Pulling my mind in a million directions

I feel like my head is spinning sometimes. I believe I've begun to pull myself in a million directions related to poker and I'm just confusing/stressing myself more than necessary. Time goes by so slowly when I think back on my poker. My goal online is to beat the $25/$50 NL games, anything I could play above that is gravy. I would be satisfied beating the $25/$50 NL game, but this is far from an easy task. The vast majority of guys competing at $25/$50 are fucking good, period. At any given time there will also be at least 2-3 players at the table who amongst the best in the world (online anyway). What I need to do is chill and realize I don't have to accomplish this tomorrow, or next month, or even next year. If I can beat $5/$10 and a lot of the $10/$20 games (because those can be pretty damn tough at times too), I can make more money doing that than anything else I could realistically do right now (and definitely with much less effort).

I've really worked on "learning" the game the last couple months, but now I'm taking so much in I think it's hurting my game and I'm trying to adapt too many new concepts. It's making me "question" my game too much. I just need to keep practicing and slowly taking in new information and not necessarily trying to force it into my game. This doesn't make much sense probably, but it's how I feel about it. If you add in the work involved in raising Owen (which is a blast, I'm not complaining), doing projects around the house that need doing, and studying this real estate course (which has been more WORRYING about studying the course), and I end up having a hard time focusing. Things will get done when they get done, and I just want to try and relax my brain a bit more, which will probably result in me getting more done anyway.

A while back I decided I needed to tighten up pre-flop and get more aggressive pre-flop with my decent hands, and I did with some pretty good success, but then I had a couple rough sessions and started loosening up and becoming more passive again. Back to the basics again, I need to remember that.

I know the time I invest in real estate will be a far smaller hourly wage (not even close probably) for at least the first two years (quite possibly more). But, at least I will never lose any damn money doing real estate. If I don't get my ass in gear with Phase 2 of the licensing course I won't have to worry about that for awhile (lol, I think I say this every week).

I checked out the Regent NL cash games. Got knocked out first in the tournament by a sneaky gutter, I suck. Then waited 2 hours for a seat in a $2/$4 NL game, played like an idiot and saw pretty much every flop, and broke even when I finally hit a couple hands. I got paid pretty big on a few not very big hands (like betting top pair, okay kicker, really strong on rivers and getting paid by people thinking I'm bluffing). A few folks didn't seem to understand when they'd see my hand and I enjoyed seeing the frustrating/disbelief on their faces. You'd think limit players would get the concept of getting maximum value from your hands. I love how everyone always thinks I'm bluffing in live games, do I have "maniac" stamped on my forehead or something? LOL, I love that reputation! Good times.

Anyway, Regent sucks. I already said my piece on the PCH message board. They're trying I guess. Regent poker is like a baby trying to walk, except they're still on the dragging themselves by the elbows stage, not quite a crawl. They'll get there one day (maybe).

Okay, so do I suck at heads-up poker? Geezus. I'm so comfortable at 3-6 handed with my favourite probably being 4 or 5 handed. But heads-up, I must be a freakin' fish. That, or I'm running VERY horribly for a few matches in a row (well, there have been a few wins here and there I guess).

Since the last update I played some standard stuff and scraped together a bit under $2k. Then, last night, I had a battle against Asiandude7 on Tilt. We played 5 matches of $1100+$30 heads-up turbo SNGs. I went win, lose, win. Then, on the 4th match I got him all-in TWICE as a 70-80% favourite, lost both, and he ended up coming back and winning. I would have quit after that 4th match up over $2k, but then I ended up down by losing the 5th match too on this beauty:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425586

After that, I get pissed and go for the quick fix: $25/$50 capped ($1500 cap) which I've had so much success at before, I run so well at $25/$50 (for those who don't know, I'm being extraordinarily sarcastic with that comment). Oh, and I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with Grimstarr who is a successful regular player. I justified it in my head by thinking he plays too aggressively and I should be able to catch him a couple times on a cap table (I'm obviously just convincing myself to play the only opponent available). I actually end up playing him pretty well, but look at this mess of hands:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425726 - I instacall this turn with no doubt in my mind.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425727 - a few hands later I actually double up on a no-brainer

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425728 - expected that turn...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425732 - there were a bunch of hands like this one, I was actually sensing him trapping me pretty well the whole match.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425734 - i played him pretty hard for a while then eventually gave up after losing another coinflip.

