Solid Day

Over the last week or two I've been playing a mixture of 115s and 230s and mixing in some 2 tabling as well. Today I decided to just go back to what I'd been doing most of 08 which is one tabling the 115s. This little break even streak I'm on was getting to my head so I just wanted to take the pressure off a bit. It worked out pretty well, I played 21 games posting a 14-7 record despite a couple brutal beats the first few games(one which I posted in my last post earlier today). It's nice just to have a solid day where I feel I played my A-game in all my matches. Plus it's always nice to outdraw and cooler people every once in a while. See below.....


PokerStars Game #24346728767: Tournament #136880312, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/27 20:57:35 ET
Table '136880312 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: villain (1650 in chips)
Seat 2: bartchalker (1350 in chips)
bartchalker: posts small blind 10
villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [6c 6d]
bartchalker: calls 10
villain: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ad 6h 4s]
villain: checks
bartchalker: bets 20
villain: calls 20
*** TURN *** [Ad 6h 4s] [6s]
villain: checks
bartchalker: bets 40
villain: calls 40
*** RIVER *** [Ad 6h 4s 6s] [Ks]
villain: checks
bartchalker: bets 100
villain: raises 100 to 200
bartchalker: raises 1070 to 1270 and is all-in
villain: calls 1070
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bartchalker: shows [6c 6d] (four of a kind, Sixes)
villain: shows [4h 4d] (a full house, Fours full of Sixes)
bartchalker collected 2700 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2700 Rake 0
Board [Ad 6h 4s 6s Ks]
Seat 1: villain (big blind) showed [4h 4d] and lost with a full house, Fours full of Sixes
Seat 2: bartchalker (button) (small blind) showed [6c 6d] and won (2700) with four of a kind, Sixes



PokerStars Game #24347791337: Tournament #136883894, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level V (75/150) - 2009/01/27 21:34:01 ET
Table '136883894 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: villain (830 in chips)
Seat 2: bartchalker (2170 in chips)
villain: posts small blind 75
bartchalker: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [Kh Jh]
villain: calls 75
bartchalker: raises 2020 to 2170 and is all-in
villain: calls 680 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (1340) returned to bartchalker
*** FLOP *** [Js 9h Jc]
*** TURN *** [Js 9h Jc] [Th]
*** RIVER *** [Js 9h Jc Th] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bartchalker: shows [Kh Jh] (three of a kind, Jacks)
villain: shows [Ah Ad] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
bartchalker collected 1660 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1660 Rake 0
Board [Js 9h Jc Th 2c]
Seat 1: villain (button) (small blind) showed [Ah Ad] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Seat 2: bartchalker (big blind) showed [Kh Jh] and won (1660) with three of a kind, Jacks


Not too often in heads up play do you see set over set, usually because pairs are played aggressively preflop, but when the blinds are low it can happen. I prob raise this hand preflop 90% of the time, switched it up a bit this time. We both made passive preflop plays and I hit a beautiful flop it turns out. When he min check raised the river I knew he had prob flopped a set or backed into a flush because he played all his monsters tricky like that, so jamming was an easy choice

The 2nd one I actually had to think twice before jamming there because his play looked so suspicious, since he'd been jamming all the time when under 9 or so bb's. But I don't think checking is even an option with stacks this shallow, I'm prob not getting away if i flop top pair anyways when villain doesn't even have 4 bb's behind. Nice to get lucky though.

Profit for month at about 4.1k. For how god awful I feel I've ran this month it's nice to see I'm still up this much. I would be very happy with a 5k month at this point. Hopefully I can get there, got a few days left.

The timberwolves have the best record in the NBA since the new year. Who in the hell would have expected that.......maybe they can stay hot and sneak into the 7 or 8 spot and get smoked by the Lakers or Spurs in first round. GO GO GO!!!!

WOW

It's nice to know people let their pet monkey play under their account.......



