We're Going to...

Disney World!

We've been talking about planning a nice family vacation for this spring for quite a while. This past weekend, we finally decided to pull the trigger on a Walt Disney World vacation! For next week! Nothing like planning a week long vacation on short notice, huh?

And we're paying for it with poker profits. So Thank You poker!

We're all pretty excited. My Daughter is 5, and my Son is 2 and a half, so I think they both will have a lot of fun. We're planning on spending a few days at Cocoa Beach, and then spending 4 days at Disney World. It should be a lot of fun. I was at Disney World when I was a kid 20 years ago. And then 3 years ago, we went for one day while I was sent down to Florida for work. If anyone has any hints or tips for Disney World, please let me know.

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I'm still running pretty good at the tables. I won another couple buy-ins this weekend.



After starting the month on a 12 buy-in downswing, I am now on a 18 buy-in upswing. Plus, I am still down in expected value! My stats have been really weird the last couple weeks during this upswing. I've been 3-betting less and flat calling more pre-flop. But I'm not really sure if I can pinpoint that as being key to my turn around. I think playing only 4 tables at once has something to do with it. I've gotten some pretty good reads on some of the regulars, and I've actually made some pretty good bluffs with those reads. Another strange thing with this upswing, is that I am way below average for flopping sets. I'd expect a big winning streak to co-incide with lots of sets, but that just isn't the case. Very very odd.

I can also safely say now that I am totally comfortable with the stakes I am playing at. I don't think I can ever move back down to 100NL now (Unless of course I go on a massive massive downswing). 100NL seems like pocket change to me now. Is that bad?

Cheers!

Getting Back on Track

Ella's Birthday stuff went really well on Wednesday. Here is a picture that I just had to post because it is just too dang cute.

The big family party is tomorrow, so there is still lots of birthday fun to be had!

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I finally pulled my cash games winning back into the positive the last two days. I've played just over 1100 hands and pull in just over $1,000. Woot!

I have to post the following hand, because I won a big pot against two donks with only Top Pair, 3rd Kicker.

This table was full of donks. The perfect table. Both of the guys who game me their stacks were terrible. When MP led out I knew that I was more than likely ahead. I figured he had a flush draw. I raised because I didn't want any of the other donks to come along. When the SB raised all-in, I didn't feel to great about it, but I knew draws, other one pair hands were in his range too. I was hoping they both had flush draws, thus discounting a bunch of outs. But I was happy to see one had a gutshot but the other guy had a pair plus a flush draw. I dodged a billion outs and won.

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

BTN: $197.00
SB: $220.70
BB: $212.85
UTG: $200.00
MP: $89.30
Hero (CO): $200.00

Pre-Flop: As Jd dealt to Hero (CO)
1 fold, MP calls $2, Hero raises to $9, Button Calls $9, SB calls $8, 1 fold, MP calls $7

Flop: ($38) Ac Ts 2c (4 Players)
SB checks, MP bets $38, Hero raises to $100, 1 fold, SB raises to $211.70 and is all-in, MP calls $42.30 and is all-in, Hero calls $91 ans is all-in

Turn: ($500.30) 7s (2 Players)

River: ($500.30) 7h (2 Players)

Results: $500.30 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed As Jd (Two Pair Aces and Sevens) and WON $497.30 (+$297.30 NET)
MP showed 5d 3d (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$89.30 NET)
SB showed Tc 6c (a pair of Sevens) and LOST (-$200.00 NET)

Have a good weekend! Cheers!

Happy Birthday Ella!

My Daughter turns 5 today. Wow! Time has really flown by. It's hard to believe that she will be starting kindergarten in the fall.

Happy Birthday Ella!

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I've made somewhat of a comeback the last couple days. I had a new "Best Day Ever" on Friday night where I won $1300 in just 650 hands. I didn't play much the rest of the weekend, and since Friday, I'm probably running just above average. My monthly graph is pretty gross looking. I was down over $2500 at one point, but now I am right back around even. With rakeback and some positive gains in tournaments, I'm probably right at $0 for the month. Ugg.



Last night's session (not on this graph) was brutal. I only played about 300 hands, but my won when saw flop percentage was 19%. It's usually around 42-43 %. I wasn't hitting nothing, and I was getting raised after the flop constantly.

