So December came to an end, and unfortunately poker wise it was not a great month...I find these days my NL game is a bit rocky (probably too loose and inpatient at times). I played live for the first time in a few months, and got tilted after losing a big pot. To make things worse I was told by the guy that bad beats that I played the hand wrong, because I bet out my top two pair instead of slow playing it. I ended up playing too loose and calling my chips off way too much (I find that live players bluff a lot less often than online). So here is a summary of my month, which could have been a lot worse. I played sporadically and did not feel that I always played my best. Starz Deposit -1900 Homegame 250 Starz Cashout 2500 Homegame -120 Starz -3300 Niagara Casino -600 Full Tilt -300 Star Cashout 2500 Grand Total -970 As far as New Years I was sick, so Sinead and I ended up spending a quite evening at home. Come to think of it I made 3 resolutions for this year. 1) Live more in the moment --- I mean do more things spontaneously, this applies to both Sinead and I - we both pledged to live life to its fullest and worry less about little things (we are both worry worts sometimes!) 2) Get a big poker score --- Its beena while since I have had a big poker score (Monte Carlo 2006), so this year I want to play in some tourneys and hopefully have a decent 5 figure showing. I still consider myself mainly a cash game player, but there is nothing more exhilarating than a deep tournament finish. 3) Land a secure nephrology job --- Yes this year will be a bit difficult with all the uncertainties. It would be nice to have some certainties and know where I will be working and more importantly where Sinead and I will be living. Happy New Year everyone and see you on the felt! Radu

So here it is, my results for the last 3 months. November I started having a bad run at 2 4 PLO, so bad I lost like 5k in 3-4 days....A combination of running bad, and then playing bad (i.e. reraising anything)....I switched to NL and grinded my way back up a bit. So I basically need a strong December showing to try to get my goal of 20k profit in 4 months! I am going to keep playing PLO and basically if I have time takinga shot at MTTs. I find especialy on Starz ont he weekend and evenings PLO seems really profitable. During the day people are much tighter.

I am also going to try to make a pretty graph later this week to brake down wins and loses by site...

Thanks

Radu

Okay so I must be bipolar because at the beginning of the month I hated Omaha, now I love it finally got be back in the positive side for the month....It has been a roller coaster ride, I started the month about -6k, and this weekend I finally pulled it in the green, I figure to be around +1.5k for the month....I realize that Omaha is a very high variance game, but I am trying to play less swingy, ie. see more flops, try to get the money it with fav hand etc...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1744508 - okay I actually dont like the way I played this hand, limp reraising with weak KK, is prob a slightly -ve, but high variance play...I got lucky to spike a K, but maybe just limp callin would have been better?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1744516 - yikes talk about losing a 1 outer in Omaha...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1744527 - pretty standard I think, I bet my two way draw, I was a bit surprised that I was good by the river....

So the plan the rest of the month is to chill out...play a bit more PLO on Starz. I also think game selection is key, on the weekend the games were really loose and crazy which is definately +ev....

Radu

Yeah baby,

I dont know what it is, but psycologically after having one of my worst starts ever, coming back to even seems like a big victory. After starting the month down 5k, mostly playing 2-4 PLO on Starz....I managed to recoup it all on Party Poker playing 2-4 NL and some tourneys....I like playing on Party Poker now, I find the players pretty weak and easy read...Reminds me of the early days on Ultimate Bet...I find people are either pretty tight and weak, or they are totally crazy...I had a guy call my all in today on the river with T high for a 350 pot at 2-4 NL....spoooky

.I am probably going to play a bit more this weekend and try to get in the a little profit for the month....I am going to try to stay away from PLO since the variance is high and this month after the ups and downs, I would be happy to post a modest profit (I dont rely on poker for a living)....I am also going to play some tourneys since I feel I have had some near big finishes recently, and I am due (if there is such a thing) for a big top 3 score.....Ship it

Radu

Sorry I havent posted for a while, work at the hospital has kept me really busy. Poker wise I started horribly bad. I dont think I had a winning session for the first 10 days of September and I ended dropping about 5k playing PLO. Things were so bad I had to use the option on Starz and Full Tilt to lock myself out.

Well I guess I wasnt disciplined enough and I decided to deposit 200 on Party Poker. Now I have always disliked Party mainly because of their childish animation. But I discovered you can download skins which change the look of the screen. So in the last week I have taken back about 3200 on Party, pulling me to down just 1800 for the month so far. I find the games pretty soft, you either get really tight nitty players or guys that play like 60% of their hands. Coming back to have a winning month would be quite the feat....So here are some hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1714915

Here I decided to mix things up and just smooth call with JJ. I play them fast against a donkey who was playing like 50% of the hands and kept overbetting the pot as a bluff. I figured he would call me down with any pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1714936

Here I decide to play my shove my set, make it look like a draw, and I get snapped call. I find that people are very like to call overbet shoves on the flop with any pair.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1714951

Okay here is a bluff gone bad...I float the flop and try to min raise the turn as bluff...My thinking is that unless he had a Q he is not betting...he check behind any pocket pair behind. My read is off because I get shoved on...

