March

March has come and gone and we are already a quarter of the way through the New Year. Already the year has been a let down for me which is making me really disappointed.

March was an interesting month for a lot of reasons.

If one day I end up becoming really successful, it is months like this one that I will look back on and will realize that the adversity that I have faced will make me the person that I am trying to become.

The first half of the month I had no more then $10 on me at any given time. I was living off my credit cards and things were not looking good. My attempts at finding a job were entirely unsuccessful and things in that department were depressing for most of the month.

I decided to take a big gamble. It was something that was not very intelligent when I look back on it but I felt it had to be done. Every month $75 gets pulled from my checking account and goes directly into my savings. That amount had accumulated to $675 and although that money was going to go toward my rent and other bills, I decided to withdraw it and take my shot at Commerce. I pulled out $600 and had 3 buy-ins to play with.

On my very first trip to Commerce, I lasted less then an hour. I didn't win a single pot and failed to make any hand until my last hand of the session. On my last hand I flopped a flush with 9 10 of clubs and got cleaned out by a guy who held J 3 of clubs. Standard. As you can imagine I was pretty worried. I went home and decided what my best plan of attack should be. I ended up going on a nice run for the next week and ended up finishing up $600 for the week.

I then got sick.

Oh man, what a terrible time I had. I was finally starting to pick up some momentum and just like that I had to completely stop everything in my life for over a week.

I got over being sick and started playing again. My $600 profit ended up turning into $1800 in profit and it was looking like I was back.

Of course, the same standard shit happened and I dropped $900 in my next 8 hours of poker. The rent is due tomorrow and I now no longer have nothing to play with.

Fortunately, my job prospects are looking the best they have looked during all this time and hopefully I can start playing again when I get hooked up with my job. I will know for sure on Wednesday. If for some reason I don't get the job on Wednesday I am going to be totally fucked and I will have no idea what to do. I barely have enough money to pay all my bills for the month however I won't have the money to make the rent. I do not have money to gamble with so if the job ends up falling through I am going to be in serious trouble. Not only that, but I fear for myself mentally if things don't work out.

Here are my graphs for the month of March.



For the month of March, I made $887 in 35 hours for an hourly rate of $25.32

Here's is my updated 6 months graph.



Here is my updated all-time graph.

Thank you Mr. Murphy for crashing me back to reality

Today Murphy's Law was in full effect. Everything that could go wrong did. My last two weeks of play I have been winning, but I would say that I have run average. I've had a few hands hold up and I've hit the board when I've needed too in a couple of all-in situations.

Everyday when I play, I see at least one person who is being smacked in the face by the deck. I on the other hand, have days like that probably once every six months.

For the last month or so that I have been playing, everything has been really difficult. I have had a couple of sessions where things came pretty easy but for the most part I struggle just to win a pot.

For the last week or so, I haven't been dealt anything. It's amazing that I even managed to eke out a couple of wins. Waiting 45 minutes to win my first hand has become the norm and I get no action when I raise because they all know I have something when I do. On the flip side, it seems that every time I try to make a play with a BS hand everyone comes in with me and I miss the board every time.

Today was one of the worst days that I have had in a long time. Like I mentioned above, it took me a really long time to win a hand and for like the 6th straight session I've been chipped away to a really short-stack. I picked up a few decent pre-flop hands however I missed the board every time and before I knew it I was down to my last $60 and was all-in with A 9. I put it in with that hand because there was a pre-flop raise to $15 and a single caller. I figured that both players were weak and that they would just fold. Of course, the original raiser had to have A Q and he held up. I did something that I have not done lately and that is rebuying into the game. I did it because the game was good and I was sure that I would be able to get it back and a little bit more. It was really just a matter of catching a couple of cards.

On my second stack I flopped a top pair and called a bet that was called by several other players. I didn't get crazy because I only had 10 8 so there were kicker issues. The turn completed the flush and everyone checked to me on the button. I decided to take a stab at it and of course got raised all-in and he showed the nut-flush. Standard.

I then had A J run into A K but I lost the minimum.

I then had 10 10 run into Q Q and once again I lost the minimum by folding pre-flop.

I also had a 2nd nut flush draw run into the nut flush draw but I laid it down on the flop once again losing the bare minimum. The flush obviously didn't come.

I attempted one more bluff, the other being when I had top pair and went for it when the flush came. Once again the same guy ended up turning the nuts on me for the second time and went all-in again. I got no cards almost the whole time and tried to bluff twice and went for 0 for 2.

The only thing that kept my stack alive was the guy to my right was making a lot of ridiculous raises when there were lots of limpers. He would raise to $40-$60 hoping everyone would fold. He would only do this when he was in the blinds. It worked pretty much every time but on 4 separate occasions I went all-in and he folded each time. That alone was what kept my stack alive through all of this. At one point my stack had grown to $320 and I was only down $80 session. I really wish I would have just picked up there and tried for another day because I wouldn't be writing all this.

My $320 dwindled all the way to $80 due to the hands I talked about above and then I got it back to up $170. I then took my last cooler of the session. There was a preflop raise to $25 and I found A K. I didn't feel like getting crazy and only called along with several other callers. The flop came K high and I check-raised all-in. He called and showed A A. Standard.

I also picked up A A once but got no action.

I took a $400 loss and my new downswing has reached $600 and I am suddenly not doing so well money-wise.

I went back at around midnight hoping to have a turn-around but things only got worse.

Immediately I started getting chipped away and once again my stack was starting to get short. I decided to make a pre-flop raise for the first time and of course it shit all over my face. I found J 8 of hearts which is one of my favorite hands and no one had bet before me so I figured I would win the $7 by raising in the CO. Of course the BB and SB both called and I missed on a safe flop. K 9 9. Both players checked immediately and I made it $35 to go. Of course the SB raised me to $100 and I had to throw it away. I was down to my last $85.

I picked up A A and once again got no action. I won $17.

Then my last hand of the night left one of the worst tastes in my mouth. I made a ridiculous call only for the poker gods to reward the other player.

I had re-bought for another $100 to increase my stack to $200 which put me $300 deep in the game.

I'm not going to lie, I was starting to lose my patience. The last 10 hours of poker have been absolutely brutal and I am tired of folding every hand. I found K J in the CO and there were several limpers. I rasied to $25 hoping to steal the blinds and antes but I got called 4 ways. As usual I whiffed the flop and the board came 9 7 6 with two spades. Everyone checked to me and I know from previous experience that betting on this board with this many players wasn't smart but I didn't care. I made it $60 to go and I got called by the SB. Another player asked me how much I had left and I knew that I was in a lot of trouble. Fortunately, I could tell that he was worried about the SB so he threw it away. The turn brought the King of spades completing the flush and the SB immediately put his whole stack of $250 in the middle. I just laughed and commented on how typical that play was. I have had this happen so many times, and so many times they don't have the hand that they are trying to represent.

