Played a couple hours tonight, not very eventful. No stacks going in besides against a couple of very-tiny-stacked guys. Just a little missing, then grind and chip up. Continuing to move back up slowly but steadily.

Challenge Bankroll: $348.68

Played a bunch this morning, won a bit, erased that downswing. Might look at hands from this session later. Mostly it's just going well and I'm feeling more comfortable.

Challenge Bankroll: $425.89

Another 2.5 hours while losing some tournaments and not a lot of movement. Or rather, a lot of movement in both directions and the vectors cancelled out.

Challenge Bankroll: $442.43

Played a few hours after lunch, won a buyin. Stacked off with TP vs AA once that I'm not thrilled with, and a couple of other not great plays, but the tables were really good and eventually I hit a few flops.

Challenge Bankroll: $492.59

Played another chunky session, four hours or so, while playing loyalty freerolls. Felt like I ran like ass - it was a good day for overpairs vs my smaller overpairs, sets vs my overpairs, and sets vs my smaller sets. But at the end of the day I ended up ahead a buyin, mostly due to a couple of fancy-play tags. A good reminder not to become one myself. I also finished fourth in the daily freeroll for $17.18, and since I'm eligible for it because of this play I'm counting it as a benefit.

Challenge Bankroll: $567.12

I'm hyper and insomniac, so let's look at some hands in hopes that will bore me to sleep. Because of the way Global does things these are in reverse order.

Four-handed, SB (a FPS TAG who I've been tangling with) opens 3x, I defend 44. Flop A23, he bets $2, I call. Turn 5, he bets $5, I raise to $18 hoping he'll think I'm full of it, he folds. Probably better to just call here? I don't think he's very likely to have outs, and he might not shut down on the river. On the other hand he probably does shut down to a call like 90% of the time, so maybe looking for spew is better. Up in the air for me.

Four-handed, I open CO 3x with KK, Button and BB (above player) call. Flop Q32tt, I bet $3.5, BB calls. Turn 2, he check-calls $6. River 6, check, I bet $11, he jams for $28 more. I just, what on earth is he supposed to have here? He has 33 or air, it seems. I call and he has A3, and I just don't think I'm ever folding anything better or calling anything worse, unless I get here with like 76s or 65s. And I probably check those back anyway. My river bet is pretty heavily polarized here, and also very value-heavy. I just think this is massive spew on his part.

Not-good player opens the Hijack for $1.75, I threebet on the button to $5 with AJs, he calls. Flop QQ3 with two of mine, he bets pot $8.5 and I call. Turn J, he checks, I bet $13, he folds. Not thrilled with this bet in retrospect. I don't think there's really value here and if I check through he might stab again. I've been value betting really heavily as well as c-betting a ton lately, and it seems to be working, but still sometimes I go too far.

I overlimp the CO with 22, Button minraises and gets four calls. Flop 542, checked to me and I pot $5, Button clicks back and everyone else folds, I call. Turn 5, I check, he pots, I put him in for his last $14, and he calls with AJ. At least he has the A but he can't catch his one out. This is like, how not to play your nut flush draw.

I open AT 3x UTG, fishy CO calls and so do both blinds. Flop JJTtt, checked to me and I decide to check, CO bets half-pot $3 and only I call. Turn 5, I check, he bets $2, and I call. At this point I'm pretty sure that's a worse ten. River 3, I check, he bets $4.5, and I call. At the time I'm pretty lost about getting more value even though I have a good idea of his hand. In retrospect I think I want to bet the river myself as if I'm bluffing a missed flush draw, and not let him off with this little bet or the ability to check back. He does have T3 and I win.

Three-handed but no SB, Button opens 3x and I defend 87s. Flop T74 with the ten on my suit, I check, he bets $3, and I call. Turn 6, I check, he bets $9, and I call. River K, I check-fold to a $26 jam. I just hate playing hands like this. Maybe it's my limit-trained brain, because it's hard to see what else to do. I don't see how I can fold this flop or this turn. And calling the river seems bad. Turning my hand into a bluff at any point seems bad. It's just bleh, and sometimes hands are bleh I guess.

HJ opens 3x, I threebet to $5 with red jacks, SB and opener call. Flop K96r, SB leads half-pot $7.75, HJ folds and I call. Turn 4, Sb leads $15.5 and I fold. Speaking of bleh. One of the things I'm really feeling the lack of right now is a sense of when to call this sort of thing down. People haven't been playing back at Kxx flops nearly as much as I expect, and donks seems to be really strong in general. Maybe I just need to let this go on the flop.

