Predator314's Poker Journal

Today has been "testy" to say the least. I've played around 1000 hands today. For the first 600-700, I did nothing. I took some hideous beats of the runner runner variety, hit set over set hands, two pair to set, things like that. However, I hit some good pots to offset that run. Then all of the sudden, it's like a switch flipped and I started winning.

Here are some interesting hands today:

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (10 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ks, 4s.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 calls, 3 folds, CO calls, Button calls, 1 fold, Hero checks.

Flop: (5.50 SB) 2s, 4h, 4c (5 players)

Hero bets, UTG+1 calls, UTG+2 folds, CO folds, Button folds.

Turn: (3.75 BB) 2d (2 players)

Hero bets, UTG+1 calls.

River: (5.75 BB) 8d (2 players)

Hero bets, UTG+1 raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG+1 caps, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 13.75 BB

Results in white below:

Hero has Ks 4s (full house, fours full of twos).

UTG+1 has 2c Ac (full house, twos full of fours).

Outcome: Hero wins 13.75 BB.

right...

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with 6h, 6d.

UTG calls, 1 fold, MP1 raises, 2 folds, Hero calls, 2 folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (8.50 SB) 2c, 8h, 8d (4 players)

BB checks, UTG checks, MP1 checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls $1.50 (All-In), MP1 calls $3.50 (All-In), Hero raises, BB calls.

Turn: (8.25 BB) 5s (4 players, 2 all-in)

BB checks, Hero bets, BB folds.

River: (9.25 BB) Ts (3 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 9.25 BB

Results in white below:

UTG has 7h Qh (one pair, eights).

MP1 has Qd Js (one pair, eights).

Hero has 6h 6d (two pair, eights and sixes).

Outcome: Hero wins 9.25 BB.

I love when people get low and just give the rest of it away.

Here are 4 hands that I got consecutively on one table:

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (8 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ah, Jd.

3 folds, MP2 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB completes, Hero raises, MP2 calls, CO calls, Button calls, SB calls.

Flop: (10 SB) Ac, Ad, Qs (5 players)

SB folds, Hero bets, MP2 calls, CO folds, Button folds.

Turn: (6 BB) 4s (2 players)

Hero bets, MP2 calls.

River: (8 BB) 5s (2 players)

Hero bets, MP2 calls.

Final Pot: 10 BB

Results in white below:

Hero has Ah Jd (three of a kind, aces).

MP2 has 4d Ks (two pair, aces and fours).

Outcome: Hero wins 10 BB.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (8 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ah, Kh.

2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, CO raises, 1 fold, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Flop: (13 SB) Kd, Ac, 2c (4 players)

Hero bets, BB calls, MP2 folds, CO folds.

Turn: (7.50 BB) Th (2 players)

Hero bets, BB calls.

River: (9.50 BB) Qd (2 players)

Hero checks, BB bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results in white below:

Hero has Ah Kh (two pair, aces and kings).

BB has Jh Ad (straight, ace high).

Outcome: BB wins 11.50 BB.

Party Poker 2/4 Hold'em (9 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with Qd, Ah. CO posts a blind of $2.

1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 3 folds, CO (poster) checks, Hero raises, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls, CO folds.

Flop: (6.50 SB) Ts, Ad, Kc (2 players)

UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (5.25 BB) Qc (2 players)

UTG+1 bets, Hero raises, UTG+1 calls.

River: (9.25 BB) 5h (2 players)

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets, UTG+1 calls.

Final Pot: 11.25 BB

Results in white below:

UTG+1 has Th Kd (two pair, kings and tens).

Hero has Qd Ah (two pair, aces and queens).

Outcome: Hero wins 11.25 BB.

and the next hand was the pocket 6's hand above.

I'm off to watch a bit of TV and relax. I'll probably be back on here in a bit to get a few more hands in.

Stats so far:

Hands: 2,317 (27,683)
Pace: +317
Win Rate: -0.73 BB/100
Days Remaining 29

I'm playing so good right now, it's unbelievable. I'm still losing, but there's not much that I can do about it. I'm saving so many bets on these losing hands, so the losses could be worse. I have got a bit back from my 60BB slide last night, but it will come if I stay focused like I have been the past 16 or so hours.

