The Weekly Journals of DavidRoss

Week 19

Kids are back at school and life is returning to normal. I had to get up to make breakfast though so the sleep patterns need adjusting. The week has started really well at Paradise, and so so at Party. I’ve won $750 in 2 nights at Paradise, giving me 6 straight winning session ssince I returned to the 5/10 games. I had a small win on Sunday night at Party, but had my worst day ever at Party on Monday. I was a victim of 2nd best-itis. I dropped $473, $350 in the afternoon. It was like the horrible run I had many weeks back where I would hit the flop with AK, get called and raised on the turn. Again and again. I flopped 4 sets in 20 minutes and lost all of them to rivered flushes or straights. Most of the time it wasn’t even bad players chasing, just one of those things. I tilted for a short while, but overall I think I handled it better than I did last time. Then Tuesday afternoon I ran well and made back $385 of it. So Tuesday at dinner time I’m up $750 for the week.

I’ve got the tournament bug all of a sudden. I discovered Monday I was eligible for a free-roll tournament, but I signed up too late and missed it. SO this morning I entered a $25 satellite for the Party Poker Million tournament. The winner gets a seat in the semi-finals this weekend and the 2nd and 3rd finishers get another satellite for free. The tournament was No Limit and I made a flush on the 1st hand, and a set on the 3rd and took a commanding lead. I played pretty conservatively for the next 45 minutes, just picking my spots. I had 2 3/6 games going, but when we got down to 4 players I sat out on the ring games. I had almost ½ the chips when we got down to 3, but the short stack made 3 huge hands in a row to put me out. He beat my JJ with AA to double up, then beat my KJ with KQ when K flopped, and finally I had J7 on a board of J7xxx and he had JJ. So I gat a free play and entered a Limit tournament. I was a low stack early, then hardly played a hand for 4 rounds. Then I won a huge pot with a set of Q’s and cruised to the last 2 again. We played heads up for about 20-25 hands before the rising blinds made it a crapshoot. I had Ac 9c and he had 88 on a board of Kc Qc 8c 5c 5s and his boat beat my flush. Ugh. I entered another no-limit tourney and again got down early. I just sat out and watched them knock each other out and I limped into 3rd by default in only the 3rd round. I then doubled up twice and actually took the lead for a short while, but went card dead again. I took a chance with J9 and ran into QJ leaving me drawing thin. SO I have yet another free play I’ll try tomorrow. I’m having so much fun with it that I entered a $10 satellite for a $100,000 guaranteed tournament they are having Sept. 19. That’ll be tonight. 1 seat for every 32 entries.

I don’t think I really have the game for tournament play. I think I’m too cautious and am well suited to surviving until the last 3 in single table tournies, but I’ve never done very well in a multi-table tourney. I’ll need to work on that.

I made a royal flush yesterday, my 3rd ever. No one called my river bet unfortunately. I couldn’t resist showing it though. I had Jc Tc and the final board was Ac Kc Qc 9c x. Not too many hands would call that bet I guess.

I think there was a full moon on Tuesday night. Weirdest night I can remember. I got 3 bet with 74o, and had the guy pound every street with nothing. I chopped 4 pots with identical hands. And for about 2 hours I lost at a horrible rate. I was down 300 at Paradise, and 200 at Party. Then in keeping with the trend of the night this hand came up.

I limped in EP with 22 (I know but I just like doing it). CO poster checks, button calls and both blinds play.

Flop 8d 2s 9h.

SB checks, BB bets and I just call. CO and button call too.

Turn [8d 2s 9h] 5s.

BB bets again, and I just call once more hoping to keep the other 2 in for 1 more bet. CO calls and now the button raises. BB calls and I jump in with a raise. CO calls 2 cold and button just calls. BB calls as well. Still 4 to the river.

River [8d 2s 9h 5s] 2c

Well isn’t that special!! BB checks, I bet, CO raises!!. He hasn’t done anything but call until now, and he jumps in now. You’ll never guess his hand. Button 3 bets (remember it’s a full moon, but I think you can guess his hand). BB folded and I capped it. They both called, and I won a 28 BB pot.

