Here's the thing...

With that short phrase, Mike McDermott began many of the "lessons" set forth in Rounders. So, I'll let it work for me here as well. : ) For a long time, I've tried to think of the online and offline poker money as separate. To a great degree they are. Since I don't currently have money exclusively set aside that I only use to play poker. Somehow, I'd like to start. I grew very careless with the online roll there for a while. I just stopped taking it seriously. I was really getting tired of dabbling around. The whole .5/.10 NLHE was getting extremely dull, and I felt like I was just giving friggin' blinds away. It didn't feel much better at .10/.25 either. So, as I've covered the lure of quick easy money...led to the accursed blackjack table. No more...this time for good. It's just stupid...it's bad business. It loses you a good deal of money as well. Anyway...I've been playing this weekend, frankly quite a lot. Friday night was played at the Yanok's. Two games, both were qualifiers for the month in which they were finished. August 31st led into September 1st. The August qualifier was won by yours truly! Buyin was $30 including bounty and qualifier fees. I "think" I'm in the lead for the year-end race at the Yanok's. Unfortunately here at my own house, I'm on life support. Not impossible...just not probable. And you know my feelings on possibilities vs probabilities. Between the 1st and 2nd games...JR and I joked that I won the first one...so he would win the second, since he and I seem to both be running "hot" over there. We've finished 1st and 2nd, a number of times, swapping roles. I busted out early, when I neglected to acknowledge what Scott was likely to be holding. I just kept charging ahead, til my stack was in front of someone else. As fate would have it...JR did take down the second game. So he got the qualifier for that month. Why do I get the feeling that he and I are going to be sprinting for the win in the final game of the year? Once again butting heads with someone that each of us knows the other so well. Then, we put together a game on Saturday evening here at our house, after having the "Labor Day Weekend" picnic and volleyball game. The SOUTH did it again, in case anyone was wondering. In the poker game I donated $10, and started the cash game, but cashed out even, very early when I started feeling poorly again. This "thing" in my gut...is causing me some issues. Then the following night we went over to the Jacksons, and played cards over there too. $20 in and like $33 out or so. It should have been A LOT more. Not only did I drop some cash into a pot...but then I left it stranded out there, and allowed someone else to drag it in, without putting up enough of a fight for it.

Let me elaborate... The hand goes down like this. I'll not tell you what I cards I had, or my lone opponent until after I lay out the board. I call a preflop raise from late position. The flop comes 8-8-6 with two spades. My opponent bets out $2, and I raise another $5 and get called. The turn is a 9 of spades. My opponent immediately looks at the hole cards...and checks, for some reason so do I. The river brings a 2 of spades. So there is four to the flush on the board. The player bets out $10 immediately. I know we're talking about flushes here, for both of us. The betting pattern leads me to believe AK or pocket Kings to be a likely holding. And in all likelihood the Ace or King is coming my way. I folded..........my pocket Queens, one of which was the spade. I was pleased with my play until the opponent proudly displayed the hole cards......pocket J's, with one spade. Yeah...mull that over. I led through the hand. The whole hand...and read it wrong. BUT, I've replayed this over in my head several times now...and think I've learned something very profound. What I was reading was the confidence level of the player, who thought that the hand was monstrous. Had I mustered the balls to call/raise it, my hand would have absolutely blindsided them. Their though process didn't even run the gamut of the A-K-or the Q of spades. It was simply a spade. I was a fool, I suppose. I applied my own logic and superimposed it on to my opponent. That was a mistake. One I'll try not to repeat again. Still I cashed out on the "+" side. Good hand....JODY!

Then, today after copious amounts of laundry and a trip to Wal-Mart, I sat down for a UB session. It started poorly. I was down like $60 early on...and unfortunately I think I was being bullied. BUT, my reaction then, allowed me to capitalize later, once against "B_Doyle" and "Soccer Dad" later. I'm bought in for like $156, and cash out being up like $45, and considering what the session started out as, THIS was one for the WIN COLUMN. On the other hand, I was fascinated by B_Doyle. The max buy in at the table was $100, for .50/1.00 NLHE. When he cashed out, he had over $500. He played more hands than I...and pushed a lot more...but I also saw him call down a lot of things. Maybe at some point I can capitalize on this. I made notes on others at the table, and hope they'll help me in the future. I just wish, just once I'd have a profit session like B_Doyle did. I just won't do something stupid. I try to play it smart. Not pushy. But I'm learning that the push, is somewhat artistic. The guys at these tables though I don't think are artists. I think they're just mimics of what they've seen on TV, and very dangerous. I just need to relax and ride it all out. The weekend positive cash flow then was in the neighborhood of $150 to the good. This makes the $200 Carbon fiasco a little easier to stomach. Now, if only I had been able to pocket this into one bankroll. But I can't, until I separate it that way. The .50/1.00 NLHE game is definitely meaty. There's money to be made. If I can just see my way into being the one to make the money. I have much yet to learn in this game.

One more day off from work. Whew! I don't know what I'll do with my time. Yeah, I do...and you know too. See ya real soon.

Regards,

cheer_dad