So this month I have been putting in shorter (1hr) sessions to remain focused and so far it has yielded pretty good results.

last night i was playing and planning on playing from 10-11pm. I was playing roughly 8-10 tables of 1/2 6max (4 on one site, 6 on the other). The game were very favorable, i was up on one site, but down roughly 2.5 b.i. on the other. I lost one big pot aipf AK to AQ after I 4 bet his 3 bet, and he jammed and spiked a Q on the river for a $500 pot. The games were extremelysoft though so i went against my routine and played longer b/c i was a favorite in the game. In fact I will go as far as to say only one other reg was at my tables who I actually tried to avoid so we could attack the fish. so long story short, i lost AK to KK btn vs sb situation and KK to AK, both times to the same opponent (the other reg), and both times were aipf. Then i lost AA to 99, when he turned a 9. So after the 2 hrs, i am down 900+. I usually set a stop loss for 2buyins b/c i just find if i am running bad i might as well stop and just clear my head. I know everyone tilts somewhat, and I would put myself in the category of "somewhat". I definitely dontspew like mad. i mean i work for a living. this is all passive income to me. this isnt to pay my rent or anything.

Now i was forced with the decision to keep on playing or just stop and call it a night?I had work in the morning, was down almost 5 b.i., but $1200 of pots were from 80/20's spots losing. So i was on the wrong end of variance. One side of me was saying that i had a good edge. i mean these tables couldve been A LOT tougher. Like i havent had been on such good tables yet this month. But then another side of me was thinking even if i get it in another 80/20 whose to say i win, poker doesnt owe me anything, and then i could REALLY tilt.

what are peoples thoughts? should i have kept on playing? or just called it a night? shouldve stopped after the first hr?

Over the last couple months, I have added Cake poker to the lists of sites I play on. Being from the U.S. I don't have many options. I went on a nice little heater and I don't really dislike the site (im not neurotic over software) but w/ Lee Jones and Adanthar recently leaving, and Doyle's Room pulling out of the network, it seems I am forced with the decision to withdrawal my funds in fear of the site collapsing.

Just wanted to hear other's thoughts about the situation. How many other times has sites collapsed? The only one I can think of is Eurolinx.

I know I said I would blog more, and unfortunately I haven't lived up to my promise. I really have nothing new to update though.

Since the new yr began, I would say I have been pretty good w/ some things poker related. First and foremost, the first two weeks I have taken great notes, and I have managed my time pretty well between poker/work/social life. I have also limited the length of my sessions to 1 hr which is good too. Sometimes I find myself stuck which sucks, but overall I think my attention span, after a long day of work, is minimal.

Things I need to work on:

Disconnect from the monetary gain. At work, I will indulge myself in 2+2, pfives, crunners, etc., so when I get home, I am all amped up to play. When I dont win, I get extremely frustrated. It goes something like "I just played 2 hrs. 8 tabling 1/2 and I won $500 on one site, lost $200 on another, and $200 on another. Overall I only won $100? Why aren't I winning more?" - I play like 3k hands and I expect to win 100% of the time. I aspire to be a pro so sometimes I will rush things too. I will sit down, try to win as many buy ins as possible, and dont let them come to me. I need to stop this...

Another thing is I really want to focus on playing my A game. I am really torn w/ the decision to just 4 table and make good, well thought decisions and really focus or play 8 tables and more or less click buttons, hope I am on the good side of variance and win money. I think like this b/c I am not like most bloggers on cardrunners. I work 50 hrs/week. I dont get home until 7pm. That leaves me roughly 4-5 hrs a night to play poker. Add in just random things like gf, family, friends and some nights I find myself not playing or only playing 20 hrs/week. This makes it difficult to say no to 8 tables. I am comfortable w/ 8 tables. I have done it a lot, but i worry about my overall progression, long term. Eventually i want to increase stakes. Also I find myself sometimes becoming detached when only playing 4 tables. I have 2 24" monitors for when I used to grind mtt'sand there is a ton of delay while playing 4 tables. I find myself double clicking IE like every 5 minsand closing it out saying "dont bill, no internet, focus"

If anyone has any thoughts on that vs 4 or 8 tables I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks guys, gl

Well it is that time again and i have a ton of goals that are poker related/non-poker related. But being this is a poker training website, I will only list the poker related ones:

Play 700k hands -

- 250k 100nl 6max
- 300k 200nl 6max
- 75k 400nl 6max
- 20k 100nl HU

Play 1000mtts

Read at least 3 poker books (most achievable goal)
Play at least 400hrs live
Play 1 major event


I usually have some sort of profit goals, but I usually don't achieve it and feel strictly volume goals would be much better and see where I'm at when its over.

Gl to all

My first non-white Christmas here in San Diego visiting my sister's family for the holidays. I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday

I know some crunners live in/around the area so if u have any advice of things to see, places to go, let me know in the comment section!

Played a little saturday morning/afternoon ending up about 3 buyins

played about 12 mtt's on sunday w/ nothing really notable either. played the $3 rebuy and got like
28th of 10k entrants. I definitely misplayed my bustout hand and I have found myself playing way too loose to late position raisers just giving them no credit at all.

Dont have any hh right now b/c im at work, but I will try to post them later this week.

need to do some christmas shopping tonight

gl on the tables!

Not much to report. I told you guys from my first entry, I will try to blog more consistently so I am sticking to my word!

I have a pretty quiet weekend approaching, unlike most times, so I am looking to play a good amount of poker.

I went to my gf's office Christmas party last night at a restaurant about 10 miles north of Pittsburgh called the Willow. It is a pretty solid place for price, and I recommend it for anyone that is around the area.