I played about 700 hands this morning. The tables were unbelievable for early morning. I plan on trying to play at least 2000 hands today, so I can get a jumpstart on this challenge.

Here are my stats through 11:30am:

Hands: 1,710 (28,290 remaining)
Pace: +710 hands
Win Rate: -3.50 BB/100

Hands that are losing me the most money so far: KQo, JJ, AJo, QJs. Honorable mentions go to AJs and ATs.

Well, there's good news and bad news. First the good news.

1.) I'm ahead of pace for my 30K in 30 days. I played about 1050 hands this evening. It didn't take that long either. This might be easier than I thought, but I reserve judgement.

2.) There are still TONS of donkeys out there willing to put A LOT of money in the middle with very bad hands.

Now the bad news:

1.) Man did I run bad today. I got kicked in the balls right and left. I won't bore you with the details. I made a small comeback, but still lost about 60BBs tonight. If I'm gonna run 2 BB/100, I need 600 BBs.

I played very well tonight. Probably the best poker I've played in a long time. I made good reads all night long. I also stayed off tilt for the most part, although there was one hand where I almost slung my mouse across the room. I stayed out of "auto-pilot" mode too. If I keep playing like this, I should be very happy in 29,000 more hands.

I might play a little bit more here in a few, but for right now, I'm gonna go relax a bit. Here are my stats so far:

Hands: 1,033 (28,967 remaining)
Pace: +33 hands
Win Rate: -5.90 BB/100

And so it begins....

In about 7 hours, I begin my quest to average 1000 hands a day for 30 days.

I've been limbering up. I've got the doctor on speed dial in case I need emergency carpal tunnel surgery. It's on now bitches.

When I accomplish this challenge, it will be the most hands I've ever played in one month. It will also be a great boost the bankroll. I'll have $2400 extra money to play with plus rakeback. This will put the bankroll up there where I can comfortably play $3/6 6 max and take occasional shots at $5/10.

Best hand ever...

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP with 5c, 5h.

UTG calls, Hero raises, 2 folds, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (6.50 SB) 9d, 4c, 9s (3 players)

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, BB calls, UTG calls.

Turn: (4.75 BB) 5s (3 players)

BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets, BB folds, UTG raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG calls.

River: (10.75 BB) 7s (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 12.75 BB

Results in white below:

UTG has 8c Kc (one pair, nines).

Hero has 5c 5h (full house, fives full of nines).

Outcome: Hero wins 12.75 BB.

This guy sucked out on me 23523523525 times yesterday. I got his ass back today. Although, he got me a few times, I busted him in the end.

I had to deal with some asshole talking shit to my fish though. Here's the sequence of events. First the hand:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is MP with 5c, Ac.

UTG calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (8 SB) 9s, 4d, 5d (4 players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls.

Turn: (6 BB) 3h (2 players)

UTG checks, Hero bets, UTG calls.

River: (8 BB) 6d (2 players)

UTG bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 10 BB

Results in white below:

UTG has 3d 7h (straight, seven high).

Hero has 5c Ac (one pair, fives).

Outcome: UTG wins 10 BB.

The the chat (names changed to protect my fishies):

Fuckstick: Hey [donkey], if you have money to waste, just transfer it to me... you suck a**!

2 hands later, my money man sitting directly to my right logs off.

Me: Hey [fuckstick], how does it feel to be a dipshit?

Readers of this blog, take note! From this point forward, if I catch you berating my fish, I will unleash my vengence on you. Just ask some of my close friends what kind of vengence I can unleash. No information is 100% secure in this world. Don't be surprised to have a Gay Man-whore show up to your office and tell you (in front of your co-workers) that you should get yourself to the clinic ASAP.

That is all.

SO...well... in other news, I'm moving back in tonight. I got the carpets cleaned yesterday and everything in the house looks great. All I have to do tonight is put my bed back together and I'm in business.

Also, I'm starting the challenge tomorrow evening. I've have no plans for tomorrow evening except to play some mf'n poker. So, at 7:00 pm, on Friday, January 27, the 30,000 hands in 30 days with a 2 BB/100 winrate challenge begins.

30K in 30 Days Challenge Countdown:
Hands Remaining: 30,000
Days Remaining: 30
Win Rate: 0.00 BB/100

How to transfer online funds from one poker site to the next without using Neteller: First, you need to log onto PokerStars and have a good +40BB or better session. Then you quit and try to sleep.

