After my last entry I continued on my losing streak, losing another 2 buyins (making for a total of 9 buyins). I was really frustrated at that point and decided to take a week off. I used the FTP self-exclusion option. This was my best friend and worst enemy. There were times I wanted to play and would have if I was allowed to. I'm really glad FTP has this option. I did play a little poker during this last week. I played 9 (I think) $1.20 single table SnGs on Stars. I killed these, finishing 1st in my first 4 along with one 2nd place finish. My ROI was 148% or something ridiculous.

My self-exclusion ended today. I played 225 hands on 2 tables. I think I played well overall, winning $36. I made one really costly mistake with my 66 vs AA. Here are a couple of hands from today.

I'm still not sure about the push with Villain 3 and myself deep stacked here. I really thought 99-JJ would be folding, but such is life at 25NL.

www.cardrunners.com/members/display_hand.php

Why can't they all be this easy?

www.cardrunners.com/members/display_hand.php

I knew I had Villain 5 beat, but I wasn't sure about Villain 3. Villain 3 was making all kinds of wierd plays and kept showing up with big hands. So calling the flop raise here is probably not very smart on my part.

www.cardrunners.com/members/display_hand.php

Every time I read a post by someone stating they're on a really bad down swing or just getting hit by a bunch of coolers, set-ups and suckouts I would think "yeah right, you're probably playing bad and only remember the coolers, set-ups and suck outs". Well, I will no longer think that!!!! This last week has been awful for me and yesterday was the worst. All week most session I was ending down about 3-4 buy-ins. Then I might win a couple back, but not get ahead or even. I was losing just about every big pot I was in. Then yesterday, oh my God, 7 buy-in down swing, only one due to tilt, the last one. Nothing worked for me, AKs in the BB vs. a loose button raiser with AA, KK vs same button raiser cracked by AK. My KK vs AA 3 times. Everytime I played back at a loose or maniac player with a big hand, they had a bigger hand. Lost 3 all-ins after the turn as a 70%+ favorite.

I bow to you oh Gods of variance, have mercy on my bankroll.

P.S. Lost another buy-in this morning. My KK v AA and villain hitting a set on Ad 7d 6c board with me holding AcQc and villain playing it like a draw (well played by him, BTW).

Yesterday I had a horrible day, ended up losing 3 buy-ins at 25NL in about 1100 hands. Nothing held up for me. Just one of those days. I started the day with 4 tabling for about 45 minutes, lost 3 buy-ins. I felt a little tilted so I went to the gym and did some squats and presses to blow off steam. I was feeling pretty good after my workout so I gave the tables another shot, lost another buy-in and was really pissed off now. So I went on a mt. bike ride. When I got back I felt much better, but decided not to play. Later in the evening I played a short session and quickly got back a buy-in.

So today I settle in for my first session, about 45 minutes, I get two more buy-ins back. Now I just finished another session and got the third buy-in back. So I'm back at square one.

Here's a fun hand from tonight.

At the time of this hand villain was about 32/21/3 for about 30 hands. So I thought ATs was well in front of his button open range, but to weak to 3-bet OOP, I thought he would call/float. My plan was to check/call flop and lead a favorable turn if I hit the flop with a pair or draw. So when the turn gave me the nut flush draw to go with my pair I was committed. I was very suprised at what he flipped over after getting it all in on the turn.

Well, maybe I'll start a blog about my poker exploits. I've been playing poker for a little over 18 months. When I first started I was like many others, hit the big one, become a pro and live the dream. I figured out real quick that my 9 to 5 is a better bet. However, I really enjoyed (and still do for the most part) playing poker. So I play for fun, but I play to win.

By day I'm a full time single father, I have a 12 year old daughter. I pay the bills working for a large company doing Internetwork Engineering (geek work).

My poker goals are pretty simple, continue to learn and try to play good poker. I currently play 25NL and on occassion 50NL. I'm bankrolled for 50NL, easily, but after the UIGEA passed I vowed to never deposit another dime into online poker. It seemed to be a bad investment for a mediocre (at best) player, like myself. So I play 90% of my hands at 25NL, very low RoR.

Anyway, if you're reading this, thanks...and get a life :) I'll be posting session status from time to time in the future.

--rickey