Week 6: Playing way too much

I fell off the wagon. After about 58 days of sobriety, I was offered the other night while watching UFC 84 at a friends house and I decided not to turn it down. I smoked again the next day. It felt really damn good, but unfortunately my sobriety continues as I decided that I would only do it during the holiday weekend and I am sticking to it.

Anyway, back to poker.

During the last week, I played the most hands I have played in a week. There are two reasons for that.

1. More time put aside for playing.
2. I have started playing 6 tables regularly and as many as 8 at a time.

During the last week I played approximately 21K hands during the last week. After my big downswing over the last week, I proceeded to play 15K hands of break-even poker. I don't have to say it, it was absolutely brutal. From Monday-Wednesday my account did not shift more then $30 in one direction or the other even though I played about 8K hands.

Over the last couple of days things have turned around and I am back in the right direction.

Yesterday I was having one of my best days.

In my early day session, I built a stack up to $280. Unfortunately, that was the only table that I did really well on and I only made $35 for the session.

When I came back I built a stack to over $300 for the first time and was up $450 at one point for the day. I was debating when to call it quits since it was 3 in the morning but I couldn't bring myself to quit as I was enjoying my own degeneracy. The poker gods told me to quit when I took 3 huge coolers in about 2 minutes and dropped $180. I ended up finishing the day with a profit of $270 for the day.

This is where I sit after 6 weeks of online play. I am so damn proud of myself right now. I have my own fantasies and goals of where I want to be and it is actually happening.

Hands played for May: 50,249
Account Balance: $3,762.83
Rake-back: $864.60
Total: $4,627.43
Profit: $4,327.43

I am about to start my Monday session right now and since I will probably be playing all day, I am hoping to cross 5K for my total account. The rake will be getting paid on the 1st whenever that is.

I still really have no plans for moving up to NL100.

Week 5: Ballin outta control/Craziest weekend ever.

This was quite the week. In total I had 3 losing days including one day where I lost $300 and I still managed to come up $700. Not too shabby I must say. Even with that $300 loss, this may have been my best week.

So I started up today and I was immediately down $100. A guy who usually plays pretty tight took a couple of really nasty beats and randomly shoved an entire $50 stack one of his next hands and I woke up with QQ. Um I call, obviously. Of course I had to be his human sacrifice and he had AA. Prior to that I gave away another $50 stack on something that was entirely my fault. I managed to start doing well even with those two bad hands but then everything fell apart in one hand. I had a stack of $80 and raised with 8 8. I was 3-bet and there was a caller.

I called and it came out J 9 8.

Long story short, we got it all in on the flop for a $170 pot and he had a set of Jacks to my set of 8's and I lost the biggest pot I've played. Things completely fell apart as everyone started running ridiculously hot against me. I played for about 6 straight hours and during that time I didn't win a single pot of $100. However I couldn't tell you how many pots of that size I lost today and the dozens of $50-$60 pots I lost doubling up short-stacks who constantly out-flopped me and sucked out on me on the turn and river. I had a couple of intervals where I went about 30 pocket-pairs in a row without flopping a set.

From my highest point yesterday, I was at $3520 and at my lowest point today I was all the way down to $2950. Just a little shy of 12 buy-ins. Very nice downswing. It's only standard that it had to happen after my best day ever. It couldn't happen a week later. It had to happen the very next day.

I finished the session and went to dinner with a friend and called it quits with $3011 in my account.

After dinner I came back and had a much better session and salvaged a good chunk of the day and finished with $3137 in my account. It was nice to make back 4 of the buy-ins. Hopefully its the start of another upswing. The one thing that worries me is that I don't know how I am going to deal with these downswings when I start to play bigger limits. Days like today are the main reason why I have become such a bankroll nit.

Along with the $3137 I have about $518 in rake-back plus another $20 or so from the rest of today.

I have two new short-term goals.

I want to at least be taking shots at NL100 by June 1.

By the end of July, I want to have $10K total in my account.

Best day ever playing online cash.

Once again, today proved why the weekends are so much better then the weekdays. A lot of the weekday regulars were no where to be found and there were a lot people doing really stupid shit.

At my hight point, my account was all the way up to $3520 which is an 11+ buy-in upswing. I started running bad and made a really bad call in a $130 pot and ended up finishing the day at $3454.45 which is a nice 10 buy-in upswing. I have been waiting for a day like this since I came back into online poker and I finally got it.

Ironically enough, I kind of feel bad right now, because I am pretty upset about the last few hands that I played where I lost. But I know tomorrow when I come back on to play that I will be really happy to see where I am at.

I made a lot of sick calls and a few sick laydowns and probably played the best that I have played.

Including rake-back which should be around $480 my account in total is at $3930. Ballin.

50 days of sobriety

It was actually yesterday, but yesterday was 50 days since the last time I blazed.

I must say, this really fucking sucks because there is nothing that I want to do more then have a session. I swear, I think I spend more time thinking about wanting to smoke then I think about poker.

