The Weekly Journals of DavidRoss

Week 1 – The Beginning


I am going to conduct an experiment and anyone who is interested can follow along with me. I am off work for the next little while and I am going to see if I can make a living playing 5/10 at paradise. I work as a contract computer consultant and after 9 years of working every day for the 2nd time in 6 months I have no clients. It will be a few weeks at least before I start again so I thought it would be interesting to see if I can do this. In order to replace my reegular draw, I need to make $1,400 a week (US). So my goal will be 200 a day. Based on my earnings over the past 2 months I think it can be done if I put in the hours. I estimate I make about 30-40 an hour online. That is playing 2 tables at around 70 hands per hour. I think it equals 1 BB/hr live if you go by hands played.

I am curious to know if any of the pro's out there play online.

My plan is to play a few hours in the afternoon until my kids get home around 3:30. THen after they are in bed I will play from 9:00 PM until 3:00 AM. I have to get them to school in the mornings, but can go back to bed and catch up on the missed sleep then. Time will tell if this is realistic.

I find the games at paradise super-aggressive compared to what I have read about in these forums. Notes on individual players are crucial to success here. Some guys you can never fold to heads up. I try to avoid games with 2 or more 2+2'ers at the table. I don't mind playing with 1 but beyond that it seems the table gets too tight. I play looser and less aggressive than most of the posters here, and I like to play for the "long bomb". Lots of pocket pairs and suited connectors looking for the big score. To cover for playing these weakish hands I also like to limp first in with AA and KK. I know this has been noticed because comments have been made, and it really helps me see more flops unraised. Okay enough background here's what has happened so far;

Day 1 - Sunday.

Played 6 hours and had a very good night + $340.

Day 2 -

Played 4 hours in the afternoon. Paradise promotion is on and lots of people playing too many hands trying to earn points. + $150. Played 6 more hours at night and had one of those nights where I hardly played any hands. I got big pairs or lousy cards and won almost every time I saw the flop. flopped quads 3 times (Aces twice and Jacks) + $230. + 380 for the day and + 720 for the week.

Day 3 - the bubble bursts..then inflates.

Played 3 hours in the afternoon - $320. Believe it or not I played very well. It could have been much worse. Rivered again and again.

Played 6 hours in the evening the exact opposite of the morning. Deck hit me in the face. + $670 and ir probably should have been more. I think I missed a number of value bets early in the session. I was still gun shy after the afternoon. Stealing pots no one else wants is a big part of my game and I was to afraid to go for it tonight. Strange game.

+ 360 for the day and + 1080 for the week.

Day 4.

Took the afternoon off to help my wife in the yard. A luxury because of the headstart in the bankroll. 6 hours tonight + $70. Strange session. Up early then card dead for 3 hours.

Some hands I found interesting.

UTG I limped in with 7h 6h (I warned you I liked these). I got so much respect everyone folded to the SB (A big time bluffer) who called. BB checked.

*** FLOP *** : [ Kh 6s Qs ]

checked to me I bet my bottom pair and the SB raised. BB folds and I call.

*** TURN *** : [ Kh 6s Qs ] [ Ac ]

SB bets and I raise. He calls. I will try this once or twice a night. Always against one of the guys who is a known bluffer. Even if he does have a K, the A has to scare him, and he doesn't necessarily have anything.

*** RIVER *** : [ Kh 6s Qs Ac ] [ 4s ]

Check, I bet he folds.


I think the biggest weakness in my game is paying off river bets. here was an example;

I have Ad Qc in EP and I open raise. Cold call on my left, then folded around.

*** FLOP *** : [ 8h Ah 6h ]

I bet he calls.

*** TURN *** : [ 8h Ah 6h ] [ Tc ]

Bet and call again.

*** RIVER *** : [ 8h Ah 6h Tc ] [ 2h ]

That can't be good. I check he bets and I pay him off. He had Ks Qh. I like having him in my game, but probably could have saved a bet. Anyone else think you have to call?


Any comments greatly appreciated. I'll update at the end of the week.


btw.. I will be going back to work no matter what. I don't want this life, I just want to see if its feasible. It would seem to me to be more possible online than live because of the extra hands and the lower rake. Time will tell.




Day 5.

