Sorry for the lack of posts over the weekend...had family in for the holiday and didn't play much poker to speak of.
Quick run down of last 2 weeks of poker.....
15 sessions of $5/10 on UB: 12 positive sessions +932.25 3 negative sessions -782 net +150.50
hmmm....I definately need to look at those negative sessions, as when I loose, I tend to thro caution to the wind and loose big. I can usually tell if a session will be good to me over the first few hands I play....If I go positive early, then I generally do a good job of staying positive and posting a solid session. If I go negative right off the bat, I tend to struggle to make up for it and end up negative. I really need to keep that in mind when I play, as in retrospect, I'd rather walk alway after 10 hands and be down $50, rather than play for 2 hours and loose a buy-in.
My win percentage at 5/10 is pretty good (77%), so I know I should keep mining that limit and continue to build my bankroll, but I just need to have better discipline to get off a table when I'm running cold.
In other poker news....I won a $10 30 man MTT on UB last Wednesday while waiting for my brother to arrive from SC. Finished up the tourney right before they showed up. Was a little disappointed in the payout....$300 in prize money, $105 to the winner (35%)...seems a little weak to profit by $95 for a tourney like that...but I'll take it.
Played in a few freerolls over the weekend...didn;t fair too well in any of them, going out on the plus side of a couple of coin flips early, but they're freerolls, so no harm done.
Not sure when I'll post again...home all week from work, but headed to the hospital tonight with Jen to induce the baby to come out. Doubt the the hospital is WiFi, so no poker playing while waiting for the baby. 8 days til I leave for Vegas, so that's all good as well.
More later in the week....should get some poker in with baby Alan on my lap.
Played a bit of poker on Titan again last night....tried the $10 rebuy, $3000 guaranteed tourney again. First buyin was busted when my QQ was beaten by 10-10 when he hit a 10 on the river. Rebuy was lost when I caught a K high flush on the turn, got all my chips in and saw the fourth heart hit the river and the pot slide to a shmuck that called an all in with AhQs after missing the flop and turn...I mean...who does that? Did he think his A high was good at that point, or was he gamboooooling on the 4th heart on the river? Amazing. Not sure if I'll play in the rebuy tourney again, as the play is really weird to me in the first hour, as people gamble way too much in rebuy tourneys....pisses me off.
Played some $.50/$1 NL as well....won about $30 over the course of an hour of mostly dead cards...just another step closer to clearing that bonus on Titan, then I can walk away.
Also played a few rounds on UB ($5/10 limit)...picked up $35 over two rounds of blinds...no cards to speak of, but did bluff a guy out of a small pot with the hammer on a A high board...had raised from the button and then bet at the pot post flop and he folded the $15 pot to me....sweet...but I didn't show it, so bad on me.
And the damn firwall is back up here at work...after a few days of bliss in being able to access all my favorite sites while here at work, they've slapped up the firewall again...bastards.
Last thing, if anyone is going to be in Vegas early, I'm pretty much planning on spending my evenings playing tourney poker as follows...
(Tues/Wed/Thur) 6pm $50 tourney at the Flamingo (no rebuy or add-on)
Fri - noon $100 tourney at the Aladdin (add-on allowed)
If the tourneys don't pan out, I may try a ring game of some kind ($1/2 NL or $5/10 limit) or blackjack. If anyone is there ealy and wants tojoin me, or has other suggestions for turneys, please let me know.
Played on Titan last night....quick recap of events...
played in a 6 man $5 SnG - doubled up on the second hand when my 78s saw a flop or 5-6-9 and busted a slow played KK. Caught a couple of additional good hands early and coasted into the final 3 with a chip lead...Other 2 guys tangled and one guy busted, so I'm heads up and we both have 3000 in chips....dead even. We swapped blinds for a few hands, then he called my 4xBB pre-flop raise and we saw a flop of A-9-2, with me holding AA at the time. I checked, he went all in trying to buy the pot with K3os and the rest was academic. $5 becomes $21...wheeee
Played in a 10 man $5 SnG (one of their special SnG...win 5 in a row and get huge cash)...was card dead to start and a couple of players busted quickly...caught QQ in late position and bumped the pot...small stack in BB went all in for about 2/3 of my stack...I called and they had A8s....and of course an A hits the turn for 2/3 of my stack. End up all in a couple of hands later with KJs and fail to improve against 10-10 and I'm out.
