Don't call it a comeback....

It's a bit early to say and I'm definitely not playing at the right level to know for sure, but, I might be coming out of THE FUNK. Due to my current financial constaints, I'm stuck at the low, low limits (.05/.10) at UB.

This is not the worst thing, because the limits are low enough that I can play like I need to vs. my BR and the competition isn't all that great either. I've put in a total of 5-6 hours in and have run my $20 up to $80, not bad. Of course, I've had two ridiculous pots, both over $25, which has helped speed up the process.

My cards have definitely been better, but not spectacular. The funny problem I seem to have is that I'm catching a big hand now and then, but I always seem to be UTG when it happens. Still, AA or KK in any position is a nice problem to have. Anyway, I'm not complaining about starting hands, because they are starting to come. I've narrowed it down to 2 or 3 things that have helped slow the bleeding.

1) I tightened up. I had gotten pretty loose over the last 3 months. I got to where suited aces and two face cards looked good from any position.

2) I got aggressive and stayed aggressive. I played fewer hand PF, but when I played, it counted.

3) The math is starting to catch up. TP holds up. Sets aren't getting cracked....so this is what it's like on the other side of the fence.

It's only been 5 days since I dropped down and started making an honest attempt to play better, but I'm getting results. Hopefully, I can continue to build the BR up and start working my way up the ladder.

I figured out a way to slow the bleeding....

Quit playing.

Well, not really, but I'm being somewhat forced to play cheap for the next couple of weeks. I'd pretty much geared down a couple of weeks ago, but now I'm under some financial constraints.

Essentially, I'm in the middle of refinancing the house, which is saving me a ton by knocking off 2 points off my rate. Well.....I found out that would have to wait until next month or pay a $7000 prepayment penalty (only in Ky.). This kind of ties up a certain amount of cash in my account (underwriter requirement), so, I'm pretty much broke for a while.

Looks like I'm mired in the world of micro limits for awhile.

Maybe that's not so bad.

Here's a snapshot of the average freezout/sng for me lately

Played a $10 SnG earlier and recorded each and every hand. There are a few comments, but just check out the river of crap I received. There are some "moderately playable" hand in there, but I never got a chance. See what you think. Maybe I'm whining a bit much, but this is a standard game for me lately.

Q 4
Q 4
10 3
J 7
2 8
K 6
4 4 (a pocket pair this early. oh yeah, i'm MP and there have been 2 ridiculous raises in front. might as well have 2 7)
2 4
9 5
K 7
7 8
7 10
9 5 s
3 5
K 6
J 8
3 5
10 10 (what the crap? you know what's better....i won a decent pot after i jammed the pot when an A hit the flop)
4 10
K Q (i raise 4X BB from the CO. button reraises the pot. BB moves all in. i'm out)
2 4
4 7
J 8 s
7 3
6 6 (mid pairs suck in EP. i raise 2.5 BB and might as well have folded as i get reraised twice)
5 7
2 3 s
9 6
J 7
6 10
5 8 s
7 2
K 10
7 9
5 10
J 4
2 7 s
6 8
4 6
Q 9
K 2
J 9 (really wanted to push here, but a big raise in front stopped that idea)
K Q (just doubled the blinds. flop brought an A and two people bet in front)
3 4
5 7
J 10 (limped. flop went A K 2. checked. pot bet, call, i fold)
5 10
J 7
2 7
A A (they DO exist. and I win.....the blinds)
J 9
J 10 (doubled the blinds from MP. flop goes 7 8 9. UTG bets i call. that's all the action i get)
K Q (5x BB, button moves in. crap)
2 7
5 5
Q 8
5 5
A 6
A 6
A 8
A 7
6 6 (wow, another PP)
2 2 (TWO IN A ROW. of course, in the last two hands there have been two all ins from people who have me covered)
9 10
4 9
K 9
A 4
Q 4
5 8
4 8
6 7
4 9
4 8
5 7
3 4
7 10
4 10
A Q (5X BB, 2 callers. flop brings rainbow rags. with a check in front i make a continuation bet and take it down)
4 3
3 8
3 7
A 2
K 8
4 9
Q 9
3 8
4 6
J 7
4 7
7 9
A J (5 handed, I'm short and move in on the BB, UTG limped and calls....A K....thanks.)

That's really about it. The table was pretty aggressive and I caught nothing. The aces were nice as I haven't seen thing in about 1500 hands, but the won me squat.

On the bright side, I played a little .10/.25 NL with the pittance I had left and caught a little rush. Turned my 18 bucks into about $45 in 30 minutes or so. Highlight was when I had AA in the BB and made it $2 and got 3 callers. Flop went K 9 8 and I made a pot bet, UTG goes all in for another $12. I figure he's either got AK or J 10, either way I'm a pretty good favorite, so I call.