Button had 55 and had turned his set. CO had KK. Remember he posted and didn’t raise pre-flop. He didn’t raise the flop or the turn, but jumped into it on the river?????

Anyhow, that hand seemed to turn around my night. I got back to even eventually on paradise and I posted a $400 + win putting me up over $800 for the day.

Wednesday was a great day. I won $320 at paradise, and $150 at Party, almost all of it due to AA. I got rockets 8 times in the evening, winning 7 of them. But more importantly I won my seat in the PPM semi final, and I also won a satellite for a seat in the $100 K Tournament on Sept 19th. I thought the Tournaments would be a nice distraction to help keep poker fresh, and I’ve really gotten the bug. It’s such an adrenaline rush.

The single table tournament I got the PPM seat in was very strange. It was No Limit and at the end of the 3rd round we were down to 3 players. Usually that takes 6 rounds, but there were all-ins all over the place. I was the short stack at 3 left (I hadn’t played many hands, just watched as everyone went out) but got AA 3 handed and tripled up. It was over pretty quickly. I knocked out 1 guy and on the 1st heads up hand the other guy went all-in with T4s and I had KT to dominate him.

I entered the satellite late last night on a bit of a whim. It started at 12:30 AM, cost $30 +2 and provided 1 seat for every 10 people entered. It was no limit also. I had a decent 1st hour keeping ahead of the average st the 1st break, playing very few hands and (I hope) developing a tight image. I then built my stack nicely with a QQ hand that I raised and had a loose player on the button go all-in. I had about 4,000 at the time and he had 2400. him and he had A7. No ace came and I was in a good position. At the2nd break we were down to 60 players, (35 would win seats), and I had 7,600 in chips. There were 19 people ahead of me and 40 behind me. I was trying to decide if I needed to play any more hands. I got pretty lucky actually. I didn’t get anything I wanted to play on the next orbit, and everyone folded to my BB so I stayed even. The next time around I folded everything including my blinds, but got KQs on the button and raised and won the blinds to keep me even again. We were now down to around 40, and it was clear I could get in without playing a hand. The pace of play was terrible. Everyone took the maximum time on each decision and then folded, waiting for another table to put someone out. They need to go to hand to hand play when you’re that close to the bubble. We took 45 minutes to eliminate the next 3 players. And the guy who went out on the bubble needs his head examined. He started the hand with 20,000 and got into it with someone with 30,000. There were 3 people under 1,000 at this point. He pushed all-in on the river with an unimproved QQ and lost, and we all had our seats.

I folded AJ, AQs and KTs on the button during this stretch, and I got KK in the BB and was prepared to fold it too, but no one bet that hand. I’m looking for ward to the tournaments now, but I really need more practice. I think I’ll try to qualify for one more semifinal of the PPM today.

Well, it was a great week for ring play, and a disappointing one for tournaments, although I think I played better and show some promise in them.

First, my bread and butter. I’m still hot at Paradise, up $1,450 for the week without a single losing session since I started there again last week. And at Party I won $1600 for a $3,000 + week. So far the 4 table nights are working really well. It’s amazing to me to look at the stats after a session though. I don’t change my opening requirements at all, but a lot of hands I play I will only play if I have limpers in front of me, or if there is no raise. At paradise I’m seeing 23% of the flops, and at Party I’m seeing 28%. Clearly there is less raising and more limping going on at Party, as we all know is true.

I played the 3rd King Of The Zoo tournament on Thursday night. I started 45 minutes late because my PokerStars password was wiped out when the latest upgrade loaded and I couldn’t remember the password. I use the same password for everything except Stars, they insist on a number and 8 characters. So I had to email for a reset and of course that got sent to my hotmail account which I no longer use (Can you tell I haven’t played at Stars for a while?). Anyway, I wasn’t in last place when I started and I went on a heater right after starting. The calibre of play was excellent as always, and although I hung in for a while (It was limit hold’em, the only game I have any chance at against these guys), and my old nemesis, MS Sunshine did me in again. Everytime I go up against him I seem to be dominated. It was KK vs AA last tourney, and he got me 3 times on Thursday again. I find it interesting that he considers me a very “tight” player when my ring game reputation is a little too loose. Anyway I survived 5 all-ins, before going out around 17th I think.