This is exactly what happened in that hand I had a couple weeks ago where I flopped a set of 4's and got bluffed out by a two pair. I know that if this guy had a flush he would have waited for me to hang myself. Instead he put it all in quicker then I have ever seen anybody put it in before. I told him that I didn't think he had a flush and called him with my top pair and the river came:

Q spades. There are now 4 spades and I don't have a spade. Standard.

I flip over my K J and he shows Q Q and hit a 2 outer. Standard.

I am now down $900 for the last 24 hours which almost cashes me out. I think I will take one more shot tomorrow but after that I have to pay the rent and don't know if I will be able to play anymore. The pizza kitchen better come through next week because if it doesn't I'm going to be fucked.

After winning three in a row, I have now lost 3 in a row. Of course thats obviously justice. I use to find poker to be a really easy game but as I learn more and see more hands, the game only becomes more and more difficult for me.

Here is my standard break-even graph.

A really disappointing session

At around 9:30 this morning my phone started ringing. I did not know that it was only 9:30, but I refuse to ever get up out of bed for a phone call. I'm sure that makes me a complete asshole but I would rather get my sleep then talk to anybody. I let it ring out and knew that if they left a message that it would be important enough for a call-back. I have two other phone calls to return but I have been very lazy and have been delighting myself in my own isolation and have not cared for other human contact lately. I know, I'm a fucking weirdo but I can't change my wiring.

I woke up at about noon and listened to the message that had been left 3 hours earlier. The person on the other end of the line completely surprised the shit out of me. It was the Pizza Kitchen trying to schedule an interview.

I went on the interview a couple hours later and it looks like I am finally going to get a job. I am very relieved because I am tired of destroying my bankroll every month to pay bills.

I went to Commerce earlier this evening in an extremely good mood. My job prospects are finally looking on the up-side and I would be going for my 4th straight winning session. Something which has not happened in a very long time. I was going for several personal bests as well tonight.

A win of $200 would get me the following:
1. $9000+ profit in the $3/$5 game at Commerce.
2. $18,000+ in overall profit for live cash games.
3. $2000+ profit for the month of March.

When I got to my table, I had a choice between two seats. Seat 5 was just screaming "I'm a fish, please sit to my left." I took the seat to his left and I could not be more right about the way this guy played.

The very first hand I was dealt I found J J. I made it $25 to go in the CO. The flop came A Q x w/2 spades and there was no way that I was even going to bother bluffing at it. I saw a free turn and folded to a bet and a call.

That was the last decent hand I would get for over an hour.

About 70 minutes in and a stack of only $105 I found 10 10 and made it $35 to go.

I got one caller from a loose player and the flop came

A J x

I put it all in because I felt the only thing my opponent could call me with was a big Ace and he had only limped in the pot so the chances of him having a hand like 7 8 suited were much great then an A Q or A 10 type of hand. I was right and he folded and I won my first pot of the session.

I still got nothing to play with and missed every board when I finally found A K two hours into the session. There were 4 limpers including the big sucker on the table who was calling every all-in with any two cards and doubling everyone up. I put it all in for $85 and I got called by 8 8 and 10 10.

I won the coin-flip when I spiked a K on the turn and just like that I had $270 in front of me.

Unfortunately that would be the last pot that I would win outright for the rest of the night.

The other two hands that I went to showdown with were a top pair of queens but the guy that I was up against caught runner-runner and we ended up chopping it since our kickers didn't play.

The other hand was brutal.

I raised to $25 with 10 10 again and got several callers. The flop came

2 3 4 with 2 clubs.

I put it all in and got called by the big fish.

Turn A

River 5

He showed 9 9 and once again we chopped.

Yeah, I was pissed.

Tonight was probably one of the worst nights I ever had in terms of getting a cold deck.

I won 2 hands in 3.5 hours. I chopped two others and only twice the entire night I flopped a top pair. I lost one after getting outdrawn by a gut-shot straight where I lost the minimum and the other was the queens hand where I chopped.

I am really disappointed that I couldn't make it 4 in a row and its really upsetting that I never even really got a chance to play since I spent the entire session folding one hand after another. Something that has been way to common as of late. Hopefully tomorrow will serve me better.

Winning feels so damn good.

Winning 3 sessions consecutively has been an absolute rarity in the last few months. March has been a great month thus far because I have already had 3 opportunities to win 3 straight sessions. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to come through and get the win each time.

Tonight was my 4th chance to go for three in a row.

I started off not getting a whole lot to play with but got a chance to watch the table for a while. After about 30 hands or so I was still even and was actually contemplating a table change because there wasn't anybody on the table who looked beatable. Everyone seemed pretty solid and no one had done anything irrational.

I decided to stick it out as the table filled back up to 9 after being as low as 6. The table loosened up considerably and now it was a matter of catching a decent hand.

I picked up A 9 and raised to $25 in late position with only one limper hoping to only steal the blinds and antes and ended up getting called by the button. I whiffed the flop:

J 2 2

Since it was heads up and the board wasn't really that scary and I looked tight to the table, a continuation bet was mandatory.

The button who is a really strong player raises my $35 bet to $100. With nothing and a bet of $100 in front of me I had to fold immediately.

Just like that my stack was already down to $120 and I was quite discouraged as to how the night was turning out.

I went into playing super-tight mode hoping that I could catch a big hand. Something I use to never do.

It is amazing how quickly fortunes can change in this game.

I picked up J J and almost the whole table had limped and in I made it $30 to go in the SB. I expected 3 callers max but every player in the hand called the raise. I think we took the flop 7 handed if not 8 handed.

Because of my tight play I still had $80 behind and was not pot-committed so I would be able to fold to a bad flop.

The flop ended up being terrible.

Q 9 7 w/2 clubs.

I was first to act and couldn't push because I figured at least one player had at least a queen and my best case scenario is someone having a flush draw. I checked hoping to see a free card. Luckily everyone else checked and an unsuited Jack peeled off on the turn.

I now had the 2nd best possible hand since the only thing that was now beating me was K 10 and 8 10. Q Q isn't out there since there was no bet on the flop. I pushed all-in and the guy sitting right next to me called. I was pretty happy because he had been playing extremely loose and I figured he was drawing very thin. No one else called and my Jacks beat his top pair.

I went from a stack of $110 to $359 in just one shot. I picked up a couple small pots here and there and grew my stack to a little over $400. I then picked up another big hand. I found J 10 of diamonds and only limped hoping to see a cheap flop. I hit the flop huge.

