Not much poker today…just a little razz cashgame action…up one buyin in the first session, exactly even for the second one. Finished 16th in the four-card-bingo session by the name of Saturdays with Dr.Pauly…not a bad day…

…what a BRUTAL session today. Played a little more than usual…just felt like it and it was about the worst session I’ve played in weeks, if not months. It’s not so much the coolers (e.g. KK vs AA vs 22, obv the ducks win), or that I made mistakes in my decisions, it’s the overall unrealness on the bubble or slightly before it.

I can’t even believe how often I finished third today. So sick. The sickest part were the hands though. It was basically the same every friggin time. It is a tough bubble…ppl play tight tight tight…you look down at AQ/AK on the button…everybody is basically short at that point…you’re one of the two players with slightly more chips. You raise/push and you get called by the other “big stack” in the SB or BB every single time. Always the same…99, JJ, JJ, QQ, 88…number of flips won there: 0. Thank you very much…

On a bright note, I won’t continue to whine anymore…I’ll let you on your way with a quick thought: As tough as running bad in flips or how bad some beats are, it could always be worse… 😈

Played some SnGs last night, nothing spectacular. Some shorthanded ones, some WSOP steps. Not much joy in any of them. Busted out fairly quickly in the first four six-max and the WSOP step 2 and 1.

Then my “luck” turned around a bit and I was able to score two Ws in the last four six-max SnGs finishing the night 2 of 8 (2 of 10 total including the WSOP)…so slightly down, but not disappointed…good luck at the tables….

…no, no, not back to the marathon-headsup-sessions. Something else. What has been missing around here for a while? Yes, the random pic dumps highlighting some of the hands that came down while I played. Today I had my snapshot-finger ready again and took some pics. Nothing spectacular really. Played 8 6-max SnGs this afternoon, finished ITM 4 out of 8 with 2Ws and 2 second place finishes. Went out fourth thrice and fifth another time when my AA ran into the monster KK preflop….King…boom headshot. Oh well, not much to complain about today. I guess I’ll be back later to play in the four card bingo lottery by the name of Saturdays with Dr. Pauly.

Now to the random pic dump and I’m outta here…

…that’s what I heard myself say over and over again today. It was nothing spectacularly brutal or anything, just the usual beats and bad beats along with the tease every now and then. I mean, it’s pretty standard to get your AA crack by AJo, or KK by A3, A8 and A4, but the stuff like AJo vs AJs (flushing) and the fact that you can’t win a 60% shot on the bubble in four consecutive matches is just brutal. Mix in the fact that you’re the one pushing in all four spots, get called by the usual KQo, KJo, K7o, etc and leading until the river everytime…then see the 6 outer hit on the river boom, boom, boom, boom is just sickening. Oh well…like I said to a fish berating anther fish: “What do you want man? You got all his money in drawing dead to 3 outs…what else do you want? Don’t tap the tank…ty”…*lol*

Stats: Played 18 six-max SnGs, finished 2nd six times and won one. Should have been at least 2 more ITM finishes (see the 4 60% shots above) and at least one W more…but hey, what can I do…cards speak…I’m out…

…because nothing else can explain why I still bother to play in my home game. Well, maybe that’s a little harsh, I keep going back because of the social aspect as well, but there’s no doubt about one thing: I like money, too – who doesn’t? – and it’s really disappointing to get coolered or extremely unlucky all the time. All the time? Maybe you think that that’s an exaggeration, but it really isn’t.

Everytime I play in the homegame, it’s like I’ve got the plague or something. Either I run into a cooler or I get a junk-kick – one of the two is usually my exit or cripples me. Sure enough it was no different tonight. What adds to the “unlucky-ness” is the fact that we’re playing tournament/sng-style in the homegame, so no cash-game – instead everyone buys in with a set amount and we play a freeze-out, usually paying the top 3 spots (or the top 2 if less than 7-8 players are playing). With all the chatter and stuff it’s a slow game, so if you’re card-dead you’re pretty much at the mercy of the cards and let me tell you, they’ve got NO MERCY at all for me. This has been going on for months now and I’m really puzzled. Is there anything I can do different? I doubt it as I’ve tried to change up, switch gears, play tight, play loose, always looking out for the current status of the table and the involved players….to no avail. Usually I set it up beautifully by making some bluffs, sometimes getting caught, sometimes not, sometimes showing it…all to generate action later on when I’ve got a monster. At least that’s the plan. The problem is that the plan does work out for the first part, getting the money in extremely good that is, but the second part, the holding up and raking in the pot part, isn’t working out at all.

We played shorthanded (6) tonight and the first hand that pretty much crippled me came up pretty early. There’s two limps, I’m on the button with Kd4d…I call…SB and BB stick around and we see a flop with two diamonds. Checked around. I check behind. Turn brings the third diamond. Yatzee! Cutoff check, I bet…SB calls…BB folds…cutoff calls. River is a blank. SB checks. Cutoff bets big. I’m puzzled…sure there’s a straight out there and the flush, but I’ve got the second nut flush here. So I call…the SB thinks for ages and then calls, too. Showdown: SB – straight…cutoff AdJd for the nut-flush, me Kd4d for the second nut-flush. Nice. Yuck. So I’m crippled and pretty soon I’m busto.

So I stick around for the second game, which we play turbo-style (6min blinds)…after all it’s the beginning of the week and ppl have to get their lazy behinds out of bed in the morning. Nothing much to report from this one…I push in with the worst hand twice and suckout the first time when a seven spikes on the turn (A7 vs AJ)…the second time I’m busto, all good there.