Then the highlight of my week had to be the PPM semi-final I just finished. 1020 players started, and it was uneventful for the first hour. I built my stack up to 3500 (3000 to start) at the first break without anything eventful happening. Shortly after starting though I got the AA hand I posted in the tournament section. I 3 bet an UTG raiser and we were heads up. The flop came 888 and he check called my bet. When a K turned he bet and I raised. Another K rivered and he bet again and I folded. In a ring game I would never fold this hand for a pot that big, but I was down to my last 1290 and faced with calling 300 more and I was 99.9% sure I was beat. If he bluffed the turn then he picked the absolute best time to do it, but he sure seemed like an ABC player to me. Anyway I got lucky and tripled up shortly afterward and limped to the 2nd break with 2955 left. In the 3rd hour I got hot. I hit almost every flop I saw and ran my chips up to 19,155 at the 3rd break. In the 4th hour I think I played very well. Stealing enough blinds and winning pots without showing down. Then I took on 2 all-in players and won both of those pots and after 4 hours I had a very healthy stack of 28,931. Right after we started I flopped an up and down straight draw against top pair and a set. I rivered my straight and the set took it to 4 bets against my nuts. Suddenly I had 36,604 and I was in 11th place with 180 players left. Unfortunately I never won another pot. Not a blind, not 1 more chip. In 45 minutes I was out in 83rd place. I was very disappointed. I don’t think I could have played any better. I was the raiser on 4 of my last 6 hands with AK, JJ, 99 and 99 from the button or cutoff first in, and lost them all, and in the BB I had AQs and AJs and lost to AK and another AJs who made his flush.

Oh well back to the drawing board. No news on the Job front, but the Party games are as good as ever, and I’m running well on Paradise. Lets hope it lasts another week.

Week 20

Well another week has gone with no job offers. It certainly looks like I might be doing this for a while and it has occurred to me that I’m spending a lot of time in my basement. Outdoor soccer is over and I’m not doing anything physical at all so I decided this week to start biking, A little history here, 6 years ago I started running to get into shape. I lost some weight and ran the Toronto marathon in 1998 (3hours 41 minutes). I was training for the Chicago marathon 1m 1999 hoping to qualify for Boston 2000 when (and I’m not kidding) I woke up on my 40th birthday and couldn’t get out of bed. It seems my warranty had expired. After many doctors appointments, Chiro visits and massage stc. I still haven’t run since. Two years ago I bought a bike because it was much easier on my joints and rode every morning. But last year I didn’t ride at all. I started on Monday again and after 2 days of riding my ass is so sore I can hardly sit in this chair. And my body aches again. Why does being fit have to hurt?

My week started poorly, after the excitement of the PPM tournament I sat down to play my usual evening routine and played the worst poker of my professional career. I was mentally drained and should have taken the night off. I picked the wrong people to try and push, and I even timed out twice with winning hands costing me over $100 when even a check would have won me the pot. I hope it’s a lesson learned. I dropped over $400 at paradise and won $150 at Party for a $250 loss.

Monday was a crazy day. I won over $500 on one Paradise table, and lost $350 on another. I won $600 at Party in the afternoon, and lost $300 in the evening. Roller coaster all the way. Ended the day up $450 and up $200 for the week.

Tuesday was another see-saw. I played all afternoon for a net loss of $5. Again I was up a ton on one table and down a ton on another. I guess I’m so spoiled by the good run I’ve been on that breaking even seems like a really bad day. Like I did at paradise, I find the afternoons tougher than the evenings at Party. There are as many good players as there are in the evenings, and fewer tables going so we seem to end up on the same tables more often. The games are still beatable, but it’s not as easy. I had a great run of cards at paradise. Unbelievable really. I won $461 and I lost 2 $200 pots on the river when my set got run down by a straight. But back at Party my misery was continuing. After the $300 loss the night before and the break even afternoon I lost another $290 in the evening. I was down on all 3 tables. Another night of good cards getting beat. If I took AK against AQ the A would flop and the Q would river. It’s been a struggle this week, but the good news is that I’m still ahead $370 for the 3 days.

