00, but that was the biggest fluke ever. I'll take this session where it's going. I gotta stay patient and not force the action. Odds are I may not win another pot for 50 hands, but I can't get frustrated, or else I'll drop bigtime. What a great start though!!!

5/27 (18%) hands played thus far. That's really a low %, but I've had some fantastic flop cards, and have won appropriately. 3 hands won out of 5 played=not too shabby.

$.96 win with my pocket A's! I ended up with two-pair, A's and 2's. A dude raised me when the board paired, and I feared trips. But he just had two pair, which were crappy compared to my two pair. I'm now up $1.50 for this session!!! 9/41 hands played, and I'm 4/5 on showdowns. I just lost a crap showdown when he got a set on the turn. That was totally weak and I missed out on $.54. I couldn't even imagine being perfect on showdowns, but oh well. I still made the right play I think. Looking at my numbers, one could say I'm playing too tight. I'd beg to differ. The big difference between this session and others I've played, is that I'm folding to many pre-flop raises. That's a place where you can lose a lot of money (unless you have a hand worth playing of course). I used to play questionable hands facing the pre-flop raise, but this session especially I'm really paying attention to that and not pumping money pre-flop unless I have a very legit hand that justifies it.

I folded 56s in middle position, and the flop had two 6's on it I feared the pre-flop raise, so I made the right move. Wow, the turn was a 5, so I woulda had a full boat! The hand is getting plenty of action since the other card out there is an ace.

Dagnabit. I had an open-ended straight draw, and I was the next-to-last to bet on the turn, so I called the bet, and the jerk behind me raised!!! I called it (since everyone else did), but the river was no help and I bailed. Lousy raisers I made the right move at first, because if I hit my straight, it would have made everyone else pay.

This is the best session ever! What a rush I'm on!!! I just took down a $1.04 pot with my A-high flush! There was a lot of action, and I was chasing a straight draw, and the pot odds made sense. Then on the turn, I got a flush draw, so I had to play it out. I slow-played the end and got some extra cash from everyone. That was awesome. I almost had a ROYAL FLUSH!!! I won with AKQJ9 of spades. That's as close to a royal flush as I'll get in this lifetime I guess I'll just be content to be up $2.19 (!!!) this session This is awesome. I'm gonna see how much longer I can ride this rush out. I'm just riding the cards I'm given, and (generally) betting smart. This is unbe-frickin-leavable.

I almost went for a sit&go, but in 2 minutes it went from 4 people to full, so oh well. That's probably better for my money. It's now protected from being hijacked when I lose another sit&go. They're so much fun though. I think I'll be better next time I do one, as long as I don't panic. I started to panic last time when the blinds kept on rising. It was my first time, and I was in 2nd place until I started freaking. I don't think I can be as conservative as I am in the regular games, but I don't need to panic either.

My best session ever is when I won $2.29. If I take down one more pot, I'm gonna walk, as this will set a new record for my best session ever. Oh no...a sit&go session is starting to fill up again. Must...not...do it yet. I should wait til tomorrow, and make that my reward for tomorrow night.

I seriously should move up to the $.05/$.10 tables. I need to decide if I wanna do that, or to burn my $5.50 at a sit&go.

Argh, it's filling up, and I may cave in and go for it.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 19, Session 2:

Okay, I'm going to waste my money at a bigger table ($.05/$.10) instead of playing a sit&go. This will be my first experience at any table other than the $.02/$.04. I need to focus on the games, and not the amount of money I'll be betting. The big dollars will get me all wide-eyed and scared for a while, but hopefully I can adjust quickly and start making money at this level. Even if I blow all $3 I'm bringing to the table, today will still almost be break-even

Second Session: Lost $.36
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $.65 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 63 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 8 times while in big blind (37%)
- 3 out 8 times while in small blind (37%)
- 6 out 47 times in other positions (12%)
- a total of 12 out of 63 (19%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 2
Totals: Up $11.22--$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $5.50-Sit&Go
Down $.36--$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $5.36

Overall thoughts:

I broke down my +/- by individual tables, to better illustrate how I play in each location. I played pretty solid at the higher table tonight, but I didn't get any card love and therefore had a losing session. It was fine, because I was playing pretty well. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some sweet loving from the cards

Individual hands:

Wow, I'm quickly down $.35!!! How exciting!!! I had pocket Q's in the big blind, so I raised pre-flop and got 3 opponents. I bet after the flop when there was nothing high, and they all stayed in. Then the turn card was a K, and some dude raised. I foolishly called his raise and the river was no help, so everyone folded. I would have had 2 pair, but I think his cards had me beat.

I've only played 1 of the last 10 hands, and I shouldn't have even played that one (Q9o in the small blind). I'm biding my time before I strike and drain these people of their hard-earned money. Victory must be mine!!!

I move to another table. I've only seen 15% of the flops thus far, and yet I'm down $.55. That $.35 hand plus blinds is all it's pretty much been so far. I gotta let the cards come to me. They're recovering from the rush of the last session

I get pocket J's but a K comes on the flop. It gets checked around 1.5 times before I bet. People only call me, so I bet again on the river and everyone folds. I take down a moderate $.60 pot. It's weird, because on the smaller table that would have been $.24. This table is 2.5 times bigger, but I can't think of it that way (while playing). I'm only down $.10 now, so I'm in just fine position. When do I move up to the $50/$100 tables???

Tonight's been a weird night. Even though I'm hardly playing any hands, I have yet to see a hand that I folded where I would have won. That means my folded cards aren't getting lucky, which is fine by me (though I think they would take exception ).

Wow, I took down $.65 there with a full house! I had QKo in the small blind, so I paid the extra to see the flop and I got a Q! I led the betting each round, seeing another Q&K as the final two cards. The one dude called me each time. I didn't try to slow-play, I just played simple, straight-forward, and aggressive, and I got the maximum cash for it.

I'm still waiting for my first big hand at the new table, where I'll take down like two dollars or something. I may wake up my roommate when I cheer for that one It may not come tonight, but I don't care. I'm playing break-even at a new table, which is just fine for the first night.

It's fun when you're balancing your rush by getting hand after hand of crappy cards. All part of the poker universe. I've only played 9/50 hands thus far (18%). I can't get impatient in this style of poker, or else I'll start losing bigtime. These last 2 days have been 2 of the tightest days of poker yet (the rod up that man's butt must have a rod up its' butt!). That's your Simpsons quote for today!

Well, I did just fold the best hand there. I was first to act out of 6 people, so I checked. There was a bet and a raise, so I folded the lowest pair on the board. The board later paired with the middle pair and the winner only had a pair of 7's?!?!? I mean, how could a guy raise without even a frickin' pair? Oh well, such is the realm of $.05/$.10 online poker!!!

Well, I'm folding in the small blind, and I think this may be my last go-around for the night. Hope I get at least one playable hand before it's all over.

Got a couple of decent hands, but folded after crappy flops. That's all for tonight!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 20, Session 1:

Almost 3 weeks since I started playing online, and I'm still having a blast with it! I'm going to try playing at the $.05/$.10 tables again tonight, and hopefully I'll do better than last night. My play has gotten to be pretty solid over the last several days. Hopefully I continue it tonight and take home some cash.

