Poker Blog - The THF Blog

Haven’t seen many updates from the rest of the guys, but I’m still plugging away. Started with $98.08 last week, and it’s been an up and down week. Lost a couple of $11 SNG’s, but also won 3 of the $5.25 4 man headsup shootouts over at Stars. Lost a couple of STT for $5.50, but turned it around tonight and won one of ‘em. The long and short is that bankroll is now up to $123.94. The hand of the night was a sb special with the chip leader on my left. I min raised with pocket 5’s when it was folded to me, and he calls. The flop is 5-4-3 with two spades. I check, he checks. The turn is a 7, and I lead out for half the pot. He calls. River is a 4 giving me the boat, and I decided to just check it. He goes all in, I instacall, and he turns over 4-2o. I doubled up and coasted to any easy win. Good night. Wish they could all be this easy.

blackinks

Time To Update

I have been posting at blogspot mostly, but for those of you who don’t read my journal there, I will bring you up to date. I warn you now this will be a long entry in order to catch you up I will post several posts in this one.

9/9/06

Given $1000 by a fellow poker player whom I do not know. Am told it is a gift to boost the bankroll.

10/02/06

My Biggest Tourney Cash Yet

Took 3rd in a $10/$1 Limit Holdem MTT w/rebuys. Pretty proud of myself as I never had to rebuy and I decided I did not need the add-on. 3rd was worth $687.88

10/08/06

My Live Career Begins — Playing For A Living Part Time

My boss is an asshole. He hired a part time person which basically gave me 2 choices. Work 7 days a week and we don’t need the part timer or get cut back to 4 days a week because this part time person would not take the job for only 2 nights a week and needed three instead. What a jerk. Boss says to me you can find a part time job. Yeah right, one day a week??? What an asshole!

But, in a way this gives me the opportunity I have longed for for so long. Playing poker for a living, well, at least part time. All I need to do is make say $80 a week playing poker and that will make up for the lost day. Anything over $80 will be added to the bankroll. I am off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday so my first session will be Monday. I have closed my Neteller Account, cancelled the Neteller debit card and shredded it. My poker checking account has been closed and a new one opened. I did not want any of the online sites having access to anything. I decided to not put the wear and tear on my car, not to mention the cost of gas for trips to the casino 2 or 3 days a week and will instead be taking a bus to and from. I need to call them tomorrow because it says the cost is $11. Not sure if that is one way or round trip. Also have to find out if I can take route A up there and take route B back. If so I will be able to get in about 7 hours of play at the $2/$4 table. Like online I will be using a stop loss in my live play. I will sit in with $100. If that is lost I will take another $100 to a different table, never losing more than 50 big bets per day.

Some money was spent from the MTT cash. Bankroll for live play is $1500. Expenses per day at the casino in the neighborhood of $30-$35 which is not too bad. The first 8bb won will take care of expenses and anything over that sheer profit.

10/17/06

Very Profitable Night

Ok to catch you up to date.

10/9/06

Table Result: +$38
Expenses: $13
Net: +$25

10/11/06

Table Result: +$105
Expenses: $180
Net: -($75)

Bankroll: $1450

10/16/06

Table Result: +$261
Expenses: $10
Weekly Withdraw: $80
Net: +$171

Bankroll: $1621

Tonight was very profitable. It amazes me how bad the live players really are. 7 people going to the flop is not unusual and to top it off they are passive as hell. 7 people checking is also not uncommon.

I hated leaving my second table tonight. There was a guy who had no idea what he was doing. I mean betting every street and showing a Jack high. The whole table caught onto this real fast. My first table tonight I tripled my buy-in when the table fell apart and won another $45 at the second table when I had to leave to catch the last shuttle bus back to my car.

The $180 in expenses on 10/11 is not a typo. Took thewife to the casino with me that day. She played slots and we took in the Seafood buffet which by itself was over $40. Add to that my haircut, gas for the car, etc, etc, etc it was an expensive day, but well worth it. Fortyunately that day showed a $105 profit at the tables.

Well, I am grabbing the 1030 am bus to the casino tomorrow. I may have to play $3/$6 as the $2/$4 game does not get started until late it seems and my bus leaves at 6pm. I am going to try this once. if there are no $2/$4 games then I will completely skip this bus idea altogether and simply drive 45 minutes and take the shuttle as I did tonight.

That’s all for now. Play well all.

10/17/06

Ouch

Bankroll back down to $1426. Played 9 hours at the casino today. Here’s the rundown.

