The Reality of Poker

Sorry for the lack of updates the past couple of days but I must admit I have been a bit frustrated and more than a little disappointed in myself. I know we just got started, there is a long way to go, plenty of money in the account and it's a marathon not a sprint but I really wanted to get off to a better start. I also know that one or two tournament wins and we'll be up money but you guys put your faith in me and I am not happy with the performance so far.

The past couple of days have been typical of what's going on... Monday I played Palomar (I always seem to do well there on Mondays) and was doing really well early...then a couple of bad beats diminished my stack and I ended up going out 8th and they were paying 6. By the way Luciano was there and made the final table also, but no money.

Tuesday, I went to Oceans and did fair in the tournament (again no money) and actually had my first losing cash session (only lost $60 but it was the first cash loss).

Today, I went back up to Ocean again because the Wed. AM tournament carries a nice prize pool. I promised myself to play well and be totally focused. I didn't even play a hand for the first two rounds plus being very patient and waiting for cards I could play. I finally hit one decent hand with pocket J's and won a pot. The very next hand I slow played a QJ of clubs and just called on the button. The flop came 10K7 with two clubs and all three players checked. Then came a 9 and the small blind checked, the player to my right went all in with about $1500... I thought and pushed all in to isolated him figuring I had a lot of outs and he couldn't really hurt me. To my surprise the small blind called my all in and turned over a straight he had gotten on the turn. I was behind but had an up and down straight draw and the club draw and sure enough a club came on the river and I had about $10,000 in my stack. After that I won a few hands and lost a few hands when they moved a guy with a pretty big stack to our table. The blinds were 300/600 when I was able to limp on the button with 10/9 offsuit. The flop came 10/5/4 rainbow... the big stack checked and I bet $1600... he thought about it and said "I have a feeling about this" and he called the 1600. The turn was a 7 and he checked again... I should have checked and saw the river but I figured the seven couldn't have helped him and I did not want him to catch a river card that would, so I bet another $1800. He reraised me and after thinking about it I tossed my hand and he turned over two pairs 5's and 7's. He called my raise with middle pair and got donkey luck. A couple of hands later the guy to my left went all in with about $1700, big stack called and I had QJ and decided to call since I was getting 3 to 1 odds. The flop came 4/5/8 and we both checked. The turn was nothing that help either of us so I checked and he bet $2500. I told him he had better have the nuts since we could have eliminated a player and folded my hand. They both turned over and big stack had a K/5 suited and all in had Q10 off suit. I couldn't believe this idiot had called the original all in with K/5 suited and then he bet me out with a pair of 5's. Well of course the river turned a Q which would have given me the winning hand with a better kicker but instead he tripled up the small stack and my stack was now half what it was before he came to our table. I was steaming and wanted to go over the table at this guy but instead they broke our table and I never got a chance to get my revenge. Shortly after the table change I got QJ again in the big blind and with less than 5 big blinds left I pushed all in when a Q came on the flop. Unfortunately my QJ came up against a QA and I was done in 37th place (started with 122 players) and wanted to go over and ring that guys neck.

I might take tomorrow off and wait until Friday to give my self a chance to calm down but I am playing really well and as Phil Helmuth would say, "if it weren't for luck I would win them all"...LOL Ah well, I feel a little better now but still a little disappointed I have not produced better results so far. Well like I said at the beginning... there is a long way to go...enough money in the account and my luck has to kick in here pretty soon. I will keep you informed.