Now here is something you never have to deal with in the casino. I start my afternoon session and as usual the afternoon games are quite tight. I’m playing good solid poker and I’m ahead around $80. Now my wife, who is home this week comes to visit me with a grin on her face and asks if I would like to join her in some afternoon delight. Poker or sex. Hmmm. So of course I played around to my blinds and took a break. Modesty prevents me from giving too many details but lets just say I didn’t get back in time to keep my seat. Now of course when I get back and finally get seated again I quickly drop $450 and start blaming my wife for the bad mojo. Maybe there’s some truth to that lucky at love unlucky at cards thing.

Horrible afternoon session again. Rivered more times than I can believe. Still paying off too much I guess. -$370.

The afternoon games are very different than the evening games I’m used to. Much fewer games to choose from and considerably tighter. I’m going to have to make adjustments if I hope to make any money here. Played with 2+2’er Rigoletto all seek in this game. He’s much tighter than me, and very aggressive when he does play a hand. I just tried to stay out of his way, and for the most part succeeded.

Evening

Treaded water for 7 hours to end - $57 for the evening and -427 for the day. For the week I’m now + $723 for the week and a fair bit behind my target.


Day 6

Afternoon.

Well I waded into the tough afternoon games again after two really bad sessions. No tempting offers from my wife and the deck just smacked me in the face. I just raised and raised and watched flop after flop hit me. 2 ½ hours. + $542

For statistic freaks I played 342 hands 14% won 45% won when flop seen.

Evening.

This may have been the best I played all week. I played over 700 hands and won 6% of them, and I only lost $100. I started at two tables with the same player who was just running over both tables. eMark was with me at one of the tables and he later described the guy as a maniac, but my notes on him(which came from a previous session described him as a dangerous aggressive player. He NEVER calls. Raise or fold and he plays a lot of strange hands. You never know where he is. Another guy I would like to stay out of the way of, unfortunately tonight you couldn’t, he was in every hand, and they were all raised or 3 bet pre-flop. In hindsight I should have changed tables sooner. The nice thing about paradise 5/10 is that there are always 6 or 7 going, some game selection is usually good. I noticed later on that this player (Tobie is his nickname) was the points leader by a mile in the paradise promotion. I saw him win over a $700 while I was there, most of it mine. I dropped $500 in 1 ½ hours playing 19% of my hands and winning 4%. I finally moved to two different tables and although I didn’t win many more hands they were big ones.

I got presto (5,5) in the BB and had 2 limpers and a LP raise in front of me. The SB called as did I and the 2 limpers.

Flop was 5,4,3 rainbow. I decided to play it fast and bet out. All 5 players called me.

Turn was an 8, second diamond on the board. I bet out again and got 3 calls.

River a second 3. I bet out again, got 1 call then a raise. I 3 bet, lost the limper and got called. He had A,3. You don’t have to win too many of these to make a big difference.

Something that both eMark and Roy pointed out in their replies to me was that I cold called too often. Here is one of the situations where I do cold-call.

2nd to act open raises. I don’t regard his play too highly. I have Kd Td and I call. I like to call with suited broadway cards. I don’t want to play him heads up so I’m hoping to set off a calling frenzy and flop something big. I do release these hands a lot on the flop, but you do have position on the raiser. We got 1 more caller plus the BB.

*** FLOP *** : [ 9d 2d Qh ]

The pre-flop raiser bet and I just called. Heads up I would raise this but I am hoping for some calls behind me. I get 1 call from the BB and I now have the button.

*** TURN *** : [ 9d 2d Qh ] [ 6s ]

Checked to me this time and I bet. Both folded and My K high won a nice pot.

Does everyone think this is a bad play?

SO for the day I am + $446 and for the week I am + $1,167, just slightly behind target.

Day 7. Saturday, no afternoon session. I won’t play when the kids are around. 1 it’s too distracting, and 2 I can’t get near the computer when they’re here. So I dug up my front lawn in preparation of laying new sod tomorrow.

Had another good night (I love this paradise promotion. People playing too loose trying to win as many pots as they can. I’m curious to see what the games will be like next week)

Interesting hand,

I went to tuck my daughter in to bed and when I came back the button had just passed. I posted 2 off the button and there was another poster in the cutoff. $17 in the pot already. It was folded to me. I had 92 off suit and checked. Poster checked, button folded and now the sb raised. BB folded and I was all set to fold myself when I paused. I am getting 27 to 5 on a call and maybe more. Is any hand that big a dog? I decided no and called. Who else makes this call?