10/17/06

Table Result: (-$42)
Tournament: (-$110)
Expenses: $43
Net: (-$195)

Bankroll: $1426

I was stupid enough to get into a tournament at the casino. Getting in was not so bad as it was only $30 but the $60 I spent in rebuys and the $20 for the addon was idiotic. Total loss for the tournie was $110.

Suffered my first loss at the cash tables today. Could not really get anything going. had QQ cracked my some jerkoff with a 48s and I also lost with AK not to mention the 2 times I had 2 pair and lost. The day could have turned out much better were it not for the foolishness with the tournament. Lesson learned. next time I play a tournie I will stick to my no rebuy rule. It has served me well in the past. Not sure why I didn’t this time. Maybe because I worried what the other players might think if I was knocked out so early. Stupid I know, but I am still getting used to the live play scene and unfortunnately the emotional aspect of it is something I must learn as well. Image and others’ opinions should not ever let me spend $110 like that. This is a lesson I will not soon forget.

10/18/06

Decent Rebound To End The Week

10/18/06

Table Result: Limit —— +$150
Table Result: No Limit — (-$19)
Expenses: $11
Net: +$120

Bankroll: $1566

The waiting list for $2/$4 today was not long, but there was only one table and no one seemed to want to leave. So I sat patiently waiting. Then one of the floor workers pointed out to me that there was an opening at $3/$6. I told him no thanks at first. Then I looked at the table of $2/$4, looked at my chips, the clock, and then said ok, I’ll play so in at $3/$6 I sat.

Lost the first hand and then went on a 4 or 5 hand run that included 2 sets, pocket aces and a full house. At least two of the hands were on a kill pot making the stakes $4/$8 and low and behold I was up $200 just like that. I had the entire table tilting including the guy to my immediate left who slammed his cards down and yelled “I knew it!” as I showed down my 2nd set in almost as many hands. Things turned just a little downward and I walked away up $150.

Played a little $50 buy-in NL. Enbough to lose $19 and realize I don’t like NL cash games whether online or live. I am a limit player, but I wanted to see what kind of comfort level I could have in NL live. Learning process afterall. It wasn’t there. I will stick to my limit games.

Now I know I have only been at this 2 weeks and made only 5 casino trips, but if what I am experiencing at the tables is any indication I am able to make a ton more live than online. The session amounts are more than I was ever able to make online and I have to ask myself why? Well I have no doubt that I am playing more hands preflop. Hands that are borderline at best at times and the reason is because the games are so loose I am taking more chances by seeing the flop because I know I am getting excellent pot odds. The crazy thing about it is I can play these borderline hands in early positiuon because live players are very very passive preflop. Postflop they will come out raising, but preflop 19 out of 20 times there is no preflop raise. I saw a touch more in the $3/$6 game however. Hands I am referring to are unsuited connectors in late position and hands like Q9s Q8s and on occasion any two suited cards if I feel a bit mischievious. Also unsuited connectors I am also playing. Not everytime mind you, but when I feel the urge. On almost every hand I am getting 6-1 to 8-1 to see the flop and with odds like that it is making these borderline and even below borderline hands playable.

Bankroll starting next week will be at least $1500. Have some expenses to deal with this week, but as this is part of the income, expenses need to be dealt with. Need to get an oil change for the car and buy some cigs to get us thru the rest of this week. The quitting smoking did not go so well and we will try again this coming Monday or Tuesday.

Took that bus I mentioned in yesterday’s post. $12 round trip and $10 in free slot play which I promptly turned into $12 free dollars so the bus trip was actually free. Signed up for the poker room’s mailing list so I should be getting some $10 or $20 poker chip coups in the mail in the coming months. When I step out of the poker room to have a cigarette I play the penny slot machines. Never lose too much and the last couple of days I even turned a tiny profit. The penny machines however I play for fun, not profit. Most of all it was so nice not having to drive the 45 miles back hoome. This bus still gives me 5 and a half hours at the casino so I think it will work out quite well.

Well, that’s all for now. Back to the regular job tomorrow so no poker until Monday. Take care all.

Bankroll $1500+

10/24/06

Decent Night, Not Great, But Decent

Started the week with a bankroll of $1494. Took the weekly “nut” out of bankroll in advance this week. I did this because I am finding out when I am playing poker and the money I am earning is part of the income, to a certain extent the nervousness is increased. Not in my playing, but what exactly should be done when the amount is achieved. Play more, but possibly lose some of it there in losing not my own money perse, but actual income. If I was playing full time this would not be an issue unless it was late in the week and the week was winding down. By providing this income in advance, any profits are put back into bankroll and the pressure is much less. I am sure this so called “pressure” will ease the longer I do this, but as I am still new at playing for a part time living, these are issues I need to deal with and overcome.

