Due for an Entry

I tend to stay away from writing for the blog when I'm in downswings, though I'm really not sure that I should. This can be a useful place to vent frustrations.

So yeah, in the two weeks since I last posted, poker is going not well, mostly. I did finish 143th in the FTOPS Main Event. The hand I went out on I've dissected to death (along with some help from the forum), and I definitely played it badly and got unlucky all at the same time. That hand still annoys me, but I don't feel like thinking about it anymore. Moving on.

This past Sunday, I finished 36th in the weekly $200K on AP(UB). Along with a couple of other cashes, that helped to ensure that I actually didn't lose money on either of the last Sundays that I played. Which can be an accomplishment sometimes on big field days. Hey I'm looking for silver linings here.

Otherwise, frankly there's not much good to say. Have I played bad? Some. Have I ran bad? God, yes. I really feel like my success is sort of inevitable though, because mostly I've played consistently and just haven't run well in key sports. Just a natural sort of correction from the week that I took over Cake Poker I guess.

I am annoyingly now +$1670 or so for the month, which would be worst month since November 2007, when I was still playing SNGs. Which I'm thankfully not anymore, since I find the idea of 10 tabling SNGs sort of soul crushing. I have been thinking about diversifying though, partially on the advice of forum members. Cash games and omaha may be on my list. I'm not particularly good at either of those things right now, but I think that could change with a little work. And also I could probably just use a break from NLHE tournaments. A casino trip may be called for.

This is hilarious, I especially like the "you don't understand, this is always happens to me" part of the rant: http://www.xtranormal.com/xtranormal/episode.php?aid=103870&mid=20090222182227485

Tonight will probably be my last poker day of the month, so maybe I'll win a tournament and actually post a respectable number for the month. Never know.

The Poker Gods Punish Arrogance

Just when I was thinking this poker thing was getting a little too easy, I got taught a little lesson on variance. Got smacked in full days last week and this week. This Monday was especially savage, because I basically couldn't crack the top half of the field in most of the tournaments that I played. Which is hard to do, since my game is basically tight at low blind levels. I made a couple just terrible plays, and then ran into a string of horrific beats as well. Was also playing quite a few FTOPS qualifiers, for the $1k second chance event, as well as the $5k 2 day event this Saturday that I really want to play in. Those turbos are good way to burn through money in a hurry, especially if getting it in with aces preflop means the other player will make quads.

The worst was the 20k sniper on the "some days you can't beat the donkeys" front:

Stage #1458381828 Tourney ID 4064296 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $30 - 2009-02-09 20:43:51 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #6 is the dealer
Seat 1 - IQUEEN ($1592.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - MENDIETA19 ($5595 in chips)
Seat 3 - GUYBIRD8 ($5387.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - FEAR_ITSELF ($5822.50 in chips)
Seat 5 - PAULTORICO ($3430 in chips)
Seat 6 - SOUTHCJAY7 ($9130 in chips)
Seat 7 - BZIMZIM ($6612.50 in chips)
Seat 8 - MECITEK ($6545 in chips)
Seat 9 - STAKTURNER ($4545 in chips)
BZIMZIM - Posts small blind $15
MECITEK - Posts big blind $30
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Kd Kc]
STAKTURNER - Calls $30
IQUEEN - Folds
MENDIETA19 - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $30
FEAR_ITSELF - Calls $30
PAULTORICO - Folds
SOUTHCJAY7 - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $200 to $215
MECITEK - Folds
STAKTURNER - Calls $185
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $185
FEAR_ITSELF - Calls $185
*** FLOP *** [Js 5d 10s]
BZIMZIM - Bets $600
STAKTURNER - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - All-In(Raise) $5172.50 to $5172.50
FEAR_ITSELF - Folds
BZIMZIM - Calls $4572.50
*** TURN *** [Js 5d 10s] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [Js 5d 10s 7s] [Qd]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GUYBIRD8 - Shows [7d 10d] (Two Pair, tens and sevens)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Kd Kc] (One pair, kings)
GUYBIRD8 Collects $11235 from main pot

So got down to 600 chips, but built it back up, then this against the same player:

