Poker Challenges

Moving

2008-09-19T01:26:00.004+01:00

This will be the last post here, I'll be starting now blogging on my new website :
www.pokerprolives.com

English speakers will be forst disappointed because I'll post in french. But the english version will come soon (and a spanish one too)

Seasickness

2008-09-18T07:29:00.004+01:00

Last 2 days were tough for my heart. Same thing repeating all day : up 2-3 BIs before loosing, again and again. Fortunately I ended up yesterday with a small rush to end at +2.1K$

ChiliPoker launched this month an interesting challenge : Cash Game Challenge
Since I started the month fairly bad I don't think I'll be ale to reach first 2 places but I 'll try to appear in that listing at the end of the month. I think a winrate of 2BB/100 should be enough

Some interesting hands played yesterday :

http://weaktight.com/385155
My biggest lost pot. My range here when I CR flop is far ahead and huuuuuge : i'd say 99/9T/TJ/TT/JJ/9J/KQ/78/all suited cards ! Since he just call the reraise I thought he was a nice pot to shove because he would through away lots of hands like AJ/KJ and even if I was called I had some outs. But unfortunately he had so many outs that he called.

http://weaktight.com/385170
I missplayed this hand. It's an obvious CRAI turn that I should make here to balance my range.

http://weaktight.com/385171
Check call 3 streets. He instabet the river and his hand is very polarized (bluff or flush/straight)

http://weaktight.com/385175
I didn't want to CR turn to let him bluff the river. It perfectly worked even if the second "2" is not a grat card for me. But he can still call me with AK and AJ if he was'nt bluffing.

EPT Budapest

2008-09-16T18:47:00.007+01:00

From 28th October to 1st November I'll be in Budapest to play my first EPT Event.

I will represent ChiliPoker and hope to make some nice performance. You can count on me to write you about this nice adventure in my blog

Running good and... poor results :(

2008-09-16T00:53:00.005+01:00

I'm always complaining when I'm running bad. So I should also be a little honnest and write something when I run particularly good :)
For the last 3 days, I've played about 6K hands and I'm only +775$ up. That's not much... and it could have been much worse since my Allin EV is 6BI lower !

The good news is that I manages to play more than 6K hands during the last 3 days. Keeping this pace I should be able to get to my objevtive that was to play more than 30K hands this month.

A little better isn't it ?

2008-09-12T22:50:00.005+01:00

Well, I think I just ended my best day ever with a +4.4K$ profit.

I Don't want to go through the HHs tonight, I think I'm just going to take advantage of this nice feeling :)

Frightening !

2008-09-12T00:01:00.003+01:00

Card dead ! Outplayed ! Nothing good really happened today, and as yesterdy i made some really bad moves... Result : -2.2K$

I need to stop this bleeding soon before it becomes irreparable !

I have analyzed my overall stats for the 7K forst hands of the month. It seems that my CB% is way too low again. Maybe this is only because I have been card dead and unlucky on flop but I will try to be attentive next days.

Round 2 : Failed !

2008-09-10T22:12:00.004+01:00

I played terribly bad today. In fact I should be happy to be less than 1 buy-in down. I ended the day -281$, after being twice close from the 1K mark.

1 hand that made me tilt few minutes ago :
http://weaktight.com/373539

Do you remember last time I got two good months iin a row ? I don't :D

Tough return

2008-09-09T23:11:00.005+01:00

After some new break I managed to play 1K hands today. Didn't do very well since I lost close to -1.2K$
It seems I'm struggling after each break, maybe I should start slowlier next time I do a long break : playing less tables or lower limits.

Last weeks I felt some kind of laziness and I'm not able anymore to play some many hands I was before. I don't why ? Maybe I'm more focused on my game and it demands me more energy ? Or am I starting to be fed up with this crazy game ? I hope this not the case.
I'd like to play a lot of hands before the hands of the month (30K hands mini) so I hope I find some motivations !

August Results

2008-08-28T22:08:00.005+01:00

Today was my last august work day since I'm spending my week-end away. I'm proud to end this month up +8.4K$
After several months battling 70K hands for finishing at best even, I played "only" 24K hands this month for one of my best result. I'm looking forward to september where I should be able to play a little more.

I'll spend some time beginning september to give a new shot to PLO. I have read few times on the web that edge in NLH will decrease as players are improving day bu day with all the informations there is now available.
I think I've started playing NLH a bit too late, after what we could call a "gold age", I don't want to miss a PLO opportunity and I should start now to learn the game.

Keep it up !

2008-08-25T23:04:00.004+01:00

3 more days with some profit. I managed to end this period up +1980$ but I think I didn't play great during this time. Why ? Mainly because I had a lack of motivation and secondly because I have my son at home and it's not so easy to play when I want and when the tables look soft and it's harder to be 100% concentrated.

Two hands tonight :

The lucky one : set vs underset on a 200bb pot
http://weaktight.com/344552

The unlucky one : 2 outer vs my overshove @ turn
http://weaktight.com/344553

Better !

2008-08-21T23:40:00.004+01:00

Last 3 days have been quite good, running at 4.5BB/100 for a +2600$ profit.

I'm definitely back into the game after my 2 weeks break and I really appreciate each time I'm playing for the moment. I know I should be more cautious to avoid to be fed up with the game but since I'm winning for the moment I don't care much about it ;)

Here is the biggest pot won this month :
http://weaktight.com/337224
Poker seems easy wuth such hands

And biggest lost :
http://weaktight.com/337225
The flop is quite drawy for vilain who can call a hand like KJ,Axs... KK and AQ are also in his range. I definitely don't regret to have shoved in that spot

Back to business

2008-08-19T09:53:00.005+01:00

After taking 2 weeks off to take some nice vacations with my family I'm back at the tables. After a really nice start I'm on a small downswing right now. Nothing really scary, just variance :)

+822$
Right now I'm still taking some shots at NL400. If I keep lossing for the next days I might go down to NL200 but I'm not too worried for the moment.

Cured !

2008-08-01T07:22:00.005+01:00

Fast post to tell you that I am definitely cured ! After struggling 2 months I managed to get back on track end of july. So I ended the month with some nice days and more important, my confidence is back !

Overall I'm doing a litlle positive month since 800$ are missing in this graph and I also finished 40th in one sunday million tournament for 3K$. I think if I say I ended up +1K$ I should not be far from the truth.

Even If I played bad more than half of the month you can see that I didn't run really good neither... I hope I will improve that side of my game :)

Blog break !

2008-07-12T11:20:00.003+01:00

I've just tilted 2 new BIs in NL400. I have to go back to NL200, That sucks!
I'll make a blog break as well because it's not really interesting to write - and to read - same history over and over : I'm unluncky... snif snif snif... I'm running bad... snif snif snif... No ! I'm loosing since so many hands now that It can't be just bad luck !?!?!? Like a 200K hands bad run ? No way !

I'm just so pissed right now, I played so terribly bad this morning I can't believe it, I'm in one of the biggest tilt of my life, fortunately I'm not anymore at the tables... but I'll get back to them in few minutes I think.

- BREAK -

PS : I think I won't be back here before septembre

No comment...

2008-07-12T01:37:00.002+01:00

I asked yesterday for a rush... next time I'll close my mouth
-2K$

Scary pattern

2008-07-11T01:29:00.003+01:00

New day with bad start ! Maybe I'm taking a little time to play my A game ? Maybe players are much better in the beginning of the day ? Maybe it's pure coincidence ?
Well, I think this is a mix of these 3 things :)
So I ended my game up +800$ . Nothing impressive but I'm really happy considering I was once again down -1.5K$ at one point !

Thanks to this new positive day, I have now a 9 BIs "couch" for NL400. (The starting 5 + 4 won). It will take me some pressure away since I really want to stay here.
Lets go Mrs Luck, give me a rush to let me get rolled properly for this limit !!! :)

Even but happy

2008-07-10T01:13:00.003+01:00

Today I fnished my day earning pennies since I won +60$.
But I'm going to go to bed really happy since I was down -1.4K$ at one point ! I thought NL400 was already finished even with my new BR rules... :(
Hopefully I managed to grind up and finished the day quasi-even. Therefore I will be allowed to play NL400 again tomorrow ! Ouf !

http://weaktight.com/264628
My hand strenght was really hidden so I couldn't get away from this one I think

http://weaktight.com/264627
This player was calling every 3bet. I thought he could lay down some small pp and that a bet here was +EV. There is mo much money in the pot that I can't lay down his shove
Finally I had 40% equity, not so bad

http://weaktight.com/264625
AJ < A2 on A335 board...

http://weaktight.com/266303
Fortunately I still meet very nice players

More fun requested... New BR rules !