Anyway the other poster called too and the flop contained 2 9’s and a 3. SB bet I called and the other poster folded. Turn was a 7, 2nd heart. He bet and I called. River was a Q, no flush. He bet, I raised and he folded.

Last hand of the week.

I am in the BB with Jh 9h. There is a limp, a raise and a cold call in front of me. I call and so did the limper.

*** FLOP *** : [ 7h 7d 2h ]

checked to the pre-flop raiser who bets. Cold caller raises. I’m pretty sure neither of them has a 7, so I 3 bet to represent the 7. Limper folds but both the other 2 call.

*** TURN *** : [ 7h 7d 2h ] [ 6h ]

Yee haw. I bet again, both call. Now please, no more hearts.

*** RIVER *** : [ 7h 7d 2h 6h ] [ 6c ]

Yee haw again. I bet and both called again.

Preflop raiser had AA, but no heart. Cold caller and flop raiser had AK with the A hearts.

Abstaining from sex pays off again.

For the day 2 ½ hours played. + $307. for the week + $1,474. Yippee. I made more in my first week than I took home in my last week on the job. No taxes on gambling in Canada either. Something tells me this isn’t maintainable, but I’ll try again next week. If anyones interested I’ll post again then.


Week 2

I got a lot of hits on my first post so if anyone cares, I'll post my 2nd week here.

Well reality set in a bit in my second week of trying to play for a living. No word on any job prospects yet so I will be doing this for a few more weeks at least. After exceeding my $200 a day target during the first week I got off to a horrible start on the first day of week 2 and lost over $600 to put me in quite a hole. I reviewed my play and it did deteriorate towards the end of the session when I started to play too many hands looking for a big score to try and get back, for the most part I was just cold decked.

One of the realities of treating this as a full time job is the impact it has on my personal life. I mentioned earlier that for me the best games I can play are from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM, and I played weekdays from noon to 3:30 when the kids get home from school. I have a regular 9 hole golf game on Sunday mornings at 6:30 AM. We played for the first time last Sunday, meaning I played poker until late (I had quit early on Saturday because I had met my target for the week and knew I had to get up at 5:30) but still played golf on 4 hours sleep. My game is rusty, but I pulled it together a bit and made 5 pars. Unfortunately I only made 1 bogey, the others were doubles or worse. The real impact came Sunday night when I played poker extremely tired. I’m sure it affected my play somewhat. Along with watching too much TV while playing, these are weaknesses to look out for playing long hours online. 90% of the hands can be played on auto-pilot, but the last 10%, which is where I think most of your profit comes from, requires you to be focused, not only on my own cards, but on my opponents.

Monday and Tuesday I bounced back really well, got enough good cards to post $500 + wins on each day and get almost back on target for the week. Played long hours each day to do so though. 4 hours in the afternoon, and 7 at night. I sleep extremely soundly after the hours of deep concentration. It reminds me of when I played tournament chess, with replays of hands or moves bouncing around in your head afterwards. I’m starting to dream about poker. I keep poker books in the bathrooms where I disappear to read sometimes (If any of you have 4 kids you’ll know what I mean by this). I’m sure I’ve read all of them 6 or 7 times now (I like Feeney’s the best), and I’m still learning something every time I read them. While I absorbed about 5% of them the first time through I might understand 50% of them now. It amazes me how deep the understanding of this game has to go, and after all that, there is still no “Right” play. It always “depends”.

Wednesday was the first taste of complete despair. I lost $1200, and that after I made a $400 recovery in the last hour. This had to be the single worst session of cards I’ve ever been dealt. I made 2nd best hand after 2nd best hand. I was raised on the turn so many times I can’t count them. Raise AK pre-flop, hit you’re A on the flop and then get check raised on the turn. I paid off most of them, managed to release some. Flush under flush, set of T’s against a set of J’s, it never ended. All of a sudden more than halfway into my week, not only am I behind my target, I’m down $800 of my first weeks profit. Of course all the bills arrived in the mail today too, and my wife had to buy books. Life goes on. The only plus I can take form today is that my experience matches everything I’ve read in the books and posted in the forums. It happens, just keep playing your best game. I think I was able to do that. I’ve had a number of people comment to me that they read my report from last week. I don’t know if it’s good or bad for me that some of my opponents know a lot about me. I know I try to stay away from 2+2’ers whenever possible. eMark and I have played together an awful lot, and within 20 minutes of us playing together our table usually has the lowest flop % of any that are going. I’ve played a lot in the last 2 weeks with Rigoletto during the day, and his game is rock solid. Another person to stay out of the way of. Since I’m seeing around 1,000 hands a day I’m not as anxious to play hands. I can fold AT and KQ in early position now, and even in late position if a strong player limped in front of me. I could never do that before. In two weeks I have only seen 1 hand limp-reraised that wasn’t AA or KK. If I can’t beat AA I’m folding to those guys now.