I figure I will piggy back on that thought and add anyone who is around the area, should really stop in Pittsburgh for a night. The city can get a bad rap sometimes as outsiders view it as a rough, depleted, steel town that is pretty much an all but dying city, except for its sports teams (pirates excluded from this conversation). I do admit, growing up 15 miles north of the city all my life, I kind of wanted to get out and experience life outside of Pittsburgh. I attended U. of Pittsburgh and to be honest, during my tenure there I really wished I ventured somewhere down south or out west for college. Not until just recently, have I come to appreciate my sorroundings. Don't get me wrong, I do wish to someday soon, move somewhere completely different for a few yrs, but I think I will find myself coming back to Pittsburgh when all is said and done. My sister, for example, is married to a Marine and they are currently stationed in San Diego. Skyping w/ her and my 1.5yr old nephew last night, I was jealous of her 65 degree weather (even though im going out there over Christmas) but she is definitely looking forward to moving back to the area after her husband serves his time. She is bias of course, since growing up here her entire life.

I have a few other examples below so if u hate Pittsburgh already or some yinzer gave you a hard time at a football game, you will probably just want to stop reading now. : )

Currently, I reside about a mile from downtown. My neighbor, originally from Ann Arbor Michigan, is a teacher here in the city at Point Park University. He fly's home for every U of Mich home game. He said when he was applying to teaching jobs, he was very hesitant on coming out to Pittsburgh b/c he had some not so promising beliefs/outlook of the city. He has been living here for the past 5 or so months and he absolutely loves it (partly b/c of our house parties im sure). He is an art prof and he absolutely loves the architecture, bridges, and sorrounding towns.

My last example rings true on professional level. Billy Guerin, retired from hockey just this past week, and Monday when I was at the Pens/Devils game, they had a tribute to him and his family before the game, honoring his short, but influential time here in Pittsburgh. Now Guerin has played on seven different nhl teams throughout his 18yr career. I found it both odd and interesting, the Pens would be paying a player such a tribute only after spending 3 yrs on the team. I found out afterwards, that Guerin and his 3 children really enjoy the city and plan on staying in Pittsburgh for a time tbd. This can show that someone who has spent time everywhere in the country, chose to raise his family in Pittsburgh of a all places.

If you do make it in to the city one night, I reccommend a nice dinner in Mt Washington at the Lamont or Monteray Bay followed by walking out and seeing the view of the the city from the mountain. It is a pretty cool sight to see the city all lit up. Or if drinking is your pleasure, you can go out to the South Side and do a bar crawl down 20 blocks of countless bars that will meet anyone's pleasure.

note: i obviously realize that there are a lot of other nicer places to live that offer many other things. I know a lot of crunner bloggers are from the chicago area and i absolutely love that area. I am going to a pens/blackhawks game in february and very excited to make it out there. All this blog is trying to do is maybe change some perceptions about an area of the country that I am familiar w/.

i wish everyone the best on the tables this weekend.

Well throughout the past month or so I have been back and forth with the idea of creating a blog. I figure there is no better day than today w/ all of the uncertainty looming in the online poker industry. More on that later...

I dont really have any idea what this blog will entail, or who it will interest? I will try not to make it drag w/ nonsense drabble although it already seems like it is going that way.

First and foremost, I am a recreational player. I dont know if I ever desire to be a "professional" but that too, is something for another day. I wont lie in the fact that is something that I do think about everyday, multiple times a day. I have weighed pro's and cons, and obviously there is good and bad to everything. One thing I am certain of however, is the current industry I am employed in, isn't something I want to make a career of. I am 25, worked for my father in sales for 2.5 yrs and then cut the cord and ventured into another aspect of sales for the past year. I am quite happy to make the move, since I have always been one to try to new things, and working for your father can be like never improving your game at 200nl to try to beat midstakes one day.

Poker background is probably the same as most. Started playing in high school and was pretty good at beating my friends, it took a backseat in college (other than the weekly game at my house), and by the time my senior year rolled around (07), I became more and more active in online poker. Throughout varying high's and low's, things I can say is I have never been bust, since I practice pretty good brm for a recreational player, but I did endure a pretty LONG financial/mental downswing from September of 09-June 10 playing mtt's. I have never deposited money on any site and never dipped into my real job monies, but even a 10k downswing over 10 months can be exhausting for a recreational player. After maintaing solid proft w/ mtt's in '08 and '09, I have experienced my first losing year this year, which has led me back to my original focus, cash games. Hence why I joined cardrunners again this summer, after a year long hiatus.

I do have a sense of direction for this blog. It's primary purpose is to become more active in the online poker world. For the past 4 years I have sat back, read pocketfives, 2+2, cardrunners, without offering feedback, criticism, opinions, etc. And that is not how I live my day-to-day life. I am an extrovert in many ways - going out, dating, traveling, partying, visiting family. My intentions are to strengthen my relationships w/ other poker players by commenting on blogs (nikolak, balbomb, gambler2k4), sending pms (tiltttt), participating in forums, seeking lessons, etc. I consider myself lucky to have the best of both worlds (make a pretty good paycheck + being able to profit from poker) which most do not have. I feel as if I haven't tried my hardest, in regards to poker, and that is something I aim to change.

I will talk about many different things in this blog. It will be primarily poker based (session results, legislation talk, hh's) and a little will be life outside of poker. What I can promise is I will update my blog once a week and will become more active in the cardrunners community b/c I do have the utmost respect for taylor and wiggins, who have provided a great service to pro's and part-timer's alike.

Haha - I promise no other blogs will be this long guys. Sorry for the rambling. gl on the tables.