My wife has started her unpaid slavery this week. She’ll work 3 12 hour shifts a week at a local hospital until Christmas, when she may finally seek gainful employment. What this means for me is that some mornings I have to get up with the kids to make breakfast and lunch. On the plus side, I can watch what I want on TV at night.

A few of my neighbors know what I’m doing for a living right now, and boy are people ever interested. In my entire adult life no one has ever asked me a question about my job before this. Now everyone wants to know how it works, how do you get paid, do you pay taxes etc. The most popular question is can you show me how to do it? One of my neighbors even asked if I’d play for him if he gave me the money. My wife turns 40 in October and I went door to door last night handing out invitations to a party I’m going to throw for her, and of course I had to answer the same questions over and over again.

Someone asked the very simple question “Could I do it?”. It got me thinking about what skills you need to be a good poker player. Could anyone do it? I don’t think just anyone could. I think you have to be a good problem solver, and able to think in a logical manner. Especially online. I think there is more of an art to being a great live player, and online is more of a science. And in my case I think the skill that has helped me the most is being able to keep track of several games at once. I think I could teach almost anyone to beat a low limit poker game, but to make money playing low limits you have to be able to play multiple tables, and I don’t think that is teachable. Find the guy that can watch 6 NFL games on Sunday without missing a beat and he has potential.

Wednesday was payback day at Party. After struggling for 3 straight sessions I broke out big time and won $532 over the 2 sessions and at Paradise I had a big win at one table combined with a small loss at the other to post a $195 win giving me a $727 day.

In the afternoon at Party, I had a truly horrible player on my left. Almost every huge win has someone like him at the table. I saw him buy in 3 times losing over $400 in a few hours until some idiot started riding him “You can’t bluff every hand moron” was one of the nicer things he said to him. “Doh”, who’s the moron. Anyway here is an example of where his money went. He played a lot of hands like this.

I open raised with ATo UTG (we were 5 handed). Really Bad Player cold calls (as he always did). Button and SB folded and BB 3 bets. I called and RBP calls. Flop comes KQJ rainbow. BB bets out and I raise. There is no need to slowwplay with RBP around. He will not fold until the river. Sure enough he calls 2. BB raises and I cap. RBP calls 2 more cold. Turn is a 6 completing the rainbow. BB bets out again. I’m pretty sure I don’t want the board to pair now, or else we’re chopping, but even chopping up RBP is going to be worth something. I raise, RBP calls 2, BB 3 bets, I cap and RBP calls 2 more. I love this guy. River is an 8 and BB bets again. I guess we’re chopping but I still can’t believe he 3 bet with AT. I raise again and finally RBP folds. BB finally seems to realize whats happening and calls. He had JJ. 26 BB’s in the pot.

Here’s what happens when you forget about the 3rd guy in the hand. Paradise 5/10 and the 2 worst players at the table have limped in. I raise with AKo and get cold called on the button by a Loose Aggressive Player. Blinds both fold. Flop comes out A87 rainbow and I bet after 2 checks. LAP raises me. BP1 folds and BP2 calls 2 cold. I 3 bet and LAP caps it. We both call. I’m trying to figure out what LAP has. Honestly this guy could have as little as AJ here, so I really can’t fold. Even if he has A7 or A8 I’m not dead. Turn is a 9 completing the rainbow. We both check to LAP who bets and we both call. River is another 8 and I have a strong feeling I just counterfeited LAP. BP2 bets into me though catching me by surprise. Did he really stay this long with an 8? I was just so surprised I called. LAP raised. BP2 called and so did I. LAP did have A7 and came 3rd. BP2 showed 98o. I wasted 2 bets on the end because I had been so focused on one opponent I forgot about the other guy.