Anyone who goes through sobriety and says that they enjoy it is full of crap or hit absolute rock bottom.

I have a very addictive personality and generally have at least one addiction going on. Since I am not smoking right now, I have gone hardcore with playing poker but thats obviously a good thing.

Bankroll Update:
Hands Played 26,287
Bankroll $2962.14
Rakeback $445.09

I will probably put in another 4K hands before I make my next update so a lot will probably changing. Hopefully for the better.

I am about to start my session for Saturday right now.

Week 4: The first full month

It has been one month to the day since I started playing online poker. I actually never thought I would ever play online again so this is all pretty surprising for me. I must say and never thought I would say this, but online is so much better then live for so many reasons:

1. The ability to see more hands.
2. Rakeback
3. Bonuses.
4. Not getting killed by rake in a casino.
5. Not having to pay for gas/travel expenses.
6. Not having to be seen around a bunch of degens.
7. Getting to play in the comfort of your own home.

I must say that I am pretty damn proud of myself right now. I have already endured so much and have handled the adversity very well. In the last month, I ended up playing a total of 51K hands and had numerous upswings, 3 break-even stretches with the last one lasting for 15K hands, and one major downswing. The downswing is what I am most proud of because I took it completely in stride. I never allowed myself to tilt and never moved up to chase losses which is a mistake that a lot of people make. My downswing overall was 12.8 buyins which was the worst I have ever faced while playing poker. On May 2, my account had fallen all the way down to $1473 and I was quite nervous. I just finished up playing a short session and only 8 short days later I am sitting on $2420.

I am also proud of the fact that I was patient enough to play happy meal stakes aka NL20 and was able to do well enough to move up to the next level of play. I am also happy to report that I have been dominating the next level up as well so things are only looking upward.

It took me quite a while but I have finally figured out how to beat 50NL. The tactics that I used to exploit the players in NL20 do not work in NL50 and it took me quite a few bad calls just to see "what he had" to realize it. The difference between NL50 and NL20 is floating and bluffing. On NL50 the bluffing and floating is like nothing I have ever seen and it is very easy to exploit. Instead of playing LAG, I have taken a more ABC approach. I wait for my made hands to come and when they do, I usually bet the flop and slow down on the turn or river whereas I use to just fire barrel after barrel at NL20. When I show weakness, I end up making bets that I would never make otherwise. I cannot tell you how many times this exact situation has happened.

I get AK and raise to $1.75. I will get called by a very aggressive player who I know is easily exploitable.

Flop.

A K 8

I'll bet $3 and they'll call.

turn 7

I'll bet $7 and they'll call.

River

Blank. I'll check and they'll go POT! for like $19.

I'll call and they'll show 2 4o.

Those $19 bets that I am making are what are allowing my account to shoot up because I shouldn't be getting paid like that but these guys are all so hell bent on trying to outplay each other.

I haven't really developed any plans for taking shots at NL100 because I really want to beat this game for a while before I decide to move up.

With my account at $2420, I will also be receiving $282 in rake-back at the end of the month which puts me at $2700 overall which gives a profit of $2400 since I started.

Week 3: Moving up in Limits

On May 1, my rake-back was added to my account which put me up to $1971 which gave me a good enough bankroll to start playing the 50NL. My other reason was that I was getting fed up with the game selection on the 20NL. I still like to play 20NL but I thought it was time to step the action up a little bit.

Of course, like I said in the prior post I started off my 50NL career with a really bad downswing. At my peak I was at $2020 and at my low point I was down to $1473. Including the 2 buy-ins I dropped yesterday, my downswing hit 12.7 buy-ins which is by far the worst I have ever experienced. I think my prior worst downswing was 8 buy-ins playing live 200NL. My worst money downswing was $3000 over 8 sessions playing live playing in all different limits at a couple of casinos. With that said, I wasn't that affected since I have lost more money before but I was still really pissed. It was devastating watching my bankroll drop 25% in just one day.

Since then, I have been playing the swingiest poker I have probably ever played. For several days, I would be down $200, down $100, down $200, even, down $50 and my day would probably finish there. I also had a day where I was down $150 early on and finished up $200.

For the month of May, I have already played 8,955 hands and am now down only $67. My account currently sits at $1904. Since I am now playing bigger stakes my rake is going out of control. I have already almost matched last months rake-back total. As of right now, I have accumulated $150 of rake-back. That doesn't include the last few hundred hands I played so the total is actually more.

I really don't understand this game. There are several things that don't make sense. Why is it that when you are running bad, it all comes at once. I can play several thousand hands over a few hours and not endure a single bad beat. But then I can take 15 in about 300 hands. The same goes for running hot. I have literally been dealt Aces, Kings, or Queens 15 times in a 10 minute span. I really have never understood that part of the game. It's obviously something that can't be explained.

For example:

I had a really crazy up-swing on this one table I was playing on.

