just curious, have you tried ketamine infusion....

IMO, the problem with trying "every anti depressant available" is that they pretty much all try to do the same thing and they operate on a theory of the casue of depression which many think is incomplete or just flat out wrong.

K is legitimately different... it is based on the glutamate system rather than 5ht based like pretty much every anti-depressant out there... hours after treatment, research has shown actual physiological changes in neurons.

idk if you can get K treatment in vegas, but you can in phoenix, which isnt too far away.

You are right. Not much else to be said.

Thanks.

You mean ketamine, like the narcotic special K? If thats what you are referring to, I've never done it. I know Ketamine can produce a psychedelic trip ("going into a K hole") but I always stayed away because of fear I guess. I have done some LSD and MDMA therapy with a friend who is a Doctor of Psychology. Results were very dramatic and lasted months but I always regressed back to my old mental state.

I have a very lengthy post incoming detailing my sessions this weekend that came close to 70hrs. From up 3k on friday to walking to my car monday with 35% less of my bankroll. I also played with a guy who had just won the lottery recently and came close to playing him heads up, if it wasn't for his wife intervening I would probably be writing a post about the best weekend of my poker life, instead I will be writing about one of the worst :-(. Should be up by tmrw morning as I am playing the 7pm aria then cash afterwards.

Sorry to hear about your ****ty session/s. I just got back from Maryland and it was pretty horrible as well considering how well last week started. Just keep soldiering on brother. As long as you keep playing well through the tougher times it'll eventually swing up in your favor hopefully sooner than later. Best of luck in your near future endeavors and on

A Downswingin We Will Go: Part 1

It started on Friday at 6 p.m. I had just eaten a buffet with a fellow 2+2er, enjoyed some good food and was feeling refreshed, ready for a nice solid session. I found my seat at a 2/5 game where I only recognized two people at the table, one being a part of a group of British grinders who show up once a year for 3-4 months and crush the games. A couple of good hands and a solid bluff had me at +$550 in the first half hour. Then I tried the old triple barrel bluff and boy did it backfire. I was utg+3 and raised with the Q9 to 20, folded around to the Brit in the hijack and he bumps it up to $45. Folded back around to me and I make it $105. He thinks for around 25 seconds and throws in the call. He has me covered by a considerable amount and effective stacks were $1100.

Flop: Q52 I threw out a continuation bet of $85 and he quickly called.

Turn: 3. I fired out $205 and he quickly calls while turning back around to eat his sandwich, seemingly uninterested in the river card.

River:4. I didn't even think about it, before I had time to calm myself down, mainly to let it sink in that I knew I was beat and he was going to call or raise whatever I threw forward I made it $125. Value bet bluff was the only thing I can remember going through my head. He turns around, mustard running down the side of his face and says "all in", while still chewing on his sandwich. I insta-muck. I rarely ever triple barrel bluff in a cash game and this is an example of why I shouldn't. I slowly built my stack back up over about 4 hours, nothing exciting, just standard plays, when I got a call from a friend who was up the strip playing in a great 2/5 game at the Wynn. I had only played tourneys at the Wynn, never cash and decided to give it a shot. It has one of the largest caps for 2/5 in town and I've been told it plays like a 5/10. Sounds good.

The 2/5 game was fantastic and as advertised, played like a 5/10. Stacks were all 1k+, some being north of 2.5k and the players were looser than a Boulder Highway streetwalker. I didn't write any hands into my phone but I do remember two hands that occurred around 5 a.m. My stack was down from the capped buy in by $200, but I was still feeling pretty good. The big stack at the table was sitting with around 4k from basically getting hit in the face with the deck. He was a young Asian kid who looked like he was on cocaine, he kept rubbing his nose, having to dab drainage with a tissue and frequently left the table to go to the restroom. Folded around to me in the hijack and I looked down at the AK, quickly raising to the table standard of $35. Young Asian kid in the BB rubs his nose and makes it $200. I put in another bet for a total of $475 and he doesn't hesitate before throwing in two more black chips and three greens.

Flop:AxAx8x He shoves all in immediately, he didn't even look at the flop. I saw this. He was busy texting on his phone, looked at his stack and announced his action. I call.

Turn and River: 7x9x He tables KK and I scoop the $2600 pot.