PokerStars Game #24321819609: Tournament #136732807, $110+$5 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/27 4:19:53 ET
Table '136732807 1' 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: bartchalker (1440 in chips)
Seat 2: villain (1560 in chips)
villain: posts small blind 10
bartchalker: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [Jd 8c]
villain: raises 40 to 60
bartchalker: calls 40
*** FLOP *** [Jc 8d Ac]
bartchalker: checks
villain: bets 80
bartchalker: raises 160 to 240
villain: calls 160
*** TURN *** [Jc 8d Ac] [5d]
bartchalker: bets 480
villain: calls 480
*** RIVER *** [Jc 8d Ac 5d] [Kd]
bartchalker: bets 660 and is all-in
villain: calls 660
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bartchalker: shows [Jd 8c] (two pair, Jacks and Eights)
villain: shows [7d 2d] (a flush, King high)
villain collected 2880 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2880 Rake 0
Board [Jc 8d Ac 5d Kd]
Seat 1: bartchalker (big blind) showed [Jd 8c] and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 2: villain (button) (small blind) showed [7d 2d] and won (2880) with a flush, King high

This was just 2nd hand of match, but villain was a donk. Figured if he had Ace I could get his stack for sure. I have to improve my hand reading skills, I didn't even put 27 diamonds in his range........haha. Rematch please!!!!!!

Huge Day

+17.50 on the day. Yippee. Pretty much breaking even over last 2 weeks. Still running like fuck fuck fucking shit. Sometimes playing like fuck fuck fucking shit. Retards are pwning me hard. Getting annoyed.

Poker sucks sometimes.

Swingy day, but bank $600

Above is my graph for my playing today. Another swingy day but I came out in the black. My first few games saw some more ridiculous shit happen against me and it was looking like it was going to be a bad day pokerwise. It was nice to turn it around my last 15 games or so and finish on a hot run. I was playing a random combo of $115 and $230 HU as well as $52 and $104 double or nothings. I may start playing a few more double or nothings, my lifetime stats in them are horrible over a short sample size, but they seem very beatable.

I made a trip to the casino to play some blackjack with my bro and dropped $200 in about 45 min. It seems over the last 2 yrs I lose like every fricken time I play that game, but it's so damn fun. Just write it off as entertainment expense I guess, ha.

Watched the T-wolves beat the hornets tonight in a good game. Look out NBA here come the Timberwolves!!!!!

Jan profit now at 3.7k, hopefully keep it heading in the right direction. Hold please.

bartchalker!

ugh

This whole month has been kind of frustrating for me. I have not been playing my best poker(which is surprising me since I was so pumped about the new year) and I am running like shit the whole month and it's starting to wear on me. The barage of bad beats/coolers/card deadness I've had to endure this month is prob the main reason I'm also not playing well. I have put in some decent volume so far and despite the shittiness I am ahead about 2.7k for month. To make my 100k goal for 09 I'll have to avg about $8,250/month so it sucks to fall behind pace already, but it is way early. The important thing to remember in poker is that no matter how crappy things seem to be going it could always be worse, no doubt about it. Ironically, my worst poker month(full time) was Jan of last year when I finished month ahead 2.6k. That month I was up over 4k at the midpoint of the month then things fell apart the 2nd half. This game is nuts though, I could go on a hot run the last week or I could run like worse shit and finish down, who knows. Will try to keep my head on straight and play some A+ poker.

The day after my last post I lost back about $650 followed by another +1k day followed by a day where I was down 1.3k at one point but semi recoved to finish day down about $660. In a short session today I finished up about $100. It's been so goddamn swingy like that all month, it's fucking with my brain, lol.

I guess that's it, not much else to whine about.

Later

+1.2k day

Yesterday, I played poker for 7.5 hrs and scraped together a little over 1.2k in profit. Over the last 4 or 5 days I've went on a 1.5k downswing so this was def nice. I played mostly $115's but did play 3 $230's going 3-0 which was a very big help. After losing 4 of my last 5 days I figured it was time for a change and switched the pokerstars lobby & table image from "black" theme to "classic" theme before I started playing yesterday. So obv that was the reason for my turnaround, rookie mistake not realizing that sooner, haha.

