Joined: Jun '11
Location: Romania
Age: 32 (M)
Posts: 110
Posted by mahdrof: Another crazy week work wise, and another one to come. Looking forward to having a few days off through the holidays to think a lot of things through. One more post in my blog before 2012 to outline some general goals for the coming year, although the whole thing of semi-pro might have to wait. Too busy to feel like it is plausible to dedicate that amount of time.
In the meantime with my roll padded from last week's gambling windfall and gains at NL50, had one table open of NL100 last night while watching the news. One guy kept calling everything and was getting pretty lucky when: He flat calls UTG, I am one before the button, folded all around to the seat before me who raises to $3.50 and I reraise SUBSTANTIALLY with KK. UTG calls and the other guy folds. The flop comes out Kd-8d-7s, he checks and in case the lucky b**tard is flushing I bet 3/4 pot and he calls. The turn is another 7, now hoping for a flush he checks and I insta-check behind him. The river card comes out and with the pot at $60 he bets around $42.00 and I shove my remaining stack of around $62.00 in and he called. BABAM!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
After using SNGs back in October to rebuild my roll, I switched back over to cash just in time as my SNG game has gone down the tubes. The amount of times I have lost out in SNGs with QQ vs. AK and AK vs. QQ is sickening, not to mention loads of bad beats and flips not going my way. After a satisfying day at the cash tables yesterday I was dinking around with a low-dollar twenty man 4-max per table tourney and won it, which was definitely good for my poker mindset. The past couple of years I have focused mostly on cash and turbo SNG due to playing time restrictions, and am having a hard time getting back into the MTT frame of mind. Two years ago I entered the 2009 season of our bar poker tournament league with the attitude that I was going to only play when I felt good, and that I would play the best poker I possibly could. The results were great, tripling my average points score over 2008, several wins, second places and final tables, and online results were good too for MTT. I hope last night was a sign of things to come. Looking forward to the next time I can play live – which may be tonight. Keeping my fingers crossed…
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Enjoyed catching up reading in your blog mahdrof. I sat out for quite some time about a month after "Black Friday" and come to terms that I must carry on. I enjoy playing electronic poker, but as a U.S. citizen became skeptical for a while. Just wanted to let you know reading through your blog brings me back to what you might have stated in your threa, "Feeling Good". I believe the way your feeling plays a big role in one's game. Again, your blog is inspiring and just adds to my desire to play poker. Thanks and Good Luck to you in all!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Not much to report. Sometime in the next few days I will put out my goals for 2012. Had a nice Christmas with family and friends, but my back is slow in mending. Normally I like to multitable with a large screen hooked up to my laptop, but I need to sit somewhere really comfy these days so I am limited to four tables on the laptop which is a bummer. Finally figured out where I initially hurt my back: Monday morning on a ladder 3 metres in the air in my garage trying to get the box down which has our Christams tree FFS. Three days later it totally locked on my and I had to quit work early and spent 48 hours pretty much horizontal until things got better. Sneak peak at resolutions for 2012: time for this former gym rat to get back in shape! GL all
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
My last blog entry for 2011! I am going to take a couple of days off from the game as I prepare for my 2012 challenge. My goals for 2012 (no, I will not be aiming for “semi-pro” :
Improve my level of speaking Spanish. Born in Canada with my parents from a mountain town about an hour outside of Valencia, Spain, they felt my brother and I should learn English and French here in Quebec, and so my Spanish is somewhat wanting. I pick it up fairly easily however, and three guys at work speak Spanish (they are from Venezuela, Chile and a French-Canadian who travelled extensively in Peru), so I have ample opportunity to practice it and improve.
Improve my level of physical fitness. After spending much of my twenties doing a lot of sports and practically living at the gym, especially in the winter, I have put on 40 pounds in the past twelve years, and lost physical endurance. The last straw was hurting my back last week, which has actually affected my poker playing because I cannot sit at the table where I normally set up my large screen to multitable. Instead I am limited to four tables on my laptop while sitting in a comfy chair. I cannot even imagine at this point going to play a live tournament, and sitting in a stiff chair for up to four hours in a bar. Overall the idea here is to eat better, use my lunch break to go for walks, and implement regular 30 minute workouts into my days, probably at home.
Pokerstars. My results on Pokerstars have always been abysmal, and at some point in 2012 I will take another crack at it. My goal is to play micros, practice ultra-safe bankroll management and reverse the downward trend.