Now here is the tricky part. You must be battling a case of insomnia while trying to sleep in a strange bed. So, get up to get a glass of milk and check out the action on Full Tilt poker. Witness the biggest fish you've seen in a long time sitting at your limit. Then decide to join. Play 50 hands and lose 60BBs to that fish. Go to bed.

Next morning, wake up and log back into PokerStars, then win another 25+BB's.

When all is said and done, you gain a few BB's and a couple extra bucks in rake rebate and a good deal of FPPs.

Next lesson: How to survive a 375BB losing streak without blowing a gasket.

Things are finally starting to turn around on the poker tables. I got a decent session in this evening, playing 534 hands and winning about 40 BB's. It was a disappointing win though. I was a fucking card rack today. However, like usual, I was getting runner runnered to death.

The games on Poker Stars are fantastic right now. I'm having a hard time playing anywhere else, including sites where I get rakeback.

Here are some highlights from the evening:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (5 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with Ac, 5c. MP posts a blind of $2.

1 fold, MP (poster) checks, Button calls, Hero completes, BB checks.

Flop: (4 SB) Tc, 2c, 5s (4 players)

Hero checks, BB bets, MP calls, Button folds, Hero raises, BB calls, MP calls.

Turn: (5 BB) 4c (3 players)

Hero bets, BB raises, MP folds, Hero 3-bets, BB caps, Hero calls.

River: (13 BB) Kh (2 players)

Hero bets, BB raises, Hero 3-bets, BB calls.

Final Pot: 19 BB

Results in white below:

Hero has Ac 5c (flush, ace high).

BB has Ah 3h (straight, five high).

Outcome: Hero wins 19 BB.

Stone cold nuts bitches.

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is CO with Kd, Qd.

1 fold, MP calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB 3-bets, 1 fold, MP calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (10 SB) Td, 2d, Ks (3 players)

SB bets, MP calls, Hero raises, SB calls, MP calls.

Turn: (8 BB) Qs (3 players)

SB checks, MP checks, Hero bets, SB raises, MP folds, Hero calls.

River: (12 BB) 4d (2 players)

SB bets, Hero raises, SB calls.

Final Pot: 16 BB

Results in white below:

SB has Qh Kc (two pair, kings and queens).

Hero has Kd Qd (flush, king high).

Outcome: Hero wins 16 BB.

I do get lucky once in a while. I was scared to 3 bet on the turn because it was getting beat to death at the time and the guy was playing fairly straight forward, so I had him on QQ.

And now, the not so pretty:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ac, Ad.

UTG raises, 2 folds, Button 3-bets, 1 fold, Hero caps, UTG calls, Button calls.

Flop: (12.50 SB) Ts, 9h, 6s (3 players)

Hero bets, UTG calls, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, UTG folds, Button calls.

Turn: (9.75 BB) 6h (2 players)

Hero bets, Button calls.

River: (11.75 BB) 8h (2 players)

Hero bets, Button raises, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 15.75 BB

Results in white below:

Hero has Ac Ad (two pair, aces and sixes).

Button has Kh Ah (flush, ace high).

Outcome: Button wins 15.75 BB.

I damn near folded to that river raise, but ... well, I didn't

and finally... my favorite hand of the evening. This guy was beating me to death early, but then I finally started taking every dime he had. This was the nail in the coffin:

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is Button with Kd, Tc.

2 folds, CO calls, Hero raises, 2 folds, CO calls.

Flop: (5.50 SB) 8s, 3s, 8d (2 players)

CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

Turn: (3.75 BB) 8c (2 players)

CO checks, Hero checks.

River: (3.75 BB) 4c (2 players)

CO bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 5.75 BB

Results in white below:

CO has 5c 9c (three of a kind, eights).

Hero has Kd Tc (three of a kind, eights).

Outcome: Hero wins 5.75 BB.

LOL, then I got a nice lesson on poker in the chat window. I just told him that I stared into his soul. Actually I just insta-called, because I knew he was gonna bluff at it.

So, I have some cleaning up to do tomorrow and then on Friday, I need to rent a shampoo'er for my carpet and it looks like Saturday is the official day for the start of my challenge. Maybe Sunday depending on if everything is moved back to its normal place.