My brain seemed a bit fried when I quit playing for the night(anytime I play more than 6 hrs or so that happens, there can be a lot of thinking in this game sometimes). Because of this I was going to just take today off of playing and enjoy the NFC/AFC championship games. I might go back on my word and get a few games in before the games start, or maybe after they are over.

My picks in the divisional playoffs had Ravens and Steelers winning in the AFC which was right, but my NFC picks were both wrong. However that is not going to scare me away from making some updated fearless predictions. I'll have to go with Steelers Vs Eagles in super bowl. I feel like these games are going to be close though and would not be surprised at all if either team gets upset. I might have to make some moneyline wagers on the underdogs before the games start, or pick the underdogs against the spread.

Good Luck Fuckas!!

Halfway through Jan

Above is my sharkscope graph for the first half of Jan(excluding FPP rakeback games, also it should be $230 lower being that it missed one of my $230 losses). Below are my #'s:

• Games Played: 313
• Avg Profit: $4.96
• Avg Stake: $136
• Avg ROI: 9%
• Profit: $1,551

• FPP Rakeback: $215
• Cash games: $166

• Total Profit: $1,932

What has really made this month frustrating is the fact that I have an Avg ROI of 9% but am only maintaining an Avg profit of around $5. This is basically because I've doing doing pretty well in the $115's but bad in the $230's. I have a 136-97 record which is good for a 12% roi and $13.41/game in the $115's. In the $230's I have a 34-39 record and am down about 1.8k. I am 1-1 in the $345's.

There have def been games where I've made bad decisions and not played well, I'm fully capable of admitting that but if I had to put a # out there I would say its been 90% because of bad luck. It's such a small portion of games that I shouldn't really get worked up over it but I can't really help it, it's just sooooo frustrating that every $230 I play this month I run into some shit luck. When I think about it though, last month I did incredibly good and ran far above expectation in the $230's, just evening out I guess.

I am constantly amazed by how swingy this came can be. One week you are on top of the poker world, and the next week the poker gods are using you as a toilet, lol. It's really amazing. It's the nature of the game that makes it profitable though, even the most horrific of players have prob had days where they have won 10+ buyins and it's those days that keep them coming back to donate their money. Sometimes the long term can be ridiculously long it seems, lol. I am starting to realize more and more as each month passes that a very large portion of this game is a mental battle. When 2 very highly skilled players are playing each other, but one of them is on a losing streak and tilting, he might as well be a -15% roi fish.

In Barry Greeinstein's book Ace on the River he lists 25 "Traits of Winning poker players" and I think it's no coincidence what he lists at #1. Here they are as he lists them in ascending order of importance:

• 25. The ones with a sense of humor
• 24. Prideful
• 23. Generous
• 22. Outgoing
• 21. Insensitive
• 20. Optimistic
• 19. Independent
• 18. Manipulative
• 17. Greedy
• 16. Persistent
• 15. Self-centered
• 14. Trustworthy
• 13. Aggressive
• 12. Competitive
• 11. Survivors
• 10. Empathic
• 9. Fearless
• 8. Able to think under pressure
• 7. Attentive to detail
• 6. Motivated
• 5. The ones with the best memories
• 4. In control of their emotions
• 3. Intelligent
• 2. Honest with themselves
• 1. Psychologically tough

#'s 1 and 2 are so important in my opinion but often overlooked. I think alot of the top players would consider themselves psychologically tough. Maybe after getting beat down at the table all day you felt a little psychologically fragile, but the best players always turn it around, and always get their A-game back. Maybe they let it affect them that day, but they never would allow it to go on for days or weeks or even months at let it destroy their bankroll.

I also think it is so true that the best players are prob honest with themselves. They are able to admit when they were running like shit, but more importantly when they were playing like shit. Bad beats are def the cause of losing in the short term, but will never cause a person to lose over the long run. I think you see this alot online with losing players, claiming the online poker rooms are rigged(apparently just against them) and not taking responsibility for their own mistakes at the table. It's far easier to blame something else then to really look at and dissect your own game from the inside out. It hurts too much to admit that you play badly or at least have been recently. It's also amazing to me how almost everybody wins in live cash games. Everybody thinks they are a pro, lol. In reality many of them prob don't keep accurate records and alot of them are heavy losers but trick themselves into believing what they want to believe.