Thursday was an interesting day. If I had started ½ hour later, and quit ½ hour earlier it would have been a great day. I lost $280 in the abbreviated afternoon session because ½ an hour after I started we had a power outage that lasted 2 hours and I was down $240 in that 30 minutes. When the power came back I lost a little more before breaking. In the evening I had a great night at both Paradise and Party, Up over $900 at one ppoint, but somewhere around 2:00 AM I had the strangest run of cards I can remember. I was playing 1 5/10 Paradise game and 3 Party 3/6’s at the time and I went on a major card rush. KK twice, QQ5 times, AKs once AKo 4 times and AQs 4 times in 15 minutes. I was trying to keep track of all these tables because I was hitting everywhere. I lost every one of those hands. My head was spinning. When the dust settled I had a $328 Paradise win, but down $200 from where I had been, and a win at Party of $220. I lost around $350 in that last half hour. It was wild. SO I’m up $1,370 for the week.

Friday was a reversal from most of the week. I had a decent afternoon at Party, winning $280, but in the evening I struggled mightily. I did manage a small $133 win at Paradise, but lost $110 at Party, making it a $20 night, but still a $300 day. This put me at $1,650 for the week.

Saturday night started out horribly. The higher stakes at Paradise make the swings much bigger in those games and I had to rebuy on both tables almost immediately. I was on a table with Rigoletto and a few other regulars, and the flop % on the table quickly went down to about 15%. I changed tables 2 or 3 times and was down over $400 at one point. Finally well after midnight (after Rigoletto went to bed) the table loosened up and I got some cards. I got AdKd 2 hands in a row in the BB and the SB. On the first hand the final board was KKQxA and I was against AQ, and on the second I turned the flush. Each of those pots was over $150 and in around 30 minutes I got even. I was so intent on grinding out the 5/10 games I really hadn’t noticed that I was steadily winning at 3/6. When I got even on the 5/10 games I realized I was up $470 at Party and suddenly I had a great night.

After a really bad start to the week and what felt like a real struggle all week, I’ve ended up $2,100 to the good. I certainly played more hours this week than I have in the past, 55 I think, making it just under $40/hr. There is no doubt adding the extra tables is helping my win rate. My level of play can’t have dropped off too badly. Ignoring my vacation weeks, I now have 6 weeks of full play at Party playing 3 or 4 tables. I am up $14,750 for those 6 weeks. I’m really not in a hurry to find work right now.

A lot of people have suggested I try to turn these journals into a book of some kind. My wife has been telling me to do it since before I started. This week a 2+2’er offered to help me out by proofreading, editing etc. and I think I’m going to try and write a chapter or 2 and see how it goes. I have absolutely no idea how to go about this and I’m not even sure who to ask. My wife has suggested “Poker? I hardly knew her!!” as a title. Anyway, baby steps. I’ll try to get something written and see if there is a future for that project.

Playing like a fish, or it’s better to be lucky than good. I was in the BB with Jc 7c when an EP player raised. I will call a raise with this hand so I was getting ready to call, when action on another table took me away. When I returned and clicked on the call box I noticed it had been 3 and 4 bet before getting to me. Ooops. 4 of us saw the flop of 6, 7, 7. I waited until the turn to raise and AA and KK both paid me off. Big pot and some kind of image alteration.

I hardly ever run naked bluffs. I will occasionally bet the river on an unimproved AK hoping to get a small pair to fold, but that’s as far as it goes. As a result I think the people I play with regularly respect my raises and bets. Maybe too much. I do semi-bluff a lot, but I think it couldn’t hurt my game to have people wonder about my late position bets a little more. So I did what you’re not supposed to do, I showed a bluff. I was playing at a fun table, and really struggling. 2 players in particular had run down my good hands all afternoon. I limped behind another limper in LP with Jc Tc. Both blinds played too. Flop came down KQ3 rainbow and none of my suit. SB bets out and both players call. I raise for value on my open ender. All 3 call, no re-raise. Turn is a K. When I raised I was thinking free card, now I decided to play like I had the K. Checked to me and I bet. Only 1 call. River was an 8. Check, bet and a long pause. As I held my breath he folded. I don’t know why I showed but I did. 2 of them complained they had folded a Q. I don’t think it was a bad move since I rarely do it and can expect more calls from these guys in the future, but probably not something I should do again.

