Struggling a bit this past week. Reviewing my graph, it seems that when I do lose, I lose big time. Build up a nice pot, than usually getting sucked out on, or total misread. Mind you, I do tend to rebound a bit to the break even point, but its taking a lot of work to do it.

Noticing that after a bad beat or losing a big hand, I'm tilting a little bit. I'm starting to work on that now, getting up and walking away for a few minutes, have a smoke or just go outside and calm down before I continue playing. Even when I get beat, and I know I did nothing wrong, I try to calm myself verbally, but regardless, I seem to start making risky plays and that's making the tilt response even worse. Have to reign that in somehow.

I've sent Brent an email today asking if he is still interested in coaching me. He offered awhile ago, but lately we've kind of lost touch with each other. Used to play his games all the time, but he hasn't been holding them or if he has been, I haven't been getting notified of them. Found a site where I can record my sessions too, that way I can send him the file and he can see exactly how I'm playing instead of just using the hand histories. I can also send him player data as well so he can compare my play against different types of players.

Anyway, not much else to report on. Like I said, struggling a bit, but not too too bad. Haven't made it to Silver level yet, still need like 25pts to get there, but man, I'm really itching to read those articles and review the videos.

next week

My first Royal Flush, League win, and new graph

I hit my first royal flush a short time ago on Titan...it was SOOOOOOOOO amazing!!! After what...5 years of playing, I finally get my first. Too bad it was on the .01/.02 NL tables though, but I don't care...it was my first!!


0.01/0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with Kd, Jd
UTG calls $0.02, 2 folds, MP1 calls $0.02, MP2 folds, Hero calls $0.02, 2 folds, SB calls $0.01, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.10) 2s, Qd, Td (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets $0.10, MP1 folds, Hero calls $0.10, 2 folds.

Turn: ($0.30) Ad (2 players)
UTG bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30.

River: ($0.90) 8h (2 players)
UTG bets $0.22, Hero raises to $1.70 (All-In), UTG raises to $1.25 (All-In).

Final Pot: $3.85

Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows a royal flush (Kd Jd)
UTG shows three of a kind, deuces (2c 2h)

Hero wins with a royal flush (Kd Jd)


The elephant is an amazing piece of tracking software. Records every hand played, analyzes you and your opponents, charts and graphs your win/loss. Its PokerTracker for the poor and I really like it. Here's my current graph for March. I like the way its moving up. ;) Still got aways to go to get to Silver level, but the forum is just great as far as having learning materials and plenty of professional coaching and peer advise. I've forwarded the link to this site to a few people but I'm not sure if they have looked into it yet or not. Time will tell. If you're reading this and want the link, let me know with a comment and I'll send it your way.

Won this week's league game. Man, I couldn't lose really. The cards I was getting were making me look a lot better than I am, but there was a couple of times it got close to bust out city...but I managed to hang on and win it in the end. Tonight I have a charity game at Bill's...won it a couple of years ago, hopefully I can repeat.

Mom sent an email out saying Dad finally got in to see the specialist. Bad news though, he has more than a few blockages, and other than staying on medication, there's not a lot he can do for him. Right now, its more or less a time thing. Knowing Dad, he would much rather not wait. Mom is the reason he's hanging on, that's a fact.

Anyway, just getting ready to get groceries now that the kid is home. She spent the March Break at her godmother's and only got back home now. Guess we have to feed her again, so its out to the store again.

Long Road Ahead

Very frustrating to be a poker player sometimes. The education I'm getting is by far some of the best available for me right now and the first thing I have to keep reminding myself everytime I play a session is that variance is to be expected and to focus on long term gain. Its more difficult than you might think though when your opponents are either totally donkeys or more advanced than you are. Or just plan luckier than you.

Since I joined pokerstrategy.com I was focusing too much on quick advancement and not enough on playing the game correctly. I wanted to get into Silver ranking so much, I often overlooked the very basics of the game, and as such, my bankroll took a huge hit. I posted my frustration on the forum, and one of the mods gave me the best piece of advise...don't concentrate on advancing too quickly. This game takes a long time to learn properly. Focus on making the right plays with the right cards at the right time, and be sure to focus on managing the bankroll correctly. As such, I moved down to the lowest possible limits as dictated by my shrinking bankroll, and I'm focusing on improving my game. Interesting to note that doing that has actually improved my bankroll somewhat already. Still got a ways to go before its at the level it should be, but it is improving...SLOWLY. And that's the way it should be done. I'll post the March graph (if I can figure out how) at the end of the month.

Got my daughter's report card for the second term. Oh my God! I'm not going into details here, other than the fact that I can't believe that one replacement teacher covering for a maternity leave has had such a negative impact on my child's education. My daughter is VERY intelligent, but you wouldn't know it by seeing a 20% drop in her average since Christmas. I'm very upset, but I'm not sure if its directed correctly. I think I overacted a bit against my kid and should maybe focus on directing it at this one teacher more. Apparently, all the kids have suffered this term in her class, and to me, that's a direct measure of the teacher and not the students. Then the teacher has the nerve to say the my daughter should read more at home. MY DAUGHTER??? Read MORE??? She is NEVER without a book as it is. Her love of reading goes all the way back to her learning to walk and talk, and I don't know of a single child that reads more than she does. It just proves my suspicions that this teacher really has no clue about the kids in her class whatsoever. Teacher interview coming up, to be sure.

Anyway, just a short one today. Been going over my stats and playing history the past few days and seeing if I can find anything I can improve on for the next week. Might play for a while later too, we'll see.