Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days I have been so busy getting ready for my move in tomorrow morning in a city outside of A.C. It all happened really quick. I went to look at the inside of an apartment and the landlord just randomly ended up giving me the keys. So, I start dealers school on Monday night and I am really excited to get to know the area and start working. Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes and hopes cause everything turned out great. I have a nice big apartment at a reasonable price and an opportunity which is all I hoped for. The plan is to start dealing and eventually go back to school and get certified to teach gym.

Start looking out for updates on the A.C. poker room pages as I will work hard on getting them as up to date and accurate as possible. Pictures are going to be hard, but I will do my best to get those as well.

I also have another thing to say, I hate Roy Winston. The guy who just won the Borgata Poker Open is one of the worst poker players that I have seen in play at such a high level. I understand why some of the top pros still come out to these tourneys, its because there is dead money like him still playing in them. If any of you watched poker on Live at the Bike you should already know who Roy is. He was a retired doctor who played in all the high-limit NL Hold'em games at the Bicycle-e Casino in L.A. From what I read on Cardplayer.com he either is working side by side with Yosh Nakano as a high limit host or he is THE high limit host there now, which is a joke to me. The guy is not a true poker player worthy of being a host in my opinion, but him and his also terrible poker player friends should now be flooding the high limit games at the Bike. If you guys are bankrolled for these games I suggest playing in them cause I am 100% sure that they are yummier than ever. Basically his is a piss poor rich man that doesn't need or deserve the money, but at the same time that money will make it back into the poker community through the cash games at the Bike I am sure. No, I am not jealous I just never really liked the guy and it makes me laugh that a person can run that good in a few months that they can take 20 something in the Main Event and win the Borgata Poker Open. This is a type of player that has to run good in order to do this well from what I have seen so far. Please, nobody make comments on hands hes played or whatever because I am waiting for the show to air so I can laugh at him.

No updates on cash or tourney sessions online because I haven't really played. I have been super busy with purchasing a bunch of crap for the house and preparing to move out. I hope I should be back online by like Monday or Tuesday. GL at the tables guys.

I had my best session at 25NL to date late last night into early this morning. I went through all the motions that I had wanted to during the day. I woke up, ate breakfast went to the gym, came home and began posting on 2+2 reading posts around my bankroll level. I then at some lunch and read a few chapters in Pro NL. Then I went out with some of my buddies. I came home ready to take on a table with full confidence in my game. The first 1/2 of the session was pretty quiet. I flopped a couple sets without getting paid off. Then I just tore the game up flopping sets left and right. I 3-bet on the button w/AK against 1 PF raiser and one caller (who btw will smooth call with big pairs, so I consider this 3-bet a mistake after further review of my play) and the flat caller called a $5 PF 3-bet. Flop comes Q high and I pot it committing myself to the pot as well as him and he folded, whew! I ended up with a $65 stack when this hand came up:

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.10/$0.25 Blinds - 9 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $27.45
BB: $29.20
UTG: $26.55
UTG+1: $28.60
Hero (MP1): $65.05
MP2: $25.00
MP3: $18.80
CO: $9.20
BTN: $13.50

MP2 posts $0.25
Preflop: Hero is dealt J K (9 Players)
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.35, 2 folds, CO calls $1.35, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls $1.10

Flop: ($4.65) Q 9 6 (3 Players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $4.65, CO raises all-in to $7.85, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $3.20
Uncalled bet of $0.00 returned to Hero

Turn: ($20.35) 9 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

River: ($20.35) 8 (2 Players - 1 All-In)

Pot Size: $20.35 ($1 Rake)

CO had 8 9 (a full house, Nines full of Eights) and WON (+$10.15)
Hero had J K (a pair of Nines) and LOST (-$9.20)

Tough beat, but what can you do? I was a 3/2 favorite on the flop, he was a 3-1 favorite very quickly on the turn with that 9. The plan was to stay in that game until it broke or I gave some $ back...well I "gave" it back there and I decided it was time to get some sleep cause it steamed me up. I reached the highest point in my BR history before that pot and the loss crushed my spirits a bit. GL at the tables.

I have been realizing that I need to make some changes in my game on and off the table lately. The first I realized was I need to stop multi-tabling. For those of you guys newer to poker playing micro stakes NL, stop multi-tabling! It is hurting your development more than you think. If you play more than 3 tables I don't see how you can really stop and think out every decision with a clear mind or even pay close enough attention to successfully put your opponents on a correct (or close to correct) range of hands, figure out your equity against that range and then figure out what your options are and choose the best one. So thats the first change, I have been single-tabling this whole month.

