Marshall28's blog

if any of u guys out here for the seminole tourney main event and wanna grab a drink or whatever lemme know ... i brought this girl with me but she is kinda driving me crazy.

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So I need a rest from playing poker. I've played more hours this month than any month in the last 4 or 5 years. Maybe as many as 120 which would be equal to 30 hours a week. I've had a lot of long sessions and it's been very tiring but also very profitable.


Haven't ever had a month like this before as I'm now up $79,600. I placed 193rd in the main event for $42,990 but I only had 30% of my own action there which totals $9897. The other 70k was pretty much all online cash games. Still trying to hit that $100k month, thought it might happen when I was up 87k 4 days ago but it doesn't look like that's in the cards now. Oh well, it's not like it really matters, it's just a stupid arbitrary number.


$34k playing mostly 5/10 and 10/20 plo and 35k playing 5/10 and 10/20NL. I have to assume that part of the reason for why I did this is because I was able to game select better than I had previously. Helps to always stay in higher stakes games. Sometimes there would be a few okay 5/10NL games running but some good 10/20 plo games running so obviously I can choose to play the PLO. Or sometimes there's only 2 10/20nl games but also some 10/20plo, then I don't really have to sit in the 5/10nl games.


Getting everything ready for my move to Rosarito at the end of next month. Yeah I know I said originally I was going to Vancouver, but this just makes a lot more sense to me. I'm going to keep a place here in San Diego so I don't have to uproot my entire life here. I'll probably travel back and forth between the two places once a week. Heading up to Mission Viejo tomorrow to pick up my new whip. 2013 Infiniti G37. I'll post some pictures once I have it my possession.


Going to have to do a lot of grinding this coming month as well. Trying to put as much money together as possible for when I move to play on Stars. I might have to just play 5/10 there for a bit until I can be sure I have a big enough roll that I won't go broke. What a disaster that would be if I changed everything in my life and moved to only go broke. Might need to take some extra precautions with regards to bankroll. I've began to study the HS games running on stars though. I can't really ever see myself playing in that 400/800 that's been running but eventually I'd like to sit in these 50/1 games I see running somewhat frequently. Gonna take some time but hopefully I can get there.

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Comments (11)

I figured I'd just post about some of the interesting hands I played yesterday. Sitting there for about 10 hours was super draining and I'm not looking forward to continuing to do it for the next 8 or 9 days but I guess there is obviously a big reward at the end if I can stick through. They just announced late last night that first prize is 9 million. Obviously half of that goes immediately to taxes, and I sold about 70% of myself so if I won I'd get somewhere around 1.35 million. Definitely life changing money, and obviously the endorsements and such would be just as big of a deal. This is still a pipe dream at the moment though. I'm not even trying to think about this until I'm near the final table.
Anyway so here are a few of the interesting hands I played:

Pretty much the first hand I played we were 300bb deep and UTG minraised to 200. I 3bet the button to 600 with 56s, UTG called. Flop A65r. He leads into me for 700. I raise to 2100 and he 3bets to 5k. I was really befuddled at this point and started thinking about preserving my tournament life. I'm definitely not going broke for 300bb with bottom 2 pair ever and when he 3bets to 5k he's basically saying, 'I want to get all your money by the river. I reluctantly decided to call the 3bet and see what he would do on the turn. He can't be a good player if he's calling a 3bet out of position then donking and 3betting over a raise. The most obvious hand that has me beat here is AA but I also feel he's probably bad enough to overplay AK or AQ this way. Would he try to play for stacks with AK? Unsure. I called and the turn was an offsuit queen. He doesn't take long and bets out 8k. I felt he seemed to confident and wasn't going to slowdown on the river. If I called this bet there would be about 27k in the pot and about 16k in stacks so I just couldn't make it and folded. This wasn't the last time that day I'd decide to fold 2 pair on the turn either.

A few hands later I watched the same guy 3bet, then call a 4bet OOP and donk lead 3 streets eventually getting half his stack in the middle w/ AK on a Q high board.