3 7 8 w/ 2 diamonds

A player in front of me bet out $20 and I just called hoping to hit a flush or straight just one time. Turn

7 diamonds.

A great card but a little scary at the same time since a hand like 7 8 is very possible.

The bettor checks and I make it $35 to go.

He raises me to $100 and I figure he has a dry 7 and is drawing to a full house.

I called and a black queen came on the river.

He checked and there was enough money in the pot and I just wanted to show it down since the only hand that is calling me on the river is probably beating me.

He showed the 7 and mucked. I was up to $540 and was feeling really good about taking down my third session in a row.

I ended up leaving after a little under 2 hours and left with a profit of $304.

I really hate to say it but this whole playing tight thing is working and it looks like this I am going to keep this up for a while. I hated leaving early again since a really big night is possible but my bankroll is too small to risk it at this point but it is nice to have some cash again.

I am now up to $1787 in profit for the month of March which is the highest I have been up since November. I have won 3 in a row and 9 of 12.

I feel really good about the way things are going and look forward to making it 4 in a row tomorrow. I feel really good about the way I have played. I really haven't made any mistakes and have seen multiple spots where I would have gotten myself in trouble a few weeks ago. I have been very good about the hands I have played and the way I have been able to control the pots and have kept myself out of dangerous situations. Combine that with the fact that my hands are starting to hold up now. That is probably what feels the best.

Winning consistently in a tough game.

I have played 296.5 hours in the $3/$5 NL $200 max buy-in game at the Commerce and I have come to a conclusion. It is a really tough game. Now, anyone who has actually sat down and played in this game will think I am crazy for that assertion. But the truth is, this game is a lot tougher then I use to think. It's not because of the people who play in it but for the way that the game is designed.

1. In a game with a BB of $5 you should be allowed to buy in for a max of $500. Why? Any game you sit down in, you should be allowed to buy in for 100 BB's. If you sit down in any game in Las Vegas, this is how it's going to be. In Vegas, when you sit down at a $200 max buy-in game the blinds are going to be $1/$2. The game at Commerce is a short-stackers game and it forces you to play a little tighter and with a little more discipline. As a result, there is a certain way that you should play this game.

For a very long time, I was playing my loose style but it does not work when you are only buying in for $200. If you miss a couple flops, you are going to be short-stacked very quickly. A bad beat here and there and suddenly you are playing from behind. It has taken me a while, but I have finally found a somewhat optimal way of playing this game. Table selection is critical and hand selection is even more important. I hate to say it, but you need to play tight when you are first sitting down. You probably should not open your game up at all until you have at least $400 in front of you. Although, I haven't played nearly as much, my results are starting to improve as a result of my better hand selection.

2. This one is an even more important factor then the last one. The rake. The rake at Commerce is terrible. For a $200 game they rake $6 per pot. $5 for the house and another $1 for the jackpot drop. Lately I have been very observant of stack sizes and I have noticed that there are very few people beating this game. Every table I sit at, there are a few stacks under $200 and the stacks that are over $200 are usually in for more then the minimum. The last few tables I have sat on, there have only been an average of 2 players actually beating the game. This alone has made me realize how hard it really is to beat this game on a regular basis.

I am proud to say that in my 296.5 hours of play I am up $8653.00. I am only now starting to realize the significance of that number.

My most recent session went well and I was able to make a nice hit and run.

On only the second hand, I was dealt K K and I feel I played it to perfection. There were several limpers and I made it $30 to go in the SB. Unfortunately all 3 limpers called. Prior to the flop, I checked in the dark ala Phil Hellmuth and the flop came

J 2 3 rainbow.

The first player to act made it $100 to go and the others folded. I hate having to do it on only my second hand but I put the rest of it in and he called and showed A J. I held up and more then doubled up.

A few hands later I found A A in the BB and 3 bet to $100. Everyone folded and I picked up another $50 in profit.

I left an hour later with a profit of $276 and am now up just shy of $1500 for the month.

Although, I have run much better more recently, I still credit my hand selection for my success. I am not playing as many of my stupid hands and I generally have more chips to play with when dealt a real hand.

Patience Prevails

I am finally better. I would say I am between 90-95%. The only problem I still have is that I have a recurring cough which is quite annoying. The doctor told me that I would have a cough for a week after I got better so hopefully thats as long as it lasts. Although I have been extremely tempted, I have been able to lay off the smoke and I am very proud of that. I don't plan on smoking again until I am sure that I am completely healthy.

I have since put in 4 sessions at Commerce over the last 4 days. My sessions have gone as follows: +$287, +$117, -$200, and +$335.

I really don't remember much about the first session but I remember one of my last hands, I came up $100 when I was dealt A A and got all-in with a short stack who had A J. I held up and left not long after.

The next 3 sessions have been incredibly interesting. For one, I have given bad beats in each of the last 3 sessions. I know. Unbelievable. Right?

In the session where I came up $117, I was dealt no cards the entire session and I was down to my last $110 or so. I was playing on one of those crazy gambler tables where almost every hand is an all-in. For some reason I always lose when I play on these tables when in reality these should be my most profitable tables. Like most of the times I get seated at one of these tables I could not find a playable hand.

I found A K and pushed all-in for $110. I got called by two players who were playing crazy the entire time. The flop came Q high and on the river I hit my Ace. One of the players showed K Q and the other showed 8 7. Even though I got sucked out on the flop I finally hit the standard 3 outer on the river and I tripled up. In the next 15 minutes after that hand, all of the wild loose players got up from the table and since the action was dead I decided to leave with a very small win.

The next session which was my only loss of the 4 was similar to the last one. I was dealt no cards and got all-in once again with an A K with a stack of $80. I hit an A on the river and I cracked pocket kings. Another 3 outer. Unbelievable. The last hand of the session I tried sucking out on the worst player on the table but as usual I can't hit a flush to save my life. The worst player on the table raised to $20 and I along with several others called with an A 8 of diamonds. I flopped the nut flush draw and got all-in with the suckers pocket 10's. I couldn't suck out in the $400 and I took a loss.

Today's session was like the others. I got no cards. Unlike the other 3, I stuck it out for 4.5 hours which is the longest session I have had for the entire month of March. I kept my discipline up and waited for my spots. I finally won a good hand when my pocket kings held up against some random hand and I was up to $400. I finally started getting cards but every time I would raise pre-flop I would get the worst flop possible and would face resistance. Within an hour I was already back down to my original $200 starting stack. My second big hand of the session came when UTG raised to $20. I was pretty sure he was really strong but everyone else called and I had K Q of diamonds which looked like pocket aces considering all the crap I've been getting for the whole week. The board came 8 high and I flopped a flush draw and UTG went all-in for $129. I put the rest of my stack in for about $150 and the biggest stack also called my all-in. There was one more player to act and he mucked two diamonds face up. Great.