I had 4 tables open and my stacks were the following

$52
$62
$104
$155

At the time, I was down about $120 for the day.

In just a few hands the following happens on the table with $62.

Hand 1

I get dealt A K and there is a raise of $2.25 and one call. This is one of the few times that I didn't 3 bet A K and just took the flop. The board came 8 high and I had the nut flush draw. I check and there is a bet of $8. I check raise to $27 and he goes all-in. I call and he shows K K. I spike an Ace on the river and I scoop. I got really lucky there. It was the second time that day that I won a $100+ pot on the river against a huge over-pair.

My stack is up to $109

Hand 2

This is the very next hand and I get J J. I raise to $2.75 after several limpers and get two callers.

Flop: Q 2 2 with a flush draw.

I bet $6 and get called.

Turn 3 off

I bet $10 and get called.

The river is another small blank.

I'm out of position and don't really want to fire a 3rd barrel but know I have too because I know that he is shoving if I check. I make a very scared bet of only $15. He calls immediately and I know that I have lost the pot.

He mucks and I see that he called me with A 5 of clubs no pair and a busted flush draw. Wow. I am now up to about $140.

Hand 3

The same guy shoves all-in the very next hand for $36 and I have A K.

I call and he has J 6 hearts.

The flop comes A x x all hearts and he flops the flush. Standard.

Turn A

What a turn card. I now have 19 outs.

River: random heart and I have the King of hearts.

My stack is now up to $175. I get up to $190 only a couple minutes later and I end up leaving the table at $170 since there were several really good players that I didn't feel like playing with.

I made some money off the other tables and just like that I was up $50 for the day. I quit not long after and thats where I am as right now.

I have a few more days before I have logged in a full month.

I am happy to report that I have already completed all of my goals.

Goal 1.

Hands 30K: I currently have played about 45K hands.

Goal 2

Achieve $700 in bonuses and rake-back. I actually only have $650 altogether but thats free money.

Goal 3

Have $1500 in the account.

This can change but I currently have $1904 + $150 of rake-back.

I expect to have a really good week next week. I have spent the last several days and 10K hands getting my money back and I have. It is now time to start making profit again.

Worst Downswing Ever.

Yesterday, I logged into my account and discovered that I had been paid the $205 rake-back that I was owed for the month of April. I thought this would happen on May 10, but it looks like they pay at the start of the month. So my account was sitting at $1971 which meant I have about 40 buy-ins for $50. It was at this moment that I decided that it was time to move up full time to 50NL.

Of course what greeted me on my first day of playing a new limit was a massive downswing. So standard.

I played 3 different sessions yesterday.

The first session was in the afternoon which lasted a couple hours, I lost about $60. Whatever.

The second session lasted about an hour and I dropped another $70. Whatever.

When I didn't think things could go worse, I realized that I hadn't experienced anything.

On my 3rd session, the first big hand I lost I had raised with 2 2 and got called 5 ways and flopped my set. Someone else flopped a set of 6's. Go me.

The same guy on a different table got all-in with a short-stack with AQ against my AJ after I flopped my Ace.

Then about 2 minutes later, the same guy on another table got all in pre-flop against me once again with a short-stack when he had A A against my A K. We were in the blinds and everyone had folded to us. This guy runs insanely hot against me. Then everything completely unraveled and went to shit.

Every time I had a top pair or an over-pair they had two pair.
Every time I had A K and had a board of K 6 3 they had 6 3.
Every time I raised with J 9 and the flop came 9 8 3. They had Q 3 and hit there Q on the river.
Every time I had J 10 and I flopped my jack they had Q J
Every time I raised pre-flop with air, they 3 bet me.
Every time I flopped second pair after raising pre-flop and I bet out, they insta-raised. They then would hit POT! on the turn and make it $15.25 into a $15 pot.
Every time I flopped a set, they had nothing and I would win a $3 pot.
Every time I had A A which was only twice they had nothing and I would win the blinds.
I have a new favorite hand of all time. This guy totally outplayed me.

I raise with A 10 and the flop comes

10 x x

I bet $7 and get one caller.

Turn 9

I put him all-in for $20 and he calls. and shows A 9

River: your guessed it... 9.

And then in a $120 pot I 3 bet pre-flop with A K and hit my king.

On the turn the board was K 10 8 7 and I put him all-in for $36. He snap calls and shows pocket nines.

Of course he hits a 6 for a straight.

The very next hand I had A Q and flopped my Ace and got all-in with a short stack who had A 4 on an A 8 4 flop.

Should I go on?

This was over 6 tables over the course of 3 hours.

This is easily the worst shit I have ever seen.

I am now sitting on $1473 completely devastated.

I am going to keep playing 50NL until I dip below $1000. If that actually happens then its back to grinding 20NL.

I am on a 12 buy-in downswing for NL50 over the last 2 days. This is worst downswing I have ever had in terms of buy-ins. I really hope this doesn't get worse.