Sadly, this is a different record. My worst losing day ever. I finished down around $2,600 yesterday after going a combined 10-17. I got really unlucky in too many key spots, and when I'm playing alot of 345 these things are gonna happen when I have days like that. Towards the middle of my session I played a $570 for the first time this month and lost also. I got all my chips in with 57hh on a 462hh and my opponent had 44 for one of the worst hands I could be up against. He filled up on the turn. Ugh. I'm only down $1,500 on the day if I had won that.
I gotta start thinking of losses like this in terms of buy ins instead of actual dollars lost. I mean 10-17 is only 7 buy ins+rake. It really means nothing. I got a little frustrated towards the end of my session, but overall handled it quite well. I will try to end month on a good note :)
Yesterday was a great poker day....played 34 games in the 230/345. I went 24-10 which was good for +3,460, a new daily profit record for me. Pretty exciting. It's fun to run hot. :) I managed to earn another $960 today on top of that.
I've been putting in some pretty high volume for my standards this month....542 HU games thus far!! Last month I only put in 446 total HU games. That was a lazy month for me. I just might be able to pump out over 700 games this month. I've had a handful of days where I've played almost 40 games which I never do.....little too exhausting.
I've recovered from that little 4k downswing the last few days. The day after that post I ripped off a 2.4k day, only to follow it up with a 1k loss on Sunday. However the last 2 days I've made back another 3k. I really played well yesterday, my mind was in the game and I was feeling super confident. I ran super hot too which felt nice. Man, I know I've prob said it enough in this blog but soooooo much of this game is about self confidence. When I'm on a hot streak and feeling confident and making all the right moves it just kinda builds upon itself. I seem to pick up on all the little things my opponent is doing, but more importantly have the confidence to pull the trigger on the moves to exploit these things. Yesterday I was even able to pick up a timing tell on an opponent that helped me lay down a big hand and call down with a weak one. Sometimes when running bad I play bad and lose my confidence for a while and kinda fall into the mindset "why try that, it's not gonna work anyways" or some similar line of thinking. STAY CONFIDENT
I think I've made over 200k in my poker career now. My sharkscope for stars/ft is at around 188k total and I know it missed about a 5k upswing I had a couple months ago, plus I know I've made about 10k back in the day on random poker sites like Party, Bodog, Pacific, Noble. I guess it's kinda a cool milestone to hit.
I don't think it's an issue, but I hope I don't come off as being real braggy when I type shit like above, or when I'm typing my monthly profits. I feel a little weird typing it at times, but being that it's a poker blog it would be kinda odd not to include it. Besides there are a ton of players who have made more and are far more successful in this game than I am....and are far better players too. When I'm adding up my profits I mostly think of it as more points then money....kinda like a way of keeping score you know??? Just figured I'd throw this little paragraph in here.
Here's the deciding hand I played in a game against Gavin Smith a while back that I meant to post but forgot.
Full Tilt Poker Game #15287608048: $220 + $10 Heads Up Sit & Go (112092656), Table 1 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 10:39:13 ET - 2009/10/12
Seat 1: bartchalker (1,665)
Seat 2: Gavin Smith (1,335)
Gavin Smith posts the small blind of 25
bartchalker posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bartchalker [Qs Qc]
Gavin Smith raises to 1,335, and is all in
bartchalker calls 1,285
Gavin Smith shows [5s 8s]
bartchalker shows [Qs Qc]
*** FLOP *** [Ac Qd 2s]
*** TURN *** [Ac Qd 2s] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [Ac Qd 2s 2c] [Kd]
Gavin Smith shows a pair of Twos
bartchalker shows a full house, Queens full of Twos
bartchalker wins the pot (2,670) with a full house, Queens full of Twos
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,670 | Rake 0
Board: [Ac Qd 2s 2c Kd]
Seat 1: bartchalker (big blind) showed [Qs Qc] and won (2,670) with a full house, Queens full of Twos
Seat 2: Gavin Smith (small blind) showed [5s 8s] and lost with a pair of Twos
Not exactly the most interesting hand to post and I'm sure in this case Gavin was just fucking around/drunk(although he was playing OK the first 2 levels) I just find it amazing that every sponsored pro I ever play is never that good. Obviously HU is not their main game, usually MTT's/cash games are and they have prob made more $$$$ than I ever will, but wow, you would think those skills would somewhat transfer over to HU and other SNG's. I mean Gavin Smith is down like 177k on scope...wtf??!! I really feel like the top online players whether it be in MTT's, cash games, whatever are better players and understand the game alot more than alot of the TV Pros. They should have some of the top 6max sng players online play on Poker After Dark against those guys. Those TV Pros would get killed.