I just wanna mention a quick note. Me and my roomy tried to play a free sit&go at absolute poker today and it wouldn't let us since we have the same IP! I mean, that's a great security measure...but for a free game? I guess it'd be a pain to have different security for different games, but that kinda sucks. We love playing no-limit holdem, but apparently it will be relegated to our weekly poker games

First Session: Won $.12
Avg. Players 9
Biggest Win: $1.19 Two Pair
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 54 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 6 times while in big blind (50%)
- 1 out 6 times while in small blind (16%)
- 9 out 42 times in other positions (21%)
- a total of 13 out of 54 (24%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 1 (100%)
Totals:Up $11.22--$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $5.50-Sit&Go
Down $.24--$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $5.48

Overall thoughts:

Not a bad session. I played pretty well, though I made some middle position pre-flop calls that I shouldn't have (cuz they were raised). I'm not really in the mood to poker tonight for some reason. I think my anticipation for ESPN football is too high I'll be snagging it on Wed. and I'll be off all-day Thursday, playing it like crazy. Good times!!!

Individual hands:

Alrighty, my second night of playing bigger-time poker. Hopefully I can have a winning session tonight. Victory will be mine!!!

Wow, I've already folded TWO winning hands pre-flop. The first time it was JTo on the button facing a raise. I woulda won with J's. Just now I had Q8s in the middle, and the board gave me JT9, and I woulda had a straight! Again, I was facing a pre-flop raise with a decent hand, so I folded. There weren't enough players to justify a straight/flush chase.

Wow, that was weird. I had pocket K's and was the 3rd to act pre-flop and I raised. EVERYONE folded. That would have never happened at the smaller tables. I only netted an extra $.07. Should I have just called and hoped that someone behind me would raise? I guess that's what I have to do if there are a lot of people who would have to call my raise cold. Gotta let the pot warmup a bit so the people feel inclined to just put in one more bet. I'll need to adapt my style to the higher stakes.

Another person raised in early position pre-flop, and two people called him. Wish I had two callers with my pocket K's Or maybe I don't, because an ace would have hurt that hand bigtime.

Only 32% of players have seen the flop at this table. That's way lower than normal. It was about 55% when I became the 10th person at the table. My 8% of flops seen is really dragging everyone down The other full tables at this level are averaging about 50%, so I know I'm in a low-action table. Maybe I should move on where people are playing loose enough for me to exploit them

I've played like 3 of the last 5 hands, but it's been "flop unkind" to me. Stupid flops...who invented these?

Um, wow. I just accidentally took down a $.45 with zero pair! I had AQs pre-flop, and it got checked around post-flop 1.5 times and I bet for the hell of it. One guy called and 3 folded. After the river I bet again and he folded. I'm only down $.02 after 25 hands, which is pretty solid. I've taken down 2 very moderate pots and I'm still about even. I wonder how I'll do when I actually win a REAL pot???

YES! I win a pot!!! $1.19 I take down with 2-pair and it's my biggest pot ever! I was in late position with the second-best pair on the low board, so I called the guy in front of me. 3 opponents also called. The turn paired up the board and the same guy bet, so I RAISED to make it look like I had just hit a set. That got all but the original bettor to fold. The river gave the board another crappy card, so I bet and he called me. I figured I was beat with the second-highest pair, but he had a flush draw that didn't hit, so I took down the pot. I need to be aware of people leading off the betting after a 2-suited flop, having only a flush draw. I need to be more attentive Up $.39 after 39 hands is still pretty solid though.

(Shrug) not many exciting hands, so my interest is waning. I may try a sit&go tonight, maybe even a no-limit one if I'm feeling brave. I'm gonna watch some of the single tables and see how they play it. Maybe back later with a sit&go story

[kingnebwsu]

Day 20, Session 2:

Ahhh, why not. I'm gonna do a no-limit sit&go. I may learn something as long as I don't play stupid. It takes a full hour before antes are required in wagering, so I don't need to be in a huge rush. The no-limit thing makes it so I can be more aggressive when I have good hands, but it's also higher risk. I'll probably be too scared to steal many pots C'mon top 3 and some money back...that's all I want!!!

Overall thoughts/Individual hands:

My heart is racing and I'm nervous as hell!!!

AJo, so I call out of the big blind then fold after the flop. Don't wanna go all-in just yet

Expect less notes from me here, as I need to be paying more attention to what's happening on the table.

Wow, that's awful. Some idiot goes all-in with a straight draw while the other guy already has it. Sadly the board becomes a straight and they split the all-in pot.

The dude who shoulda lost before, just did after chasing a flush draw to hell. Sadly, he gave the most aggressive player yet all his chips, now I'm scared. This is kinda like the last sit&go, where there's one guy I'm afraid of. He's a bully, so hopefully I can get a hand to fight back with. He's raising pre-flop all the time now that he's doubled up on the rest of us suckers.

He's won 5 recent pots, and only had a showdown on one of those (vs the idiot).

I'm tied for 4th as the blinds go up after 10 minutes of play. Gotta keep it cool.

Another guy gets bounced after going all-in with K's and a 4-kicker. He got beat by a dude who hit his flush draw.

I played the first 2 hands, but since I've folded 12 hands in a row. Maybe one more hand I could have played but didn't. Cards are cold now, but I'll get good cards soon enough (I hope).

Enough paragraphs for y'all???

Dagnabit...I called a dude's semi-big bet and he had a straight when I had a set. That knocks me down to $645 and puts me in a real bad spot. It was the bully who did that, which is why I called. If it was anyone else, I probably would have folded. He's been playing crap hands all game, and this time I got burned with crappy pocket cards.

Oh well, I just won a small pot with 2-pair.

Blinds going up with me in serious shit, in 7th/7 with $650 (we all started with $1500). That stupid hand I shouldn't have called...argh. He only needed one card for his straight, and I should have folded. Lousy bullies confusing me

I just gotta pick a hand and try to double up, so I don't get blinded out.

THE BULLY LOST A HAND! Now he's in 2nd place. That doesn't really help me at all. I chased a straight draw and now I'm down to $450. The next hand I play will be all-in or bust. Sigh...I wish I wasn't in this position

I SURVIVED!!! KT v A6 and I got a T on the river!!! I'm up to $1075 and back in this game! THANK YOU CARDS!!!

Whew, I stole a pot with K's and a low kicker. I'm at $1425 and I need to take a breather. My heart is gonna explode I'm in 5th out of 7, but one good hand and I'll be in great shape. At least I won't get blinded out anytime soon. This is a lot more stressful than our weekly poker games

That bully has sure simmered down since he got beat earlier. I'd laugh at him, except I was one lucky card away from being out and pissed right now.

Fuck, I'm out. 6th place for me. I went all-in with an AJ, and the fucking bully had an AK. Argh, that's awful. He had been playing so aggressive, there's no way he had the cards all the time. Sadly, he had the cards each time he played me. I lost two heads-up hands against him, and the last one was fatal. No more poker for tonight. I accidentally quit before saving the stats, but I only played like 25% of the hands, which I don't think is enough for a sit&go. The cards weren't great, but oh well. I need to learn how to play the people better, instead of playing the cards. I need to bluff more and not play so damn timid. Oh well, next time I guess. For now I'm essentially back to where I started as far as money goes.