I think another important trait many winning players possess is intensity. While scanning through a few of my poker books the other day I came across this little tidbit:

"Intensity is hard to measure, but critically important. In fact, if other things are equal, the more intense competitor will usually win. He will work harder, remain more focused, and do whatever it takes to win."

That tidbit is from "Your Worst Poker Enemy" by Alan Schoonmaker. I have read quite a few books on poker psychology because I believe it to be the weakest part of my game at times. I could not agree more with the quote. I have always been pretty intense while playing poker, maybe a little bit too intense sometimes(a few mouses have fallen casualty to this intensity when I am losing, lol). I believe my intensity is able to make up for the times when I play sub optimally because of tilt, and at the same time is probably the reason for my tilt sometimes. I do not believe that passive people can win at this game, and my intensity helps me keep my edge. I would be willing to guess that most winning players would consider themselves to be on the intense side while playing.

Ummmm, when I first started typing this entry I just wanted to type in my progess the first half of Jan, haha. Kinda went off on a bit of a seperate tangent there. Oh well, that happens. Time to rock n roll and have a good 2nd half of Jan!! Good luck grinders!

bartchalker

This shit is bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Ummmm, yesterday was kinda crazy. It also sucked hardcore. I was playing against so many crazies who were playing like morons and loved to get all their chips int he middle in marginal spots. It's always awesome playing these kind of nutjobs but it sure can send you on a hell of a variance roller coaster. Unfortunately the variance roller coaster kinda went off track for me, punched right in the damn face by negative variance. I played for like 6 hours trying to get it to turn around but it wasn't going to happen, finished day with a $665 loss. I don't really feel like getting the hand histories, but the funniest by far is when I pick up the AA and raise from the BB 3x to 60, villain does the ole limp 3bet to 140, I 4bet to 500 and villain obv jams JQ. 2400 chip pot flop 9Kx turn 10, gg. Another good one was when I pick up AK at 15/30 and villain min raises button and i 3bet to 210(I was already prepared to get it in cuz I had just done this same 3bet 2 hands earlier, and you know these psychopaths will go apeshit if they think they are being pushed around). He jams i call he shows 95, spikes a 9 and takes it. I think I lost game deciding preflop allins 3 times also when I had it in with a bigger ace. I had one where I have KQ all in against Q 10 on Qxx board, turn 10. Just one of those days, I did make $215 in FPP rakeback after going 0/4 in my previous 4 shots this month in the 5400 pt qualifiers. Looking forward to turning it around today....hopefully. Jan profit chilling at about 2.4k right now, would like it to be a bit higher, but not a whole lot I can do about it. Just keep playing good.

I will have to get my taxes figured out, prob do that within the next week or 3. I paid in quarterly during 2008 based on making 50k so I have about 24k worth of income I haven't paid taxes on so I will def be paying in, prob a decent chunk to, 6k maybe. I don't think it's much more than the avg american pays for taxes with any other job, but paying off in such big chunks kind of makes it feel more shitty.

Run good

Hot Streak

Almost immediately after writing my last entry I turned it around. I guess the poker gods heard my cries for help. I only played 11 games yesterday but went 10-1 which was nice and an instant cure for tilt. The awesomeness has continued into today and I'm 5-0. I am in the midst of a 12 game winning streak, only one of them was a $230. We'll see how long I can stretch this streak out, my record is 15 in a row, would be nice to break that.

Before I started playing the HU sngs I dabbled in some HU cash game action for about 2.5 hours. I don't know what came over me, just suddenly had an urge to play a cash game. I played 1/2 No limit and ended up making $165 which was cool. The first person I played stacked me for $200. I made a donkey call for $65 on the river. Then put my last 40 bb's in pre with 88 against 10 10. I bought in one more time and played one horrible player who stacked off for about 90 bb's on a KQ9 flop holding K2 against my KQ. Thank you. That got me going on the right track. They are actually kind of fun to play, I might do that again just to switch things up for the sng's. I think I might tilt faster in a cash game, that's the only problem.

