Time to take some Time

I have to say this has been a very trying month. Here are a few things.

Cardplayer: I've been posting there for about a year now. I've greatly enjoyed the forum and most of the people in it. Two things happened this week that really effected me. First cbal84 left. He's a bout the only "regular" left in the limit forum, and with him posting less, I really don't know how much being there will improve my game, and that's really the whole purpose. Chris has some great insight into the game, and delivered it in a witty & entertaining manner. We'll miss you pal.
The second was a theft. A member of the forum made was careless with his account information and ended up having it cost him about 1.5k. The whole event sickened me. I really wonder about people these days. I think I'll spend some more time over at 2+2 in July. I could post one or 2x a week at CP and not miss anything of substance.

Online Poker: This month was my first losing month in 8, and only my second in 14 months. In addition to taking my game very seriously, I also derive a portion of my income from it and pay some bills with it. Fortunately I had a great live session so I didn't have to hit my roll up for the bills. I've given it a lot of thought and here's what I think is the root of the problem: I really want to be playing 2 levels up from where I am. I decided to try a 5k hand experiment. I'll spare you the details. They are below if you want to read them. In returning to my usual game, the stakes were much lower than I had become accustomed to, and I was playing WAY too loose. I reviewed hands, and I really was playing poorly. The last ten days or so have been much better, and the last few sessions were great. I'm back, so stay out of my way.

Live poker: I struggle with this. I like the live game. I enjoy reading the people, the hands, and the game in general. It's a blast. I used to go every 2 or 3 weeks, but I haven't been in the last 6 months. I can't justify the cost of fuel/rake/tips compared to the online game. If I leave with 3x my buyin again this weekend I may have to re-think that strategy. Hopefully they'll have a higher stakes game going this week.

Last night: I played really well last night. I started out getting no cards, then one table (I was playing 2) heated up and I hit some nice hands and got paid off. I finished up the evening up about 40bb after 253 hands and about 2 hours. I'll take it.
I made a couple of stupid mistakes. On 2 hands in the span of about 5 minutes, I checked a river I should have bet. The one board was 9,Q,Q, 4, 2, and I had A9. There was no flush possibility out there, and I was certain my opponent didn't have a queen. On the other a flush card came and really didn't have a solid read on my opponent. I still think in both cases I would have been called. I gave away 2bb there. Shame on me.
I'd like to mention one other mistake of note. I was in the big blind with 77, and there were 4 limpers. The flop came A,Q,x (3 or 4 I believe). I clicked the "Fold to any Bet" button. Needless to say noone bet that flop, a 7 came on the turn, the small blind bet and I was auto-folded before I could do anything about it. Man that sucked.

This weekend: I will be leaving late this afternoon to go camping with my sweetheart. The deal was that I'd take time off of work and in exchange I get to spend Saturday in the casino. The weekend looks to be rather dreary, so I'm not missing much. I plan on getting a lot of reading done. I brought some magazines (Autoweek, Car & Driver, Smithsonian, Card Player), as well as Super System (I'm just finishing the Limit section for the 4th time or so) and Harrington on Hold-em. I haven't opened HOH yet, and I hope it's as good as I've been told. I'd really like to concentrate more on my tournament game this winter.


Overall, I feel my game is the best it's been in months. I'm playing aggressive, focused & disciplined poker. After Saturday, I'm going to take spend time over the weekend reviewing HH's, stats, and reading to make my game better. Oh, I'll probably have a few drinks, swim, water ski, and ride the mountain bike too. Yeah, vacation. I've got to keep that in mind...