So the other players battle it out and they’re still anxious to play another turbo. I’m in and things are looking good. I pick up a few pots early on. Then the following hand comes down. I’m in the BB with QQ. Nice. Action folds around to the button. He calls. SB moves all-in (I’ve got him covered by a longshot). I hesitate for 3 seconds before pushing in myself. The button thinks and thinks, and yes, I’ve got him covered by 1/3 too. So he pushes in. Now I’m thinking to myself: uh-oh, you’re probably dead…I put the button on AK and the SB on AT-AK…to my surprise the flip over K7 (button) and KT (SB). What the heck? I’m happy though…one overcard…two outs for them. Flop? K7x…turn bring the T for the SB resuck…river is a blank and I’m down to 1/3 of my original stack. So sick. Even borderline crazy I would say.

So I moan a little…but after all everybody in the homegame knows how bad I’m running…and that’s why they’re after me. They know that they’re usually a MASSIVE underdog, but they don’t care. The old saying goes “After all it’s Ingoal, I’ll suckout on him. I call.”…and call they do and tbh I LOVE IT. What else could you ask for? One or more player(s) willing to throw their money out the windows virtually drawing dead almost every single time? So the setup is perfect, the only problem, as already mentioned, is the fugly sickness that comes after those calls.

So as I’m short on chips I’m contemplating making a move, but I don’t until I’m UTG. I look down at QTo and I push. The BB ponders a call after everyone folded, after all it’s me, so why not? But he lays it down and shows 96o…I ask the dealer to rabbit-hunt the board and he does. I would have lost to a 6 on the turn. *lol*…the usual. So I’m in the BB and I’ve gotta fold the next hand. Then I’m in the SB and I look down at KK. After the button calls I move in over the top and the BB ponders a call. As I’m short it’s not all that much to call and after all he’s s00ted with 6s8s. He makes the calls. Right in the windows is a 6. The other two flop cards are two low spades, giving him not only a flush draw, but a gutterball as well. The turn is the third spade and I’m drawing dead. Just for good measure the river completes the gutterball straight as well, just to make sure that my kings get cracked for sure…*lol*…so I get up and out of there in a hurry…

Now I’m back home and still a little steamed up about this whole thing. Could it be that I’m unluckier than Mike Matusow? Looking at the results of the last months of the home game I would say: abso-fucking-lutely…and that’s scary…I’m outta here to get some de-tilt sleep…

Played two session apart from the SWDP tourney. One before it and one after it. Four 6max SnGs each…total score was almost exactly the same for both sessions (1st 3rd 2nd 1st and 1st 1st 4th 2nd)…so ITM 6/8 with four wins. Overall this seems to be working out like a charm. I fire up four of those bad boys and play them parallel, which not only keeps me busy, but is no problem with my new panel. I guess I’ll keep hitting those bad boys for a while now…let’s see how it develops.

As for the other part of the title: really insane how a poker blog attracts spam, especially trackback spam. It started a few days ago and I was really getting frustrated as trackback spam circumvents part of the antispam solutions I’ve got in place on here (namely the antispam pic). So I decided to finally activate the antispam atomic bomb, which comes with WordPress. It’s name is Akismet and all you need is an API-Key to activate it, which is available for free on wordpress.com (if you earn less than 500$/month with your blog – no worries there…lol). I activated it three days ago and it has done a great job so far. It blocked and/or caught well over 15.000 spams and counting in three days (for the exact number see the footer). Friggin spammers!

I’m out…

…god, now I know why I hate PLO so much. Played in Saturdays with Dr. Pauly and managed to run better hand into bs hand again and again, had my aces cracked twice, the second time finally crippled me…the KKxx monster was just too much for AAxx…oh well…cya next week or something…fucking PLO!

…as I’m really tired of this one.

Warning, Spoiler Alert
If you’re planning on seeing the new poker movie Deal, please don’t read any further!!!
Also if you haven’t seen All-In or Lucky You, the same warning applies!!!
You’ve been warned…
Warning, Spoiler Alert

I watched the movie and as with any poker movie so far, I’ve been looking forward to seeing it. In the end, I couldn’t help but be disappointed – yet again. How come that ever poker movie that’s coming out sticks to the same bs ending? Someone laying down the best hand to let someone else win…

Example#1: All-in: Father folds straight flush and let’s daughter win, duh!
Example#2: Lucky You: Son let’s father win as he fold Aces to his Kings, duh!
…and now in Deal…young prodigy lays down Aces vs Jacks of his “mentor” on the A33xx board, duh! And while we’re at it, since when does the WPT championship pay more than 8 million for first along with a bracelet? Am I missing something here?

Come on people, what is this? The re-run of the re-run of the re-run? Besides, those hands and one person mucking the best hand is total bullshit. There, I said it…end rant.

…I’ve kept myself to feeding on the 6max donks tonight…my new display comes in handy too…now it’s no problem to play four full sized tables (or even more tables resized a little)…1920×1200 is a nice resolution 😉

So…I played four of the 6max SnGs at once and I won three of them. Then I played two Step 1 WSOP satellites and won one of them (earning a Step 2 ticket (worth 27$)). Overall a nice session.

After that I decided that it was time to buy my first poker software ever…I’ve used some testversions of different poker softwares before (including PokerIndicator and TourneyManager), but I couldn’t convince myself that I should buy any of it, until tonight. I just ordered a license for TourneyManager. I hope that it’ll help me analyze my game a little more, especially when it comes to results. We’ll see. On another note, I’ll also buy PokerTracker soonish, but I’m waiting for Version 3.0 to appear, which should be in the near future.

Speaking of spending dough…I also ordered some new books to keep me company…I bought two of Schoonmaker’s books…”Your worst poker enemy: master the mental game” and “Your best poker friend: increase your mental edge”…and I even ordered some stuff which didn’t cost me anything (apart from FPPs)…a nice little sports jacket from the PokerStars store…nice.

Back to the new panel…here’s a pic of it…hmmmm….tasty…

I’m out…