Thanks Kotk17

Just wanted to say thanks to Kotk17 for stopping by the FTP table I was playing last night and chatting a little bit. Nice to know there is more than 1 person who occasionally reads this blog. See ya around the tables Kotk17... remember game selection to match your playing style. Tight look for a table with high percentage of people seeing flops. Are you a loose player? Look for tables with a small percentage of people seeing flops.

$10

Wow, just had a good night last night. Bought into the .10/.25 table with $10.00. Little while later I cashed out with $70. $60/hour. Not too shabby. I was up to about 30 when I had QQ. The guy to my right raised, I re-raised, he called. Flop comes all low cards. He a small amount, I raise, he re-raises and I push all in. He says he knows he's beat and calls with JJ. I double up through him.

This morning, I quickly threw in $25 onto a table. And walked away 15 minutes later (had to go to work) with a $20 profit.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

My wife's cousin came over with her husband and daughter this weekend. While they were very helpful with some tasks around the house, they said one of the scariest things ever.

"Our daughter has an imaginary friend. Donnie in the Basement. Not even just Donnie, but Donnie in the Basement. She told me the other day, 'Don't worry Donnie in the Basement won't cut you.'"

Unfortunately for them they just moved out of their old house and apparently Donnie in the Basement came with them.

A MTT WIN

OK, so there were only 19 people. It started of Shorthanded, but I knocked someone out relatively quickly with AK vs AQ. AK held up.

One key hand, I thought I played good, but apparently not (judging by the polls).

6 people left and top 4 pay.
100/200 Blinds
Seat 2: some player (10,192)
Seat 4: some player (2,085)
Seat 5: SB (7,870)
Seat 6: BB (1,010)
Seat 7: Unimpressed (3,755)
Seat 8: UTG+2 (3,588)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Unimpressed [7c 8c]
Unimpressed calls 200
UTG+1 calls 200
some player folds
some player folds
SB calls 100
BB raises to 1,010, and is all in
------------

Ultimately I didn't want to give the BB a walk. No one showed any strength so I figured a call might be good (since the BB could push with any hand at that point). Plus if the UTG+1 or the SB pushed, I could fold and still have enough chips to survive. The money was right (call 810 to win 1600) and with him possibly having anything, I figured at worst I was a 3:2 dog, which heads up is the right pot odds. Apparently with 2 people left to act, I should have folded or maybe pushed to isolate.

Well I just called. The other two folded. BB actually had a hand, but not a pair. He flips over AK which was pretty much what I figured (though was really hoping for a bluff, but figured it wasn't likely). The flop pretty much sealed the deal with 7-7-x. The turn was a blank which did seal the deal. The BB was NOT happy with my call. Oh well.

I made a few donk calls after that and was short stacked, but two timely sets allowed me to double up. The heads up match was again the SB in that hand and I started with a big chip lead. He get some back then lose it. Then get some back, then lose it. Until finally we got all the money in with AJ vs KQ and my AJ held up.

So while it was really like a 18 handed SnG, it was technically a MTT, we even got to the antes. So technically it was my first MTT win.

And a DIET update: I've lost 17 lbs so far this year. Weight Watchers works!

Back in the Game

In January I deposited $100.00. Went through it in 4 days. 1/2 of it went down to a bad beat when I jumped into a $1/$2 NL game with $50. Bad bankroll management? Not really, since it wasn't a bankroll, just a deposit. And one of the things I wanted to do with the deposit was either play in a $50 SnG or a bigger stakes cash game. I chose the higher stakes and had my AA cracked by AT. Shortly there after, the rest was gone.

In February I decided to do a test deposit, wasn't sure if it was even going to work. It did, so I put in another $50. This time, I focused on .05/.10 NL and nothing higher than a $5.00 SnG. I quickly lost about $30 of that. Most of it was becasue of stupid play. I was definitely playing below my ability.

One day I jumped into the usual .05/.10 6-handed NL game as well as a $5.00 SnG. Between the two I was hit with the deck... hell I was hit with like 20 decks and pretty much able to pick any cards I wanted. In the course of an hour I had AA/KK/QQ about 5 times, plus a bunch of AK/AQs. In the SnG I was chip leader and at the cash game, I turned $5.00 into $35. I busted out of the SnG just out of the money, then I got into a big hand and lost about $20 on a questionable call. I stilled ended with $15 from a $5 buy-in.

But it got me thinking. I was lucky enough to get most of the money I recently lost and blew a big portion on what might have been a questionable call. (I had J6 in the BB- there are a couple of limpers, I just check. Flop comes J-J-x. I bet, get 2 callers, Turn is a blank (no draws), I bet and get one caller (he has the 2nd biggest stack). River is another Blank. I believe I checked, in case he had another Jack. He pushes all-in. I call and he has QJ). Hard to get away from that. I should have bet the river, and if he came over the top I might have been able to throw it away. My check showed weakness and his push-in could easily have screamed of desperation.

Basically, the situation (not the hand) caused me to pay more attention to my play and even at these micro-limits there is definitely room for thinking. I don't plan on making this my living, but I'd like to build up a bankroll where I can play higher limits like 1/2 or 2/4 and not blow my wad. Maybe withdraw some cash (once the whole UIGEA is figured out) to buy some luxury items.

So I made a conscious effort to turn my play around. I've even made some rudimentary attempts at game selection. I'm looking for active games. Higher percentages of people seeing flops, higher average pots. This will allow me to play a bit tighter and wait for big hands. I've stuck to the micro limits - .05/.10 and .10/.25- no limit, mostly short handed. I've played a few SnGs (short handed, full or heads up- $5.00 buy-in). But not performed particularly well in those.

The cash games have been a lot better. After losing the initial $30 from the most recent deposit(combo of cash games and SNG), I've had one losing session and that was only because I cut it short. Twice I lost my initial $10 buy-in, but rebought for another 10 and both times won back my lost buy-in plus some more.

So here I am, one week since my $50 deposit. 1 week from losing a total of $130 for the year. When I closed out a cash game last night... I am a PROFITABLE player for 2007. I've turned that last $50 deposit it to $152. Sure it's only a $2 for the year so far, but it's nice to know that I was able to dig myself out of the hole I put myself in.

I understand that it can get unlucky and bad beats happen, that's part of the game. But I'm going to stick with the micro games until I get my bankroll up. I actually want to turn this INTO a bankroll.