2008-07-09T00:20:00.005+01:00

After this terrible week-end I played a weird session this morning, starting winning 3 BIs before dropping 4 on really bad play. I was tilting... again
I decided to take a nap and after sleeping 3 hours, I woke up with new thoughts

I'm not enjoying the game as I used too because I have the impression that I don't improve my game anymore. I think that feeling comes mainly from the fact I'm playing NL200 since a lot of time without facing good results (and the hope to play higher soon)

Since I don't have results pressure for the moment (saved expenses money) I decided to try a new BR management, something a little more risky, but not really if I stick to it

BR > 10K$ ---> NL400 (25BI)
BR > 8K$ ---> NL200 (40 BI)
So I allow me to play NL400 with only 25BIs, but I will have to drop as soon as I loose 5 BIs (that's very few)

I won +868$ today (2 BIs). I felt quite confortable playing NL400 even if players were 3 betting more than in NL200. Hopefully I will be able to have a little rush there to avoid loosing 5 BIs and going back to NL200

Back to routine... Scary !

2008-07-07T22:01:00.004+01:00

Sad ! Depressed ! Shocked ! Scared ! Lost ! Damned ! There are lots of feeling I could describe today
After grinding quietly during 4 days, I faced during 2 days my old routine. I lost -2.2K$ (11BIs)

Biggest pots lost :

http://weaktight.com/261546
TPTK vs flush draw. 61% equity

http://weaktight.com/261623
Nut flush draw vs set. 34% equity, so obvious that I can't hit...

http://weaktight.com/261625
78% equity. My flop raise is too shy however

http://weaktight.com/261627
Donk shove. I would do the same with AQ+/JJ+. I will be AA this time

http://weaktight.com/261628
Set again vs my straigh flush draw. I hit turn before being boated river obvious !

http://weaktight.com/261630
This time I have the set vs flush draw... but flush hits !

I know there is nothing scary in my HHs. No 1 nor 2 outers. But it's just that I met so many downswng during the last weeks that I was looking forward to some quiet days. Running 7.5 BIs bellow expectations for less than 8K hands is definetly ot the case...

Sick !

Waves

2008-07-05T00:21:00.002+01:00

Strange feeling today, tables seem softer than usually but the following pattern repeated all day : I would lose several small pot and win 1 or 2 big one, than I would start again loosing small and medium pots.
I don't think my play was great today but it's too late now to review some HHs. I might slowdown during the week-end and maybe go play some poker live to rest a litlle bit.
4th winning day in July (it's been an eternity since it had happened) with a +439$ profit.

With some June bonus and cash back my BR is now close to 15K. Will I be able to play some NL400 before the end of the month ? Stay tuned ! ;)

Black thursday

2008-07-03T23:45:00.003+01:00

I played this morning and I found the import of hands way too slow... So as a genius I read some forum and see that there is a new postgre version that should speed it up. Let's install it ! I don't know exactly what I'be done but 30 mn after I start to install it, neither Holdhem Manager nor PokerTracker was working. I made some weird stuff and 2 hours later, things were clear : I had lost my database !
So many hands lost ! So many players stats... Arggghh... Now my tracker is working fine, but I start from 0 :(

In the afternoon I had to drive my wife to work, when we arrived to the car it was not working ! Battery down ! Fortunately our neighbour lent us his car and my wife arrived in time. Tomorrow we will have to check what is going with ours

Pokerwise, I ended up positive for the 3rd straight day. My graph is incomplete because I played some hands before my database crash and I had won 300$. So overall I won +338$

With some more luck I could I have won some BIs more :

http://weaktight.com/256913
AQ DP vs AK that hit @ turn

http://weaktight.com/256914
AK < AJ. Hitchcock board !

Groundhog Day

2008-07-03T01:10:00.003+01:00

I don't know if you already saw "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray. That guy wakes up the same day every day... I kind of feel the same way this month : I am loosing all day except final 2 hours rush !
I should not complain because at least I ended up positive once more, winning +490$
My wife asked me why I don't play only at night ? :)

Typical morning hands :

http://weaktight.com/254460
Vilain hits overset at turn

http://weaktight.com/255809
Vilain donk bet twice with 2nd pair... et hit river

Typical night hands :

http://weaktight.com/255810
Missed bluff ? Missed value shove ? Don't know but nice pot anyway !

http://weaktight.com/255811
Fopped straight vs trip (that doesnt hit boat)

You may have noticed that I played almost 10K hands in 2 days ! So it's not really good time to speak about life balance...

- Sigh -

2008-07-01T23:27:00.003+01:00

After starting my day by winning 2 BIs, I went through a tough day that brought me down to -575$. I finally ended my night sessions by a nice rush and ended my first day up +370$
It's really not an amount really exciting but I think this is my first "winning first day of the month".

Bye bye June !

2008-06-30T22:18:00.004+01:00

I hope July will start the same way I ended June because today was really nice regarding poker.
I won +2.1K$, more than 10 BIs. Cool feeling !

Overall it's really hard for me to tell where I am for the month of June. I played a ton of hands on ongame network and lots of them were not imported in my tracker. So I think I am slightly down, something close to -1K$.

BR is about 12K$ right now, so I will need a really good July start if I want to get back to NL400 before the vacations in august.

I'll try in July to get back to a better "life balance". I spent way too much time on poker this month and it certainly didn't help my results. I know that I have bad habits : like most poker players, I play more when I have bad results than when I have good ones !

Last week I also had a internet breakdown during 3 days. So at night I spent few hours playing at the "Aviation Club de France". I made almost 500 € there so I think I will try again to change my mind.

Highway to bankrupt ?

2008-06-30T00:59:00.006+01:00

Well, to reply to some comment for my last post : "do I ever win ?"
The answer is : "no"
Worse of all, I'm starting to play bad (or should I say worse than before) and that's really alarming !
I didn't play during the week-end, I came back to lose 2.5 BI today, that will make a -1K$ loss for the last sessions

Forget it, I will never admit I'm a loosing player !

Fighting day !

2008-06-27T00:48:00.004+01:00

Wow, I don't remember playing so many hands for a long long time. Unfortunately I lost again today. I was down -1.1K$ at the beginning and manage to climb back to +400$ before screwing my session and finish at -408$

I don't deserve much better today because I made some horrible plays. I aslo won a 200 bb pot with KK vs AA all-in preflop so I can't complain this time.

My 5 biggest pot lost today :

http://weaktight.com/246710
Flopped set < flopped straight

http://weaktight.com/246711
Squeeze with JJ facing QQ on a rag flop

http://weaktight.com/246712
KK < QQ

http://weaktight.com/246713
I'm not satified with my play here. I don't beat anything in his range here exept a bluff. Checking the river would have been correct I think

http://weaktight.com/246714
Classic udner vs over set

http://weaktight.com/246715
I can do it too :)

I really fought all day trying to stay calm. Every time I was loosing a big pot, I would bang my table and was ready to shut down the computer. But everytime I succeded recovering my mind and I could play longer.
I think when I climb back over 0 tonight I had some "winning tilt" where I was over confident. I called 3bet with marginal hands and I also made some stupid "hero" calls when my opponent had the nuts.
This game is really giving me tough time right now, but as usually if I can go through this bad time I will be much stronger.

Poker wasn't fun today

2008-06-25T23:02:00.004+01:00

Since I have to play NL200 I try to grind a lot. Today I was able to play more than 5K hands
And all that work for an horribke result : -1.2K$ loss (6 BIs) !

I really tried to do my best today. I kept focused on my game and avoided big mistakes. For sure there are some crying calls I could have avoided, and I surely missed few valuebets.

http://weaktight.com/245247
Vilain is passive so I should I give is CR more credit. Fucking ace ! Without him I would have quitely checked this river :(

http://weaktight.com/245250
AKs < AKc...

http://weaktight.com/245253
AK never wins !

http://weaktight.com/245254
AA neither...

http://weaktight.com/245256
Flopped set < Rivered straight

http://weaktight.com/245259
DP vs set

So not really huge bad beats, but I have a ton of 50-70bb lost pots like that.

Poker wasn't fun today !