I went to the house yesterday to check on the status of the repairs. Everything was almost looking normal. So I should be moved back in maybe tomorrow or Thursday. I just have to shampoo the carpets and move the furniture back.

Hopefully this means that I can start my 30,000 hand challenge Thursday or Friday. I have played a little bit today. Maybe 75-100 hands. Just donking around at lunch time. I did win some good pots though.

This evening, I'm in search of a carpet cleaner. Then I'll probably clean things up and hit the sack early. I haven't slept well the past couple nights.

Ok, one more post for the day and it's poker related! Yay!

Every now and then, usually on a monthly basis, I will post my goals for the month and/or year. However, I normally set these goals too high. Now I have become accustomed to not reaching my goals and it does not bother me like it used to.

So this post is to not state a goal, but a challenge. Some sort of motivation for me to play.

My challenge is going to be for the next 30 days, play 30,000 hands of poker. That's an average of 1,000 hands per day for those of you that can't divide. Not only do I challenge myself to get in all these hands, but I'm going to shoot for a 2.0BB/100 win-rate in the process. All of these hands will be played at the $2/4 limit. More than likely short handed.

I wanted to add the 2.0BB/100 stipulation, because I'm trying to actually improve my game and stay out of "autopilot" mode while I play.

Now let's work the numbers:

Goals:
30,000 Hands
2.0 BB/100 Hands

Results if the goal is obtained: +$2400 to the bankroll not counting rakeback.

The extra $2400 plus rakeback will be an awesome shot into the arm of my bankroll. It will also allow for me to move up, and I'll have a since of accomplishment. I won about that much in both October and November, but I was running extremely hot those 2 months and didn't get nowhere near 30,000 played hands for either month.

There's only 1 drawback. I'm not starting the challenge right now. It will probably start sometime this week. I have to get moved back in before I can start.

I just need to start playing more. My motivation is back to play, however, I'm just not making the time to play. I also need to get my brain used to playing 1000+ hands a day. I used to do it all the time, but now it just seems like I'm having difficulties. However, if I want to meet my yearly goal of poker winnings exceeding my salary, I'm going to have to play A LOT more.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I don't intend to cash out any of my winnings this year unless it is for an emergency? That's not a goal or a challenge, just an intention.

2 for 1 special today:

Post #1: This was supposed to go up Friday, but I got tied up before I could post it

Well, I finally had a winning session of poker and now I'm ready to make a run as a pro. There's a bit of sarcasm in that statement, but also a bit of truth in it as well. I'm capping off a hellish week.

First, on Monday, I have a water line bust in the wall and fuck up my home. That really has nothing to do with work, but it was just an omen for how my week would go. So on Tuesday, I have to go to Richmond, VA. Now, I've been through Richmond and around Richmond, but never actually IN Richmond. Let me tell you something, people make fun of WV, but it's thousands times better than Richmond, VA. That is the biggest scum hole on the fucking planet. Worse than DC (except for the traffic). The business I had to work out closed at 4:00pm just so they could get out of there before the sun went down. In the 3 days I was there, I had about 10 different people trying to bum money, I had some retard at a bus stop jump up and down repeatedly and sing to me, and while I was eating lunch, I got to see the police bash some idiot's skull against the trunk of their car. Superb place, this Richmond, VA.

Also the people I was working with were a bit high strung to say the least. The main woman that I was training was .... let me try to put this politely as to not offend.... A FUCKING BITCH!

I came straight home and hit Monster.com. I actually had a job offer this week, but turned it down. It was a sys admin job for some rocket center about 5 hours away.

Anyway, after having a shit week, I escaped into a little online poker. Even when I was way down at one point, I was at peace. Nothing was bothering me. It's bad when losing insane amounts of money is more relaxing that your job. I guess my tranquility prevailed in the end and I ended up having 2 winning sessions yesterday. Both after being down close to 50BBs in each session.

So, I've been playing without direction or motivation lately. Even though the motivation is rapidly returning, I'm still without any goals to shoot for. So here's the long term goal: win more money this year than my gross salary for my job. It should be fairly easy if I stay motivated. Even after month long losing streak and dropping down to limits less than half what I was playing last year, my overall hourly rate is better than my approximate hourly rate at work (I'm a salaried employee, so I just guestimated the rate). Also, it's not like I'll be stuck at $2/4 forever. Eventually, I'll get moved back up to the $5/10 or even $15/30 games and making some good money.

