NEW BEST MONTH EVER!!!

October may have been meh, but November was ROCKIN’! With one hot handed trip to the Horseshoe-Bossier City I posted my biggest single session win ever. This trip propelled me into my biggest month ever. I also had my best month ever at online Full Ring games, I won $1,013, mostly at 100NL on Bodog.



I definitely earned it this month, I played a lot more hours than I usually do. My typical month is around 20 to 30 hours, but I got in 53 hours this month online. I was about 500 hands short of 10k hands with a 6.2 BB/100 Hands win rate. I got in more hours due to my wife being gone for a play that she was dancing in. This caused me to miss Monday night volleyball also, which just added to the time that I could play cards online after my son went to bed.

200NL online was a real challenge this month. I took 3 shots at that game, the first one went really bad. I dropped a full buyin and made a really bone-headed play here:

Bodog No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

saw flop|saw showdown

MP1 ($125.50)
Landlord79 ($266.00)
CO ($302.50)
Button ($414.50)
SB ($284.50)
BB ($46.50)
UTG (CompleteRock) ($200.00)
UTG+1 ($287.00)

Preflop: Landlord79 is MP2 with A, A.
UTG (CompleteRock) calls $2, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $8, Landlord79 calls $8, 1 fold, Button calls $8, 1 fold, BB calls $6, UTG (CompleteRock) calls $6.

Flop: ($41) 8, 7, 4 (5 players)
BB checks, CompleteRock bets $23, MP1 folds, Landlord79 raises to $64, Button folds, BB folds, CompleteRock bets $192 (All-In), Landlord79 calls $128.

Turn: ($425) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)
.

River: ($425) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $425

Results below:
CompleteRock has 4 4 (full house, fours full of eights).
Landlord79 has A A (two pair, aces and eights).
Outcome: CompleteRock wins $425.




The second run at it I found a table with a total donk who stacked off really easily. I got into a big hand w/ him here:

Bodog No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (9 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

saw flop|saw showdown

Landlord79 ($212.50)
SB ($331.00)
BB ($200.00)
UTG ($200.00)
UTG+1 ($103.00)
MP1 ($588.00)
MP2 ($319.50)
MP3 ($183.00)
CO (theMark) ($515.50)

Preflop: Landlord79 is Button with 5, 7.
UTG calls $2, UTG+1 calls $2, 1 fold, MP2 calls $2, 1 fold, CO (theMark) calls $2, Landlord79 calls $2, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: ($13) 8, Q, 2 (6 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP2 checks, theMark bets $5, Landlord79 calls $5, BB folds, UTG calls $5, UTG+1 calls $5, MP2 folds.

Turn: ($33) 7 (4 players)
UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, theMark bets $5, Landlord79 raises to $25, UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, theMark calls $20.

River: ($83) 2 (2 players)
theMark bets $8, Landlord79 raises to $91, theMark raises to $174, Landlord79 bets $180.5 (All-In), theMark calls $6.50.

Final Pot: $444

Results below:
theMark has J K (flush, king high).
Landlord79 has 5 7 (flush, queen high).
Outcome: theMark wins $444.



Upon further review by the 2+2 Forums, this river was better played as a raise of $60 followed by a fold to any reraise. I really have to work on these spots.

On my final shot at 200NL for the month, things finally went right. I played about 30 minutes single tabling and caught Aces, Kings and 7s for some good wins. I didn’t win a buyin back, but I did win 2/3s of one back. I think the table was just a little softer and obviously my card distribution was really excellent for that session.

I practiced a lot more table selection at the end of this month than I have in the past. It’s amazing how many players you actually recognize when you’re not overwhelmed by the volume of the micro stakes games. Most of my table selection was based on who was sitting at a table rather than by the stats of the table. It’s the same principle as playing the player and not their stats. I’m finding weak players before I’m focusing on playing loose games.