The second was clear to me for a long time, you have to put in work off the table. I have to start reviewing my sessions, posting hands on 2+2, and replying to more posts there as well. Along with that, I really have to re-read Professional No-Limit Hold'em along with NL Hold'em Theory and Practice. I read both these books while I was multi-tabling a lot and was never able to truly implement their concepts into my game. I would like to be putting at least 2x the amount of time on working on my game outside of playing at the tables. So that would be anywhere from 2-4 hours per day. Not too much even with a job.

As for on table things, focus is really important. I have to start putting on my headphones listening to music and just flow. When this happens I am less inclined to read 2+2 and 2rags while playing, I am less likely to see who is on AIM besides my backer (whom I talk to during the sessions, Shoutout kid happy b-day) and I am less likely to see what tourneys are coming up. When I know how my opponents are playing, they don't have a chance to outplay me. I am that confident when I am on my game, when I am off...I can't tell the difference between a clear value bet and an obvious bluff. Focus is the reason I am on or off. Going a long those lines, I tend to make decisions too quickly. From this point on anything but an easy fold I am going to take at least 5 secs to think about what is the best line. All-In situations (where I am calling) I would prefer my decision time to at least be 10-15 secs unless its a must call/fold.

These are just a few things I think I can change in my game which are really easy to do and I will become a better player for sure. I think the hard work will pay off in the long run as well. We will see though.

Hi all. Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days, but I haven't really had anything to talk about. I'm still waiting on information about a lot of apartments in the AC area so there is nothing new to report there. I only put in a small session at 25NL of FTP and had a small $10 win. I played a few tourneys the .10 rebuy, $1 rebuy and the $1 Ferguson which I played last night. I did well in all of them while only cashing in the Ferguson. I did a great job of picking spots to be aggressive and getting max value on my big hands. I final tabled this tourney, made a big mistake PF and ended up having to win a race to stay alive which didn't work out. I finished 5th and took home $58.

This has given me tons of confidence and I am looking forward to booking a couple big cash wins.

Talk to you soon.

Today was my first session at 25NL and I was mixed about my results. I sat for 5 minutes short of 2 hours and played 146 hands(1 tabling). But before I go into my play I want to talk about some of the things I have noticed in my game during this downswing I have been having. The first is I am winning a lot of small pots when I am flopping HUGE nut type hands. I have to attribute this to my lack of aggression pre-flop as well as just making some minor mistakes, like weather I should lead or or c/r in certain situations and trying to figure out which is the most profitable. When I 4 table, I am not able to think long or hard enough to figure out which of many options would be my best so I decided it would be best for me to 1 table until I am more comfortable with my decision making online. I also am making large mistakes in big pots too often to be profitable. That is not something I need to work on, that is something that needs to stop right now. I know I play much better than my opposition, but I haven't been recently. I know the only reason I broke even last month was because my opponents play so bad. That isn't going to fly this month. I am not dedicated to breaking even or winning money or moving up like I was in the past; I am dedicated to making the correct decision, thinking and planning my hands, and lastly improving my game. 4 tabling was taking away from me improving my game because I was not able to think long or hard enough about what was the right thing to do. I also was lacking in my post game analysis of my session, that is going to change as well (this blog will certainly help).

As for the session, it started of sloooow. I basically didn't pick up anything worth playing until at least 20-30 mins in. I had a lot of raising in front of me or just no cards worth raising in position to try and take pots down. I also was unable to pick up any pots post flop in position because one player was leading out on almost every flop and I had nothing to call or raise him with really. I had no real reads on this player until later in the session.

Here was my first mistake (minor one, but I think I could have gotten some more value possibly):

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.10/$0.25 Blinds - 9 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $17.75
Hero (BB): $25.35
UTG: $17.15
UTG+1: $23.45
MP1: $13.85
MP2: $26.70
MP3: $87.70
CO: $12.90
BTN: $24.05

Preflop: Hero is dealt 2 5 (9 Players)
5 folds , CO raises to $0.50, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.25

probably a really questionable call OOP, but I was looking to flop a big hand for really cheap and the stacks were pretty deep.

Flop: ($1.10) T 5 A (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Now I don't this this was a mistake at all. If the villan has an A I have a significant amount of outs here in my mind because I consider 9 hearts as outs. I can rep a flush on a turned heart in this spot and take it down often because the avg uNL player will not be betting their FD's. I also consider my 3 2's and 2 5's as outs which gives me 14 to win the pot. 14x4= 56 so I am a slight favorite in theory to win this pot. So this is why I elected to call on an A high board in a raised pot.