Being pissed at poker is a nice distraction from being worried about my personal life

[GoldenEagle]

Remeber that no limit and low limit are two completely different games.

[RPI-Fan]

Just wanted to comment how much I enjoy reading...

Great stuff, keep it up!
~rpi-fan

[kingnebwsu]

Yeah, I know they're two different games, but I was looking to get a little no-limit practice in (though I shouldn't have paid for it). Later last night, I played a free sit&go on Absolute Poker and I just dominated everyone. I mean, it wasn't even close. I played aggressive and successfully bluffed several times. Every time they called me, I won and every time they didn't, I had nothing. I know the free players on AP don't compare to the real players on PokerStars, but I think for all my future sit&go needs, I'll just play NL Holdem at Absolute. It'll save me a lot of money

I'm up like $11 at the regular tables, but I've lost all of that at 2 sit&go's. I shouldn't get frustrated though, because I should be able to recoup more money at the regular tables. Poker night in 2 days, and I can't wait. I have to work now, but I should be up for some more poker tonight.

Again, I appreciate the tips/thoughts from everyone...I'll try not to disappoint you guys as I move forward in my dynasty I think from now on I shouldn't play no-limit holdem for money. That game will take me a long time to master, because I don't have the balls to bluff like crazy (yet). When we play our for fun weekly game, I bluff a whole lot more than I ever would online.

I think something that helped my play last night at AP is that I played the game like it was with fake money. I mean, it made me comfortable to be bluffing a lot more, and I also played more relaxed. I think those two factors significantly improved my play. If I didn't get so hung up when I played "real money" games, I would probably play better.

Ah well, hopefully I can get a dollar back tonight at the $.05/$.10. I have yet to have a really successful session at that level. We'll see...

[kingnebwsu]

Day 21, Session 1:

I'm waiting for the big blind at a $.05/$.10 table. I really need to stay patient, get my head on straight, and play some solid poker tonight. That's going to be tougher than normal, because my personal&professional lives are super-crazy right now. Professionally, I'm going to become a MIT (manager in training) starting next week. That means I'll go through several weeks of training, and if everything goes according to plan, I'll start running my own store sometime in August! It also means I'll be leaving the store where I've worked at for 5 years. That's a long time to work at one place. I started out at the bottom, worked my way up to asst. manager and now possibly a store manager. This sure is exciting, but it's also very very scary&nerve-wracking. Also, my mom is getting ready to move from Dayton, Ohio (just down the street from me) to Charleston, SC. That's also happening next week. All this in addition to the fact that I may be hooking up with a girl (my first hook-up in several years), and my life is CHAOS right now!!! So yeah, things are very crazy right now. Hopefully poker can be a relaxing thing for me to play in my spare time (along with ESPN football that comes out this week!!!).

Sorry about not posting the stats on last night's sit&go. I quit out so fast that I forgot to save the info. I was pissed at myself for getting beat by a damn bully. Makes me ANGRY!!! I'm now down overall so hopefully I can get some back tonight.

First Session: Down $2.23
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $.69 Straight
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 81 hands and saw flop:
- 12 out 12 times while in big blind (100%)
- 4 out 12 times while in small blind (33%)
- 9 out 57 times in other positions (15%)
- a total of 25 out of 81 (30%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 7 (14%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Totals: Up $11.22---$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00-Sit&Go
Down $2.47---$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Down $2.25

Overall thoughts:

Wow, either the people at these tables are a lot better, or I'm not getting any cards, or I'm just playing like shit I'll lean toward the latter one (especially in the hand where I lost over a dollar) and also concede the middle one a bit. My tight & aggressive play doesn't work if I don't get enough cards to be aggressive. But tonight's session boiled down to 3 showdowns: one I had no business being in (should have folded), and 2 where I had ridiculously bad beats. Without those 3 hands, I played slightly on the plus-side. If I would have won both those "bad-beat" pots, I probably would have only lost $1.00 tonight (including that awful hand and everything).

Maybe I need a reprieve from online poker or something. I'm getting pissed at the way I'm playing and also at the cards I'm seeing. Maybe I should drop back down to the baby tables to help me get my head focused back on poker (and away from my personal/professional frenzy). I'm sure I'll play another session tomorrow night, but then later this week I'll be helping mom move and also be playing ESPN Football. I hate to disappoint dynasty readers, but I need to change something this week. Expect maybe 5 sessions scattered throughout the rest of the week (along with my summaries of the two poker nights we're having). Party on to everyone and I'll probably be back tomorrow!

Individual hands:

Wow, I played the first two hands, and got hit on the second hand. I'm quickly down $.35. I had the highest pair on the board, so I led off the betting out of the small blind, which got half the players to fold. I bet again on the turn, even though the board was an open-ended straight draw. Nobody raised, so I felt pretty good. I bet again on the river, and everyone folded but one guy, who called me with the straight. I mean, why didn't he raise me when he had the nuts straight? He was in position and everyone had already dumped a bet into the pot. He didn't even raise me at the end?...why was that? Was it because I had led the betting the whole way? I still would have raised with the straight he had. Oh well, it wasn't a bad play but it still wasn't that great of a play. 2/2 on hands played will probably become 2/10 here soon Gotta stay patient.

Hehe, it became 3/10 actually I've gotten some decent cards, including a straight draw and KQ pocket, but nothing yet.

Wow, I blew half my load on that hand. I flopped a set of J's, but the board had a straight draw. I suspected a straight from 2 guys, because they were betting like crazy. I stupidly called their maxed out bets after the flop, turn, AND river. That was my own stupid fault and I'm now down $1.57 for the session. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was I thinking? Two guys maxing out the bets indicates at least ONE straight. DUH!!! Miso stupid. The lead bettor had the straight, not the guy who kept raising (dumbass had only two pair). Why would you raise on a board like that with two pair...especially after the other dude re-raised you several times? Stupid stupid stupid me. I'm still recovering from last night, where I wasn't trying to be bullied.

Pocket K's...c'mon. Sigh, everyone folds after the flop and I only snag $.37. Baby steps to get me my money back (you bitch! ). Now I'm down $1.30 after 17 hands. Why did I max out those fools' bets? I'm not in a sit&go, and I shouldn't play like I am

Wow, that was awful. A crappy river card gave this one dude a straight when I thought I had a legit shot to win that hand. I'm down $1.74 after 26 hands...and things are going GREAT!!!...

Hey, I got a straight on the river and took down a decent pot of $.69! I had to split the larger part with another guy. I'm glad we both raised to the max after the river, cuz another dope pumped in an extra $.40 ($.20 each). 36 hands done and I'm now down $1.37.