I’m happy with how my game is growing, I’m still reading Professional No-Limit (going on the 3rd month now,) and I just bought my 1st Cardrunners video. (Sorry Adanthar, it wasn’t one of yours.) I really don’t play a lot of tournaments; so I felt like a Full Ring video would be better suited to my needs. Daut’s video was at 600NL, so some of the techniques that he taught aren’t really relevant for 100NL, but I have to start learning them sometime. He also ran bad card distribution wise, which puts me into a poor mind frame going into a session, so I probably won’t be watching it that often. I’ve also made a few great contacts w/ some players that are making real money at Full Ring games. I think these contacts will really propel my game forward.

My goals for December are to enjoy the holidays and only play about 5k hands. I’d also like to visit the Horseshoe-Bossier City one more time before the year ends, preferably during the Christmas or New Years weekends. I’d also like to run in the black for 200NL this month.

I just want to say that October was meh... It was lots better than September, but only 1/3 as good as August. I had a good turn around at the end of the month with my trip to the Horseshoe - Bossier City. Mostly that trip offset this trip, Return to the Shoe, but I still ended up positive for the month in live play.

My online play was still solid, my win rate has been running around 10BB/100 Hands, but I'm only playing 4 to 5k hands a month. I've got to get my quantity up to really start making some money.

I played a few tourneys online, guaranteed money down the tube since I don't play them except very sparatically.

My numbers for October look like this:
Live Ring $1/3NL: +$170
1 MTT: ($11)
PLO ($10)
SNGs ($12)
Online Ring +$496

Net = +$633.00

My chart is off once again due to Dogwatch, but it looks like this:


November Goals:
PLAY MORE HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, November has started off well, I'm up $181 after my first session. I've added one table of AP to my usual 3 on Bodog. If Bodog allowed more, I'd be playing 'em all there, but they don't so I'm having to venture out. Don't worry, I didn't make a deposit onto AP, they gave me $10 to come back and I've turned it into a seedling of a roll there. I'm not practicing bankroll management on AP because I'm just not going to play $10NL. It's currently at $106 as of last night and $25NL is as small as I'll play w/ it. Eventually I'm going to add more and more AP tables, but I think Bodog with it's high win rate will remain my bread and butter site.

Good luck all, may you run goot!

Rules of Engagement

For all of my loyal fans out there who check my blog every day hoping to get a line or two from me, =) sorry that I haven't written in a while but it's the end of the quarter and it's crunch time at work, we've also had lots of stuff going on at church, so I have been uber busy and have taken any spare time that I have to actually play poker instead of write about it. (Wow, that's a long sentence.)

I want to talk about managing when you play poker to optimize your win rate and minimize your losing sessions. I really feel that the players who can better manage themselves will end up making more money at poker and that they'll be the ones who are still around 10 or 20 years from now.

Everyone has his or her own quirks as far as what works best for them concerning optimal playing times. For me, I know that I play bad when I'm tired or rushed. On my trip to Biloxi, MS earlier this month, I was coming off a bout with strep throat. I was still on anti-biotics from the weekend before and wasn't fully recovered. I
figured that a few days of recovery would have allowed me to think clearly enough to play poker profitably. Boy was I wrong. Looking back, I now attribute 50% of my losses to mental fatigue and just plain not feeling up to doing the work of playing good poker. Sure my cards ran bad, that's the down side of variance, but I believe that my losses would have been a lot less if I would have been on top of my game that weekend. This fatigue carried through the next week as I proceeded to go through the biggest downswing of my life, which bottomed out at 10 buyins.

Another area that leaves me feeling tired and doesn't allow me to play at my best is playing poker after sex. I've paid the stupid tax on this lesson at least 2x already, and Saturday night, I tried my luck at it again. I guess that I thought that I had gotten good enough at poker to over come this weakness. I had cut my 10
buy in down swing in half for this month and was on the road to getting it all back when I found myself in a "Right Moment" with my wife. Once the action was over, I decided to do my next favorite activity and play some poker. Boy, what a bad idea that was, I proceeded to drop 2.5 buyins in the course of about 3 hours. I stayed up much too late and played way too long and I paid the penalty for it! I can honestly say that I have never paid for sex, but it has for sure cost me plenty of money!

