The truth is that I stayed in a bad seat for a long time until the game broke. I had tight passive, yet showdown bound players to my right, and loose passives to my left. It might have turned out differently if I got better cards preflop or could've hit a flop more often, but I gotta play the hands I'm dealt. That's why I played poorly. The hands I was dealt were not played correctly preflop. After the flop I probably played ok. It was preflop that I ****ed up.

So I stayed in a bad game for a long time. I think I was on game selection tilt. It was either get some hours in the bad game or play 1/2 no limit or drive home in the rain at night, which I hate.

I happened to be particularly card dead, but was getting lots of borderline hands in three and four way pots that i raised preflop. Occasionally I'd get it heads up, but nowhere near as often as I should've to justify raising preflop at the rate that I was.

Starting to my left:

45% coldcaller passive showdown bound postflop

25% coldcaller passive showdown bound postflop

30% coldcaller 5% 3 bettor aggressive postflop

Clint Eastwood wannabe. He actually played ok

30% limper 5% preflop raiser

This was the lineup, with no indication that the loose passives that were once to my right would ever come back for their chips, which were blocking any new players from coming in.

I should've gone and played no limit.

Instead I gave a lot of chips to Clint Eastwood and the tight limper.

The work layoff is going well. I've sustained myself with poker for the past three weeks. I've been eating well, which for me means lots of steak. However, I did quite a bit of non poker gambling the other day, which left me a bit short on funds. I have enough to play poker without going broke if I lose, but I'm particularly frustrated with myself because of the non poker gambling. I have no excuse. All I can do is take it one day at a time. In that sense, the past few days have been a success. It's gonna be a good day.

Now I'm gonna go listen to "Good Day" by Nappy Roots to get the mojo flowing. I suggest you do the same. It's such a great feel good song. I especially like the chorus because kids singing and being happy makes me happy.

Here's my list of favorite poker psych up songs, in the order that I usually listen to them:

"Good Day" by Nappy Roots
"It's my time" by Fabolous
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem
"Wheels of Fortune" by The Doobie Brothers

I played some 1/2 no limit yesterday afternoon while waiting for my 4/8 seat. I won a few bucks but nothing spectacular. It was a good table though.

The 4/8 was particularly juicy with many players to the flop. 3 bets preflop were rare, but I was having trouble making hands. I ended booking a loss, but I can't help thinking that on a long enough timeline that I'd crush that lineup.

Here's one that stung a little:

Two limpers, I raise A9, a particularly bad yet semi aggressive player coldcalls, two other players behind him call, blinds call, limpers call.

T62

Checks to the limper to my right, who bets, I raise, the player to my left calls, folds to the flop bettor who calls.

A

Checks to me, I bet, dude calls, lady flop bettor folds.

2

I bet, he raises, I call.

He shows 42 and scoops a nice pot.

Like I said, it was a juicy table.

Bleh on raising that flop.

Having just two players call was a surprise. I expected many more to come along with all the straight draws available.

I'd just overcall IMO. Too much aggression multiway.

I played a drunken $10 heads up no limit holdem tournament with static blinds last night. It was the most fun I've had playing cards in a while. We started out with ~300 big blinds and there was action every hand until:

I raise to 3 big blinds preflop, he makes it 7.5 big blinds, I cover and call.

A88r

He bets ~pot, I call.

Qr

He bets a lot, I shove, he calls.

2



Then we played again for beers. I don't remember anything about the game but winning.

It was a fun 4th of July, especially considering where I was this time last year. I won't get into that though.

I haven't touched a deck of cards since the fourth of July, but I'm bored and thought I'd update this thing anyways.

The work layoff is going well. I worked on Friday for a few hours. It would have been a longer day but we kicked ass and got out early. The hours should pick up a bit within the next few weeks.

I'm getting back into weightlifting and have been doing so in the driveway. My programming consists of picking up heavy things, squatting with them on my shoulders and pushing them up over my head. I've gained a few pounds, which is a good thing imo. I weighed in at my heaviest ever the other night. I happened to be full of food and beer, so it was no surprise when I stepped on the scale. It told me that I weighed 218, which is a far cry from the 165 that I was at during my twenties. Once my pants get a bit tighter, then I plan to cut off a few pounds.

Also, I'm in love and every minute we get to spend together is a blessing. We're coming up on our two year anniversary. She's a lovely lady. She's sweet, silly, and sexy, which are the three most important attributes for a woman imo.

I haven't been doing much non poker gambling, maybe a scratch ticket here and there but nothing to be worried about.

So it's been a good summer so far. I have no complaints. My mood has been fantastic for the past few months. I don't know why, but I like it.

I am a little bit worried about a certain little lady though. She's been sick for several days now. I hope she gets well soon so that she can enjoy the summertime as much as possible.