About 45 minutes later I eventually got into another pot with the same player. I raised KTcc to 300 from UTG+2 or something like that and he 3bet me to 700 total. I don't remember exactly how much he had in his stack but I think it was about 13k and I covered. Only 400 more is not enough for me to fold so I call and see if I can flop something. 7h5c4c. I check and he bets 1100 into 1400. I call. Turn 7c, I have a flush. Check. "all in" he said. "What? all in? call" I couldn't have said it fast enough. He turns over 2 red queens and he's drawing to a queen or a 7 but misses and I am back to slightly over the 30k starting chips.

I took down a few more random pots here and there just by raising and c-betting or someone would limp, then the guy to my right would raise and I'd 3bet and get a bunch of folds. The two guys two my right were both pros which I could figure out pretty quickly based on how they spoke. I'm pretty sure they didn't realize what I was doing to them by calling and floating them on the flop a bunch and making tiny turn or river bets to make them fold their air.

Next interesting hand that came up was another spot where there was a limp and I raised KQo from the CO to 800. BTN 3bet me to 2400. I thought for like 5 seconds and 4bet to 5k. He called. Flop AdKh5d, I have KdQx. I pretend to think for like 20 seconds and I check. The dude starts to get very nervous and begins frantically playing with his chips. I've never seen anyone do anything like that before, lol. He bets 4500. I called pretty quickly w/ the expectation that I would call another bet on a diamond turn and would fold to any future action he put into the pot. Turn came a brick, check check. River came another brick, check check again. I take it down.

Eventually I realized the entire table was scared of me. Whenever I would leave and come back they'd be talking about me, which is good, I'd rather not have guys fighting me for pots I'd rather just have them fold and not try to outplay me.

Next hand comes up I am dealt QQ UTG+2. UTG+1 opens to 500 @ 100/200 blinds. I could 3bet here and it might look a little FOS based on the dynamic at the time but this is just a situation I don't want to be risking a lot of my stack as his opening range from here should be very strong and anyone who puts money into the pot behind me is going to probably be quite strong. I decide to just call the 500. A woman in the hijack who had been playing quite tight 3bets to 2000. Rest of table folds around to me and I decide to call. She was about 20-25k deep and I obviously covered. Flop Th3h2c. I check, she bets 2500 into ~4.5k. I need to call here, she could be overplaying jacks, she could have AK and just be c-betting, I might peel one more bet, but if she pushes all in by the river I'll have to fold. Turn is the beautiful Qc. I quickly check hoping to induce a bet. She bets ~5k into ~9k. I have a decision here, do I wanna call again to try to induce her to value jam the river or do I just stick it in right here? In a cash game I would pretty much always just call here but I eventually decided that she might end up making a nitty check back on the river w/ AA or KK, or she could have something like AKhh and if I call I could be giving her a free chance to get there. Or if the river is a heart she will almost surely never jam with AA or KK so I opted to stick the other 15k or so in the pot now. She thinks for like 3 or 4 minutes and eventually folds.

I was basically sleeping in between hands at this point. I'd look at my cards, fold, then try to nap for the few minutes in between when I would get my next hand. I hadn't slept in a long time and was doing everything I could to stay awake. I had been drinking for almost 20 hours straight at this point because it's usually the only thing that can give me enough energy to keep me awake. I realized it wasn't really working anymore so decided to get up and go find myself a coffee. Tried downing that but it did absolutely nothing and felt even more tired. Was about 20 minutes before dinner break which was going to be a 90 minute break so I decided I'd go check into my room and try to nap for two hours right after I folded my next hand.

I got dealt Q9dd and one of the pros to my right opened to 500 @ 100/200 blinds. I was OTB and decided to call as I had been outplaying these guys a lot postflop and the blinds were not squeeze happy at all. Everyone else folded. Flop 9h3h2d. He bets 600 into ~1200 and I call. Turn is Tc and again he bets ~1500 into ~2400 pot on the turn. Again I have an easy call. River is 2s and he checks. Against a lot of guys it's just a check back on this river, but I'm pretty sure this dude is good enough to make a hero call with A hi and all the draws missed so I really need to put out a value bet against this guy. Pot is ~5400 or so and I decide on 3500. He hems and haws for a while, then says "I think I'm feeling like being a hero". I don't say anything but start to think 'I sure hope you do'. He eventually calls and I confidently turn over my 9, he mucks. I Collect my chips then leave the table. As I'm leaving, another dude at the table tells me I need to go get some rest and that I should just sleep through the rest of the day and come back when I feel better for day 2. I was too tired to laugh but it still feels good to be so feared.

