And the inevitable...

...downswing.

I've been jumping around sites playing my usual 5/10, mostly 10/20, and some sporatic 25/50. Here are results since last update:

UB even
Betfair -$3800
Tilt -$1300
Party -$3350
DSI -$450 (which was pretty much free money that I won from a retarded $100 Harry Potter bet back in last October that took 9 months to settle...)

So, that's a lot of negative numbers which isn't much fun.

Like a super genius I also spent $1100 trying to cheaply qualify for the $1060 FTOPS event. You ever seen those super-turbo satellites they run just before the FTOP events? I played at least 4 of the $185 6-man ones where only the winner gets a $1060 seat. I got 2nd, 5th, 3rd, 2nd. On the last 2nd I took out 3 players the first damn hand and still didn't win! Needless to say, waste of money and I didn't even play the stupid tournament.

Also down another $600 in multi-table tourneys as my slump continues. I was massive in a Tilt $150 tourney with 600 players. Down to 90 or so left I was 4th in chips. Within 10 minutes I have QQ go down to AK for a ridiculously huge pot, then AK down to 55 for most of the rest. Bah. I also managed to misclick my way out of another tourney. I won't explain cuz it's stupid, but I gotta be more careful clicking around the screen!

I am now down almost $1k in online tourneys since starting the blog. At least $2k of that has been qualifiers for other tourneys, and I don't think I've qualified once for anything. I think I've been playing tournaments pretty impatiently, combined with running pretty bad and never winning the crucial races, it's been near impossible to cash. But, I gotta sharpen up. I think my plan is to just really tighten up for a while in tourneys and let the cards come. This has given me success in the past in tournaments.

Just like I did in Phase 1 of the real estate licensing course, I've procrastinated myself into a time crunch for Phase 2. So, I have to get to that, which will mean less poker. Also, my back is feeling better (thank you chiro Carlos) and I really need to do some work around the house (whheeee painting). We just had the exterior of our house painted and it looks pretty pimp in a very domesticated sort of way.

Anyway, though I've dropped around $10k since my last update, I'm going to try not to stress too much about it. I only had a couple easy, big hands in the past week, and that's just poor cards. But, I've had MANY tough decisions and have often not been up for the challenge. I gotta sharpen up. I'll try to start saving some hand histories again.

I've read Barry Greenstein's Ace On The River up to the technical strategy part (about half the book). So far it's okay, a lot of fluff, and just being told what it's like to be...well, me (as in a professional poker player if I can call myself that, still sort of sounds odd). It would almost be a more interesting read for someone who knows nothing about the life of a professional poker player. I'll see how the technical parts are, especially the tournament hands section, hopefully I pick up something good. Either way, it's good bathroom-reading material. :P

I'm finding the $5/$10+ NL games are really drying up all over the place. Just the same regulars everywhere. Still beatable, but a real grind sometimes. Please come back Americans!!!! I miss you!

I gotta go concentrate on my play more right now, getting owned on Betfair heads-up again. Everytime I improve on the turn heads-up, it turns out to be the worse card for me lately. Nothing is coming easy, but hopefully I can turn it around soon.

On a sidenote, it looks like I'm going to both Cantebury in October and Regina in November. Still to plan both trips, but should be fun.