I made about $75 on the Titans/Ravens game by betting the Ravens to win outright. Sports betting roll nearing $700 now. It sucks that football season is almost over, I won't have much to bet on. No other sport is as fun to bet on as football in my opinion.

Watched Phil Gordon take down Poker after Dark the other night. The first episode of the week was pretty funny with that Ziedman guy needling Helmuth, cracks me up. I think PAD is tied with High Stakes Poker for best poker show out there. Everything else seems to be such garbage. At least those shows you get to see some actual poker play, unlike on for example the WSOP episodes on ESPN where you see AQ against JJ all in pre, AK against 99, shit like that. A whole show of preflop all in races. The 2008 WSOP main event final table was OK, but the heads up portion was a fucking joke if you ask me. That heads up battle between Demidov and Eastgate last 4 hours, and what does ESPN show? 2 hands of it, lol. They should have almost made a whole new 2 hour telecast just for the heads up. Maybe that wouldn't be a big draw to viewers, not sure, but I would def watch.

I started my exercise routine last week. I told myself 3 days of exercise a week, but I only got 2 days in my first week doing it. Already breaking it. I think doing that will def imrove my poker game. I just do enough cardio to get the good ole runners high. Usually about 30 min on the step machine and 1 mile on the treadmill. I'd like to do it all on the treadmill but it kills my knees if I run more than a mile. It seems exercise kind of clears your mind and just makes you feel good. That's very good for my poker game, it helps me make more clear/decisive decisions and tilt less.

Oh yeah by the way cannot believe the Cardinals upset the Panthers, not just upset but blew them out of the fucking water. Delhomme throws 5 picks, lol. Choke!!!

Keep the good times rolling!

Treading water

The last couple days have been frustrating. I feel like I should be up like 4k right now but instead it's about 1.3k. It is nice that I'm able to break even for the last few days when it feels like i'm running like total crap. Last month the days I didn't do so well in the $115's, I did very well in the $230's. This month has kinda been the opposite so far. I'm a loser so far in the $230's this month, I also took a shot at a $345 and lost one day so that didn't help. Today I've been outdrawn on preflop all ins by such trashy hands it literally makes me want to throw up on my lap. I'm not going to bother posting the hand histories but 95>AQ, J9>AK, 84>AQ, Q3>QK. I think there were a few more, I can't remember all of them. The 84 against AQ was the funniest. The guy is down about 300k on sharkscope, first hand I raise AQ to 60 he overbet jams all in for 1500, i call, good game. Ouch. However like I stated earlier, it's very promising to run so seemingly bad and still be breaking around even. It could be alot worse. ALOT WORSE. It's been incredibly frustrating that alot of my losses have been coming via some bad players also. I wish I could beat them every time, unfortunately poker doesn't quite work like that.

I thought I had more to type but I can't seem to remember. Anyways some good football games next two days, should be fun.

My predictions: Giants over Eagles, Panthers over Cardinals, Ravens over Titans, Steelers over Chargers.

NFC championship: Giants over Panthers
AFC championship: Steelers over Ravens

Super Bowl: Steelers over Giants

Peace

Ouch

Siighhhh, I took a bit of a hit so far today. My first 10 games I broke about even. I usually play my games in 5 game sets and decided to play a set of $230's(5 games). I ended up going 1-4(lost the first 4, salvaged the 5th one) I ran like fucking shit, but on top of that I played like trash also. I mean, I guess it's not even that bad I'm just down like $650 so far on the day, not a catastrophe or anything, but there have been a few days this month where I broke even or made just a couple hundred dollars when they could have easily been +$1,000 days if it weren't for shit shit shit luck, so I'm pretty sure that just added to the frustration.

