Mid-month Update

Halfway through the month.. I haven't played as much as I probably should, about 35 hrs so far. I am planning on picking it up in the 2nd half of July, and hopefully playing 80 hrs total for the month, which should be a bare minimum for me. I started the month stuck like 2-3k but have come back to about even. I'm not sure why it's so damn hard to win these days, myself and many of my friends are struggling lately. Yet, I feel that I select pretty good tables, and am always one of the strongest players at the table. I still see plenty of donks, and I have my leaks still, but I would think winning would still be more steady than it has been.

In happier news, I achieved Platinum Star on Stars the other day, but have a long way to go for Supernova. I also have two projects for Deuces Cracked going on -

1) a 3-part 200 6m sesh review with Nolan, emphasizing FR to 6Max transition
2) a 100 PLO sesh review with KasinoKrime

So, looking forward to those coming out. I also have been coaching two guys recently and it's going well. Goals for the rest of the month -

45 hrs of play
At least 40k hands for the month (at 15k right now)

More of the Same

Not much to say. June was another crap month for poker and life. Took 2 days off to start July, sat to play today and immediately got raped for 5 buyins in 1200 hands of stupid full ring. I then played some PLO and lost 2.5 more buyins there in short order on totally standard shit. So a nice -$800 day to start the month after four shit months in a row. With my college plan derailed, poker going worse than ever before, personal life disappointing, social life boring. Really no idea what to do right now, I just know I am so sick of grinding online poker. I kinda want to go withdraw all my online money, close my accounts, and head to vegas and play in the ME and if I dont cash, just quit poker forever and be forced to start some new life.

Depressed and Lost

My life is going pretty badly at the moment. No matter how hard I work at poker and improve my game, I can not find consistent success. I have done little this month but work on my game and put myself in situations to succeed, and usually something goes wrong. This will be at least 3 really disappointing months in a row, and I've had little to do but play poker and work on my game, which makes it even more depressing.
I have had success at 100 and 200 6max, but every other avenue has been disastrous (FR, plo, satellites, sngs). In the meantime life has taken every chance to screw me financially lately, between vet bills, my car being totaled, medical expenses, and the neverending bills.

The one rock I have had the last year was being back in college, but last week I was informed that my major, Radiologic Sciences, was being closed due to budget cuts, and that I will have to pick a new major. There are no other colleges in the area with that major, and I have no idea what else to do, I had totally settled on RS and was at peace with it.

Now, once again, I'm left with no idea what to do in school, poker is going horribly, and I'm nearing 30 years old. Nothing ever seems to work out that I invest myself into, I usually get dreamcrushed and sent packing, wondering what more I could have done. I am definitely in this situation now and I think I might take up heroin or something.

Back Home

I'm back from my 5 day trip to Rochester, NY. It was great to see my Dad, Sister, Niece, and Grandparents. That is the city where I grew up until I was about 12 and moved away. Most of my extended family is up there but I hadn't been up in about 8 years. I am planning on returning soon, maybe in the winter to see snow again. I'll have some sweet pics on my Facebook acct when I get around to it.

Haven't played much poker because of the vacation, but today I ran brutal in a few WSOP ME satellites, going pretty far in all four and then busting in various ways (standard). I then proceeded to play a 100 6M sesh and played well despite barely having slept last night. I know variance will come soon, but after 40k hands at 6M I am really pleased with the results and my game and I would conservatively say I'm at least 3ptbb at 100 6m and 2ptbb at 200 6m.

Here are two bluffs I attempted today, the kind of things I need to start doing more often, that is the main thing I'm working on lately is bluffing more and forcing myself to 'visibly think' during hands to come up with ways to win.

Heading to NY

This month has gotten off to a pretty rough start poker-wise. I just haven't been running that good and haven't had enough time to grind. Today was kind of a bummer. I played two freerolls, one to go to the Playboy Mansion celebrity tournament + vip pack, the other for a ME seat. I went very far in both of them, and it took about 5 hours of my Sunday. I ended up busting in both, one with KK into AA pre crippling me, the other KK < AK all in pre which woulda made me top 5 chip with 50 left. After that I played several hours of six max as some of my favorite fish were on. I couldn't get any big pots forever though, I think I had a 60bb and 20bb win after 2 hrs of six tabling. Finally I won a few pots but then lost this one which I took pretty well and continued grinding til the fish had mostly left.

One outers FTL!




Oh wellz, I am beating six max at a nice clip since I made the switch, so I am not too concerned. I have been happier in general lately, working out more and trying to relax. I know I'll never make it in poker with the pressure I have put on myself in the past. On Tuesday I am headed to Rochester, NY, my hometown to visit for the first time in many years. Most of my extended family is up there and also my dad, sister, and niece. Going to spend 4-5 days there, hit up the countryside and take my girlfriend to see Niagara Falls. Maybe I will hit up Toronto if I'm feeling ambitious. After I get back from the trip I am going on a serious diet and hitting the gym hard. I have been loving working out lately and want to get in seriously good shape.

May

May completely fucking sucked. I invested a ton of time and money into being coached and improving, and doing sweating and talking strat with people. Did it pay off? Of course not cause it's me. Ran like absolute hell except at 100 six max, every other venture was ridiculous. I am never going to play full ring again, I like being able to sleep at night getting 200 bbs in pre cutoff vs button with KK. I am thinking about moving to Stars I just don't know what it is about Full Tilt but I can never do anything but run like absolute shit there. Apparently that is never going to change.

Mid-Month Update

News point 1 - I have almost finished all of my coaching sessions with WhiteWhale. They were pretty productive, the only problem is that he plays a particular exotic style, and while I gained a lot of insight into his style I'm not sure I feel comfortable playing it all the time. It involves playing pretty laggy preflop while open minraising all positions, and implementing some creative postflop betting. I think I am going to incorporate some of the things I learned from the coaching into my own more Taggy game and try to make some kind of hybrid. It is def a style I like for heads up and 3 handed games though, its a good tool to have in my pocket for sure.

News point 2 - My cat had to have surgery for bladder and urinary problems. I am an animal lover and I don't respect money that much so I paid about $1600 for my little buddy to have surgery instead of putting him to sleep at a young age. He was hospitalized for a few days and is back home today and grumpy. His stomach is completely shaved and he has a nice battle scar on his belly. I think I earned good karma because this month has been miserable poker-wise, but right after I took him in for surgery I have had a few winning days in a row on FTP.

News point 3 - I have stuck to my plan so far, having only played 200 fr and 100 6m on ftp lately. I'm hoping I can kick ass the second half of May and maybe even get unstuck for the month!