Win Some, Lose Some...Lose Some More

I finally cashed in my first Poker Stars game, winning an $11 1-table SNG. I got an early chip lead when I limped at 25-50 UTG with AKo. The person in the BB was a complete donkey, bigger than I, and I saw that he was calling any bets and min-raising preflop any time it was limped to him. I limped with the idea that I was gonna reraise all in. MP threw a cog in my plan when he raised to 150, but BB Donkey called the raise, so I pushed anyways. MP folded what he later said was 66, but BB Donkey made the call (he was somewhat shortstacked but didn't need to make the call) with A8o.

I maintained a decent stack for a while when I ran into TT UTG and I raised to 700. The stack next to me pushed for about 1800 total. It was definitely a questionable call but I figured it was a race. He flips over 88 and fails to suckout. During heads up play my opponent was pretty predictable, and I let him do most of the betting. On the last hand he limped in. I find AQo and reraise to 1400 total, about 1\2 his stack. He calls and the flop comes J44, two spades. When he bets out, I read this to be a steal, so I push him all in. He calls with T8s and fails to make his flush. A questionable play on my part, but I went with my read and it was correct.

I played a couple Omaha games and got severely fucked. I played tight most of the game, and when we got down to 5 players I was 2nd in chips. The player before me was playing very loose, calling down any bet size on nothing but draws. He finally lost a big pot and was down to about 900 in chips when he limps under the gun fot 100. I find AA67 double suited and raise the pot for about 600. He calls and the flop comes 567 rainbow. He pushes and I see that he called the reraise with something like 7443 and flopped the nuts. I can't fill up and lose a decent amount of chips. I almost blew up at his unbelievable call and unbelievable luck, but then I remembered that I'm playing a $5 SNG. He took my chips later when I flop top and bottom pair with KJ and he has the nut straight with a gutshot straight flush.

I lost another Omaha SNG when I limped with JJ62. The flop came 954 and I just check call. The turn is a 3, giving me the second nuts. The player to my right bets 300 and I raise to 950. A loose player in EP check-calls and the original player folds. The river is a 6 and the first player puts me all in. Right as I click the call button I lose my internet connection and end up losing the pot. I'll never know if he has 67 or 78 but as loose as he was I wouldn't doubt it. When I finally get my connection restored I'm down to about 300 in chips and end up finishing 5th, but ahead of the player who took most of my chips on the straight hand.

Finally I played a 2-table SNG last night and finished 12th. I built up a stack early when it was folded to me. I raise from the CO with 44 and the button calls. The flop is a beautiful AA4. I check the flop, hoping to set up the slow play. The turn is even more beautiful..the last 4. I check again and the other guy min bets 30. The pot is so small at this point I don't really think a big raise is going to work, so I try a trick out of Hoy's book and min raise. Granted it's probably not the right circumstance, but I'm really not sure if this guy has an A yet, so I'm trying to make him think I'm weak. He just calls the min raise. The river is meaningless and I check to him hoping he'll make a bigger stab at the pot. He min bets AGAIN. I think he might have an A but I really can't figure out what he's doing. I almost decided to push all in, thinking he'd call to split the pot if he did have an A, but if he doesn't, I want to bet something that he'll call. So I reraise to 195 and he calls....with AJ. HUGE opportunity missed.

I get as high as 4th out of 16 when I lose some pots when I try to steal or fail to connect with overcards. I get down to about 1600 when I find QQ UTG. I raise to 325 and a MP shortstack pushes for about 850. Easy call, but then a big stack on the button calls the all in as well. I have to call 525 for a pot of 2625, so I'm getting about 5-1 on my money. Can this guy really have AA or KK? Wouldn't he reraise to isolate? I put the shortstack on something like AJ, and if that's the case, that makes AA even less likely. I decided to push for 1650 or so and he calls...with AA. I probably fold if the big stack does raise to isolate, so I give him credit for a good play on his part. Just another horrible run of the cards.

Overall nothing too exciting or successful. It felt good to finally cash in a game again.

On a different note...while I was working on my personal budget for 2007, I went through all of my transactions in 2006 so far. Up through September, I had deposited a total of $6600 for poker, but cashed out about $8600. So it's nice to see that I'm a winning player for the year, but if you subract my $2800 cashout for my 2nd place finish in May, then I'm really down about $800 for the year. I don't know if this means that I'm a losing poker player because I can't really account for the wins\losses from playing fucking Party Blackjack. So what does this mean?

1. In my mind, I'm not as good of a poker player as I originally once thought I was.
2. I was definitely trying to play outside of my bankroll too often. Especially after my big tourney win, I started playing out of my limits. I won $3500, but after playing a couple $200 SNGs and playing blackjack at $100 a hand, I was only able to cash out $2850.

I'm going to take this information and devise a plan to improve my skills while staying within my bankroll. Stay tuned.