Finally - played in the $10 $3000 guaranteed tourney at 9pm...(BTW, I hate rebuy tourneys)....I ended up busting once during the rebuy hour, then bought the add-on at the end ($30 total)....was able to hang on and make it to the money...at one point was in the top 5 in chips, but a couple of short stack beats took some of my chips and the blinds, along with cold cards dropped me quickly in the standings....ended up going all in UTG with Ad9d and getting the BB to call me (equally short stacked) with Q-10os....and then watch in horror as the flop comes 6-Q-Q and I go from ahead in the hand pre-flop to out of the tourney with $30...so I made a little on the evening of 4 hrs of playing....did clear another level of my bonus, so that netted me another $10 to the account.
I'll probably continue to play on Titan for as long as I can play on their $10 of free money (currently standing at $130), mostly playing tourneys and such, as there isn't enough there to risk at stakes enough to get stars to continue the bonus whoring. Hopefully Vegas will be good to my bankroll and I'l be able to come back and clear the existing Titan and FT bonuses I have sitting there.
Had a decent weekend overall. HUGE Buckeye's game on Sat with the last second win against that team from Michigan...I love nothing more than winning that game every year. wish I was back in Toledo to rub it into some of the diehard UM fans up there. What a great game.
Played some poker over the weekend on UB, Titan and FullTilt. Posted some nice wins on UB at the $5/10 tables, probably cleared $200 over the entire weekend, but maybe a bit more, I know I had one negative session on Sat morning for $160, but had more than enough wins to make up for it over the weekend.
Played some $0.50/$1 NL on Titan, trying to clear my bonus....I've taken the $10 that Titan gave me and worked it up to $160 over the last couple of weeks...starting at 0.25/0.50 limit, turning the $10 into $40 over a couple of weeks, then dropped that $40 onto the NL tables and ran it up to $160 while 'watching' the Steelers game on nfl.com yesterday. Trying to work off some of the bonus on Titan, but found out that all of the playing at the .25/.50 tables didn't generate enough rake to earn stars on their site, so hopefully the move up in stakes will get me closer to clearing that bonus, especially since I'm basically playing with their money....wheee.
FullTilt wasn't as kind to me...started with $40 on the .50/1 NL tables, worked it up to $70 and then lost the profit on one hand where my A7 suited lost to A8os on an A high flop and I pushed a guy all in...he called with his 'weak' Ace and took about $30 from me....then promptly left the table before I had a chance to get the cash back off of him....schmuck. Ended the session up about $3 as I had to quit for dinner.
All in all a good poker weekend. I have my cash for Vegas at this point, so I'll probably slow down playing at the limit tables and enter a couple of tourneys to work on that over the next 2 weeks....will keep my bankroll intact and still allow me to play some poker in and get ready for Vegas. Of course, if a juicy $5/10 limit table opens on UB, then I'll probably be there to continue to build the bankroll.
Quick note about the Steelers.....I'm pretty sure Maddox has played himself out of Pittsburgh at this point....I believe he's 0-4 in his last 4 starts, and cost the Steelers a game lead in the division yesterday by not beating the Ravens in a close game. No excuse for loosing that game, as they should have had no trouble putting them away. Now, with Ben coming off surgery for a Monday night game in Indy...going to be a tough game for them, especially after watching Indy destroy the Cincy D yesterday....all our DBs better be getting plenty of rest this week, as they're going to be busy next weekend.
Buckeyes at Michigan tomorrow...the Granddaddy of them all in this part of the country. GO BUCKS!!!!!