Thursday dawned brightly for me. My hands held up again and I made my draws. I was up $415 to put me down 400 for the week. I wasn’t involved but saw a 4 way hand capped pre-flop, capped on the flop, 3 bet on the turn and called by all 4 on the river. They all showed. On a Q high board the winner had QQ. The other 3 had AA, KK and KK. Play long enough you’ll see it all. I had the hand we all dream about, The river made me a straight flush, and the other guy a full house. Amazingly he didn’t cap my 3 bet. My biggest hand of the week happened as follows;

I was on the button with Ad Kc. 2 limpers in EP then a raise from LP. I 3 bet, BB calls, one of the limpers calls, LP 4 bets and we all call. 4 to the flop. I’m hoping he’s got QQ.

Flop 4h Ah 7s.

Checked to LP who bets, and I raise. BB calls, EP folds and LP calls.

Turn [4h Ah 7s] Kd.

Checked to me, I bet, BB calls, LP raises. Uh oh. I’m thinking its more likely that we both have AK than he has AA or KK, so I decided to make the flush draw (presumed) pay and I 3 bet. BB calls 2 cold and LP raises. Uh oh. I call.

River [4h Ah 7s Kd] Ac. Yes!!...Now I’ve changed my mind and I’ll put him on KK (nothing like being an optimist). He bets, I raise, he 3 bets and I cap. He does have KK and I take down a 260 pot.

I took a break and played in the King of the Zoo tourney at Pokerstars. What a blast. If you can make it next month, you should take part. The level of play is excellent compared to anything I’ve played in before (which isn’t saying much). I got a great rush of cards to start, including the KK hand I busted out on when MS Sunshine had AA. I finished 39 of 42, but got back to my ring games early enough to make some money.

Friday was another very good day. I seem to have used up all my bad beats on Wednesday. + 542 to put me slightly ahead for the week.

Bad read on my part. I limp after 2 others with 9c 8c, and get raised by the worst player at the table on the button. SB 3 bets. I’m sure this is a big pair. Limpers both call 2 cold so I do too. Button calls.

Flop 2d 7c Th.

Not bad, open ended plus backdoor flush.

SB bets. Limpers both fold, and I call. Button raises, SB 3 bets and I cap it. I think I will win this more than 1 in 3 so I like the cap. Both call.

Turn [2d 7c Th] Ac.

Well what does this mean? I’ve picked up a bunch of outs, but maybe not as many as it seems. I think the SB has AA, so anything pairing the board is no good to me. Although a J makes my straight, it is no longer the nuts, but the buttons play isn’t consistent with KQ. However I have no Idea what he has. TT maybe. Kc Tc making my flush draw useless. Anyway the SB bets out and I call. Button raises. SB 3 bets. OK he’s got AA. I call 2 cold again, and the button caps it. What does he have, and why can’t he see the SB has the current nuts?

River [2d 7c Th Ac] Jd.

Phew. SB bets. I raise and the button 3 bets. SB mucks and I think. I decided to cap, I can’t put him on KQ. He calls and shows……………..Kd Qh. GO back and follow his play, then throw up all over yourself like I did. He gave it all back of course, but none of it to me.

Saturday closes out week 2. Paradise has a promotion where they’ll top up 20% of any purchases so I buy $500 of chips and get $600 credited to my account. I have to play 100 hands before cashing out . I think I can handle that. Easiest $100 I’ve made playing Poker. I have another really good session cards wise. I get AA 5 times in 150 hands and they all hold up. + $600 for the session. Add the 100 from the promotion and I end the week + $950. Below target, but considering the $1200 loss I’m very pleased.

