New Years Resolutions

1) manage my bankroll better

2) learn to switch from conservative to aggressive mode, late in MTT

3) win a MTT

4) meditate every morning with the montra - "I'm am Not a Donk"

5) cash out and take a trip to Vegas

6) call Phil Hellmuth an "idiot" on t.v. then ask him to sign his book

7) start my own poker site, so I can play for free and live in Antigua

A Straight, The Flush and A Full House

This is the type of hand that may have caused extensive computer damage if it happened to me.

jackstrop15 hits a straight on the flop, an ace high flush on the turn and loses to lemuelw2 on the river...

FullTiltPoker Game #9586854391: Table Divine (6 max) -
$0.25/$0.50 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:31:43 ET - 2008/12/20

Seat 1: ddalrock ($51.35)
Seat 2: lemuelw2 ($20.70)
Seat 3: swa22 ($47.25)
Seat 4: jackstrop15 ($19)
Seat 5: Sinops217 ($52.55)
Seat 6: Yerrow Fever ($53), is sitting out
swa22 posts the small blind of $0.25
jackstrop15 posts the big blind of $0.50
The button is in seat #2*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to swa22 [7c As]
Sinops217 foldsddalrock folds
lemuelw2 calls $0.50
swa22 has 15 seconds left to act
swa22 calls $0.25
jackstrop15 checks
*** FLOP *** [Jd Td 9h]
swa22 checks
jackstrop15 checks
lemuelw2 bets $1.50
swa22 folds
jackstrop15 raises to $3
lemuelw2 raises to $4.50
jackstrop15 raises to $6
lemuelw2 has 15 seconds left to act
lemuelw2 calls $1.50
*** TURN *** [Jd Td 9h] [Ad]
jackstrop15 checks
lemuelw2 has 15 seconds left to act
lemuelw2 bets $14.20, and is all in
jackstrop15 calls $12.50, and is all in
lemuelw2 shows [9d Js]
jackstrop15 shows [Qd 8d]
Uncalled bet of $1.70 returned to lemuelw2
*** RIVER *** [Jd Td 9h Ad] [Jc]
lemuelw2 shows a full house, Jacks full of Nines
jackstrop15 shows a flush, Ace high
lemuelw2 wins the pot ($36.60) with a full house, Jacks full of Nines

River of Tears

I'm all-in!

I guess I'm a glutton for punishment. I was playing in a .25/.50 ring game on Sportsbook and was dealt A-7 off suit. Similar to my last post, the flop and turn reveal 2 aces...something told me I had this guy beat, even with the low kicker...so I'm all-in. The river is a 6.
I know better to be calling with these low kickers but I had a feelin' I had him...he turns over A-A-A-6-6...any other card and I double up...

Does this only happen to me? While playing in the Bodog $500 freeroll tonight, I'm dealt pocket 8's and hit the set on the flop, the guy to my left goes all in with two pair A-5 and I call. He hits a full house with an ace on the river. It still hurts even if it's a freeroll...

Tell us your wild river adventures...

Three of a Kind - Workin' on a Full House

This is the type of hand that will either drive you to drink or keep you coming back to play more poker....

It took place in the Bodog $500 PTs Freeroll that began at 10:40pm
Hand #1458993940

It's 2 am in the morning and at this point in the tournament,
I want to make the top ten for a better payday.

I'm in the BB with $43,592.00 in chips and dealt Qs-9h.
On my left is the chip leader with $207,031.00
Pre-flop the chip leader calls $3000 as does the SB.

The flop is Jh-4s-Qc

I call the bet of the SB for $3000 and am raised by the chip leader to $6000 and call as does the SB. The chip leader has been making some loose calls and raises up to this point, bullying the table, so I put him on a J or maybe a Q and figure he might have the better kicker.

The turn is another Q.

I bet $6000 and am raised to 12,000 by the chip leader.
My fears are confirmed, knowing he has a queen but still think he might just have a J. I'm down to $21,000 chips at this point and can't let go of 3-Q's and call his raise.

The river is a 9c!
I hit the full house and sure I got him!
even if he does have a Q...
I go all in with the rest of my chips...he calls...

I show Q-Q-Q-9-9
He shows Q-Q-Q-J-J

Can you hear the air being let out of this brief moment of elation?

3 hours and 30 minutes of hard work,ends in 1 minute for $3.50

I didn't get angry,I'm gettin used to this stuff happening...but was stunned for a minute losing with a full house...

Thank god for blogging...this is where you have to let this stuff go!

Could I have played this hand diffrently? At this stage of my poker life,I don't think so. However,this lesson will not be forgotten anytime soon when I find myself in a similar situation.

The positive thing about having to play freerolls for a living, is it's teaching me patience and I feel my game is leveling off from the wild swings in my cash game experiences. Consistency is giving me confidence. If I can cash out in these freerolls of 900-3000 people when they call everything, perhaps I'll do better in MTT's in the future...