My biggest poker challenge in 2012 will be trying to make $20,000 on my favourite poker site, 888. I went back and forth on this all week last week, trying to decide whether or not I should set a monetary target, and once I did how much. The reason for setting a monetary target was to motivate me to try and bring my best to the tables all the time, or at least play the level of blinds that I feel I can beat on a given day. My biggest enemies in the past have been tilt, playing when overly tired, and playing when bored or distracted, so these will be my mental opponents in addition to my real opponents on the virtual felt. 2011 was a year that I made some big advances in my mental game, as well as finally solving a part to my game that I knew was weak, but could not figure out. No, not saying what it is. The amount of the target is something that I feel is achievable, but will make me work. I typically have an hour or two in the morning to play, same at night, and two to four hours on Saturday and Sunday each. I will be playing primarily cash games, especially as my SNG game right now is badly off the rails, and my idea for growing an MTT bankroll will have to wait. I will give updates as time goes by, and monthly results.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Well, it has been an up and down and up and down and now up again month! After starting 2012 determined to have a good year, the first four days were really good, with January 1 being great. I think I was the least hung over at the tables that day and the quick gains were really something! Three days later my roll crashed, I almost didn't sleep that night, then I woke up and grinded my way back and then crashed it even worse. Now I have been building back up steadily and am pleased with my roll and progress over the past two weeks. More at the end of the month.
Winter has hit here finally with a vengeance, prompting long commutes to and from work. Normally 40 minutes each way turned into 2.5 hours on my way home the other week, and my stress level at work is off the charts. It doesn't help that two of our subcontractors screwed up big time with two of our top five customers, causing losses that are already into the six figure range, with us already facing penalties in the five figure range, and it ain't over yet! As quality director responsible for our subcontractors I know I have already lost whatever performance bonus I would get at my annual review, so big downer and tough on my morale lately.
One big boost has been the resumption of my son's basketball league. I always get a half hour of time with him in the gym before his real warm up begins, and it's like being a kid again. My goal (apart from having fun) is to sink three pointers regularly from half court before the end of the year, and am almost there. My son's level of play has really shot up, and I couldn't be prouder; in yesterday's game he sank one difficult shot that really made a lot of people cheer during the game. And then last night we went to watch McGill University vs. Concordia U men's basketball, man can these guys play! Tight game, skilled players and 100% effort from everyone - better than a lot of pro hockey games I have seen over the years. GL
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Been a while. Been up, been down, been up, been down, took a breather and now up. Playing mostly NL100 on 888, and started playing again on Pokerstars. Had an off day on Saturday at PS, then had three nice days at NL50 before being off a little today. It p*sses me off that my PTR graph is so bad on stars, and even worse when they miss my three solid days and record my off days. Still aiming to reverse that ugly mother. Up a little over $800 in the past four days, mostly at 888, and playing some of my best poker ever. I typically have 90 minutes to two hours of play time in the morning before I wake everybody here and get the day going, so pretty pleased with that. This morning one table was going gangbusters for me, and more than tripled up after an hour before closing up. GL all!
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Very nice and always like reading your blog. Not to go on, been up and down with my SnG's at Carbon. Finally reached my next level to allow some rake and play in some good games. Won top 10 in the 25K booster so we'll see how I do.
Hope things continue on the up for you and nice tidbits!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Taking a day off from work today to rest and let me stress level come down. Haven't had much time for the past few weeks other than work, family, sleep and poker, and with a really solid session this morning my poker is over for the day other than some micro stakes turbo SNG for fun. Continuing to run good on 888, but mostly pleased at my results on Pokerstars. A couple of weeks ago with $140 in my account there, and pretty much stalled playing 7studHI and FL-draw, I started to include a NL50 table amongst my 6-8 tables of NL100 on 888. I know, seriously underrolled, however playing at NL50 made me take my games there seriously, and now two weeks later I am over $500, and now mixing in two tables of NL50 with my NL100 tables. If not for a day of bad beats last week (one which saw me flop a set of sevens vs AA, re-reraise each other until all-in and then runner runner nut flush for him) I would be even higher. GL mobsters.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
... and four months later...
Poker has taken a back seat for the past few months, and often I have had very little quality time to play. Work has been insane, so has the traffic, we have been trying to sell our place, and the kids activities also keep us hopping. I started the year with some $ objectives, but I have come to realize that I am better to try and simply play when I feel up to it and not be trying to force things. Which reminds me of some of the best advice I have ever heard and use in many different situations: In the movie "Top Gun" when Viper tells Maverick "Better to retire and save your plane than force a bad position." Never force a bad position. That advice has helped me out so often, just gotta remember that more often when dealing with my wife
Lately playing NL10 - NL30 cash, very pleased and playing well overall. SNG game? Forget it! OMFG, the number of bad beats plus losing MUCH more coin flips than I should is absolutely ridiculous, so I am taking a breather from it.
