Yeah so scratch my last comments about finally running close to expectation and having my hands hold. That all decided to stop yesterday. When I think about it though, this is pretty standard for me. I always always always have to have massive losing sessions at the start of every month so that I can spend the rest of the month trying to get back into the green. I played around 650 hands yesterday, and ended the session down close to $80. LIterally, every single large pocket pair that I got action with got cracked, and when the roles were reversed I could not hit a pair to save my life. I suppose the good part is that I got my money in good most of the time - I think I only got the money in as a dog once during the entire session - so that is always encouraging. Here are some of the noteworthy hands from the sesh. Keep it real!

Expert call obv...these kinds of beats make me want to throw my computer out the window

Very next hand on same table, standard river 3 outer...I love it when I read these guys cold and get them to put the money in drawing to 3 outs...i love it more when my hand doesnt hold...it's sweet

Obv reraise and call by AQ...i mean the guy must be a genius right?

Why should my AQ win here? It's not like anyone ever hits over cards against me right?

Post BB early and then call raise oop with 87...the guy DEFINITELY deserved to win the hand

I got back from a 2 week long trip to Europe last Thursday. Europe was pretty cool...it was my first time out of the country (if you dont count a trip to Canada) and it really opened my eyes. The scenery is gorgeous over there, and the art, history, and architecture is just amazing. However, I have to say that as much as I enjoyed myself, I was def ready to come back home after 2 weeks. There is only so much moving from hotel to hotel and living out of a suitcase that I can take...and it feels great to be back in the USA where water is free at restaurants and you have more of a selection of foods (and air conditioning...did I mention that?).

I've played a few sessions over the past week or so since I've been back, and have been very happy with my play and my results (for a change). I think I have only gotten my money in as a dog twice over the course of 4 or 5 sessions, and my hands are holding when I'm ahead for the most part, so I cannot really complain. I'm up over $100 over the past 3 sessions alone, which is not bad at $15 cap. I ended the month ahead a bit, which feels good since I think I finished in the red the past 2 previous months (mostly thanks to dropping $90+ a couple times at the start of both months and then pressing to make the money back). Anyway, here are a few hands from my past few sessions. Enjoy and keep it real!

he had exactly what I put him on...that feels good....feels even better to not get sucked out on :)

can u say complete monkey? I was very surprised he didnt hit his flush though...i run like god i guess

very next hand vs the same guy, one of the few times I've gotten my money in bad...i'm not folding to a minraise from anyone here, and DEFINITELY not folding to this guy when I hit top pair on this board

excellent reraise preflop sir...esp in a cap game...I almost folded i swear! PS i have no idea how he didnt hit runner runner on me here

The last 2 days have been days of extremes for me. I played about 600 hands on Tuesday, and ended up down around $70...it was a day full of really bad beats, and a lack of big pots being pushed my way. I was feeling pretty down after Tuesday, as I have really been looking forward to putting together a few straight days of good, solid wins - but this has yet to happen. Nevertheless, I buckled down and kept a positive mindset and decided to play again yesterday. This time the session went much better. Nothing different really done on my part - the main difference was my big hands held. When it was all said and done I played around 300 hands and was ahead about $60. These cap games are very very swingy, which is something I'm going to have to get used to. It's especially difficult to accept the losses, mainly because of the poor caliber of players that I am playing against. But, like Barry G. says, when you're going in with the best hand every time, you're going to be subject to more bad beats than others. Here are a few hands from the last 2 days, it's pretty easy to tell which hands are from which session :). Keep it real!

My aces got cracked every time I was dealt them this session

"Whatever" fking moron

This hand pretty much typified the entire session

J/10 huh? NH sir fold preflop you fking elbow licking daryl

I was honestly shocked that I won this hand...the way my week has been going, losing would not have been a surprise.

Folding was never, ever, ever a consideration against this monkey...i saw him shove with no pair no draw way too many times

Of course you have QJ...of course you do. I honestly considered stopping the session right now because I thought I felt the doom switch being flipped

Glad I didnt leave...you get no credit after limp/calling QJ you fking drooler...ship it to daddy

Played a good amount of hands today. Ran better than yesterday (see: closer to expectation) but still caught a few 2 and 3 outers that really ticked me off. One of these days I really just want have a session where I win all of the hands I should...if I could put together a couple weeks where I didnt get beat by any 2 and 3 outers I'd be so rich.

