Lucky/Unlucky

I did pass the $1k threshold, but I won't be there for too long. In fact, I think I'm already under it. Thanks to hands like this.

Full Tilt Poker Game #9309750309: $2 + $0.25 Sit & Go (71159653), Table 1 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:15:21 ET - 2008/12/03
Seat 2: caseycat2 (2,840)
Seat 3: actzeng (1,195)
Seat 4: Zulu94598 (3,045)
Seat 5: darqblue42 (2,195)
Seat 8: resler101 (2,435)
Seat 9: XPhillyRobX (1,790)
caseycat2 posts the small blind of 40
actzeng posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [9d 2d]
Zulu94598 calls 80
darqblue42 folds
resler101 folds
XPhillyRobX folds
caseycat2 folds
actzeng checks
*** FLOP *** [Kh 3d Qd]
actzeng checks
Zulu94598 bets 160
actzeng raises to 1,115, and is all in
Zulu94598 calls 955
actzeng shows [9d 2d]
Zulu94598 shows [Ah Ac]
*** TURN *** [Kh 3d Qd] [Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Kh 3d Qd Ad] [As]
actzeng shows a flush, Ace high
Zulu94598 shows four of a kind, Aces
Zulu94598 wins the pot (2,430) with four of a kind, Aces
actzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,430 | Rake 0
Board: [Kh 3d Qd Ad As]
Seat 2: caseycat2 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: actzeng (big blind) showed [9d 2d] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 4: Zulu94598 showed [Ah Ac] and won (2,430) with four of a kind, Aces
Seat 5: darqblue42 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 8: resler101 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 9: XPhillyRobX (button) didn't bet (folded)

Keeping on

I'm posting again, knowing full well that this is probably going to lead to another downturn in luck, but it is what it is.

November wrapped up ok. I ended up losing the star on sharkscope, and I think it's half bad play on my part and half just getting unlucky. Despite the fact that I'm up on the month, I feel like I suffered some pretty horrific beats. There was one 9 person SNG where I had KK four times, AA once, and QQ once and busted out in like 15 hands. the beats were sick. remind me to send you the HH. I should still have it.

The good thing is that even with the downturn in HU PLO, the SNGs have been running much better and I feel a lot more in control, and more patient. I'm not raising low pairs in EP, and getting away from AJ and AQ early on.

It is weird to think that it was about 7 months ago or so that I was excited about crossing the $1000 mark on sharkscope and $700 in my BR, and to date, I have done neither. I predicted then that my play would suffer, and it did. I am now $10 away from the $1k mark on sharkscope, so we'll see how it goes this time around.

If I do end up crossing either threshold, I may step back into the $5 SNGs. In actuality, I should play all $5 games, even the HU PLO. Over the course of time, I will pay less to FTP, and will take a bigger prizepool. I just don't want to go on that downswing where I lose 8 in a row and am suddenly down $40. You have to play a ton of $2 games to make that money. I know - that's basically what I've scrounged together in the last 3 months.

Yep.

Full Tilt Poker Game #9066253134: $2 + $0.25 Sit & Go (69372586), Table 1 - 60/120 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:21:18 ET - 2008/11/19
Seat 1: actzeng (900)
Seat 2: helfires (4,115)
Seat 5: Cheryl1950 (2,795)
Seat 7: Verbal K (970)
Seat 9: broncobaker7 (4,720)
broncobaker7 posts the small blind of 60
actzeng posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #7
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [As Qc]
helfires calls 120
Cheryl1950 folds
Verbal K calls 120
broncobaker7 folds
actzeng raises to 900, and is all in
helfires calls 780
Verbal K folds
actzeng shows [As Qc]
helfires shows [6c 5c]
*** FLOP *** [2s 5h 6d]
*** TURN *** [2s 5h 6d] [5s]
*** RIVER *** [2s 5h 6d 5s] [Qh]
actzeng shows two pair, Queens and Fives
actzeng: nice play
helfires shows a full house, Fives full of Sixes
helfires wins the pot (1,980) with a full house, Fives full of Sixes
Verbal K: lol
actzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1,980 Rake 0
Board: [2s 5h 6d 5s Qh]
Seat 1: actzeng (big blind) showed [As Qc] and lost with two pair, Queens and Fives
Seat 2: helfires showed [6c 5c] and won (1,980) with a full house, Fives full of Sixes
Seat 5: Cheryl1950 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: Verbal K (button) folded before the Flop
Seat 9: broncobaker7 (small blind) folded before the Flop

Now I know why I stopped doing the blog...

Because right after I blog about how things are going right, they suddenly go so wrong. Played some yesterday while taking care of my daughter. Lost some, won some. Played like shit in the $1 at 1 tourney. Ran up a pretty big stack by getting JJ vs. AK AIPF - flop came A high, but I rivered the J. My opponent got knocked down to about 800 chips, but miraculously came back, and then eventually crippled me when I made a GOD AWFUL rr in lat position with AK - we got it all in on the flop, which missed me, BTW, and he had AA. That knocked me down from about 8k chips to 3k. Then the next hand, I have K7 suited, and get it all in on a K75 flop. Great spot to double, but my opponent had 55 and that's all she wrote. Missed the money again because I played like an idiot.

