Who is a major reason for my recent woes at the tables. Some people may already know who he is, but out of respect for him; I will refrain from posting his name in a public place to not kill any action he may receive from someone else.

But this specific player really has me double guessing non-stop. At first, and on the surface he seemed liked the biggest donkey. But the more I play him, and the more I lose, there seems to be some method to his madness.

Yes, this player has run extremely good against me. And yes, I have gone on tilt on a number of occasions against this player (his play is really tilt-inducing). But this is not all, he is just flat out out-playing me right now.

I have never played a player that seemed to just absolutely own me as this one person. It has really just left me dumbfounded. I have started to dive into some of the numbers or possible reasons for some of the things this player does. If he is doing what I suspect, there actually is evidence that he could be gaining quite a bit of equity in certain situations. However, there are a number of other things that he does that just couldn’t show profit in the long run. That is assuming I am not missing something.

This person isn’t just beating me, but he seems to be up against the field of “regulars”. It is times like this that I learn the most though. I need to refine my approach and come back swinging. I am not going down without a fight!!

I played the Sunday Million on Stars today and the 750k Guarantee on FullTilt. I busted fairly early in the Sunday Million. However, I made a nice deep run in the 750k. I ended up finishing 45th of over 4k players. This was good enough for a 1.9k payoff, but it isn’t as nice as the 150k up for grabs for first. BTW, I had a really good shot to go deeper, but with about 50 people left I lost a big pot when my KK couldn’t hold up against QQ when all the money went in pre.

Outside of that, not much to report. HU 5 card draw has been killing me recently. I had made some changes to my game recently that I thought would pay off. But from what I can tell, things just aren’t working as I thought they would. So I basically am reverting back to some of my standard play that I had used in the past. Hopefully things will turn around then.

I think I am going to remove my goal to 60k graph on the right here in the next couple of days since I just don’t see me making it. It is unfortunate, but I will try again some other time. But I do have to admit that when it was late in that 750k guarantee tournament, I was just eyeing down what some of the places paid hoping I could get something to put me past the 60k. But as it is, not today…..and it is almost kind of embarassing that I have failed so badly at this goal though I knew it was unlikely I would reach it, I still thought I would do better than what I have done. Oh well, not meant to be this time…..maybe next time.

Well, I am back from Miami.  It was a blast too.  I went down from Thursday to Sunday and we made the best of our time there.

We had a connecting flight from Richmond Virginia through Atlanta to Miami.  Both flights on the way there went pretty smoothly.  We arrived to cloudy skies, but the temperature was much better than what we were having in Richmond.

Zac Brown Band on Miami Beach

After about a 30 minute taxi cab ride we arrived at our hotel just north of South Beach.  We had 3 rooms for 8 guys.  The minute we arrived, we heard of a party going on that night down on the beach.  Zac Brown Band was playing on the beach for free.  It was a party set up by NASCAR since the race was in town this weekend.  So obviously, since it was free, we would be stupid to miss the concert.  The atmosphere for the concert couldn’t have been better.  The temperature was just right and there was a nice gentle breeze that made it perfect.

When the concert was over, we basically headed across the street to the row of restaurants and bars.  We eventually landed at a place called “The Clevelander“.  It was a pretty nice outdoor bar that had club music playing.  Not to mention the “scenery” wasn’t too bad.  The only downside to the first night was I drank so much that I was a lump on a log for pretty much the whole next day.

South Beach

So on to Friday…. For dinner, we went to a place called Joe’s Stone Crab.  It was an upscale seafood restaurant that we had heard of before.  It didn’t disappoint.  I would definitely recommend going there.  All the portions were huge and were shared amongst the table.  The best things I had there outside of the Crab were the Hash-browns, Lobster Mac and Cheese, and Fried Zucchini.  It’s a must-go-to restaurant if I ever get back down there.

After that dinner, we went to go see the Miami Heat (NBA) play the Charlotte Bobcats.  At first it looked like it was going to be a blow out, but the Bobcats closed in late and made a game of it and had a pretty good shot to win the game late.  But going to the arena wasn’t just about the game, as it was also about the different celebrities that you might see and there were quite a few there.

Miami Heat

Later that night, we hit up the South Beach bar scene again; and again eventually ending at The Clevelander.

Saturday, the main reason we were down there (outside of it being a bachelor party), we went to the Virginia Tech/Miami Football game.  We had a stretch limo pick us up from the hotel and take us to the stadium early where we tailgated for a while.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures on this day since I of course forgot to bring my charger and my phone died on me the night before (after snapping the last few pics of the basketball game).  When the game was  over (which Tech won) we headed out to more bars.

The only thing we did not do that I was hoping was we never went to a casino.  The group of people I was with aren’t really into the gaming scene like I am.  But it was probably best anyway since I needed a little break from the poker.  Overall, it was a great time and I hope to make it back down there some time.  But now that I am back, it is time to get focused again on my poker, though my job has already got me all worked up again as I came back to a pile of crap to do.  Figures.

