I went to the Virginia Tech-Boise State football game last night and the game did not disappoint.  Though for a second there I thought it was going to be a blow out, it ended up being won by Boise State on a last 2 minute drive.  It could have gone either way, and there were plenty of great plays throughout the game.

The only problem with the trip was that we took a bus up to the game and when the game was over we had to wait forever for a couple people who couldn’t find the bus.  We didn’t get home until 3:30 am.  Since I drank plenty of beer and I got zero sleep, heading into work today was rough.

I wasn’t at work but like maybe 30 minutes, when I finally decided to go home playing the sick card.  Though it wasn’t your traditional sickness, I was definitely feeling awful and was very unproductive today.  So I went home and slept it off.

I slept it off only to wake up for the WCOOP PL draw event.  Sigh.  Not much luck there.  I late registered by about 20 minutes and I was chipping up pretty nicely, playing small pots and just taking advantage of some spots.  My stack never grew all too large, though I was well above average in chips nearly the whole time.

In the past WCOOP/SCOOP PL draw events I have played, I always seem to get coolered to get knocked out prematurely.  Well this tournament was no different.  Here I had a 66699 full house lose to a better fullhouse.  I started with 666 and drew 2 to improve where the other player most definitely started with JJ88 to improve to JJJ88.  I know he had 2 pair and not the trips to start because of the way the hand played out.  It was a multiway pot with one shortstack all in.

He led into my draw 2 and he drew 1 where I thought he made a flush or straight.  I reraised, and got reraised once again all in.  With the pot so big, I had to call.  But I still thought I was ahead until shown a better hand.  Sigh.

I really need to learn to play pot control in those tournaments.  I should have just called.  If it was a cash game, I am going broke there, but I can reload.  In a tournament, one big pot lost and you are done.  This is the 3rd out of maybe 4 or so of these tournaments where I got knocked out early with a fullhouse.  Really frustrating.  But I will most definitely be playing the next go ’round.  Hopefully next time I will have learned my lesson.

I expect to play some more later tonight.

I have had a really good month at the 5 card draw tables this month.  I have been playing great and for the most part the luck has been on my side.  I have made 5 figures over the past 30 days from 5 card draw alone, and am really happy about it.

One problem though…..no one will play me now.  I don’t mind it when tough competition isn’t sitting to play, but NO ONE is sitting to play.  In the past, if there was no game going I would sit at a table on PokerStars and eventually someone would sit down with me.  Sometimes it would just be a quick heads-up session.  Other times it would turn into a full ring game.

The last 10 hours + of sitting at the table, no one else has sat down with me.  It is frustrating, since I just want to play.

I guess that is what I get for trying to specialize in a game that is not as popular.  Soooo, it is my goal to specialize in a few other cash games.  I am looking at Badugi, PLO, and limit holdem.  I already know I am a winner in limit holdem at the 2/4 level (4 tabling).  I have played a few PLO sessions in the past, the most recent one I won a few buyins in the matter of about an hour.  I just don’t have enough experience to really tell what my win rate is in PLO.  Badugi, well that is a whole different beast, I have little to no experience in Badugi and I plan on attacking that game the same way I learned 5 card draw.  Do as much research as possible and expand on my findings by working out some stuff on my own.

You will still find me at the 5 card draw tables waiting for competition while I work on my other games.  Also…..I still have plans to win a few WSOP satellites.  So I will also be playing some WSOP stuff.   So far in the WSOP satellites I am 0 for 1, but I have a few months to win a seat.

One thing that a poker player strives for is recognition and/or respect from fellow poker players.

Today I found my name under a list started by someone else in a 2+2 forum asking who were the best 5 card draw players on PokerStars.

I am not going to comment whether or not I agree with the short list of only 3 players, but my name was on it!

LOL, I know its not much, but it made me feel good to get some recognition for my hard work!  Thanks ThorKGB!  Now you can remove my name from the list, I don’t want to scare away any of the fish.

Poker is a love-hate relationship. I just lost over $700 playing 5 card draw. Yes, I made a couple of bad plays here and there. But 95% of the time I put money in the pot, there was nothing I could do. The cards just weren’t cooperating. When I was ahead, I got drawn out on. When I had a huge hand, someone had a bigger hand….and so on.

I really hate playing when it seems nothing at all goes right. So I am done for the next few hours, until I can get my head straight again.

I am still up $300 for the month of October. Honestly though, I don’t know how the way I have been running the past week.

I am looking forward to when the tables are turned and everything goes right. Those are the most fun days playing poker. You feel invincible and the bankroll grows at a fast pace.

Not much eventful to report tonight, but to go along with the post I created last week…I want to do better as far as updating this blog.

I just fired up a little 5 card draw and a 10 dollar mtt tonight in an attempt to start playing a little more regularly. I cashed in the mtt, and made about 6BBs in 5 card draw in 30 minutes time.

I also finally threw together a spreadsheet the other day to start tracking my 5 card draw cash game progress and see how much I can expect to make over a period of time. I feel like I need about 1000 hrs to have a good enough gauge of how much I should make hourly. So far, I am winning just under 3 bb/hr in 5 hrs played. But I am losing money at this point in time ($15) as I did what always comes up to bite me in the ass. I played a higher limit the other night after having a couple of beers and didn’t do so well. But I honestly don’t think the beer had any effect on my play, I ended up playing heads-up that night and was getting worked since I was getting alot of 2nd best good hands. 5 card draw has crazy high variance when playing heads-up. But I didn’t play absurdly out of my bankroll like I have in the past (thankfully). Take away that one session, and I would be winning just under 6 bb/hr.

Outside of that, work has been killing me as of late. I just really hate it too. Not because the work is hard, it just feels like I am wasting my time. More on that maybe in a later post.

I just got finished playing the $4.40 Limit Draw MTT on Stars for the second night in a row, and for the second night in a row I walk away as the winner. Tonight I bested a field of 120 for another $144.

When I got to the final table I was chipleader but I had my doubts. I really didn’t like my table position based on the stacks or the players’ styles. I slipped down to last place with four people left, only to change my strategy.

After a long fought battle at the final table I made it headsup with a 5-4 chip deficit. Then I played one of my tougher HU’s. Not only due to the opponent, but every time I seemed to put him in, he would have a slightly better hand than me. To take a quote from rounders, he truly had alligator blood. It was back and forth a ton, and at one point I had my whole stack in the middle to only get lucky to outdraw his hand. That would be the one and only time my chip stack was put all in for the whole tournament.

I am really pleased with my play, and though it is not for the amounts of money that I have played for in the past, I am excited to win two in a row!