Wild week. I sucked out on the same guy during a daytime session in one orbit. I played my favorite baby pairs and got raised. No high cards on the board so I settled in to call him down and made a set on the river. Twice. Both times he had the overpair to the board. I think I went into his notes. I think I like people thinking I’m a bad palyer. It certainly helps get action when you make your hands. I can’t believe the difference in the games form table to table. Sometimes you seem to get a table where no one folds before the river. When your hands hold up you make a lot more, but you get sucked out on a lot with strange 2 pairs on the river. Understanding this has helped improve my game I think. I now understand why you press top pair top kicker so hard early in a hand. Because if 3 people go to showdown, top pair doesn’t win as often as you think. Same with unimproved AA or KK.

Well thanks for reading if you got his far. On to week 3.


Week 3

This is my 3rd week of playing online while I wait for another contract or permanent employment to come available. I play paradise 5/10 for 3 to 4 hours in the afternoon while my kids are at school, and anywhere from 4-6 hours at night after they are in bed. I set a goal of $200 a day for myself and the first week I made it with a little to spare, but week 2 included 2 disastrous sessions and I only made $950 or so for the week. This is the summary from week 3.

Sunday was a very strange day for me. I seem to have extreme fluctuations either big wins or big losses. I played around 6 hours tonight and never was more than $100 up or down. Ended the day up $70. No golf today, my golfing buddy was unavailable so I got a real great sleep last night. Felt much better tonight than last week when I lost $600 playing on 3 hours sleep. I hope I don’t have to give up the golf.

Monday is the start of the summer routine for me. I coach my 9 year old son’s soccer team, and my 7 year old daughters team too. So Monday thru Thursday we have games or practices every night. We have to eat early so being home right now makes it that much easier. I get my life back again in August. I actually love it. I get to yell at them all I want without being one of those “parents”.

I had my biggest single day win ever today, + $1,042. And all I can think of is 2 hands where I folded the winner.

Heads up I hardly ever fold unless I’m sure I can’t beat a bluff. But the presence of a third person usually changes my thinking, as it probably should. Here are 3 hands from today, 2 of them 3 way, and the other heads up.

Hand 1. I have KK on the button. EP raiser, I 3 bet, and the BB cold calls. EP calls as well.

Flop A 9 7 rainbow. BB bets, EP raises, and I muck. I cannot imagine neither of them having an A, and I don’t think I have odds to play for my 2 outer. BB called. A J turned and it was checked down. I got that sick feeling right about then. River was checked around too. BB had 66, and EP had TT. Did I wimp out? I have to believe in the long run, folding is still the right play. Great raise on the flop by the EP though.

Hand 2. I have JJ in LP. 1 limper to me and I raise. BB calls, so does the limper. Flop Q 9 6, two clubs. BB bets, limper raises and again I mucked. It will probably cost me $30 to get to the showdown. Of course the BB had pocket tens, and the limper had A 9 clubs. No A or club appeared and my J’s would have been good. Same scenario as the first hand.

Hand 3. I open raise in EP with QQ. Poster in the cutoff calls the single bet, and everyone else folds. Flop was K 6 4 rainbow. I bet and he calls. Turn was a 3, second club. I bet and he raised. I have learned to really stop when raised and I used all my time thinking about this. He was a new player, and while I had some notes on him, nothing really gave me a clue. When in doubt heads up I called. River brought a second 6, no club. I checked, he bet and I called. He had 22. There are so many players at Paradise willing to make these plays that I think you almost always have to call them down.

I won around 300 in my afternoon session and 700 in the evening, all of it on one table. I have never felt so in control of a table in my life. It was like I could see everyone’s cards. What a great feeling. I made good laydowns, and lots of value bets on the river. Of course I got great cards, but didn’t win an extraordinary number of pots. I did win 41% of the times I saw the flop though which is a very high number. It got to the point where every time I raised they all folded. Well it’s a great headstart for the week, and almost makes up for the $1200 loss last week. Have to be careful not to get a swelled head and get back to it tomorrow.