Anyways 1st game i'm playing someone I've played them several times before, they are pretty bad, and pretty aggro but can lay mediocre hands down. They raise their button about 2/3 of the time. Here's the shitty played hand that ended up crippling me:

PokerStars Game #23623902199: Tournament #132097836, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/06 5:39:34 ET
Table '132097836 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: villain (1800 in chips)
Seat 2: bartchalker (1200 in chips)
villain: posts small blind 10
bartchalker: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [Jh Qd]
villain: raises 40 to 60
bartchalker: raises 120 to 180
villain: calls 120
*** FLOP *** [Ac 9h Jd]
bartchalker: checks
villain: checks
*** TURN *** [Ac 9h Jd] [2c]
bartchalker: checks
villain: bets 200
bartchalker: calls 200
*** RIVER *** [Ac 9h Jd 2c] [8c]
bartchalker: checks
villain: bets 500
bartchalker: calls 500
*** SHOW DOWN ***
villain: shows [Ts Ad] (a pair of Aces)
bartchalker: mucks hand
villain collected 1760 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1760 Rake 0
Board [Ac 9h Jd 2c 8c]
Seat 1: villain (button) (small blind) showed [Ts Ad] and won (1760) with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: bartchalker (big blind) mucked [Jh Qd]

I actually don't mind my preflop 3bet or how passively I played it the whole way. I hate my river call because I had notes saying they don't bet the river unless they have it. They are a bad player, they don't switch up their game, they obv have me beat, but i donate 500 anyways. So bad, so so bad. Why did I call, I have no idea I must have been on tilt because I had all the info I needed to lay this down to the 500 river bet. Puke.

2nd game a player sits with me who usually plays a bit higher and they are playing super super aggressive and I'm thinking tilting. Their recent results before this game had been poor. Here's the bad hand.


PokerStars Game #23624084419: Tournament #132099155, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/06 5:54:46 ET
Table '132099155 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: bartchalker (1500 in chips)
Seat 2: villain (1500 in chips)
bartchalker: posts small blind 10
villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [As 9c]
bartchalker: calls 10
villain: raises 60 to 80
bartchalker: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [8c 9d 8d]
villain: bets 100
bartchalker: raises 200 to 300
villain: calls 200
*** TURN *** [8c 9d 8d] [7d]
villain: checks
bartchalker: checks
*** RIVER *** [8c 9d 8d 7d] [3c]
villain: bets 1120 and is all-in
bartchalker: calls 1120 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
villain: shows [5h 6c] (a straight, Five to Nine)
bartchalker: shows [As 9c] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
villain collected 3000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3000 Rake 0
Board [8c 9d 8d 7d 3c]
Seat 1: bartchalker (button) (small blind) showed [As 9c] and lost with two pair, Nines and Eights
Seat 2: villain (big blind) showed [5h 6c] and won (3000) with a straight, Five to Nine

I probably should have raised myself with this pre, villain was raising like 80% of hands that I limped, I like to switch my play up so I decided to play this hand in position to his predictable raise. I don't know, I hated the turn so checked behind then he overbet shoves river. He did a great job of using his reckless image to his advantage and getting max value. I was almost positive he would have 3bet all in on flop with a flush draw or 10 J with how aggro he was being. I couldn't beat much though unless he was going wild with two overs. I think I should have folded this river, but he was acting pretty nuts. When I look at it, even if villain stacks me every single time he hits that gutshot he's losing chips long term on that 200 chip call. In the end all my fault, horribly played I'm a donkey.

Same oppenent next game:


PokerStars Game #23624129741: Tournament #132100286, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/06 5:58:32 ET
Table '132100286 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: bartchalker (2130 in chips)
Seat 2: villain (870 in chips)
bartchalker: posts small blind 10
villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [Jc Ac]
bartchalker: calls 10
villain: raises 60 to 80
bartchalker: raises 660 to 740
villain: raises 130 to 870 and is all-in
bartchalker: calls 130
*** FLOP *** [8d Td 9d]
*** TURN *** [8d Td 9d] [9s]
*** RIVER *** [8d Td 9d 9s] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
villain: shows [Tc Kc] (two pair, Tens and Nines)
bartchalker: shows [Jc Ac] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
villain collected 1740 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1740 Rake 0
Board [8d Td 9d 9s 8h]
Seat 1: bartchalker (button) (small blind) showed [Jc Ac] and lost with two pair, Nines and Eights
Seat 2: villain (big blind) showed [Tc Kc] and won (1740) with two pair, Tens and Nines

