I hate August.

I’d say sorry for the lack of updates, but I’m really not. So I won’t.

I worked almost 70 hours this past week. One day off in over 2 weeks. Not fun at all. I always worry after times like this that when I do have a day off I won’t be able to leave again. I left a good job 6 months before I wanted to by doing that a few years back. Actually almost 7 years back. Time flies I guess.

If all goes well, there are some interesting developments on the horizon for me. We’ll see how things go. Sometimes change is a good thing I suppose.

Somehow even with all of the work, I’ve managed to have my best month online this year. I’ve won 2 seats into the Sunday Million (as well as splitting one to the expensive one last month) and had a couple of tournament cashes. My cash game still isn’t close to what it should be unfortunately. I’m wildly inconsistent. Certain tables I beat regardless of the cards, and others I can’t win without making every hand. I’m not adjusting my play properly and I’m calling too much. It’s odd as I think my solid tourney/SnG/satellite results are because of my ability to lay a hand down to a raise/re-raise pre-flop and not calling in situations where the price isn’t right. Limit Hold-em can be frustrating.

I’m going to continue to play satellites, as well as a couple of tournament a week. I really like the $10 1-rebuy / 1-addon format. It’s a nice prize pool. In addition to that I’ve got to buckle down and play better in cash games. For the rest of the month I’m going to try and get in double the hands I’ve played month-to-date. We’ll see how that goes.

I haven’t played live in quite a while. I get burnt out being around the people. I really don’t know when I’ll go again. I’ll most likely warm back up to the idea as the weather changes. Perhaps I’ll make a trip to Turning Stone. Nobody knows me there.

In forum news, I had a good couple of weeks, even though I was absent for one of them. I had a solid showing on the “Top 5 +1’ers you wouldn’t want to be”, and a surprise appearance on someone’s “Top 5 +1’ers you’d want over for Thanksgiving”. Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t celebrate holidays.

I look forward to a normal schedule, and I may take some vacation time in September to play cards. Who knows.

Out of the darkness, back into the light...

The NL game has always been my dark mistress. I don’t know what it is about the game. I’ve had some limited success in the live game, but online I really struggle with it. I play well for a session and find a way to blow up in a hand or two. Too much grinding to endure a 2 or 3 buyin loss in one or two hands. It’s frustrating.

So, I played some limit over the weekend. Short handed of course. While not as sexy as the NL game, there’s certainly money to be made in this game, and I can misplay more hands and still turn a handy profit. It's similar to my live NL game. I'm not always the best player at the table, but there's nothing like a table with 3 or 4 bad players and 2 good ones. Groovy man. An example, from a 1/2 6-max session.

Dealt 4:c: 4:s: in the BB.

2 calls, button raise, fold, I call, 2 calls

Flop: Q :h: 4 :h: 4 :d:

I check, check, bet, folds around, I raise (should have just called), fold, call.

Turn: T :h:

I check, bet, I raise, call.

River: 9 (black)

I bet, call. He mucked A :h: 9 :d: :)

I really wanted to go for the third C/R, but I didn’t think I’d get the bet. I think I misplayed that hand on the flop, and still got 3 more big bets in there.

I’ve moved up 3 levels and playing fairly well. I’m missing bets on the river. I played a few hundred hands this morning and on the river alone I missed 4 or 5 bets. It’s quite fun to know I’m getting odds to play the majority of my draws profitably. It’s one of the things that bothered me most in NL. I really don’t like feeling that I’m not proficient at a game and moving on, but I like money. I’ll still play NL live as they don’t spread a big enough limit game, but for now I’m going back to limit online with a few tourneys mixed in.

I missed a great opportunity last weekend to play in a card game. It was a stag. Entertainment was very good (I’ve seen these two young ladies at stags in the past), and there was a SnG followed by a cash game. Bummer.

On a personal note, it’s really freaking hot. I’m not a big fan of that. When does fall get here again?