The Weekly Journals of DavidRoss

 

Week 7

Random Musings. I am so much better suited to online poker than live. My strengths are analyzing data (information) and making good decisions. When I go to a casino, I get overloaded with extraneous stuff. I have a hard time check-raising the guy beside me who’s been telling me about his sick kids and obviously needs the money he’s losing. I also have tells. My hands shake like a leaf when I get big cards. I have never looked at someone and been able to tell what he has. Online we’re all in the same boat so I don’t feel I’m giving up anything to my opponents.

Musing #2. I seem to get down right away in almost every session. I need to review my play when I first start. I don’t know if I’m subconsciously trying to take control of the table and overplaying borderline hands, but it seems like I’m always in a hole. Maybe it pays off as advertising later, but I’d rather just play solid right from the start.

Week 7 started poorly. I’ll blame it on my golf game. I finally hit the ball pretty well Sunday morning. I made 2 birdies in 9 holes (one was a chip in), but only 1 par. The rest were bogeys and I shot 39 for my first sub-40 score of the year (par is 35 if you’re counting). Still can’t putt, but I hit some good irons today. I think I used up all my good fortune. I lost $660 putting me in a big hole right off the bat (I know I shouldn’t worry about the results by 7 day chunks but I do…so there.) Just like last week it seems like I was being checkraised on the turn every hand I played. I dropped around $350 at 5/10, then I got into 2 8/16 games and lost a little more than $300 there. There have been some very good 8/16 games lately. Same players as 5/10 for the most part and flop %’s much higher than the 5/10 game. Rake is a little less as a percentage than 5/10 and I like the blind structure better since I play too many hands from the blinds anyway.

Monday

My youngest daughter turned 8 today. I can’t believe it. Their birthdays make me feel older than my own do. She was born right in this house in my bed. I’ll never forget that night. The kids went to bed and when they woke up they had a sister. That must have been so cool for them. I was running around all day making preparations so I only got an hour of play in this afternoon and broke even. Monday night was game 7 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you’re not Canadian you might not understand, but this is like the Superbowl. There won’t be many TV’s not turned on to the game tonight. As has become my custom I found myself down $150 before I knew what hit me. I got into a good 8/16 game and won $240 before the table broke. I broke two tables tonight (I like to think I was winning so much they all ran away). I quite like shorthanded play so I usually stay until no one else wants to play. But I stayed too long I guess and after being up around $300 around 1:30 I ended up very close to even around 3:30. Same story as most of the last week. Big pairs getting cracked, or winning the blinds. AK hitting, then losing to rivered straights. I feel a huge day coming. Hope it’s soon.

Some hands. Did I miss a bet here? Maybe 2. I have A9o in the SB. One EP limper. He’s an ok player who isn’t afraid to make a move. I call and we see the flop 3 handed. Flop is AK8 two hearts. I have a few options here, and I’m pretty sure I’m best. I like to check-raise from the blinds a lot and this seems like a perfect time to do it. The EP guy will almost certainly bet, and I’m not really concerned about getting drawn out on because the flush draw is seeing the turn anyway. So I checked and it gets checked around. Turn brings a 5, no heart and now I bet. BB folds and EP raises. Now he thinks I’m making a move at this pot. So the raise doesn’t have to mean a big hand from him, but of course it could. So there is some doubt in my mind. I hate re-raising here though because if he folds, I’ve lost a potential BB. And I don’t want to be facing another raise from a player I know likes to make moves. I can’t fold this hand against this player. So I just call. River is my 9, no heart. And I bet out. He calls and I’m good. He had K9. In this hand a check-raise sure would have worked. But if he hadn’t rivered 2 pair would he check behind me on the river? Hard to say. Opponents bad play helps me. You have to wonder what they’re thinking. Known bad player open raises utg. His raising standards are non existent. This honestly could be 54 offsuit. I 3 bet with AKo. This is perfect for me. I could live a comfortable retirement if I could play hands like this all day against him. Now suspected bad player caps it. I will tell you he had Qh Th because it’s easier to follow that way. It would seem to me that a hand like that would much rather play 4 or 5 handed 3 bet, than 2 or 3 handed 4 bet. I don’t understand these guys that make these plays. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and say he thought I was making a move on the bad player trying to isolate him. Everyone else folds and the BP calls 2 more (I love this guy). I call. Flop is Kd Td 7s. KBP checks and I check. SBP bets as I was almost positive he would and KBP calls. I raise and they both call. Turn is 5h. I bet, SBP calls and KBP folds. River is the 3d and I bet and get called. I guess the pot was big enough for him to make the crying call, but what could he put me on that he beat? 99? How hard to push a monster? Table is breaking and we’re 4 handed. Button raises and I’m in the BB with 9d 7d. I call. Flop Ad 9c 9s. Sweet. I check he bets and I just call. Oh I hope he has an A. Turn is the 7c. Now I hope he has a 9!! I check, he bets and I raise. He 3 bets. Oh really Sweet. Do I cap here? I think a cap here leads to just a call on the river. Maybe even a fold. So I just called. River was 6s. I check, he bet, I raised, he 3 bet and I capped. He had T9. I don’t know if I got the max. I don’t think pushing harder early in the hand would have worked, but would he have capped the river if I capped the turn? Hard to say. What a read. I open raise in the cut off with Ad 8h. Button cold calls and the BB calls too. Yuck. Flop 9c 3d 3s. BB bets. I have no notes on the BB but in a couple of hours he has shown himself to be a fancy play guy. If he had any part of this flop he would go for the check raise. Maybe I just got lucky, but that was my read on him. I probably should have raised right here. I find though with habitual bluffers I’m more comfortable calling them down, especially when I have position. I can get a bet on every street, and I’d hate to face a 3 bet because he would bluff that too. Button folded. Now I’m much more comfortable. Turn is the 7d and he bets, I call. River is the Td, he bets and I call again. To be honest the only thing I was afraid of was a bigger Ace. He didn’t have a 3, I would wager a lot on that. Any other pair would have checked somewhere along the line wanting a showdown but fearing a big pair from the pre-flop raiser and not wanting to get check-raised. His bet on the river actually made me even more sure of that. He turned over J5o. I got a lot of comments on that call.