In other news, my buddy put me onto this show called "Metalocalypse" which aires late night on either Comedy Central or Cartoon Network (I cant remember which one). At first I didnt really get it, but after like 3 episodes I could not stop watching this show. I downloaded season 1 and the first 7 episodes of season 2 and nearly went into convulsions this afternoon from laughing so hard. I highly recommend it to everyone...at least try it and see if you like it, which not everyone will I'm sure.

Anyways, below are a few hands from today - both good and bad. Keep it real!

Gotta love that preflop limp with AK...monkey got what he deserved

Jeeze this guy was SUCH an uberdonk...I'm kinda pissed I did not get more value out of him (as I'm sure he would have called turn and river bets), but he really liked to play his big hands slow so I was a little bit wary of him having the flush or straight on the turn

I'm not sure about this hand...if the flush draw is not there, I probably fold turn...but this guy was such a monkey that he could just as easily have had an 8 or a FD as a king or 4

People love to do this to me...the feeling is not mutual

Ship to daddy you slow-playing elbow licker

Glad I made the right read here...max value from a monster...ship it

I admire the reraise sir, and even better call

How do these daryls even justify the fact that they are wasting oxygen on this planet?

And because I'm apparently not allowed to have the best hand hold up more than once....

I think I may have missed some value here, which pisses me off...I figured he either had the hand he did, or he had a boat. Thought there was good chance he'd bet either of them so saw check/calling as the best way to gain more value or minimize my losses depending on what he had

God i run so bad sometimes. I just find it funny that I manage to play so well most of the time and just seem to get f*cked in every way possible. When I am winning the hands I should, I crush these cap games. When I am getting sucked out on, it just becomes hard to believe at times. Overpairs running into garbage hands that flopped 2 pair (and I can never hit a set or have the board pair to resuck...it's so sick), aces or kings getting hit by 2 outers, the usual. I was down around $70 at one point today...made a bit back to end the sesh down around $50, but I am seriously getting tired of playing well and not seeing results. I know it can be attributed to variance, but things have got to even out sometime and I just do not seeing that happening at all right now. Here is some of the ugliness from today. Keep it real!

He had outs, but the fact that guys manage to play these hands out of position in a cap game where they have 0 implied odds just amazes me

I knew what I was doing with my massive overbet (obv)...this monkey will call with 95% of the hands he is raising me with here...there is no justice in the world

98 off huh...that's funny...and how do I not resuck here? Life is rigged

Impossible to get away from this hand in this game against this player...if the roles are reversed here, he hits one of his 8 outs like 99% of the time

I played around 400 hands yesterday, and ran about as bad as I ran good the day before (if that makes any sense). I started the sesh up $30, but then went on a $120 swing and ended up down about $90 on the sesh. It was pretty ridiculous, 10/7 sucking out on JJ, K/10 sucking out on QQ, and 2 outers galore. I guess you're pretty much asking for those types of beats when you play cap, though.

I decided to play another sesh today. I felt good when I started, but after this hand I started to think I might be about to endure a similar sesh to yesterday:

So sick

However, I shook it off and continued to play solid poker until this hand came up. I was pretty happy about this one :) (but still surprised I did not get hit by a 1 outer)

Pretty ideal

That hand kind of turned the sesh around for me, and I did pretty well from there on out. Here are a few more significant hands from the sesh. Like I said, I'm hoping to play pretty much every day until I leave for Europe next month, so hopefully lots more hands coming. Keep it real!

I beat pretty much nothing here...good fold i think

Was hoping he would check/raise me on the flop...hated seeing the ace on the turn but I was not about to fold to this monkey

This guy typed "karma" into the chat box when my AA lost to KK earlier...after this hand I told him to look up the definition of the word to and get back to me

I finished my last final last Thursday, but have been pretty busy since then. The wife and I moved into a new apartment, and between that and picking up a few shifts at the hospital I have been pretty damn busy. Today was the first time I have had a free hour to play any poker. The $0.25/0.50 NL cap games looked pretty good, so I sat at 3 tables. I ran pretty well, and also was lucky enough to be sitting with a few total elbow lickers who paid me off everytime I got a hand. A few of them have been posted below. I'm gonna try to get in as many hands this summer as possible (since I do not have a job until August) , so ideally I will be posting somewhat regularly. Keep it real!