Life tilt

2008-06-24T18:22:00.005+01:00

Sorry for the lack of news since 2 weeks. Actually I was not feeling really good, I'm struggling with my poker and didn't feel in the mood of writing on my blog.

There are several facts :
1. I'm a loosing player since 3 months when I turned pro
2. Emotionaly my results impact way too much my life
3. I still love the game as a pro

1. & 2. are bothering me but 3. is encouraging to keep playing and working hard

Psycologically I think I'm still too weak. Bad luck affected me so much that I was feeling quite depressed and it impacted my day to day life with my family.
Last week-end internet went down so I was not able to play online during 3 days. And guess what, I felt sooooo good.

If I feel depressed because of poker I should stick with a normal job. So I have definitely to improve my feelings regarding short term results. I am running bad ? Wtf ! I should not care if I play good !

My BR, stucked close to 10K$ mark since several weeks doesn't allow me much fantasy regarding games I can play. But I miss playing NL400 & NL600 games. Unfortunately lately every time I try to step up into these games I am facing some classic "bad luck" and I may play a little scared money.

So let's stop crying, time to grind !

Back to sickness

2008-06-10T13:19:00.002+01:00

Awfull ! I thought this month would be more quiet, forget it !
-2.3K$ for a -11BI downswing

Back to normal

2008-06-09T00:07:00.004+01:00

Unfortunately I was not able to maintain my awesome starting NL200 winrate.
I had some weird swings : -7BIs, +15BIs, -7BIs,+5BI... Strange. I notice that I didn't play as well as during the week, maybe I thought this limit was so easy that I could just "robotly" play. Starting tomorow I will have to focus again to my game.
So during the last 3 days I still played a ton, some 12K hands ! And won about +1K$

I've decided to continue grinding NL200. But if I make the same week as last one I could shot NL400 soon.

Brag : Tomorrow I don't know id I'll play a lot since I return to gym and I'll go buy a new toy : a reflex camera Pentax K20D

Grinding NL200

2008-06-05T23:46:00.004+01:00

After 3 days grinding NL200 I wonder if I should come back to NL400 :)
Well, I have obviously runned very well but the field was so soft that I think NL200 for me has to be +EV$ compared to NL400 since my winrate must be more than twice bigger.

Overall I won a nice +5.5K$ ! Even if y BR is now much healthier I think I will stay a little more in NL200 since the players allow me to make nice profits for the moment. Maybe I'll try some NL400 this week-end when the field are softer.
I should maybe slowdown a little bit as I have averaged 4K hands per day, and this didn't let me much time to do other things than playing poker. It's now 2 weeks I haven't gone to the gym :(

http://weaktight.com/224342
AK > KK :D (told you I ran good...)

NL100 soon ?

2008-06-02T15:46:00.005+01:00

-1.2K$ (6 NL200 BIs)
Good news : I haven't tilted. Only bad luck (is this really good news ?)

Poker is so tough right now, I wonder when I will be back on a winning track.
I don't want to take a break because I know that this will make me tilt much more if I keep running bad when I get back to the tables.
Only one solution : keep playing and KEEP CALM ! Luck should one day reappear...

Remember : Poker is a long long long long term game...

End of month

2008-05-30T22:36:00.003+01:00

May Results

Here is my fantastic month again. As I told you I could not go away from the tables tonight so I lost few BIs more...

Now BR is now at a 9K$ low !!! Unfortunately that means I will have to forget NL400 for a while in June. Wow, I can't understand what's happening. Since I turned pro I haven't turned any profit whereas I'm playing much better that last year (and a lot more)

June Objectives

Having objectives sucks since I never accumplish them !

Money's gone

2008-05-30T16:11:00.006+01:00

Well, after my excellent day in 1/2 I thought it was good time to play some 2/4...
Lost exactly the -2.8K$ I had won two days ago in 1/2 :(

I really hate being stucked in 2/4. I have to calm down because I tilted one BI before closing the software this afternoon. I lost more than 3 BIs today so regarding the rules defined beginning of the month I should stop for the day but I'm sure I will be on the table tonight...

http://weaktight.com/214631
Set vs set

http://weaktight.com/214633
I can't fold here I think

http://weaktight.com/214635
I thought he was drawing and could let it go... bad thought

http://weaktight.com/214636
Good line I think but didn't know I was against a passive player who could hold DP

2 days ago I was flying, seems that all my decisions were good, I would be raised when I had the nuts, and make people fold when I had nothing. Last two days made me think I had to pay for that !
May will be like almost all 2008 month... disappointed :(

Rebuilding confidence in NL200

2008-05-28T23:58:00.005+01:00

Following this poor month my BR is not as great as I'd like to to play 2/4 and I thought it would be a good idea to "rest" a little bit in 1/2 to rebuild my confidence since the games look much softer.
So today I played 3.5K hands, only 1/2 ! And guess what ? I ran like god

Won about +2.8K$, that's 14 buy-ins !!! Why can't I run like this when I'm playing higher limits ????

So obviously, confidence is back ! I think I'll stick to 1/2 one or two more days if I continue running hot :)

No news...

2008-05-27T01:00:00.005+01:00

9 days without posting any news on my blog. If you had guessed that I was not doing really good... you were right ;)
Loosing session are succeeding day after day and I'm now in the red area. It's hard to say how much I am down since I moved to PT3 since 2 weeks and that I had not imported all my hands. However my estimation is about -2.5K$ :(

I think there are 3 reasons with may bad results :
1. I made 2 breaks this month and was kind of lost each time I came back to the game.
2. I made some changes in my game to be more +EV but I still have to do some adjustments... because it seems it is -EV for the moment :)
3. Games have become tougher on my favorite room

How to recover now ?
1 : is over
2 : As usually : I have to study my HHs (something I rarely do unfortunatelly)
3 : I always have money in different rooms so that I can play some other games when I need to but now I'm thinking if I should not become a regular on another site as 2/4 games were full of pretty good regular this week. I think I will watch the tables for another 1 or 2 weeks and take a decision mid-june

Break !

2008-05-18T09:19:00.002+01:00

3 BIs lost in less than 30 minutes. Time to take a new break.
Nice timing since I go today to South of France to visit a friend I've not seen for a long time. I'll be back on the poker tables wednesday

I suck !

2008-05-16T23:00:00.007+01:00

I'm really pissed tonight because I think I've just played one hour terrible poker
Every time I think I'm going to make my best month ever I end doing some bad month...
After loosing -2K$ in 3 days I'm now close from a break even month :(

As you may notice I have just purchased PT3, I'm still quite lost with all new functions but I think it's much powerfull that PT2

Edit : I've just reviewed my session and actually I think that was not entirely my fault
http://weaktight.com/200552
QQ < href="http://weaktight.com/200554">http://weaktight.com/200554
AA < ... 46s (wtf !) http://weaktight.com/200557
AK vs 99

Grinding

2008-05-13T23:34:00.003+01:00

At least 1000$ > 0$ but I still feel that my winrate could - and should - be higher. I'm running @ 2.2 BB/100 hand looking for something > 4 BB/100h

Luck owes me 3 BIs today

2008-05-12T01:58:00.005+01:00

I had sitted out all my tables but I had half round left on the last one when I get KK
http://weaktight.com/193951

I really hate when a session ends this way !

I also got busted from sunday million with AA vs KK preflop (1 out river since one K would have gave me a flush...)

Quiet days

2008-05-11T00:08:00.006+01:00

I have played almost 7k hands in 3 days and I had really hard time getting some profits.
I really have to focus on my game because I don't feel I'm really concentrated on the table as I should be.

Sun is back, it brings one difficulty I had not met since I started my poker pro career : staying at home working my game whereas I could make some outside activities, like visiting some golf courses.
I used to see the sun by my window when I had a "normal" job, but I knew I could not go out, now with the poker I have some kind of liberty to do it !
Be strong jhurault, once you reach a 20K$ mark you will be able to play golf fort the rest of the month... :)))

No stop loss tonight :)

2008-05-08T00:09:00.003+01:00

http://weaktight.com/189266
AK vs AQ on NL600 table
When he flat calls my reraise on the flop I'm pretty sure I'm ahead. I chose to shove turn to protect my hand and was hoping a call from some Ax hand or draws

http://weaktight.com/189267
Yesterday a player hit a boat against my nut flush, it holded this time :)

http://weaktight.com/189268
Poker is much easier when Q's hold vs AK

http://weaktight.com/189269
I chose to CR river thinking he would bet missed flush draws.
Qx hand might call a river bet but I think he would have raised turn with a Q

1st day... 1st stop loss !