Tuesday

I have never been so frustrated. I dropped another $350 this afternoon. I am not card dead either. I’m playing as many hands as ever. I’m just making 2nd best hand after 2nd best hand. It’s getting perverse as I call the turn raises just to see how I lost this time. The reason part of my brain tells me it will pass, but right now it sure doesn’t seem like it. Evening The misery continues. Played 700 hands and won only 7%. They always seemed to be the blinds. Dropped another 550 making it a $900 loss for the day. The very first hand was a good indicator of how the night would go. I flopped a straight holding 98 in the BB with a flop of T76. I bet out and got called in two places. Turn was an A and I bet and got called by 1. River a K and I bet and got raised. He had QJ. I don’t think I’m playing as well as I could, but I’m losing at a rate of about $80 and hour. It can’t all be me. Thank god for the 8/16 games, at least I’m winning there. I was up $100 on that table. I don’t know if it’s better to take time off or keep playing. Maybe go down in limits, but my brain tells me to just keep on playing.

Wednesday

More of the same. Another $300 loss in 2 hours. I have depleted almost all of the $2500 cushion I have built up over the last 7 weeks. It is the most helpless feeling. I flopped broadway on my first orbit with KT and a flop of AQJ. 2 callers and the K turned and the T rivered. It just keeps on like that. I’ve been invited to play a beautiful golf course tomorrow so I will skip the afternoon session. Maybe the break is what I need. Evening. RELIEF!!! Finally things went well. I won just over $300 on the 8/16 table and $500 on a 5/10 table to have a $500 day. Still down over $1,000 for the week. Tonight when I was raised on the end it was always a bluff…or I held the nuts. Is there any better feeling than being bet into when you hold the nuts? The 8/16 game again was terrific. I don’t know why but the games are looser than the 5/10 game. The 5/10 game featured 1 player who was wild loose and making some crazy raises. Amazingly he made his $300 last for 5 hours before he threw it all away. The flop % for the table stayed between 30-35% while he was there, and went down to 20% after he busted out. Granny Mae made an appearance at that table too. First time I’d played with her, she’s usually a tournament specialist. It’s interesting how much more I feel like writing after a win. After a losing session I just want to think about anything else. When you’re losing it seems you lose some of the weapons in your arsenal. Everybody calls your raises, and your image is poor. It makes me wonder if I shouldn’t be changing tables more often during a losing streak to try and keep a better table image. A good read. One MP limper to me on the button. I call with Tc 8c, and both blinds call too. Flop Kd Kh Ts. Checked to me and I bet. SB raises and the other 2 fold. I love to make this play from the SB too, so now the question is does he have it? My gut says he plays a K slower so at best he’s got a T. I 3 bet. This is one of those plays I would never have made during the losing streak. Confidence can be very important in poker. He just called the 3 bet. Turn is another Ten, and he check folded. More than likely he had QJ. That’s an extra small bet I wouldn’t have got the day before though. Semi-bluffing the wrong guy. This opponent was the Suspected Bad player from Monday night. I limp in EP with Qc Tc. SBP raises in MP and the BB calls. I call too. Flop 5c Ac 5h I have the 4 flush. We both check to the SBP who bets, BB folds and I just call. Turn [5c Ac 5h] 7h I check, he bets and I raise. My thinking was that his raising standards are not very high. This has to make him worry about a 5, and if he doesn’t have an A he can’t call here. Plus I have the flush draw. He calls, and I put him on an A. River [5c Ac 5h 7h] Ts I bet to keep the bluff going and he calls. I was good???? And surprised. He had 99. In hindsight I don’t think he is a good enough player to make this play against. I was trying to play it like I had a 5, but against this gut the raise on the flop might have been better.

Thursday

Days like this I don’t miss working at all. I made the short drive to Niagara Falls this morning and played a fantastic golf tournament. We had a 12:30 shotgun start. They had a gift package for all of us that included a dozen golf balls and a fantastic carry bag. The weather didn’t cooperate and it rained most of the day, but we had a lot of fun. I had a hot and cold round and shot 89. 3 triple bogeys hurt a lot. I didn’t stay for dinner but rushed back for my daughters soccer game (2 more goals, that’s 12 in 5 games) and then a night of poker. I may have died and gone to heaven. Again the 8/16 game was the highlight for me. I lost $100 at 5/10 but won almost $1,100 at 8/16. I am now down only $70 for the week which is pretty remarkable because 48 hours ago I was down almost $2,000. In one of David or Mason’s essay’s I remember reading that even winning players can expect a 200 BB downturn periodically. I hope that was it for me for a while. Interesting hands I have Ah 9d in the SB. 1 EP limper and an MP caller. I complete and the BB checks. Flop 9c 3s 2d. OK, I’m almost certainly ahead here, but my experience is that a bet here is unlikely to thin the field and other than the BB they probably have overcards that I would rather not see the turn. So I check hoping for a bet from the MP. Unfortunately the BB bets out. EP calls and the MP raises. My read is that the BB has paired the board, the EP is on overcards and MP might have a pocket pair but it’s unlikely to be higher than 9’s, he would have raised. So I go ahead with my plan and check-raise. BB folds but the other 2 call. Turn [9c 3s 2d] 4h I think I’m still ahead. I bet out, and they both call again. Yuck. I’m now sure I’m still ahead but there aren’t too many cards I want to see here. River [9c 3s 2d 4h] Th. I bet again. EP folds and MP calls. He has AKo. I really don’t like his limp with AK, and the chase is crazy. IF the A had fallen on the turn or river he was going to lose 2 more BB’s. Something to think about when you stay in a hand with overcards. The more I play this game the more familiar you get with the betting patterns. Each bet or raise is like a message to your opponent. I read this hand perfectly, and still failed to act properly. Gaining confidence in these reads is extremely important if I want to be a better player. I have KhKs in the BB. UTG limps, EP calls and MP raises. Everyone folds to me and I 3 bet. UTG calls 2 and so does the EP. MP now caps it. My first thought is I can’t have KK vs AA again. 3 times it happened during my “dark” 72 hours. Everyone calls. Flop Qs 9s 5h I decide to check, hoping to raise the 4 bettor and see where we stand. I’m a little concerned about him having QQ. Surprisingly UTG bets. His bet says (I’ve got at least top pair). EP folds and MP just calls (I can’t beat a pair of Q’s but I do have a draw that could). I now raise (I can beat your pair of Q’s). UTG raises again (I know you have a big pair and I’m still ahead of you). MP calls 2 cold (my draw will still be good enough , I’m thinking JJ here). And I just call (I can’t beat 2 pair or a set). Turn [Qs 9s 5h] 7h I check, he bets, MP calls and I call. Has he got a set or 2 pair is the big question. If a T or J falls, or maybe a spade I’ll be concerned about the MP, but I’m focusing on the UTG mostly. River [Qs 9s 5h 7h] 7d I strongly suspect I just drew out on Q9. I don’t think I need to bet here, he will bet. I check, he bets, MP calls(what does he have?) and I typed “bad river for you?” to him. And I didn’t pull the trigger. He answered “maybe” at the same time I just called. He did have Q9 as I thought and the MP had Td 9d, and I was good. I’m still annoyed that I read it so well and didn’t act on it.