The last 3 days have not been the most fun to deal with losses of $2,300, $300, and $1,150. The 2.3k loss on Wed has been my worse day in a while....played 22 games that day and only won 6 of them. As usual, it's the double combo of running and playing like fucking trash that made all this beauty possible. I'm only up like 1.1k in HU this month now.....luckily I've done pretty well in the rakeback dept making 1.5k or so. I actually just had an 11 game winning streak end in the 5400 point sunday million qualifiers....that's kinda sick.
That means I'm still up 2.6k overall which is not nearly a disaster. I'm sure I'll get it turned around the next few days and hopefully end +10k for Oct, although that may take a little luck now.
I've been a bit too spewy with my chips lately. That's gonna have to stop.
I am pretty happy with my start to Oct being up around 3.9k, particularly since I've taken basically 4 days off. I'm not sure what my deal has been the last month or so.....I just can't seem to find my grind switch. There have been so many days when I just don't feel like playing, and when that happens I usually just don't play. I hate forcing myself to play if I don't feel like it because I get frustrated easier and tilt faster. However after taking the 6th, 7th, and 10th off I feel I am ready to get back into grind mode again!! Yesterday I actually got in 27 games which is quite a bit for me. Too bad it resulted in my first losing day of the month....I dropped $450. I was down close to $1,400 so it actually kind of felt like a victorious day.
I lost 3 or 4 in a row to some donk on FT and I think for the first time ever declined a rematch against a sharkscope fishbowl. I could just feel my blood boiling and had to quit.....it's amazing how someone so bad can actually start to outplay you once they've won a few in a row. It feels that way anyways. Confidence is so huge in this game. After I took a little break I came back and played well. I don't think a year or two ago I would have ever quit playing such a bad player even though it was obvious I was tilting and playing badly. My ego just would not have let me do it.....as if declining a rematch was admitting I was the inferior player.
I remember about 2 1/2 yrs ago, before I was playing full time, I was just making my way into the 115's on FT. My online bankroll was only about $3,000 at this time so I wasn't quite properly rolled for the 115's but would take random shots. Well this night I got sat my a player in a 115 who was by no means a donk, but a breakeven/slightly winning player. Back then I had a style that was alot more passive.....effective just less aggressive. This player was quite aggressive and loose. They raised 100% of their buttons and cbet 100% of the flops for a 3/4 to full pot bet. At this time in my poker career I probably called out of the BB way too much(probably a bad habit from the lower levels where I was able to outplay people out of position more often). Well the first 3 matches I got owned by constantly calling out of the BB and check/folding the flop. After the 3rd game I started mixing in some 3bets preflop and check/raises on the flop. It was like he could see my cards, every time I c/r a flop with garbage I got shoved on, every time I 3bet pf with a mediocre hand he jammed. On the rare occasions I hit the flop he'd fold to my c/r. I kept accepting rematch after rematch, in each match playing worse then the previous one, not wanting to decline and accept defeat. Well, if I remember right I lost 8 in a row, or 9 of 10 and he took me for over $900. This wouldn't be devastating much at all now, but then that was 1/3 of my roll, and my main game was the $57.50 HU turbo, so losing $900 in the 115 in such a short amount of time(the matches were prob only last 5 min on avg, lol) was crushing. How could I let myself get so out of control? Why did I keep rematching somebody who was outplaying me when I was on tilt on top of it? Why in the fuck did I basically GIVE AWAY 3 or 4 of those games?
I got burned badly that day and I learned alot from it. Not to say I've NEVER let my emotions take over since then, but I never let it get to the point where I'm dropping 8 or 9 buyins to the same person when I'm on foam from the mouth tilt. There have def been some close calls, but I always stop and take a break after losing 4 or 5 in succession. It's kinda ironic how I didn't want to admit to being the inferior player by quitting, when the fact that I kept playing when on my F-game was what made me the inferior player.
