I tried really hard not to go into the 200k today expecting to do well. But I couldn't help but hope and imagine taking it down for $45k. I envisioned playing solid poker and running as deep as I possibly could. That became a reality today, but sadly I couldn't go all the way, finishing 25th/800+ for $1100.

I understand how twisted it is to complain about this but I think people fail to realize is what I'm complaining about. I'm not upset about winning $1100, lol. I'm upset about not running deeper. Its sickening to me that I had to survive just 24 more players for the first place of $45k. Coupled with the fact that I lost with AK vs AJ all-in pre and had him dead to a gutshot on the river in a massive 100k pot, pardon me for ranting.

Anyways, I feel like I played really well overall, with just one hand that I'm still kicking myself for. But I'll try to live with misplaying one hand out of 300. I think I can deal. I played as a shortstack for nearly an hour and a half (half of Hour 3 and nearly all of Hour 4) but managed to stay patient and steal enough to keep my head afloat until I could double up. I played solid and because of that I really didn't find myself in a lot of tricky situations so I'm grateful for that.

I also made a new friend while playing and I weigh things like that pretty heavily for whatever reason. Poker has a social aspect to it and I feel that making allies in the community is important. Anyways, he seems like a very good player and I'm very much looking forward to picking his brain and keeping in touch.

With this cash I'm rolled for 1/2 although I'm still not sure how I feel about playing with almost 25 buy-ins. I feel like I'm becoming a bigger nit the higher I move up, which is great on one hand but on the other hand is potentially costing me money. Anybody have a problem 6-tabling 1/2 6-max with a 25 buy-in roll?

Anyways, thanks for reading.

- BnB -

I woke up yesterday with little memory of getting home and the events of the night. My laptop was on my chest (how it didn't fall off my bed and die, idk) and dead since it was unplugged. Ridiculous. I stood up to use the restroo... whoooooa there thats a hangover. Fuck.

I grabbed a soda since it makes me feel better after a night of drinking and sat down at my computer and did the usual routine: Facebook, Gmail, 2+2, TwoRags, and some friends' blogs. I had planned on playing a marathon like 18-hr day yesterday (kidding, ish) but at that point in the day the thought of 6-tabling made me physically ill.

I knew I wanted to play poker though so I jumped in the first tournament I saw, the UB $2k Gtd $10r 6-max holy hell thats a mouthful. I figured I could deal with one table whilst I remedied myself back to a decent condition.

After 6-tabling for so long, I can't tell you how easy it was just having this one tournament open. I watched nearly every hand and had a pretty good feel for the metagame of the table, blah blah blah. I also felt that my opening ranges were pretty solid for a 6-max table. I noticed a lot of players who were playing like it was full ring, as well as others who were playing like it was 3-handed. So, to be cliche: I was patient, picked my spots, played solid, etc... and ended up taking the event down.

When we were down to the final 3 tables, I noticed a player who was beginning to run as hot as fire and was playing amazingly well. I felt like he was going to be my biggest threat. I don't know what it is or what he did, but no one gave him credit for anything and ended up shoving middle pair versus him like 3 times and all of a sudden he has this sick chip stack that was minimum like 8x above the average.

I end up getting HU with this player and after one hand it immediately becomes apparent that he is the worst HU player I've ever played against. I'd say he bet pot about 75% of the time, regardless of position, who raised pre-flop, or texture of the board.

I wish I had the hand history for this but I remember a hand in particular where I raised KK OTB and he called and led out for pot-sized bets on the flop and turn and culminated in him shoving the river and showing nothing but like 7 high. I'd seen this play from him before and I don't know if it was necessary on my part but I was using up all of my time clock. I've no idea if this actually gave him the false idea that I was weak and strongly debating what to do, or if he just was that poor. I ended up taking the event down for about $960.

Later in the day, I joined a $10r that gave away guaranteed 25 seats to the Sunday 200k. I love rebuys because they're deepstacked and I just sit back and essentially coast, not getting too involved and really sitting and waiting for solid hands. I mean, there is time for that. Of course as the bubble approaches I put the pressure on a bit more but generally speaking, you just have a sick amount of chips and I personally don't see the point in risking them early on. The event drew 100 people and I was actually worried with about 30 left that I wasn't going to make it. The bubble was lasting a little longer than usual and I was folding premium hands when folded to since I didn't want people left to act to wake up with real hands. In the end though I won the seat and I'm looking forward to playing that event today.

Eesh, after running my bankroll up to a record-high, I've lost nearly a third of it back in a day. I'm not playing to the best of my ability and its aggravating because its like I can't control myself. I'm not making simple laydowns I should be making, I over-complicate things for myself and assume that every 3-bet I face must be people just playing back at me with air. I feel like I've taken my game to a level that I didn't need to take it too. I plan on taking a break for a few days, maybe by playing micro limit games on a different site, and hopefully return to playing solid. I was pretty close to being adequately rolled for 1/2 but after this downswing I'm not planning on moving up anytime soon. There really shouldn't be a reason for a swing this sick. Hopefully I can turn things around relatively soon.

I played a handful of MTTs yesterday for the first time in a while and whiffed in all of them. I'd never played the UB $109 $9k Gtd but did ok I guess for my first time, finishing 16th/70+ for no profit. I felt like I played well and ultimately I feel that is the most important thing. I lost a crucial flip at the final two tables, AQ vs TT, and never recovered. If anything, I'm glad I feel still confident about my MTT game. Its pretty tough to switch from the super-aggressive 6max tables to a super-nitty tournament but I feel that I've got a good grasp on both games to flip-flop between them.

I switched from MTTs to cash when MTTs went bad and got boring for me, and although a little downswing isn't enough to make me switch back from cash to MTTs, its definitely a possibility if I can't recompose myself.

I am really interested in being shown any articles/threads dealing with 3bets in short-handed cash games. I feel like I don't know much about what to 3-bet with, whether or not to lead out, what range to put opponents on, etc. Obviously a lot of it is villain-based, but theres gotta be something out there. I'm going to search 2+2, but I'd appreciate anyone pointing me in the direction of some advice.

We need a Bond18 for cash games, imo. Is there an equivalent?

I was a small winner at MTTs in March, mostly because a week and a half into the month I grew completely bored with tournaments and decided to stop playing them all together. I've played maybe like 4 of them in the past 2 and a half weeks.

So, instead, I started playing cash games. I reread my previous post and remember saying that I wanted to play 0 hands of cash games during the month because I just sucked so bad at cash. Ha. Hilarity.

I just couldn't stay away from them. I kept playing cash games and losing money, over and over and over again until finally... I just decided that I was going to stop playing tournaments and focus on how beating these goddamn cash games.

I've put in hundreds of hours and thousands of hands this month. I've made friends with some NL50 and NL100 regs who are crushing the games, and we talk on AIM nearly every night about poker. I review my sessions in PT everyday. Most importantly, I'm getting results.

My goals for April:
- idk say 50k hands of cash.
- hit 80k UB Points so I can get a 360.
- Make $3k.

I've never really played cash games before so idk if those are good/bad goals, but I'll edit them if need be. Hopefully next time I'll have a bit more experience for making cash game goals.