UTG minraises, I make it $4 in hijack with AA, BB and opener call. Flop JJ5tt, BB checks, UTG bets pot $9.25 and only I call. Turn flushing 4, UTG bets 4 and I call. River 2, UTG bets $3.5 and I call. He has 55 and I appreciate all the money he saved me. I don't think it makes much sense to do anything else anywhere, but I thought I'd post it since it's weird.

I 3x CO with 87s and BB defends. Flop Q95, I cbet $1.5 and he calls. Turn flushing 7, he checks, I bet $4 and he calls. River 2, check-check and he has AQ. I'm really unsure on these spots where a clear buff turns into a thin value/bluff spot. When I'm unsure I tend to bet, because limit player. Mostly it works out better than this.

I open CO 3x with 55, BB defends. Flop JT5, he bets $5.5 and I call. Turn J, he checks, I bet $7, he clicks back and I call. River 6, he jams $24.52 and I call. The main point of this hand is that sometimes handreading is hopeless - he has A8.

Fishy Hijack who like to raise random cent amounts opens to $1.82, I make it $5 on the button with jacks, and he calls. Flop A32, check, I bet $5 and he calls. Turn flushing 7 (I have one) check check. River K, he bets pot $20.75 and I fold. I'm finally learning that in NL sometimes you go to all the trouble of inducing and then have to fold anyway.

We'll end with a fun one from this afternoon's session. Cutoff open limps and I make it $2 on the button with T9, BB and limper call. Flop 765, they check to me and I bet $5, both call. Turn 3 and we all check. River 8, BB checks, CO jams $44.37 into me, I call, and BB unfortunately doesn't have a nine. I was hoping.

Well, I was due for a bad session, and I got it. One stack lost to a bad beat, but mostly just me playing badly and getting hammered for it. I got way too showdowny early, especially. Then at the end my computer crashed, just to put a period on it. Oh well. Back on the horse a little later.

Challenge Bankroll: $377.80

Aaaand then I went and won it all back and then some in the evening. Mostly on my game this time, a few calls I maybe shouldn't have but no big ones, and very nice set luck, players inexplicably stacking off on bluffs with AK, etc.

Challenge Bankroll: $621.68

Another good evening session tonight. Ran up three buyins early, lost two back, got one back again, ended up about +1.5. Several interesting hands to look at from this one if I get time tomorrow. I'm getting closer to feeling the bluffing game and knowing when my opponents can't really have enough to call a raise. Still less so on my bluffcatching, but getting there.

Challenge Bankroll: $704.26

OK, hand review from yesterday. I'm going to try to do these in proper order (by table) this time.

I 3x open QJs in the CO, Button threebets to $5.25, SB and BB call so I do too. Flop T99tt with one of mine, we check to Button and he bets $13.5 into $22. SB folds, BB calls very nearly all in, so I call figuring I'm getting a good price for my openender. Turn is a flushing 8, check to BTN who jams $29.75, BB calls his remaining quarter, and I naturally call. Button has 97, BB somehow has K8, and neither of them has a club so when the river hits a fourth one I still win. This seems super standard, but yay relative position in multiway pots.

HJ limps, SB completes, I make it $2 in the BB with JJ, both call. Flop J45, check, I bet $3, HJ folds and SB calls. Turn 8, SB bets $6, I click back to $12, he calls. Turn 2, he bets $36 and I call. I hate this hand so much, not because I lost - this guy probably doesn't fold his 53 on the turn anyway - but because I didn't think the turn through and raise more, and I didn't think through calling on the river. Some of this is still just well-trained limit instincts taking over, but some if it was pure playing thoughtlessly.

Button minraises, I call AT in SB, BB calls. Flop K7T, we check to Button who bets $3, I call, BB folds. Turn 3, check-check. River J, I bet $9 and he folds. More flop/turn aggression here or is this just he doesn't have anything? I felt like hoping for an overcall from SB on the flop beat raising.

Hijack minraises, Co and Button call so I defend 85 in the BB. Flop A76tt, checked to BTN who pots, I call, the other two fold. Turn 7, I check, Button pots again $12.75, I jam for $45 more and he folds. I like this hand, seems like my range is just much stronger than his.