2008-05-06T21:42:00.004+01:00

One day I will start a month nicely... one day...
I played a little more than 2K hands today and managed to lose 1.6K$ :(
So, in regards with my monthly objectives I have to stop playing for the day... It's quite early in teh night so I think I'll watch some poker video

I really didn't play well at the beginning of the session, like I needed to warm up a little bit after a 5 days break.

http://weaktight.com/187870
flopped DP vs turned DP
Player was really bad and I'm quite sure my bets were +EV here since he could have called me with any Kx

http://weaktight.com/187871
I think this should have been a fold @ turn but I convinced myself he had QJ :(

http://weaktight.com/187875
Villain was 40/2 so he can have a bunch of hands here, like AK, AQ, Tx, A5, A4, 99 etc...

http://weaktight.com/187876
I was 100% sure he had set and got him where I wanted before he hit his boat

Tough start... as usually should I say ?

April Results - May Objectives

2008-04-30T01:35:00.008+01:00

I close my month tonight beacause I don't thnik I will be able to play tomorrow since I'll have to prepare all my stuff for vacations and I'll need to rest in order to drive at night (when kid is sleeping :) )

April Results

Objectives reminder :
1. Stop immediately the session when I feel tilting or close to OK
2. Don't play poker when I feel too tired OK
3. Go to the gym at least 3 times per week OK
4. Quit smoking OK

I'm really proud of accomplishing last one. I still feel some "cigaret needs" after big meals and while drinking alcohol but it's not as big deal as it was few weeks ago. I really think I'm on the good way and working 3 days at gym help me very much.

Regarding cash results, I finish just bellow +8K$. COmparing to march that's obviously a great result but I'm still disappointed because in term of BB/100 that's nothing really great : 57K hands for NL400 for +2.18BB/100

May Objectives

I really like the way I handled objectives last month so here are the new ones :

1. Take 5 days holidays :)
2. New 3 BI stop loss : stop playing poker for the day after loosing 3 BIs
2. Stop playing for minimum 1 hour after making a bad play
3. Keep going 3 times a week to the gym

Final straight

2008-04-27T00:18:00.004+01:00

Still 3 days before closing this month and taking a small break from poker.
I had 2 winning days in a row this week-end but I'm slightly disappointed because I lost 2 BIs late in the session today.
I'd love finishing good the last 3 days to have for the first time this year a decent month

Even if I had a winning session tonight, the rivers were not really on my side...

http://weaktight.com/171707
Opponent was really aggro, so I'm quite confident being ahead on the flop.
I call and check turn hoping he will 2nd barrel. He checks and hit his ace (but I have to call because that's a perfect bluffing card for him)

http://weaktight.com/171708
This player almost made me tilt when he typed "lol" just before calling the river...

http://weaktight.com/171709
My bad. Easy fold river

3/6 shot... bad timing

2008-04-24T23:18:00.006+01:00

Thought I would post a winning graph today but I lost 3 full NL600 pot just at the end of the session, that sucked ! I closed the poker software really quickly after the 3rd pot to avoid tilting. I will profit of this short night session to go to bed early.
It has been a week that I'm shoting 3/6 tables as I found some really soft tables. But for the moment it hasn't paid off.
Poker has been really frustrating this month. Not as much as last month obviously but I keep dreaming about huge 20K$, even 30K$ months and I'm far far far away for the moment even if I think I play much better than before.

I know I should take my time and concentrate only on improving my game but I keep looking other players scores everyday. But I should relativize, we all know that there is few winning poker players for a lot of loosers. Loosers won't be so enthousiastic about showing their results on the web ! If I could see all players curves, I'm sure I wouldn't be so frustrated as my curves would be part of the best ones since I'm a winning player.

http://weaktight.com/170266
SB vs BB. Got the nut flush draw but opponent has one pair and it holds

http://weaktight.com/170267
I didn't know the player and was more concerned about a strong draw here. Bad read :(

http://weaktight.com/170270
Big fish spotted, no way I can let my overpair away here

Warning !

2008-04-22T23:04:00.006+01:00

I think it's one of the first time I get the feeling of getting bored during a session
That's what happened today after 2 hours playing. I was used for the last weeks to play easily 3-4 hours sessions at night and quit because I was feeling tired but tonight I really wasn't enjoying the game.

Having a negative session didn't help me to get some enthousiasm obviously but since I played some 3/6 tonight, we can say this is a -1 or 2 BI day (not so terrible)

To come back with boreness, there is only one way to avoid it : play less ! I might take a break very quick tomorrow morning if I get same feeling when starting to play
Good news is that I will take some vacations with my family beginning of may, so I will not hear about poker for 4-5 days

Only 1 hand I want to show you for today : a really nice set up with 3 players (set vs set vs OESFD)... Unfortunately I did hit the turn but top set got his boat for last street
http://weaktight.com/169085

Grinding

2008-04-22T00:52:00.003+01:00

Saturday I haven't been playing at all since we prepared with my wife some 30th birthday party for 3 friends of us. Sunday, I didn't play a lot since I had a strong headache due to... saturday's 30th birthday party for 3 friends of us.
Pokerwise nothing really exciting, I have not been facing really strong spots and the only big pot I lost was TT vs AA from aggro player on a rags flop.
Since games were quite boring I had to make strong application to not open any firefow window

Money goes and comes

2008-04-18T23:29:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was the worst day of the month, today is the best one and I almost got back all the cash I had lost yesterday.
Obviously I'm really happy with my game today, not that I played awesome poker but I was all the time focused on my tables, no distraction, no music, no TV, no websurf, no MSN, only focus on my 4 tables. Yes, 4 tables ! I managed to play "only" 4 tables the whole day, and I think I played my A-game during the same time :)

One thing really important I just noticed : i have only played 1600 hands, that's 3 times less than yesterday... So that brings me to the fact that I should stop marathon session, particularly when I want to chase the BIs I lost in the beginning of the session
So I think I will set 2 new objectives next month that could look like :
- Stop playing (1 hour break minimum) if you make a bad play (that means that I don't play my A game any more
- Stop playing for the day when I reach a 4 BIs downswing

http://weaktight.com/164710
I sit down to a 3/6 player because there was this nice player with 60/5 stats :)
Earlier in the session I made a big laydown when he made a huge overbet the river (i had set of 7s but the board was like A2357 and the 4 could easily be in his range
This time I think he thought I could make another laydown. No way ! :)

http://weaktight.com/164712
Last orbit, this player already 3 bet me in the exact same position (CO vs BTN) and he folded to my 4 bet. He thought I could be bluffing here but that was not the case (By the way I was really nervious when I saw the flop)

http://weaktight.com/164714
One of the last hand of the night. Nice set up for me (but the player deserved it for playing T3)

Knocked Out !

2008-04-18T01:40:00.003+01:00

Wow, as I told you, my day started badly.. and it went worse until the end :(
Conclusion : -3K$ ! Obvious worst day of the month !

Did I tilt ? Don't think so but I went back playing 6 tables and I think it didn't help my game
Since I am doing good with my monthly objectives I have to remember to put next month in my objectives "NEVER MORE THAN 4 TABLES !"
Things got a little better at the very end but it's almost 4:00 AM, time to go to sleep, tomorrow will be another day, a better one I hope ;)

Should not have waken up this morning...

2008-04-17T10:35:00.004+01:00

I know that I can't stop complaining about my luck for the last weeks. I think it makes me feel better when I write down the HHs in my blog, sort of cooler therapy I guess.
This morning I waked up really motivated, ready for a long poker day as I hadn't planed anything else (sports sessions are usually monday, wednesday and friday)
But everything went wrong, players were really aggresive and everytime I had hands, there were better hands in front of me.

It seems that I'm always starting day bad, so then I don't play to win money but to recover the money I lost earlier.

http://weaktight.com/163438
AK vs KK
I don't think I can do otherthing here as it looks like a good spot to squeeze

http://weaktight.com/163439
AK vs... KK
Player was 3betting a lot, bad timing for me :(

http://weaktight.com/163442
BB vs SB... AQ vs AK

http://weaktight.com/163443
Was really to let it go @ turn but this 2nd ace made me think he didn't have it
A5o rulez !