Won a $2 SNG after that to recoup the losses in the day, then ended up blowing it by losing a couple HU PLO games because I didn't play with any kind of patience. HU PLO is suddenly not going well.

Been a while

My brother asked me if the blog was dead and I said yes. There was no real reason not to continue it except for the fact that I was in an enormous poker funk.

August was a small losing month for me, and I moved down in stakes, playing almost strictly $2 games. It has been going ok. I am about $70 off from my recent BR highest. I was recently down to about minus $140 from the highest point. I attribute some of that to the fact that I did three $10 cash transfers to the other guy who work(ed) at my office (and got cash back), and to one night when I poured $30 down the drain in cash PLO. Yeah, that was a bad night.

October turned small winner, and November is going ok (see monthly graph). I got a sharkscope star in HU PLO under $2, which is pretty cool. I should be able to maintain it until year's end which would be cool. That game is so streaky though. I find it amazing that I'm still ranked after some of the bad runs that I go on. I do run well at times, though so it's a give and take. I'm also pretty sure that if sharkscope tracked everyone that my name wouldn't even be close to the top of the list. It was only after I submitted my name for consideration that it popped up. There are certain times that I feel so keyed into that game though, and just rip off 7-8 straight wins. I feel like HU brings out the competitor in me moreso than 9-handed SNGs.

For a while, I had almost completely stopped playing holdem. I'm back playing the $2 SNGs now with some moderate success. I think it will be a while until I got back to the $5 games again. Moving down is always easy. Moving up is difficult because if you lose $10 really quickly, you know it's going to take a lot of $2 games to grind that back.

This hand would have put me massive chipleader with 22 left

Full Tilt Poker Game #7966434994: $1 Tournament (60455835), Table 65 - 3000/6000 Ante 750 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:08:24 ET - 2008/09/06
Seat 1: robert_wrath (35,832)
Seat 2: actzeng (60,834)
Seat 3: semkim (33,260)
Seat 4: JohnnyB99 (61,230)
Seat 5: AMBUSKES (75,974)
Seat 8: billjp (87,699)
Seat 9: melncsu (53,795)
robert_wrath antes 750
actzeng antes 750
semkim antes 750
JohnnyB99 antes 750
AMBUSKES antes 750
billjp antes 750
melncsu antes 750
semkim posts the small blind of 3,000
JohnnyB99 posts the big blind of 6,000
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Qd As]
AMBUSKES foldsbilljp folds
melncsu foldsrobert_wrath folds
actzeng raises to 18,000
semkim folds
JohnnyB99 has 15 seconds left to act
JohnnyB99 raises to 60,480, and is all in
actzeng calls 42,084, and is all inJ
ohnnyB99 shows [Td Kd]
actzeng shows [Qd As]
Uncalled bet of 396 returned to JohnnyB99
*** FLOP *** [8d 2h 7h]
*** TURN *** [8d 2h 7h] [Jc]
*** RIVER *** [8d 2h 7h Jc] [9c]
JohnnyB99 shows a straight, Jack high
actzeng shows Ace Queen high
JohnnyB99 wins the pot (128,418) with a straight, Jack high
actzeng stands up*** SUMMARY ***Total pot 128,418

I never win this hand

Full Tilt Poker Game #7952072016: $2 + $0.25 Tournament (60358898), Table 5 - 40/80 - No Limit Hold'em - 21:11:36 ET - 2008/09/05
Seat 1: marks36 (4,490)
Seat 2: poke85 (2,989)
Seat 3: ResinKing420 (3,420)
Seat 4: cmajowski (4,365)
Seat 5: actzeng (4,241)
Seat 6: TweetyPacer (6,370)
ResinKing420 posts the small blind of 40
cmajowski posts the big blind of 80
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to actzeng [Kh Kd]
actzeng has 15 seconds left to act
actzeng raises to 240
TweetyPacer folds
marks36 calls 240
poke85 raises to 2,989, and is all in
ResinKing420 folds
cmajowski folds
actzeng raises to 4,241, and is all in
marks36 calls 4,001
actzeng shows [Kh Kd]
marks36 shows [5h 5s]
poke85 shows [Td Ts]
*** FLOP *** [3h 5d Jc]
*** TURN *** [3h 5d Jc] [5c]
*** RIVER *** [3h 5d Jc 5c] [Ks]
actzeng shows a full house, Kings full of Fives
marks36 shows four of a kind, Fives
marks36 wins the side pot (2,504) with four of a kind, Fives
poke85 shows two pair, Tens and Fives
marks36 wins the main pot (9,087) with four of a kind, Fives
poke85 stands up
actzeng stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 11,591 Main pot 9,087. Side pot 2,504. | Rake 0
Board: [3h 5d Jc 5c Ks]
Seat 1: marks36 showed [5h 5s] and won (11,591) with four of a kind, Fives
Seat 2: poke85 (button) showed [Td Ts] and lost with two pair, Tens and Fives
Seat 3: ResinKing420 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: cmajowski (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: actzeng showed [Kh Kd] and lost with a full house, Kings full of Fives
Seat 6: TweetyPacer didn't bet (folded)