Played in a local home game Sit-n-Go last night. $30 buy in, 7 players...anyway, down to 4 and I'm below avg stack, get KK on button, UTG (Rookie) raises to 1200 (blinds 200-400), I reraise to 3k. blinds fold and he calls. Flop hits A,7,9. He fires out a 4200 bet. I had about 5000 at this point, so I'm basically all in if I call...what do you do here?????
my gut put him on a weak A and he was trying to protect it with the large bet, knowing I would be all in to call. After counting down my stack, I was sorely tempted to call, but my gut was screaming that I was behind so I finally folded the hand. He smiled and turned over 55 for a well earned pot on the bluff. The table looked at me pretty funny for not calling, but my read on him said weak A, so I had to fold.
Game was pretty much dead after that...I made it to final 3 (top 2 paid) and went out on the bubble when the blinds ate my stack....if I had won the hand above, Rookie would have been the short stack by a wide margin and I could have at least made the money...but it was a fun game.
As an added bonus, I asked everyone to watch me for tells during the game...no one came up with anything obvious, so that's a good sign for Vegas....getting lots of advice on where to play and such. I'm probably going to spend most of my first day down at the Bellagio watching the 5 diamond classic going on and try and get some autographs. My cards came in yesterday...two decks of cards, one all As, the other Ad, so that will make for some easy autographs and then a cool display after the trip...hopefully I can get lots of autographs on Tuesday at the Bellagio.
I'll probably limit most of my poker playing to the evening tourneys at the Sahara or wherever there is a low stakes buy in for the night (<$100)...If I do well in a tourney, then I may give it a go at a cash table, but we'll see how it goes. Will also play some BJ and such if the bankroll starts getting thin.
Was able to grind out two short sessions at $5/10 last night...eeked out a $120 profit when all was said and done. Struggled in the first session, sandwiched between two tight aggressive players with maniacs accross the table...every time the maniacs came into a pot, the tight players re-raised to isolate, which put me in a tough spot to make the call with less than stellar hands...so I waited patiently and was able to snag somepots with my tight image and with some timely re-raises to take advantage of a dangerous flop, scareing away the competition. Could have made more at the tables, but with the players around me it was tough to get involved in too many pots.
Still hoping to play live tonight, but both girls are fighting colds, so I'll have to wait and see how they are through the day and what Jen needs to accomplish before I can confirm for the game tonight.
for as hard as the UB RNG hit me on Sunday in the quick $240 win, they reversed course last night in a brutal $230 loss at the same $5/10 limit tables. Played for about an hour last night, mostly folding terrible cards pre-flop, JJ post flop on AKx flops when I was reraised, missed flush and open ended straight draws on cheap flops, and no sets for my mid range pocket pairs. Spent most of the time between -$50-100 before chasing an expensive A high flush draw on what would have been a huge pot if I had won (4 people in to the river and multiple raises...set of 9s on the river ended up taking the pot). My last hand on the table saw me with KK in early position, so I tossed in my raise and saw 3 callers (button and BB)...9-7-2 rainbow flop hits, I bet, button calls and BB folds. 5c hits the turn for 2 clubs on theboard and a potential junk straight possibility, I bet $10 and button calls again....I still feel my KK are good at this point. River brings the Ac, putting 3 clubs on the board now along with the A....I check, feeling that I just got sucked out on, and call the bet from the button...sure enough, he has A9os and caught one of his outs to bust my KK....take my remaining $80 and leave the table....just wasn't my night.
I'm going to take a look at trending some of my poker stats, as my general impression of my play on UB is that I tend to do well the first half of the month, and then struggle more the second half of the month...going to go back and look at my winning/loosing sessions and see if that is true or just a perception I have.
Hoping to play in a home game on Thursday night, as I haven't played live in quite awhile and need some table time before I get to Vegas and look like a complete dweeb. Hopefully I can get everyone at the table to watch me for tells and be honest about them after the game is over so I can work on them prior to Vegas....it's a pretty good group of players, so I'm sure they would be willing to help out...also gives me a chance to pad the bankroll if I get fortunate enough to cash in the game....basically a 1 table SnG for $30...but could be a nice $200 to the good if I play well.