It's always nice to have people shove into you preflop when you have kings...I cant believe my hand held!

Like i said, when guys play like this, poker becomes easy

This was the very next hand on the same table...these guys just refused to give me credit no matter how many times i showed them the goods

With 2 other guys in the hand, I am almost never betting this flop...the turn seemed like a must-bet, but I think a check on the river is correct since I am not getting any more value out of most hands

I've been running rather poorly at $0.25/0.50 NL FR since the start of the month. Seem to start every session stuck at least a BI, and then spend the rest of my session trying to make it back and get into the green. I started with about 24 BI's at this level, and am down about 4 BI's since the start of the month, so I decided to drop back down and build the BR a bit more before I give it another shot. My buddy who plays a lot of Cap NL suggested that I give it a try. He says the players there are absolutely terrible, and I have seen him grind those tables with very good results. I played a short session with some very good results, and I think I will be giving this game a shot until I get my BR up to where I feel comfortable playing $50FR again. Here are some of the hands from my Cap session....most of them are pretty funny :) Keep it real!

Look at this monkey

If I can sit with this guy every session, I will be rich

I <3 short stacks

Flopping sets in these cap games is like better than gold...i have no idea how I dont get paid here

So after my first not-so-successful try at $50NL, i sat down again today to play. It went better this time, although I still ended up in the red a bit. However, the good thing is that I felt my play was pretty good - just ran a few hands into bigger hands and ended up losing the minimum on those hands, all things considered. I'm starting to realize that, aside from a few regulars, the play at $50NL FR is still pretty weak. The only main difference, which I noted in a previous entry, is that people are a lot more loose and willing to float on flops, and then fire when you show weakness on the turn. It's not very hard to adjust to this strategy, though, so I think that I'll be making a good amount of money at this level here pretty soon. Here are a few interesting ones from today's sesh. Keep it real!

When he checked flop, I figured my bet was a value bet. When he checked turn, I figured there was still a good chance I was ahead, and if i was behind a hand like JJ then a bet might possibly fold those hands out. On the river, I had just about figured out that he had me beat, and even if he didnt, there was not much value in a bet...nh sir, wtf are you thinking?

My buddy was yelling at me to fold my hand on the river, but his small bet was so enticing...I actually like the way he played his hand on the flop, but I think he could have gotten more value out of me by betting the turn half pot and doing the same thing he did on the river (half pot again)

It might seem like I got a little too excited on this hand - and in all reality I might have - but there was actually a method to my madness. First off this was the same guy that slow played me with the flopped boat in the previous hand, so I read his flop check/call and turn bet as possible strength. Second, I wanted my instashove to make my hand look as much like AQ as possible, in order to get a call from a 9 or AK...wish I had raised more reasonably, but I'm thinking there's a chance he was on a pure float bluff

55? really?

Even though I was ready to get it in with all these clowns, I'm kinda glad they folded

Another SF opportunity that I didnt get to test...too bad

If you havent guessed from the title of this post, today was my first day back at $50NL FR...it did not go as I had hoped, but I dont think my play was all that bad, and I think I definitely could have lost more considering the way I ran. One huge difference I noticed is how often you get floated at this limit, compared to $25NLFR. The way I was running, it could simply be that everyone was making hands against me, but I swear everytime I raised preflop and C-bet I got a call (except for the times I flopped the nuts...then it was usually a fold). To add on to this, I ran big hands into big hands from short/mid stackers a few time, which also cost me quite a bit of money. Here are some of the bigger hands...mostly ugly. GG me and GL next session. Keep it real!

An example of the HORRIBLE floats people were pulling against me...had I had a hand in this case, I'd be happy...funny thing is I think check/check is best here b/c I have a feeling he was NOT folding

Another stellar float...wtf is this guy thinking with his call on this flop? And WTF is he thinking with the river check/shove? It ended up working for him, but imo it was a very stupid non-profitable play overall

Nothing I can do here...so many hands he can be doing this with that I beat...would have felt sooooo good to spike a 10 and stack this idiot after the way he slow played KK

Thank god something finally goes my way

Oh, did I mention I couldnt win a race to save my life?

Another idiot with an idiotic preflop call...and then he proceeds to play just about as bad post-flop...why cant I pair the board against these fking clowns?