I never raised the nuts!! Don’t know about this play. 5/10. 3 limpers and a poster to me in the cutoff. I limp too with Ah 9h. Both blinds play and 7 see the flop. Flop is 4h 3h 2c. 4 checks, then a bet and a call to me. I have 4 to act after me so rather than raise them out I just call hoping for lots of overcalls. We lose 1 (Rigoletto the spoilsport) and get an all-in raise for $1 more. 6 see the turn (1 all-in). Turn is the Kh giving me the nuts. There is a bet and a fold in front of me, with 2 to act behind me so I decide to smooth call again rather than raise them out. Both call. River is Ts. Same guy bets again and after thinking about it I just call again. One call and one fold. The guy who bet the whole way had A5 for a flopped straight.. He surely would have paid me off. The other guy had K3 for 2 pair. I think maybe I should have raised the flop, but probably would have ended up heads up and 3 bet. I like the smooth call on the turn, and probably broke even on the river call, although maybe raising the river might have led to a raising war. I was really hoping the EP player had a smaller flush and was waiting for the river to check-raise us both.

Cya next week.

Week 21

Despite a very decent result last week I can’t get over the feeling that I took more than my share of bad beats, and that I’m struggling somewhat. That continued on Sunday as I started out in a hole again right off the bat. Way down on Paradise , and just breaking even at Party. It’s a disturbing trend but when I review the hands I don’t see any flaws in my play, just good hands getting beat. Once again I made a nice comeback at Paradise after midnight , and ended up down $41, and with a small win at Party of $104 I started the week much better than last week anyway.

Do you ever get the feeling the cards are about to change for you? As I’ve mentioned I feel like I’m getting cold decked a lot lately and I told my wife I was due to break out big time. Sure enough on Monday afternoon I had a nice session and posted a $300 win. Ooops. Monday night was possible the worst session I’ve ever played. If I thought the cards were running bad before, I was in for a rude awakening. I had 4 tables going and I was down over $200 on every one of them. And I think I played pretty well. I made a lot of top pair top kicker laydowns on the turn. I saw set after set against me, and got rivered by flushes and straights again and again. Of course the higher stakes at Paradise skew my results towards my play there, I was still getting clobbered at Party. The good thing about Party though is that you know the bad players will pay you off when you finally hit, at Paradise that’s not always the case. Fortunately, once again around 1:30 AM the cards turned and I went on a mini-rush. Not enough to get out of the hole mind you but I ended up the day down $350 at Paradise and up $200 at Party (Down 100 for the evening). This does leave me down $90 for the week though, and it will be a real tough task to keep my string of 2,000 weeks going.

Tuesday afternoon and the misery continues. When I won the first 3 hands I played I thought it was going to be a breakout session, but that was it for a long time. I’m winning pots only when everyone folds on the flop. It seems every hand that makes it to the turn I lose. I dropped another $177 putting me down $260 for the week. I have to remind myself to be patient, but it’s starting to get to me. I won two huge hands this afternoon, $176, and $144 on dubious runner runner suckouts. Without them my results would have been even worse.

At Party I take one off a lot on draws because you get paid off well and these were both examples of that. 1st hand I have Tc 8c in the BB and after an EP raise there are 3 cold callers and I call too. Flop is Qc Td 9h. EP raiser bets and 2 call him. I called two with my middle pair, backdoor flush, gutshot combination. Too loose? Turn brings an 8s giving me a probably useless 2 pair. EP bets again and 1 caller and I call again. River 8h. I check, EP bets, caller, I raise and EP 3 bets. Cold call and I cap after thinking for a bit. KJ and Q9 were the other hands.