How would you have played this hand?

Mr. Gold and Mr. Mud - Townes Van Zandt

The wicked king of clubs awoke

it was to his queen turned

his lips were laughing as they spoke

his eyes like bullets burned

the sun's upon a gambling day

his queen smiled low and blissfully

let's make some wretched fool to play

plain it was she did agree

He send his deuce down into diamond

his four to hart, and his trey to spade

three kings with their legions come

preparations soon where made

they voted club the days commander

gave him an army face and number

all but the outlaw jack of diamonds

and the aces in the sky

He give his sevens first instructions

spirit me a game of stud

stakes unscarred by limitation

'tween a man named Gold and man named Mud

Club filled Gold with greedy vapors'

til his long, green eyes did glow

Mud was left with the sighs and trembles

watching his hard earned money go

Flushes fell on Gold like water

tens they paired and paired again

but the aces only flew through heaven

and the diamond jack called no man friend

The diamond queen saw Muds ordeal

began to think of her long lost son

fell to her knees with a mother's mercy

prayed to the angels every one

The diamond queen, she prayed and prayed

and the diamond angel filled Muds hole

the wicked king of clubs himself

fell in face down in front of Gold

now three kings come to Clubs command

but the angels from the sky did ride

three kings up on the streets of Gold

three fireballs on the muddy side

The club queen heard her husband's call

but Lord that queen of diamond's joy

when the outlaw in the heavenly hall

turned out to be a wandering boy

Now Mud he checked and Gold bet all

and Mud he raised and Gold did call

and the smile just melted off his face

when Mud turned over that diamond ace

Now here's what this story's told

if you feel like Mud you'll end up Gold

if you feel like lost, you'll end up found

so amigo, lay them raises down

Freerolls & Peanut Butter

I began playing poker online in October. I had just ended a relationship of 7 years and used poker as a way of distracting myself from thinking about the breakup. The good news is after about 2 months, I stopped thinking about her and fell in love with poker again. The bad news is, I put myself behind the 8 ball financially by not managing my bankroll while re-learning the game. I've played live several times, once at Foxwoods and while working in Bozeman,Montana.
I enjoyed the games at a bar called The Cat's Paw and played much better live than I do online.

So, I start this blog not from the top of the online mountain but from the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It's going to be a long climb back out but the good thing about not having success right away is that you can let it tear you up inside or you can channel that frustration into becoming a better player. I'll choose option B.

I'll share with you what I learn along the way.

I began writng this blog after reading Rex55's blog entry "Solitary."
Her honest,insightful writing and knowledge of the game is inspiring.
Rex55 can be found at http://rex55.blogspot.com/

Ylon Schwartz interview on ESPN during the WSOP main event was refreshing because of his honesty about how he made a lot of money, then lost a lot of money...and how he just wanted to get "clean" of all this, buy a hammock and crash on a beach somewhere. I've only been playing a few months and know exactly how he feels. I find too many articles about how much money people are making but not enough articles about how much they are losing. Learn more about Ylon at http://www.shipthecheese.com/

I had some wild runs at the cash tables, turning small deposits of $35 into $300 several times, only to lose the winnings playing at levels I shouldn't have been playing at and mostly from fatigue. I put so many hours in building my bankroll that I was exhausted from all the swings and really should have taken a day or two off.

Chris Ferguson gives some sound advice about discipline and bankroll management in this article on Full Tilt Poker http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/chris-ferguson-challenge

I'd like feedback from other players on how they set limits when on a winning or a losing streak. How do you re-charge your batteries after a bad beat and feeling like "toast" from playing too many hours in a row?

Until I can afford to deposit more money into my account, I'm back in "freeroll hell" and all I can afford to eat for lunch are peanut butter sandwiches. I had a vision of me playing at a final table in a fancy casino, ordering a cup of coffee and a peanut butter sandwich with a smirk on my face, thinking back to my humble beginnings of becoming a winning poker player.

I've found the freerolls at Carbon Poker "player friendly " in that they have "new player freerolls" and "daily first deposit freerolls" that only have 200-300 players.

If I had to give myself advice, I would not have deposited any money online until I cashed out in a freeroll. That would give you an idea how hard it is in the beginning to make money playing in MTT's and how easy it is to lose your winnings in cash games...

Freeroll Winnings:
11/24/08 - .07 Carbon Poker
11/30/08 - .37 Carbon Poker
12/09/08 - $1.50 Carbon Poker
12/10/08 - $4.75 Bododg
12/11/08 - $15.00 Carbon Poker
12/12/08 - $3.00 Bodog
12/13/08 - $5.00 Carbon Poker
12/13/08 - $2.00 Bodog
12/14/08 - $5.00 Carbon Poker
12/15/08 - $3.50 Bodog
12/21/08 - $4.75 Bodog
12/21/08 - $3.75 Carbon Poker