The very next hand utg raises to $35. UTG is a middle aged white gentleman who I have seen play 2 hands during his 5 hours at the table. He seems more interested in swirling the olives in his martini than playing the game. Action is folded around to me and I have a beautiful pair of deuces. I call and the Young Asian makes it his famous $200. UTG throws in the call as do I and we see a flop.

Flop:234r . Young Asian slides out a very large continuation bet of $525 and UTG thinks for a second before looking at the remainders of his stack, somewhere around $450 and announces all in. The board was rainbow and there is no way I am letting this go. I elect to call and we see a turn.

Turn:3x Young Asian immediately slides out $600. I decide after a long time in the tank to go all in and I can tell by the look on the Young Asian's face he is beat. He spends a good 5 minutes saving face before throwing his cards into the muck.

River: 3x I look over at the Middle aged white guy as he smiles and tables his Ax5x, not realizing any pair beats him. I flip my deuces over and scoop the $3300 pot, bringing my profits for Friday night/Saturday Morning to $4600.

I lost a hand a couple of hours later with the ole flopped set over set situation, which brought my profits down to $3250 and I took a break to go eat some breakfast and take a walk on the strip before starting back up. Very few drugs in the world can compare to the high you feel when you walk out of the casino a big winner. I basically floated out the doors and down the street to Hash House.

Little did I know I would lose all the money in my backpack and more by the end of the weekend. It was the calm before the storm. As I said before, I am the epitome of the saying "the bigger the rise, the harder the fall."

I'll put up part two here in a little bit. I am down in New Orleans right now and need to get me a poboy stat!

Nice update man.

+1, on that feeling

Down in New Orleans, huh? Can't wait to hear about that trip!

Lol. I won't be writing about it. I am taking a train back west though, only $218!! Excited for my first rail trip ever.

Playing the Brits, was this a Bellagio

Yep. I tried triple barreling the one who has man tits, don't know his name, I just call him "mike tango." He laughs when I call him that, which always makes me giggle. The coolest one of the bunch is Johnny, the real skinny dude with black hair.

Yes. I know Johnny v well

Used to play him lots at MGM

A Downswingin We Will Go: Part 2

After filling myself with the delicious food offered by my favorite breakfast joint in town and catching a cup of coffee with a friend, I took a walk down the strip. I ended up at one of my least favorite rooms but decided to sit down nonetheless. This room is full of sharks, grinders and in general people who take poker seriously. I will play the tourneys here due to their good structure but excluding World Series time, I seldom find myself at a cash table. I spent close to 8 hours at the 1-3PLO game, dropping 2 buy ins. One buy in was the result of an extremely poor play where I took my nut flush blocker to the edge and got called by the K flush. The other was an aiof with a set and nut flush draw, somehow missed everything and the pot was taken down by a straight.

It was about 5 p.m. and I headed over to my normal spot to hop into a 5/10. The table looked alright and I was seated to the right of a gentleman who was collecting half drank corona lights at his feet. He literally had 6 half drank bottles resting at the base of his chair and was receiving a new one from the waitress every time she came around. I also noticed in the middle of his feet was a loose roll of $100s. I guesstimated it to be in the 15-20k range. He also had 3k in front of him. Shortly after I sat down he hit a gutshot on the river vs a solid reg and got paid off. "Lucky," the pro muttered as he threw his cards in. "That's why I won the lottery man, twice." Hold on a second. I had to see if this guy was telling the truth, so I started talking with him and sure enough he had won 1 million on a scratch off. Two weeks later he had binked 500k on yet another scratch off. He had the pics to prove it and was quick to show him holding these over sized checks. Right on, good for him. Well, he is one lucky S.O.B. He was playing crazy, putting in as many bets preflop and post as his opponents would let him. He was raising with ATC and it was a dream scenario as this guy obviously didn't care about money. He had just won the lottery twice in the past 2 months, he was riding the wave. Well, I lost 7 buy ins ($10,500) to this man over the course of 4 hours. He never had the best of it when all of the money went in. Not once. I documented the pain on my iphone as it was happening. Here are the hands:

AA<56 All in on flop of 6 high, he turned another 6
KQs<33 All in on flop of Q24, he runner runner straighted me
AK<AQ All in on the turn with a board of AKQ7, river Q
77< 34 All in on a flop of 726 River 5 OF ****ING SPADES
AJs<A8 All in on the Turn with a board of AJ98, river 8

At this point I was on super tilt, these last two hands were all in preflop as I would just shove after he 3bet me.