Oh and the flight back to Richmond, again connecting through Atlanta was BRUTAL.  First off, when we landed in Atlanta we had all of 15 minutes to get off the plane and literally run a few concourses over just to get there in time before they closed the gate.  We were seriously running through the busy airport as people made there sly remarks to us “don’t be late” or “run, run!”  Whatever, I was not about to stay in Atlanta overnight.   But we made it just in time, and somehow they even managed to get our bags on there (as I later found out) which I thought for sure wouldn’t happen.

Then the flight from Atlanta into Richmond was smooth……until the landing.  We landed in a dense fog in the middle of the dark night and you could feel the tension on the plane as the pilot said over the loud speaker “Uh, the visibility currently in Richmond is extremely low.  We shouldn’t have a problem, but be careful driving home.”  LOL, thanks!!  Just be careful landing the plane!  We circled the airport a couple times (I think) you couldn’t really tell since you couldn’t see anything but could just feel the plane maneuvers.  You would feel a sway to the left, get the feeling of being pushed back into the seat as the throttle was lifted and we had to climb back up.  It was pretty actually pretty scary.  But when it was all said and done, the minute I could see land, we were on the ground…..safely.  It is actually pretty funny that this happened to me also.  I say “also” because another blog I read by Nat Arem, the creator of the PokerDB who also works on the site PocketFives, basically had the same thing happen to him landing in Costa Rica.  You can read his blog post about his trip here.

Ok, enough rambling…..

The title has two connotations.  One, I am officially on a break, and will be seen missing from action.  Two, I am heading to Miami tomorrow for a bachelor party.

The break is much needed.  This week has been brutal.  I lose and lose and lose.  I am officially an ATM right now for anyone playing me.  I have no idea what is going on, I review my HHs and though I make a few minor mistakes here and there, I am just on the wrong side of variance right now (and pretty much have been since the beginning of August).  There is no other explanation.

The other day when I lost over 8k in 5 card draw, I was playing this guy HU in which I had two trips, and a straight lose to a draw 4!  First of all, if you see your opponent drawing 4 in a HU game, it is usually a tell-tale sign of a game to jump into.  But not for me.  Not now.  LOLOLOLOL

I don’t know what to say about poker right now, so lets talk about this bachelor party…..

I am heading to Miami tomorrow and Friday night we are going to a Miami Heat game.  Then on Saturday night, we are going to the Virginia Tech vs Miami Football game.  We will likely head to the beach, go to a casino, and lord knows what else!  I am definitely looking forward to it, but in the back of my head I know I am going to be thinking about how bad this week has been in poker.

Sooo…I will be MIA for the next few days.  I will post some pics here in the future of Miami.

Amount to 60k: $23,282.93

(Though I know I am likely to not hit my goal by now, I am still going to list the running total until the goal deadline gets here on January 1st.)

That I run good on PokerStars.  I lost $9,908 today.  I didn’t cash in 2 PCA tourneys I played.  I didn’t cash in the Sunday Million.  By the way, I am done going for the PCA this year, I am just going to give up on the idea that I could go two years in a row.  Mostly because of how expensive those satellites get, but also because of some stuff on the home front.

PLUS, I got my butt whipped in 5 card draw today.  Just to give you an idea of how bad it was, I lost over 3k to one player alone who “said he had never played before”.  The funny thing is, I believe him!  Because he was making so many mistakes, but the cards bailed him out left and right.  I seriously almost broke my mouse tonight 20 times.  I really have no idea how I can run this bad.  Not only today, but I am surprised I haven’t imploded like I did today, before today. I don’t care if you think I am not that good at the game, but you can’t seriously tell me that anyone with experience in the game should lose that much in one day.  I do have to admit that about the last 1k was blown off from tilt though, but well before that, I was destined to go broke it seemed.

I am sitting here studying up on how to play optimally and un-exploitively and the crap that keeps on happening to me is just unexplainable.  I start with a better hand.  I get outdrawn (which first of all shouldn’t happen that often in 5cd, especially in the situations I am getting outdrawn in.  We are talking about 80% favorites losing over and over again).  Next, I start behind, but I improve to the point where you have to either call or reraise if you improve enough.  Next thing I know, I get popped again, because my opponent shows down a full house.  LOL!  I can’t beat luck.  I can’t beat 10k worth of luck.

My chances of reaching 60k at this point are now at exactly zero.

The crazy thing is is that I was starting to make a push.  I was up almost 10k in this month from 5 card draw, but it didn’t seem that way because of the expensive PCA satellites that I couldn’t even get near the money in.  I am just so overwhelmed with this stench of bad luck that has been lingering around ever since the end of July.

Amount to 60k: $25,670.93

But ended…..uh not so hot.  I just got finished playing an hour long HU session where my opponent somehow showed up with 2 pair or better what seemed like every other hand and I ended up dropping $600.  I can’t beat luck.

But its all good, as I won on the night.

I won $321.50 on Stars (though I was over $900 until luckfest came into play)

and I won $352.50 on Fulltilt (though it should have been more there too)

Sigh, the most unexcited I have ever been about winning $674 in one night.  I was over $1,500 at one point tonight.

Oh well.

Amount to 60k: $35,578.93