I've been on fire over the last day in the $55's which is nice - I've won 11 straight and have built the bankroll to nearly $3,400. I beat this guy 3 straight times tonight getting it in with the worst hand twice, won a flip once and I could tell the guy was just on monkey tilt. I've been in his exact same shoes where it doesn't matter what you have, you are going to lose. Like he bets pot on an A97 flop with two hearts (with A7) and I had called a 3-bet PF with 95cc (I min-raised to 80, he RR to 200, I called). I was thinking, who bets pot with a strong hand with an ace on board so I shipped it in and the turn was the 9 of course. Weeeee.

He started going off in chat which normally I have turned off but I actually turned it on to listen because I was running super red hot and knew he had to be steaming. It's nice to be on fire once in awhile, I was thinking I wasn't cut out for the $55's but I don't think that anymore of course.

The Ravens had a very nice win today which makes me pretty happy. I think I would rather play the Steelers than the Chargers - the Ravens don't do as well against good, high-powered offenses - they have had 2 close games with the Steelers and could have won both so I know that game would be a repeat of the previous 2 meetings (tough and close).

My company did a layoff at work today but I was lucky and didn't get touched. Hopefully my good luck will continue!

Well, gl at the tables, y'all!

My CR membership will expire after Dec. 31 so I'm not sure I will be able to keep updating this. Not that it matters since I'm not going anywhere in the poker world.

Got the bankroll up to $2955 and then went on a fucking freefall at $55 losing a shitload of matches to go down to like $2250. That is pretty fucking embarrassing.

So, since I can't tilt, I tried playing some HU NL200 but there was like 6 people sitting at 6 tables and they would sit out every time I would sit. Finally, I got 1 dude to play but he only played like 15 hands - he quit after I 4-bet him with AK and he folded.

So, I jumped into the ole NL200 6max and won $260 in 80 hands. My BB/100 win rate in table ratings is now 41.95 so I probably should play more, LOL.

I won the work football pool and collected my money. Bought a blu-ray player and am keeping the rest for some fun stuff.

Anyway, I suck at blogging and am mediocre at poker - bankroll is a bit over $2,500 where it has been for like 2 months now. I probably should just stick to cash or $22's since I think that is the only thing I can win at. I guess we'll see.

Happy New Year and go Ravens, win the fucking Super Bowl, One More Time!

My company was fortunate to make payroll today so I received my check which is nice. I think there is a 90% chance I will receive one in two weeks but after that, I am not so sure. Business is off nearly 50% this month, our corporate office raped us of all our money so that they would get paid, and we can't survive another month of losing money.

So, I expect to be checking out how unemployment works in the near future which is unfortunate. I have enough money to live awhile without a job but if I do lose it, I will probably move to Vegas in the summer which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. Guess we'll see!

From a poker perspective, I haven't been running particularly well so I went back and reviewed some videos from Big Tuna KJo who has helped me out. I have always been a 2x raiser PF on the button (HU SNG's) but decided to adapt his style of raising 3x at the 15/30 and 20/40 levels. Lost my first 3 matches last night and was tempted to go back to my style but I knew I was playing correctly and was just getting unlucky in big pots. So I persisted and ended up winning 9 of 16 which is not bad considering the terrible start and my roll is now $2,600. I have 1 more day to play and I will be a GOLD player which will give me another $75 bonus (total of $175 for the year) to earn in January which will be nice.

With respect to football, I am leading the pool by 3 points with 1 week to play and I have 2nd place clinched so I will make sure I get paid Monday next week while my company still has a few dollars in the bank. Haven't totally decided on my picks this week but I know I will be taking Dallas +1.5, Houston -3, Miami +2.5, and Kansas City +3 for sure. Haven't figured out game 5 yet but am looking at Green Bay -9.5, Arizona -6, and Pittsburgh -11 as possibilities. I usually play underdogs which has worked well for me but the last week of the season is always kind of funky so whatever.

Did I say the scam sportsbook site claims they have mailed me my $2,400 check? Hopefully I will get it next week and the check will clear.

Merry Christmas y'all.

Got my Samsung A650 52" 1080P tv set-up this weekend and it is totally awesome. I have it on a swivel stand so I can see it from any location in my kitchen and family room and have it hooked up to my Bose Acoustimass 16 Series II speakers so it totally jams. I know there are a lot better speakers than Bose but I bought them about 5 years ago and didn't feel like going out and spending another dime or two on speakers.

Poker is going decent as I have settled down and play nothing but $55's right now even though I am winning 39.6 BB/100 when I dabble at $1/$2 6-max which isn't very often. Roll is about $2,350 which is depressing in once sense since I was at $2,272 at the end of October but considering I have been down to $1,500 at least 3 times since then, I guess it's not too bad.