Tuesday. For the 3rd straight session the deck hits me in the face. There was only one 5/10 game going, but strangely enough 2 8/16’s so I played 1 table of 5/10 and 1 of 8/16. I made quads on both of them. 1 against a flush. I won set over set, and made a flush draw against a set of A’s on the river. 2 ½ hours played + $750. This puts me up over 1800 for the week and it’s only Tuesday afternoon. Another poster asked me why I seem to win so many big pots. I mentioned earlier that I’m like a big play offence in football. Because I play so many small pairs and suited connectors, I have more opportunities to flop sets and big draws than someone who plays tighter. When I flop the draws I push them very hard creating big pots. Of course when I miss I tend to lose more than average too. But I think the unseen benefit here is that people see me showdown strange hands, so when I play AK and flop top pair top kicker, I get paid off a lot more than the guys who only showdown good cards. Until today the 8/16 game had eaten me alive, so I hope this will help remove some of the fear I have for that limit.

Tuesday night was a grind. Mediocre cards and 2 tough tables had me down around 150. I finally smartened up and changed tables and was able to come back to post a modest $40 win. This makes 6 straight winning days, and I’m so pleased with my discipline and play. I think I’m still improving each day. I made one bonehead call tonight that was automatic and I need to stop that. 3 limpers to me and I limped from the cut off with QTo. Both blinds came and 6 of us see the flop of 6 8 8 rainbow. checked around to me and I checked too. The way this table was going I wasn’t going to win the pot betting here so I decided to see the turn. Turn was a 5 putting a second heart on the board. Checked around again, and again I checked. River was a Q, no flush possible. Again checked around to me and I bet. I like the bet. I think worse hands will call. SB raises me and everyone folds. I called. I don’t know what I expected to see that I could beat. With 4 more people to act after him I don’t think he’s bluffing. He had 66 (how do you like that play?) for a flopped full house, and never bet it.

My favorite hand showed one area of improvement in my game. I open raised with KQ in MP. One cold caller (He cold called a lot, usually with a pair or something suited), and the BB completed. Flop was Q 9 3 two spades. I had K spades. I bet, cold caller called and BB folded. Turn was an 8, no spade. I bet he called. I now put him on a smaller pair than my Q’s. I don’t think he would still be in with overcards. River was an A, no flush possible. I bet. This is a place where too often I check because of the overcard. IF I checked and he bet I am calling anyway, so I made the bet instead. He called and I won. Hand history showed him with TT. Those extra $10 bets add up over hundreds of hands.

So I have already made up what I was short of target last week, I have this weeks target already earned. If I can avoid moving backwards, it’ll be a very good week.

Wednesday.

I am amazed at the number of posts I am getting on my journal. I love it. I am getting comments at the tables too. I guess there are a lot of lurkers that I don’t know as 2+2’ers at the tables. I think I have used this forum in the best possible way to improve my game. Exchanging ideas with other people that work hard on their game too is invaluable if you approach it with an open mind. I know my buddy eMark’s statistics and criticisms (constructive) have helped me look deeper into my game. Playing the volume of hands that I am now is giving me a practical application of all the ideas.

I can’t resist starting with a baby pair hand from tonight. There is an EP limper and a raise to his left. One cold caller in LP and I call too with 66. 5 players is my magic number and it looks like we’ll get that here. When the SB calls I think we’ll have 6, but the BB folds. Limper calls and 5 of us see the beautiful flop of 6h 5h Tc. Checked to the raiser who bets. LP calls and I raised. My gut instinct was to slowplay this and try to keep everyone in, but this is the right play. Boy was it the right play. SB and EP both call 2 cold and the PFR 3 bets. LP calls 2 more and I cap it. EVERYONE calls. 5 players for 4 more sb’s. $152 already in the pot. Turn is the 5c. Not only does it fill me, it also puts another flush draw on the board. Checked to the PFR who bets again!! TT is starting to worry me, but I think he’s on KK or AA. I’m pretty sure he’s the only one I have to worry about. Anyone else with TT would have been doing some raising himself. LP calls again. Hearts maybe or another overpair. 78, who knows. Who Cares now. I raise again. Finally someone folds, the SB. EP calls 2 cold again, and finally the PFR calls only. OK no TT. LP calls again. $232 in the pot. River is the Ac. Good news and bad news. Anyone drawing dead with clubs got there, but does PFR have AA? It is checked to me, good news so far, I don’t think PFR would go for a check-raise here. I bet. EP raises. There’s my clubs. PFR folds. Woo Hoo. LP folds and I 3 bet. EP calls. He had Qc Jc and went on quite a fishing expedition. $292 pot, the biggest I’ve ever won at 5/10.

