Dude! Where's my update?!?!

<-$990>

Whoa! Have I been neglecting posting my sessions or what...?

You guys didn't really think I took a break from playing, right? I can't go a couple of days without hanging out at a poker table, let alone what the span between my posts has been.

The update will be positive. I think. I have to retrace my steps since the last post. I have had four sessions, therefore three posts missed. 

First session: -$300 

= -$1290

Second session:  +$25

= -$1265

Third session: +$600 

= -$665

Fourth session: -$165

= -$830
_The first session loss was comprised of two main hands. I was on tilt and decided to re-raise someone's little $12 bump to 40, call and reraise to me, where I shipped it since I had little more than the re-raise and a call behind me. JJ (me) vs KK vs another person's JJ. Needless to say I lost that. I bought back in for 100 and lost it on pocket 9's with the board all lower than the 9. I bet on the flop somewhere about 20 or 25 and got called by a gutshot who caught on the turn. I bet again all-in and lost.

__The second session is a blur. I just remember that it was a slight positive after playing for a long long time.

___The third session was just the other night. I was in for 400 and I kept getting sucked out on. I walked my first buy-in loss and bought back in just in time to see jacks. I took one person out with them and gained 70 on the  first hand. Soon after I looked at 77. Flop showed me a set and I checked. Heads up, 20 was bet into me and I called. The turn did not threaten my hand & I checked again. My opponent bet 20, I raised it to 60 fairly quickly, he said all-in to which I insta-called. Doubled it up to 500 and started finally feeling good about my progress. I would soon get sucked out on again with Kings and then Jacks, where I put all my money (or put my opponent all in) in good on the flop and they caught runner runner. I got my revenge a few dealers later when I looked down at ladies and flopped top set with a diamond draw out there. I was in middle position and raised it to $145 after the first person bet 60. As I looked for the next person to act, I get surprised by a person in between who I did not know was in the hand. He calls, fold, fold. The turn is an ace, not affecting the flush draw. I go all in and get instantly called. I just hope he does not have pocket aces. This turned into a huge pot since we were about evenly matched with 600 in front of us. It turns out he just had a flush draw and did not catch. Phew. I flirted with the $1200 mark all night and finally started playing very loosely in the end when we became short handed. I cashed out an even 1000.

____Tonight's session was long, quite resembling the third session. We ended the game when the sun was up in the sky at 8am. It was a fun session though. I cannot recall many if any hands. For the first several hours, while I dug myself a hole, we played the usual hold'em. In the closing 6 hours, we played omaha hi/lo mostly, however, it was dealer's choice. I was down 300 with about 100 still sitting in front of me when we made the switch. I hadn't played omaha in a long time and it took me loosing the last 100 and taking the third buy down to 80$ to finally get my wits back. I brought the $80 all the way back to $450. It was worth the up and down to regain my omaha knowledge which was stored in the back of my brain.
<-$830>

Can't touch this, na na na na, na na, can't touch this

<-$690>

Three wins in a row, booya; at mexican sweat that is. At least I can console myself that it is a kind of poker.

As for hold'em, I was kind enough to give back my winnings from last session. Mexican sweat did allow me to be about $50 in profit over the course of the two days.

The night seemed to get off on the right track when I rapidly hit a king high flush on the turn after creating a nice sized pot for myself just for such a case. I made a big bet on the river and my opponent almost folded the nut flush thinking I had a full house; but he didn't. His call halved my original buy in which dwindled down to 60. I stayed in that range for a prolonged period of time, winning and losing pots back and forth. I finally was able to double up on a flopped set, but the recently procured chips headed to another player soon when I rivered two pair vs his flopped set. I soon get tired of being the short stack and push all my chips in on a raised pot to 12. The one person I did not take under account shoves over the top with a higher pair than me and drags the pot when it is all said and done. This game was now down to 4 players and they chose to break.