Not much else happening though. Just waiting for the baby to arrive and the Vegas trip in Dec.
No complaints at all....Only stumble came during Bill Rini's Desert Shootout on Sunday afternoon. After getting some great hands early on and taking over the chip lead briefly, the following hands led to my downfall on the bubble to the final table...
my QQ runs into AA my KK runs into AA my JJ runs into KK and finally, my AKs runs into AA
now, the first 5 hands were all while I was in early/mid position and made a standard 3-4x BB raise and was raised by shortstacks behind me, pretty much committing me to call then due to the pot odds and the strength of my hands. Final hand sees me in early position again, but this time an equal sized stack calls me all in...I debate for a second and should have folded, but felt that he may have been weaker and that I would have overcards and the flush possibility...but alas he had AA and I failed to catch the flush draw on the river and was knocked out in 11th place. One more chance next Sunday to qualify for the shootout in Dec.
Speaking of...only 22 days until Vegas.
The $5/10 sessions ove rthe weekend were pretty nice...played pretty tight on Fri & Sat to get +$200 over about 4 different short sessions (+20, +2, +120, +60) then hit a mother load yesterday morning, playing 23 hands over 19 minutes and raping a table for about $220...the deck was hitting me so hard that I broke the table....out of the 23 hands, dealt KK twice, Aa once, QQ once, JJ once and hit 3 A high flushes on the turn or river...all pocket pairs held up and I was a very happy camper.
So the Vegas Bankroll is almost complete....so as long as I don't get hit by another huge downswing over the next 3 weeks, I should be all set for Vegas.
Man, I can't say that enough....Vegas in 22 days....
Not to mention that a brand new baby boy is on the way, so expect some cigars on me while in Vegas for anyone interested. Updates on the baby status on the family page if you're interested.
I was discussing the state of my bankroll and such with Jen the other night and I stumbled onto something. In April 2004, I was introduced to Hold'em and started playing around on UB in the play money section. During a session I hit a royal flush and was awarded a jackpot of $5 or something like that....and thus began the career of a casual poker player. I used that $5 to play penny poker online, slowly building that $5 to $25-30 and was pretty happy about life in general. That was followed by a win in a freeroll on UB for $750 and I was officially hooked. While a good chunk of that money went into having my house painted...beat the hell out of standing on a ladder in Ohio in August...I was determined to continue playing and learning about the game. Have had modest success at tourneys online (cash in about 30% of those I enter), although I focus on limit games now (mainly $5/10 on UB).
As I've mentioned before, I had a couple of great months late in the summer and had built my bankroll up to almost 4k....but it's now sitting at about 2k after some withdraws for car payments, fun things around the house, and a rough October and early November. What bugs me is that I'm slightly depressed about the whole thing...I have 2k of other peoples money that allows me to play poker with no risk at all to the family finances and I'm depressed....
What the hell is wrong with me........?????
I should be pretty freaking happy about the state of affairs....I have plenty of time to build up some cash this month to take to Vegas and still leave plenty at home, so that isn't the issue...I just can't understand why I'm so bugged about dropping about $700 in profit (losses from Oct/Nov)....just desn't make sense. I started to snap out of this last night after a successful tight session on UB for a $105 profit and some peppermint ice cream at Graeter's after dinner.....mmmmmmmm.
All in all, life is very good and I need to appreciate that more. My poker habit is entirely supporting itself, monthly varience happens and I'm going to welcome a bouncing baby boy into the world in just a matter of days....I should be the happiest dude on the internet...here's to getting my head screwed back on straight and appreciating where I'm at.
Not to mention, I'm planning on taking down some tourneys this weekend....I'm dealing at a local event on Friday, so I'll miss the WWdN tourney on PS...then a freeroll on UB at 8am on Sat (definately will need to caffeine dose for that one) and then the Sunday afternoon shootout with the poker bloggers headed to Vegas...plan is to take down both of those tourneys....you've been warned.