Spent 11 and a half hours at the casino today. Be3gan the morning with a bankroll of $1423

10/24/06

Table Result: Limit —— +$51
Table Result: No Limit — +$24
Football Pool Win ——– +$100
NL Tournament ———— (-$25)
Expenses: $80
Net: +$70

Started out today rather early leaving the house at about 8 or 815am and drove to the casino today. Wanted to play in the morning NL Holdem Tournament they have. $25 entry fee $5k is chips to start and blinds start at $50/$100. Won a couple of small pots but ended finishing out of the money.

Was on the list for the $2/$4 game, but there were only 3 names on it. At that time of the morning it is a list to gather 9 mplayers together so a table can open up. Was a bit bored just waiting around so I decided to sit in the $50 NL table. Figured the worst it will cost me is $50 as I had no intention of reloading. Was down to about $28 or so when for the second straight hand I got dealt KK. The first I laid down when an Ace flopped and my goofy opponent went all in. I laid it down. In the second hand I raised about 3 times the big blind and the same opponent moved over the top with QQ. He did not improve and I took the pot down. Won a couple of pots after that to pull to a $24 profit when they opened the table at $2/$4 limit and off I went.

I usually sit in with $100 and I have come to realize in live play, this specific casino anyway, when you come to the table with a full rack of chips (100 white) they other players know you mean business. The oher popular amount seems to be $60 and then of course you have the $20 people. Even in a limit game when I see them sitting in with this amount, they are instantly in the cross hairs. Might as well paint a bullseye on their chest.

I brought the $74 to the $2/$4 table and decided to sit in with this. Not much happening at first but I built my stack slow but sure until it reached $211 at it’s highest point. Then the bad beats hit. I suffered no less than 5 tonite and three of them were in succession. At one point I was sown to less than $80 in front of me. I did not give up and my discipline held and I was able to rebuild a bit. I ended up cashing out with $125.

I hit the first quarter of the football pool tonite and that was worth $100. Nice feeling and it helped the nite turn a profit.

Finally, I got my shipment from Poker Stars on Wednesday. I took my 6000 FPP points I had there and had a final shopping spree at the FPP Store. I got a stress ball, which is now a cat toy, a nice duffle bag which I use for bringing personal stuff to work now and the best buy of all, all 3 volumes of harrington On Holdem. I am only 70 or so pages into the first book and am enjoying it a lot so far.

Becci has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow so I am taking the day off from poker. We are both going up there Saturday where we will grab the seafood buffet once again and she will play her penny slots, but that will not be coming from bankroll however bankroll will treat us to the Seafood Buffet. It’s well worth the $20 per person charge. I will also get in at least a few hours at the poker tables on Wednesday while she is playing the slots.

That’ws it for now. I will report back Wednesday night and let you all know how things went. Take care all.

Bankroll: $1493

Well, I gotta be honest… it was a rough as hell weekend. My bankroll went up and down. I had $29.38 in my bankroll, and got steamrolled. Lost a $11 tourney, and 3 $1.20 tourneys, so I was down to $14.78 when I decided to jump back into the ring games. Playing just .01/.02 NL and .02/.05NL I managed to work it back up to $26.08. Then came the announcement of the Heads UP Tourney, so I’m thinking what the hell, why not? I just wrote an article on HU, but against the likes of Cowboy, Homeville, PokerRef, Extra, 7Letters, I’m honestly thinking I’m dead money. Well, it’s a cheap donation at least, and who knows, I might get lucky. I draw Homeville first, and get fortunate enough to be able to trap with a few pretty strong hands. I get lucky when he pushes his flush draw against my top pair and it holds. Rd 1 outta the way. Rd 2 is Basspro, who had just finished a great battle with Barron. This match I have to be honest… I just got really lucky. I played like crap, and somehow caught when I was behind. I really respect his game, and I have to give him credit… he just got unlucky. Rd 3 was Extra, another very solid player. I don’t remember playing him before, but I tried to play slow with him. We played a lot of small ball, and I just managed to grind it out. The final was 7Letters, who I had scoped out in his earlier matches. He was playing super aggressive, and I knew I’d have to get in there and gamble. I had some pretty good hands, and managed to end up on the good side of coin flip with pocket 10’s vs QJ. The tens held, and I won.

Bankroll now is $98.08. Not bad for one nights work.

