tommytwotoes

So this weekend I finally ran out of my “fun” money and on Monday I deposited from my official bankroll. So Far I have limited myself to very short sessions about 30 minutes a pop playing 50 cent $1 NL Holdem. Things have gone well as each time i have profited about $60-70, so I cant complain. I will say that the online play will just be at random I don’t plan on any marathon sessions, it will be more of a convience thing. I plan on try to have the bulk of my play be in live games for this experiment.The online games that I have been apart of have been rather tight, almost too tight, I have tried to take advantage of this by being a little LAG.
In other news I had a bad session at one underground room on friday night and another bad session at the other room I frequent. That second room I wish they would move locations but it appears they are not going anywhere. Both of these losses were really nothing to write about just things didnt go my way, I do feel like my heart wasnt in the second one or that my mind was on other things.

Tonight I head off to a room and try to redeem myself. I am setting a goal of $400 in profit for the night(if I hit that I am leaving). I will post back here the results.(ended up only making just over 200 in profit)

Well it was a rocky start on my first month of the 10k Challenge, But the last week or two was good to me. One of the local card rooms provided me with most of my profit. Winstar to my surprise was a losing proposition. And another place in town was a break even spot. $23 an Hour was my pay rate, which I am happy with. But I am hoping that I at least have that at the end of the next month, I would really like it to be above 30 an hour, but that will take some doing. I put in over 80 hours at the tables this month, and hope that trend continues. Tentatively I will set a goal of $25 an hour and 100 hours this next month. I am hoping to make it out to Vegas next weekend and play for a good 20-30 hours while there.
See ya at the tables.

Well like most Tuesday’s now a days I spent it at a certain poker room in town. I made a decent score(+$760). There was one hand in particular that created the lion’s share of the profit.

I had Pocket jacks,was in early position and raised to $17. I get 5 callers. Right before the flop the new waitress walks up behind me and starts massaging my neck/shoulders. I don’t blame her I am a sexy fucking guy but this was not the time for this shit. It freaked me out, yall that know me know that I don’t like that massage crap… see this post for previous documentation: massage . I spilled some chips I was trying to grab to be ready for my next bet/move. I said something like really please stop and it took her a while to stop… just weird .. everyone laughed at me but whatever…. I guess I am the weird one.

So anyway  the flop was J-8-10 two spades. I was probably still freaked out and I under bet. I only bet $30 everyone called. and the last person to act went all in for $10 more which of course everyone called… we are seeing the turn 5 way. which isn’t good, as long as the turn doesn’t pose much of a threat I am going all in. The turn was the 4 of diamonds I believe and I went all in. Guy to my left immediately calls for $160. then the guy next to him calls for like $200+, I was really worried. The last guy to act thought for a long time then showed QQ and folded. Good fold by the way. I flipped over my set of Jacks and two people showed that they had a 9 and where on the open ended straight draw… the other player didn’t show and just mucked(I guess he had two pair or just top pair?). I was surprised that no one was on the flush draw. The river turns over and its the 9 of spades. Thank god no one was on the flush draw and thank god the guy with QQ folded(he would have hit the straight). I ended up taking it down with top set, and my stack was now over $800. I won another $100 hand when I had 10-10 vs 99 a few hands later, all in on the flop of 8-6-3.

After another orbit or two I decided to lock the win up and go home. As I was making this decision, one of the players apparently that actually reads my blog made a comment about how I was texting someone to call me so I could get out of there…..

So late on Saturday I went to Winstar. I sat down at a table of relatively tight players, and nothing much happened. I lost with a flopped straight to a guy with a higher flopped straight(me:5-2 him:5-7 flop: 346). Luckily he didn’t have much in the way of chips, he tried to justify why he was in the hand cause he was in the small blind… I laughed and said dude I was in the big blind and it was limped around … calm down things like that will happen. Just found it funny that he tried to justify it to a guy playing 2-5. Shortly after this the table broke and I was moved to another table.

This new table had a lot more action. I doubled up early on when i flopped a straight yet again and a guy with two pair pushed on me. However that is where the fairy tale ends and the never ending suck outs begin. In particular one player constantly caught on me. He would raise to 12-24 preflop with any two cards. and 4 people would call him. Me being one of them several times I flopped two pair and he rivered bottom trips… it was frustrating. Finally I am only sitting on $90 in chips and I get 99. I limp in knowing that he has 100% of the time raised when he was in the SB or BB and its limped to him. He raises to $17, gets 3 callers and i re-pop it for $90 , I was pretty sure that the other guys would fold and they did, the idiot called. After he calls the guy to my right says “man good luck he has been catching on you all night long, I wonder what trash he has this time”. I reply “ya no joke”, I wasnt paying attention and the dealer had just put out the flop and the idiot stood up and said “Ship It! See ya later!” and he turned over A-K , I was annoyed by his comment and surprised he had a hand actually. I then looked at the flop and saw 9-K-9. I stood up slammed my cards on the table face up and said “I flopped quads on your Ass, Bitch!” The Entire table roared in laughter. The guy wasn’t happy about this and said that I got lucky etc, whatever clowndick. A few orbits later he was still raising with any two cards. He raised to 22 after a few limpers and I had A-2off and I decided to call, the flop was 6-7-2(two diamonds) he checked and I pushed all in. He thought for 2-3 minutes and then called with j-9 diamonds, he asked what I had I said “a pair”, the turn came an Ace and I said “now I got two pair” (I still hadn’t actually turned my cards over.). And the river came out the Ace of diamonds giving him the flush, He once again said “ship it”, I said “well if the turn gave me two pair doesn’t that mean I have a full house?” at this point I turned over my cards and the dealer shoved the chips my way. The guy got up and left disgusted, like he was robbed of his poker glory.

