Its been a long time....

I have been very busy, but plan to update my blog at least once a week for now one. This blog will be strictly my poker musings.

Lately I have been playing good. I got into a $3.00 MTT, placed 6th of 1722, and took down $128! My best single pay online, and my current bankroll is now at $220.00.

I have also switched from the 18 person turbo SnG to the $5.00 SnG Single Table. I am in the top 3 (cash!) almost 40% of the time, and and 20% on the bubble, so I am happy with my play.

Also in the 3rd season of the CardPlayer league, I actually volunteered to be captain of a team, which with 8 weeks out of 12 done, we are almost assured of winning the team title. Additionally, I have final tabled 3 times, cashed 1 time, and sit 3rd overall. With 4 weeks left, I really only need 1 good week (final table), or a couple of average weeks to assure myself of seat at the Tournament of Champions.

Also playing live, twice in the past month. Finished 21st of 40 the first one, but won $52 in a cash game afterwares. The second time I final tabled and finished 5th of 41. Play again this saturday, so we will see how it goes.

Big Blind Poker..and other stuff

I have recently joined Big Blind Poker, and look forward to their Sunday freerolls. It will give me a chance to play on a different site (Titan Poker), win some money, and play against a much friendlier group then I am used to. With a little luck I will be able to make some money in the freerolls to play the weekly $5 buy-in tournaments, as I dont plan on depositing onto Titan.
In other play, my play on PokerStars has gone well. I am up to $84.63, which is up $37.39. Since my last post, I am up $15.44! Hopeing by the end of August to get near $100 bankroll.

Great Poker Weekend

Played a lot of poker this weekend, including getting a friend of mine onto PokerStars on Saturday night, had two tournaments with amazing runs of card on Saturday. Within 2 hours, I won and placed 2nd in a couple of tournaments, in the process getting some monster flops where I took 2 people out of the tournament at a time 3 different times, including twice in 5 hands in the tournament I won. I actually have over 1/2 the chips on the table when we got to the final 8. I was actually up $22.20 after Saturday night, but played 5 tournament on Sunday, and never cashed - heck I only bubbled once, the rest of the time I was getting sucked out (3 times) and once I just overplayed a hand and lost it on my own. The good news is I am up $25.45 in since starting my experiment with PokerStars, and for last week I had a profit of $33.00!! Playing some today, as I am probably on working 1/2 day since I turn 37 today.

Loving PokerStars

Getting lots of good play in, even when I dont finish in the money. Played a total of 12 tournaments between 11 pm Tuesday night and 10 pm Wednesday night. Still havent gotten a win since I started tracking my PokerStars $1.50+$.25 18 player tournaments, but I cashed 5 times out of 12, two 2nds, one 3rd, and two 4ths for a profit of $4.80. More importantly, I am learning patience and how to play the cards and the position, stealing blinds and making bluffs that just a few months ago I dont think I could have done. Currently I am up to $52.09, after starting at $43.74. The good news is that my play on PokerStars since Monday has given me a $17.10 profit. I will be sticking with the $1.50+$.25 tournaments for a while, building up my bankroll. I think every $10.00 I earn, I may try a $1.00+$.20 45 man tournament, just to work on longer play. And of course the occassional freerolls when I have the chance. And the CardPlayer tournament next week is on my birthday, so that should be a interesting end to my 37th birthday!

Monday, Monday

Monday turned out to be a good night for me. I took care of the things around the house that I needed to, and then sat down to play poker. The CardPlayer League tournament was interesting. I never got above $1,800 in chips, and was below $1,000 most of the time. I did scratch and claw my way, grinding it out. Normally I would have panicked and went all-in super early, as we had 40 players, and with two eliminations I was 2nd lowest in chips. I still managed to pull out a 13th place finish. Leaves me 50 points out of 9th overall, so I need a Top 4 finish next week to make the finals. Otherwise I concentrated on the $1.50 + $.25 turbos. Played 6 tournments, no wins, but 2nd twice, 4th twice, 11th once and 12th once. $10.50 in buy-in, $21.60 in cash outs, for a profit of $11.10.

They call me the Bubble Man

Played four $1.50 + $.25 18 player turbo tournaments yesterday. Pays 4 places, so how did I finish? 5th, 5th, 6th & 7th. Very frustrating. I got a lot of play in though for not cashing at all. And my grand total for the entire weekend? Down $0.05! Not too bad. The real frustration for the weekend was the CardPlayer freeroll. I had people "railing" me right in my home, they sat and watched over my shoulder for over an hour. The most disappoint part was getting myself all in with a pair of Kings with only 100 people left (it paid 50). The guy next to me has gotten my 4 different times on 4 outers or less on the river. He is the only one left to call me, and he does, but not after typing "I havent played in while, I guess I will now". He flips over a pair of 4s. So the flop comes up 3-4-5, and I know that I am not going to get the Q I need, and sure enough I am out. Oh well, that is how the cards fall sometimes. But it really is tough when 1 person seems to have you number for drawing out on you. Lots of poker tonight, including the CardPlayer League Week 9 tournament.

Giving Up on Bodog

There comes a time when it just isnt working anymore, and that has now happened with Bodog. I keep hitting the bubble, and no further. Cash games arent any better. So my NEW goal (I know, the is the second time for that), is to work my Bankroll up on PokerStars. I still am working with the bankroll I had there, starting with $43.74. I am down $4.05 right now, so we will see where it goes from there. I am hoping that by focusing on one site only, I will be playing better.