I decided to try my luck at another game and once again bought in for the standard 200. After a while of fluctuation I ended up losing my buyin on a full out bluff and got another 200. In for quite a bit, I slowed down and tried to only play premium hands. About an hour later I played 7 9 of hearts. I flopped a flush draw and turned an open ended straight. I led out on every street and was delighted to see the jack on the river which gave me a straight and the second nuts; only KQ would beat me with broadway. I was able to double up on this hand since my opponent also flopped a flush draw and rivered two pair. It would have been the end of me if my flush had shown up. I stayed around the same stack size for the rest of the night until near the end when I went on a slight bad run. I was flopping hands but my opponents would have me outkicked or just a slightly better hand. Unfortunately I dove back down to my original second buy in plus some loose change. A few people had gotten busted by now and we were down to three handed so we decided to end it. Of course after a couple of hands of mexican sweat with the loose change at risk. I took down both hands giving me back a little over 100 of my first buy in. It was an odd night but I am glad one of my friends that had been in a slump made a very hefty profit, at my expense in some instances.

<-$990>

Super Trooper

<-$1050>

Please bear with me, I have a lot to write. That's usually the result of a long session; nearly half a day (11+ hrs).

The usual buy in was parked in front of my empty seat and a friendly environment was in the air; so poetic, I know. In for 200, I try a different approach to the game, any two cards. Obviously properly timed, otherwise its a recipe for disaster. My stack never really dwindled in this session, it was a case of big highs and small but hefty lows. The one hand that propelled me to a 'big' stack early on played out like this: 

It was straddled and I was last to act - I called the $5 along with a couple other people. The straddle raised it to 25 and it got folded around to me. The straddle believed he got a walk and almost mucked while saying in a low voice, as if directed only to his neighbor, "Ace Queen". The dealer alerted him and I was now in a dilemma. I didnt really believe him but the range was right, could be AK, AJ, maybe even A10. I decided to call since it was heads up and I flopped two pair 8 3 3 board. I checked, he bet 25 and I called. The turn was a 3 giving me a boat. I bet 30 and he shoved over the top for 110 all in. I tanked and chose not to put him on a pocket pair and made the call. The river was blank & he mucked, with me dragging a nice pot.

Some time into the night I started playing more hands and got more involved. In one hand I had two of my friends as opponents whom I've known a while. I played J 2 of hearts. It was raised to 15 preflop with 3 people in. The flop came 2 3 4 with two hearts. I checked the flop and $30 was the bet, called by one then called by me. The turn was my flush card (Q??). Out of character I bet with the made hand, $40. Called by both once again. The river was a blank since I do not recall it. I bet 78. After a long thinking period I got a call and waited once more for the 3rd person to make a decision. He flopped a straight; looking in my eyes he saw the twinkle that was my flush and folded. I showed and she mucked, saying she had flopped a set; very probable.

I dragged a few little pots in the meantime and I'm sitting on nearly 8 sticks when an absolutely sick hand occurred. I may have some minor details wrong but the gist is below.

I believe it was a straddled pot and the straddler let us live. The flop came A Q 10 all spades. First to act bet 20 at it. Of all hands, I flopped Broadway holding KJ off, neither a spade of course. Hoping nobody flopped the flush, and in an attempt to weed out all the single card flush draws I raised to $85 with my newly acquired chips. To my disgust the next three people went all in back to back to back like mad men. My $85 got raised to $140 by the first all in, re-raised to $187 all in & called by $160 all in. The next person honestly thought about calling or shoving also...but mucked reluctantly. Next my friend went in the tank for a couple of minutes. By now I was just laughing at the fact there was no way I could call and was amused at the whole situation. My friend folded and held as did I. Here are the player's hands:

Me: KJ off no spade (raise/muck) - Broadway

Player1: K2 king of spades (all in 140) Nothing

Player2: 98 of spades (all in 187) Made flush / Winner

Player3: 47 of spades (all in $160) Made flush

Player4: flopped a set (mucked) Boat (river paired) / Would-be winner

Player5: AJ jack of spades (bet20/muck) Broadway (K on the turn)

I only lost $85! ha.

