Tilt!

I admit to being on tilt for the past couple weeks (Heck, maybe months!). Why wouldn't I play poker if I had some good quality poker time available to me? Why would I rather play Call of Duty, or Guitar Hero? Why would I sit down and actually play, and then 15 minutes later log off? The answer is: tilt.

I would describe my tilt as being "Goddamn I run so frickin bad" tilt. It's the kind of tilt that makes you think you have the worst luck in the world. And I think I finally found the source of this tilt: PokerEV. PokerEV is a graphing program that gives you a nice little graph that shows how much actual money you have made, and how much you should have made. I've posted many PokerEV graphs here. And the bad thing that it does to you, is that it turns you into a results-oriented poker player. I mean it's right there in front of you! See! SEE!!! Look how bad I run! One time dealer! ONE TIME!!!

And what is the one of the main pieces of advice you always hear in order to become a better poker player? Don't be results orientated! Just concentrate on making the correct plays and the correct reads, and everything will turn out good. So that is what I am going to do. Also, I am never going to use PokerEV again.

Things have gone ok the past week or so. I moved back down to 100NL to get my head back on straight. I've also experimented with 9-tabling. Yep, that's right. NINE! This also forces me to be a little bit tighter, which I think is good for me right now. Plus, I can crank out that FT Bonus for this month. I'm looking forward to the month being done and this Full Tilt Bonus thing being over with. I want to try playing more over at PokerStars starting in February. I think I have become to dependant on PAHud and all the stats it gives you. And since I you can't datamine at Stars, and I don't have many hands over there, it will be like a clean slate over there. I will have to play good/solid poker, and go with reads other than the stats PAHud shows.

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I played in a home game this past weekend with 15 other people. The set-up and structure was pretty nice with 30 minute blinds and rebuys in the first two hours. Unfortunately, I busted out in 12th place or something like that. Best hand of the day was JJ and AK once. Best hand I had after the flop was top two pair (That lost to AA when the board paired on the river). You gotta get dealt cards in these types of games to go very far. People are calling stations and they think any two face cards are gold. I went out with KT vs QJ. The QJ guy limped in EP and I pushed in LP for 11 big blinds. So the dude called off almost half his stack with QJ. Standard fare for home games though.

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Here is today's Sweet Hand Of The Day.

A case could be made to just flat calling the BB's 4-bet on the flop. But I think that a call may look a little stronger than a push. Plus, if he has a Pocket pair of 88-QQ, an overcard may kill my action.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $125.20
SB: $108
BB: $132.50
UTG: $16.60
Hero (CO): $101.50

Pre-Flop: 2d 2s dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $1, Hero calls $1, 2 folds, BB raises to $5.50, UTG folds, Hero calls $4.50

Flop: ($12.50) 2h 3c 7d (2 Players)
BB bets $8, Hero raises to $26, BB raises to $51, Hero raises to $96 and is All-In, BB calls $45

Turn: ($204.50) 4s (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($204.50) 6c (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $204.50 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Ad As (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$101.50 NET)
Hero showed 2d 2s (three of a kind, Twos) and WON $201.50 (+$100 NET)

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And the Sour Hand of the Day

This is the only hand of poker I played on Sunday. I sat down and planned on getting in a good hour or so while the kids napped. I obviously made some mistakes in this hand. I should have raised that flop for sure. And once the board paired on the river, I think a check/call is better than check raise. But I guess I went with my [wrong] read that he probably had the Ah. Oops.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players

MP: $182.50
CO: $496.55
BTN: $264.35
SB: $564.10
Hero (BB): $200
UTG: $148.15

Pre-Flop: Kh 7h dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, MP calls $2, CO calls $2, BTN folds, SB calls $1, Hero checks

Flop: ($8) Qh 5h 4h (4 Players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets $6, 2 folds, Hero calls $6

Turn: ($20) Jc (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP bets $10, Hero raises to $32, MP calls $22

River: ($84) 5d (2 Players)
Hero checks, MP bets $48, Hero raises to $160 and is All-In, MP calls $94.50 and is All-In

Results: $369 Pot ($3 Rake)
MP showed 5c 4c (a full house, Fives full of Fours) and WON $366 (+$183.50 NET)
Hero showed Kh 7h (a flush, King high) and LOST (-$182.50 NET)


Cheers!!