Quick update at the end of work...played a bit of $5/10 last night...just can't bring myself to let go of my limit game and play NL like I have been posting about...have played a few $0.50/1 Nl sessions with spotty results...won minimal amounts ($10-15) on a few sessions, then lost a buy in ($50) when my AA was run down by KQs with a flush on the river...I bet aggressively on each phase, but he was willing to chase down the flush (hit 4 to the flush on the flop and caught the last heart on the river)...nothing I can do there if they're willing to call down pot sized and larger bets...I knew he was on the flush draw and he was willing to gamble for it....no real mis-givings about the pot, other than the varience in the bankroll.
Back to the $5/10 last night....started out with another very tight session and pocketed $105 in about 40 minutes of play...was very happy, as my good cards held up, and my limped blinds hit solid a couple of times, so that was all good. Played a bit more later in the evening, and unfortunately went back to my looser play style and was rewarded with a -$200 to the bankroll. Complete opposite to earlier session....big hands cracked, no respect for my pre-flop raises (4-5 callers...not what you want to see with KK/QQ/JJ). Always seemed to be an A on the flop when I had my solid hands and some donkey would have A4os and win the pot. Suited connectors hit nothing on numerous flops and I found myself playing alot more flops than I should have been. Gotta keep reminding myself to start out tight and get the table image better established before loosening up a bit.
So, I'm back where I started on Sunday at this point. My bankroll sits at exactly $2k...which I now know is exactly 1/2 of what I need for my eye surgery. Jen mentioned socking away the 2k for the surgery, but then I'm back to gambling with family money to try and rebuild the bankroll before Vegas, which is NOT what I want to do....spent too much energy getting to the point of not messing with the house finances to risk that again this close to Christmas and the baby on the way.
BTW, if anyone want to contribute bankroll funds to the building of a future WSOP champion (Alan Michael - WSOP champion 2027), please email me at (mvilla at insight dot rr dot com)....I accept paypal and all forms of checks, cash or livestock...make sure to put 2027 WSOP Champ in the subject line so I respond quickly.
So, I'm going to have to hunker down and risk some of the surgery fund if I hope to A) have cash for Vegas and B) Finance the eye surgery in 2006 through poker money. I do believe my poker game is on an upswing from the last 2 months, so I'm not worried about one bad session....I just need to quit trying to chase players off of hands when I miss a flop with AK or something....just fold and cut my losses rather than trying to beat them off a pot...works in NL when you can use your stack to exert pressure, but the min-bets in limit just don't allow for it.
I'm back in my groove again...played a bit of poker last night on UB ($5/10) and took down about $140 in profit on the evening...played tighter than normal (VP$IP = 26%, as opposed to my normal 33%) and the results showed...I was never more than -$20 at the table, was able to bluff at a couple of pots where I reraised from late position with KJs, missed the flop, but was able to take it down with a continuation bet when everyone checked to me. Was nice to see a profit for the night again without struggling against some huge losses. Now, I just have to string together some more wins like that and I'll be in business for Vegas in less than a month (29 days to be exact....wheeeeee).
I also played in the Blogger satellite tourney on FT (busted early when I overplayed KQ with a Q high flop and ran into a slowplayed KK) and also WWdN's tourney on Friday night when the following hand occured....
me - AA on the button, blinds 50/100 and I'm sitting with $2200 I believe) two players limp in mid position, I raise to 500 to chase out any weak hands and get the SB and one early limpers to call the big raise...so I'm guessing someone has high pair (QQ/JJ/1010) or they really like their suited connectors. Flop comes 7-7-2.....checked around to be in the button....what would you do?