On the turn I hit my queen and that was all I needed and I scooped the $500+ pot. UTG showed J J and was complaining about how terrible my call was. He can say whatever he wants but I am a 54% favorite on that flop. I attribute my most recent win to my patience. It was unbelievably hard to sit for 4.5 hours and fold almost every hand. I have been picking my spots very well lately and have been doing a very good job of avoiding marginal situations. If I can actually start hitting some straights and flushes I will be in much better shape.

As of right now, I am up $1207 in 25 hours of play. That adds up to $48.22 per hour which is by far my best hourly rate since November. Hopefully things continue this way.

The shittiest week ever

I do not know exactly what happened. I was sick last Saturday and then on Sunday, I felt much better. I was probably around 85% but thats good enough for me to do my usual shit. I woke up on Monday and felt far worse then I did on Saturday. I am not sure if I was sick twice, had a relapse, or if it's all just been one sickness with Sunday being somewhat of a dormant day. Either way, when I woke up on Monday it was the worst I have ever felt. Like Saturday, once again I was completely out of commission and had to let another day go completely to waste.

When I woke up Tuesday, I think I may have actually felt worse and I went to the doctor. The doctor told me I had the flu. It turns out that I have never had the flu before. I have only had the stomach flu which is not the influenza virus as we all know it but instead it is just a stomach virus. All I can say about having the flu is that I hope I never have to deal with this again. I have never felt worse or been more sick in my entire life then I have been this week.

I am still sick and I am waiting to get over this. When I went to the doctor I was given 3 more medications to take. I started taking them and I started feeling better. Of course one of the medications had to have a brutal side effect. The cough syrup I was taking was making it impossible to urinate although I would still have the urge to go. As you can imagine, as soon as I found out which medicine was the culprit I stopped taking it.

Over the last week, I have barely eaten, had a horrible cough, a sore throat, body aches, headaches, and at times haven't been able to take a piss. Some of the things that have come out of my body in the last week have been downright scary. On Wednesday I slept for 17 hours.

I have wasted yet another week of my life which I have done so many times over the last year or two. I feel so much of my young life getting away from me and if something good doesn't start happening soon I feel that I will wake up tomorrow and I will be 30 and will have pissed everything away.

I am almost where I want to be health wise and not doing anything everyday is starting to kill me. Depending on how I am feeling tomorrow, I will try to make it out to Commerce because I am tired of skating so thin financially. It's time for me to get things back on track. I have to be careful about the decisions I make with my health because I fear a possible relapse.

Out of commssion

I learned something very important over the last couple days. For the last few months I have been battling a sinus infection. Sometimes it gets worse and sometimes it gets better. I have good days and bad. For the last 6 weeks or so I have been on medication and its safe to say that my condition has gotten better. One of the main things the doctor told me was to lay off the weed. I have laid off considerably but not entirely.

There was a time when I use to smoke everyday multiple times a day and had plenty of days where I was literally high all day. I'm not going to lie, I really miss those days. With that said, I have cut it all the way down to smoking maybe 7-8 times per month. The doctor tells me that smoking can only aggravate my condition. Well, after what took place over the last couple of days I have decided that I will never smoke again until I am completely better. On one hand, this should be really easy because the thought of smoking really repulses me right now. On the other hand, this is easily going to be one of the most challenging things I have ever faced in my life. Not smoking is the easy part, but being able to turn it down every time it is offered is going to be nearly impossible. I really have no choice though. I have to do this even if it kills me.

My understanding is that my immune system is compromised right now and it is easier to get sick and when I do get sick it could quickly get really bad. I got sick over the weekend and for just having a cold it was the worst I ever felt for something so minor. I do not know how I got sick, but it is probably from a combination of things. I don't think the weed alone got me sick because I have been smoking and haven't gotten sick.

The other night when I was at Commerce, I left my session early with a nice come-up and went over to my friends to go blaze. My friend lives in this crazy house with 5 other guys. I don't know the other guys and have only met them on a couple of other occasions. What I do know though, is that there are a lot of drugs in that house. Some of the guys that I was with that night did not look to good. They looked like they had been doing it really hard for a really long time. A couple of them shared the joint with me and I think one of them was sick.

I think it's also a matter of lifestyle to some extent. That night I didn't go to bed until 5 am. I laid in bed for an hour or so before falling asleep and then woke up at 2 pm to start my day. I got really bad sleep that whole night. With the damn dogs next door barking and other things going on outside I probably never got more then 2 hours of consecutive sleep although I probably slept for a total of 6-7 hours altogether. I woke up and felt like I wanted to die.

For the entire day of Saturday I was completely out of commission and just for a little cold. I had a headache that was a little more intense then what I am use to which lasted all day. My throat was really sore and I was coughing up a lot of shit. Not only that but my whole body was extremely sore. It hurt to just move around. I ended up spending the whole day on my couch. Even more disappointing than that, I ended up missing Saturday at Commerce which is my most profitable day.

I did something that I find to be completely irrational but I had to know. In the middle of my awful day I ended up smoking. I just wanted to see how I would react to it. I more or less wanted to see if smoking was the culprit for my problem or if it was the result of something else. To my surprise and delight smoking went rather well. I got a nice high and my aches and pains went away for a good several hours. Even with that said, I am still not going to smoke anymore until I am better.

I ended up going to bed at midnight that night only 10 hours after waking up for the day and got much better sleep.

When I woke up the next day I would say I was at about 80%. I still felt crappy and the headache was all but gone. As of right now I feel a millions times better although my throat is still really sore and I am still coughing up a lot of shit.

I went to Commerce in the early evening and had a bizarre session. It was practically identical to my last session of 2007. All in all, I am really proud of the way I played. There were two times where I could have lost a lot of money and didn't. I definitely feel I am playing more controlled poker. That or I am turning into a huge nit.

I posted about 4 hands before my BB. On my first BB I took my first bad beat of the night. These bullshit BB and SB hands are really starting to kill me. When looking at some of my recent losses, I only lost because of some chicken shit hand in the BB that I wouldn't have played otherwise.

I was dealt 6 3 off and took a flop in an unraised pot.

Flop 6 5 3.

I bet $20 and there are 2 callers.

Turn: K

I am first to act and check too see what the other guys do and try to get a feel for where they are at. The second guy to act bets out $50. The button folds and I think about it for a minute. There is really no logical hand that I can put him on that I am beating. The only things I can see him having are a flopped straight or a set. I also can't imagine the K helped him at all since he called the flop. The only hand I can see myself beating is 9 9 which actually makes sense considering the way the hand has played out. This is one of the hands where I am proud of myself because I wanted to just shove really bad and I didn't.