Ok maybe some poker talk since this is supposed to be a poker thread. This hand sticks out in memory as one of the funnest ever. I was playing play money huhu limit holdem on Stars against this chick. We got to chatting and perhaps we were flirting a bit. Then this hand happened:

I raise the button with 96, she calls.

964r

She checks, I bet, she raises, I 3 bet, she four bets, I call.

9o

She bets, I raise, she 3 bets, I 4 bet, she calls.

6o

She bets, I raise, she 3 bets, I 4 bet, she calls.

I show my 96 for the full house. She shows 96 for the full house. I say, "That was the sexiest hand of poker that I've ever played." She says, "lol yeah."

No I didn't get her number.

I hosted a home game Friday night. I managed to talk my girl into playing with us, which made it five handed. We played 25c/50c limit holdem the whole time. It was pretty fun. Here's a hand that sticks out in my memory:

Three limps, small blind calls, I raise AJo, all call.

AJ4r

I bet, all call.

Ko

I bet, one call, couple folds, small blind calls.

Ko

I bet, both call.

I show, one muck, small blind rolls K7o.

Yeah, she rubbed that one in my face for days.

It's been over a month since I've touched a deck of cards, but I'm bored so I'm gonna bump this for some fun.

The eight week layoff has unexpectedly turned into a 12+ week layoff, which kinda sucks.

I've been single for three weeks as of yesterday.

I haven't been gambling, but that's pretty much because I don't have the money to do so.

I've been playing heads up limit holdem against neopokerbot for fun in my spare time. Since drawing some conclusions regarding flop and turn bluffing range construction and calling and folding frequencies and then implementing the resulting strategies, I'm 12 and 2 in my last 14 matches. /brag

I like coffee, a lot.

I like cigarettes, a lot.

I'm going to cook a steak for lunch.

With the help of online dating, I've managed to realize exactly how far I'm willing to go to please a woman.

/ramble

I put in some hours in the last few days at 4/8 and a half an hour at 1/2 no limit.

The 4/8 games I played in were all great. The only tighter players I encountered were directly to my left. The players to my right were all either loose passive or loose aggressive, which made for some money coming my way.

I only played 1/2 no limit for a half an hour while waiting for my 4/8 seat. I won one medium sized pot and one fairly large pot, both with QQ. In the first hand I took it down preflop with a 3 bet from the small blind against a middle position opener and a coldcaller. In the second hand, I raised a couple limpers from the cutoff and was called by the small blind as well as the limpers. TJ2 flop. Small blind bets ~1/2 pot, folds to me and I call. Q on the turn. He bets ~1/2 pot again. I shove, he calls. I win.

Some notable hands from the week can be found in the micro and small stakes limit holdem forums, which I've put up for discussion.

$2 no limit holdem heads up 15 big blinds played to the felt:

he limps, I raise pot with AKo, he min 3 bets, I shove he calls with QJo and I lose.

next game same format:

he limps, I check JTs.

T58

I bet 1/2 pot, he calls.

To

I check, he minbets, I shove, he calls with KQo. I win.

Cheers.

$5 no limit holdem 20 big blinds played to the felt:

I won the first hand with ace high, giving me a ~5:4 chiplead. Then this happened:

He limps on the button, I check A3 in the big blind.

45A

I check, he bets pot, I call.

7

I check, he bets ~1/2 pot, I call.

9

I check, he shoves, I deliberate and choose to stick with the game plan of picking off bluffs with marginal hands. I call, he shows T2. I win.

I played a $50+$10 bounty 10 handed homegame tourney with rebuys last night. I won a couple big pots early, but I played kinda badly after that, which left me somewhat shortstacked by the time rebuys were over. So it's ten handed, rebuys are off, and I'm on the shortstack with ~7 big blinds. I start shoving anything half decent in an attempt to keep up with the blinds, which doubled every half hour. I must have shoved six or seven times in a matter of three orbits, never being called. Then a couple big hands happened:

I'm in the big blind, button shoves ~5 big blinds, I shove ~20 big blinds with AKo in the small blind, big blind folds. Button shows J8o. I won the hand with Ace high.

Then I shoved a couple times during the next orbit, again never being called. Now I have ~20 big blinds after posting my big blind. Folds to the small blind, who shoves ~3 big blinds. I call K9o. He shows A7o.

flop: 2K8r

turn and river were blanks. Dude was kinda pissed and stormed off. Whatever.

Then the player to my left took out our only remaining opponent, leaving us heads up. I had ~3:1 chiplead at this point. A couple shoves later and I'm up to 4:1 chiplead. Then this hand:

I shove on the button with A3o, he calls after a bit of deliberation, to which I was almost sure that I had the best starting hand. I show as the flop falls:

238r

6o

6o

He says "I'm embarrassed. I'm not gonna show. He wins." I say, "ok good game."

"Smile Carl we're back in business."