I fired in another 500 into the pot....SB calls, mid-position folds and late position goes all in for his 900. I pause for a second, figuring him for the overpair and want to isolate him, so go all in to get the SB out of the pot, and he calls both all ins......WTF is going on....I briefly celebrate my luck at getting a shot to triple up until they flip the cards.....my AA has run into 67s in the SB (flopped set of 7s) and the late position player has 2-2 (flopped full house)...so I'm way behind and need an A to get a better FH or I'm out....and of course I miss the 2 outer and am busted from the tourney. Not sure if I over played the hand or just got very unlucky with a flop like that. I'll post this on the RatPack and see what the guys there say...any additional comments welcome.
I also datamined a bunch of hands on FullTilt (after figuring out how to set up the software)...so if I decided to play NL there, I'll have a good bit of history at those tables...hopefully I can post a profit and clear my remaining bonus over the next couple of weeks and be in better shape for Vegas.
Not much else to speak of...time to get back to work.
wow...100 posts for me....hard to believe I've actually stuck with writing pretty regularly on this thing (unlike some others....bruce and fitzy...ya slackers).
Day 1 of no poker ended well for me yesterday...played some games with the girls and had to officiate over a certain 5 year old that has a pretty strong competative streak in her at this age. We were playing chutes & ladders and she had almost made it to the top and she hit a slide down a couple of level...resulting in a crying fit that she wasn't going to win....she won anyway, but we had a long talk about winning not being the important part and that having fun is more important....
wow....sobering thought in regards to poker...have I been having fun playing poker online....I would have to say no. Am i making money overall...well yes, which is the fun part of it. My preference would be to play live alot more often, as the social interaction is what makes the game more fun for me. I'm hoping to start making more local live games now that Jen is home for a few months...especially Bishop's Thursday night games...those are always a blast.
However, will I give up on poker over the internet....heck no...just need to get my groove back and tighten up my play. I did look at some of my stats on PT last night and saw that my % win at showdown has been dismal the last 3 weeks...I do have a tendency to bluff at pots a bit too much when scare cards come up, or chase down pots with AK and such when I don't hit, trying to represent strength...I know I have to tighten up these aspects of my game, especially at limit, as I give away alot of money on these pots. Now, i know that you have to give some action to get action in return, but I think I dive into the deep end way to often and put myself into huge holes to try and dig out of during a session. While my pre-flop play is pretty solid, I have to be more willing to give up on hands where I've missed the flop and not get into a fight over the pot every time. Always learning.....just have to remember when I start playing next week.
I am planning on playing in thw WWdN tourney at 7 tonight on PS, and then on FT on Sunday for the Bloggers tourney in preparation for Vegas in a few weeks. Need to keep my tourney play at some reasonable level for Vegas. Just keep repeating to myself....."fold QQ, fold QQ, fold QQ"....lol.
Something crazy going on in the water or air here in Columbus...I've watched about $400 slide through my fingers the last three days at donkey-rich tables on full-tilt and UB. no respect for pre-flop bets, calling down with bottom pair against a four-flush on the board, cracking my AA with k7os when they hit a 7 on a flop of Q-J-7 and then spike a K on the river...amazing stuff, and very frustrating for me. Definately switching to NL now as I'm tired of getting chased down and need to get my head on straight about limit again...may even take the week/weekend off from poker and go back and read some books to try and readjust...just sad to see all the money going to the idiots on the sites.
Spent two hours playing last night after the girls went to bed and made a measily $45, mostly by catching two hands in a row to dig out from a -$100 session to get positive. Woke up way too early this morning and thought I would give full-tilt a try (still working on clearing that bonus) and watched $300 disappear from my bankroll on some of the stuff above. Watched players playing every hand and running down anything, usually giving their money away at the end of it all. Flopped K high flushes twice only to loose to an A high flush (nice pots both times with 3-4 other players calling down to the river, so I couldn't let them go)...just absolutely retarded poker being played. And I'm not playing badly (IMHO), just can't catch any cards/flops and then get run down but donkeys when I do have a hand.
Bah...after running so well for 4 months, then struggling for the last 30 days....very frustrating, especially in light of the Vegas trip in just over a month...need to get back on track with some winning sessions or I'm going to be headed out there with a roll of quarters and not much else....and that would be very sad indeed.
