No Poker for a while

I haven't really played poker for about 2 weeks due to exams and I probably won't get to play for at least another week. Im trying to stay fresh by reading the FCP forums a bit. I think this break will be good for me I already have a very bad craving to play. So by the end of next week I will be like a junkie in rehab. But that is a good thing because I always play by best after taking a break. My goal for the summer is to grow my bankroll up to the 5 digit mark which will be no easy task but i think i can pull it off. Im sitting around 5500 right now.

The Never ending poker Roller Coaster!

I have been on the craziest run lately i went home this past weekend and ever since i got back i have been taking crazy swings. I have never had anything this wild before. I started on tuesday with some 5/10 which went pretty bad then played somemore on wednesday during the day and won about 400. Then my friend from home who is atticted to poker as well was playing on stars so i played some 1/2 with him just for fun and then i decided to play a little more 5/10 lost about 100. Woke up the next morning at 12 and played for a bit and lost 190, i wasn't playing bad i was just getting hit with some bad suckouts and a lot of legit draws were hitting on me. So i took a break since i was getting a little frustrated. I came back at around 3:00 and started playing again. This was such a frustrating session i was so mad by the end of it. I just couldn't catch a break I had two pair rivered by a bigger two pair when we shared a card. I had a trips beaten by a flush and i had two big hands beaten by gutshots after having the guy cap it on the flop with nothing. I was ready to kill the guy that did it and it was the same guy both times. One of them was at the very end of my session and i was on extreme tilt. I had A10 in the cut off i raised the button who was the manic re raised and the BB who i knew was fairly tight capped and we both called. Normally i would not call in that situation as im probably dominated or at least someone has JJ-KK, but i was on tilt so I did. Anyways the flop comes A24 rainbow. BB checks I bet button calls and BB raises we both call the turn was an 8 or someting in that rage BB bets we both call river is a 3 BB check i check button bets we both call and he flips over J5. At this point i was so mad that i couldn't help myself so i started cutting him up but it clearly wasn't bothering him he was just saying how i was he cash cow etc etc etc. Which was making me more mad so i just left and did about 40 push ups to try to get rid of the rage i was feeling. Anyways i decided to stop playing for a while. And later at night my friend told me that he had made 300 that day playing 1/2 which made me want to play again so i sat down at 2 5/10 tables again i procedded to go on the best run of my life. I played for a little less than 2 hours and i was up $700 which is about 35bb per hour at each table. Anyone who knows poker knows this is insane. So after losing about 600 in 12 hours i managed to win it all back and an extra 100 in 2 hours. What a week!

Tough streak

So i haven't said much on here of late mostly because ive been on such a terrible streak that i haven't wanted to post anything. I wasn't doing that horrilble at 5/10 but i just kept getting sucked out on and it was really starting to get to me and i had a bit of a blow up. I decided based on the advice of a member of the FCP forums that i would move back down all the way to .5/1 and work my way back up to 5/10 so thats what i have been doing lately. I haven't put in that much time yet because I seem to get bored very quickly so I end up playing in a tournament or a SnG. I had a decent size cash in a 10+1 a few days ago 3rd out of 1156 for $1040. I kinda feel like i should have taken that tournament down. I had one hand where i called an all in with JT on a T high board and lost to pocket K's that i would like to have back. And i also had another hand where I called someones all in with A6 and he turned up Q5 but i lost that pot for about 400k chips leaving me with 250K in chips after that I was pretty card dead and went out in third. Ive played in a lot of MTT's lately with very little luck I just can't seem to have a few hands stand up in order to get a decent stack of chips. Oh well thats poker!

From hot weather to a hot poker streak.