I misclick minraise 99 UTG. HJ and CO call, SB ($6.78) raises to $5.5, I raise to $14.5 expecting to lose the coldcallers but CO comes along somehow, SB of course calls. Flop K65tt and I jam for approximately pot. This is one of those spots where it seems like there aren't any better options OOP. He folds and SB has 33.

HJ limps, I limp my button with 85, SB completes and BB checks. Flop AK6, checks around. Turn T, check, BB bets $2, HJ folds, I raise to $5.5, SB folds, BB calls. River T, BB checks, I give up but win anyway against 74. I should probably be betting the river against Jx, Qx type hands.

Other table: HJ limps, CO raises pot to $2.25, SB ($5.60) calls, I make it $10 in the BB with 99, all three of them call like seriously what. Flop JJ3tt, I figure that's as good as a flop gets without a 9 and jam for pot, the two who can fold do, and SB has A9 and I hold. Whenever I do this with AA-QQ everyone folds, so I've been trying to open it up a bit, but this was unexpected.

HJ limps, CO checks his post, BTN limps, I complete T9s, BB checks. Flop JT8tt with one of mine, checked to HJ who bets $1.37, CO folds, BTN calls, I call, BB folds. Turn 7, I bet $5 and get two callers wat. River 4, I check, HJ checks, Button bets $10, I call, HJ folds. I don't think I can fold here but I'm not surprised to see Q9. I feel like I saved myself some money though.

UTG and HJ limp, I make it $3.5 with AA and only HJ calls. Flop K83, check, I bet $5, he calls. Turn J, he leads $9, I call. River 2, he jams $34.75 into $37 and I call. Do I call this down without the A? These are the spots I'm finding hard, when to give someone credit when they wake up like this. This guy had K5, so I leave with his money.

UTG opens 3x, HJ calls, I make it $5 in HJ with KK, only UTG calls. Flop Q96, check, I bet $6, he clicks back to $12, I make it $26 and he folds. I feel like this was one raise too many and I end up faceup here. OOP it would probably be fine but I gave up the value of position for the rest of the hand here.

CO opens 3x, I make it $4 in the SB with AK, BB makes it $14, UTG folds, and I jam for $35 more, he has AA and I don't suck out. I don't like this but calling to take a flop OOP is awful and can I really fold? I guess maybe I should, to a cold fourbet like this.

Hijack 3x opens, I call JTs in the CO, Button calls, blinds fold. Flop T76, HJ bets half-pot $2.62, I make it $7.5, Button folds, HJ calls. Turn 6s, check, I bet $9 into $20.25, he jams for $28.05 more, I fold. Not really sure what's going on here, but it seems unlikely I'm ahead and very likely I'm way behind.

Had a half hour to play, made half a buyin or so. Basically one flopped set stacking a medium stack who liked his tp too much. I'm double booked pretty much from here to Sunday, so I probably won't be playing again until next week.

Challenge Bankroll: $735.13

Pretty tired today, but I wanted to get to the next level. That took me about an hour.

A couple of interesting hands:

I'm playing LHE on another table and misclick minraise TT in the hijack. Button and BB call. Flop 433tt, BB leads half pot $1.62, I raise to $5, Button folds, BB clicks back to $8.38, and I call. Turn a glorious offsuit ten, he checks, I bet $10, and he folds. I feel like I may have fastplayed this too far on both streets.

I 3x UTG with AJs, Sb calls. Flop J63tt, check, I bet $2.5, he calls. Turn 7 makign two flush draws, check, I bet $5, he clicks back to $10 and has $13.27 behind, I jam. He somehow manages to find enough optimism to call with 22.

I 3x SB with K4s, BB calls. Flop KT8r, I bet $1.5 and he calls. Turn A, I check-call $3.5. River A, I check and he checks back his 8. I'm getting more confident in when to show down these spots.

Challenge bankroll: $806.26. Tomorrow I move to $100. Back to resting and reading Ruin of Angels tonight.

Short first session at 100NL during a baseball rain delay, went ok, mostly boring, but hey any winning session is a good one. I'm not sure at what point I should be wary of leaving and giving up position on terrible recs, but it seems unlikely to be these tables.

(Well, having written that as I was waiting for the blinds to come to me, I won a big pot on my last hand with 77 vs 66 and K6s on 543. So ended up better than I thought.)