Well, that hand was no good. I flopped top pair (T's), and it was the top pair until the river. I felt pretty good since nobody raised my river bet. In the heads-up showdown, he had T's and 9's while I only had T's with a Q-kicker. Ouchness baby. 40 hands done and I'm down $1.67. Maybe I should go back to the baby tables

AKo pre-flop so I raise and three people call. A sad flop comes, so I bet first again. Everyone folds. Behold the power of the pre-flop raise! I only snag $.42, but it's still better than nothing. Right now I'm only down what I lost in that one stupid stupid STUPID hand. Lousy me

A whole lotta nuthin' going on right now. 64 hands done and I'm down $1.77. That one hand totally killed me this game. I'm still shaking my head about it. I bet if I were in another chair I would have been yelling at me for maxing it out with two other people. Unless you have the nuts, you should always fold facing two guys maxing out their bets like that. Let them sling mud at each other while you stand back. Or something

It's just not my night. I have top pair and bet strong the whole way while the final opponent had bottom pair but got TWO-pair on the fucking river. Argh argh argh! Why did he keep calling me the whole time when he had bottom pair? He didn't have any draws. WTF...this is not my night at all. 74 hands and I'm down over $2. Ridiculous. My showdown % (1/7) is awful tonight. I really thought I had 2-3 more showdowns won, and I also thought I had a chance at several more of them (and 2 of them were checked around 3 times, cuz I had zero hand after the big blind). Without the 2 BB showdowns and without the 2 legitimately bad beats, I'm only 1/3. That one stupid hand that cost me over a dollar still stings though. I'm seriously about to bail, because all signs are pointing to a crappy session at the $.05/$.10 tables...

Gee I just flopped bottom pair...maybe I should play it to the river to get the winning card???

Bitter? Yup...bit him too (cough).

Yeah, screw it. I ain't paying those damn blinds again. Maybe I'll do better tomorrow...

[Radii]

Wow, I blew half my load on that hand. I flopped a set of J's, but the board had a straight draw. I suspected a straight from 2 guys, because they were betting like crazy. I stupidly called their maxed out bets after the flop, turn, AND river. That was my own stupid fault and I'm now down $1.57 for the session. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was I thinking? Two guys maxing out the bets indicates at least ONE straight. DUH!!! Miso stupid. The lead bettor had the straight, not the guy who kept raising (dumbass had only two pair). Why would you raise on a board like that with two pair...especially after the other dude re-raised you several times? Stupid stupid stupid me. I'm still recovering from last night, where I wasn't trying to be bullied.

I would call this down to the river almost every time. I would also help cap the flop. *most* of the time you flop a set, even with a straight on the board, your hand will be good. In this case, if you throw in an extra raise on the flop while it's getting capped, *maybe* that slows down the guy with two pair and he won't keep capping(maybe he will and you're just screwed, but I'd raise/cap the flop with my set anyway). If the board pairs you win, assuming you have the top set.

Once you get to the river and the board doesn't pair, then you have to decide how reliably you can put one of them on a straight and decide whether to make the crying-call all the way down or whether to fold. But with two opponents and a set I will 99% of the time call it down to the river. The times that you'll make a boat and win the huge pot + the occasional times that you'll be up against crazy low limit players who don't have anything near that strong make worth it IMO.

If you have stuff going on outside of work that's affecting you emotionally, be careful with poker. The single worst poker I ever played was after I got dumped. Poker was my only big hobby at the time, so I drowned myself in it, and I lost a shitload of money because I wasn't playing wiht my head screwed on straight. If you can keep your head clear and play well though then it's a great escape, you have to be able to objectively judge yourself


- 12 out 12 times while in big blind (100%)

holy crap that's pretty How many times do you call a raise out of your blind? If I could find a 2/4 game where I could see a flop out of my big blind every time, i'd be in heaven! niiiice passive table.

[Malificent]

king,

Something you're not mentioning in your posts that I'm curious about is the size of these pots when the people suck out on you. Something I've learned recently about playing these low limit games is that because there are so many limpers before the flop, that the odds are almost ALWAYS there to see the turn if you catch any piece of the flop. I was folding WAY too often with middle pair because I had monster under the bed syndrome and I was sure that I was beat. Sometimes I was, but even when I was, I often had the odds to draw to try and improve.

[kingnebwsu]

Originally Posted by Malificent

king,

Something you're not mentioning in your posts that I'm curious about is the size of these pots when the people suck out on you. Something I've learned recently about playing these low limit games is that because there are so many limpers before the flop, that the odds are almost ALWAYS there to see the turn if you catch any piece of the flop. I was folding WAY too often with middle pair because I had monster under the bed syndrome and I was sure that I was beat. Sometimes I was, but even when I was, I often had the odds to draw to try and improve.

Yeah, the "monster under the bed" syndrome is a problem I'm working to get over. That's why I played out the huge pot with the set of J's...cuz I felt I had a pretty solid hand. I got beat, but only one of the two crazy bettor's had the straight (the other only had two-pair, which was insane).

As for the size of the pots...hmmm...I'll try and post that more. I usually try and post the amounts of the important pots that I lose. I'll try and remember to do it more often.

Originally Posted by Radii

I would call this down to the river almost every time. I would also help cap the flop. *most* of the time you flop a set, even with a straight on the board, your hand will be good. In this case, if you throw in an extra raise on the flop while it's getting capped, *maybe* that slows down the guy with two pair and he won't keep capping(maybe he will and you're just screwed, but I'd raise/cap the flop with my set anyway). If the board pairs you win, assuming you have the top set.

Once you get to the river and the board doesn't pair, then you have to decide how reliably you can put one of them on a straight and decide whether to make the crying-call all the way down or whether to fold. But with two opponents and a set I will 99% of the time call it down to the river. The times that you'll make a boat and win the huge pot + the occasional times that you'll be up against crazy low limit players who don't have anything near that strong make worth it IMO.

If you have stuff going on outside of work that's affecting you emotionally, be careful with poker. The single worst poker I ever played was after I got dumped. Poker was my only big hobby at the time, so I drowned myself in it, and I lost a shitload of money because I wasn't playing wiht my head screwed on straight. If you can keep your head clear and play well though then it's a great escape, you have to be able to objectively judge yourself


- 12 out 12 times while in big blind (100%)

holy crap that's pretty How many times do you call a raise out of your blind? If I could find a 2/4 game where I could see a flop out of my big blind every time, i'd be in heaven! niiiice passive table.

Yeah, the big blind % was the only reason my flops seen % was so high.

As for the personal life, I may need to take a break from poker. ESPN comes out tomorrow, so maybe I'll just play that for a while. Poker has a hold on me, so I'll still play at least several times a week, but maybe not 800 hands/week I need to step back and calm myself. My personal & professional lives are absolutely nuts right now, so I gotta keep it together.

As for calling the set the whole way, I was hoping to get a full boat. I did the numbers before I made the call, and it made sense to go for it. I should have redone the math after getting no love though. (Shrug) I'll learn more as I continue to play and also as I get great advice from you guys

I'll maybe have a session tonight. I just spent the whole afternoon on the phone, so I should have some time tonight.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 22

So I couldn't resist playing one more session of Holdem before I get ESPN football. I'm bored out of my mind tonight, waiting to hang out with my buddies tomorrow, and also have poker night! Also, I'll be getting ESPN football and then I have more social plans on Thursday. Is it Wed. morning yet? I need sleep bad, but odds are I won't get tired anytime soon.

I also think I have a splinter in my thumb, which could hinder my ESPN play tomorrow!!! Hopefully it'll fix itself soon (is it a pimple or a boil? Who knows???).

