Predator314's Poker Journal

Things to do when no a losing streak:

My bad run the past few days can be chalked up to variance, bad luck, lack of praying to the poker Gods. My good hands lost, right?

While the above paragraph my be partially true, there's a lot I can be doing to become a better player and hopefully cut down on the severeness of the swings I'm taking.

First and foremost is a matter of table selection. I'm probably the world's worst when it comes to table selection. I just sit down at any old table and start slinging cards. I can usually adjust to the table conditions. If the tables, tight, I loosen up or vice versa. Instead of having to adjust so much, why not just get up and look for another table? I'm sure Party Poker might just have one available.

Sure the games are getting tougher these days. The blogs, books, 2+2, etc. These are all making poker players more skillfull. However with over 70,000 players on one online site, there are some fish available.

Today I focused on table selection. I sit down at 2 tables before I found a decent one. On my third attempt to find a table this hand comes along:

***** Hand History for Game 2601150974 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 26, 14:09:22 EDT 2005
Table Table 54777 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 6: gsouljah ( $55.50 )
Seat 3: GodsmackBLS ( $136.84 )
Seat 5: Ace19788 ( $63.82 )
Seat 1: thanksprod ( $100.50 )
Seat 2: silverrecks ( $100 )
gsouljah posts small blind [$1].
thanksprod posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Ts Kd ]
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 raises [$9].
gsouljah calls [$8].
thanksprod folds.
GodsmackBLS calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 6c, 3s ]
gsouljah checks.
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 bets [$3].
gsouljah calls [$3].
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 raises [$6].
gsouljah folds.
GodsmackBLS calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 bets [$6].
GodsmackBLS calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 checks.
GodsmackBLS shows [ Ts, Kd ] a pair of kings.
Ace19788 doesn't show [ 2h, 2s ] a pair of twos.
GodsmackBLS wins $61 from the main pot with a pair of kings.

My apologies for the crappy hand history, but the Bison hand converter seems to be broke right now. Anywho. It was 4 handed at the time (one of the guys was sitting out). I raided from UTG with KT and was re-raised. I see a note on the guy and it reads "Biggest donkey on Party Poker". The table selection was on.

This guy proceeded to kick my ass on a few hands after that. Twice he rivered me when my Ace high would have won. Typical maniac. Just the type of guy I can make some money from. The problem was that I was out of position on him which made it difficult. I wanted to switch seats, but I was afraid to lose the table.

I eventually got most of my money back from the fool and had the pleasure of being the guy that busted him with this hand:

***** Hand History for Game 2601235818 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 26, 14:31:27 EDT 2005
Table Table 54777 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 3: GodsmackBLS ( $80.34 )
Seat 5: Ace19788 ( $25.82 )
Seat 2: silverrecks ( $76 )
Seat 4: KimJongIl911 ( $220 )
Seat 6: pal66 ( $176.50 )
Seat 1: squeebly ( $480 )
silverrecks posts small blind [$1].
GodsmackBLS posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Ad As ]
Ace19788 calls [$3].
pal66 folds.
squeebly folds.
silverrecks folds.
GodsmackBLS raises [$3].
Ace19788 calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3s, 5s, Kh ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$3].
Ace19788 raises [$6].
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
Ace19788 calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
Ace19788 is all-In [$4.82]
GodsmackBLS shows [ Ad, As ] two pairs, aces and threes.
Ace19788 doesn't show [ Td, 9d ] a pair of threes.
GodsmackBLS wins $1.18 from side pot #1 with two pairs, aces and threes.
GodsmackBLS wins $50.64 from the main pot with two pairs, aces and threes.
Ace19788 has left the table.

I left that table not so long afterwards. We were just passing blinds back and forth after he left. I found another decent table and proceeded to get my money back, plus a bit more.

I need to take better advantage of Poker Tracker to help with my table selection. I've completely cleaned out my buddy list. It was full of fishy players that no longer logged on. Now there's some friends and I have 2 fishy players on there.

I'm off to a wedding this evening and tomorrow. I won't be back in town to play any poker until Sunday. Hopefully with the little bit of success I've had today and the day and a half break, things will go well next week. I hope they do anyway. I got a new fridge, washer, and dryer to buy.

Time for some bonus whoring.