Black day (part 2)

2008-04-16T00:05:00.005+01:00

Unfortunately night session didn't go well and I 've just finished my worst day of the month with -1.9K$ :(
Here is the graph of the last 2 days :

I'm starting to be a bit frustrated again this month because this time I'm not tilting and I think I'm playing my A-game most of the time. I make some bad calls ocasionnaly but nothing compared to before. So I deserve to win !!! :)))
What is also difficult to accept is to watch good players graphs playing limits far more difficult than 2/4 and see how well they performed. Am I so bad that I can even crush 2/4 ? I hope it's not true and I'm just stucked in a breakeven period after march terrible month

Black day

2008-04-15T19:52:00.003+01:00

There is day where it seems that every hand goes the wrong way. I haven't got sucked out very bad, but it seems that today I had to lose every single hand where i was slightly ahead
Here are the 6 main pots lots today :

http://weaktight.com/162479
I can't blame the player with TP and nut flush draw. He had like 68% equity (but surely less since last player told us he had also a flush)

http://weaktight.com/162482
Classic coin flip QQ vs AK
However I've just check in PT and I have lost my last 3 Q's > 100bb pot against AK...

http://weaktight.com/162483
Very few hands after the QQ vs KK against the same player
But this time I have AK... and he has KK :(

http://weaktight.com/162484
I almost thought I was beaten @ turn since I was just beating AQ/KK.
Actually i was ahead... until this 2 outer !

http://weaktight.com/162487
Have I already told you that my Q's don't hold agaisnt AK ?

http://weaktight.com/162489
I don't like my play here. Stacking off with QQ here is OK as the board is drawy but I have to shove the flop.

I still have to play my night session now, I hope I will run better and that I can post a positive graph

2 days for nothing (bis)

2008-04-14T02:19:00.004+01:00

My feeling is strange tonight, between satisfied for recovering more than 4 BIs loss from yesterday and disappointed with my last hand :

http://weaktight.com/160234
I know this player very well (bad loose passive regular). When he miniraises me I should let my bullets go, no way I'm winning anymore...

2 days for nothing

2008-04-12T01:11:00.003+01:00

I lost today the BIs I had won yesterday :(
I didn't tak time today to review the HHs, I'll try to do it tomorrow. But I don't have the feeling I had been sucked out too much so it might be possible that I didn't play well. I have to check it in order to make some corrections in my game if it is the case

MU 1 - 0 AS Roma

2008-04-10T01:18:00.004+01:00

Sorry for the tiltle, I had no clue what I could write so I just picked one football game result :)

Two last days were strange as I would start by winning few BIs in the morning before loosing them by the end of the day. But tonight I decided to keep playing after going back even as I was feeling pretty good and that tables look soft. I really dont regret this decision as I finished my session by a great run.

Since beginning of the month I really try to play only 4 tables as it helps me a lot to focus on the player and my reads. Maybe I won't be able to play as many hands as I used to but curiously it seems that playing less tables allows me to play larger sessions.

I have been playing a lot of hours the last 3 days so I might take a small break tomorrow to rest a little bit. I have to wake up at 8:00 AM every morning to prepare and bring my kid to his nannie, and I rarely succeed sleeping again after. Therefore nights are usually shorts (6 hours max...). I will also have my 2nd sport session of the day tomorrow so very little time for poker I guess (but I'm sure I'll find some if I really feel in th emood of playing :)

Some of the last hands I played tonight

http://weaktight.com/156334
I think my opponent tried to represent a full and bluff me. I guess it was bad timing vs 2nd nuts here. I'm glad I didn't shove the turn as he would have folded.

http://weaktight.com/156339
That's always nice when a player doesn't give you any credit on a 3-barrel play

http://weaktight.com/156340
Not a horrible play since few days ago against me he would have easily hit one of his 8 outs here :D

http://weaktight.com/156341
Horrible play from my opponent who miniraise river with a straight on a 3 flush board and call my reraise.

Good run already over :(

2008-04-09T00:12:00.003+01:00

That was fast ! Ms. Luck let me alone 1 day

http://weaktight.com/155605
I trapped him... he sucket me out

http://weaktight.com/155607
If I can't win my oversets I'm in big trouble

Do no tilt, do not tilt !!!

I feel good !

2008-04-08T01:39:00.002+01:00

Finally a great session ! Had forgotten this nice feeling :D
Haven't lost a big pot during the day and I even punished one opponent with a 4 outer

http://weaktight.com/154953
4 outer ! YES !

3 days break even

2008-04-05T23:50:00.007+01:00

I thought I was ready to run hot when I went to a 2K$ upswing. It was nice to have a winning session after so many loosing ones.
However I almost lost the same amount of money following 2 days.

I run pokerev for april, I really think I run bad...

But there are good news ! ;)
- 0 cigaret
- 0 tilt
- 3 sport sessions this week

April = March ?

2008-04-03T00:02:00.006+01:00

Well, I just can't win anymore. That's so crazy !

http://weaktight.com/149976
Flush got rivered against boat...77% equity

http://weaktight.com/149997
Yes, I turned my straight... 90% equity against river boat

http://weaktight.com/149998
I could not put him on a 9 and I don't think my river call is too bad

http://weaktight.com/150000
AK < 9To

http://weaktight.com/149978
AJ < A9

http://weaktight.com/150001
I hit DP @ river when opponen flopped top set
I should have maybe folded river here but pot odds are huge

Tough... really tough time

Good news is that it's been 2 days now that I'm not smoking. I feel a bit stressed after eating and when I wake up at morning but nothing too hard.
I went back to the gym today and I felt much better than monday, my body is definitively getting used to some exercices after 1 year strike :)

April objectives

2008-04-02T00:23:00.002+01:00

So last 2 months I set cash money objectives. I obviously failed both times
Therefore, objectives this month will be more about "quality goals", 2 of them direct related to poker, 2 others about health :

1. Stop immediately the session when I feel tilting or close to
2. Don't play poker when I feel too tired
3. Go to the gym at least 3 times per week
4. Quit smoking

I already went to the gym last monday and had a 1 hour coaching session. That was great and even if my body feels pretty destroyed since that day, I feel overall much better. The coach gave me some exercices schedules for 1 month and a half before we meet again.

I think goals 1. & 4. will be the toughest to achieve but I guess 1. will be the one who will improve the most my poker winrate, and 4. will increase my life winrate ;)

Last post was a joke as we are used to do every 1st of April each year ;)

Bankrupt !

2008-04-01T00:33:00.005+01:00

I guess it had to happen :(
Following all this month bad run and bad play I tried to take a break from my favorite game... unsuccessfully as usually !
I finally played 3K hands in NL200 but was still running like shit, so for the firt time of my life I did something really crazy and stupid : I went to play some high stakes to chase my losses :(

Here is how my adventure ended, loosing my only left BI @ NL20,000$ table

http://weaktight.com/148117

I don't know when I will be able to forget about this hand, and how I'll be able to play back poker. I might be able to get back from my bank account something like 3000$ but this will allow me to play only NL100 and I'm not sure I will accept it...

So as you should notice, my poker career turned out pretty bad... I will certainly let this blog away few weeks now...

Break ! March results :(

2008-03-25T13:42:00.005Z

Well, I better stop to play until the end of the month, otherwise I won't have enough money to start to play next one... :(

Here is my best graph ever !!! What a donk, I think I have tilted 1/3 of this amount.

I haven't ever succeded taking a break but this time I really need it and I hope I'll stick to it.
Go to gym, Play PS3, Watch movies and spend more time with my little family : this sould be my schedule for the next 5 days

My BR is still above 12K$ so I'll start april in NL400

Archi Sick month !

2008-03-24T01:12:00.006Z

Sorry for the lack of updates during the last weeks. I try to keep cool and let this horrible month fly away but that's very hard. I try to keep my "real life" normal so that my results don't impact my family life with my wife and my kid.
I'm at the moment -7.4K$ down after reaching a low -9K$ yesterday. It seems that I can't win a damn coinflip and that all other players draws hit. I would surely accept this bad run more easily if I was up in $ this month... but that's not the case. So, please, Ms. Bad Luck, GIVE ME A BREAK !

I'm watching every night my biggest lost posts, and I don't think I played bad during the past week.

Here are some specimen of Ms Luck :

http://weaktight.com/138073
91% equity...

http://weaktight.com/138076
56% equity...

http://weaktight.com/138077
Ms Luck didn't forget me this time, she gave me a set @ turn... and a straight to my opponent :(

http://weaktight.com/137476
70% equity...

http://weaktight.com/137477
80% equity...

Sick sick sick... archi sick month !!!!