River 4. Standard.

We both check and he flips over K 6. Really? How come I almost never hit those 3 outers yet they happen to me constantly?

About 12 hands later I go on to take my second bad beat and once again only lost the minimum. I was really proud about the way this hand went down because I could have easily gone crazy and lost a lot more.

I limped the CO with Q 10 and only had about $100 behind.

Flop: 10 9 7 2 spades.

It checks to me and I have position. I decided to check because I know that any bet I make is getting called and there is too much that is going to beat me on the turn.

Turn J off

There is a bet of $15 and it gets called several ways including myself.

River 7

Checks all the way around. 3 players show a J and one of them has J 8 for the straight. Standard. The guy with J 8 was unaware that he had flopped the straight.

I am now down to about $80.

Another round goes by and I look down at K K. There is one limper and I raise to $25 and win the $12 pot.

THE VERY NEXT HAND, I look down at K K again and I open the pot with a $20 raise. Everyone folds and I win the $7 pot.

About 15 minutes later I am in the SB and the button is the only limper and I look down at QQ. I push all-in for about $70 and win the $10 pot.

I keep folding every hand and push all-in after several limpers when I find an A Q. Nobody calls and I am up to $90 which is the most I have had since the Q 10 debacle.

A few hands later and my last hand, I look down and find A A. I raise to $20 and get two callers. I get the worst flop possible. 9 10 J w 2 clubs.

The first guy checks and I go all-in. The other 2 guys end up going nuts and it quickly turns into a $1500 pot. The winner flipped over Q 8 clubs for a flopped straight and I don't know what the other guy had.

That was a pretty lame session for so many reasons. Oh, it lasted exactly one hour.

Tomorrow I am putting $400 of the original $600 back in the bank. That leaves me with 3 buy-ins to play with. I am only playing 1 buy-in per trip so I should be fine so long as I don't lose 3 trips in a row. Then again, I've done worse.

This is what it feels like to hold up

I ended up playing after going out to the bars. My session started at 3:00 in the morning. It was scheduled as a hit n' run. Within 10 minutes of the session I got all in with A Q vs A 8 on an A A 6 7 5 board. I was quickly up to $400. I kind of wanted to leave since I had already gotten what I wanted, but I talked myself into playing longer. Huge mistake. I definitely regret not leaving. A few minutes later I made a stupid play with A K. It's probably only the first or second play I have made the entire time that I have been playing since I started this week and it blew up in my face.

I then got unlucky against the guy who I coolered earlier with the A Q. In the hour I played, I was dealt A K three times. The second time I raised to $25 and won the pot on the flop with a bet when I hit my A. I was dealt it again the very next hand and didn't want to raise it and I was in early position. I really didn't think I would flop it back to back. The pot went un-raised and the flop came K Q x.

I bet $20 and got raised to $60 by the guy who I had coolered. He was this macho douchebag type so I knew he was after me. The best hand I could possibly give him credit for was K J. The other hand I have him on is a possible spade flush draw since there are 2 spades on board. I had a decision to make. I could re-pop him all-in for $200 or I can just smooth call and see if a safe card falls. I decide to just call since I really want to see the next card plus I have a really big fear right now of being snap-called if I go all-in and only have top-top.

The turn is an off-suit 7 and I check to him and he bets enough to put me all-in. I feel really good about where I'm at and I call. The river blanks with some card that makes possible for a really weird straight. And he shows K 7 and I'm out. I went home and looked it up on the cardplayer calculator and I am an 87.58% favorite to win the hand on the flop. I got in that exact situation twice and won one and lost one. Coinflip.

I was very unhappy with the way I played and was even more upset that I could have left when I was up $200.

I went back earlier tonight and my session clocked in at 8:45. The room was packed and there is nothing sweeter then the Commerce main room on a Friday night. Most of my total winnings come on weekend nights so this a great chance to have a good come-up. At this point, I'm only up $319 for the month of March and cannot afford to have another break-even month. To make matters worse I have run better in the last week then I have in forever. One bad hand tonight and I will be back to almost even. That would be absolutely devastating at this point. I would still be even which isn't terrible but I really need a winning month right now.

10 minutes into my session I got a phone call from a friend and took it outside. In the 10 minutes I sat down there was a guy just dumping money to the table. In the 10 minutes before I got up, he dropped about $1000. He was limping 8 of 10 pots and was connecting with draws every 4 times or so. He would play every draw all the way to the river for his whole stack and missed every single one. His reactions were hilarious. He would get visibly angry and make all kinds of noise when his draws missed. This is a great guy to play with since he can't hit shit.

I'm dying to play a pot with him but am terrified at the same time. This guy is going to get lucky eventually and it will probably be against me. About 5 minutes after I came back I picked up A J and popped it to $25. This was my first raise of the night.

The old man who is missing everything calls along with an Armenian sucker.

Flop J 8 5 w/two spades.

I bet $75 and the old man calls me immediately. I have him right where I want him. Poker please be good to me. The Armenian sucker also calls and I figure that I am probably good against him as well.

Turn: 3 off

What a great turn. All draws have missed and I can big bet the turn. I put it all-in for $100.

The old man looks down at his cards and puts the rest of his stack which is about $80. The Armenian sucker puts in his last $45 or so.

River 2 off.

I show my top top and the Armenian sucker shows 10 10.

The old man freaks out and mucks 2 4 of spades. I scoop the almost $550 pot and I take one of old man's white chips that he continually keeps having to pull out of his pocket.

Not long after I win a $100 with pocket Aces.

I call a few raises and missed and had some hands that hit really hard but I didn't limp them.

I was looking down at how I had already made back the $200 from last night plus almost another whole buyin. I'm stoked and decide to hit and run so I call my friend back up and I head over to his place to blaze. It's a nice come up of $361.

I then go get a drink with another friend and made it back to Commerce for round 2.

Round 2 was pretty sweet as well.

I got caught in another scary dangerous hand when I found Q Q.

It was 1:00 am when I first sat down and my table was full of a bunch of young guys who were all wasted. The one old guy was a rock/shark.

I raised to $25 and got 4 callers.

Flop

J 10 8 all hearts.

Both my queens were red and I made it $75 to go.

I got called by one of the donks who happened to be hitting everything. I also got called by another one of the young guys except he had been generally tight.

Turn black 3

I was a little nervous about having two callers as I know that these guys are both drawing. I have no idea how good there draw is in relation to mine. I know I have the best made hand at this point so I put the rest of it in which was another $75 or so.