So I put my homegame winnings into action at 4/8 yesterday. I was up ~20 big bets after the first two hours. It only took about 3 more hours before I had lost most of it. Set over set, Aces cracked, couldn't hit a flop with AJs, AQo, ATs, and AKo, etc. I lost ~22 big bets, which is enough to drop my winrate at 4/8 to just slightly less than 1 big bet an hour. That's ok though. It was a great game and I like how I got in my money.

I played a couple heads up no limit holdem ~65 big blind matches yesterday.

Game 1:

After losing the first pot, which was small, this hand happened:

he limps, I raise to 7 with AA, he calls.

88Jr

I bet 15, he raises to 45, I call.

4o

I check, he shoves, I call.

2o

he says "****, you got an 8?" I reply "No, just Aces up." He shows J4o. I win.

He was all in blind the next hand for two big blinds, which I took down by flopping broadway with KQo.

Game 2:

I lost the first couple pots, which were small. Then this hand happened:

I raise to 6, he 3 bets to 17, I call.

46Qr

He bets 20, I call.

5o

He bets 30, I call.

8

He bets 40, I shove, he calls.

I show my straight, he reluctantly shows TT. I win.

I just took down a nine handed no limit holdem tourney with rebuys without rebuying and I don't plan on spending a penny of it on any type of gambling except for playing cards.

The anti casino minority in Massachusetts lost its final stand last night. We will no longer have to go to other states to play in a proper poker game. I will no longer have to start each session $40 down due to gas.

I expect the no limit holdem games to be excellent and numerous, but I expect limit holdem to start out slowly. Because of this, I plan to read a few books about no limit, including but not limited to "Applications of No Limit Holdem," No Limit Holdem Theory and Practice," as well as at least one of Tipton's books. I'm open to suggestions. I've also heard Gripsed is pretty good for videos on youtube, which I plan on checking out. I should also post some in the live low stakes no limit forum.

I played in the no limit holdem tourney home game again on Saturday night. I was eliminated just a few hands after rebuys were done. I finished ninth out of eleven players. I'm not very happy with my play at the moment. Just a few missteps made the difference this time.

I was bored so I registered on Seals with Clubs. It took about seven or eight freeroll attempts, but I ended up placing in a freeroll. This was good enough to win 3.2 chips, which is 0.0032 bitcoins. There were zero limit games going on so I started playing no limit and quickly doubled and tripled my investment. At the end of the first day I had about 35 chips.

The second day was even better. I played more no limit and built my roll up to about 157 chips, or 0.157 bitcoins. That was enough no limit for me. I sat at a 2/4 limit holdem table against a game starter. There was some back and forth in what I thought was a pretty good spot. Then it started going downhill. I ended up losing a few hands in a row until I was down to about 53 chips. Then I quit and slept on it.

In the past two days, the cards have been particularly unkind. I'm now busto on Seals with Clubs. I should have some rakeback coming as of next Monday, but it's not going to be much. I'm going to go back to playing the freerolls.

Happy Thanksgiving,

I got some rakeback on Monday. I got it up to 18 chips but then it went downhill again. That's ok cus I played some Rummy 500 the other night and this hand happened:

Dealer: 370
me: 350
other: 415

...and I get dealt this:

Seals with Clubs has been kind enough to run daily freerolls all December. I played in my first the other day. I was out of the tournament quickly.

I played some of their 54 player sit n goes, and managed to finish in first place once, for a win of 6.4 chips, or 0.0064 bitcoins. It didn't last long though as I didn't fold when I probably should have.

I haven't played live poker in a while.

I started posting on a different site within the past few months. Some of my posts were deleted, I'm guessing for lack of content. The most hilarious deletion imo was a response to a thread about defending 43o in the big blind heads up against a 3x open raise. My response was simple: "Easy fold preflop." Apparently it's more important to them to have a multiple page thread about how to play the flopped nuts with 43o than it is to discuss proper preflop strategy.

Hope everyone is doing well and have a great holiday season.

Got cash for Christmas and spent it on scratch tickets. Shrug.

I haven't been playing much poker lately, just a few heads up homegames against friends. In all I think I'm up ~20 bucks in the past two months.

Last night I played some no limit holdem heads up games against a particularly aggressive friend.

Here's a flop spot that I thought was close between bet calling and check calling:

1/2 blinds. He has ~67 big blinds, which covers my 63 big blinds.

He raises to 6, I 3 bet AJ to 22, he calls.

QT5

I check, he bets 20, I call.

K

I check, he bets 20, I shove, he calls.

2o

I show the nuts, he shows J5o.

----

That was hardly the end of the match though. He doubled up a few times after that, until we were almost even again. Then this hand happened:

I cover by just a few blinds.

He raises to 6, I 3 bet AQ to 22, he calls.

AQTr

I check, he shoves, I call.

Ko

2o

I show, he mucks and I scoop the $10 just as he's pushing over my piles of chips.