Sadly I still left down for the night When me and another guy flopped a straight and he had a freeroll to a flush, and it got there. such is poker. Winstar has been really tough on me since this 10k thing started. I do however have a feeling it will turn around consistently at some point.

So here is food for thought with a poker hand of all things on a poker blog.

some background info first: the room i was playing in is known for being over agressive and loose. raising and reraising preflop with ace high and small pairs.

I was sitting at a table playing 1-2nl and i get 8d8h on the button I have around 325 in chips. It was actually folded around to me … which is rare. I raise and make it $12. the SB folds and the BB reraises, he makes it $40. huh ok. Well at this room I didn’t think much of it besides the guy was trying to “protect his blind” and he likely had a-k or something similar. He might have had an over pair also. But I thought it warranted a call.

The flop was 10d-7d-6d. Yes all diamonds, I have an inside straight flush draw a straight draw and a flush draw not to mention I have a pair. The guy fires out $100 as his bet. What do you do ?

ok after giving yall the morning to talk about it in the forum….

I thought about it and decided to push. I figured that he might have an over pair and he might not. What i was hoping was that all my outs where live and if he has an overpair I have a 52% chance of winning this hand. He immediately called, which i didnt like, he flipped over AhAd. I was surprised by this to some degree and disappointed that my Diamond draw was real slim as only the 9 of diamonds would help me out. Granted my inside straight draw was live and so were my 8’s.  But seeing that A of diamondstook me from a 52% chance of hitting to close to just 20%. The turn flys out and i hit my small miracle the 9 of hearts… no straight flush but I am not going to complain. I then was chanting “no diamond”…”no diamond”…”no diamond”…and the river was a 2 of clubs. Tommy sucks out and wins a decent size pot. Sadly that only got me above evening for the trip.

…I forget the rest of the saying but, BigSlick created a rather funny video, poking fun at me.

httpv://www.youtube.com/v/qjuFckczI7

So last night I was sitting in an underground room playing the usual 1-2. It was a decent game but with a few new to the table regulars that just sat down I knew things where going to get more to the gambling side of things than a serious game. Sure they bring lots of money to the game but with my now limited bankroll I cant afford the swings that these people can. And trust me they are not playing on any kind of bankroll management scheme they are just gambling.

Anyway I got up a few hundred and decided that I needed to get out of there. I had only been there for  a short while and felt that leaving would look weird. Why is is that I feel this way? I shouldn’t its my money. I should be able to leave when I want to. The only thing bad i can think of about leaving after a quick score is that maybe you get a reputation in people’s minds as a quick hit artist, and then on future visits they will play you accordingly. So to avoid it looking like I was leaving on my own accord I texted a friend and asked him to “call me”. He did within minutes and I had my excuse to leave with my quick score.

It seems like there ought to be a service that you text and they call you and you can have a fake conversation with them, and about how you need to leave right then and there. I can see this being useful on many occasions, family events that you really don’t care to be a part of … ring ring… “oh its work I need to go into the office”…. or while on a first date where it just inst going well….ring ring…. “oh my mom was just in a car accident I need to go to the hospital now!”…. or how about at work while in a meeting that you just don’t care about and someone is droning on and on about something….ring ring…”I got to take this call its an important client of ours.” The possibilities are endless.

The other thought that crossed my mind last night was that with my now limited bankroll , I shouldn’t be risking more than $200 on any single hand. Thus when I do win a certain amount I ought to be leaving and going to the next table or place and starting over at $200. Just a thought…

So many have asked what is going on? … what is this 10k thing you are talking about?

Well Back in July I made a promise to myself and more or less to a select group of guys that I would pretty much solely play 1-2nl holdem until I could grow a new bankroll from $1,000 to $10,000. I have automatic payments($400 a month) setup to go into a separate poker bank acct as a means of subsidizing. But most of the money should come from poker profits. Or well that is the goal.
This mission officially started on July 15th, and pretty much i have had some swings up and down but am pretty much just playing break even poker. On Some level this isnt a surprise, As i have not played super serious in a while. I am hoping that I start to trend upwards. One of the fellow pokerplayers mentioned that I am still in the minority with my miniscule profit. And another reiterated that it was once publicized that only 7% of players(online but i would assume it carries over to live) are profitable….. 7%…. that is a nasty truth. that means that when you are sitting at the table maybe one of those players is a winner…. Yet wait everyone talks about how they make money and are a profitable player. I play alot and thus hear it alot. “Oh i make money, I make thousands and blah blah blah….” they drone on about it. But if you ever ask them for proof of this they cant provide any. My favorite is when they say “I know I am a winner long term, I keep track in my head” but If you ask them if they keep detailed records they always say they dont. Why is this ? cause Nobody wants to be a loser. I think alot of it is that they enjoy the game and like to think that they are winners at a game. No one wants to say hey I am a loser at a game of “skill”… it makes them feel bad. And dont get me wrong I am not claiming to be some bigtime winner in this little challenge of mine. its calculated out that I make like less than $1 an hour or something… and that aint going to pay the bills anytime soon.  I am not calling these people outright liars etc I just think that people have revisionist history memories… its common and its ok… Poker for alot of people is something they can afford to play with the money they make from their regular jobs, its fun for them and cause they can afford it they dont keep track of the losses.

So next time you see someone bragging about how they are a poker pro ask them what their hourly rate is and if they keep detailed records. I bet they dont or that they come up with a story on the fly. 7%… less than one person sitting at your table is a profitable and this includes you. Are you a profitable player?