Slow start to Feb

Feb has started out pretty slow. I worked my way into a 1k hole within the first few days, then worked out of it to close to even, then fell back down. As of right now I am about $800 down for month. I just can't seem to stop running below expectation, I just seem to keep getting drawn out on at a higher frequency then the odds dictate for the last month or so. Shit, it's pissing me off. My last 3 games I played before posting this(all $230's too) go like this:

First one I call raise with KQ flop K79, w/2 spades, villain has 79. I get stacked. I check raised flop and got jammed on, hard to get away even at 10/20 level, + villain was a total idiot

2nd game(against same guy) I raise AQ 4x to 80 pre he overbet jams all in for 1300 I call, villain shows A2 and spikes a 2 on river.

3rd game(different player) 15/30 level they min raise to 60 i 3bet to 180 with AA flop 45Q i bet 225 they call turn 6 i bet like 600 they move in for 700 or so total and show 66 for a turned set. I still have 400 left make a comeback, then at 50/100 i get it in for my 1200 stack with 1010 against 55 and they spike a 5 on the flop.

I mean just standard beats/coolers, everyone has a million of these they could share but this shit has been hammering me for a while now. It always seems also that when i get coolered it's against the shittiest players. Come on, cooler me against the better players, but let me have a shot against the shit ones!!! I just seem to be in that stage where when you're in with say JJ against 99 you don't feel like you're 80/20, you feel it's more 50/50, and when its JJ against AK you don't feel 50/50, you feel 20/80. Everyone has been there.

The good thing is I have kept my cool for the most part(kind of, it hasn't affected my playing much anyways, maybe just a little in a few games) and it's early in the month. $800 is nothing, I'll comeback and hopefully have another solid month.

RUN BETTER BARTCHALKER

January Recap

Jan def had its frustrations(the main part being a 12 day breakeven streak) but I finished strong and had a decent month. I'm not going to post my sharkscope #'s since they are off in a few places(due to chopping/sharkscope missed games). Speaking of chopping, the last 5 times I've chopped a match and flipped for rake I've lost...?! Stupid. Anyways below are my #'s....

HU SNG's - +$4,534..62
Other SNG's - +$296
Cash Games - +$162.25
FPP Rakeback - +$860
Bonus - $150

Total Profit= $6,002.87

I never thought I would reach a point in my poker career where I was dissapointed with a 6k month, but with the amount of volume I put in this month I feel I could have easily made 10k. Last month may have spoiled me a bit, being that it was the least amount of volume I'd ever put in in terms of hours played(86 hours) but was my most profitable month(9.5k). Then I have this month where I put in my 2nd highest hourly month(142.5 hrs played). If I could have done as well as last month I'd be looking at a 14-15k month. But last month I ran like a superhero and this month I ran like dirt so that's that. It'll all even out.

I'm gonna get ready for some superbowl action, just wanted to throw out my monthly recap for you bitches. :)

Superbowl Prediction: Steelers 20 Cardinals 17

I will be putting down a bet on the cardinals(+7). GO!!!!!

your buddy
bartchalker

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