Friday

Afternoon. I slept late and only played 2 hours, but posted another $200 win. I find it intriguing how one hand can set up another. Had a guy on my left that I didn’t have any notes on. I raised with AT in MP and he cold called. Flop was AQx and I bet and he called. Turn was another blank and I bet and he called. River was my T and I bet and he raised. He had KJ. SO he calls cold with KJo, that tells me something. Taking one off on the flop with a gutshot is not bad but the pot was pretty small, but calling the turn bet is pretty bad. So I make a note and file it away. He made a lot of weak cold calls that I was able to win bigger pots than I would normally have. I just made sure to bet the turn on unimproved big Aces to get that last bet from him. Evening There are two kinds of cold streaks, and I experienced them both tonight. I won only 1 hand in the first hundred I played tonight and I was down a little over $200. I don’t mind these cold streaks, because I know I will win my share of hands eventually, and sure enough in the next hundred I won a lot and was up around $300. Then I had the bad kind of streak. The one where you do hit your share of hands, but they are all tiny pots, and all the big ones you get involved in go the other way. Plus I stopped winning pots. By the end of the night I was down $750 making it a $550 loss for the day, and leaving me down over $600 for the week. That’s 3 big losses in 6 days. I guess it was bound to happen, I just hope it’s the exception. A very good read. You get used to the betting patterns of a player or game and any change to that rhythm tells you something. 5/10 table 2 limpers to me and I limp on the button with Kc Th. SB raises. BB folds and 3 of us call the raise. Flop Qc Jh 5d. It gets checked around to me and I have my open ender and I checked. As I read the hand history I stopped to wonder why I checked. Then I remembered. This particular guy in the SB would never check this flop no matter what. I would bet my kids he had QQ or JJ. I decided to take one off and see if I could make the straight without being raised by him. Turn [Qc Jh 5d] Ks Sure enough SB bets out. It gets raised and re-raised before getting back to me and I folded. I think this is an easy fold, but I thought long and hard. SB just called as did the first raiser. River was an A so I would have chopped it. AT took it down and SB had QQ sure enough. Fancy play on turn, does it cost me a bet. 8/16 game and I limp utg with Qs Js. There are 2 posters before the button who check, the button calls and the SB completes. 6 to the flop. Flop Ac 5s 3s Checked to me and I bet. Only the button and SB call me. Turn [Ac 5s 3s] Ks I get cute and check. Button bets and SB calls. Now I raise and both call. River [Ac 5s 3s Ks] 5c I bet and button calls. He had the smaller flush. So if I just bet the turn, he probably raises, but we might lose the SB then. I could 3 bet or wait for the river to raise. Don’t know if this play was good or not.

Saturday.

There were 4 8/16 games going at one point tonight. And the players play the same crap I saw at 2/4. It’s quite remarkable. I’ve had a great run at the 8/16 tables and tonight was no exception. I managed a $735 win to give me a $117 win for the week. I think that’s $2 an hour this week. Sigh. It sure beats the 2 grand I was stuck on Tuesday at lunch though. I played well tonight. The higher stakes keep my concentration at a higher level. When you see players making bad mistakes it helps your resolve not to do anything too risky. You know you’ll get paid when the time comes. I won the biggest pot I’ve ever won on this hand, only because the 3rd player in the hand seemed oblivious to the fact that he was clearly behind, making my draw unbelievably expensive. In fact I really screwed up on the river. UTG raises and I make one of eMark’s favorite cold calls with Qh Jh. Button calls and the BB plays too. Flop Kh Td 7s. UTG bets, I call and the button raises. BB folds and UTG 3 bets. I call again and the button caps it. Wow. Turn [Kd Th 7s] 3h Now I have the flush draw too. UTG bets, I call and the button raises. UTG 3 bets, I call and the button raises. We both call again. I think it’s KK and TT, but why doesn’t TT see that it must be KK? Jeez this is getting expensive. River [Kh Td 7s 3h] 9h. Yippee UTG checks, I bet and button raises. UTG calls 2 and I think. There is no way he has hearts. Is there? Could he possibly have overplayed Ah Kh like this? I wimp out and just call. This is really bad. I know its KK and TT raise it up, how often does this chance come along, but I just called. Amazingly UTG did indeed have KK but the button had KT. A little overplayed I’d say. $450 pot. Playing a draw from the button. Poker is full of little decisions that depend on your read of your opponents. In this hand I have Qs Ts on the button. 2 limpers to me and I limp. BB checks. Flop 6s 3s 3h Two checks to the 2nd limper who bets. Now I would much rather play a draw for 1 bet against 4 opponents than for 2 bets against 1, so do you semi bluff raise, or just call and hope for more players? To me the texture of the board decided it. I don’t believe I’m going to get callers on that board, so I raised. All 3 folded. CHING!! So clearly my worst week yet. I hope it’s just a blip. We’ll see.

Week 8

My goodness time is flying. It has been quite an adventure so far. Great success for 6 weeks certainly made this seem like a breeze followed by a break even week that was extremely frustrating. It’s amazing how the short term results seem to overshadow anything that came before it. Let’s hope for some successes this week. I took a horrible bad beat to start the week. My computer crashed. My wife and daughter have big assignments due this week as school draws to a close and there is a line up to use the computer constantly. Sunday both of them complained that the computer kept shutting down on it’s own and was making funny sounds. While I was playing Sunday night I experienced it myself and when it restarted there was a message saying a hard drive failure was imminent. Eeeek. All my digital photographs were on there, all my personal documents, including these reports, invoices from the business, tax filings etc. And do you think the computer expert has a backup? So Monday morning I went to back it up and it wouldn’t start. When I finally got it started it wouldn’t stay up long enough to make a save. After praying to every God I could think of I managed to get 30 minutes of continuous up time to burn everything onto a CD. I’ll have to remember those prayers next time I’m drawing to an inside straight. I took it in to the store where I bought it and he confirmed the hard drive was gone. They replaced it and I hit my inside straight when I discovered I had bought the extended warranty, so the replacement was free. I never buy extended warranties so I was very happy they checked. Now I had to get a hold of another copy of the Microsoft suite so my wife and daughter can finish their assignments. When I was working it was easy, just go to the tech department and borrow their disks. Luckily the tech guy from my last company lives just down the street and he brought the disk home after work, and by last night we were back in business. Guess what I forgot to save though. My Paradise Poker notes. 18 months of player notes are gone. I was playing blind last night. My bluffer notes and my fish notes and starting hands etc. I guess I’m starting again. Now on to Poker.