More to come this week,

Radu

Yea I feel pretty depressed about poker right now....I am down about 2.7k in the last 3 days. I have been playing mostly PLO on my laptop, and for the most part getting crushed/spewing/etc...Disappointing especially since i have had two really good months and now I have to climb my way out of a hole.

Its weird how poker makes you feel that low sometimes, I am sure that if I was up that much, I would feel pleased (but certainly not ecstatic). I guess poker drives type A personalties to always try to win. The rest of the month I am going to be busy so I am not sure if I will be able to get unstuck. How do people get over bad losing days? I guess taking a few days off is a good idea.

Radu

October was definately a good month for poker. I actually hit Platinum Star on Starz this month reflecting the number of hours I put in....Unfortunately November is going to be really busy for me work wise so I think I will only be able to put in a fraction of the hours. Overall I was up 8.2k this month (including online and homegame results). I got deep in a couple of tournaments but failed to make the final table. I dont use poker traker but I suspect that I probably played 80% Omaha and about 20% NL Holdem. Anyways below is the tally:


Starz Deposit -500
Starz Withdrawal 2500
Homegame -350
Absolute poker -200
Starz Withdrawal 2500
Starz Deposit -1000
Full Tilt -500
Homegame 50
Starz Withdrawal 2500
Homegame 260
Starz -1700
Full Tilt -1000
Starz Withdrawal 2100
FulTilt Withdrawal 1000
Homegame 510
Starz Withdrawal 2000

Total 8170

So overall since I have started keeping detailed records I am up 14k in the last two months. Not bad for a part time hobby. This week I am flying out to San Francisco for work, and I have alwyas wanted to visit Lucky Chances Casino and maybe play some cash games there. Anyone been there, whats it like?

Radu

The hot streak continues....tonite I played a bit of NLH and PLO. I won a PLO tourney with a buyin of $50 for just over $800. There were only like 50 players, and I had a dominating cheap lead wire to wire. Its strange how people play AA and KK in Omaha like in Holdem - they raise preflop and never let go after the flop.

Now on I started playing some 5-10 NL and had Moneymaker sit at my table. It was fine by me since I had position on him, and from what I remember he splashes around a lot...I 3 bet him a lot and I knew he was getting tired of me because once he reraised me all in and I had to fold my rags.

So in this pot I was kind of caught squeezing with a weak hand, and Chris 4 bet me all in. I made the call (I know it looks like a donkey call) figuring he wasnt strong either given our history...My A3 was good and I felted Chris.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1629275

Here is another interesting hand....I get a raise fromt he shortstack fromt he button. I have AA in the BB, and decide to massively overbet the pot and shove to make it look like a steal. I think i get more +EV than just reraising and letting hands the miss the flop get away.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1629306

On an aside note I continue to run over our homegame. I have won our last 3 tournaments, which has to be a near record....It will be fun to see if I can keep the streak going.

Radu

Yesterday I decided to play both of the major sunday tourneys, the Sunday 200 dollar buyin and the Full Tilt 500 buyin. I was fortunate in both to double up early with A-A. In the Starz tourney I tried to apply some pressure on the bubble....with 901 players left (900 payed), I ended up shoving a 6-7-8-10-Q board as a bluff - guy times out and called me with KK. I went out shortly after that.

In the Full Tilt tournament I built a big stack and cruised through the bubble. I was gettting AA a lot which was kinda nice. I also had Jordan Morgan (IamsoLucky) to my left which was annoying as he reraised me a tonne. Another big stack moved to the table. In one pot he raised I smooth called with AA, and shoved J K 9 flop. He timed out and folded....A few hands later I had Ak offsuit in the big blind. A loose player raised in middle position, the same guy (now with 100k) just called, and I decided to reraise to 25k (I was the chip leader at the table with 120k). I decided to reraise for a couple of reasons, mostly because I felt I had the best hand, and also because my raise looked like a squeeze play. The initial raiser folded and the other big stak went into the tank again. He types in the chatbox "there he goes raising again", thinks for about 30 seconds and then shoves all in. Now when people smooth call a raise and then shove to a reraise you have to worry about AA or KK, but I felt his shove was more out of frustration, rather than a trap shove....I called, he had JJ and I lost the race. Instead of being 2nd in the tourney I became one of the shortstacks. A few orbits later I lost another race with AK vs 1010 and I was out in 140 (good for about 1,200)....

I liked the tourney experiences and I am going to try to play more. I just find the Sunday ones are such a grind because of the large fields, so maybe slightly smaller tourneys would be more my thing...

Radu