Now I hardly ever let my ego get in the way. An ego in poker can be a good thing, but too much of it can put your lights out. Now even if I lose one game to a breakeven or winning player I usually decline because I know that there are better spots and I don't let my ego get in the way. I've had players ask me "are you scared to play me" or some other bullshit. They apparently get off on the notion that "they are not scared to play anybody". Ummmmm......no I am not fucking scared to play you. What on earth would I be scared of??? It's a FUCKING CARD GAME, not a life or death war. Give me a break. I just don't give a shit about dick measuring contests. I give a shit about making $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. That's all I have to say about that, kinda rambled a bit :)
OMG, OMG OMG.........The Twins/Tigers one game tiebreaker was the most exciting, gut-wrenching, nerve racking game I've ever seen. If you're a baseball fan and missed that game I feel sorry for you, just a wonderful game that the Twins came out on top in!!! The Yankees awaited the Twins and pounded us 3-0 for the sweep. Game 2 was absolutely devastating being that the Twins had a 2 run lead in the 9th only to watch Nathan blow it......sigh. Twins went 0-10 vs Yankees combined reg and post season this year. I guess it's safe to say they own us.
Vikings over Rams 38-10.......5-0 baby!!!!!! Bring on the Ravens!!!!
I surpassed my 100k goal for 2009!! Chilling at about 101k right now and it feels awesome to not only make my goal I set at the beginning of the yr, but to do it with just under 3 months left in 2009. It's looking like I should end up in the 130-150k range, assuming I don't jinx the shit outta myself by typing something like that. When I set that goal at the start of 09 I remember saying I might have been being a bit optimistic, but it turns out I didn't give myself enough credit. However I was still playing the 115 as my main game then and didn't make the permanent move up to 230+ until a few months into the year. It feels awesome to hit this goal so early in the year though, I'm pumped!!
I was just watching Livb playing on uber fucking monkey tilt. Holy fucking shit, how can someone who is so good revert to being such a tilting ass donk??? He musta lost like 10 straight but towards the end I was seeing him 3bet at 15/30 with 62 then call a shove, then he was freaking out and shoving like every hand preflop, just wild stuff. I saw he won the borgata poker open for like 900k a week or 2 ago. Just a sick all around player minus his tilt sessions.
Well the Vikings got the Packers tonight on MNF. Favre has a shot to beat his old team and I think the Vikes are gonna do it. 27-13 will be the score!! I've been looking forward to this matchup for a while. Can't wait.
Then we have the Twins who I had given up on long ago. However with 7 games left in the season we were 2 games back of Detroit with 4 to play against Detroit and 3 vs Kansas city. Naturally I figured if we wanted a shot at the division we'd have to beat Detroit 3/4 to tie us up with 3 games to go. However we split with them leaving us 2 games back with 3 to play meaning if we wanted a shot at forcing a one game playoff we'd either have to sweep Kansas City with them losing 2 of 3 to the dirty chisox, or we'd have to take 2 of 3 from K.C. and have them get swept by the dirty chisox. Or we could obviously win if we swept and they got swept. Boom!! We sweep K.C.'s absoulutely pathetic excuse for a professional sports franchise and the Tigers choke it away at home against a team that had nothing to play for.
What this means is a one game playoff against Detroit to see who goes to the playoffs. I like the Twins' shot, especially since it's at the Metrodome where we've won 7 of 9 vs them this year. Thank fucking God they fixed the rule and the Twins got homefield in this game. Last year amazingly enough we had a tie at the end of yr with the dirty chisox and even though the Twins had won the season series the white sox got homefield in the game based on the flip of a fucking coin. Twins lost that game 1-0. I still think we could have won at the Dome where it should have been.
The winner of this game will have the opportunity of playing the Yankees in the first round. If there is a team I hate worse then the dirty chisox it is the skanky fucking yankees and their bloated ass 974903174 billion dollar payroll, and I swear if Joe Mauer ends up with the Yankees at any point in his career I am never watching baseball again. The yankees are evil people, every time they open their checkbook and sign away a star from a small market team they are laughing......A-roid wipes his ass with $100 dollar bills......in front of starving children......he is evil. The Twins will beat Detroit and one time, just one time we are gonna punish New York. Be prepared.