Turn: ($2.10) 5 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.75, Hero raises to $4.35 CO folds...

This is where i think my mistake was (after discussing it over with a friend of mine, thanks Dr. Foulk). This is a perfect spot to lead on both the turn and the river. I am way ahead against the villan's range here and I can either get him to raise me on the turn or call me on both the turn and the river with an A here which is his most likely holding (I figured him for something like Axsuited). C/Ring the turn here gives away how strong my hand is here while a lead also does it can be more profitable in the long run winning me probably a $1 or 2 more. Granted this is a small pot but I think these were the things I wasn't doing during my downswing that I need to do in order to break out of it.

Then this hand came up:

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.10/$0.25 Blinds - 9 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

Villan is 29/8.67/6.8 through 150 hands. He has show me that he is super aggressive post flop basically stupidly aggressive in a lot of spots.

SB: $26.65
Hero (BB): $25.00
UTG: $24.05
UTG+1: $18.25
MP1: $15.65
MP2: $26.50
MP3: $85.95
CO: $26.45
BTN: $24.50

Preflop: Hero is dealt 5 A (9 Players)
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.25, 4 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.60) 2 6 5 (2 Players)
Hero bets $0.35, MP2 calls $0.35

Turn: ($1.30) 6 (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $1.00, Hero calls $1.00

This is a spot where I thought my hand was good against my opponents betting range. Yes he could be betting with a 6 but based on his stupid aggression that he has been showing me most of the session I figured I had positive equity at this point. I also knew I wasn't committed to the hand either so I chose to keep the pot small and hope a club doesn't come off and I get to see a showdown.

River: ($3.30) T (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP2 bets $2.00, Hero calls $2.00

If I called on the turn with a solid read thinking my hand was good then I don't see how I can fold here. He did bet out rather quickly which I really read as strength, but I still felt my read was solid.

Pot Size: $7.30 ($0.35 Rake)

MP2 had T A (two pair, Tens and Sixes) and WON (+$3.35)
Hero had 5 A (two pair, Sixes and Fives) and LOST (-$3.60)

And well, it was...until the river of course. I could have folded the hand on the river, but I think if I fold in this spot I am probably folding to too many river bets as I did show weakness on the turn. Now i wish a club did come off...river prob goes check check and I take down the pot. This pot upset me a bit, but things like this are part of the game.

I lost a few more pots (one with a dumb misclick) and found myself down $20.5 when this hand came up:

Full Tilt Poker - No Limit Hold'em Cash Game - $0.10/$0.25 Blinds - 9 Players - (LegoPoker Hand History Converter)

SB: $38.20
BB: $84.95
UTG: $25.15
UTG+1: $18.90
MP1: $14.65
Hero (MP2): $25.20
MP3: $33.30
CO: $21.70
BTN: $19.10

Preflop: Hero is dealt J 8 (9 Players)
UTG calls $0.25, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.25, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.25, SB calls $0.15, BB checks

Flop: ($1.50) 6 7 9 (6 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 bets $1.00, Hero calls $1.00, 4 folds

Turn: ($3.50) 5 (2 Players)
MP1 bets $1.50, Hero calls $1.50

River: ($6.50) 3 (2 Players)
MP1 bets $2.50, Hero raises to $14.00, MP1 calls all-in for $9.40

My friend didn't like my river shove there. He said he would min-raise in that spot, I assumed it was because of the likelihood that we would be splitting the pot. I was not on tilt, but I clearly was looking to make some of the money back that I had lost throughout the session so I was dedicated to taking this punk to valuetown and luckily he had a strong enough hand for me to do so.

villan showed AA

Well, its late and I am beat. Overall I am very happy with my play. The session was filled with bad cards and a tough beat/situation or two, but overall I though that was some of the better poker I have played recently. I ended up -3.7 on the day which I am OK with considering the events that occurred during the session (such as a $10 misclick)Thanks for reading everyone, goodnight and good luck at the tables.

P.S. None of the landlords and I was hoping to hear from today called me. One I think is clearly standing me up and the other I assume they are in the process of checking out all my info and I do really expect a call back with in the next day or so. I also have another property in the works, but she is unsure if she wants to rent to a person my age because of a bad experience. So she wants to meet me. I told her I would let her know when I can come down, but today I thought why do I need to go 2 hours out of my way to prove to her that I am a good person? If I am in the area I'll let her know I will be around, but I am not going out of my way to talk to her for what maybe 20 minutes where shes not going to know if I am a good person or not. I hope to have good news in this area in the next blog or two.