I've tried playing a free sit&go at absolute poker, but it doesn't hold my interest at all. I think I'd rather play/practice no-limit holdem at our poker nights. Tomorrow night looks to be a 6-7 person gathering!!! I'm quite excited at that prospect. The largest session we've had thus far is only 5, but our table (with the leafs in) can seat 8 people. My roomy is even looking into getting a cool felt cover for the table (with all the designs and shit like a real poker table!!!). That'd cost quite a bit, but he sounds excited about doing it in the future. Also, tomorrow will be the first time I get to touch a real clay composite poker chip! I'm just a bit excited

Also, it appears that I'm getting a promotion at work. My pay raise will be semi-significant, and I'm excited/scared at the prospect of running my own store. More money equals a more comfortable life for me, though. Maybe I can finally start saving for re-ty-er-ment? Weird concept! I'm 24, and I don't have any fundage started for that. 401k here I come!!! So yeah, that may explain some future absences in my poker sessions.

I just took my seat a $.05/$.10 table. Hopefully I can pull my first winning session at this level!!!

First Session: Won $2.50
Avg. Players 9
Biggest Win: $1.90 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 84 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out 10 times while in big blind (60%)
- 2 out 10 times while in small blind (20%)
- 11 out 64 times in other positions (17%)
- a total of 19 out of 84 (22%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 7 (71%)
Pots won without showdown - 4
Totals: Up $11.22-----$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00--Sit&Go
Up $.03-------$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $.25

Overall thoughts:

LOOK AT THAT TOTAL!!! How exciting! It feels great to be on the plus side for a session (first time in several days). I'm ending tonight on a positive note, and I'm picking up ESPN football as soon as I drag my ass out of bed I played pretty solid tonight, and I tried to stick around a little longer than normal, and not hide from the monster under the bed, anytime a POSSIBLE hand showed itself (odds of the person having that are usually relatively low).

I'll post my weekly poker game's results tomorrow (if I can pull myself away from ESPN). Hopefully we play well. This week will be a great week for me...later!!!

Individual hands:

Um...WOW!!! I just took down my biggest pot ever! I was in the big blind, so I called a pre-flop raise with K7s. The flop was KQ6 rainbow, so I checked, ready to raise the pre-flop raiser...but it was checked around! I lead betting each of the next two rounds, getting a 2nd pair on the turn. An ace comes on the river, and I fear another two-pair, so I just call the initial pre-flop raiser's raise (make any sense? ). I take down $1.52 with my two pair...my biggest victory yet! Hopefully I can ride that money this session (I'm up $1.00 after 8 hands!).

What a weird feeling...to not be down big at the larger tables. Maybe I'm finally ready to play the way I did at the smaller tables. We'll see

Dang. I lost $.40 playing out pocket T's. A jack came on the board, then I check-raised to the pre-flop raiser. I got everyone to fold but the original guy...and he was holding QJo, and had a slightly higher pair than me. It was a semi-bluff, since I was holding out for a set, had the 2nd best pair, and also had an inside straight draw. The pot I lost was $1.42 (that's for you Malificent!!! ). Not a super-bad play, but not a good one either. I was hoping to scare the guy off with my check-raise, but he held top pair. Up $.53 after 18 hands (I did that math wrong at first, cuz I'm so used to being in the negative at these tables ).

Is ESPN football out yet?

I take down $.15 on a pot that everyone checked around. I had the Ace baby!!!

Boom! I take pocket A's in the small blind all the way to an $.80 pot! I bet first the whole time, then when an ace came on the turn, everyone folded to me. I could have slow-played, but there were 2 diamonds on the flop, and I wanted to make people pay for their draws (plus the goal is to play as simple as possible in low-limit poker).

$1.37 with an A-high FLUSH!!! WOW!!! GO ME!!! This session is off to a kickass start! I faced a pre-flop raiser heads-up, and I called him. I got the flush draw on the flop, so I check-raised to him. Then an ace came on the turn, and I was in solid shape (unless he had pocket A's, which I doubted). The river completed my flush, and he only called my bet Lousy jerk. I wanna slow-play sometimes, but I need a good read on my opponents to do that successfully. 30 hands down and I'm up $2.05!!! If I keep getting the cards and playing solid, this will be my best session EVER!!!

It's sure nice to not be getting kicked in the ass

Hehe, split a pot after a crappy river card gave us a tie (I had him until then). I just called AJs out of the small blind, then an A came on the flop. I assumed the guy raising me had an ace or so. I check-raised on the turn to knock it down to a heads-up. The river paired the board, which gave us a split pot (before that, I had the better kicker). My portion of the pot is $.58, which isn't bad. I took some money from the other folk at the table Up $2.13 after 36 hands.

Up $1.99 after 54 hands. I don't think I've played any of my last 17 hands. Good times!!! Is ESPN football out yet? Flop of 3 K's...wow. Hope someone has a pocket pair.

I win a $.22 pot after an ace flops, and nobody calls my A's (kicker-9). I've played 12/56 hands (21%) and I'm up $2.16. I really should bail before I blow it But this FEELS like a winning session. Sometimes you can just tell. The last few days felt like losing sessions...but not tonight.

I raised pre-flop on the button with AQo. None of the board cards were help, but he played it like he had nothing, so I called him to the river. Turns out he had pocket K's! He slow-played me good! Glad I didn't raise any of his bets. I thought about raising after the turn, but I wanted to see if I could snag an overcard first. I'm now up $1.69 after playing 14/63 hands (22%). I lost out on a $.90 pot there.

This table is down to 5 people, and I'm about done with this session. Gonna waste some money working on my short-handed game

I fold the best pair on the board (7's), fearing the pre-flop raiser. I turned two-pair (even though I was out), and it turns out he had pocket K's. I would have won the hand, but I was way behind when I folded. I guess it was the right move, because half of the cards were overcards to my 7's

Okay, the table filled up again and I just posted the blinds. We'll give it one more go-around before I call it a night (and hopefully I can sleep tonight). 80 hands done and I'm up $1.55.

Wow, I'm an idiot. I play for an inside straight draw (that I hit on the river), but I'm on the LOW end of the straight. The high end is a Q, which two guys have. That was a dumb dumb play, and a sign that I'm tired. The pot ended up at $2.50 total, which was split.

BOOM! I'm done! I win with a full boat on my last hand! Huzzah!!! I take down another record pot, $1.90! I had pocket 2's, then nothing came on the flop. The board paired 7's on the turn, so I called the first bettor (as did 2 others). The river came as a 2, giving me a full BOAT!!! The betting got maxed out by me and 2 opponents at the end, which gave me a nice size pot. I'm sure the lead bettor had a set, so I was foolish to call him. But in the smaller game, having watched people bet out with maybe one pair...I felt good enough to go for it with two pair. No 2 on the river and I would probably have called, then folded if anyone else raised. Lousy fools...me and my full boat! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Okay, that's a sign that I'm tired and gotta sleep. My head is above water again, so I feel better.

[kingnebwsu]

Day 24

Wow, poker last night was CRAZY! The new poker chips are absolutely amazing! They're just 5 generic colors with dice&other misc. pictures on them. But wow, do they make a difference! It was so great playing with the new chips. They come in an aluminum case and my buddy is kind enough to let me keep them here (in case he misses a poker night). Now if only my roomy would buy the felt poker table-top...