I head to check into my room to try and get some rest. I lay down face first in the bed and a few minutes later I start itching uncontrollably. For what reason I don't know. It's driving me nuts though. I decide to go take a shower and start to find all these little bugs crawling all over me biting into my legs. God this was such an uncomfortable feeling. I guess the entire room they gave me was completely infested with bed bugs. All I wanted to do was sleep for the next 2 hours, that clearly wasn't happening though. I was livid at this situation. No sleep for me I guess. Had to get out of that room pronto and find some cortizone for the itching. Luckily my parents lived in Vegas and were around for the series so they came and helped me out with the situation, dealing with security and finding me a new room. Dinner break was just about over, so, back to the table I guess...

At this point I was up to somewhere around 50k in chips when the next hand came up...
Blinds 150/300 I raise red JJ to 900 from UTG+1. Old guy who had been playing pretty well and pretty aggressively who was the big stack for a while but just lost a huge pot due to misreading his hand. He 3bets me to 3300 from the SB. I had been making a bunch of folds to this guy and mostly letting him take pots from me just because I generally assume old guys are very very tight. I wasn't really looking to fold much to him at this point though based on the variables in play at this point. I called and the flop came 954r. He bets 8k into a 6.6k pot and he has about 25k behind, I covered. I don't see much point to calling here so I just stuck it all in and he called rather quickly with AQo. I dodged his 6 outer on turn/river and then I had ~85k stack.

Old guy gets up, about 5 minutes later, Phil Ivey sits down in his seat. With a massive chip stack, maybe about 140k. I'm just glad he's not sitting to my left.

It's probably pretty uncommon that Phil ever sits down at table at the world series where anyone at the table doesn't know who he is. I really didn't wanna give away any info to him so I mostly tried to just ignore him at first and not really say anything. He carries around head phones anyways, I assume because everyone probably tries to constantly talk to him. He does a pretty good job at coming off as aloof and not engage in much conversation but he was also pretty nice to the guys to his left and right who kept badgering him. He also just seems like a genuinely happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He's looking for every piece of information he can get at the table and you can sort of tease him by making him think you are going to show your hand. I noticed the guy to his left doing that and I started laughing at him about how badly he wanted the info and he was a good sport about it.

I knew mostly what to expect from Phil about his play. He'd be playing basically just super solid and probably would make few if any mistakes. I knew though that I would have a slight edge as long as he didn't know who I was because there's just no way he would be able to put me on a reasonable range so it'd be unclear to him what to do in more than a few situations. This is one of the advantages an unknown like me can have over a top player in the world. The second he finds out or realizes how good I am though then that advantage disappears and he would then actually have an edge over me. I may be one of the best but I'm not top 10 in the world best and when he realizes that there are certain things he can do to manipulate the situations off of very subtle pieces of information either in the board texture or about how much pressure he needs to apply to push me passed my inflection points and get me to fold a high percentage of the time.

This stuff shouldn't affect my play too much though because the fact of the matter is I'm the 2nd best player at a table of 9 where the other 7 are much much weaker. I don't need to be playing pots with Phil Ivey, I can find other better spots. This doesn't mean I should avoid him if the situation is a good one to put money in the pot, I just don't need to attack him or look to outplay him. I just need to play super solid and maybe a little tighter on average when he enters the pot.

So in the 3 hours we sat there I did play one pot heads up against him.