In the next few hours I lost a few pots and I slowly dragged my stack back down to about 650ish. I looked down at pocket ladies. Heads up action was raised to 12 preflop and now on me. I made it 50 and it is slowly but firmly called. The flop showed all low cards but connected and in my opponent's range. I checked and $30 was bet into me. It seemed like a low and inviting bet, which I obliged to. The turn came another connecting card which I later found out gave my opponent an open-ender. It was also a third club. It scared me slightly because I thought maybe he did hit his flush. I did have the Q of clubs. I was first to act but my opponent checked out of turn so I decided to do the same and he did stick to his original move and checked. The river came the fourth club I was rooting for. Once again my opponent acted out of turn; this time, however, he put 60 out in front of him. He was notified of the mistake once again and I decided to bet 100. After a thoughtful minute, he stuck out the 100 with an additional 150 next to it. This confused me completely and the thought that I perhaps could be beaten crossed my mind. I decided against it and made the call only to see a complete bluff with an open ended straight draw. This pot boosted me to the highest point I would be in this session, over $900, close to 950.

Not five hands after the big win I get spiraled into tilt by one measly hand. A few people gave me insight that I may have misplayed it, others said I didn't. It seems to me I obviously did misplay it.

After a standard preflop raise to 15 it was down to 3 handed. I had AJ and the flop was A J 9 with a flush draw. I bet 12 to incite action which I quickly get. It got raised to 30 and the third player folded. I decided to test the waters and made it $80 total, 50 on top. Quickly called. The turn was a queen and I bet 100 to which I got instantly called. Due to the insta-call I did get a little worried about maybe my opponent having played a gut shot for the 50 on top and hitting it on the turn. The river is a king, which messed my hand even more. I decided to check and I get faced with 100 to call. It seemed like a bluffing bet, so I called pretty quickly and got to see the (explicit here, repeatedly) A 10 that chased me down to the river to hit the straight. All my newly gathered chips headed on over two seats to my left and stayed there as my opponent cashed out 3 hands later. == I was told I should have bet more on the turn, perhaps between 175 to 250 and he would have folded. Then I was also told I should have folded on the river obviously, which I can see. I really was not expecting to see someone go after a gut shot so strongly, unless he really believed I had nothing and his ace was good. I had only showed good hands thus far in the game, I have a hard time believing he thought his ace was good. Hello tilt. 

Stupid call after stupid chase after spewing money left and right I got down to 450ish.

I looked down at a nice pocket pair that wasnt aces. The game was now 5 handed. In the small blind I raised to 15. The next person was short stacked and had been waiting for hands to ship it with. This was one of them apparently because in went his $86 stack. The next person folded and the one after him called. I open my eyes to see the player before me stacking out the 86 jokingly then folding. The only caller so far had about 700 in front of him so I decided to move in and perhaps get my whole stack called. He folded to my all in and it became heads up. I showed KK, he showed AK. The original caller folded AQ and the other two folded A3 and A5 respectively; all the aces are gone and we're still preflop! How could it be poker without a sweat?? The flop obviously came 2 4 5 giving him a gut shot. Thankfully the 3 did not come and I dragged that pot. Of course we all got an earful about A3 flopping a straight, haha.

I ended my hold'em poker night with chasing a flush draw and in the end flushing $70 down the toilet or rather to my opponent's stack.

I racked up and had 500 even. As usual the game wasn't over as planned and we had to play one final hand of mexican sweat (a type of poker). I won't type the rules, but I won. 7 people in for $10 each; I only needed 4 cards of the 7 we each received to beat everyone with Qs and 9s two pair. There's an additional $60 in my pocket. 

The End.