No news, bad news

2008-03-15T01:42:00.004Z

As you may have noticed I haven't posted since a while. Reason is simple : I have been playing very poorly, tilting and running trough a pretty bad run.
So I am somewhere around -5K$ for this month.

I have taken some obvious decisions to try to recover before end of the month :
- MSN & web browsing forbidden during poker sessions
- Stop following results with Poker Grapher every session, every day. I will try to look at my graph only one time, at the end of the month.

Therefore my blog should change cause I will not show my results anymore as I was used to. As soon as my moral get a bit better I will write down some HHs

But don't worry, I don't feel so depressed. It's just a common rough time of a poker pro and I guess it will not be the last time

I will survive ! ;)

Finally on a winning stretch ?

2008-03-09T02:03:00.003Z

This month is really swingy and for the 1st time of the month I thought today I was not running bad when I won AK vs QQ :)
I hope I can keep it this way for a few days :)

Oups, I did it again

2008-03-06T02:16:00.003Z

I played a bunch of hands since last post and I keep loosing for the moment. Unfortunately I tilted few BIs and had also one full BI screwed up with a all-in missclick (and my A5o ran to KK...) so I can't say I'm happy with my game at the moment
I made my worst table ever, loosing 2172$, that's more than 5 BIs !!!! (5 last hands of the HH bellow)

http://weaktight.com/124530
I haven't seen many KK vs AA going in my way this month for the moment

http://weaktight.com/124531
Nicely powned here. I value shove my pair of 6 against his boat...

http://weaktight.com/124532
Thought UTG had a set here, so I thought shoving the flop was EV-
He finally won with K high

http://weaktight.com/124536
Rivered

http://weaktight.com/124539
AA cracked. But could have get away from it I think

http://weaktight.com/124540
KK < AT

http://weaktight.com/124541
I 3bet AJ from the blinds. Once the A hit the flop I don't think I can get away. I tried to represent a bluff at turn to induce bluff from JJ/QQ/KK hands. He had AK and didn't hit my few outs

http://weaktight.com/124542
Bad play at river. I don't know why I made this donky CRAI. Bet/fold would have been better if I wanted to bluff

http://weaktight.com/124543
Another missplayed hand. Once he donked bet river I should only call if I think I'm ahead, he won't call with a worst hand obviously

New month, new swings

2008-03-04T03:20:00.003Z

Have been going up and down during the first 3 month of the month. Second day was very bad as I played very poorly on a fishy table, bluffing people that you should never try to bluff.
I ran through some cold deck but will not complain about this start knowing the start of january and march.
I hope I can go through a nice rush now :)

February Results - March objectives

2008-03-01T01:33:00.006Z

February Results

Awfull month with a scary 11K$ downswing (+7K to -4K). I managed to be up during the final 3 days to get a lazy 1K$ month :(
At least I succeeded in playing more than 50K hands...
Good news is that I feel my game has improved a lot during this period (let's take the good side)

March Objectives

I have great expectations for my first entire pro month. I really want to get my best month ever and I'll work a lot for that. I've created with poker fellows a "work group" that should help us to improve our game. Hope the results will show up quickly !

> 50K hands
> 20K$ cash

Crazy table

2008-02-28T02:19:00.005Z

It was said I was going to struggle until end of month (I hope that will be it !). Yesterday I dropped few BIs before grinding it up a lot of hands later. And today I started very well before sinking badly. I don't know the reasons for the moment, I will go through the HH tomorrow as I really need to sleep for the moment.
The good news is that just before quiting the last session I met a very very very nice table (should I say aquarium ?). Look at how big was my stack at one time ! (I will finally quit at 1800$)

So this nice table allow me to get even for the last 2 days, not great but in this poor month I'm kind of being satisfied with poor things ;)
Anyway... March is really close now, I will very shortly turn the page of february

Bankroll management

2008-02-26T00:52:00.003Z

When you're running good you are not necessary thinking about BR management. Beginning of the month I was playing mostly NL400 but was shooting pretty often NL600 and sometimes NL1000 with good table selection.
Obviously I'm not running good anymore and had to get some BR management rules. Here is my plan.
NL200 : mini 50 BIs (10K$) / NL100 drop if < 25 BIs (hope I will never get there)
NL400 : mini 50 BIs (20K$) / NL200 drop if < 25 BIs (<12K$)
NL600 : mini 50 BIs (30K$) / NL400 drop if < 30 BIs (<18K$)
NL1000 : mini 80 BIs (80K$) / NL600 drop if < 40 BIs (<40K$)

Therefore I should be grinding a lot of time before getting to the 5/10 games taking in consideration that I will cash out monthly but I think I can make it before end of the year if I continue working on my game.
I'll cash out 5K$ monthly mini so this will have some impact on the levels I'll play month to month. Regarding cash out rules I'm still thinking about it but I think this will be close to 50% of my monthly winnings (with always 5K$ mini). This rule should considerably slow down my progression to the higher limits but by the end of the year poker will be my only source of income so I have to get used to such rules if I want to continue offering a decent live to my family :) Speaking about family, I will make a special post this week as many people are very suspicious about a poker pro live with a family.

Hey, you won't believe it : I had a winning session today !!! (even if I started bad)

Sick month

2008-02-25T03:48:00.005Z

Humm, i said I would take a break. But somehow I decided to not accompish any objective this month so I didn't success taking it...
Results : still going down and I'm at -3K$ for the month (worst month until now was a -1K$...)
Last week is obvioulsy the worst I've seen so far. But as we say : that's poker
Here is my month graph by day, 6 straight loosing days... shipt it !

Here are my largest pot lost from last 2 days :

http://weaktight.com/113536
Set < Flush draw

http://weaktight.com/113538
Flush draw < TP

http://weaktight.com/113539
Flopped flush vs flopped flush

http://weaktight.com/113540
KK < straight draw (76/23 equity)

http://weaktight.com/113541
Missed bluff. I have nice equity all the way and don't regret my play here (would have done the same with AQ/KK/AA/sets

http://weaktight.com/113542
KJ < AA. Don't remember what made me shove here :(

http://weaktight.com/113543
Horrible play !

http://weaktight.com/113551
AA fold... too weak ?

Break time !

2008-02-22T01:03:00.004Z

No comment... I'll take a short break until sunday night where I'll play some donkaments to change. I will also go tomorrow night play a 150€ live tournament with my brother, should be fun :)

Down !

2008-02-21T16:25:00.004Z

I'm actually on a 6K downsing !!!! I try to not panic since I don't think I'm tilting too much but wow, that's hard...
I have the impression I can't win a coinflip, CB are raised everytime I have something and folded when I'm huge. Obvious bad run symptoms.

http://weaktight.com/109855
AK < href="http://weaktight.com/109856">http://weaktight.com/109856
KK < href="http://weaktight.com/109857">http://weaktight.com/109857
Should have bet more turn, or fold river

http://weaktight.com/109858
KK < href="http://weaktight.com/109859">http://weaktight.com/109859
KK < href="http://weaktight.com/109860">http://weaktight.com/109860
QQ < href="http://weaktight.com/109861">http://weaktight.com/109861
QQ < 8T. Oppoenent was playing 40/10 and was trying to trap him since 1 hour :(

Pfff... Can't wait next month :)

10K hands in 2 days !

2008-02-19T03:03:00.004Z

Well, nobody can't say that I'm not using my time to play poker since I quit my job :)
I played almost 10K hands since sunday ! Results are obviously not here as I struggled to finally finish even. But I was really happy with my game today as I ran through some sick suck out all day

3 hands vs short stacks :
http://weaktight.com/108659
http://weaktight.com/108658
http://weaktight.com/108656

http://weaktight.com/108657
This player was just running over me since the beginning of the session.

http://weaktight.com/108655
Used all my timing to finally take the right decision. But as I had reraised I hink I had to call with TPTK. Nice call... horrible river

http://weaktight.com/108654
This is the same player I ran through the made flush with KJs. SO I decided to C/RAI the turn. Nice spot...

Running bad ?