River black 3

I show my queens and both players shake there heads. The tighter player had the lone A of hearts and mucked. The fish had A 9 with no heart and was trying to hit my Q.

I tripled up and had over $500 in my stack.

This could have been the stuff of legend but the very next hand I folded 2 2 in early position to a $150 pre-flop raise. It was called 3 ways. The flop in the hand came down J 10 2 and a guy who had me covered went all-in on the flop. Both players mucked. What could have possibly been.

Later on I lost the minimum when I had tens against kings against the same fish.

I ended up leaving only 45 minutes after I sat down with a rack of $388.

For the day I made $549 and am now up $868 for the month. I am going to keep playing small-ball for as long I have the patience for. At this point it is really nice to be building up a little bit of a bankroll.

The two wins today put me at 5-3 for the month and I have won 4 out of my last 5 and will be going for 3 in a row tomorrow. I hope I play out of my mind and keep catching cards as this could be the start of nice little upswing.

Here is my graph for the last week.

Dealt pocket Aces 4 times.

I have had a good week. Things are slowly starting to pick up for me which is quite relieving because I feel like I have been in a stalemate for the last 6 months.

I had the second round of interviews at the California Pizza Kitchen and I would say that it went quite well. Unfortunately, it turns out there are 4 rounds of interviews and I have to see if I get called tomorrow to go in for another round. I really do not know what to think at this point. I am not sure of how much clout my friend has in getting me this job. I am sure that he is doing everything in his power to get me in the door of this place.

I got to Commerce pretty close to the same time that I got there yesterday and was in dire need of a win. I really was not concerned with doing the whole 200-400-600 thing. I just wanted to make a couple hundred bucks and have a little more breathing room.

This whole variance thing is truly amazing. I went about 2500 hands or so without seeing pocket Aces once and I have since been dealt Aces 4 times in the last 300 hands or so. Luckily I have won the last 4 times and have not flopped a set with them so I can smell a really big pot in the future.

My session started the way they always do. Completely card-dead. The same completely unplayable hands over and over again. The few semi-playable hands I was dealt and some that never even made it to the flop never hit. I had a very tight image which I don't generally care for because it is hard to get action when you have a tight image but I guess it is better then getting called down to the river every time I am involved in a hand.

My first decent hand I managed to find was pocket Aces. It was about an hour into the session and I had not raised a single pot to this point which is really bad. I know the chances of me getting any action are pretty slim. I raised to $25 and got called by two really loose players. The flop came out K Q x which is about the last flop I wanted to see. I bet about $70 which was pretty close to the rest of my stack. I really didn't care. The way things have gone I really don't care if someone goes all in because I am going to call off my last $50. Luckily one guy said he had 10's and they both mucked. That put me back to even.

My next big hand came about 45 minutes later. I was dealt pocket Aces again. I was literally shitting all over myself. I could not believe my good fortune. I raised to $25 and got several callers. The board was all rags and I bet out $100 because I didn't want anybody to have a cheap draw to the flush that was on board. The very next player to act put it all in for about $180 and I obviously called. He showed down 10's and I held up for a change. I was sitting on about $420 and felt really good about how things were going at this point.

THE VERY NEXT HAND. Has anyone noticed a trend here how the very next hand something always goes down? I pick up 4 4 in early position and limp. The pot goes unraised and the flop comes down as such.

J 5 4. w/2 spades

BOOM! I hit my set. It feels good to go on a nice little heater.

The first player to act leads out for $25.

I make it $75 and he is the only caller.

Turn K spades. Standard.

He immediately announces all-in and has $700 behind which obviously has me covered. I had to do a double take because I was quite surprised that he went all-in especially for that much. I spend a good couple minutes thinking about it and here is the logic that I came up with.

He obviously doesn't have a big flush. If he did, he would let me hang myself.

K J is a huge possibility and one of the hands that I am leaning toward.

set of 5's. Maybe, but I highly doubt it.

Small flush and wants to protect his hand from a 4th spade peeling off. I put this up there with K J.

I start talking to him and asking him all kinds of questions. Looking back, I now realize that he wanted me to fold which makes a small flush or K J all the more likely. He kept telling me that I was dead and that I had no chance. He then calls out my hand and tells me to muck it. Calling out my hand was enough for me and I mucked it and he flipped over K J. I'm really curious what happens if I call there. Do I lose another all-in where I'm a 90% favorite or do I actually double up to $850?
I will never know and I am not really too upset about the hand because I feel that I learned a lot from that hand. If I am ever in such a situation again I will have a much easier time calling. I also forgot to mention that the guy was running hot and hitting everything and had hit several flushes so it was a lot easier to give him credit for a big hand. Plus, I am the king at not hitting the river so if I was behind I didn't think I was going to hit my re-draw.

A few hands later I got sucked out on when I hit second pair on the flop and took it all the way to the river. I was right that I was ahead but of course the turn and river had to come club club putting 4 clubs out there and my opponents weaker kicker was a club of course. I was now down to $250 and was pretty pissed off.

About 10 minutes later, I played another big hand. I limped A K UTG and a new player made it $25 to go. The same guy who had just sucked out on me also calls.

I re-raised to $100 figuring that both players would just fold. The initial raiser folds and our fish goes all-in. Can you smell BS? The all in was another $120 or so to call and of course I call. I hit the K on river and I scooped. I have no idea what he had since he mucked but he bitched about his luck. Whatever, I had that one coming to me. It turns out that the top pair on the flop was a J and the initial raiser folded J J.

I hit one last little heater of a hand but of course it had to come against a guy who only had a $100 behind. It was a massive cooler, one that I haven't given to anybody in a really long time.

I limped the button with 10 7 and the flop came down

7 7 6 w/ 2 hearts.

Some idiot bet out $5 and I raised to $15 and this other guy called.

The river was my gin card. The 10 of hearts.

We ended up all-in and my opponent didn't hit his one outer for the straight flush.

I ended up leaving about an hour later with a stack of $513 which was a come up of $313.

I left Commerce really excited and looking forward to my next session.

I went home, took care of a few things and took a jog around the neighborhood. During my run, I decided to go back even though it was midnight and see if I could pull off a hit and run.

I sat down in my game at 12:30 and was amped to play.

The players on my table were horrible and I was expecting a good come-up.

Within an hour I was down to $100 and hadn't won more a pot worth $12.

There was this idiot who was playing every hand and running hot and ended up leaving with a big stack. I took his seat and the seat change was absolutely clutch.