My son is destroying on the football (soccer over here) field as a defender, so very chuffed about that. He has a good six inches on most of the players, and probably about 12 kilos as well, so let's just say he doesn't get pushed around too easily My daughter is starting to get raves about her dancing ability, she also nailed her routine at the annual recital.
So there you have it, a very small snapshot of the past few months. I am on vacation this week, went to see a hilarious comedy show last night, and thinking of playing live at least once. GL to all you mobsters and mobsterettes!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Vacation time came to an end this morning, and interestingly enough so did my upswing. Throughout the past nine days I have played 1.5-2 hours a day, all cash games NL10-30, and was averaging close to $20/hr just four tabling on my laptop early in the morning with a coffee. This morning however, lost to set over set, and to some nimrod who called my 12bb reraise with 8Ts vs. my pocket rockets, and flopped two pair. Had an OmahaHI-10 full ring game going a couple of hours ago and flopped a royal flush, my second at Omaha. Didn't make a lot of money with it, but always nice to hit RF!
Vacation time was mostly swimming with the kids, soccer and relaxing, as well as catching up on some car maintence and tidying up my garage. GL all!
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Posted by Macubaas: When did you find some FR PLO cahs tables on 888poker bud??
I log in most of the times but i rarely find a FR PLO cash table running lol
How much did you managed to win with the last hand?
I know what you mean. Until about six months ago, FR was the only game in town on 888 at these limits, and the action was always juicy (for microstakes that is). But today there were three FR tables going at one point.
As is often the case with royal flush, I didn't win a lot, about $1.53. Still nice to flop and unbeatable hand...
Joined: Jan '11
Location: United States
Age: 60 (M)
Posts: 3361
Was curious as to why you haven't written in your blog lately, but vactioning is a good reason to stay busy with the kids and outdoor activities. Been so hot here in Indiana I can't believe it's this bad. Must been some good days at the table to average $20 an hour and as for the RF, your right! Always nice to hit one of them. Been trying some 7 card stud myself and find the games are long, but very fun indeed. Do you ever play on Carbon? Take care and God Bless!
By the way! That crazy guy as / in your avatar is scary as heck! lol
Joined: Jan '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 36 (M)
Posts: 1204
I don't know how you can play omaha with a full ring, your odds are badly skewed, there's only 12 cards left to hit (16 in this case because one seat's empty.) But still, you may aswell limp every hand because there's not much chance of hitting with any hand.
Joined: Nov '09
Location: Canada
Age: 55 (M)
Posts: 2387
Posted by Macubaas: You gotta admit that the 888poker avatars are pretty cool compared to other poker platforms...
I also kind of like the marvel avatars but too bad it doesn't have iron man lol
Mad, try out the 3/6 SH tables too, i find them more profitable than the PLO 10 ones.
I started playing online at 888 almost five years ago, and have always been the cool black dude with the glasses there.
I usually don't play poker at work, however my job often involves several hours a day of fairly routine computer work, so when I do play the FR table is preferable because it doesn't pop out too often vs. 6 max. Played five hours this week in this way and made $50 so I'm okay with this. Just don't tell my boss...
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Posted by sadamman: I don't know how you can play omaha with a full ring, your odds are badly skewed, there's only 12 cards left to hit (16 in this case because one seat's empty.) But still, you may aswell limp every hand because there's not much chance of hitting with any hand.
Actually, just like FR vs SH NL, full ring Omaha requires you to have a better hand than short-handed (especially when you are ready to stack off), and usually whatever the nuts hand can possibly be, somebody has it. The day after I flopped the royal flush, on one hand I hit straight flush on the turn, and on two others I flopped boats, aces over tens and queens over fives, both for nice pots. I have played a fair amount of short handed and full ring Omaha, so I have seen this for myself.
he checks and I insta-check behind him. The river card comes out and with the pot at $60 he bets around $42.00 and I shove my remaining stack of around $62.00 in and he called. BABAM! 
Finally figured out where I initially hurt my back: Monday morning on a ladder 3 metres in the air in my garage trying to get the box down which has our Christams tree FFS. Three days later it totally locked on my and I had to quit work early and spent 48 hours pretty much horizontal until things got better. Sneak peak at resolutions for 2012: time for this former gym rat to get back in shape! 
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