2008-02-17T09:44:00.003Z

The last 4 days have been very tough, only 1 winning sessions vs 3 big loosing ones :(
I'm going to go through my HHs to try to understand what's happening

http://weaktight.com/106286
Since we were in blinds fight I thought the HR of my opponent was pretty large and that even if his miniraised made me feel he was really strong he could also have DPs and 22
Set-up?

http://weaktight.com/106285
Rivered

http://weaktight.com/106284
Set vs overset

http://weaktight.com/106283
I had reraise a fair amount to cut implied odds. Didn't stop my opponent to call with QTs :(

http://weaktight.com/106282
I don't think I beat anything here from this regular nit. I could even have folded turn I think

http://weaktight.com/106280
Can't do much for this one, I thought about A6 or better flush but this player looked so bad bfore that I could'nt fold in that spot. Nice read... nice river :(

So, after going through the biggest lost hands I think I'm not playing so bad for the moment. I guess I'm just running through a bad run. Hope this will not last too long ;)

1st day... first downswing :(

2008-02-15T23:20:00.003Z

At least I haven't waited a long time before facing a downswing. Since yesterady night, I'm on a -3.5K downswing ! I don't know if I will have time this week-end to go through the HHs but I don't think I have been tilting. Just some bad run I guess.

Exept the terrible results I really enjoyed this first day as a poker pro. I waked up at 8:00AM to have some breakfast with my kid and my wife. Then I played some HU (I still suck...) until lunch and started 6 handed games at 3:00PM. I played together today about 4K hands.
I don't realize for the moment that I don't have to go at work anymore, strange feeling.

When a dream comes true

2008-02-14T15:35:00.003Z

WTF ? What dream ?
Did I win the sunday million ? No !
Did I qualify for the WSOP 2008 ? No !

Those who read regularly my blog should remember my post : "I had a dream". Actually this post was kind of premedited. Starting tonight I'll be a poker pro !

Today is my last day of my "normal" job. I knew it since mid-january but did not want to communicate before. The company and I made a deal so that I can leave "happy" :)

A new adventure begins, I cannot describe how excited I am about this new challenge. It has been a year since I'm thinking about taking this decision and some reorganisation plan in my company allowed me to do it... and now it is. Welcome to the pokerpro world ! :D

I know this is quite risky, and that I'm not the only one in that adventure since I have kid & wife. But we decided, together, that it was the right time. We have 1 year common expenses saved and I should be able to play during 1 year without too much pressure. The plan is to stay in France until the rest of the year and to move to Buenos Aires beginning of 2009. Even if I keep playing there I'd like to do other activity, I'll have 1 year to think about it.

5K hands later...

2008-02-12T23:21:00.000Z

I've just watched my PT stats. I'm still negative in NL400 this month. Actualy all my profits come from NL600 & NL1000 ! I hope this will change by the end of the month as I don't want to playanymore NL1000 until I got a decent Bankroll for it. And this sould not happen before may/june I think. The problem I met these days is that there are very few players at NL600 on iPoker network and it's difficult to find some nice tables to play.
Since I was home this afternoon I played about one jour HU NL200... and lost 1 BI. I'm still positive in HU this month but I still have a lot of work to do.

I feel really tired these last days so I might play a little less at night the next days to rest a bit.

http://weaktight.com/101965
Usually I would bet the flop here but as my opponent had miniraise me preflop I was quite scared and would not have called a raise. When he bets the turn I raise to make the pot big as the only hand I'm fearing is KK. But since I still beat AA/AK/QQ/JJ I had planned to not let it go
Didn't really know what to do at the river so I chosea value shove. Nice choice !

http://weaktight.com/101966
Do you remember a few days go whan I sucked out a CP player ? Well, it happened again
I should maybe tighten my HR for 3-bet/4-bet against him as every time he raised me I havec the feeling he's outplaying me.

Saved by a fish !

2008-02-09T23:31:00.000Z

Yesterday I had a nice rush (+2K$) but somehow I decided to play very bad today. I think I will have to go through the HHs tomorrow to see what really happened. Every time I had some hands I would not let it go and I was most of the time beaten by the river (and would still pay a strong bet @ river). Results : -2.5K$ in about 1K hands !
But, thanks to a very nice player I will clear very quickly this downswing and will finish with a nice 2.5K$ for the 2 last days

http://weaktight.com/100320
Huge >400BB pot. Really don't know how his player can call flop and turn raise. Thanks :D

http://weaktight.com/100323
This hand was just after the huge one ! So I don't give any credit to his all-in and pay with my 9s even if a J is on the board. Opponent could have been "fake tilting" but... no ;)

Struggling month !

2008-02-08T00:41:00.000Z

I'm really struggling this month. Since the beginning I'm running after my losses. Since last post I began by loosing 4 BIs before running through a nice 2K hands rush.
Got really lucky on a 150 BB NL600 pot won against someone of the clubpoker and got finally paid for some monsters that allow me to pass the even mark and be up +2K$ for the last 3 days.
I hope I will stay above 0 for the next days this time :)

http://weaktight.com/99540
The suckout of the month.
Since he was defending his blind against my raise I thought he could have a HR pretty large
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 47.366% 45.79% 01.58% 27440794 945878.00 { QcQd }
Hand 1: 52.634% 51.06% 01.58% 30598090 945878.00 { JJ+, AKs, AKo }

http://weaktight.com/99541
Very happy with my play here. I knew that UTG was a tricky player that had good chances to reraise after my flat call of UTG+1 raise. My play went over my expectation since I wasn't sure he would call my raise if he had made a moove with some JJ/AK/AQ hand

http://weaktight.com/99542
What am I trying to represent here ? I really don't know that's a horrible play :(

False start again !

2008-02-05T22:34:00.000Z

Do you remember last month ? I started with a 6K$ downswing ! Well this time I did a little better as I only faced a 4K$ one... This really sucks ! But I will just try to forget it as quick as possible as we are only the 5th of the month. I still have a ton of hands to be played and can realize my obectives.

I will just post one hand tonight that I played poorly yesterday

http://weaktight.com/96863

Firs my feeling was : "what a donk !!!!" Then I realized that the donk was me :) I offered him very good odds for his draw (about 4:1) . And worse of all I'm not even counting the implied ones. He paid 112 to win 410(pot size)+242(my left stake), that means 5.8:1 !!!
I was tring to trap A7/AT /AK but didn't think about straigh draw :(
Making mistakes is the best way to learn, hope I will push next similar situation

January Results - February Objectives

2008-02-01T08:34:00.000Z

January Results

Obviously bellow my expectations but as the month started I should be actually happy to end positive. What's sad is really my last day, I was 6K$ up and suddenly wanted to shoot the NL1000. Results : -3K$ :( That's only 3 BIs but I felt really disguted yesterday night when I went to bed

February objectives

> 50K hands
> 10K$ cash

Week-end away

2008-01-27T22:27:00.000Z

Went with my little family to friends wedding this week-end so I played only 2k hands since last post. I really enjoy the way I'm playing for the moment, I try to focus myself to lay down more hands that I used to shove, the kinds of hands were you are slightly ahead way behind. Seems to work. I'm now up 4k$+ for this month, well done since beginning was pretty sick !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2006662
Funny hand against 50/30/10 opponent

I have a dream...

2008-01-25T13:17:00.000Z

All poker players, at least the winners, dream of being "poker pro". I often question myself many questions about it as :
- "Would you support pressure if my only income were coming from poker ?"
- "Would you like this game as much as a work as a hobby ?"
- "What would be your common daily planning ?"

I will today focus on this last question. What about a planning that would look like :
- 09h00 Bring kid to her nanny
- 09h30 Sleep
- 14h30 Session review
- 15h00 Video training/Book reading
- 15h30 Poker session
- 18h00 Bring back kid
- 22h00 Poker session
- 03h00 Sleep

That means 6-7 hours of real poker and 1 hour of training. I think that's many hours, certainly more than I could assume for enjoying the game but I guess if I want to be successfull - I mean really successfull - I would have to work hard during few months.

Maybe one day I would give a shot for this crazy try, maybe...

Some good beats

2008-01-23T23:31:00.000Z

I have been running pretty good for the last 2 days with more than 2K$ profit. However I have to admit that this result would not have been so great without some nice beats.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1985661
Nice river ;)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1985646
Should obviously have folded against this good regular. I was at least against QQ...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1985630
A delayed christmas present

KK vs AA sucks...

2008-01-21T22:53:00.000Z

Just finished tonight session with KK against AA. Could have faced QQ+/AK so I don't regret but I obviously hate ending a session like that.
Last 2 sessions haven't been great but at least I didn't loose. Now that I've cleared my downswing I hope I can get 2 or 3k$ before the end of the month.

Downswing cleared !