Stage #1458575623 Tourney ID 4064296 Holdem Multi Normal Tournament No Limit $200 - 2009-02-09 21:59:48 (ET)
Table: 11 (Real Money) Seat #3 is the dealer
Seat 1 - MIDDLEMISS08 ($6531.50 in chips)
Seat 2 - MAINIEDELANEY ($27292.50 in chips)
Seat 3 - GUYBIRD8 ($7007.50 in chips)
Seat 4 - SUNNYDYLN ($5030 in chips)
Seat 5 - SEANP100 ($5409 in chips)
Seat 6 - SOUTHCJAY7 ($13700 in chips)
Seat 7 - BZIMZIM ($6450 in chips)
Seat 8 - MECITEK ($13525 in chips)
Seat 9 - STAKTURNER ($14874 in chips)
SUNNYDYLN - Posts small blind $100
SEANP100 - Posts big blind $200
*** POCKET CARDS ***
Dealt to BZIMZIM [Ah Ad]
SOUTHCJAY7 - Folds
BZIMZIM - Raises $550 to $550
MECITEK - Folds
STAKTURNER - Folds
MIDDLEMISS08 - Folds
MAINIEDELANEY - Folds
GUYBIRD8 - Calls $550
SUNNYDYLN - Folds
SEANP100 - Folds
*** FLOP *** [3d Qh 7c]
BZIMZIM - Bets $800
GUYBIRD8 - All-In(Raise) $6457.50 to $6457.50
BZIMZIM - All-In $5100
GUYBIRD8 - returned ($557.50) : not called
*** TURN *** [3d Qh 7c] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [3d Qh 7c 4h] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
GUYBIRD8 - Shows [3c 4d] (Two Pair, fours and threes)
BZIMZIM - Shows [Ah Ad] (One pair, aces)
GUYBIRD8 Collects $13200 from main pot

Well, alright. Whatever. Believe it or not, that wasn't even the worst player I saw that day, as there was a play in the AP 30r that night that would min raise atc every hand, then get lucky more than anyone I've ever seen. He had a huge CL was 18 left. He finished 9th. I finished an unproductive 8th. Probably back to work tonight.

Other People Should Just Stop Playing the Cake 30r

Shipped Cake 30r again last night. Last four results in that tournament:

1/26: 3/292, $2500
1/27: 1/310, $5638
1/29: 71/225, $0
2/2: 1/354, $6057

What was I doing on January 29th? Terrible.

So apparently my Cake 30r heater is continuing. Last night was one of the most spectacularly inept final tables I've ever been at, with only one or two players seemingly having the faintest idea what they were doing. This last hand is fairly representative:

Hand #176540B744003922: DAILY $25K GUARANTEED!! - R&A
Seat 9: Mill*** (655966.00 in chips)
Seat 10: bzimzim (995534.00 in chips)
MilllerThyme posts ante of 3,000
bzimzim posts ante of 3,000
bzimzim: posts small blind 15,000
Mill***: posts big blind 30,000
Dealt to bzimzim [ Kc Tc ]
bzimzim: raises to 75,000
Mill***: calls
@@@ F_L_O_P @@@ [ 5d Ts 7d ]
Mill***: is all in 577966.0000
bzimzim: calls
Mill***: shows 7s Ks
bzimzim: shows Kc Tc
# # # TURN # # # [ Jc ]
&&& RIVER &&& [ 9h ]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bzimzim wins 1,311,932 with Pair of Tens

Why not just shove 4 times the size of the pot with second pair. Not that I don't appreciate it.

That continues the excellent start for the year. I'm sure destroying the Cake 30r wouldn't impress anyone at pocketfives (which doesn't even link to Cake results) or make me a big name online pro or anything, but I'm pretty sure I'll take the money anyway. You know, once it clears the 45 day waiting period, because Cake still can't figure out how to send checks.

Probably a full work day today, can't really stop when I'm running this good. With a little Ohio State-Purdue mixed in.

January Wrap

January in the books.

Month: +$11,867

Year: +$11,867 (obviously)

I'll take 11 more just like that.

Coming up on the year anniversary of starting this blog. I'm thinking about buying myself some flowers.

Goal for this month: 25k score like last February. Or just more of the same will do just fine.