Rough start to September

Only played a brief half hour session, but ran into quads twice when holding a full house within the space of one orbit, which provided a terrible start. What was worse was that it was at $5/10 and the guy who scored them both was a 65/5 muppet.

Dropped about 30BBs all up when I ran into a couple sets as well when holding premium pairs and just to add insult to injury my top pair and gutshot lost when my gutshot hit on the river, and my fishy mate also had the gutshot, plus the over as well that made a larger straight.

Yuk.

In brighter news, I won my AFL dreamteam cash competition which was a handy little bonus over the weekend.

Current bankroll: $20,050
September time played: 30m
September profit / (loss): ($300)

August 2009 summary

I thought July with only 16 hours played was light on for volume, but i've played even less in August - only 13 hours. Again i've run fairly well to have a solid result for the month.

Hit my next milestone during the month - $20k profit from poker. It's taken me a while, but does feel like a real achievement. I'm still enjoying my poker, and to me it's a great part time hobby.

Last month's goals for August:

•Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible and hopefully hit some fishy $4/8 tables (cleared a bit, but not a huge amount due to the lack of hours - and when I did play it was mainly fulltilt to clear the bonus)
•Clear some more of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May & June (cleared a little here as well)
•Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy (actually played here a bit)
•Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?) (nope)

The gain of $650 for the month was made up of:

Bonuses/vip/rakeback: $150

• Bodog $10
• Cake $20
• Pacific $10
• Fulltilt $110

Poker bankroll Interest: $60

Poker profits: $440

For September the goals in order of priority are:

• Put in some more volume than August
• Clear as much of my Bodog reload bonus as possible and hopefully hit some fishy $4/8 tables
• Clear some more of my Cake reload that I received at the end of May & June
• Play some more Pacific if it seems fishy
• Spend some more poker points and hopefully convert some to cash (fulltilt?)

Hmm .. goals are pretty much the same as last month. Oh well .. if it ain't broke ...

Current bankroll: $20,350
August time played: 13h
August profit / (loss): $650

Back on the tables

Finally got back to the tables last night for a solid one hour session. Table selection was a bit of a battle though, and I found myself swapping in and out of a few tables, and never had more than three running.

Ran like turd when I had position on a 60/3 fish and to his right was a 95/20 muppet. I just could not get a hand to hold up, and found myself quickly down 30BBs. Eventually though with them continuing to play trash I recovered, and when I had AdKs on a AcJd4d flop and I had a caller who then decided to three bet a diamond turn, and also capped a diamond river with the Kd versus my Ad nut flush, and i'm suddenly making a half decent profit for the session.

Given my limited play this month I won't be qualifying for my usual freeroll. Not really concerned about that as it saves me from getting out of bed at a ridiculous hour next month.

Current bankroll: $20,300
August time played: 12h
August profit/(loss): $600

A weekend without poker?????

I think that would have been the first weekend for me (excluding honeymoon) that I haven't played a single hand of poker for at least a year. And admittedly it didn't really bother me too much.

I got out mountain biking, and unfortunately decided to crash, and fell through a thorn bush which wasn't all that much fun. After an hour of the missus pulling out thorns from my back i'd had about enough ....

I really should have been wearing all my body armor. Oh well. Live and learn - at least nothing broke! Fair bit of damage to the bike though, and I need to get some new gloves as they now have a few holes through the fingers.

The AFL dreamteam went okay, alhtough I did lose in one league against a chump which was disappointing. In my league where its for cash, winner takes all, i'm into the grand final this week so will be watching that closely on the weekend.

Hopefully i'll get in some poker as well this week!

Limited play

Still not playing much - too much wii action instead, although the shoulders are getting a bit sore ....

In the time I did get onto the poker tables, it was a fairly regular session, with me sitting to the left of a couple fish, who happily donated me a few BBs here and there.

One of them was a bit more aggro than your usual fish, and would donk into my PFR with virtually anything, including queen high. Unfortunately for him, a couple times I had 2nd or top pair, and an over pair against another of his donks. After my reraise he was paying quite a few BBs to see a showdown whilst drawing very slim.

Its looking like a busy weekend this weekend, as i'm still looking to buy a house somewhere, so not sure how much poker i'll get in.

Its also prelim finals for AFL dreamteam, which i'm still in, so hopefully I have a bit of luck there as well.

Current bankroll: $20,200
August time played: 11h
August profit/(loss): $500

New distraction

Grabbed myself a new distraction from poker - Ashes Cricket 2009 for my wii. I'm thinking that will take up a bit of time, and creep into the spare time that was poker time.

I'm sure i'll get sick of it sooner or later, but for now i'm it will be a good time waster. Probably getting a wii motion soon as well, which i'm sure i'll give a fair crack.

On the poker front, i've played less than half an hour, and only on a table or two as the fishy tables just didn't exist. That being said, made a few BBs on the $3/6 table, after ealier losing a little on the $2/4 table to a 90/40 maniac. He was running at -66BB/100 ... but actually winnning from me before giving it to the other players.

Hopefully I can find some half decent tables to play on tonight ... or possibly i'll be playing Wii...

Current bankroll: $20,150
August time played: 10h30m
August profit/(loss): $450

The poker subconscious

Didn't realise how ingrained poker has become into my psyche until the weekend, when I woke up at about 3.30am Sunday morning.

Something must have kicked off in my mind that it was the third Sunday of the month, which meant that my $5k freeroll was beginning in an hours time. I hadn't even read the email that i'd been advised that i'd qualified for it, so I've got no idea why it would suddenly come to mind when i'm basically asleep.

I ended up getting up for it at 4.30, and played some reasonable poker. I'd kept a little above the average stack with a few steals, and a couple cbets, but didn't really get too many hands.

I had about a $4k stack with blinds at about 100/200. An aggressive button with only a $2k stack raised 3xBB first in and I was sitting on 88. I figured I may as well see if I can resteal here and pushed all in ... only to see him snap call and flip over AA. Flop with an A and i've got no chance in the hand, and am back to a short stack.

I then received a few good hands (AKs) that held up with a couple all ins, and all of a sudden i'm second at the break.

First hand back i'm looking at KK and face a raise and reraise, which I shove to, and am up against QQ ... flop Q high .. and i'm now back to the middle of the pack again.

Eventually I dwindle down to about 7BBs and find A8s on the button and folded to me, which I shove. Big blind then calls with AA ... wtf .. i've run into it again. And i'm out, but at least in the money for around $100 so not a complete waste of time.

Haven't actually got in much poker in the last few days. That hour and a half is about it, and played a little cash at the same time to win a few BBs on the $5/10 tables, and have also finished my fulltilt bonus. Back over the $20k mark for the bankroll again though which i'm happy with. Its always a little disappointing to hit a milestone and then drop back below it for a period of time.

Current bankroll: $20,100
August time played: 10h
August profit/(loss): $400