WOWSERS!

First things first.....WOOOOTAAAAAA! I really felt like by posting that last post I was flipping the ever eluding doom switch, but alas, that has not happened. I'm having one of the best runs I think I have ever had and some of it is due to cards, some due to table selection and just overall descent (won't say good yet) play. After the 8 buyin upswing, I was ready to drop some or just stay where I was for a while, but that didn't happen. Wednesday led me to a 4 buyin win and today another 5 1/2. So in the last 3 days and ~6k hands, I'm up about 17 buyins! I've been joking around with my work partner and he keeps saying I'll be rolled for 100nl by next week and I keep telling him he's out of his mind. I hope I'm wrong. I'm playing anywhere from 2-4 tables and trying to keep up with my table selection and leaving when the table turns south. I'm also trying to stay away from playing too deep with other players as I'm not quite comfortable playing 200bb deep yet. It really changes your perspective on what you think are "strong" hands :) I should also have $50ish in rakeback coming tomorrow and likely hit $75-$100 next week. I really like the new weekly rakeback a lot. So, update.....(drumroll)

Stars: $170.80
Tilt: $1,339.98

Total: $1,540.78

End of May Rebound

As I tend to do, I find myself once again on a rollercoaster of peaks and valleys. This time it is an upswing. While I don't advocate playing underrolled, I was playing some 50nl and had a great day yesterday. I was playing 2-3 tables and was really taking my time in my decision making and it really helped out. I've been able to lay down overpairs and ran into some rough river decisions where I had been calling too much and just let them go. My biggest problem is not giving my opponents enough credit and calling way too often when it's obvious that I am beat and I am really trying to work on that. I moved $100 from pokerstars over to Full Tilt recently and took some shots at 50nl. Full Tilt has also changed their rakeback structure to where they are paying it weekly rather than once a month which is very nice to have as it allows the bankroll to grow at a sooner rate. It's nice when the upswing hits at a higher level :)I finished the session up almost 8 buyins and I am now properly rolled for 50nl even after the following hand:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



BB ($46.25)

UTG ($60.75)

MP ($62.70)

CO ($55.25)

Hero (Button) ($55)

SB ($62.45)



Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, 8

UTG bets $1.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.75, 2 folds



Flop: ($4.25) 8, 2, 6 (2 players)

UTG bets $3, Hero raises to $8, UTG raises to $23.50, Hero raises to $53.25 (All-In), UTG calls $29.75



Turn: ($110.75) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)



River: ($110.75) A (2 players, 1 all-in)



Total pot: $110.75 | Rake: $3



Results:

Hero had 6, 8 (two pair, eights and sixes).

UTG had A, Q (two pair, Aces and Queens).

Outcome: UTG won $107.75



Full Tilt: $826.78
Stars: $170.80
Total: $997.58

Overconfidence is bad...

After the great run I had over that 5k hands stretch, I began to think I was invincible. My how poker can humble you quickly. While having a friend sweat me yesterday, I proceeded to dump 5 buyins in a relatively short period of time and made some absolutely stupid plays (although one buyin was with AA vs T4s who called a 3bet...go figure) The rest was just pure bad play. On to a fresh new day is my motto for today!

FullTilt: $297.26
Stars: $293.22

Total: $590.48

On my way back!

Well, at least I think I might be on my way back. The last few days have treated me very well and with my rakeback now being processed weekly, I am growing at a descent clip. I've been really focused recently and it has greatly helped my bankroll. Being on a nice heater doesn't hurt either. I'm also realizing how much playing out of position truly sucks and I try and avoid it at all costs now. I've found myself getting into some sticky situations while quite deep and kind of lost and have sought comments on a couple of hands. The biggest one was when I was 250bb deep with an utg raiser and I was in the BB with KK. I 3bet him and he 4bet and he was quite tight as well and I decided to just flat since I would be out of position the whole hand. I truly think he had AA and would have shoved over a 5bet and I chose the safe route. An A flopped and I was done.

The last 5k hands or so, the deck has hit me in the face hard and I have capitalized on it as best as I can with a great climb in my graph. Everytime I have posted a great graph, it has followed with a big downswing, but I'm still going to post it :) It's just nice to report something good every once in a while.