Challenge Bankroll: $881.86

Lol session. Dropped a buyin and a bit over two hours just missing flops and missing flops and missing flops. Then as I'm in my last orbit, limper, I 4x AA, SB decides it's a good idea to jam 120bb with KQ. He flops a gutshot but doesn't get there and I'm somehow ahead for the session.

Challenge bankroll: $890.19. I finished Ruin of Angels which was good if terribly copyedited, sad that the publisher bailed on its series. I'm going to go eat some late night diner food and see if I can't put a thousand words or so in on my own book.

Played an hour, minimal action. The games were much taggier than yesterday, not sure if that's the hour of if yesterday was unusual. I'm definitely uncomfortable in threebet pots and even with when to get into them, so that's being my main focus right now.

I'm beginning to think about looking for some external input. If anybody's reading this, what's the state of the art for coaching sites these days? Any of them with specific value for non-HUD play?

Challenge Bankroll: $902.45. More later tonight.

Another hour, another marginal session, though this one at least had a little swinging up and then swinging back down again. Lots of shortstack fish, and the 100 games today haven't really been better than the 50 games were. The fish are buying in with less money in $ at 100 than at 50. Hoping it gets better in the late night again.

Challenge Bankroll: $914.77

Untimed session back and forth between times when I was getting two good Pineapple games. Swung down quite a bit then won a couple of stacks at the end to move ahead again. Hand review later, or tomorrow. I really need to eat and sleep now. 100 tables were definitely fishier in the late night hours.

Challenge Bankroll: $982 even.

OK, hand review quickly before I fall asleep. I'm playing one full ring table and one six max so these might seem a little weird.

I 3x in Hijack with AK, CO calls, Button makes it $9, blinds fold, I make it $22, CO folds, Button calls. Flop 622tt, I jam for pot, he times way down and folds. It's not totally fun when he calls the fourbet but it seems like there aren't a lot of other ways to play this. Maybe fourbet bigger next time, but I sized to leave a psb in his stack.

MP with $7 opens 3x, I make it $9 on the button with AJs, randomly jammy SB calls and opener calls all in. Flop K98 with two of my suit, SB checks, I bet $11, he calls. Turn A, SB jams for a little more than pot and I call. He has T3. Shorty has KK and wins the main pot but the side is much bigger anyway.

I 3x the Hijack with ATs, Button and BB call. Flop T75m, BB leads half pot $4.75, I call and so does Button. Turn 7, BB checks, I bet $10, and they both fold. I don't understand this hand but I won it.

UTG minraises and I defend the BB with K2s. Flop KJ3tt with one of mine, I check-call $1. Turn Q giving me a flush draw, I check-call $1 again. River flushing 8, I check, he jams $96.5 and I think for about half a second before calling. He has QJ?

I 3x open the Hijack with 77, CO makes it $9, folds around to me and I call. Flop Q99tt and I check-call $7. Turn 5 and I check-call $11.20. River flushing J, I lead $19 and he folds. Not at all sure I got him off a better hand here but it's so hard to call anything on that card I thought I might as well.

Hijack and CO limp, I limp behind on the button with 66, blinds come along. Flop A65tt, SB leads $2, BB raises to $10, HJ call, CO folds, I make it $40, SB calls all in, BB clicks back for some reason, I put him in for his last $6 and he calls. They have A6 and A3. Just didn't see any reason to slowplay here.

UTG minraises, MP calls, I make it $8 in the SB with AJ, opener calls and MP folds. Flop 852tt, I lead $8, UTG clicks back and I run away. This cbet is probably bad.

HJ limps, I make it $4 in CO with KT, BB calls and limper folds. Flop A87r, check, I bet $3, he calls. Turn 5, check, I bet $5, he calls. River 3, I give up and check back, he has 98. I don't like this hand at all.

CO checks his post, Button limps, I complete 22, BB makes it $4, poster folds but Button and I call. Flop 965tt, I check, BB bets $6.5, Button folds and I call. Turn 8, I lead $13 and he calls. River A, I bet $26 and he folds. I'm getting more comfortable doing this.

HU, I've been 3xing because he's been calling a lot. I 3x 88, he makes it $9 and I call. Flop T65r, check, I bet $9, he raises to $45 and I fold. I feel like I walked into something here, and I should be more careful in this spot.