I cleared the Empire $100 bonus fairly quickly. But believe me, it was painful. I completely wiped out that account before getting the bonus to clear. My balance on the account when the $100 bonus hit was $117. Ugh.

Now it's time to recoup some of those loses. I've got about $400 coming my way in rake rebate. I'm also going to run a few more bonuses. It looks like Pokerroom has a 20% up to $200 going on right now. As bad as I hate Pokerroom.com, I'm thinking about giving it a whirl. The only problem is that if I do that bonus, it's going to take up a very signigant part of my bankroll. I might hit up some of the crypto sites for their monthly bonuses. It's been a while since I've had to whore some bonuses. Hopefully things will go better on the next try.

In other news, I'm going to be moving. Not far though; about 2 miles. One of my old friends is getting married this weekend and moving to North Carolina. I'm buying their home. The deal should close on Friday of next week after they get back from their honeymoon. It's pretty nice place in a very nice neighborhood. Most of the people in the neighborhood are older retirees. There aren't many kids and they don't allow anything but household pets. Hopefully I can pay for this place with poker money. That's my plan anyway. It will be like being a professional poker player without actually being one.

Some big ticket items I need to buy: Washer/Dryer, Refrigerator, Lawn Mower, Weed Eater. I think I'm good as far as furniture. When my grandfather died a few years ago, they gave me all his furniture and I've had it in storage ever since. I've been paying $55/month to store that furniture. So, now I can subtract that $55 from my house payment since I will no longer need the storage building.

The only part of this that I dread is the actual moving part. I don't have a whole hell of a lot of stuff, but I do have some big toys like TVs, stereos. I am leaving my computer with my parents since they use it more than me anyway. I'll just use my laptop and hook my 2001FP monitor to it. I just hope I can get the 1600x1200 resolution with my laptop's video card. I'll have to test that out. If not, I'll probably just build me a computer to play poker on. Nothing fancy. My older one runs fine, but my Poker Tracker database brings it to it's knees.

Until next time, peace out.

Well, I'm dropping down a notch. My stint at $3/6 6 max started out good and then went terrible wrong. I've dropped over $1100 in 3 days on those tables. I scouted out some nice tables and things never worked out. I've just caught cold cards for the past few days. VERY cold.

I apologize for the bad beat post from yesterday. I'm not immune to going on Tilt. Especially when you get beat by a runner runner flush at least 20 times in a day.

One new trend in the online poker world has to be the "Donk" bet. That's the 2+2 term for it. I need to come up with a better name for it. That's when you get heads up and for some reason, your opponent decides to raise you with nothing but a draw (be it a flush draw, straight draw, or he might just have a hunch that the next card will give me a pair). Let me demonstrate on a $1/2 hand I had while monkeying around this morning trying to clear my $100 bonus on Empire without having to make a deposit:

***** Hand History for Game 2589215964 *****
$1/$2 Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, August 24, 10:31:00 EDT 2005
Table Table 11158 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: habiBz7 ( $128.25 )
Seat 5: Chessmate111 ( $80.50 )
Seat 6: meyerg ( $19.50 )
Seat 2: GodsmackBLS ( $43.50 )
Seat 3: MissDi777 ( $41.50 )
meyerg posts small blind [$0.50].
habiBz7 posts big blind [$1].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Ah Js ]
GodsmackBLS raises [$2].
MissDi777 calls [$2].
Chessmate111 folds.
MOFO_GUNIT has joined the table.
meyerg calls [$1.50].
habiBz7 calls [$1].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, 6h, 4h ]
meyerg checks.
habiBz7 checks.
GodsmackBLS bets [$1].
MissDi777 folds.
meyerg calls [$1].
habiBz7 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]
meyerg bets [$2].
GodsmackBLS raises [$4].
meyerg calls [$2].
** Dealing River ** [ 9d ]
meyerg checks.
GodsmackBLS checks.
meyerg shows [ 8h, 9h ] two pairs, nines and twos.
GodsmackBLS doesn't show [ Ah, Js ] a pair of twos.
meyerg wins $17.25 from the main pot with two pairs, nines and twos.

As you can see, I made an excellent read on my opponent based on the way he had played previous hands. The heart draw showed up. Instead of raising me or leading out on the flop which most normal human beings would do, he decides to pop me on the turn to show my how powerful his hand really is. Of course, he hits his 9 on the river and my good read is shot all to hell.