2nd hand I limp behind 2 others in MP with 5s 4s, and after 2 more limpers the BB raises. 6 of us see the flop for 2 bets. Flop is Ks 6d 2h. BB bets out, I call as do 2 others. Again I think I have odds on the gutshot alone, and the backdoor flush is still there. Turn brings the Js giving me 8 more outs. BB bets, I call and so does 1 other. River is the perfect 3d. Talk about a well disguised hand. He bets, I raise and the LP player calls 2 cold. BB 3 bets, I cap and LP folds. BB had KK but to his credit never muttered a complaint.

Thank god for those 2 hands, both on the same table by the way. I ended up ahead only $70 on that table and down on the other 2. Although dollar wise it doesn’t compare with the losing streak I had back in weeks 8 and 9, it is the most frustrating stretch I’ve had since then. Now I have to keep my cool and play good poker until it turns around. To my credit I think I could have lost a lot more if I had gone completely on tilt.

This week just keeps getting worse and worse. Tuesday night my losing streak at Paradise continued with a small loss of $34, and I actually won $100 at Party leaving me down $100 for the day there and down $200 overall for the week.

Wednesday I took the afternoon off and played golf at one of my favorite courses, National Pines in Barrie. It’s a 90 minute drive from home but worth it. And in keeping with the trend of my week I was dreadful. Once upon a time I was a decent golfer playing to an 8 handicap, and even 2 years ago I think I was around a 12. I shot 98 yesterday which is the highest score I can remember posting since I was a junior. It’s funny how when I’m winning the rest of my life seems to go well too, and the opposite when I’m running bad. I don’t know if this qualifies as running bad, since I’m not actually down very much, but compared to my averages it sure seems like it. Wednesday night was another awful Paradise session, combined with a decent Party session. Same old song and dance at Paradise, winning until the river, or drawing dead with good cards. I lost $280 for my 4th straight losing session at Paradise. Last time that happened was the 2 losing weeks I had in June/July. I’m down $700 at Paradise for the week and up $430 at Party. It makes me wonder about continuing to play both 5/10 and 3/6 games, because of the higher variance involved with the 5/10 games.

I know no one wants to hear bad beat stories…but….these 4 hands occurred on my 2 5/10 tables within 10 minutes of each other. It’s a good example of how I’ve been running for around a week now. I don’t think there is much I can do about it, just remember how well I’ve been running long term, and weather the storm.

1) 2 limpers to me 2 off the button and I limp with 99. 5 of us see the flop of QQ9. Checked to me and I check too hoping someone will catch up. There are 2 spades on board. Button bets behind me, MP and I both call. Turn brings an offsuit 3 and MP bets out. I probably should raise here, but I smooth call. River is a 5 making a flush possible. MP bets, I raise, he 3 bets and I cap. He has Q9 and had me the whole way.
2) 2 limpers to me in the small blind and I call with JTo. BB plays too. Flop is AT8 rainbow. I check and it gets checked to the button who bets. He will bet any hand here and I raise to isolate him. I make this play against certain players. Sure enough the 2 people between us fold and he calls. Turn is a 3. I bet he calls. River is another 8, I check he bets and I call. He had Q8s and picked up a flush draw on the turn so he stayed. Good read, good play, bad river.
3) AN LP raise from a habitual bluffer, and I have QJs in the SB. I call. BB calls. Flop is KJ5 2 diamonds and none of my suit. Checked to the raiser who bets, I just call this time and so does the BB. Turn is a Q making 2 flush draws. This time I check raise the LP, BB calls 2 cold and LP calls. River is an 8, no flush. I bet, BB folds and LP raises. I call (he’s the bluffer remember) and he shows K8. Another river. Blech.
4) Free play in the BB with 43o heads up. Flop is 432, 2 clubs. I check raise the flop. Turn is an 8. I bet and he calls. River is another 8. I bet, he raises I call, he has A8.

None of these hands is remarkable by itself, but all together in that short period of time. And it keeps on happening. I have to follow my own advice and hang in there. I have the big $100,000 guaranteed tournament on Friday night, so the hours I have left to pull off a win this week are limited, but I guess I shouldn’t be so focused on weekly results, just keep playing solid poker.