He shows K 10. What a maroon.

Maybe this is the beginning. I had to do some house stuff, so I left before anything bad could happen.

Now....what will tomorrow bring?

I'm going to try for an award

"Whiniest Blog on the Net"

You'd think so reading this this, that's for sure.

Well, I'm adding more whine for the cheese.

Played a little tournament tonight. Decent game, nothing crazy. Catch pretty good hands right out of the gate. First hand Q J suited, bet out 3X BB from the button, two callers, flop A 3 6...big bet...I fold.

Very next hand, I limp with K 10 os. Flop brings 10 3 4 all spades, I bet 3/4 of the pot with top pair/2nd nut flush draw, BB calls. 8 of hearts hits, I bet out 1/2 the pot, call (uh oh...I smell a frush). 9 of diamonds on river, check, check.....BB has 5 7 of spades.

I sit tight and make a couple of moves. Get on the positive side of my starting point when I make a nice continuation bet after raise PF with KQ suited. For the next solid hour I look at 3 9 , J 2, 2 7....you get the idea.

With blinds going up and up, I keep wanting to make moves, but the other short stacks keep moving in in front of me....sooo frustrating. Finally, I pick a spot on the button to push the action with 8 9 suited. I've got under 5 BB, so I'm a one trick pony and move in.

Well, you can only guess what happens next.....the stupid BB has KK. Imagine that. I find a situation where I can push and "BAM", I run into a monster.

Ridiculous.

Is there some voodoo chant or something I can do to change this? Help. Please.

Yeah, yeah, I've been slacking

I realize I don't get the traffic that Negreanu gets, but I know sometimes people get bored and check out my ramblings. So, for my few visitors, I apologize for falling behind. I do have a reason or two. I was out of town for two solid weeks between a work trip and vacation and I fell a tad behind with the house and job.

The job. I hate typing that. I don't normally go into my work situation, but I work with some real winners. I got cussed pretty good today by somebody I don't even work for and the situation was really his fault. The cool thing is that his little bitch session gave me some drive and I'm getting his network connection pulled. Screw him. Let him manage his own crap. Moron.

Did get some good news in that my house refinance went through which should free up a little cash for me. I didn't quite get what I wanted, but still good enough. No complaints. The wife said, "oh boy, more poker money"....she knows me so well.

As for poker, well, pretty much more of the same. I keep putting myself in situations to get disapppointed and the 3 outer always finds its way to the board.

One thing I caught myself falling into was playing much a much weaker style than I had been. I was limping a ridiculous amount, never putting any continuation bets out there, basically I was becoming a tight passive wuss. I can honestly say that I've ditched that little run. I don't know if it was contributing to my woes, but it certainly wasn't helping.

Lately, I've been playing strictly Sit and Gos at UB....$5 and $10, just to get rid of that passivity (and slow some of the cash bleeding). I was pretty self critical and paid attention to what I was doing, mixing it up, and staying aggressive even when I didn't catch the best flops.

The result....well, more tough beats, but I felt better about them. I dictated what happened in hands I was involved in rather than just sitting back and hoping to catch cards. Played in 8 without much success, but every time I went out either on suckout or with a pretty stout hand.

5th - lost with top 2 (ha, ha) to a set
4th - lost with QQ vs Ax with a river A
3rd - pushed with an OESD. guy called with mid pair
4th - same guy catches back to back bottom sets on me, I had TPTK both times
6th - flopped a boat, guy moves in with AK, I call, he catches K to beat me
3rd - aces cracked
4th - kings cracked vs. 4 9. 4 9 4 flop. he raised from SB. I was BB and moved in...he called.
8th - made a couple of stabs. no factor

So, I'm still losing, but I'm starting to feel better about my play. Hopefully, I'll learn, win or lose, to avoid that passive, crappy play.

One thing about poker, it's much more fun (and successful) to push the pace rather that watch. If I continue to be in situations like I'm putting myself in lately, I'm confident that it will all work out.

I'm back from vacation and the cards still suck

If you're looking for a happy go lucky kind of post....leave now.

Well, it's not all bad. I just got back from 2 weeks of avoiding poker (with one little exception) and I feel pretty refreshed. I was in Colorado last week on business and went on a little vacation with the family to Tennessee this week. All in all, I feel pretty good.

As long as I'm not playing poker.

It's getting to the point where it is beyond pathetic and reaching hilarious.