Three-handed, Button opens 3x, I make it $10 in SB with KK, both call. Flop AT8tt, checks around. Turn 2, check, stabby BB bets $15 and we both fold. This feels super weak but I'm not sure I can just call off twice here.

Another marginal session dodging around Pineapple fish. This isn't a very good way to learn, but it's hard to resist these guys giving me money, and I am getting to play some hands and even pay attention to a few of them.

One limper to me and I check 33. Flop 544, checks. Turn 6, checks. River 3, I put him in for $46.51 and he calls. This continues to work from time to time. It's probably a bad habit to get into.

Three-handed with two bad players, I 3x button with A4, both call. Flop J84, SB bets $1, BB calls, and I call. Turn 4, SB bets $1, BB jams for $30.58, I call, SB folds. He has 54.

SB minraises and I defend A2s. Flop K96tt with one of mine, check, I bet $2 and he calls. Turn A, check, I bet $4 and he calls. River 7, He leads $9, I think and think and fold. I don't have a range for him here, it just seemed like such a weird line for something Ax beats.

Challenge Bankroll: $994.65.

Not the early morning session I was looking for. Seemed like everybody had my number, and the few times I did get it in ahead I lost anyway. Came close to sliding all the way back to 50 before pulling things together a little bit in some mid-sized pots at the end. For confidence's sake, reminding myself here that even with playing badly and getting owned by all my opponents, if QQ had beaten AQ aipf I'd be down only a buyin. It wasn't purely getting owned even if it felt like it.

Challenge bankroll: $689.93. Back in the saddle again tomorrow.

Didn't end up playing yesterday, not because of the downswing, but because I got 13 hours of two-tabling action at Pineapple. Today wasn't quite that nice, but still quite a bit, so I only got a bunch of short sessions in between action. Went well on the EV side but unfortunately a four-outer for stacks dominates the results.

Books, since we like some offtopic in this forum and that's what I've got right now. Finished Colin Cotterill's The Rat-Catchers' Olympics, which was entertaining in the way that his books are. There's this thing that happens to mystery series where the only really reasonable response is "yep, that was another one of those. It hit all the reasons I like them." This is book 12, and it's pretty much right in the groove.

Challenge Bankroll: $608.41

Now I know why people love this game so much - because losing $350 pots with AA vs KK aipf is so much fun. My ev continues to look really good, which I guess is reassuring as my bankroll continues to shrink.

Challenge Bankroll: $571.67

Probably taking today off, as I've been sleeping terribly and need to get my schedule reset by Wednesday night. I happened to be awake for the start of the freeroll, though, so I figured I might as well, and finished second for $42.96.

Challenge bankroll: $614.63

Short session, won a little, ran even further under EV. I did win a pot for full stacks all in when I had only 95%, which is the least I've won one in a few days so that's progress. Still sick and sleeping like crap and immensely tired.

I do feel like I'm making progress at getting comfortable at this level. Still having trouble folding as much as it seems like I ought to. I'm maybe over-aware of my own exploitability on the times when I raise Ax, get called, miss, and give up. But contesting those pots never seems to go well.

Challenge Bankroll: $648.41

Couple of interesting hands:

Hijack opens to $3.5, aggressive button calls, I call the SB with AJ, BB folds. Flop KT3, check, check, button bets $7, I make it $19 and both fold.

Aggro player from above hand opens 3x in the SB, I call T9. Flop 862, he bets $6.5, I raise to $20, he calls. Turn 5, check, I bet $21, he calls. River T, check, I check back and win against 99. I'm betting most other rivers here.

Button who really likes to minraise the button does, I make it $8 with KJ, fishy BB calls, button folds. Flop 443, check-check. Turn 8, check-check. River J, I bet $6 and immediately think I should have checked to induce. BB raises to $29 and I fold.

Button above minraises, I make it $7 with TT, BB and button both call. Flop 985tt, I bet $13, BB folds, Button calls. Turn 7, I bet $25, Button jams for $100, I call and lose to 87. I don't really think I can do any of this different except maybe raise more pre.

Played another couple of hours. Moved up to three-tabling for most of it, since mostly full ring was running. Got one nice withdrawal from the equity bank all in on the turn with a set against two nut straights and a pair on the river. Otherwise lots and lots of getting into pots and missing, so just a small win in the book.

Challenge Bankroll: $655.66