I’ve had so many nice comments from people who like these posts that I was quite taken aback on Tuesday night when for the first time I had someone act quite hostile towards me. Kept telling me How F***ing lucky I was, if what I was writing was true, which he doubted, and how I was due for a major fall. Now maybe there are a lot of people who feel that way, and he may even be right, but why would you come out and say that to someone? The new 3/6 sensation Akshawnd was at the table stirring things up in his inimitable style. I think we’ve determined it’s JA Sucker and he plays very well, and he puts entire tables on tilt so maybe this guy was already in a bad mood from that. And maybe he was just trying to put me on tilt. Combine that with my lousy results and it made for a crappy evening. Except I love watching Akshawnd in action.

I am so glad this week is over. I think I can just take what I wrote earlier in the week and put it in again. This has been a frustrating grind this week. I guess I was overdue for a week like this and I should be pleased that I didn’t lose anything. Thursday I actually broke the losing streak at Paradise with a $134 win and added another $100 from Party. Friday, I combined a $240 Paradise win with a $107 loss at Party, and a 484th place finish in the big tournament. The tournament was disappointing but not unexpected. I think I played well, and was quite healthy through 5 rounds, but as the stakes went up I stopped getting cards and got my last 1200 in with JJ on a board filled with undercards, but a turned flush put me out. Saturday was brutal at Paradise. I lost $465 playing premium cards. 3 times I held a set on $200 + pots and had someone spike their 2 out set on the river. I kept getting hands like AJ and AQ on the button in unraised pots, only to have the BB 3 bet me with QQ, KK or AA. Twice I held AA against KK and the K flopped. Etcetera etcetera. Fortunately my night at Party was terrific. I won $578 to caver the paradise loss. For the week I’m down $805 at Paradise and up $1010 at Party for a $205 win.

This now presents me with a decision point. Introducing the 5/10 games back into my schedule has added the variance back. It allowed me some terrific weeks, but has now introduced the possibility of a losing week too. I like playing the 4 tables in the evening, but I’m contemplating opening an Empire account to play 4 3/6’s. I’ll give Paradise another week, but it’s a lot of work playing the good players at 5/10.

Both Friday and Saturday night I stayed up much later than normal trying to turn around a bad run. I usually quit between 2:30 and 3:00 AM, but played until 4 on Friday and 4:30 on Saturday, with disastrous results both times. I think I lost $500 at paradise in those 2.5 extra hours. I know I’ve written before about quitting on a bad night and pushing when your hot, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. What’s worse is that it throws off my body clock for the next day too. Discipline, it’s all about discipline.

Got another call about employment this week. Just a possible in Ottawa which is around 4 hours away. The money would have to be real good to take that one.

My wife has commented that my mood has been affected by the bad results this week. I guess she’s right. Another hazard of an uncertain revenue stream, but I’ll need to be careful of that. No fair taking it out on the wife and kids. The dog however is fair game.

Don’t you love when this happens?

I have T9o in the BB. One limper to Tricky Guy in the cut off who raises. I call the raise and so does the limper. Flop is J 7 3 rainbow. I check, limper checks and so does TG. Turn is the gutshot 8. I bet, Limper calls and TG raises. Sweet. I 3 bet, limper calls all-in and TG begins to fear he’s made a mistake and just calls. River is a K, I bet, he calls and my nuts are of course good. TG had AA, and in fact was destined to lose anyway because the limper had J 8 and wasn’t going to fold to the flop bet.

I find my luck runs in waves. Usually there is a turning point that changes it. Last night after running bad all night, I finally had an AA hold up although a 2nd Q on the river made my heart skip. I could almost feel the black cloud lift from over my head and 2 hands later I got JJ and open raised. I got 2 callers and I said out loud “I’m going to hit this flop, give me JKK”. It went even better than that. The flop came JJK. I bet and got called until the river when they both folded. I then proceeded to make a straight flush against a set and it looked like my night had turned around. That was at 3:00 AM when I decided to stay up later, and one of my rivered sets set me to losing again.

Cya at the tables.