That goal is a long way off money-wise, but not that far away time-wise. Some obstacles that I see are 1. burnout and 2. summer. I usually don't play that much during the summer, but if I want to achieve my goal, I will need to play regularly all year long, especially now that I'm scraping bottom at the $2/4 games.

Post #2 for today
I played a little bit of poker yesterday despite being fairly busy. I won just a little bit. A win is a win and I'm trying to focus on long term results (hard to do when you're stuck 300BBs). Anyway, I'm quite a bit of poker played the 2nd half of this month. I'm just going to keep plugging until I start winning again or lose it all. I'm still a good ways off from losing my bankroll though. However, I think the poker gods owe me at least one huge winning day soon.

I got the bill for my water damage. $1200. Normally I could just pay for it out of my poker money, but ... well you know... poker sucks these days. So, I had to take it out of my savings account. The good news is that I'll probably get moved back in to my place this week. I have been going over there to play poker because my monitor kicks ass and my parents' monitor sucks ass.

Some personal life tidbits (Felicia, you can stop reading now).

- I got 2nd place in the bowling tournament last night. My highest finish ever. I'm making some adjustments in my game and my consistency is off, but my game is improving rapidly. This time last year, I was averaging below 150. My average now is 181 and rising.

I'm really really into bowling right now and I'm getting un-official coaching from 2 PBA members and a house pro. Usually every time I go to practice, one of these 3 are available to me and I'd like to thank Daniel, Dwayne, and Jason for all their free help. It's starting to pay off.

- Those of you that know me personally, know that I'm a fairly conservative person. I think of myself as more middle of the road that most conservatives, however, there are a bunch of uber-liberal nuts out there that just turn my stomach. The majority of these nuts can be found in Academia, pushing their rhetoric on un-suspecting college students that are there to 1.) Learn and 2.) Drink beer. I heard this story on the radio this morning and it brought a smile to my face. It might be old, but I'm passing it onto my readers anyway:

A Marine was attending a college course between missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The professor, an avowed atheist, shocked the class one day when he walked in, looked toward the ceiling, and said loudly, "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform.

I'll give you exactly 15 minutes."The lecture room fell silent and the professor began his lecture.

Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God - still waiting."

It got down to the last minute when the Marine stood up, walked toward the professor and threw his best punch knocking him off the platform and out cold.

The Marine went back to his seat and sat down The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What the hell is the matter with you? Why did you did that?"

The Marine calmly replied, "God is busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to behave like an idiot and say stupid shit. So He sent me."


That story really hits home with me. Although, more than likely fiction, I had to put up with this shit for 4 years. I was even un-fairly failed in class because of my political views when I was a freshman. It's becoming and epidemic in this nation and its unfair.

The problem is that most high school students really don't have any political views when the go to college. The professors know this and like a bunch of vultures, use this as an opportunity to push their beliefs onto the students. I experienced it day in and day out during my years.

In my English 101 class, I had the pleasure of getting a femenist as a professor. Every piece of literature we had to read was about feminism or some sort of babbling about how the male species sucked. Every lecture dealt with the same issues. Finally one day, I got fed up and had a meeting with the professor.

In the meeting, I told her that I felt the class was a load of shit and asked her if she ever intended to let the class view the other side of the spectrum. She basically blew me off as some punk kid that didn't know what I was talking about, so I just laid it out for her. I was going to to do the assigned work, but I was not going to attend any more of her lectures because 1.) She was full of shit, and 2.) I had better things to do with my time. She said that would be fine. Normally, dropping the class would be the correct play here, but it was beyond the drop-date, so this my only chance.

I wrote every paper assigned in the class. I read every piece of bullshit she assigned. Everything was done on time. The only thing I didn't do was sit in her class and and soak up the BS she was putting out. Suprise Surprise, come grade time, I get a big fat F. So then, I went through the whole process of getting my papers re-graded by an un-biased party and filing a complaint with the dean. Long story short, nobody on the faculty would take my side, so next semester, it was English 101 all over with a better professor.

I got a good story about another dipshit professor, but I'll save that for another time. Until, then, peace out.