I've also found that I don't play well when I'm on a time crunch. Situations of "Oh, I've got an hour before I have to be at so & so" are just not the right time to play. I've found that I make hurried calls and take the razor thin edges that are better left unplayed.

I also don't prefer to play at LAG tables where everyone is floating and calling down light. I like to be at semi-educated tables where the players have read enough Skylansky material to fold much too often. I'm not a chronic bluffer, but I do prefer heads up pots against people that I can predict what they are going to do. When I am getting floated and called down w/ 2nd pair or worse, I just need to get up and find another table.

So, what I'm going to do is reiterate to all of my loyal blog readers what my guidelines are for being at my peak when I play cards. This is mostly for my benefit, but I'm going to share it w/ you guys just so that you can help keep me accountable.

1. Don't play when I'm tired, this includes after sex, when I'm short on sleep, and after a very stressful day at work.
2. Don't play when time is an issue. This includes when my wife is pestering me and when I have to be somewhere in a short period of time.
3. Don't play at wild tables. The discipline to get up from these tables should add at least 1BB/100 Hands to my bottom line.

For the month so far, I am up ~$200 online and haven't been back to the casino for some live action since my Biloxi debacle. I was up ~$500 online prior to Saturday night and also lost $170 on Monday afternoon during a time crunched session. Combined, I'm at ~($870) for the month, and would have been half way into that Biloxi loss if I would not have broken my first two rules.

Update as of 10pm, I picked up about $50 tonight in a 2 hour session. It's not much but it's another win!

LL79

I just wanted to report in about what my best month ever looked like:



+$690 at online full ring cash games
+$725 at live $200NL at the Horseshoe-Bossier City
+$160 in MTT sharing
-$100 in Insurance
-$25 at online Omaha 8
+$200 in Home Games

Total profit of $1,650.00
This breaks down into $26/hr total
Online win rate was 31BB/100 Hands

I know this isn't Balla or anything, but Brian Townsend once played $50NL too!

In Retrospect:
Going busto on Full Tilt was the best thing that could have happened to me. It got me to quit playing $10NL and got me back on Bodog where I ended the month playing $100NL.

My live cash game is really going good right now. My game fundamentals are getting stronger coupled with the research and reading that I have done in the past concerning tells, I feel that I am really on top of my game.

Insurance is getting costly, I'm out $250 so far in the 2 months that this experiment has started. I have been running very goot though, so I might make up the difference when things turn south.

My boy BJJIII is a new dad and w/ the pregnancy and birth out of the way, I hope that he can now rejoin me on the felt, he's been missed.

Going Forward:
I'll be in Biloxi, MS for the Gulf Coast Poker Championship next weekend. I'll be playing cash games exclusively so don't even entertain the thought that I might come back with a "I Luckboxed my way into a win at a $10,000 buyin WPT event" blog.

I just got Professional No Limit in from Amazon.com, I hope to have it read quickly so that I can start it again to really get the meat out of it.

I'm hoping that my reduced time spent at home games will allow me to make more trips to the Horseshoe- Bossier City . I don't know if the wife will let this float, but if things keep going like this for a while, I don't see how or why she would try to keep me from it.

Just a quick update. My wife was out of town last week, so I got a lot of card playing in, including a trip to the casino which I'll write about tomorrow at work! =) I'm just gonna throw in a quick line about Stud 8 that I played today while relaxing and taking a break from the NLHE grind.

I'm no genius at stud 8, but the play seems really bad online. I might invest in a book or two for the game (if someone could recommend something) because the players are just chasing rediculous stuff with no pot odds and no real draws. They're chasing bad lows in heads up pots and generally just blowing money. Like I said, I'm not very good at the game, but I've read Super System 1 and try to stick to those guidelines. I love the freerolling part of the game when you make the nut low or a really strong high hand and are just blasting a three way pot, then you end up scooping the whole thing when they miss their low draws or you complete the wheel on the river.

I played about 40 minutes today and picked up $9.15 after scooping two big pots and chopping a few more small ones. I love that game, I guess because you can play it very mechanically and still do well at it. So, chalk me up for one buyin recovered on FT!
Landlord79- Shreveport trip report soon, I promise!