For those who don't know, we have a weekly no-limit holdem game. We've averaged about 5 people per session (for the last 5 weeks), but this week we had SEVEN people!!! It was totally rocking! The games actually seemed to go faster with more people, which was weird. Everyone started self-policing (police-ing?) the games, which I think definitely increased the speed. The downside of having so many people is that we sometimes skipped turns and the like. We were still getting the hang of it...but we did finish 3 games in like...4.5 hours? Something like that. It was good times, and we're gonna have another one on Saturday night! It looks like we have 5 definites plus 3 more maybe's. I'd bet on 6 people, which would be great. It's for sure more fun with more people.

The way we played is started everyone with $10,000 in chips (down from the $12,000 we did with 5 people), and used 100/500 chips, then cashed up to 1,000 as the blinds went up. We tried the blind structure of:

100/200 (30 mins)
200/500 (30 mins)
500/1000 (20 mins)
1k/2k (20 mins)
2k/4k (20 mins)
4k/8k (only got here once ever )

That's as far as it got. The way it's set up is so that people can play lots early on, but then as more people get eliminated the game is sped up. Having to sit out for a long time kinda sucks, so this is good.

Now for how I played...sigh. 2nd/7, 6th/7, 5th/6. I played pretty poorly overall, though the first game I did pretty well. I was watching Celebrity Poker tonight and the one guy was talking about nicknames. I should seriously be Captain Fold, or Mr. Passive, or something awful like that. I check too much and don't bluff hardly at all (and when I do bluff, I take it too far and get knocked out). There were some amazing river cards shown throughout the 3 games...like the one game where a buddy of mine knocked out two people with amazing river cards. It was wild. One time it gave him a higher full house, the other time it gave him a higher two-pair. Both times his chances were very small to win, and yet he pulled it out. We were going wild!

Another hand had some aggressive pre-flop raising, then some hardcore betting on the flop. I said "someone's gonna get beat while holding a great hand" and I was right. The winner had pocket J's and flopped a set while the other person had pocket 7's and flopped a set! I felt bad for her, because it was her first night (second game), and it was a great play. She was kinda pissed, but we all kept telling her it was the right move (which it was), I mean...she had the 2nd highest card on the board give her a set, and she was essentially drawing dead! That was nuts-o. Bad beat that was.

So yeah, I didn't play that well. I went all-in after I got a crap flop with AKo, and I got beat by two-pair. I was seated in front of my brother, who is one of the better players at our game. Next time the three better players (me, roomy, and my bro) should all have a player between us. Joe bluffed me out of so many pots I can't even count. I need to bluff smarter next time, and also not fold so damn much. I check a lot when I should bet. It's tough switching from no-limit to low-limit, and vice versa. Like now, I'm struggling in the first few hands. The mindset is totally different, and I don't have the brains or the balls to be very good at no-limit (yet) We'll see how I play on Saturday. I can't wait!!!

First Session: Won $.54
Avg. Players 7
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 23 hands and saw flop:
- 1 out 3 times while in big blind (33%)
- 1 out 2 times while in small blind (50%)
- 6 out 18 times in other positions (33%)
- a total of 8 out of 23 (34%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 2 (50%)
Pots won without showdown - 1
Biggest Win: $1.12 Two Pair
Totals: Up $11.22---$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00-Sit&Go
Up $.57-----$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $.79

Overall thoughts:

Lousy server shutdown making my session end early. Oh well, I'm really hungry and I need to sleep. Later!

Individual hands:

I call a pre-flop raise early, then fold after the flop. I play a couple more hands with no love...then I try to steal the pot later on and a guy calls me. I raised on the flop and did everything for my flush draw, but it didn't work. I was down $.55 early.

I then hit it big with pocket K's! No higher card ever came on the board, and one idiot called me the whole way (and even raised me at the end!!!). I snagged $1.12 with my two-pair that hand.

I just got pocket T's, and a straight flop came and I bet strong. I led the betting after the turn and then the river, which got the final two guys to fold! I took down a $.95 pot there (even though I know I didn't have the best hand ). I'm up $.59 after 20 hands, thanks to the good cards.

Sorry about the brief length of those descriptions, as I was writing the prologue to this dynasty entry Though since I'm long-winded when I post anyway, that may be good for the readers

Scheduled server restart?!?!?!? ARGH!!! I dunno how long this will last for. Maybe it's a sign that 7 AM=bedtime? Nah!!! I took a 4-hour nap around 11 PM cuz I was so wiped, so that helped things. I guess I'm done for now...or something? Argh!!! Oh well, still snagged a bit of winnings. Maybe back later!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 24, Session 2

I'm back again! I guess they were serious when they said I didn't need to leave my seat Since my stats reset, I'll just call this a new session.

Second Session: Won $.56
Avg. Players 8
Biggest Win: $2.25 Full House
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 50 hands and saw flop:
- 5 out 6 times while in big blind (83%)
- 2 out 6 times while in small blind (33%)
- 9 out 38 times in other positions (23%)
- a total of 16 out of 50 (32%)
Pots won at showdown - 2 of 5 (40%)
Pots won without showdown - 3
Totals: Up $11.22---$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00-Sit&Go
Up $1.13-----$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $1.35

Overall thoughts:

Another solid session. If only I won this much money playing no-limit holdem in our weekly poker game! I'm really getting to be almost a novice/intermediate low-limit player. I still make some stupid plays, but I think I'm at the point where I have enough experience (24 days baby!) to make the right play most of the time. I'm nowhere near good yet, but baby steps is the key in poker. I'm learning and still ending up in the plus column, which is good. I'll stick with the $.05/$.10 for a while longer and see how things go. Catch everyone on the flip side!

Individual hands:

This table only has 5 people (due to the restart), so I'll work on my short-handed game a bit.

Wow, I just snagged two pots without a showdown. Raising to see where people stand is a good thing. I had a straight draw on the flop, so I raised two callers, then one called&one folded. I bet out on the turn, and the last guy folded. $.45 is what I took down there. Oh yeah, the other pot I won $.30 when I flopped a FLUSH! I bet and only got one caller (out of 5), then he folded on the turn. I played it straight up and got hardly any money (shrug)

6/23 hands played THIS session and I'm up $.41 (all 3 pots won without a showdown). Not bad not bad. Keep it cool and I'll be fine. When do I play another sit&go? Oh yeah...NEVER!!! I think I may try one of the fixed holdem $1 buy-in tourneys though. That would be a good waste of a dollar I think...except the next two are Sat&Sun. mornings!!! I'm never up in the mornings except when I work...and I happen to work Sat&Sun I wonder how many people play in those. I'd guess no more than 100. It'd be a good experience though, and the price is right. See, I dunno. I'm not necessarily about winning money per say...I'm just trying to have fun, learn the game, and not blow my money too fast (that's the order of importance). Playing sit&go's is a fun thing (til I lose), but it's too pricey. I think a tourney would be fun, and I should be able to hang around for at least 30-45 mins, so it'd be worth $1 to try that. I'll check the tab daily to see if they'll have one during my primetime

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I'm on the button playing pretty tight, so I fold a K8o. The flop comes...8KK!!! NOOOO!!! GOOD NIGHT!!! Another 8 on the TURN!!! That's NUTS!!! Boy, I wish I had played that hand (though the pot wouldn't have been very big). Lousy me playing too tight 7/34 hands played thus far and I'm up $.32.