<-$690>

P stands for: pocket, pair, & patience

<-$1425>

This night I was delayed by previous obligations, so I arrived to the game late. The game seemed to be winding down already but we drew it out for a few hours. It is weird because I don't remember many of the hands that built my stack. It was several little pots here and there that I dragged which put me over the hump.
I remember having several pocket pairs. On one instance I raised preflop and flopped quads - higher than the current high hand so the high hand would be mine after this one was over, or would it? I checked the flop, - checked around. I choose to bet the turn then remember that the high hand must go to show down. One fold (oh crap...), then I hear raise. PHEW! I call, check the river - checked back; showdown. I would end up winning high hand with quad 9's.
Two other instances with pocket pairs were: I flopped a set and turned a boat but checked the river which was checked back to me as my trap didnt work; small pot won. The other instance I had pocket 8's and it was raised to 20 preflop with 3 players already in. I considered a fold but why I do not know. I called and the flop was all lower than an 8. It got checked around and I bet 40. Fold, fold, all in for 15 on top. Argh, I called. The turn was blank, river 6. I flipped my 8's, he flipped his 6's. Sigh.
Nearning the end I once again got a pocket pair. The flop was 10 high but I bet at it; two callers. The turn which was a blank got checked around. The river hit my set but it also hit alot of straight possibilities. Check, I checked and 20 is bet. Fold and I raised to 50, followed by a call. My opponent rivered two pair with the case nine on the river which made my set of nines. Nice pot.
The very next hand I looked down at AQ suited. The same opponent that just had the two pair shoved for 65 or thereabouts. It got back to me with no callers so I decided to call, hoping I was at least ahead or in a race. 
The flop was 9 10 J with 10 J of spades for a gut shot straight flush draw. The king came on the turn to give me broadway and the river was irrelevant as she mucked. She got busted and the game broke.
I managed to make a decent profit in the last couple of hands after the set of sixes on the river over my pocket 8's demoralized me a bit. In addition I was awarded the high hand bonus for the night for an additional $115.
<-$1050>

Down, up, down, up, down, misstep; darn!

<-$985>

Ahem! Hi. Let me start in the middle.

Pt 1. As the night progressed the game got quite big and I was enjoying it sort of from the sidelines. I was in for nearly 400 and not doing much of anything. I went up and down and back up and back down. I was up into profit at one point; I raised preflop, bet the flop and turn decently big and it was folded to me on the river for a nice pot where I didnt have to show my hand. Low and behold two hands later I look at A6 and three people before me had put 25 in preflop... alright I called. Flop A 6 9. Check, check, all in for 110. I shove over the top so it ends up being heads up and it is. A6 vs AQ. Turn blank river 9. Yay counterfit... fuck. Queen plays as the kicker to his two pair. Back in the red and I was clawing my way back when the game went bust. Cashed out only a little down. 

Pt 2. A friend of mine from this game wanted to know the location of another game I have played at so off we went there at 5am, ha. This being a little bigger of a game and the stacks reflecting a game in progress for a while, I bought in for 300. I lost 100 rather quickly while chasing a draw. I called preflop because of pot odds, then realized those players tended to be unable to fold preflop...thus each pot was big. I chased for two streets and gave up. 

I flopped a couple of sets early on and made a portion of my money back. Then I lost a little bit and back to 200 I was. The gentleman (I mean that very lightly) in this pot had been pushing people around, at least in my opinion. The guy before him raises to 15, he calls, another calls, I call. Flop 3 6 7 rainbow. Check, he bets 40, fold, then to me. Here I have all 3 options obviously, call - raise - fold. I just believed he was doing the same as the past few hands and made the misstep of shoving, 140 on top. He sat there for a bit and finally called with pocket Kings.. I was dominated from the get-go but I thought wrong all the way. I had tens. Bad play on my part, should have known better but all on me. Two steps forward one step back. Gettin' back on the horse will not be too hard, I'm not taking this loss too badly.
<-$1425>

Keepin' the ball rolling in the right direction

<-$1460>

Tonight was interesting, a little drama culminating in a good night. I chose to check out a new location on opening day. New location, same ol' faces. The blinds were a little higher than the usual 1/2 games. It was a $2/$3 game, never had played one like that before. I could tell early on that it would end up being quite a big game. I bought in for 200, some people were already at 500. As it often happens to me in new locations, it takes me a while to get settled in. The first buy in came and went. I finally relaxed and just waited for a hand. 