I did play a few tournaments on Monday night. I played in the Hoy and was the first out when I 4-bet with AK and got it in versus KK and lost (That is my 5th AK vs KK hand this month, losing all 5). I busted in the PokerStars 50/50 when my KK ran into AA. I lost in FullTilt's 26k guarenteed when I raised with T9s, got min-raised by the donk behind me (duh, Aces). I called and flopped two pair. We got it all-in on the flop and his Aces went runner runner straight to beat me (board was 9TKQJ). And then I was doing really well in the FullTilt 50/50 with a top 10-20 stack most of the tournament. Then about 100 from the money I lost it all versus the donkey chip leader when I flopped top two pair and he called me down with a gutshot and hit on the river. I looked up this guys stats at officalpokerrankings.com, and the past two years, he is down over $70,000 playing tournaments at FullTilt. Standard for me in the realm of tournaments. Either a massive cooler or a massive suckout.

Here is Today's Sweet Hand of the Day

The only real hand I was worried about was 22. I contemplated 3-betting the flop and getting it in there, but there were only straight draws out there, so I just called. I'm really surprised that he had 98s.

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

BTN: $184.60
SB: $195.00
BB: $280.40
UTG: $228.00
Hero (MP): $203.00
CO: $129.05

Pre-Flop: 6h 8h dealt to Hero (MP)
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 2 folds, SB calls $6, BB Calls $5

Flop: ($21) 2s 8c 6d (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $14, SB raises to $41, Hero calls $27

Turn: ($103) 3d (2 Players)
SB bets $65 , Hero raises to $155 and is all-in , SB calls $82 and is all-in

River: ($168) Qc (2 Players)

Results: $397.00 Pot ($3 Rake)
Hero showed 6h 8h (Two Pair Eights and Sixes) and WON $394 (+$199.00 NET)
SB showed 9s 8s (a pair of Eights) and LOST (-$195.00 NET)


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Here is the Sour Hand of the Day.

This guy was a total donk. Nothing to say other than that.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BTN: $289.80
SB: $191.40
BB: $187.30
UTG: $321.40
Hero (CO): $200.00

Pre-Flop: Qd Jd dealt to Hero (CO)
1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, SB calls $6, BB Calls $5

Flop: ($21) 5s 3h Js (3 Players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $15, SB folds, BB calls $15

Turn: ($51) Jc (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $36, BB calls $36

River: ($123) 2h (2 Players)
BB bets $129.30 and is all-in, Hero calls $129.30

Results: $381.60 Pot ($3 Rake)
BB showed Ah 4h (Straight five high) and WON $378.60 (+$191.30NET)
Hero showed Qd Jd (Three of a kind, Jacks) and LOST (-$187.30NET)

Have a good day!

Cheers!

No, I'm Not Dead

I'll give you one guess as to why I haven't posted in a while. Yep, I'm running bad. Extremely bad. I'm in the midst of my worst downswing ever. Just this month alone, I am down $1500 in expectation. $1500!!! That is just in 4000 hands, so approximately 10 ptbb/100. That is huge.

It is beyond bad. I can handle being card dead, coolers, and bad beats. But when they all happen at once, it is brutal. I've already had two KK vs AA hands and AK vs KK hands. Plus one QQ vs AA hand.

I haven't played too many tournaments, but it's the same story there. Last week's Mookie was pretty brutal. I was in the top 10 and lost back to back hands with QQ (vs 99) and KK (vs AK). I then built my way back up, and with ten people left, I lost with TT vs 66 all-in PF for a top 3 stack. I did make the final table in a $75 KO tournament, but went out in 8th when someone called my all-in with pocket ducks (22).

I will post a Sweet Hand of the Day though.

Villain was an agro donk. I checked the turn, because I was pretty sure he would try and win the pot on the river. He must have thought I was bluffing, cause he called with Ace High.

Full Tilt Poker, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players

BB: $425.95
UTG: $337
Hero (CO): $200
BTN: $149.60
SB: $202

Pre-Flop: Kd Kh dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG raises to $6, Hero raises to $21, 3 folds, UTG calls $15

Flop: ($45) Ks 8s Td (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $35, UTG calls $35

Turn: ($115) Kc (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

River: ($115) 6s (2 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $144 and is All-In, UTG calls $144

Results: $403 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG mucked Qd Ah (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$200 NET)
Hero showed Kd Kh (four of a kind, Kings) and WON $400 (+$200 NET)

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You all may have asked yourself at one time, "Who is this PokerFool guy?" Here you go, a picture of the PokerFool.




Cheers!