Thought I had him this game. This kinda pissed me off. He finishes me off in this next hand which was about 10 hands after the one above:


PokerStars Game #23624162987: Tournament #132100286, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2009/01/06 6:01:14 ET
Table '132100286 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: bartchalker (1310 in chips)
Seat 2: villain (1690 in chips)
bartchalker: posts small blind 10
villain: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [3d 3s]
bartchalker: calls 10
villain: raises 60 to 80
bartchalker: raises 1230 to 1310 and is all-in
villain: calls 1230
*** FLOP *** [Qc 7c 2d]
*** TURN *** [Qc 7c 2d] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [Qc 7c 2d Ts] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
villain: shows [9h 9s] (a pair of Nines)
bartchalker: shows [3d 3s] (a pair of Threes)
villain collected 2620 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2620 Rake 0
Board [Qc 7c 2d Ts 4d]
Seat 1: bartchalker (button) (small blind) showed [3d 3s] and lost with a pair of Threes
Seat 2: villain (big blind) showed [9h 9s] and won (2620) with a pair of Nines

This hand may look like a donk overshove but I don't mind it. This match villain had basically raised to 80 EVERY time I limped in so he's folding the vast majority of the time, and when he doesn't I'm flipping or have slight edge most of the time. But obv he has 99. Another donation from bartchalker.

4th game this hand gets me:


PokerStars Game #23624276354: Tournament #132100407, $220+$10 Hold'em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2009/01/06 6:10:30 ET
Table '132100407 1' 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: bartchalker (1450 in chips)
Seat 2: villain (1550 in chips)
bartchalker: posts small blind 15
villain: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [7c Ah]
bartchalker: raises 60 to 90
villain: raises 150 to 240
bartchalker: calls 150
*** FLOP *** [4s Ac Ts]
villain: checks
bartchalker: bets 240
villain: raises 1070 to 1310 and is all-in
bartchalker: calls 970 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (100) returned to villain
*** TURN *** [4s Ac Ts] [3c]
*** RIVER *** [4s Ac Ts 3c] [Tc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
villain: shows [Ad Kd] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
bartchalker: shows [7c Ah] (two pair, Aces and Tens - lower kicker)
villain collected 2900 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2900 Rake 0
Board [4s Ac Ts 3c Tc]
Seat 1: bartchalker (button) (small blind) showed [7c Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 2: villain (big blind) showed [Ad Kd] and won (2900) with two pair, Aces and Tens

Villain had not been 3 betting alot so this hand should have been folded preflop with a loss of just 90 chips. It seems when you're on a bad run those kind of flops hit too. :( so sucky, once again kinda unlucy, but probably played badly.

I managed to salvage the 5th game which was nice. I've been playing so good the last month or so I don't know what happened in these games. Yes I got a bit unlucky in some spots, but I didn't have to lose as many chips as I did. Donk donk donk donk donk.

Earlier on in the day I had A7 on a A77 flop and lost to AQ when turn came A river Q. Then very next game on first hand I have 47 hit a 77A flop against AA. I've taken my fair share of bad beats/coolers the last couple days which sucks. Time to turn it around!

Despite the bad results in the $230 games posted above I am getting more and more comfortable/confident in playing that game. I'll probably be playing more the 20% of my games at that level now.

I'm still up about $750 this month so it's not that bad, I'll get it rolling again. I've got nothing else I can think to type. See ya.

Oh yes please anybody reading this berate me. I'm a donkey I deserve, please leave me a flame comment don't hold back.

Update

I think I've played about 75 games so far this month and am off to a decent start, up 1.1k(counting a $150 bonus). The 1st-3rd were winning days then today I recorded a loss of $120.

Vikings got knocked out in 1st round of playoffs, shocker.

Just a quick lil update is all