Sunday .......there were actually 4 8/16 games going at one time. I started playing 2 of them and while I posted a modest win on one of them I had to rebuy twice on the other. Same story as last week. Every time I raised with a big pair I got no action. I got AA, KK and QQ in a 5 minute period, twice in the BB, and had everyone fold to me. Of course if I raised with AK, I would get 3 bet and called in 2 places and then see a flop of 987 same suit, none of my suit. I start the week off down $450. One of the posters reading last weeks report asked me if I’ve changed my game somewhat, and I’m starting to wonder that myself. I hope this is just a tough run of cards, but I can’t help wondering if my game is changing. I’ve had several comments at the tables lately about how tight I play (“davidross only raises with a monster” etc) if you can believe that. There is no doubt I’m playing tighter than I used to. Mostly because there is a lot more raising in these 8/16 games and I can’t play my baby pairs or suited connectors cheaply from EP. The result of this is I’m not winning the big pots as often as I used to. Having said that though, I am winning a considerable amount at the 8/16 games, it’s the 5/10 that is eating me alive lately. Something to watch for. Here’s an example of playing scared from Sunday night. I have 6c 5c in MP. One limper to me and I limp along. Two more limpers behind me and both blinds play too. Flop 6d 2c Qs Checked to the 1st limper who bets. This is a raise or fold situation. Two weeks ago I raise this without blinking. This week I call and so does everyone else. 6 see the turn. Turn [6d 2c Qs] 6h Checked to me and I bet. 2 folds and the SB calls. Now the BB comes to life and raises. Yuck. This almost certainly means a full house or a 6. And there aren’t many kickers I can beat. I call anyway and so does the SB. River [6d 2c Qs 6h] 3d BB bets and only I call. He has A6. Would he have called 2 on the flop with middle pair? I doubt it. This is such a text book example of why you have to raise the flop or fold in these situations. On the plus side I made a straight flush against a full house and got the river capped and won a nice pot.

Monday

Afternoon. I only played for an hour on the old computer. I was running around trying to get repairs done and ran out of time. I was up a small amount for most of the hour but two bad hands at the end left me down about $40 for the session. Evening. Started out very frustrating. I got very few hands and was hardly playing at all. My wife was working until after midnight on the new computer, so I was stuck on the old one (now that I have no notes it really doesn’t matter except instead of two tables that I can watch side by side I have them on top of each other which I don’t like). She was getting quite concerned with the number of times I was swearing as river after river either beat me or chopped me from a winning position. Interestingly enough it was a lucky river that seemed to change my fortunes. Around midnight one of the 8/16 table shut down and I was playing one 8/16 and one 5/10. My wife went to bed and I got back on the good computer and my fortunes shifted. I had re-bought on both 8/16 tables earlier so I was down over 400, but I managed to turn it around and was actually up over 500 for the day at one point. A couple of bad losses in the last orbit took me down a bit and I ende up with a $380 win. This means I’m almost exactly even for the last 9 days and that’s not good enough. With the volume of hands I play I think it equates to a month of live play for a normal pro. I bet most of them don’t have too many break even months. I need to do better. Here is the hand the I got lucky on. 8/16 and 4 limpers to me in the BB with 8s 7c. I call and so does the BB. Flop 5c 4d 5h Checked around to the button who bets. I decide to take one off with my gutshot/overcards and so does everyone else except one. 5 see the turn. Turn [5c 4d 5h] 7s Hmm. Maybe I’m ahead, and I’ve certainly got some more outs if I’m not. I check anyway and an MP bets. One fold, the button calls, so do I and one other. 4 to the river. River [5c 4d 5h 7s] 7h Yippee. I check, the same guy bets, button calls again and now I raise. One fold but both MP and button call. MP had a 5 and slowplayed himself out of it. Button had 99. I had no business being in that hand as it turns out. But it felt good to do it to someone else for a change.

Tuesday

Afternoon. Another frustrating session. The games seem good, players are still playing crappy hands out of position, but I can’t beat them. I win small pots and lose big ones. 3 hours -$80. Evening. The boys soccer team lost tonight, so the day keeps getting worse. If you hate bad beat stories skip to tomorrow. This was the worst poker session in my brief career. Not dollar wise although that was bad - $500. Brief summary, I played 650 hands, flopped 3 sets, lost them all. Made one flush, lost to a higher flush. Made no straights and flopped 2 pair 3 times. Lost all 3, although 2 of them turned into full houses, there was a bigger full house out there. I would get down $400 then grind my way back. Twice I got back to almost even then would have my Aces cracked and sink into the hole again. I was even on the 8/16 table again so I can’t blame that. 5/10 sank me again. On the very first orbit I got KQs in a 4 way raised pot. Flopped a Q, Turned a K, and saw a 4th heart river and lost to Ax with the A a heart. Then I got a free play with 32 suited. Flopped two pair, turned the full house, then a Q rivered and a slowplayed QQ made a bigger boat. I don’t know how to deal with this. I don’t know if I should take a break or just play through it. I can’t think straight right now so I don’t even want to review the hands I saved for discussion. I don’t think I’m playing badly, in fact for most of the session I’m playing as well as my cards will allow, but I am playing tentative, and looking for a big score instead of playing aggressive. Here’s an example. I’m on the button with KK. My buddy Looba (2+2 lurker, and now occasional poster) raises 2 in front of me with 88. Instead of 3 betting I decide to smooth call and hope the Blinds come along to build a pot. BB calls. Flop is A 9 5 rainbow. BB bets, Looba raises and I muck. BB called his turn bet and the river got checked. BB had A3. I don’t believe he calls a 3 bet with A3 (although you never know). So instead of winning a small pot, I gave away another $16. It seems every close decision I make right now is the wrong one.