So im completly depressed to be back at school after being in the dominican. However if there is one thing to console me it is the incredibly hot run of cards ive had lately. Ive played about 8 hours since ive been back in Canada and im up about $900. I think i can live on $110 dollars an hour. So but seriously the run im on has been very sweet. I haven't really played my best game to be honest ive been a little bit rusty after taking a week off, but the cards have more than compensated. I've rivered a few people this week on hands i shouldn't have been in in the first place. Oh well thats how it goes sometimes I've been rivered enough times that i don't feel guilty about putting a few beats on people.
Finally today I actually felt like i was playing some solid poker again. Had a couple winning sessions at 5/10. I went to play another session of 5/10 and the wasn't any good tables that i wanted to play but i saw a 10/20 table with a 72% players to the flop percentage. I was very nervous but i decided to give it a try. This is still above my bankroll and I seriously doubt my skill level is at the point where i can consistently beat an average 10/20 table on pokerstars but this table was very bad so I felt confident that i wasn't going to get eaten alive. I sat down with 400. Didn't play much early on, then I picked up 44 in middle position and put in a raise. I got called by the button and BB flop who were both very loose callers. Flop came 873 with two diamonds not the greatest flop but not terrible either BB checked it i decided to lead out. The button called and the BB folded turn was 8d i was fairly confident that the button didn't have an 8 so i bet it again hoping for a fold here. I put him on two over cards. However i got another call. At this point I was worried he had the 7 so when a 3 came on the river i decided i would check and call as it would avoid the check raise on the off chance he had the 8 and might induce a bluff if he was on a draw. Betting here would have been a bad play as he would likely only call with something that had me beat. Anyways I checked and he bet and I called and sure enough it was a bluff with 10 9. That was a decent pot about 120 which isn't that big for a 10/20 game. A few hands later I had a very sweet hand. I picked up 66 on the cutoff and player limped in front of me so I limped as well. The button and both blinds called. The flop came 679 rainbow. One of the blinds bet a limper raised i reraised and the button capped it. The SB folded and everyone else called. At this point i thought i was ahead about 50% of the time and seeing as i was playing a little nervous i decided i would check the turn which was a J. The button bet again and the BB and limper both called the river was a very pretty 7 which I bet and got called by the button who had J9 and the limper was all in with Q9 ended up raking a $330 pot. Anyways i played a bit longer and stayed pretty even but then the table changed a bit and there were some better players so I bailed on that and won't make that adventure again until i get a bigger bankroll.

Fun in the sun

This will be very short 12 bucks an hour for the internet is expensive. Anyways im down here laying on the beach all day getting really burnt. Went to the casino last night no poker, so i decided i would try rouletter not a good idea lost 25 bucks oh well. Casino games suck, i didn't even find it fun at all just boring. Im sticking to poker. Anyways im off to dinner now and then ill be hitting up the Fun pub. Its a bar basically pretty dead got a little busier around 1am. Tommorow morning im going scuba diving which should be sweet.

Off to Dominican

Ok so first i have to write and exam and then have a job interview then finish a case study and then finish a course essay then get 500 more FPP's but then off to the Dominican. I have a completely crazy 3 days ahead of me. I have an exam at 1pm today then im heading home to Toronto either tonight or tommorow morning. Then its gonna be a struggle to get everything done in time. I have to finish my essay which is worth 25% of my mark. I have a job interview on thursday for a summer job (parents don't like the thought of me playing poker for a living this summer). Im also about 500 FPP's away from getting to Gold status on Poker Stars VIP program which i would very much like to get considering it gives me free entry into weekly $5000 freerolls and a $100,000 freeroll at the end of the month. And ill also accumulate FPP's at 2x the normal rate for all of March. Basically im not gonna stop moving until i get on the plane on friday. Im anticipating it being a long night on Thursday getting the essay done. But many late night marathon poker sessions have me ready to make it an all nighter to get the essay done and get those FPP's. I probably won't write another blog before I go. I might try to play some poker in the casino at our resort but somehow im seriously doubting they will have it. I hope i don't get suckered into the table games. If the internet access is decent down there i might write a blog from down there if im not to drunk.

First bit of adversity.

I have been running pretty good lately not spectacular but really consistent. Finally yesterday i got hit with some hardcore variance. I was losing everyhand i had pair over pair lose on the river twice one of which was AA vs 77. Losing with aces is never fun. And a took bunch of other pretty bad beats i kept my cool for the most part and took it like a man, but i still just couldn't get anything going. I ended up dropping about $350 which isn't a huge deal but i hadn't taken a big loss in a while so it kinda hurt and scared me. I got back in there today and won back all of my loss and a bit more which made me feel much better. Ive got about 3500 hands of 5/10 under my belt now and my hourly rate is at 4.11bb/hour which im really happy with. I have to say the shorthanded 5/10 tables on pokerstars are a gold mine. I used to think Pokerstars had higher quality players then other sites but not anymore. Maybe all their advertising is drawing in more fish. Anyways i think im gonna stick with 5/10 until i get at least 10,000 hands under my belt. If i can keep up my current win rate I should have the bankroll to play 10/20 at that point but im still a little nervous to make that step.

Bankroll: $4700