My opportunity came when I looked down at pocket 9's to a $15 raise. Three people in the hand, and the flop came 8 K 9 rainbow. First to act bet $100. It sort of surprised me, I decided he was trying to take down the pot then and there. The bill got called and I moved in the rest of my chips, 80$ on top of the stick & said "you got caught, huh?". The initial bettor reluctantly and slowly called the 80 and the first caller mucked AK face up. I show mid set and AK asked to see my caller's hand; a measly KJ for the loss. Finally sitting on a healthy stack amongst crazy players.

I sat on it and called suited connectors and pocket pairs but got nowhere. I finally looked down at pocket 8's and once again the raise was about 12 or 15 preflop. I called along with 4 others. The flop came 8d 10d 3s. SB bet out 60. Fold and one quick call before it got to me. I momentarily tanked then pushed out two $150 stacks. One fold and the original bettor went all in for 16 more. First caller also pushed all his chips but he only had about 80 on top of the initial 60. All the side pots got figured out and all I remember is that no flush or straight came. I was up against an over pair, KK and an open ended straight flush draw J 9 d... pretty sick. I took it down. My stack was at this time my peak in the night.

Not much more happened in the next hours. I flopped a straight one time and made back some money I lost in blinds and preflop calls. One time I got AK and got called down after I bet every street by A6 and he rivered 2pair with a 6 on the river. I got my $ back from this chaser with a King high flush to put me back at my peak right before I called it a night.

Good location, good people & finally a nice positive night.

<-$985>

I don't recall, but it was good.

<-$1690>

This was a laid back night for me. Once again my game looked like it was going to make but alas, not so. 

I thus took two of my friends to a game I knew was happening and sat in to have fun. I started drinking since a buddy of mine was, that relaxed me. I chose to keep myself buzzed but in conscious conditions, ha.

I believe I played well and made the right moves. Bluffed the right pots, for the most part and said the right thing at the right time; whether it was to see a free card or to get a call, I was on top of it.

I won a few pots and lost a few as it goes, ended up on the right side in the end, the positive side.

I cannot recall many hands honestly, probably because I did not take them too seriously and forgot about them soon after. I can remember two since they happened close to the end. I flopped a straight flush draw on both of them, once with 56 of hearts and once with AJ of spades. 

The 56 hand I flopped 7 3 of hearts and I bet all the way, turned a 6 and rivered another 6. Little did I know my opponent turned a straight with 54. He made a big bet on the river, $75 I believe, and I reluctantly called.

The same opponent was attempting to bluff when I raised preflop to $15 with AJ and flopped QQ10, with two spades. I once again bet it all the way but checked the river when an ace showed up. He bet 60 and I insta-called. He said "i have a jack" and confused me, but I flipped over my hand and he mucked. I ended up even between those two hands.

In the end, a positive night. I will definitely take that.

<-$1460>

Wouldn't you take free money?

<-$2310>

I've been somewhat sticking to my guns about not playing. I had quite a few chips gathered for the weekly (Friday) and the monthly (Saturday) freerolls, so I decided to go play them... its free money!

On Friday we had two tables, I placed 5th. Became a short stack and had to shove with a less than ideal hand - which was a head of the two opponents who called me. Until the river that is; a gut-shot sraight was hit to knock me out. I made 75$ (-10 dealer toke).

On Saturday we had a huge turnout. The room fits 4 tables, all 4 were full plus we had alternates. I would say we had 45 people turn out for the $6500 monthly freeroll. They opened the doors at 11am for the 3pm freeroll so people could show up and make an additional 500 chips per hour of play until the tourney. I played...and dumped $160 for 2500 additional chips. I bought in for 120 and lost this stack on pocket tens which ran into pocket 9's flopping quads. I bought back in for 100 and just sat around and didnt do anything; cashed out 65 pre-tourney.