Bankroll #'s:

Tilt: $474.23
Stars: $293.22
Total: $767.45

Fading away

It is quite amazing how much of an impact just the slightest offset in mood can have on your overall game. Since my last post, I was feeling good about where I was with my game with the recovery I made through the tournaments, but since then I have not quite been 100% at the tables mentally and it has taken a toll on the roll. I'm feeling very discouraged currently about the game in general as nothing I seem to do works and when it does, I get outdrawn. I can't even think about my opponents lines and hand ranges and it is showing. For some reason, I felt that I could refocus my game by playing some H/U NL which this does do, but it also tends to have huge swings and that hit me for 4-5 buyins at a level I wasn't rolled for. I then decided that I still wanted to play h/u, so I decided to play some sng's. Started at $20 and felt good through 6 losses due to suckouts which led to bad play. At this point, I really started tilting. I have to say I am very lucky to have a bankroll at all at this point because I was on my way to some 200nl games and did sit for a while but sat shortstacked. So I now need to refocus......AGAIN! and need to decide what I want to specialize in. I hate this game sometimes.....

FT: $19.48
Stars: $358.17

Total: $377.65

FPP Conversion Complete

Well, after grinding through a whole bunch of fpp satellites, I have completed this portion of my journey...turning my ~20k fpp's into cash. I was able to do that with the following results:

Total Played: 96
Total FPP's spent: 20160
Total Won: 41
$T won= $451
Current $T to spend: $0

Trny's played with $T-

$12 turbo 180 sng= $23.76
$12 turbo 180 sng= $0
$12 turbo 180 sng= $0 77 runs into 99
$12 turbo 45 sng= $0 KK runs into a limp/shoved A6o utg
$12 turbo 45 sng= $22
$5 mtt= $0
$20.80 DON= $0
$10.40 DON= $0
$10.40 DON= $0
$12 turbo 180 = $0
$12 turbo 180 = $0
$12 turbo 180 = $128.70
$12 turbo 180 = $23.76
$12 turbo 45 = $0
$12 turbo 180= $23.76
$12 turbo 180 = $0
$10.40 DON = $0
$5.20 DON = $10
$5.50 MTT = $0
$10.40 DON = $0
$20.80 DON = $40
$10k guar $5mtt=$0
$50k Guar $3r in for $21.30= $38.94
$20 DON=$0
$20 DON = $40
$20 DON = $40
$20 DON = $0
$20 DON = $0
$5 DON = $0


$ won= $390.98

Now we move back to grinding away. My current bankroll now sits at










drumroll......





$526.57 at Stars
$374.93 at Tilt

$901.50 total bankroll


WOOOOT!

Oh yea, I have a blog.....

Well, I hadn't actually forgotten about my blog, but was too embarassed to post anything to it as I was really tilting and just throwing money away in general. After a bit of recovery, I can hold my head high and start posting again. I had pretty much busted totally and was anxiously awaiting my rakeback from Tilt which was a much needed rebuild. I really am not sure if I will ever get to the level that I want to in NL poker. I've always found myself to be a better tournament player overall, but thought I could push my way into the NL world and make a descent buck off of it. I decided to take a bit of a break from NL cash games and set out on a new quest: Turn my 20k FPP's at Stars into a descent amount of cash. I'm playing the 210 fpp satellites to the Sunday 100k which has an $11 entry which gives me T$11 to use in regular trny's. I'm going to be focussing on this primarily until all my fpp's are gone. I currently have 8,412 fpp's left and I stand with the following results:

Total Played: 56
Total FPP's spent: 11760
Total Won: 23
$T won= $253
Current $T to spend: $62.90

Trny's played with $T-

$12 turbo 180 sng= $23.76
$12 turbo 180 sng= $0
$12 turbo 180 sng= $0 77 runs into 99
$12 turbo 45 sng= $0 KK runs into a limp/shoved A6o utg
$12 turbo 45 sng= $22
$5 mtt= $0
$20.80 DON= $0
$10.40 DON= $0
$10.40 DON= $0
$12 turbo 180 = $0
$12 turbo 180 = $0
$12 turbo 180 = $128.70
$12 turbo 180 = $23.76
$12 turbo 45 = $0
$12 turbo 180= $23.76
$12 turbo 180 = $0

$ won= $221.98

Here's hoping it continues well and I can get a couple more final tables going.