And on a different $1500 cap table:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425737 - first hand...woops again. This is pretty standard in a cap game I guess.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425739 - another big hand coinflip down the drain.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425740 - meh.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425742 - finally, a nice little no-brainer

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425743 - lovely, this hand actually happened simultaneously as I got busted by Grimstarr. Shortly after this my account got as low as $850 after starting at $9k before the SNGs that night. I figured I may as well go down with the ship on the cap table...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425744 - I try to trap and just end up getting my money in bad and I finally get lucky. I would have been busto on Tilt if I lose this.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425748 - then I finally win a race.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425752 - Aaaaaand, then immediately lose another one.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425755 - then by some miracle I hold with a bigger A.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425758 - Decide to peel off a flop from the BB with a suited connector (which I don't do near as often in capped games), but hit a nice flop and get paid by A high. Surprised he didn't have a diamond. :P

I proceeded to slowly build to over $7k after that.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425764 - not sure about this one. Not sure if I call if the turn is a blank, but the K just made things worse, so I fold which was probably the right play and should have on the flop (or pre-flop maybe if I'm not going to push it).

Anyway, I didn't really win any hands after this and just quit at $5800. So, after being down to $850 I guess this was a nice little recovery playing somewhat "bingo" poker (especially in the frame of mind I was in). Down a little over $3k for the night, but could have, and probably should have, been more.

Tonight, I jumped back onto Betfair and played supertilt12 heads-up $10/$20. I have never seen this guy. I also have never seen a guy run so damn well. Another frustrating heads-up match where I end up feeling like I'm not out-matched, but getting owned anyway. I definitely made some bad plays though. I just was getting frustrated with him always having the winner and made a bunch of bad calls. He was just never bluffing, gah, he never had to! Might as well show a few:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425677 - woops

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425683 - one of the few hands I actually had the winner, and I get no value on the river. I felt like he was trying to entice a bluff with a big A with the river check and I chickened out. I probably get called too as he RARELY folds.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425686 - dumb

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425688 - terrible frustrated call. He would continually call me down with bunch touches and I could never even catch a big pair or hit a draw. But, that's no excuse for this donation.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425689 - I don't know what he has, but he caught something again. I really don't think he ever made any turn/river bluffs (I probably know that because I just didn't fold enough because everytime I did catch a half-ass hand, he hit a bigger one).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425692 - hmmm, the more of these I find the more I feel like I just played horribly. He literally NEVER bluffed on the river and I kept paying him. He outplays me huge again.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425699 - of course, another bad call...evidently. At this point I wrote "You run so damn well it's mind boggling" and he wrote "mmm true". I hardly ever chat stuff like this, don't know why I did this time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425705 - must be nice to re-raise with J8 and nail this, but again, I end up just being outplayed. This was on a 6 max table we were both also playing (the rest of the hands below are from that table too).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425709 - I can literally never find a winning hand against this guy. But, it just ends up being another questionable hand by me I guess.

So, no one can claim I only show my good plays anymore. Wow, what a disgusting display. Obviously I lose money no matter what (fuck, I had 1 winning showdown out of all the pots that went past a flop, and trust me, he didn't fold much at that point either).

So, I dropped about $5k in that 2 hour period, so I decided it would be a great idea to slam $3k on a $25/$50 table on Party. This is obviously not a great idea with the state of frustration I was in, but whatever. I start off with a semi-tilty play on the very first hand (though I know this opponent was steaming from just losing the majority of his stack a couple times in a row):

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425712 - good start

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425716 - I didn't think he could call this river without a Q minimum...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425720 - standard, happy be doesn't bet turn. :P

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1425722 - here is the big one! I'll be honest: I had no freakin' clue what was going on and just hit call hoping for the best. This opponent was unknown to me. It didn't really look like a bluff, I totally expected to see some crap like AQ, but for the first time tonight I made a call that actually worked out. I'm either a genius or a calling station. Regardless, I'll take it.

So, basically I hit a few no-brainer hands that I didn't really play all that amazingly and they just worked out. Back to even from my stupid Betfair session. I'm probably very lucky to be even tonight so far.

That is about 4 sessions in a row I've dug a hole (of various sizes) for myself and crawled back to life while on the brink of disaster. I have grown a goatee and picked 2 gray hairs out of it this morning...

I'm looking at trading in my Camaro for a nice car, something semi-luxury and sharp looking. I've had my eye on this Infiniti G35 for a while, but am not sure what I think of the interior, it's okay. It drives sweet though! I might go for a 2nd test drive.

http://www.autotownsales.ca/en/usedcars/listing/details.spy?id=1520458

It's John Angst's wedding this Saturday. My son Owen is the ringbearer. Should be great times! Really looking forward to it and seeing a bunch of people I haven't partied with in awhile. Angst's stag last weekend was at a buddy's cabin at Inverness Falls. Buncha maniacs that group! It was a crazy good time, though I was definitely one of the tamest people there. I'll leave it at that. :)

I had a few more people come up to me at Regent and comment about enjoying this blog. I appreciate that as it's nice knowing people are actually taking the time to read it and taking an interest. Please continue to introduce yourself if I haven't met you (or don't seem to recognize you, I met a TON of people at Barca over the years and it's hard to keep everyone and their names straight sometimes!).

Time to crash.