Wednesday

I opened an account at Party Poker today on the advice of some posters. I was only able to deposit $500 so I’ll need to top it up again. I don’t get the interface yet. I joined the waiting lists for two 5/10 games, but you can’t tell where you are on the list. I never got called to either game so I played paradise again. I’ll try again tonight. More frustration at Paradise. AA cracked 3 times. Down $400 in 3 hours. Winning 20% of my showdowns and only 7% of the hands. If I don’t win the blinds I lose the hand, simple as that. I can’t wait for this to end. I have to keep reminding myself that as bad as it seems right now, I still haven’t had a losing week (although I’m going to need a great recovery to pull out this week), and my turn will come. The only bright spot in this day for me was this hand. I rarely try this but I was desperate. I limp with K9o on the button after one MP limper. BB checks. Flop is A55 and gets checked around. Turn is a second A and the MP bets. My K might be good or split the pot, and I call. River is a 3 and after he bets I raise. I don’t ever remember bluff raising the river. He thinks a long time and folds. Maybe I was good anyway, but I’m a desperate man right now. I gave Party Poker a try for the first time this afternoon. I played two 3/6 games and the games were indeed as soft as everyone told me they were. I was the only one raising hands other than AA, and 5 or 6 seemed to see every flop. Hello baby pairs and suited connectors. It reminded me of the 2/4 games I loved at paradise. If only I could live on $12 an hour. It sure didn’t hurt that I made every draw and my big pairs held up. I won $300 in the first hour. Maybe all those conspiracy theorists in the zoo are on to something. Let the new guy win so he stays. I will give the 5/10 games a try tonight. I have to say I hate the software. I find it really hard to tell who still has cards and how the betting has gone so far. This is crucial for me when I play 2 tables because I often just get the screen up when it’s my turn to act and I need to piece together the action quickly. I can’t get to the notes easily as you can at paradise, and you can’t tell where you are on the waiting list or what the tables are like. Maybe I’ll get used to it. Evening Played at Party for 3 hours. 2 5/10 games which will leave me a little short if I run bad. Got off to a good start, but then hit the same bug that’s got me at paradise. Bad cards. The 5/10 games were very much like the Paradise games. Not like the 3/6 games I played this afternoon. I wish there was a place to see flop % for the table to tell if I was just at the tightest tables. At one point I had given back almost all the winnings for the afternoon. I ended up down $90 for the session and up $210 for the day at Party. When I review this hand I know I’m playing scared. Warning…. don’t try this at home. I’m in the BB with Ks Jd. There are two limpers and a raiser on the button. I know this guy from paradise. He’s OK but likes to raise from the button with a lot of hands. I make the call in the BB and the two limpers call too. Flop Ac Qd Qh Checked to the 2nd limper who bets. Button folds and I take one shot at my Ten. There’s $40 in the pot and it’ll cost me 5 to try and hit my 11-1 shot. I think I have the implied odds. Limper 1 calls too. Turn [Ac Qd Qh] Ts I check, now Limper 1 bets, L2 calls and I chicken out and just call. Visions of QT, TT and AA are running through my head. The pre-flop raiser has already folded, so QT is really the only reasonable hand I should fear. There is almost certainly a Q out there, a raise will get called. “PULL THE TRIGGER” you wuss. River [Ac Qd Qh Ts] 7h I check, L1 bets, L2 calls and……..I call again. Phhhhttttt. This move is the difference between between a winning player and a break even player. Of course I’m good, but I’m short at least 1 BB and maybe 2. L1 had Q9 and L2 had A5. Then I went back to Paradise to play a few hours. I got on a good 8/16 table with 2 real bad players. Also played a 5/10 table. Posted a modest win at 5/10, but at the risk of sounding like a broken recors, I was cold decked again at 8/16. Started with this beauty. I raise UTG with TT. I get cold called in LP by a good player. Button(Bad player 1) calls and the BB (Bad player 2) calls too. Flop is T A A. Sweet. BB bets out and I smooth call. LP raises. He’s good this may or may not be an Ace. I hope it is. Button folds, BB calls and I decide to just call. If the BB were a better palyer I would raise here so as to get an extra bet from him too, but he’s not folding before the river no matter what. Turn is a K. Yuck. Could he have AK? BB checks, I check, Button bets, BB calls and I raise. Button 3 bets, BB calls I cap it and they both call. River is an Ace. OMG. Here we go again. I can’t think of a hand I beat here but I call his bet anyway. He had AQ. BB had 88. Got to love him. Within 45 minutes I was down $500 and thinking about jumping off the roof. Unfortunately I live in a bungalow so I’d probably survive. Then the strangest thing happened. I tilted. Sort of. I didn’t go crazy, but I was sick of winning blinds. I started raising anything barely playable in EP. And still they folded to my raises. I started showing cards after I raised (in EP only, my LP raises are getting 3 bet). And for 10 minutes I hit a bunch of flops. $500 isn’t that many big pots in a 8/16 game. A runner runner flush got me started and suddenly I was winning big pots on both tables and I was even for the night. Just as quickly I went cold and dropped back a bit before a final rush put me up $260 for the session. So to summarize the day, I was down $140 at paradise, up $210 at Party (and a $50 sign up bonus is due). I’m still down $590 for the week. I think short term I will continue to split time between the two sites and see how they compare. The 5/10 games will need to be better if I’m going to play there most of the time. I don’t think I can make what I need to at 3/6.