Holy fuck that hurt. I flopped a near-nut flush, with KJ on the board and me holding a Q. I bet and knock some people out. Another spade comes on the turn which makes me uncomfortable, and I get raised to the max. A crap river card comes, and I bet to the max again and he's holding the ace!!! Yeah, that kinda sucked. With him holding a spade, me holding two spades, and three on the board...the odds of hitting another spade on the turn/river were only 28%. And what were the odds he was holding the ace? Argh. Last time I feared an A-high flush with a K-high flush, and the dude only had like a T-high flush (I folded). I guess I made the right play, even though I lost a $2.10 pot, and now I'm down $.53 for the session. That was a hand that makes/breaks a session, and this time it broke me Yikes that was rough. Right play though eh? I probably shouldn't have been so aggressive when another spade came on the turn, but c'mon. Argh that blows.

Ya know, QT is a hand that scares me. I had real bad experiences with that hand the other night in poker (even though my roomy said he won 3 pots with that hand). I just am always afraid of that one. I folded it here, even though I would have flopped a pair of T's. Then river'ed two pair

9/41 hands played and I'm down $.63 for the session. Now I'm playing crazy...playing 87o on the button. I can't start playing suited/unsuited connectors, because that's not my low-limit style. Argh. Gotta relax and I'll make it up later...with an A-high flush!!!...

I MADE IT BACK!!! This time, I hold pocket K's and I raise pre-flop. I get 4 players. I flop K33!!! YEAH BABY!!! Flopping a full house when you haven't folded is always good So I slow-played this one (with so many opponents, didn't wanna scare them off). I had the nuts, and it would have taken something crazy like another 3 or two A's (with someone holding an A/3) to beat me. I just called after the flop. After the turn, it was down to 3 people total. The first bet, the second raised (!!!), then I RE-raised! Both fools called me. The river card came and the first guy bet, the second one called, then I raised and they both called me. I say "boom" as I show them my nuts I take down a record $2.25 pot with my full house!!! I think I played that hand really well. With so many players, I wanted to get as much money into the pot as possible without scaring them off. Wow, that was a great play to my rookie status. I needed a hand like that after getting burned on the A-high flush. Imagine if I had won BOTH of those hands I'm gonna bail before I run out of luck here. I'm up almost a dollar and that hand really made this session fannnntastic.

Last hand is pocket Q's, so I raise in early position...let's see what happens. Wow, I played that hand pretty well and got beat by pocket A's! See, my luck ran out before I even left the table That kinda sucks. He took down $1.17 with that win. The board ended up pairing twice, and the dude with pocket A's never raised me once, which was kind of strange. The highest card on the board was a frickin' 9. Why would he not raise me? There was only one other player in the game after the flop's bet. I guess maybe after the turn he shouldn't have raised when the board paired. But with a rainbow 973 flop, why not raise my lead bet? (Shrug) oh well, these low-limit players are a crazy bunch. Enough for now...maybe back tomorrow/later this weekend!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 50

Baby...I'm back!!! It's been a crazy month...I apologize for my total stoppage of the dynasty. Life has been nuts! It's not a "personal life" thread, so I'll just summarize.

I got a promotion at work, which in my retail business means I'll be running my own store starting next weekend. This will take up more of my time, but not that much. I have been training at pretty much a 9-6 M-F schedule, which has zapped me good (I hate mornings). I've been too tired to play lately. But that's not the real reason...

About three weeks ago I got a girlfriend!!! Yeah, I'm pretty shocked. It's been a while since I've been in a serious relationship. That's been taking up pretty much all of my time lately. I've been seriously lacking in my gaming time. It's a good thing though, cuz she's pretty cool She'll be starting college again in a couple of weeks, then I'll have more gaming time. Until then, I'll have to "suffer" through hanging with my girlfriend. Darn. I lose...

So yeah, that's kind of a summary of my recent craziness. 45-hour work week (a lot vs my 37-hour average) plus promotion plus early mornings plus girlfriend equals very little time to poker. It'll increase slowly over time, but I don't know if I'll ever be doing my 4+ hour poker days anymore. Gotta give my video games their day too.

We have been having our weekly poker game and it's been holding steady around 5-7 people, which is fantastic. My luck has been god-awful though. I'll delve into that later...but suffice it to say, I haven't gotten a lucky card in the last 4 weeks, and I've been burned by a river card when I was all-in (and, of course, ahead in the hand) about 6 times in that same time period. Seriously. I've only survived 3 all-ins when I was ahead going into the river. It's been that bad. I'm not even talking about a flush draw or a bunch of outs...I'm talking 5% of winning the hand and they hit it. Every fucking time. I'm about to call off the weekly poker game because it's just gotten ridiculous. I know I'm not a good loser...but goddamnit, that's just terrible.

Oh yeah, last week my roommate hit a river card (when he was all-in) to win FIVE times. He was five for five over a four game span. That's just terrible. The clincher was when he was all-in vs me and was ahead going into the river...and hit another ace to give him a set. Just awful. Everyone else's run of luck is like nothing I've ever seen. It's not just that...since we play for fun, it ends up being a lot of bad poker. That drives me and my roomy (both decent players) absolutely insane. I don't know how much more I can take. It's a "fun" social event (for everyone else), but the style of play sometimes makes me puke. I dunno. I am kinda (very) bitter, but seriously...the whole luck thing is kicking my ass.

And it's not just in poker! My video game luck has also hit the shitter.


Finally I get a showdown...and it's awful. I have QTs, and the flop is T43. I'm like...sweet. I bet in middle position to try and knock people out. I get 5 callers. The turn is a 2. I see the straight draw, but I bet first again. The dude next to me raises, and everyone else folds. It's heads-up for the river which is a 5. I'm like...fuck. I know he's got the ace, so I check then call. I called for the hell of it. I don't know why. It's like, I know I'm screwed, but I had to see it. Raising me on an inside straight draw before the river? Ridiculous. Sigh. Poker may be too much luck for me. I swear my skills are just totally gone...or my luck is. One or the other I've played 8/24 hands thus far and I'm down $.36. I'm sucking badly...but I was smart enough to play at the $.02/$.04 table today. I'll probably play here until I "remember" how to play limit poker.

Unreal. The river card fucks me again. I have AJo in early position. I play it and call a pre-flop raise. The flop is 48J rainbow, so I'm like...sweet. I bet leading off, the dude raises me, the dealer folds, then I just call. I'm putting him on a high pocket pair...except the last time he river'ed me with that crap straight draw. I check&call after the turn and the river. The turn is a 9 of clubs, and the river is a 2 of clubs. Three clubs now on the board, but there's no way he has two clubs...right? He's gotta have that high pocket pair...right? NOPE! He has TWO fucking clubs!!! K5 to be exact. He didn't even have a fucking pair and he wins with that perfect-perfect flush. My luck is ridiculous right now.

Ah yes, it happens again. Everyone checks after the crap flop. I checked with JTo in the big blind. The turn is a jack! I'm like...wow, I may win a hand! It gets down to three people, and of course the river is a f'in king. I check, one guy bets and shows his KTo. He called my J's (on the turn) with an inside straight draw, and made the superior pair on the river. Just awful. I think it may be time to go to grab some dinner and throw heavy things out the window. I've played 15/35 hands and I'm down $.77.