I was 3rd in chips to begin the tourney with about 12,000. I made a deal with a friend of mine that we would give each other 25% of our winnings if we placed, his stack wasn't much smaller than mine.

I had the chance to take out two people on the first hand of the tourney but it was a big chunk of my stack and I did not want to make the wrong decision so early on. I had A10 & raised to 325 preflop, 2 callers. Flop is 10 9 4, I flopped top-top. Checked to me, I bet 625. The button goes all in for a little over 4,000 and got 1 caller before it comes back to me. There is a flush draw out there and I decide to fold thinking the flush will get there. One shows AQ nut flush draw, other shows J10. Nothing changes, J10 takes it down.

I settled down and took the blinds here and there. With 15 minute blinds they were going up quite fast. After the first break I had the same stack as when the tourney started, with the field down to 3 tables.

Soon after we came back from break I took down a couple pots with pocket aces preflop with small raises. A couple hands later I looked down at another pocket pair. Blinds were now 1000/2000 100ante. Under the gun smooth called and it got folded around to me where I made it 7,000 to go. SB & BB fold and the caller went all in. She had me covered by maybe over a grand. I called and I was very glad for it to be a coinflip with her flipping over AK off vs my pocket Jacks. What seemed like forever later I drag a huge pot, shooting me up to 2nd top stack in the tourney. Right before the 2nd break I look down at Aces again. Same blinds and antes - my friend min-raises to 4000, I make it 10,000 and everyone folds. 

A few hands after the break we finally combine to the final table. The final table brings a huge stack, maybe even 2:1 to me. The blinds went up to 3000/6000 and I raise to 13,300 with A10 suited; everyone folded and I took down the blinds and antes. I didn't play a single hand the rest of the way. There was plenty of chop-talk from the moment we started the final table but the big stack would have nothing of it. He proceeded to take out 7 people, mostly on suckouts but I didn't care. We finally reached a compromise with 3 left. He had me and the 3rd person outchipped by 7:1 now...we decided to give him 1st place money, $1,500, whereas me and the 3rd person took $1,100 each. Not bad for free money. 

My pre-tournament deal lost me $160 in the end. My partner got busted out in 6th place, making $450. His hand was sick; he had aces vs jacks vs the top stack's A2. The flop gave the top stack a gut shot with 5 4 4. Turn 2, river 2 for a boat. The positive was he took out two people in one hand, heh.

450/4(25%)=112.5

1100/4(25%)=275

275-112= rounded down to 160

Later on in the night I drove a friend back to play a little while & I lost a short stack buyin with a couple flopped sets vs rivered flushes. Still a positive day all in all.

<-$1690>

Its not you, its me; I can't play you...

<-$2310>

After a very unsuccessful break, I once again played a couple tourneys. Both freerolls, therefore I had nothing to lose. The latter had a big prize pool; there was a chance to gather more starting chips by playing cash prior to the start, so I did. In the end I lost in both freerolls decently far from cashing considering the small starting fields.

In cash all in all I lost 15 bucks over two sessions - not worth mentioning. I had several more suckouts I sneaked myself out of by getting revenge when I put it all-in with the worst hand. Not much to report, all numbers stay the same. 

I did attempt to play online for the first time in over a year. I cashed in the first two multi-table tourneys I played. I must say, I played well and was very patient. It did help that most of the hands I was going in pre-flop with, held up; mostly high pocket pairs. Placed 3rd out of 18, then 62nd out of 3,333 in a 'little' point entry-fee tourney. I've lost since again, probably mostly due to impatience. Played a few heads-up and am 1/3. 

The break will probably start back up now for a few more days, although it should be longer. I shall figure it out.

For now, the numbers stay the same.

<-$2310>