Well with the Senate passing the internet gambling bill, I decided not to take any chances and I cleared all accounts. I know many have said don’t panic, but I for one am not taking any chances. I am in the process of waiting for 2 withdraws to hit my poker checking account totaling over $800. I deposited $100 on Stars and am in the process of clearing the $70 bonus there playing $2/$4. Until I know for certain what is going to happen as a result of all this I am not taking the chance of having a site decide no American players and holding up or outright stealing the money therin. If they did, lets face it, with me being in the US I have no real recourse so better safe thaqn sorry. While I can I will make deposits of $100 and no more than that and deposit $100 again if necessary. I will not be able to go after the maximum amount of bonus offered by sites, but this is something I will deal with until such a time as the new law is challenged or stopped if that in fact is even going to happen.

Assuming that it does go through with no complications or reprieves my days of online poker are over as I have no desire to try to jump through hoops to get around things of this nature. My journey to pro is by no means over however, as I have a casino less than 70 miles from my house and will go there twice a week for 8-10 hours/day playing $2/$4 to start out with. Of course that will be when my regular job hires a part timer anjd I start getting 2 days off a week again.

In the meantime however it will be a bit before the President signs this into law and therefor I have at least that much time to continue playing online and I hope to make the best of it.

I cleared the bonus at PokerRoom and cashed out. As I said I am clearing the bonus at Poker Stars and once done, which should be tonite I will withdraw and send $100 to UB and try to clear what I have there. I was going to deposit at Party but a $100 deposit will get me only $20 in bonus money which hardly seems worth it. better to go to UB where I have over $200 awaiting me.

Have the bankroll for $2/$4 and really enjoy these stakes. Hopefully I will continue to show profit and stay put.

Bankroll $1246

And that’s the way it has been going for me over the last few days. Since I deposited the $500 on PokerRoom I am down $225. Bonus chasing has never worked for me. I just don’t understand why. It doesn’t matter what site I am playing, when I go after bonuses it is always a disaster. However, when my benefactor gave me the gift of $1000 one of the conditions he requested was that I bonus chase and I am a man of my word so I will continue onward. PokerRoom seems to have more outdraws and bad beats than Stars and that’s saying something. I have lost tract of how many times my opponents are hitting their 2nd pair on the turn or river. I raise preflop , they call andon the flop they are calling with a single overcard to the board or worse. There was one guy who called my preflop raise then he called the flop bet with a gutshot draw. He had A7o. Bad enuf he called a preflop raise with that garbage. Flop was 234 or something of this nature. turn was a 7 river was a 7. I had KK or QQ I believe. Mouse nearly got smashed on that one. I do have a spare in a bedside table drawer should my temper overcome me.

Total bankroll is $955.23. I don’t care about the $83 I had. As far as I’m concerned that was lost in my forray to NL cash games, but being down from the $1k hurts. I was not given this money to lose and I want to show that I was worthy of it. Right now I am feeling less than worthy. I have loaded some of the hands to PT, the ones PokerRoom actually loads for me and everything looks good. I am not too tight, not too loose, PFR are good and postflop AF is reasonable, but I am minus $60+ with AKo. Excuse me?????? That’s impossible, but it is a fact. I have never been down money with that hand and that is not based on a few times having big slick, mind you. That is based on having it over 40 times!!!

Could it be the multitabling aspect of it all? It is a question I need to really ask myself. As I play I realize that most times I have no clue about my opponents. I am playing ABC poker, but maybe at $1/$2 you need more than that. Over the last 3 days I have gotten notes on only 2 or 3 players at most. It is obvious I am missing out on a lot of info, info that could be utilized to maximizing the profits. Only one way to find out for sure. For the next few days I need to single table. If I come up with a profit I am going to know once and for all that multitabling is a serious detriment to my game as a whole, and is something I am not meant to be doing. I certainly am not going to be stubborn about this and have the attitude I can do it because others can do it. We all have our strengths and weak points and it is quite possible I am destined to be one of those people who need to focus on one thing at a time. I certainly am not going to wait til I am down another $225 and then say “oh geez, maybe this isn’t for me afterall.” Time to find answers and nip this in the bud real quick.

486 points to clear the $250 bonus at PokerRoom. Assuming I signgle table it it may take as long as 9 days more to clear it. I have a feeling in my gut that single tabling is going to show a profit and thus tell me this is what I need to be doing for the duration. Certainly will take longer to achieve my goal, but then again I won’t do it multitabling if multitabling keeps bringing out losses.

Going to try to play 200 hands/day single tabling, but I have come down with a head cold and may be sleeping a bit more than usual. This will be my last blog entry for about a week I think. Going to try to shake this cold and single table the next 8 days. I will report back with my results on 9/30/06. Until then play well all and I’ll do my best to do the same.

Bankroll $955.23