AKo, my last hand of the day. Crap flop, everyone checks. The turn is an ace of hearts, I'm like...sweet. Heavy betting which scares me, but I hang with them cuz I have the highest pair. The river is a king! It's fantastic...except now the board has three hearts (one from the flop, then the turn&river). I'm all-in (after the turn) and my two-pair loses to the shit flush. I blew a whole fucking dollar in one sitting. My shrink was right...god does hate me!

Sorry there ain't no stats, I quit before saving them. Oh well, back for more poker sometime (maybe).

$.02/$.04 table
Lost $1.00
Number of hands won: ZERO!!!

[kingnebwsu]

Day 53

Okay, I'm feeling a lot better today about my luck in things. I've won two games in a row of ESPN football (after a 3-game losing streak, which is unprecedented). The last game I kicked my roomy's ass 45-3. It was unreal. Everything I've been missing on before that game was hitting. Sweet action.

Then last night I played some of the new Rainbow Six 3 for Xbox and I tore it up. Me and my roomy were playing vs 3 other "good" guys and we consistently won. It was sweet. Hope my luck carries on until today...

Hopefully today I'll save my stats before I quit out of frustration

First Session: Won $.42
Avg. Players 7
Biggest Win: $.96 N/A (Three 5's)
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 40 hands and saw flop:
- 6 out 7 times while in big blind (85%)
- 1 out 7 times while in small blind (14%)
- 8 out 26 times in other positions (30%)
- a total of 15 out of 40 (37%)
Pots won at showdown - 0 of 3 (0%)
Pots won without showdown - 5
Totals: Up $10.64----$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00--Sit&Go
Up $1.13-----$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $.77

AQs lands me a pot after the turn. I raise pre-flop, then I bet strong the whole way and take down $.23.

AKs flops an ace, and I continue to bet strong through the river and take down $.50. No showdowns=good

The next hand I check in the big blind, land a pair of aces, and nobody calls my bet on the river. I take down a whole $.07. Three pots in a row is still f'in awesome. That's three more than I won the other day I'm up $.43 thus far after 9 hands.

Damn! My rush is over! I have pocket 3's and flop a set. A dude is betting me strong, but I don't think he also has a set (I put him on two pair, 10's and 9's). I check&call on the turn, because the board has a T98 on it. The river is another 8 giving me a full boat, and we max out betting and he has 9's full of 3's as opposed to my 3's full of 8's. Damn! That's $.80 going his way! I thought I had that one. I should have stepped back and realized he also had a set. I thought I was in great shape though. (Shrug) oh well, I'm now up $.16 after 14 hands. That hand really hurt me. The only showdown I get and I lose it, when I had just won three hands before that with no showdown. Is there a lesson there?

I win $.06 out of the big blind after I turn a pair of K's. The two people immediately fold. I love it when nobody raises me when I'm in the big blind. That's twice I've won very small pots because of that. Over time, it adds up.

20 hands done and I'm up $.13. I dunno how long I'll play today, because I really wanna play some R6 and ESPN football. I wish I joined the FOFC league, but (like I said before) my personal life has been way busy. I'll be up for it if you guys do a season two, though.

Dang, I raise in middle position with AQo and get four callers. It's a crappy flop for that hand, KK8. I bet to feign strength, but someone raises me and I fold. It was worth it to try and steal the pot of $.22. Now I'm only up $.04 after 24 hands.

I lose another showdown with the top pair on the board (K's). She turned two-pair, which is why she raised me there. I feared a higher kicker, but I didn't wanna fold to that. I'm down $.11 after 30 hands. That hand kinda hurt.

Lousy two pair beats me again! The jerkface got two-pair on the river, and my hand, which had beat my sweet hand.

YES!!! It's over!!! I take down $.96 with my set of 5's!!! Some idiot kept raising me, and I feared the higher set, but then she checked on both the turn&the river, which made me put her on a (stupidly played) flush draw. Especially on the river when she only had $.02 left and checked. That's a hint there But I bet and the other two folded and I take down a huge pot. That's enough for today! A winning session of $.42 for me. Thank you set of 5's! You made me a winning session

[kingnebwsu]

Day 53, Session 2

Oh my! Two sessions in one day?!?!? I must be bored or something It's weird, cuz I have a day off of work and the girlfriend is working. Roomy is gone, so I've been TiVo'ing, Xbox'ing, and relax'ing all day

"Oh, you like doing nothing too?"
"Well it sure beats doing stuff."
"Yeah, stuff sucks."

-Simpsons

Still deciding on if I should participate in that FOFC thing. $11 is just so much of my f'in money, and I'm not that good at NL holdem...so I fear blowing all that money. I think I may go watch, but I dunno. If a blow $11 on just one game (which I'm highly unlikely to win...aka "dead money"), I think I'd get really pissed. Too rich for my blood it is. But if I can find some guys to send me some cash to make the buy-in a bit less... I still gotta see what my schedule is tomorrow night at 9 PM. Since I last checked it 5 minutes ago, someone has dropped out. I like my chances in 3-way action Do I get a refund if I get 3rd?

We'll see if I can have another winning session. Just gotta stay patient...

$.02/$.04 Table Today

Second Session: Lost $.35
Avg. Players 9
Biggest Win: $.30 Two-Pair (K's/T's)
During current Hold'em session you were dealt 36 hands and saw flop:
- 3 out 4 times while in big blind (75%)
- 2 out 5 times while in small blind (40%)
- 7 out 27 times in other positions (25%)
- a total of 12 out of 36 (33%)
Pots won at showdown - 1 of 3 (33%)
Pots won without showdown - 0
Totals: Up $10.29----$.02/$.04 Tables
Down $11.00--Sit&Go
Up $1.13-----$.05/$.10 Tables
Overall: Up $.32


Hey, I win $.30 pretty quickly! I have KTs in middle position, so I call (with 5 others) and the flop is K74. The small blind bets, gets called, then I raise to see if he's got two-pair or something. Both players just call me (and I got in good position by getting the guy behind me to fold). The river is a crap card, he checks...then I just check because I fear the check/raise and I'm not that confident in my pair. He had K5o and my rockette kicks his ass and I take down the pot. I'll take that! 9 hands done and I'm up $.09. $.01/hand is a good average

Dang, I have QJo and I lose to two guys with a K-kicker. I didn't do any raises, just called them so I didn't lose too much. Now I'm down $.07 after 11 hands. I need to re-read my poker books to remember how to properly play poker (our weekly game has got me into some bad habits).

I chased a flush draw all the way to the river, and it didn't show. I raised after the flop, but then another dude re-raised me! I was like...so much for getting a free turn card Lousy tips didn't work that time. I ended up with K's and the winner had K's and T's. Everyone checked the last time around. I was in the big blind, and a free flush-draw flop seemed good. I'm now down $.20 after 19 hands. Losing $.01/hand is a good average eh?

Not a lot of action...gonna play QTs as my last hand today. Flop is crap, and I fold. Not a very good session, but I was kinda distracted and didn't get many cards overall (shrug).

[Archer219]

Nice Dynasty so far, I'd make the suggestion that you move up to the .05/.10 limit hold 'em tables. Players are the same quality and if you play it right, the payout is a lot higher.