Thursday

Played a short afternoon session at Party. Running into more 2+2’ers. Comments like “Go back to Paradise” just warm my heart. To be blunt, the games aren’t very good. I’m not getting any cards so maybe that darkens my view, but I’m not seeing many bad players at 5/10. Pots are almost always raised and frequently 3 bet. And the players weem very tricky post-flop. A lot of bluffing going on even 3 handed. I was down $100 for an hour and a half. Evening More misery at Party. While I broke even on 1 table, I dropped $250 on the other. I won exactly 1 pot in 2 ½ hours. I had AA cracked twice and KK cracked 3 times. It was unreal. Again I didn’t find the games that good. Certainly no different from Paradise. I suspect the juicy games are at a lower limit than 5/10, but the same can be said of paradise too. The 2/4 games there were very good. I’m left with only $360 in my account and I’m not sure I want to add to it. I’ll give it another chance tomorrow. Again at midnight I switched over to paradise. The 8/16 game looked brutal. 15% seeing the flop so I got into 2 good 5/10 games. Both tables maintained a flop % in the 30’s. And again I took a brutal beat right off the bat. Dropped a lot on a button vs blind heads up with me having A9 and a flop of 899. We capped the flop and turn before I got the hint. He had 88. It wasn’t my last hand like that either. After an hour of level play I left one table and took a shot at 8/16. The game had changed and so did my luck. I adopted a much more aggressive style than normal for me. I didn’t limp with anything. If they’re going to fold to all my raises I’m going to raise more. And people started calling my raises, and I started hitting flops for the first time in days. I was quickly up over $300 on my 5/10 game and around $200 in the 8/16 game. I took some more bad beats, but they don’t seem so bad when you are actually winning some other hands. Ended up a $370 winner for the paradise session. So for the week I’m down $420 at paradise and $140 at Party. If I could somehow come out of this week even I would feel very optimistic. I think I’ve had the worst run of cards anyone’s ever had these past two weeks (Who hasn’t said that eh?). I think I can over analyse this. I just need to be patient and wait for the cards to come again. I haven’t made a flush in 2 days. And the 1 straight I made yesterday got chopped on the river. I’m grinding for al I can, and it’s forcing me to play more aggressively which is probably good for my game. I’ve stopped playing some marginal hands during the slump which is probably also good for the long term health of my game. Lets hope for a good conclusion to my week.

Friday

What a nice day. I finally got a glimpse into the good Party Games that eMark has described to me. Both tables were good although one was particularly good. Lots of cold calling when I raised and lots of unraised multi-way pots for my draws. I ended up $470 to the good. Something happened to me that has never happened to me in a ring game. I went all-in…3 times. With my depleted Party bankroll I had to sit down with $180 only at each table. Not much room for error and sure enough I got down on one table. A very bad chase in a huge pot with JJ and an A on the flop left me with about $20. From the BB I pushed with A6 and won unimproved to double up. Then a few hands later I played an AT aggressively against two opponents and tripled up when two tens flopped. That dwindled again and I found myself all in later with 99 and all undercards on the board. So I survived 3 all-ins and now I have enough money to hopefully avoid that problem in the future. What would you do here. I’m in MP with Ad Qd, UTG raises and the next guy 3 bets. I folded, correctly I think, but the pot was won by an AJo that called 3 cold and beat 99(the 3 bettor) when an A flopped. This doesn’t happen to me often at Paradise. I have As Qs and raise 3 limpers from the cut-off. SB calls and 5 see the flop. Flop Ac Js 7d Checked to me, I bet and all 4 call…?? Turn [Ac Js 7d] 3h Checked to me, I bet and 3 of them call..?? River [Ac Js 7d 3h] Td. Checked to me and although I feel someone might have 2 paired or hit a gutter, I bet. Called in two places and I’m good. That has to be the biggest pot I’ve ever won with just top pair. I love this game. This was like the 2/4 Paradise games I used to win steadily at. No need for deception. Fold on the flop if you miss, but push hard when you hit. Simple poker, but very effective. Rigoletto even showed up for the end of the session. Everyone is leaving Paradise. Evening I’m so numb I can hardly write. I tried to play at Party, but the server was so overloaded we were getting 30-60 second delays between hands. So I went to paradise and the slaughter began again. I lost $940 in 5 hours. AA cracked 3 times. KK 5 times and QQ 3 times. Won the blinds with QQ once. I feel like puking to be honest. I probably lost more than I should have on some of the KK hands, but oh my fu**ing god. I think I need some time off.

Saturday

It’s now Saturday afternoon and I took my kids to the pool and sat reading John Feeney’s excellent book “Inside the Poker mind” for the 20th time. I think I’ve mentioned that it’s my favorite. I’m trying to decide if I’m playing badly or not. I went over my spreadsheet to look at past results and to be honest there is nothing unusual about this losing streak. I have had many in the past year just like it. It was a little unreasonable to expect I would never have a losing week. That’s not to say I can’t play better, but I don’t think I’ve suddenly become a horrible player overnight. Evening We went out to dinner with friends, and I came into th session with a fresh optimism. And I got crushed again. Played at Party tonight. They seem to have fixed the server problems from yesterday. The games were good. A couple of bad players on each table. But I had to rebuy on one table right away. Not many playable hands, and when I did play I got rivered again and again. At least I won a huge pot on the other table when I flopped a swt, so that kept me ahead on that table for most of the night. I spent hours trying to crawl back to even, then in the last hour before bed time I ran cold again. I ended up down $435 at Party, and down $45 at Paradise (I went there for a short time to see if the 8/16 was going, and it wasn’t). So for the week the gruesome numbers are. Down $1,400 at Paradise, and down $65 at Party. Ouch. I have to look on the bright side. It could have been worse. One guy at Party called my raise with QQ from the SB, and called my bets on each street. I showed down and he flipped over KK. Then he typed in the chat box, “I was worried there”. And I fell victim to a Stu Ungar-like call. I was dealt 7c 4c in the BB.UTG limped and I got a free play heads up. Flop was Qc Jd 5c. I bet my 4 flush, and unfortunately she called. Turn was the 6s, giving me an open-ender to go with my 4 flush, so I continued the semi-bluff. She called again. River was another J, no club and I immediately bet again to finish the bluff. She thought and called. She had T9o and won. Of all the possible hands in Hold’em I think she could beat only about 10 of them. But she won. I had 99 on the button in another big multi-way hand. Flop was 8 high and I bet when checked to me. Only 3 called me. Turn was another small card, and I got check-raised. I called. River was a Jack, and he had AJ. It happened over and over again. I guess the people who said I couldn’t maintain that win rate were right. I just hope I can get back to winning at all. I had 5 losing days out of 7 this week, and one break even day. I need to string some wins together. See ya next week.

Week 9

If you’ve been with me for all 8 weeks of this adventure you’ll know I’m playing online poker full time while waiting for another consulting contract to become available, or suitable full time employment. Timing is everything in life. Had I experienced weeks 7 and 8 at the start for this adventure, there is no way I’d still be trying this. Only time will tell if that’s a good thing or not, but I’ve had a blast during these two months. It would be great if I could get it to last through the summer too, but I can’t afford many more weeks like last week.

Sunday.