AQ<78 Board run out: 781032

99<44 4 on the turn

I was fuming. The worst part is that the guy was goading me, needling me like I have never been needled before. He then asked me if I wanted to play heads up to "get some of my money back." He was serious. I quickly accepted and went to find the floor. After talking to the floor they agreed to host the HU match but it had to be 20/40 or higher. I texted my roommate and told him to bring me 10k out of my safe immediately. I went back to the 5/10 table and pulled out the last bit of money I had on me, one $500 chip. I bought back in and folded every hand as I waited for the arrival of what was now close to 20% of my bankroll. About twenty minutes later my friend showed up and I looked to the Lottery Winner and asked him if he was ready. He smiled and chugged the Corona in his hand and stood up, the dude started beating his chest as if we were about to step into the Coliseum for a fight to the death. Just then a hand wrapped around his shoulder and a feisty Latino woman started speaking Spanish to him so rapidly my head was spinning. I caught a couple of curse words but they weren't necessary to determine the nature of the conversation. He looked at me and said "sorry bro but I have to go to dinner." He racked up his chips and left me standing there. I had missed a golden opportunity. How often does a FREAKING LOTTERY WINNER want to play you heads-up?!?! This would never happen again. I left the room with my friend and just made laps around the Bellagio. He was trying to reason with me throwing out words like "variance", he isn't even a poker player, he doesn't know what it feels like to go through the insanity that I just had thrust upon me. This loss was causing me physical pain, my stomach was hurting, my head throbbing, I was dizzy and shaking.

I wanted to get the money back. I didn't need to, but I wanted to. This hit to my bankroll was bad but it could always be worse. The old chase your losses mentality kicked in and instead of going back to grinding in the poker room, I found myself in another room. The high limit room in the pit. I sat down at a Baccarat table and threw my 10k down. It was midnight Saturday/Sunday morning and I didn't leave that room besides going to use the bathroom, until 5 a.m. Monday.

I had been awake for close to three days straight by the end of it and I wasn't on drugs, except caffeine. It was pure adrenaline. Gambler's adrenaline, one of the most powerful stimulants on the planet. I played $100/hand, betting banker the entire time.

My high point was 13k and my low point was $0.

That is when I picked up my jacket and walked to my car with 21k less than I had two days earlier. Was this a downswing? The first 10k surely was. The last I will keep the down and put melt in front of it.

Side note: I later heard the Lottery Winner found his way back to the 5/10 tables and was seated with Jimmy Tran on his right and Huck Seed on his left. I was informed his luck ran out.

Brutal man. As soon as I saw the word "baccarat" my stomach knotted up.

Why don't you have a box?

I do, just not at the casino I was playing at. I rarely keep cash at home for obvious reasons.

Ok
Seemed odd you wouldn't have a box at your "normal small"

My normal spot hasn't always been my normal spot. Where I have my box now is close to where I am living, so it suits me well.

Ouch man, this was almost physically painful to read. Definitely had some bad experiences chasing poker losses in the pit myself. On the bright side, if my experience is anything to go by, you will be getting some really nice free hotel offers in the mail soon, so I hope you at least lost it in a nice casino.

Subbed to the epicness. Please continue to update this thread it is amazing.

Yeah I will check when I get back to Vegas as I am pretty sure a 29hr baccarat session will tier me up.

For some reason, I'm not seeing the rest of the down swinging pt2. It cuts off after some hands: AA. Anyone else have this issue? OP can you repost?

I had the same issue on my mobile device, but was able to trick it by quoting OP's post and it all appeared in the quote. After reading the rest, I just discarded the post.

Brutal! Take a break for a few days and regroup.

sorry to hear about your losses; that is probably the worst run-bad session I have ever heard about (I avoid reading about bad beat stories that are just about the bad beat; obviously, your blog is much more rounded and deeper than that)

Yeah the hands vs the Lottery Winner were surreal, I was in complete shock at what was happening. Having him say "thats why I won the lottery twice" after each bad beat just made it worse. He claimed he was on a millionaire matchmaking show but I can't find him on youtube.