About 10 minutes into the seat change I picked up pocket Aces again and got all-in pre-flop against QQ and actually held up again. My stack was up to $220. That guy got up and left and a new player came to the table. He sat next to his friend who was also at my table and he was talking about how he had just dropped $6000 playing $10/$20 and was on tilt. Hit tilt came to my advantage. He and I played against each other one time and I called his $20 raise with A Q.

The flop came down A A 6 and he bet out $35. I called.

The turn was an 8 and he bet out $50. I called.

The river was a 7 and he went all in for about $120 and I obviously called and he says "you win."

That was nice.

I left 20 minutes later with a stack of $405 which was a come up of $205.

I am now up $519 for the month which is a big deal because for the last month or so I have not had more then $10 in cash on me and have been living off my credit card. I have been putting off a lot of things because I haven't had the money and today was a really good day. I spent the whole day running errands and it felt good to get all kinds of things done with my free money. I went grocery shopping. I went to the DMV, I went to City Hall to get my parking permit for the year and I filled up my car with gas.

It's not looking like I am going to make it out tonight because I have some friends who want to go out and get shit-faced so I will be joining them. I may play afterward but I am not counting on it.

The second shot: Actually did well for a change.

Earlier today I went on my job interview at the California Pizza Kitchen with my friend Hale. There were about 10 people there for the group interview and most of them seemed half-retarded. Even if the interview wasn't rigged for me I think I would have taken it down anyway considering my abysmal competition. We were all told that we would be called in 24 hours for a second interview. Hale called me only a couple hours later and told me to come in tomorrow at 4:00 in the afternoon for the next round of interviews. I really don't know what to expect but things are slowly starting to look up.

I got to Commerce at 7:15 and was prepared for a potential all nighter.

As I said things went well but the end did not justify the means.

The following happened in my nearly 5 hour session tonight.

1. I saw all the big pocket pairs tonight. I can't remember the last time I've seen any of them. That was really nice.

2. I didn't take a single bad beat. Unbelievable! I probably will not accomplish such a feat for another 3 months.

3. I took the standard cooler which fucked me for the night.

I sat down in the $200 and immediately I was getting nothing to play with. It's probably been close to 20 sessions in a row where the vast majority of my hands are completely unplayable. 9 2, 10 3, K 4, J 2. Those are the hands that I have been getting every night that I have been playing for weeks.

I have been playing really tight as of late, but I keep getting involved in the same types of marginal situations that are impossible to avoid that end up fucking me.

About 20 hands in, I picked up my first legitimate hand. 7 7.

There was a raise to $20 which I called, and a really wild player who had been caught bluffing a couple times made it $40 to go. The original raiser called and it was now another $20 for me to see a $120 pot. I could not have been more displeased because never under any circumstances would I put $40 in pre-flop with 7 7 in a $3-$5 NL game. I obviously called and missed the flop. It checked around on the flop and our bluffer went on all-in when a 2 peeled off on the turn. The original raiser folded and I had a decision to make. There was a Jack on the flop and the only other hands that could possibly beat me were a higher pocket pair. The way the hand was played did not go along with our bluffers bluffing tendencies and I actually gave him credit for a bigger hand then what I had. I mucked and after only playing one hand and folding the rest my stack was already down to $140.

A few more rounds went by and I won a couple of really small pots here and there and kept my stack at around the $140-$150 range. In that time I picked up QQ for the first time in forever and won $12.

I picked up KK and was shocked to see that I had now gotten two big pocket pairs in a 30 minute period. I raised and got two callers. The board came 8 high with a potential straight out there. I bet out $80 which was close to the rest of my stack. A really aggressive player put me all in and another short stack called. Shocking. I stood up accepting my fate and figured I had been cracked once again. To my good fortune the turn was a K and the river paired the board giving me the nut full house. I don't know what the shortstack had but I did not need to improve since the other guy had QQ. My stack was now up to $400.

A few hands later I picked up QQ and raised to $25 and got two callers from very loose aggressive types. I flopped top set and won the pot with a bet on the flop.

I then picked up KQ in the BB and flopped the nut straight in an un-raised pot. Flop: 9 10 J rainbow.

I almost didn't know how to play it since I am not use to getting this lucky. I checked the flop and a rainbow 4 came out. I checked once again and there was a bet of $20. I check-raised to $45 and he called. I knew that regardless of the river I was going to lay out a $50 value bet. The river of course was a Q which almost counterfeited my hand and I made the $50 bet and it got called and I scooped.

I won a few more pots and I left the $200 game with a stack of $594.

I pocketed the $194 and moved onto the second tier of my mission.

I bought into the $400.

I have to say. I was absolutely stoked for a couple reasons.

1. I was on a complete free-roll and no matter what happened I would be breaking even for the night.

2. It was so satisfying that I actually did well in the $200 and was able to step up to the next level of play.

It was a 10:00 at this point and this was probably going to be my last table unless something really extreme happened and I wanted to jump into the $600.

Playing in the $400 tonight was a really different experience. For one, it was a short-stacked table. Only two people had $1000 stacks and everyone else was shorter. Not only that, but it was a really soft table. The pre-flop action was much more passive then I am use to for a $5/$10 game. The first few pots I played were really nice. I don't know what anyone had obviously but everyone respected my bets. My first 4 preflop raises were not called and I kept winning $30-$40.

That allowed me to stay even for a while when my first big hand on the $400 came about.

I picked up 4 4 and limped in early position.

There was a raise to only $35 and I along with several others called. I actually flopped my 4 and the initial raiser went all in for like $275. I obviously called and my 4's held up.

I am now sitting on a stack of $750 which was all profit.

I was at a point where I was ready to go but I kept telling myself to not forget my goals and I decided to keep playing.

Then the big bad cooler happened. I obviously cannot go a night without a really bad hand happening.

I looked down at 8 6 in the BB and checked my option.

Flop 8 6 4 w/2 spades.

I checked and the button bet $25.

I checked raised to $75 and he called. I tried talking him into folding since he and I had been chatting most of the time that I had been at the table. I put him on a flush draw. He obviously called.

The turn was an unsuited Q and I fired out $200 expecting a quick muck. Instead he announced all-in and it was only $120 more to call.

I knew at this point that I was dead and since it was so little to call I had to. I wish we were both deeper because I would have had no problem folding my 2-pair. I called hoping that maybe one-time I would catch the elusive 4 outer and that poker would give me one back. Of course I missed the river and the button flipped over 5 7.
Standard.

I was now down to $310 and was quite disappointed.

Only 2 hands later I picked up A Q and raised to $50. The very next player to act made it $150 to go and I quickly folded my AQ face up and he showed QQ. I could already see the way the rest of the night was going to go. I already had my couple hours of running good which usually means that I am probably going to run bad until I lose the rest of my stack. Not a good attitude but I know how I run. My stack dwindled down to $200 and I realized that I was now completely even from when I pulled the original $600 out of the bank. I decided to play one more round hoping to see the hand that has eluded me for so long. AA.