I think I like the fact that the "Donk" bet has arrived. This gives me a chance to use my super secret counter tactic. The 3 bet. However, when you're running bad and the donkey hits on the river every time. The 3 bet is crippled and actually hurts you.

Enough of the attempt to be funny when I've lost my ass day after day. In all seriousness, I'm going to drop down to $2/4 and grind the bankroll back up while maybe chasing a bonus or 3.

Mother fucker!

#Game No : 2584836592
***** Hand History for Game 2584836592 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, August 23, 16:51:09 EDT 2005
Table Table 57547 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: IownLacorte ( $165.20 )
Seat 5: henke51 ( $168.50 )
Seat 6: GodsmackBLS ( $160.50 )
Seat 1: JackDaniel38 ( $62 )
Seat 2: Gwandalf ( $105 )
Seat 3: try092972 ( $52.50 )
GodsmackBLS posts small blind [$1].
JackDaniel38 posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Tc 9s ]
Gwandalf folds.
try092972 folds.
IownLacorte calls [$3].
henke51 calls [$3].
GodsmackBLS calls [$2].
JackDaniel38 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8d, Qd, Jc ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$3].
JackDaniel38 calls [$3].
IownLacorte calls [$3].
henke51 calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4c ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
JackDaniel38 folds.
IownLacorte calls [$6].
henke51 calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 7c ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
IownLacorte raises [$12].
henke51 folds.
GodsmackBLS calls [$6].
IownLacorte shows [ 3c, Ac ] a flush, ace high.
GodsmackBLS shows [ Tc, 9s ] a straight, eight to queen.
IownLacorte wins $64 from the main pot with a flush, ace high.

#Game No : 2584736430
***** Hand History for Game 2584736430 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, August 23, 16:29:50 EDT 2005
Table Table 57547 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 4: IownLacorte ( $57.70 )
Seat 5: henke51 ( $187.50 )
Seat 6: GodsmackBLS ( $209 )
Seat 1: JackDaniel38 ( $36 )
Seat 2: BoChipstcker ( $20 )
Seat 3: Schmiga ( $161 )
Schmiga posts small blind [$1].
IownLacorte posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Qs Qh ]
henke51 calls [$3].
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
JackDaniel38 calls [$6].
BoChipstcker folds.
Schmiga folds.
IownLacorte folds.
henke51 calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, Th, 8d ]
henke51 checks.
GodsmackBLS bets [$3].
JackDaniel38 calls [$3].
henke51 calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]
henke51 checks.
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
JackDaniel38 calls [$6].
henke51 folds.
** Dealing River ** [ 3h ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
JackDaniel38 raises [$12].
GodsmackBLS calls [$6].
JackDaniel38 shows [ Kh, Ah ] a flush, ace high.
GodsmackBLS doesn't show [ Qs, Qh ] two pairs, queens and tens.
JackDaniel38 wins $65 from the main pot with a flush, ace high.
Game #2584739863 starts.

I'm getting sick of the runner runner.

Self doubt...

Oh man, I've been running bad this week. It seems like every time I sit down, I lose a buy-in within the first 10 minutes. There's only so many times your AK gets cracked by AQ before you start doubting yourself. As I was just typing this my AK just lost to A7 when he turned 2 pair.

It's hard not to go on tilt. I keep telling myself that things will turn around. I'm not getting mad. I just get the big question in my head: "Maybe I'm not as good as I think I am?". Pokertracker backs me up. However, the short term results are ruling my thoughts and I cannot make them stop.

However, I've had the best cards during this streak. I've had 2 straight flushes, a royal flush, and quads twice. It seems like I've had AA and KK a bunch of times, however KK never seems to win. How the fuck do you lose with these cards?

Enough with the whining. I've spent the past few days playing poker, going out with friends, and bowling. I'm about to purchase a home. I need poker to start going my way so I can pay some bills.

In looking back at the last 8,000 or so hands I've played this month, my aggression level has risen way up. My pre-flop raise percentage has gone way up. Even in the full table games. However, it seems like a lot of my flops are missing and I can't tell when to back off.

I think I'm going to tighten up just a bit and back off the post flop aggression at least until some flops start hitting.