I had a very dull afternoon session. It started like this. I posted in the BB and got a free play with Q2o. Flop comes 2 2 J. I cleverly check and the button bets. I smooth call hoping someone else will come along, but they all fold. The turn is a 7, but puts 3 hearts on the board. I’m afraid the flush will scare him so I bet. He raises. Uh Oh. I just call, and check call the river. He has J2. This is not a good start, except that without the flush on the board I would have lost a lot more. 2nd hand I get AQo in the SB and raise a LP limper. We are heads up and I bet the Q high flop. He calls. On the turn he raises. I call the raise and the river bet and he shows a flopped set of 5’s. 2 minutes in and I’m down around $80. I spend the next 2 ½ hours listening to Paul McCartneys Back in the USA DVD and grinding my way back to even.

The evening session starts like the afternoon. I get totally outplayed by a joker sitting 2 to my left. I’m already down around $200. The following 3 hands happened in One orbit. There is one guy at the table on a major roll. I get TT in the SB and there are 4 limpers to me. I just call. Flop is 5d 3h 7h. With 6 players I don’t think my betting will thin the field so I check hoping to raise an LP bet. Unfortunately the BB bets and the joker on his left raises. The hot guy (who has won on the river around a dozen times) cold calls, and the other two fold to me. I 3-bet hoping to get at least one more out, but the BB calls 2 more and the joker raises. Everyone calls. My gut tells me the joker is on a flush draw, and I think I’m good for now. But other than a Ten there aren’t many cards I want to see here. Turn is another 3. I bet, BB folds but the other 2 call. River is the 4h making the flush and a one card straight possible. I check, joker checks and the HG bets. I make the crying call and he shows 5 6. He chased with his middle pair and a gutshot. Sigh.

5 hands later I get TT again in MP. I open raise and get cold called on my left and by the joker. Everyone else folds. Flop is 8s Ah 3c. I bet, one guy folds but the joker calls. Turn is the Ks and I check. I never know how hard to push here, but he called a preflop raise and a bet with an A on board. There aren’t many hands I can beat. He bets and I call. River is a 7 I check and fold to his river bet. I had paid off so many hands already I decided to save the $10. He couldn’t resist and flashed his cards. 4c 2c. That’s right 4c 2c. He did flop a gutshot, but Oh My. If I wasn’t already on the edge I was now. I made some notes and tried not to fume too much, but I wasn’t quite right.

Now against all odds, I get TT 2 hands later UTG (That’s 3 times in 9 hands). I open raise(maybe I’ll start open limping with TT.) Joker cold calls, and the BB completes. As usual with TT an overcard flops Kc 7s 2s. I bet out and both of them call me. Turn is the 4d and I bet again (Usually with just one overcard I’ll keep pressing until someone slows me down). Joker calls me again and BB folds. River is the 2d, and I decide to check call, hoping he’ll bluff. He shows…….4c 2c. Yes again 4c 2c. How is that possible??

I am now down $350 and I sit out a few hands to re-group. I eventually got to $450 down, all at that same table before I left. The game was juicy, but not for me. That was about midnight, and by 1:00 I had grinded back about $250 of it. Then my rush hit. It included the big hand above and by 1:30 I was up $200, and decided to book my 7th winning day in a row. I feel like the poker gods really smiled on me today (Although they tested me). I think I’ll sacrifice a virgin in their honor. Anyone know where I can find one?

Thursday.

Maybe it’s just putting the right spin on things, but after working without more than a week off as a consultant for 8 years, I finally had no work last October. I had a contract that would start on Jan 1, but this was Oct 15. At the same time, my dad, who lived in Montreal, was diagnosed in the late stages of Cancer. I was able to spend a lot of time with him in his last 3 months that I never would have had I been working. Now I’m off again at the same time my wife is entering the most difficult part of her Nursing training. For the next 7 weeks she is leaving for the hospital at 5:30 in the morning and getting home at 5:00 PM. My being home has actually made her more comfortable with her schedule. She was a stay at home mom for 13 years and wasn’t comfortable with the younger ones (my kids are 15, 12, 9 and 7) being alone in the house. So if I can make ends meet doing this for the next 7 weeks we’ve solved another family crisis.

I actually was approached today about 2 possible contracts, one in Montreal and the other in France. We’ll see if anything pans out.