With 2 hands left before my BB I looked down and saw two black aces. Finally! Maybe I can make most of it back on this hand. I decided to limp hoping for a raise but nobody did unfortunately. The flop was J high and luckily I was able to take it down on the flop with no resistance. That put my stack up to $207 and I got up and left.

I came up $201 for the session and am now up $1 in my two sessions for March.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better result.

Hopefully I can actually have two winning days in a row.

50 minutes of poker

Over the last 5-6 days I have had a really bad itch to play poker. I cannot remember the last time I had this much drive to play poker. I do not know why this is but the greater my itch becomes the more confident I feel in my abilities to come all the way back and then some.

It's not to say that I spend all day thinking about poker because that is not the case. I generally don't think about poker at all. I have random intervals throughout the day when poker is on my mind. It might be an hour at a time but during that hour the only thing that I can think of is poker. During these short intervals I think of my next plan of attack and almost fantasize if you can say about what I think is going to happen.

About 3 different times during the last 10 days I have come to the conclusion that I was going to go play. Each time I was unable to easily acquire funds with which to play with. I have had the funds to play for a while but it is money that I should not be using.

Whenever I start making money, I always start emergency funds. As of right now, I am down to my last 2 emergency funds. I have $600 sitting in my savings account and I have another $210 in loose change. Just earlier today I withdrew the $600. The last $200 is meant to go back in the bank to cover the $600 if I go on to lose it.

As degenerative as this may sound let me defend myself for a moment. The only reason why I pulled the $600 out of the bank is because today I secured an interview for a job. The person who is going to interview me tomorrow is none other then my friend Hale. It's a group interview and he has told me that the interivew has been fixed before it has even started. He can't really guarantee anything however he told me that he is going to get me in. He is a manager at a California Pizza Kitchen in Pasadena and he is going to get me a job waiting tables. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Not really if you ask me. I really don't want to wait tables however I am glad to be getting back into the restaurant industry and if I am going to have a boss, I may as well have it be a friend of mine who happens to be really easy going. He told me that when I get in, I will probably start within a week and we get paid during traning. I figure I will have a couple weeks to make money before anymore major bills are due in the event that I lose the $600.

Another reason why I chose today is because I feel myself getting back into the swing of things. For a long while, I was keeping a schedule that is not friendly with my lifestyle. This is partially due to the fact that I stayed with my parents for 6 weeks and the fact that I have had things to do in the morning since I have moved into my new place. Only for the last week or so I have had no real reason to wake up early in the morning. That is really nice. Even though I haven't played poker, I am starting to get back into my poker schedule. The current hours that I am starting to keep are ranging from 1:00 pm-4:00 am. This is by far my favorite sleep schedule to keep. If I get the job, that will probably change because I will probably be starting my shifts before 1:00 in the afternoon. Obviously I have a little time before we know if this is for sure or not.

Since my last poker session which took place at the very end of February, I have been plotting my new plan of attack. I am going to take 3 shots and whatever happens happens. I call it the $200-$400-$600 challenge. It's quite simple. Play the $200. Come up, buy into the $400, come up huge, and then take all the winnings and put it in the no max buyin game and let it ride. I have two goals in doing this. The first is I want to have my first ever $5000 day playing live poker which I think is very doable if things go my way for once. The second goal is to win over $7600 because that would be the most money I have made playing poker in one day.

Today I took my first of 3 shots and the same standard things happened.

We started a new $200 table and I was dealt pocket 5's on the very first hand. The guy to my right raised to $20 and I was the only caller. I didn't flop my set and it went check check on the flop and I folded on the turn to the raisers bet. I am down to $180. I get chipped away a little bit and am down to about $150-$155.

I pick up A 5 spades and limp the button after several other limpers. I don't like my limp but we are all playing short so seeing cheap flops is good at this point.

I flopped the nut flush draw and there is a $20 bet on the flop. Flop: 10 8 6

There is one call, I call, and there is one more caller. It would be really nice to hit this one this one time.

Turn J Flush misses.

The original bettor checks and this fish bets only $30. I wanted to call really bad but knew that if I called it would be a bad call since someone can check-raise big. I called hoping that no one would raise and luckily only got one more caller.

River. Q Flush misses.

Both players check and I have a decision to make. The only player that I am really worried about is the other guy who has been calling bets. I have played with him quite a bit and he is a good player. Not only that, but I have a terrible table image against him. I am not worried at all about the fish. Like I said it checked to me and I threw out a $75 bet. I think I had about $105 left but I thought $75 was a nice value bet and thought that an all-in was more likely to get called. The guy that I was worried about folds immediately and the fish thinks about it for a minute. The fish looks down at his cards and kind of chuckles under his breath and I now know he is going to fold. After deliberating for a minute he finally folds and I take a nice pot. After counting my chips I had exactly $300 in front of me and was right on target. I dropped about $50 or so and then flopped an Ace with a weak kicker on an A Q J board and took it down on the flop which brought me back up to $280. I then started getting a bunch of pocket pairs with the highest being 8 8. Every time I had a pocket pair there was a raise and I missed the flop each time. I saw the flop on each pocket pair except for one.

We are 50 minutes in and I still have not made a hand except for the one time I flopped an Ace.

I am down to $230 and picked up 9 10 of clubs in the BB and saw a flop in an unraised pot.

Flop 4 6 7 all clubs.

I have finally made a hand. I bet out $20 and I get one caller.

Turn 9 hearts.

I bet $60 and the guy who has me covered goes all in.

I can't imagine folding as there are more holdings that he can have that I am beating then are beating me. I obviously call off my last $140 and he shows J 3 of clubs. Standard.

This one was like most ever other session I play except I would say I played better then I usually have been. However I have had the same result each time. I never make a hand and the one time I do I lose all my money. Therein lies the problem. You can't ever fold in the $200 when you make a big hand. That's why I want to start playing in the uncapped game. If I had $1200 left and had a decision for all my chips I can see myself possibly laying that hand down. However with only $140 its pretty tough to fold a flopped 10 high flush.

I have my interview tomorrow and depending on how that goes I will take shot #2 tomorrow night. Since my big upswing of 3 wins in a row, I have lost 8 of my last 9 and have lost 6 straight. That is a $2000 downswing since my $1200 upswing.

I never ask to actually get lucky however picking up a couple hands and not getting extremely unlucky should not be a lot to ask for but it obviously is. I am still waiting for my first pocket Aces in over 50 hours.