More struggles. I posted my 6th losing day out of the last 8, and one of the 2 non losing days was a break even. After being down well over $500 for most fo the session, I rallied and ended up down $250 for the day. Thank god my big pairs held up because they were the only hands I won. I just can’t make a draw. And if I do…I had a flopped straight beaten by a rivered full house, and the only flush I made was a 2nd nut, and guess what?? The free plays are killing me. At least 4 times I got free plays from the BB with hands I had no intention of playing, then flopped 2 pair, only ot be counterfeited on the river. This one here really hurt. I get 93o in the BB and there are 3 limpers only. Flop is Ad 8c 5c. I check ready to fold and everyone checks. Turn is a 9. I check again and there is one bet and a call behind me. I decide to call. River is my 3, no flush. I check, the guy bets again, 2nd guy folds and I raise. He raises me back. I call and he shows 33. This keeps happening to me.

Monday

Afternoon. Finally some relief. 3 hours at Party and I won $680. Hit lots of flops, and on one table in particular played against 2 guys who always called to the river, and called the river with any piece. If this is normal for the afternoon games I will spend more time here than at paradise. Just don’t bother bluffing except against the better players. I got called down with A high a lot. I even cracked AA today after I 3 bet his LP raise with 99 from the button. Flopped a 9 and milked a big pot out of him. At paradise I have taken to limp-raising with AA and KK because of the frequency I win the blinds with open raises, but here I open raised with both and got 2 or 3 callers every time. Here’s a questionable play. I open limped in MP with Ac 8c. Called on the button and both blinds. Flop Ah 7h 2c. Checked to me and I checked also. I know I give the heart draw a free card, but I thought I might get someone to chase for a turn and river bet with 2nd pair. Button checked behind me. Turn was 3c. I bet and got 2 calls. River was 2d. I bet and got called by 88. 88 probably calls the whole way anyhow, but the other guy might not have given me the extra bet on the turn. When I raise the turn with a very strong hand, and my opponent folds, I always think I should have just called and got an extra bet later. In this hand I have JJ in the SB. Open raise in EP and an MP cold call. I call and so does the BB. Flop 5s 4s 2d. I bet and the BB raises. EP calls, MP folds and I 3 bet. BB caps it and the EP folds. I call. Turn is the Jc. I bet, he raises and I 3 bet. He folds. I was surprised. Should I have just called? Lets hope it continues tonight. Evening Got a late start tonight. Harry Potter delayed me. I am reading it to my younger 3 kids (I’ve read all 4 previous books twice, re-reading them with my younger daughter just this winter). The chapters are much longer than they were before and it took me much longer than expected to get them into bed. I had to decide which site to play at and I decided to give Party another go. The games were not as loose as the afternoon games had been, and seemed to tighten up as the evening wore on. I was up on one table and down on the other. Just before midnight I decided to switch to Paradise and give the 8/16 game a try. Ended up -$40 at Party. The Games at Paradise were terrible. The 8/16 game was missing the weak players that had been there the last 2 weeks and the 5/10 game I chose was seeing 14% of the flops. I lost 3 big pots right away and was down $100. The table was so tight it would have taken me days to get back to even. So I switched. Fortunately I won slowly and steadily in the 8/16 game and I ended up $153 up total at Paradise. That puts me up $555 for the week so far. As far as I’m concerned, varying your play and adjusting to the table conditions are unbelievably important. Since the start of the losing streak I’ve feltlike my play has been very predictable and I think my better opponents are taking advantage of me. So I vowed to be more aggressive. This hand is from the 8/16 game. The game had become very tight and Iopen raised with 77, 4 off the button. The button cold called (He is an over-aggressive but unpredictable player) and the BB called too. Flop was K 8 3 two spades and the BB bet. I raised and they both folded. This isn’t a move I make very often without top pair and I guess I should take advantage of that tight image more often. Getting lucky. This didn’t happen for me at all the last 10 days at Paradise. There was 1 bad player in the 8/16 game around 2:00 AM. He was in the BB when I was in the cut-off seat. Everyone folded to me and I decided to just call with T9o. I liked playing hands against him because he is really easy to read. I also think limping late is very suspicious looking and might allow me to do it with a big hand later. Anyway the plan backfired when the SB called, and the BB raised. Now I bluff re-raised. I do this a lot with AA and KK and the SB knows this. I don’t know if the BB would ever notice. SB called and the BB capped it. Ruh Roh. We both called. Flop is Q 9 9. I played it fast and raised the flop thinking he would re-raise his presumed big pair at least once, but he went into check-call mode right away. In hindsight it was the wrong play against an ABC player like him. I should have called the flop hoping to keep the SB in, and raised the turn or river. In my last orbit of the evening I got lucky again when I called a raise in the BB with 93s (3 players, I know it’s marginal at best, but I did it). Flop had two 3’s and the turn was a 9 and I got paid off all the way. I didn’t hit any flops like this for the entire losing streak. It felt very good.

Tuesday

Afternoon One step forward and two steps back. That’s the way it seems to be going. Sat down for the afternoon session at Party and there was a long wait for 5/10. I started on some 3/6 tables and before I had gone once around the tables I was down $130. AA, KK and QQ all got cracked right off the bat. I don’t think this qualifies as a “Homer” tilt, but by the end of it I was. It didn’t get any better either as I gave back everything I won the night before and ended up down $550 for the session. I’m at a loss to explain the huge losses I’m having. Evening. Frustrating would be a good way to describe this evening. I played well for several hours at Party and pecked away at the deficit I created in the afternoon. At one point I was up $450 on one table and only down $100 on the other, but in one hour I gave all my gains back and ended up exactly even. When I was running well for all those weeks it was the exact opposite. I would play even or gain slightly for long periods, then go on a big rush for my gains. Now it seems I’m losing every big pot I compete for. I even misread the board twice on big pots and made a river raise with the nut straight, not noticing there was a flush there, and another with another straight, missing the fact there was a bigger straight possible. These things don’t happen when you’re concentrating. It’s just so frustrating to play so well for so long, and then lose it all in a short period of time. I switched to Paradise and got killed in the 8/16 game right away. I rebought within 30 minutes of starting and was down $500 at my normal quitting time. However the game had gotten a little easier at that time so I stayed and finally got some cards. I made a nice run before the table broke and ended up down only $170. For the week I’m down $330 at paradise and up $160 at Party. I’m playing golf on Wednesday so there will be no afternoon session. The right move at the wrong time. What do you think of this play. From the Party 5/10 table where I was running well. These games feature lots of chasers. I have KQo UTG and open raise. 2 cold callers plus the BB. Flop is K K 8, two spades. I bet and get called by all 3. Turn is a 2d, and this time I check. Guy on my left bets, two more calls and now I raise. Everyone calls. River is a 7, no spade. I bet and get raised. Two folds to me and I think. K7 seems to be the only hand I should fear. K8 or K2 or 88 would have re-raised the turn I think. So I raise him back and he caps it. He had 77. I hadn’t considered that. Just the way it’s going for me these days.