I went on tilt this afternoon. I take pride in accepting misfortune gracefully and I’m not proud of this, but I misplayed a hand so badly at the very end of my session, and of course the poker gods rewarded me with a huge pot. I had been struggling and losing slightly. No bad beats but every time I raised with AQ, someone 3 bet with AK. If I had AK, QQ was out. Then about a half hour before quitting time I dropped a couple more hundred. I was fed up and not seeing straight. On my last orbit I got 9h 8h UTG +1 and I limped in. LP limps, poster in the cut off checks, button limps and SB raises. SB is a loose cannon and this could mean anything. BB and all the limpers called.

*** FLOP *** : [ 7d 4d 4h ]

Checked around to the cutoff who bets. Button calls and the SB raises. BB folds and for reasons I will never be able to explain I called 2 bets with my runner runner (non nut) flush, runner runner straight and 2 overcards. Now of course the cutoff 3 bets pretty much ruling out my overcards, Button calls 2 more, SB calls and so do I.

*** TURN *** : [ 7d 4d 4h ] [ 8s ]

I bet you can see where this is going. Checked to the cut off who bets again and 3 of us call again.

*** RIVER *** : [ 7d 4d 4h 8s ] [ 8c ]

The only thing I did right on this hand was checking here. No one in their right mind suspects I have an 8. SO when the CO bets both call him again and I check raise. He says “You didn’t?” before calling. The button called as well and I scooped a $229 pot on my last hand playing like everyone I’ve ever criticized. CO had A4 and the button was chasing the diamond flush with the A. I finished the afternoon session down $110 instead of 300.

In the evening again it was hard work. I didn’t flop a set all day in over 1,000 hands. I count on those big pots. But I did win $180 to put me up $70 for the day and make 8 straight winning days. It puts me up $2175 for the week.

Friday.

Im starting to think of the midnight to 3:00 AM time as “My Time”. Another grind of an afternoon session. I was up early but I gave it all back plus $50. Do you believe you can feel luck changing? I think I do, and it always seems to happen after a bad play or a bad beat. In reality I probably start playing badly because of it. Today I misplayed a flopped set. 5 or 6 of us saw the flop and I was on the button. There was a bet and a call to me and the board seemed unthreatening so I just smooth called. A runner runner flush beat me from the blinds, who almost certainly would have folded to my flop raise. From that point on I hardly won a pot.

In the evening I was down a little more. I changed tables several times as games got very tight. There was a 10/20 game going with a flop % of 30%. I got a seat there (this is only the 2nd time I’ve tried to play that high) and there were a few familiar players. I got no cards for 2 orbits. It was very clear why the flop % was so high. There was one guy seeing every flop and everyone else trying to get heads up with him. After my 2nd orbit he left and the game got very tight. I decided to play to my blinds and leave. In those 8 hands I won 2 pots and left with a quick $100. It can happen quick at those limits. Around this time the rush hit. I think the quality of play deteriorates significantly around midnight EST. I don’t know if it’s people drinking or coming home after drinking, but the pots I win seem to be way bigger than they should be and people bluff way more than normal. In half an hour I made up for the morning loss and the $200 I was down earlier and posted another win of $334. 9 straight winning days and up 2510 for the week. Wow.

Saturday.

I just played a short session after watching “Catch me if you can” with my wife. I loved the movie. I had a big rush early to go up around $200, but it slowly disappeared and since I’m golfing early tomorrow I decided to preserve my winning streak and finished the week with a $89 win. That makes $2599 for the week, making up for the week 2 shortfall and giving me a good head start for next week.

I think I will end my reports with this one. I did find it very worthwhile for me to monitor my play like this and get my thoughts on paper. It forces me to think about my game and look for areas where I can improve. It looks like I will be doing it for a few more weeks anyway, and if I can keep winning at this rate I would be very happy to have it go on all summer. It’s nice working from home. After my huge win early this week I went into a defensive shell to protect the winnings. I stopped playing the baby pairs in early position and the suited connectors too. I never had a losing session after that, but no big wins either. I guess that is exactly what you would expect from a strategy shift like this. More than likely I will loosen up a little again. I certainly can’t recommend it to anyone else, since technically it is flawed, but I seem to be able to make it pay. Maybe all those sessions of playing too loose has helped me recognize profitable situations and maximize the wins while keeping the losses down a little.

Thanks to everyone who responded to my 3 posts, especially my buddies Rigoletto and eMark. I highly value your advice and comments. Cya all at the tables.