Finally, smooth sailing

Well, it's about damn time I had a reasonably hassle-free session at Penguin Club. I got there around 4:30pm to see only Joe and Rosie there. We were thinking about playing 3-handed to start it off, then Sammy (from Brandon) showed up. We played a little $100 tourney with some house guys, and I happily got all-in with 77 on the very 1st hand and lost to Sammy's AA. Good, I never want to win that pre-tourney ever again since I had the worse cash session of my life after winning it before.

Anyway, Sammy wins that mini-tourney, then we start 5 handed. We played 2 hours of $5/$10, then Silvano showed up and we soon made it $10/$25 (I was up only $400 when we started 10/25 and actually swung below even for a while). Things went pretty well for me the first 5 hours and I was making all the right decisions. It seems pretty easy when I'm not getting super-coolered every hour. I lost some unavoidable hands, but nothing too crazy or too expensive. There was one hour in there where I was raising every 3rd hand and hitting like crazy (probably hit 3 nice flushes in 20 minutes which all won decent pots). Rosie was doing a lot of his standard 3-barrel betting into people with any random touch, but this time my hands were holding. I got up almost $7,500, then just went card dead for the last 2-3 hours and never found any great openings for bluffs (I have to be pretty selective since I did so much bluffing and showing early). I finished the session up $5,000. Joe made $6k, and Hung made a few thousand. I didn't hit a single set the whole session either...

Only one hand really sticks out in my mind. It's the one that really got Silvano on tilt and was the focus of discussion for an hour or two after the hand. Was pretty funny listening to the lopsided analysis. Anyway, here it is:

I won't say the hands until the end. Joe raises in middle position to $85, I just call with AK on the button, Silvano calls in SB, Rosie calls in BB. Flop is Q99. Check, check, check, check. Turn is an A. Check, check, check, check. River is another Q making an Q99AQ board. Silvano checks, Rosie bets $200, Joe quickly calls, and I'm not sure what to do. It's not a very big bet, and I have Joe on an A for sure, so I call too hoping Rosie is just bluffing or small case A. Then, Silvano check-raises all-in as we all simultaneously laugh and it's obvious no one is calling. We all instamuck. Rosie shows K9, Joe AK, and I also have AK as said. Silvano angrily flips over QQ (quads! flopped full house) and doesn't comprehend whatsoever how he didn't make more money after seeing we all had a big or decent piece of the board. Haha, only Silvano could win $800 in a pot and lose his mind in the process. If ANYONE makes any bet on the flop or turn, those two get all-in (Joe and I have such a loose hold on our AK, we don't lose more money than we did no matter what happens). Anyway, was just a funny hand, we talked about it for an hour straight it seemed.

The most fun hand (for me) of the night: rock Gabe raises to $75, one caller, Joe calls, another caller, I raise to $425 with K3 in the SB. Fold, fold, Joe thinks for a while and I know he's not really believing me (good read) and he calls (most likely with a low-mid pair), fold. Flop is something like JT6, two diamonds. I must admit this isn't the best board to make a huge bluff at with nothing, but I fire out $600 and Joe thinks a bit and folds. Then I get to show my retarded hand and scoop almost $700+ profit. It's fun making plays on Joe cuz I respect his game tons and it eats at him a little even if he doesn't want to show it. Haha. I gotta be VERY careful though and I'm sure I'll lose a fortune sooner or later doing something stupid. He makes good plays on me too, but he can write his own blog if he wants those heard! :)

The game ended early around 12:45am, so I swung to Barca to relax an hour and made $75 in that game (woo!). Good times, finally enjoyed a Tuesday. Still not planning much poker until next Tuesday, but I might jump on Betfair a little, they have a new interface which looks much improved.

I find myself starting to ride the waves of poker better than before. If I lose to bad luck, I try my best to suck it up. If I lose to bad play, I try to improve my game or make the necessary adjustments (or just not make the same bad play again). It helps that I've refocused on my table selection, which makes the game so much more winnable. Don't get me wrong, the highs are high and the lows are low, but that's just poker. I'm really trying to not make it affect my non-poker life (i.e. family, friends, business, etc.). Sometimes it is tough doing other things with poker on my mind, but it's not just random poker babble in my mind, I'm actually analyzing my play and debating different styles and approaches more than ever before. It's making me better, but it's distracting. I want a career or business other than poker. I'd honestly like poker to just become a "serious hobby". Sometimes I think taking 6 months to a year off poker would allow me to accomplish other stuff more easily. The problem is, I don't really want to do that. I like poker and I feel confident in my ability to make money, but I'm in a little catch-22 where it's harder to make good money at poker (especially online) when playing "casually" (in my experience anyway), and it's hard to pursue other things even when playing poker "casually". Not sure if this makes much sense, but whatever, it's my blog so I'm always right by default. What I want to continue pursuing is a proper mix of poker and business, while leaving enough time for family and friends. I think it's genuinely a difficult mix, but I am getting better at it, and my wife is developing more and more patience and understanding for it. She keeps me grounded and reminds me regularly of other things that are important, but she supports my decisions no matter what. And when it comes to poker, she stands up for me when faced with the speculative criticism of having a husband who "gambles for a living". She knows that's truly not the case. I couldn't ask for anything more, and I know I couldn't do it without this support. For anyone wishing to pursue poker seriously, I couldn't imagine doing it without a supportive spouse who is onboard with the idea...so, thanks Sarah.

Now that I'm done with brownie points with the wife, I guess I'll get some real work done...

Online cash & SNG (since blog start): +$11,140
Tournaments (since blog start): +$4,860
Live cash (since Nov/06): +$26,400