I talked to one of the guys that posts at the CardPlayer forum and he's in the same boat. He's actually talking about taking some real time off...like a couple of months or more. I'm just about to that point, but I still enjoy the game and hate to totally give it up. Then again, even with the cheap stuff, if you're playing 2-3 hours a night and getting bombarded with lousy cards and horrible beats, it can get a little pricey.

I read Harrington's first book and loved it....but there was no earth shattering information in there for me. On the other hand, it reinforced what I already know and practice. The problem is that my style of play is great when you've got 1 hour blinds and plenty of chips, but I don't see much of that.....and neither does anybody else.

I may try and see what I can do tomorrow with my whopping $25...probably a couple of $10 SnGs. If I can't come up with anything there, I'm taking some real time off.....like maybe until Sept. Well, I may break that if my refinance on house goes through. If that works out, I promised my buddy we'd go to Caesar's.

Wish I had some happy, happy, joy, joy news, but more of the same.

Here are some highlights of the evening....

$30 MTT - short stacked, move in on two limpers (blinds 50/100) for 850. One caller, AA...thanks.

.25/.50 NL - Dealt KJ s on the button, I raise to .75 and get 3 callers. Flop brings K 2 4 rainbow. I bet the pot. One caller. J on the turn. I bet the pot again (puts the other guy all in), he calls. 4 hits the river......he shows J 4.

and my favorite for the evening. $10 SnG, down to 4 with blinds at 150/300. I'm in 3rd with about 3000 in chips and in the BB. Guy in 4th is on the button and bets out 900. I move him in, he calls.

Flop goes A Q 10
Turn 2
River 8

Guess what he called my all in on?

J 9 offsuit.

Thanks for playing, have a nice day.

Some stats to give you an idea of how bad it is.

These are pretty accurate numbes over the last 2 months.

Record in last 15 coinflip situations - 0 for 15
Flush draws hit - 0 for 12
Number of pocket pairs in the last 200 live hands (approximate) - 3
Number of pocket pairs in the last 200 live hands (approximate) over 99 - 0
Number of bluffs/semi-bluffs - 7
Number of calls on bluffs/semi-bluffs - 7 (0 for 7, too)
Number of losses in 2 or 3 outer situations - 9
Number of losses in 1 outer situtaions - 2

Number of live winning sessions - 1
Number of live sessions - 12
Number of online winning sessions - 3
Number of online sessions - 35

...it's amazing I've maintained my sanity, much less the desire to continue to play this game.

Before you say "hey, thats not really that bad", you have to realize that I'm on the tight side and probably won't get involved in that many hands in a session. If I play 10-12 hands in a 2 hour period, I've been busy. If the cards are running bad, I have no problem folding. Patience is not an issue with me.

Sick thing is that as bad as this is....it still love it.

It's July....yay.

Well, this is a post of opposite emotions. As far as poker goes, well, in two words....it sucks. My cards suck, when the don't suck somebody sucks out on me, when I make a move somebody calls...it feels like ti's never ending. After the last 3 weeks I'm officially down for the year....

that sucks.

On a bright note, I got shipped out to Colorado last week for a workshop and had a blast. If you've never been to central Colorado (Colorado Springs/Pueblo) I would highly recommend it. Pike's Peak has some of the most spectacular views I've seen and the weather is great.

While I was in Colorado, I did have a rare good time at the poker table. We drove over to Cripple Creek to goof around for a while, half for the gambling, half for the view. Anyway, one thing I'm starting to realize is that anytime you sit at a lower limit table, you can expect one thing....horrible play. They've got a weird law in CO where the maximum bet is $5, so they play $2-5 limit, but you can bet anything from $2 to $5 initially, with 5 bets per round. Basically, I sat there like a rock and played like 7 hands in 2 hours and got paid off on the 3 hands I won. The hand that amazes me is that I play A 10 on the button and the flop goes A A 3 and I've got two guys doing all of the betting for me....AND NEITHER GUY HAS AN ACE. Amazing.

I sat in awe as guys played anything and everything. I ended up +40 for the night, not bad. Would have left with twice that if I hadn't paid off a guy who hit two pair on the river with J 2 off.

We're taking a little family trip this weekend to relax....so no poker. Kind of bad timing as I'm in the middle of refinancing the house, but I need the break. If things go well, I should come back happy and with a few less bills.

As far as poker goes....I don't know. I knew it's cyclical, but this is really nuts. I keep seeing the flop happy guys win pots by raising with 3 9 suited and get tempted, but when I go that route, I hit the guy with QQ. At least I'm playing cheap, then again, that might be why I'm having to deal with all of this bad play.

Maybe I should take up slot machines. Naahhhh.