OK, time to do the retrospective on the weekend that I had mentioned the other day in regards to poker...
Spent the weekend trying to get positive for the month...had a string of positive months dating back to June and didn't want to blow it...was up minimally ($150) until friday, when a cold table on UB sucked about $200 from me. So I decided to take advantage of the PokerStars reload and play $5/10 or $1/2 Nl over there...picked up a few hands early on and was back to even for the month until my QQ in early position was run down by a donkey in middle position that called me to the river with AK, catching his K on the river to take down a nice pot.....time for my vent on QQ.
This marked the 4th consecutive hand loosing with QQ for me over the weekend...played in the WWdN tourney on PS friday night...built a nice stack in the early tourney and then found QQ in the BB...3 early limpers all called my 4x BB bet from the blind to see a 7-9-4 rainbow flop. I put in a pot size raise and got one caller...this guy had been playing numerous pots, so I had trouble putting him on a hand...most likely AK or small pair...regardless, I feel I'm strongly ahead at this point. Turn brings a J, so there is a straight if he has 8-10, but I doubt he would call the pre-flop bet and strong flop bet with 8-10, so I fire another pot size bet....he calls again....so now I'm really wondering what I'm up against....did he slow play a set on the flop, or AA/KK (unlikely, as he had been raising with strong hands pre-flop).....a K comes on the river that slows me down a bit, as if he chased down AK, I'm now beat with top pair, or 10-Q now has a straight....Regardless, I fire in a 400 bet to put him all in, which he quickly calls...fearing the worst, I watch as he flips over K-4os to catch the 2 pair on the river with a garbage hand and crippling me in the tourney....he gets razzed from a couple of other players as I steam about the hand...I guess donkeys will call with about anything and chase it to the river....
Played in two additional PS qualifiers for the Bahamas trip....busted out of both of them with QQ, playing them aggressively and running into AA and KK respectively for all my chips....so counting the Bahamas trip that I just missed, that's 4 straight tourneys that the ladies have gotten me knocked out of....sigh.
In other news, I'm working on clearing a fulltilt bonus right now as well, so I'll be playing on Fulltilt over the next week or so to clear $100 in bonus cash...as well as build my bankroll a bit...played a bit on Monday and was up $75 at the $5/10, so hopefully that trend will continue for the next 5 weeks until Vegas......Vegas baby....Yeah.
Finally got some sleep last night, so I'm feeling human again....those Monday night Steelers games about kill me anymore....need to win the lotto or something so I can retire and live a life of poker and luxury.
ugh...very tired this morning....at least the Steelers made staying up that late worth it with a win. Would have sucked to stay up that late only to watch them loose.
Now that I have seperated the poker and family stuff into seperate blogs, I'll get back to the poker stuff. October ended yesterday with the first loosing month for me since May...I had posted positive gains every month (June-Sept) until dropping about $350 for the month of October. Not exactly what I had planned, as I had hoped to starting building a Vegas bankroll for the Dec trip. Looks like I'll have to tighten up and play some better poker in November to make some cash for the trip. Not that there isn't money there, but I would hate to dip into the eye surgery fund and risk not being able to have that done in January.
After watching my limit play get very erratic this past month, I had been considering playing no-limit for awhile and working on improving that game...played about 50 hands last night on UB ($1/2 NL) for about a $50 profit when I played about 5 hands out of the 50...fortunately they held up and I was able to quit in time for the football game with a slight profit. NL definately gets the blood pumping a bit more than limit, as there is a much bigger swing in cash in a single hand...calling a $5 reraise is much different that calling a $20 reraise...I'm going to have to adjust to it. This will also give me an opportunity to work on my pot odds calculations, so that is a good thing.
FullTilt just sent me a reload bonus notification, so I'll probably move my cash off of UB for a week or so and deposit it onto FullTilt to make some bonus cash and work on the NL game. I'll keep you all posted, hopefully I can get on a hot streak and build up the Begas bankroll.