Wednesday

We picked the hottest day in 3 years to play golf. And we walked a course right on the Niagara escarpment. It was pretty hot. I played ok but my putting was brutal. 7 3 putts, all of them with the 2nd putt being in the 2-4 foot range. I don’t know why I put myself through that. I still shot 87. Poker was a roller coaster. Started out at Party. Wednesday night I think is the poker on TV night when they run all their ads. The site was overcrowded. 40 people on each waiting list and the system was real slow. I only stayed for 30 minutes. I couldn’t stand the delays. I started at a 3/6 table waiting for a seat at 5/10 and had the following hands back to back. I raised 5 limpers from the button with QQ. Flop T 8 4. One MP bet out. I raised he called. I bet the turn and river he called each and showed 84o. Very next hand I get AA in the co and raise 3 limpers. Flop K 7 2 and same guy bets out. I raise him and bet turn and river and he calls both. He has 72o. How’s that for a start? I managed to be up $17 before the speed of play drove me to paradise. The games were very good at paradise for some reason. No 8/16 going when I got there but 6 or 7 5/10 games all with flop % in the high 20’s and 30’s. Unfortunately I wasn’t getting any hands to play. I was down a little after an hour winning only 7% of my hands. This has been quite usual lately. Seeing 22% of the flops and winning 20% of the flops I see. Fortunately, the pots I won were big ones as I made 4 flushes to keep me not too far down. Finally the 8/16 game started and it was excellent, but not for me. I was down a bit then almost even etc. Never up. A couple of guys were way ahead including my buddy Looba. Around 3:00 AM the winners all seemed to leave at once and new players arrived and my luck changed. I went on a mini tear and found myself up $600 within the hour. Unfortunately I kept playing and gave a lot of it back as my fortune turned again. Ended up +$250 for the night. That leaves me up $100 for the week. Hands of interest. I seem to have acquired a real weak tight table image so I’m trying to take advantage of it. I limped in EP with Ks Qs and played the button and both blinds. Flop was 6 6 3 rainbow and it got checked to the button who bet. Only I called. Turn was an A, and I bet. He folded. Yeah!! This one will haunt me for a long time. 8/16. A limp a raise and 2 cold calls to me in the BB. I have the lovely T7o and I decide to play with all these players. I do that sometimes. Usually when I’m running well but not lately. I’ve decided to do more of it in multi-way pots. 5 of us see the flop of 8 7 5 two spades. Checked to the raiser, who times out and is put all-in. This adds a new twist to the hand. Red hot Guy bets. He is up 600-700 already and is making everything. We all call the bet. (Mistake 1 I think. I should have raised here). Turn is another 5. Again we check to him and he bets again. One fold and two of us call. River is another 8. Checked to him he bets, and faced with him and the other player I fold my 2nd pair. Other guy calls. Bettor has 66. It’s good. I puke. He wins the $112 side pot, and then the rest of it when the PFR shows AK. I puke again. I believe David and Mason call this a catastrophe. That was my profit for the session. One more day at home then we go to Montreal for the Canada Day long weekend. I hope to play a little but my hours will be way down. Not sure how I’ll do the report just yet.

Thursday

Afternoon at Party. Just a short session as the kids finish school today and we went to pick them up. Games were very good again. Although I lost 2 big pots on my last orbit I managed a $90 win for the session. I had been up $200 though. Evening at Paradise. I played as well as I possibly could tonight. I didn’t play any hands out of position and I didn’t chase. And I still lost $175. The 8/16 game was very tight and broke after about 90 minutes. I managed to take $150 out of it though. I played 600 hands tonight and got AA once and KK once. I only saw 21% of the flops which is really low for me. And what turned my night from a win to a loss were 4 hands that I got semi-bluff raised on the turn on while I was ahead, only to have the guy hit on the river to come from behind. All of them were poor strategic raises because there was no way I was folding, but they hit their cards on the river. I know if I keep playing like that the wins will come. It may be Tuesday before I can make another entry. I will try to catch up then.

Friday

It is actually Tuesday now and I’m trying to catch up. On the personal front it was a great weekend. This was our National holiday weekend and I went to Montreal (where I grew up and my family and my wife’s family still live) for a visit. We also sprinkled my Dad’s ashes up at the cottage which was his favorite spot in the world. It was very nice and his wish. He passed away in January and we were waiting for a time when we could all be together. My kids did some fishing and we had a great time. On the Poker front the news was not so good. I just can’t seem to win at all. I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing this. I can’t believe I’ve gone from being a winning player to a losing player just like that. I do believe that at the end of another frustrating session I am not playing my best, but overall I am just getting bad cards. Real bad. If I have AQ, AK is behind me. If I have AK behind A4, the 4 rivers. I lost another $400 on Friday night, and I just took Saturday off.

Sunday ....I dropped another 200, and another 200 on Monday. So I will call week 9 an extended week since I don’t have exact dollar figures for each day. I do know that from last Sunday to today I lost $1,200 at paradise and won $300 at Party. Another awful week.

I am now faced with a really bleak future. If I didn’t need to withdraw funds to live on, my bankroll would be healthy, but I do, so it’s not. I can’t afford another $1,000 loss this week so it’s time for this to turn around. As a competitive person this is very frustrating. In any other sport you just practice more, work harder, etc. and feel like you are doing something. Here, I’m just waiting for better cards. I wish I could blame the games, but the games have been very good, even at paradise. 8/16 games with 30-35% seeing the flop. Same with the 5/10 games. It’s hard to complain when someone chases your AK to the rive with his A4, and an A on the flop. But when the 4 rivers, again and again it starts to wear on you. Last night I finally hit some flops and got some big pairs, and I still lost. 4 big hands that I led going into the river all lost on the river. I’m estimating $800 that would have been mine disappeared on 5 outers or less. That turns my $200 loss into a $600 win. Soon I hope.