I am a HUGE favorite to win my company football pool as I have a 4 point lead with 2 weeks to play. I pick 5 games a week against the spread and am winning 62% so far this year which is nice. I think if I can manage to go 5-5 over the next 2 weeks, I will coast to victory and a very nice first place check.

Not too much else to say, I'm not a big fan of December because Christmas always costs a fortune, business is terrible at work, and the weather is cold and snowy.

Anyway, good luck y'all!

I've really trying to tilt my roll off but I keep winning the $550's so fortunately, I still have a $2K roll. I renewed my agreement with Todd so that I can only play $55's or lower (HU SNG's) but I can move around in that level as much as I want. So, I could lose an $11 and go right to a $55 without penalty. I also allowed myself to play any cash game up to NL200 and any MTT up to $216.

Last night was the first night our deal was in place ($500 penalty for me if I violate the parameters) and I won 4 of 6 $55's. I was kind of happy because I lost my last one and didn't play another one where if I didn't have the deal, I certainly would have tried to end the night on a winning note. So this deal is already helping me.

I played some NL200 6-max the other night and managed to win a buy-in which was cool since I haven't played that much 6-max cash over the last year. I then uploaded my hands into CR to see what my stats were (I play on a Mac so don't have Pokertracker) and saw that I was at 22/12 which I think is not very good. I think the 22 is fine but I am obviously limping to much which usually happens when there is a MP limper and I'm in the SB and limp. I think most good players either fold or raise pretty big to take it down PF. There was a real good player at my table (JBaller88) who I noticed per table ratings has won about $85K and I noticed his stats were about 15/12 during my session. So, I should probably be folding my SB more often than I am because I think that is why I had so much spread between my VPIP and PFR%.

My TV came yesterday and it is awesome. I will be heading to Costco today to buy a stand for it and will get the surround sound set up this weekend. It will be a pretty good set-up.

Still waiting for my $2,400 check from Sportsbook, not getting too nervous yet but if the timing is the same from my last check, I should get a notice in about a week. Since I already got the TV, I kind of need them to come through or I will not be happy.

Later.

I pledged I would only play $22's till I got to $3K and that pledge lasted less than 24 hours. Fortunately, I have been running good when I tilt and play the $550's as I am 2 for 2 at that level.

My first win was against Plz_Stop_Lookin when I masterfully (imo) played AA. I had 1,065 chips at 40/80 and limped the button. K 2 4 rainbow flop and on the button I bet 80. I was check raised to 240 and decided to just call. The turn was a J, he checked and I shoved my 745 in and was snap called by K 9. I faded the 5 outs somehow and doubled up to 2,130. He shoved the next hand, I folded. The next hand I limped 7d2d and he shoved again. The next hand he open shoved and I called with A9o against his 66. I flopped a 9, it held and I was a winner!

Today, I played a $550 against Toll Booth Bandit - I seem to run hot against him as several months ago I took 2 of 3 at $230 against him and today I was never short against him and ended up getting 99 all in against his A8 sooooted PF for a 2,694 pot that gave me the win. Roll is now back to $2,295 which is pretty good considering I was under $1,200 on Friday playing a $550 that would have fucked me if I had lost.

Football was awesome today as I went 5-0 and the two leaders, who were 1/2 point ahead of me, BOTH went 0-5! I now have a 4.5 lead with 3 weeks to play so first place cash is looking pretty good right now. It's only about $1K so it's not life-changing but I'll take it.

My TV is coming Tuesday so looking forward to some 1080p 52" action!

Later.

That Full Tilt promotion is really fucking me up because instead of just playing whenever I want to and not worrying about how many games I get in during a day, I make sure I play at least 6 $55's right after midnight EDT to get my 100 points so I can get gold. The problem with this is that even if I go 4-2 and win $95, I'll quit so I can go to bed a winner. This is so stupid because I should be playing more matches to increase my profit instead of trying to "protect" it.

Last night, I started off 3-1 and said to myself, "all I have to do is win 1 of the next 2". Of course I didn't. After 9 matches, I was 4-5 and decided to move up to an $80 4h shootout. Played some gold star in the first round and THREE FUCKING TIMES I had a 2-1 chip lead or better only to lose a race or have a cooler hand.

No problem, we'll play some $115's. Lose the first one when my AA loses to K10 AIPF on the infamous FTP runner runner straight after the guy is practically drawing dead on the flop. Lose the second one when FTP disconnects when I am down in chips so I get blinded off. I have e-mailed support about this, not sure what they will do.

End the night losing 3 straight $230's, I won't even describe the beats because it just doesn't matter. I am convinced that when you are on a downswing, it doesn't matter what you do, you are going to lose, usually on the river. Oh well, bankroll down to $1,344 so it was a nice $1,300 loss yesterday. Guess I need Todd back to monitor me.

I pledge right now that I will play $22's only until my BR is at $3K. I will play MTT's that are $26 or less. Playing the $22's will be better for me because their are a ton more fish and I won't worry about the fucking Ironman promotion, I will just play when I feel like it and see what happens.