2008-01-19T08:36:00.001Z

I finally got back to even for the month, thanks again to a nice rush at the end of my session after a difficult start.
Got huge hands and my opponents were holding some nice ones too. Poker is easy when it goes that way ;)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1961559
Over pair with flush max draw vs TPGK with 2nd flush draw. Nice set up

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1961564
I was very agressive against this loose preflop opponent. So he didn't believe me when I raised turn and he catches a horrible Jack for him that gives him full against my quad.
I love this game :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1961571
Full vs full. I really think I would have folded his hand at the river. Actually he wrote in the chat "TT/QQ?" before calling.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1961576
This hand is to show that set-up can also go the other way ;)

Really tough month !

2008-01-17T22:55:00.000Z

Thursday I was cheering my 2K$ day... Yesterday I almotst lost all of that and finally today I'm back :)
Tonight I had a very nice rush at the end of the session where I was crushing all my tables. What a nice feeling.

Too lazy tonight to post some hands ;)

Finally a winning session !

2008-01-15T23:43:00.000Z

After recovering some BIs yesterday, I made a nice 2K$ profit day. No bad beat, only one hand missplayed, I was very happy with my game tonight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1945289
The only big lost post of the day. I didn't know well my opponent and as I was playing bad player tonight I thought he could my shove with a small Ax. I should have called turn and reevaluate river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1945309
Really proud of my call here. I knew my opponent was used to bluff river very often. And that shoved screamed me he was bluffing (sure he would have value bet something around 2/3 - full pot with the straight or DP)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1945317
Full vs full. Nice turn for me

-10 BIs peak !

2008-01-15T00:40:00.000Z

What a year for the moment !
I reached a -10 BIs peak before grinding back. I'm really happy the way I handle this downswing as I haven't tilted so much
I hope I'm back on track and that I will at least recover my losses (I'm still -3.5K$ down) before the end of the month

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1940682
Set vs flopped Flush
Think I should have fold the turn

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1940674
QQ vs AA (very agressive player)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1940665
Missed bluff. Actually bad play as I really don't know what I was trying to represent here

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1940657
Set over set :(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1940692
Huge pot for me :)
Nice try from my opponent but bad spot as I would have folded a lot of hands like AA, KK, QQ, JJ.

Horrible start !

2008-01-12T19:54:00.000Z

I'm really struggling for the moment. Played about 5K hands in 3 days for a wonderfull -3K$ :(
I decided to night so spent some times analyzing the big lost pots

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930285
Opponent very agressive pre & post flop, so when I CR him I think I'm way ahead of his range.
I have just reviewed the hand and my last call is bad (but not as bad as I thought as we could had also some bluffs) :

[Pokerstove] equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 28.024% 27.05% 00.97% 13122 472.50 { 8c8d }
Hand 1: 71.976% 71.00% 00.97% 34443 472.50 { 77+, AdKd, AdQd, AdTd, KdTd, QdTd, JdTd }

Pot odds : 715:313$ > 2.3:1

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930388
The kinds of hands that I hate ! It's like a 3 outs beats preflop
I don't think I can do anything here with a short stack and I think I lots a pots like this during this last days

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930398
Powned !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930406
Opponent very agressive here too. Lost a flip

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930417
Check river would have been much better here

Got a HH that doesn't work with pokerhand. But I 3bet with TT and push with a QQ4 board. Called by AK that suck out a A @ river :(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930452
Tilt hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930467
Classic KK vs AA

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930474
Flush draw vs set that holds

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930486
New tilt hand :(

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1930503
Wowwwww, didn't remember that one !
What an horrible play with a 3bet called OOP with a SC

Well, after reviewing all these hands, I have to conclude that I played like shit !
I could have run better with some luck but I really deserve this swing

Happy NewYear !

2008-01-04T21:19:00.000Z

Still few days of vacations in Argentina. We rented with all my family a awesome house 40mn away from B.A. We profit all the day from the swimming pool and eating barbecues every night. The paradise ! I really planned to live in this wonderfull country very soon. If 2008 poker winnings are great, it could be for 2009 !

Regarding poker I have played at the beginning of the vacations some HU NL200 & NL400 but haven't run very well (think I've lost around 1K$). I however taught some members of my family how to play and we played 2 times for fun (here is a photo of my brother in law). They really enjoyed it :)

I really enjoyed my vacations but I have to admit that I start to be a bit "poker-sick" :) I'm some kind of impatient to get back home to start the 2008 poker year !!!
For 2008 I have 2 main objectives :
- Become a 5/10 NL Regular
- Play a big live event (WSOP or EPT)

New even month ?

2007-12-12T23:58:00.000Z

Great ! I've just lost in 3 days all my month winnings. Today I even played some NL600 and steamed all the way... what a great idea !

Anyway, good news : tomorrow night I fly to Argentina for 3 weeks vacations ! Will try to forget a little bit about poker as last 2 months have'nt been great. I might obviously read some books (I have The Poker Mindset & some PLO Books to read) and play some HU on my labtop but not too much : I feel I need a little poker break.
In January I will certainly make a cashout and start back to grind NL400 as I was doing at the beginning of the month.

Still going up' !

2007-12-09T23:39:00.000Z

For this month, things are going pretty well for the moment sinceI had 1 loosing day for 5 winning ones. I feel a bit lazy today so I won't post any hand (I just went quickly through PT and haven't found any interesting ones)

Confidence is back !

2007-12-06T08:31:00.000Z

This is my 2nd "2 days" session in a row ! Wow, I have the impression it has been a while since it happened las time :)
Regarding month stats, I'm now @ 4BB/100, which is not so bad regarding what happened during the first days.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1776376
Opponent was agressive intelligent player so I thought my AQo was above his range and I wanted to profit of a squeeze play thanks to wee bo call.
When he reraises, I thought he could make a move thinking I was squeezing with a very wide range.
equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 24.385% 19.23% 05.15% 1914927371 513083802.17
{ AcQs }
Hand 1: 44.491% 39.53% 04.97% 3935570189 494432291.17
{ TT+, AJs+, AQo+ }
Hand 2: 31.125% 29.59% 01.53% 2946313879 152829523.67
{ 22+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, 87s, 76s, ATo+ }

Since I had 26% equity with these defined HR, my move is very dependent of the fold equity (I would need som FE > 10% to have a +EV move)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1776425
Standard coin flip but my opponent play was quite tricky (call reraise OTB then all-in on my reraise)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1776447
Nice deep pot. Opponent told me he was on tilt

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1776448
Check river to induce bluff

Waiting for a good run...

2007-12-04T10:04:00.000Z

I guess I'm still not running very good for the moment, but at least I'm positive.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1768242
Powned ! Didn't think he could have checked the river with the 8. I usually don't slowplay set unless against short stacks

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1768267
Classic... but happens too often for the moment

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1768272
That's poker...

November Results - December Objectives

2007-12-03T09:02:00.000Z

November Results

I think this is my worst ever month :(
Very tough month with some bad run and some bad plays
Went back to NL400 around my 25K hand

December Objectives

I will fly to Argentina middle of december for vacations and I really don't know if I will be able to play there. If I can play it will be on y labtop, so I think I will play max 4-tabling some PLO 6-max and NLH HU
We will say that my main obkective for december will be to earn some money this time :)

Hands History - 28/11

2007-11-29T02:11:00.000Z

Was a tough day again but at least I managed to finish positive after a bad stard a -1500$ down peak. That's my first winning day since 1 week !!! Hope luck is kind of turning around and that last 2 days will be OK to make a decent month.

I've just looked at this session and I actually didn't loose to much big pots, but I lost a lot of 200-300$ pots. Weird...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751528
Classic KK vs AA. It will be my turn soon :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751534
Wow, I just should have folded that one. He limp/call reraise and then miniraise my CB.
Look so obvious... now :)

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751543
Lol@badtiming !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1751550
He was 3-betting me a lot in the last 10 minutes so I decided my 9s were strong enough to call a raise. Flop is good, but was lucky to find a nice river to crack his As (I would have checked any non-9 card)

Hands History - 27/11

2007-11-28T08:35:00.000Z

Goods news : I play better !
Bad news : I can confirm that I'm running bad !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1748540
I always have to start my sessions with a missed bluff...

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1748544
My opponent was so loose that it was impossible for me to lay down that hand

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1748552
My opponent was so aggresive so that my HR is way ahead when he shoves my bet on flop.
I was right ! River was not !

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1748560
The "classic" one outer

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1748550
Straight flush in my face ! That's not a terrible beat since I was only 65% favorite on flush but that hurts anyway :)