I've been here before...

This same sad little stretch of road. But it's not a road, it's the same dollars and cents area of my bankroll. I feel as though I've won and lost the same tattered and torn bucks several times at this particular level. I dropped those same 2 buyins I dropped back on the 10th, when I was whining about poker last. I had climbed up, and was nearly breaking on through to the other side until last night's session. I got a boat sunk when the villain flipped over his quads. Whilst on the other table I get it all-in good and another villain hits his 3-outer on the river. In both cases they instantly left the table. Hit 'n Run baby! No, I'm not saying it was rigged. It just happens that way sometimes. And "sometimes" it happens too damned often! Sigh... and back to the old drawing board. Maybe when I grind out a few wins to get those buyins back, I'll get it in "new money" instead of those old moldy dollars!

One final thought... errrr question... Why is it that when I win at poker, it is slow and steady grind, and it inches upward, BUT when I lose at poker it's a few buyins gone? What I mean is, playing at my typical .10/.25 nlhe tables, I'll play for a couple of hours, multitabling and incrementally increase the stack, generally shy of a buyin. Yet, generally speaking when I lose it's in the realm of a buyin or two? Feels like... grind, grind, grind, SPLAT, grind, grind, grind... I know, I know, "shut up cheer_dad and git back in yer hole!"

That is all...

Regards,

cheer_dad

I'm still havin' fun!

Tonight is poker with the Yanoks! Game time is 7:30pm. I'll see many of you there tonight. Somewhere between now and then I could use a nap, but I don't see much chance of that happening. It's my short day... and then I pick Whitney up from school. She has to cheer at the basketball game tonight, but her bf is going to be there and they are going out on a date afterward. Cole will of course go with us, to play with the other kids. Other than me winning both games tonight, it sounds like everything's all mapped out huh!

Good luck to the Wolfe clan who are opting for a trip to Cross Lanes instead. She-Wolfe is going to match wits with many of the fairer sex tonight in the Ladies Tournament that they host in The Big Easy Poker Room. Wolfie plans to continue his winning ways at the cash tables. Bring some back!

My Bodog play has been fun lately. Yeah, it's more fun when you're winning. Whoever said that first is friggin' genius. At my micro levels and for my micro skills I'm happy. I'm actually beginning to get some breathing room to play, and I'm not as likely to get all worried if I have a bad night at the virtual felt. Some might encourage me to move up to the next level, but I don't think I have the bankroll for it yet. By the logic I'm subscribing to I don't think I'm truly supposed to be playing at the .10/.25 NL tables, BUT honestly I just couldn't bring myself to play lower. Call it a weakness, I don't care. Heck some of you call it a weakness that I'm not playing higher than I am. But I've really tried to stay true to my gameplan here. I actually want to be adequately bankrolled online. I am right now $53 bucks away from having 20 buy-ins for the .10/.25 level. I'm willing to camp myself out at this level for a while. I still err on the side of caution, since I'm not just playing one table. Each table is of course independent. But tilt is tilt, and a bad run of cards is a bad run of cards, no matter how much I try to flatten it out over the landscape of multiple tables simultaneously. In my mind when I hit $500 I will be legitimately at 20 buy ins for the level I'm playing at. I cannot then legitimately make a move higher to the .25/.50 (max $50) until I have $1,000 squirrelled away in the Bodog account. I'm counting this money as separate from the few hundred that's holed up in my sock drawer. I'm going to try to stick to my guns on one other point and not be tempted to pull any money out from Bodog until after I've crossed the GRAND threshold. My typical play time allows me to login and play for around an hour or more on occasion. I 3-4 table it from the get go and try to put in a minimum of 200 hands, whether I'm running good or bad. I have played on for around 400 hands, but at that point at least for me, it's time for a break. It'll also keep me outa hock with the lovely Big Red! : )

Consider this, I know my wins are minuscule, but not measured against the risk undertaken. Most generally (knock on wood) I win in these sessions. Not necessarily on every table. But the session as a whole levels it out nicely. I could play live, but in that case I'd only be able to play one table at a time. Very likely getting in only around 30 hands per hour. Arguably I'm maximizing, by seeing the the hands online that would be equivalent to like 6 or 7 hours of live play. Albeit at lower stakes. But the experience is priceless too me. Not only do I just enjoy the game, but I see things now. I remember things about people I play. I make moves that I didn't used to in my poker infancy. (I'm merely a toddler now.) I'm getting better. I'm accustomed to seeing the bad beats and suckouts and they don't bother me so much anymore. They happen and it's a good thing, cause they sometimes happen to my benefit! But either way, I grow accustomed to seeing it happen, and very few things surprise me anymore. I don't get blindsided very often at all. I might let you shove me off a hand every once and a while, more so than another fish might, BUT just plan on keeping my chips warm for me pal... I'll be back this session or the next to collect 'em from you. Hopefully the notes I've taken on you, will allow me to collect mine and have them bring some of yours with 'em.

Still the single most important thing about playing poker now... is that I'm still having fun doing it. I wonder over the course of a few years, will I find myself playing ever higher, or will I be contented to play in the catacombs of the micro limits forever!

Regards,

cheer_dad

Oh well...

I've resisted playing any cards at all for the past couple days, after getting back from Wheeling. Figured it for a losing lengthy session, and I didn't want to add to it. But this evening, beginning to feel a little less under the weather, I fire up Bodog to play. I bring up two $10 tables, yes .05/.10 NLHE. Unfortunately AK gets spanked hard, when my opponent flops a flush, and I'm looking at TPTK, and he's been a raising ass for quite a while. The other table, I push for the first time with pockets Q's, and the "jap" next to me pushes all in for like $3, so I'm calling. He has A-10, douchebag, of course hits (NO NOT THE ACE) 4 cards to the straight. Yeah, this is fun, I remember why I love playin' poker! So, down like $15 for the night, and now the Bodog account is now at $168-ish. Hey, it's still up. And maybe pushing with the AK, in the face of the flush, was the bad move. BUT, I swear I'm just getting so tired of getting pushed around and/or fucked over. But pushing at the wrong time, will get you that way too. I logged off, and decided to blog instead. Oh well, tomorrow's another day.

Regards,

cheer_dad