December: Original email date: 1/2/08

So, I continued onward through the month of December playing way too much poker. What greeted me instead was what I felt to be the worst run of cards that I have ever had. I lost more all-ins then I thought was possible. I had some of the longest cold-spells I've ever had. I went a week without seeing Aces. Most the time I hit, someone hit harder.

I ended up playing 118 hours of poker and my results were as follows.

$5303.00 in losses
$5188.00 in wins.

Which totals out to being down $115 on the month. I also took a trip to Vegas for 6 days but wasn't able to play as much poker as I would have liked as a result of bad game selection. The trip ended up costing me $1000.00 and after Christmas shopping and paying the rent and bills. This was probably one of the most frustrating months of my life. Here's several key hands during the last month that give you an idea of how things went.

Hand 1:

This took place early in the month at Commerce. I'm sitting on a stack of about $400 and I raised to $25 (BB= $5) on the button with a J 10 diamonds. I get 3 callers.

Flop comes: Q J 7 w/ 2 diamonds.

Long story short, I get it all in on the flop with a guy who has me covered. He calls my all-in and says "I have a massive draw, I hope you have Kings" and shows 8 6 diamonds. When I saw his hand, I was so proud that I was able to put my money in with that big of an advantage.

Turn: 6

River: 6

Yeah I pretty much flipped out and was absolutely furious.

I did the odds, and on the flop I am a 95.56% favorite. On the turn, I am still an 88.64% favorite. Poker owes me one there. I ended up posting a big loss on the day and was left with a hand that I would never forget.

Hand 2:

This one was in Vegas in the $3-$5 NL Bellagio game. The buy-in is $100-$500 and I bought in for $300.

I had been playing for 2 hours and had just won the last couple of hands which put me up $100 for the session. I picked up A 10 and decided to raise to $25. I get 2 callers and the flop comes down

Flop: A A 6 rainbow

I threw out a $40 bet in such a fashion that I wanted my opponents to think that I was bluffing.

The first player immediately raises to $100 and I wasn't too concerned about him. The other player who looks like a thinking player thinks for a while and just calls. My alarm bells are already going off and I'm thinking 6 6.

I just call and the turn comes

Turn: 2

It checks around and I have now decided that I am not putting any more money in the pot unless an A or a 10 peels off on the river. I am absolutely convinced that I am beat.

River: J

The J means nothing to me. If someone has AJ, I have already lost.

The first player to act who also just called the $100 on the flop goes all in for $350. I think about it for a couple minutes and show the player next to me what I was folding. Fortunately, some asshole sitting across the table says, "Hey I want to see his hand." So the dealer takes my hand and puts it aside. Of course the idiot who had raised to $100 on the flop folds. The dealer shows A 10 and everyone starts shitting on themselves. The all-in player says, how can you fold that and shows A 2. I made the right lay-down, but I was pissed that I could have pushed him off his hand and the fact that I got sucked out like that on the turn. The only good thing that came out of that hand was that I had great respect from everyone at the table after that hand. I ended up posting a $68 loss in that session.

Hand 3:

This one was just a couple nights ago and I was playing in the $3-$5 NL game at the Bicycle Casino.

I'm sitting in the SB and everyone folds to the button. The douchebag on the button just limps in and won't let us chop. I look down at 3 5 offsuit and say ok. I played with this same idiot the other night and he constantly got lucky against me and took about $500 off me.

In this hand I had about $850 and he had $400. The pot has only $15 pre-rake and the flop comes

Flop: 4 6 7 w/ 2 diamonds.

I bet out $15 and douchebag raises to $60. I go all-in and douchebag takes about 10 seconds before calling. The turn and river are both diamonds which is pretty standard at this point and douchebag shows A 7 with the A of diamonds for a one card flush.

I absolutely flipped out and called this guy every name in the book. I got up from the table immediately and what should have been a $1400 night was only a $400 night.

In my last session before the new year, I picked up AA twice, KK once, and QQ twice. I still lost $300 for the session which is pretty standard.

In my first session on the New Year, I took two bad beats early on and played really bad. I should have had a $600 loss but I got lucky when my flopped flush held up against a set and I only lost $155 for the session. I left and watched a football game with a friend and went back to Commerce after and ran really good and came up $608 in 1.5 hours.

My first WPT prelim is in about 3.5 weeks and I need to make as much money as humanly possible in the meantime. Hopefully I get some sweet sweet retribution over the next couple of weeks.

Thats my story.

Take care.

-Gary