I made $1,659 playing nothing but $11's and $22's in October - need to re-discover the magic!

Yesterday, I decided to spend my $2,400 sports book winnings on a new TV. So I ordered the #1 rated 52" LCD HDTV 1080P (per Consumer Reports) and it will hopefully arrive sometime next week. Paid $2,029 for the A650 model which has the 120mhz technology so that is nice. My $100 sportsbook check cleared (apparently) so I am anticipating that I will get my $2,400 check within 3 weeks and it will clear also. It better!

Poker is going really well. I had a HUGE downswing during Thanksgiving where my roll dropped all the way down to about $1,567 but then I went on a TEAR and won 27 of 34 at the $55 level to get it all back. I am currently a bit over $2,600 so I am excited that I am at my high point for the year.

I really like the way I am playing right now - I had purchased a bunch of HU SNG videos from a guy but after experimenting with his PF raise strategy, I have abandoned it because I like my way better. My way is to min-raise most buttons and bet 50% on flop in most cases (somewhat player-dependent but if it is a unknown I will always start this way). I like this strategy because it does not cost me a lot to see how the guy plays (is he a check-raiser, does he always fold unless he has something, etc.) and after a few hands I feel like I am playing pretty optimally. The video was different in that the PF button raiser at the first 2 levels (15/30 and 20/40) raised 3x and made a 2/3 cont. bet on the flop - I just feel this puts to many chips into the pot at an EARLY level before I have a real read on the guy I'm playing.

The video guy has made a lot more money than I so I'm not saying his way is wrong but it was clearly not working for me.

I have slipped to 3rd in my football pool (1/2 point out of first) after back-to-back 2-3 weeks so I am going to have to get my ass in gear if I want the first place monies.

Now that I can play at any stakes I want, I am debating playing some NL200 6-max to see how I do. Perhaps this weekend.....

Had a great time at the AC/DC concert, had great seats and they really jammed. Here is what they played, in order:

Rock & Roll Train
Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be
Back in Black
Big Jack
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
Thunderstruck
Black Ice
The Jack
Hells Bells
Shoot to Thrill
Anything Goes
War Machine
You Shook Me All Night Long
TNT
Whole Lotta Rosie
Let There Be Rock
Highway to Hell (Encore)
For those About to Rock (Encore)

Wednesday I played a sharkscope FISH at $33 and somehow managed to lose 11 of 14 before I quit. I think it would have been better if I didn't know he was a fish (with fishtank and all) because i definitely played a little differently knowing he was a bad player. Yesterday, I started off losing my first 3 and could really feel the tilt coming.

But I took a break and feasted on some Thanksiving food and started winning again. I started my night session by beating the #5 ranked SS player in the $16-$35 range and this gave me some confidence and overall ended the day winning 14 of 23 (not bad after starting out 0-3).

I also received my $100 check from sportsbook FINALLY but will not totally be happy until it clears. Hopefully this means my $2,400+ check will be processed in the next 3 weeks or so. I still have $45 in the account that I will start using once all my checks are received and cleared.

Bankroll sitting at $2,348 so I have some work to do this weekend - goal is to be at $2,750 by Sunday evening.

Later.

Going to AC/DC tonight at the Pepsi Center in Denver so it should be pretty cool. I've seen them before but not in a long time so I am pretty psyched! My tickets are pretty good since I shipped the $40 to join the fan club and was able to get in the section one over from the stage in like the 7th row. If you ever want to score tickets for a show, you MUST join the fan club as it is the only way to go.

Poker is going pretty well. I managed to sat into the $750K but unfortunately, I didn't last long. I got all my money in with a J high flush draw against two pairs, I turn the flush and naturally the 4th club came on the river to give KK the pot. The KK guy, who somehow thought it was OK to call TWO all ins on a 235 two club board (against my J10 and the other guy's 77) ended up nearly final tabling the thing before busting in like 10th or something. Oh well.

HU is still working for me, roll is up to $2,474 not including the $22 I have already used to buy into the new FTP "Double Deuce" tournament which is capped at 7,000 players and sold out a day in advance last week. It looks like a really good tournament as you get 2,200 in chips, blinds are 12 minutes and start at 10/20.

I have decided not to renew my anti-tilting arrangement with my friend so I will be on my own starting December 1. I really do think I will be unemployed before too long and need to test my skills at cash games, etc and I don't want to be limited to $50 buy-ins. I would like to play some NL200 6-max and see if I can have a break-through month. Since I was able to control myself in Vegas last week, I think I have "cured" my tilting so I will give it a shot without my monitor friend. I told him that if I blow my roll, the next deal with him would last 1 year minimum so that is kind of a dis-incentive to tilt.

Still leading the company football pool, hope I'm still around after Week 17 to collect!