Blinds 150/300 w/ 25 ante he raises CO to 800. It's folded to me and I have 76o in the BB. With the ante in play this is a super standard call. I think it'd be a leak to fold, even against Phil. Flop Tc6h4s, I check, Phil bets 1400 into ~2k. I call. Turn is 8s. I realize this is going to be a perfect spot to checkraise the turn and barrel the river if he bets due to the fact that my hand is slightly too weak to call another bet against his turn betting range and I don't think he's going to have enough info about me to call down unless he has a super strong hand (many of which will be 3betting my turn checkraise so my river barrel should be very profitable). All of that ends up not mattering though because he checks back. River is an offsuit 9 which completes the straight for me. The pot is ~5k at this point and I decide I want to make a bet that looks like it's going for super thin value with a weakish two pair with the hope that I either induce a light call or a bluff raise. A big bet here just wouldn't make sense because my range has almost no air in it, so I bet 1200. He takes 5500 in chips and tosses them into the pot, I snap say "call". He turns over 76o. We had the same hand and chop the pot.

Just as the day was getting close to ending I get dealt AsTc in the BB. The Hijack opens to 1000 @ 200/400 w/ 50 ante, it folds to me and I call. I don't remember how deep we were, I definitely covered him, maybe he had around 35k in chips. Flop is AcKsTs. I check, he bets 1k into ~2500. I raise to 3k. He 3bets to 6600. This is a very annoying spot for me. I don't really beat any value hands and this guy had been playing so tight all day that I really didn't want to stack off against him here. If it's the case that I'm not trying to get my stack in the middle, maybe I shouldn't be raising these two pair hands on the flop. I fear that because the average player in this tournamen is so bad that he will likely overvalue his TPTK type hands and I might end up making a bad read and end up folding the best hand. I decided that I would do the same thing in this spot that I did in the previous one with two pair. I'd call the 3bet then try to get some kinda read off him on the turn based on his sizing and timing of his bet. If he bets the turn quickly and the bet threatens to get stacks in by the river I'd fold. If anything else happens I'll likely continue with the hand. I call the 6600. Turn was a brick, didn't change anything about the situation, I checked him him. Quickly he bets 10k. I waddle back and forth in my seat, shake my head, sigh, then fold my hand.

"I folded two pair", I said to him. He looks flustered and shows his hand to the woman sitting next to him. "I feel like you had me" I said. "She saw my hand, could I beat two pair?" "No" the woman said. Then the guy said "I just didn't really think you had much of anything. I guess I was wrong but it still worked out for me." This is the kind of thing that's super tilting to me. It doesn't affect my play or make me play worse, just aggravates me sometimes that I allowed myself to get in this situation where I have a huge equity advantage but due to my tournament life being such a key factor in my decision making that I need to end up letting go of the best hand in some situations. It takes a crazy amount of discipline and wherewithal to be able to do that kind of thing, it's a good thing I have so many years of experience. The guy making the mistake of overplaying his hand there (I'm pretty sure he had AK based on how he and the woman were talking about the hand) really has no chance to win this tournament and is going to end up costing himself his 10k entry fee by making that same type of mistake in the future. Against someone with less discipline than me or against someone who is raising with a nutted hand that's never going to fold like a set of tens of QJ.

There weren't really any other significant or interesting hands. I finished day 1 with an 89k chip stack which is triple what I started with so it's a great start. I thought I played very well over the course of the day despite being on no sleep and drinking pretty much the entire 10 hours at the table. Day 2c starts tomorrow and I will get a new table draw. Hopefully I'll continue to play well and will be able to slowly chip up while avoiding getting into many situations where my stack is at risk.

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Comments (61)

So June didn't go too well. Down ~16k or so. I actually lost 15k on June 1st then was eventually down about 25 at one point so except for that one day I mostly broke even which is fine. Summers have been historically bad for me over the years. I can't actually remember any summer that I had a standout month or winning streak. Not sure what it is cuz I know it's the most profitable time for most players. I hadn't been playing too much because I had been travelling back and forth to Vegas this month. Just got back from EDC on Monday and needed a couple of days to just relax, July is a new month though so we'll see what happens when I start back up tomorrow.

I'm thinking I'll probably go play the main event though. It's annoying and it's a grind but the payoff is just so big if you can get lucky and go deep in it. I'm not trying to put up the whole 10k myself though. I'd like to have about 1/3rd or 1/4th of my own action so if anybody wants to buy up the rest I'll sell it off at 1.2x. Send me a PM if you are interested in buying. Or anybody I know personally who is interested in swapping % let me know also.

I'm not having much success yet in PLO but I've also only been playing the game seriously for about 2 months now and maybe have played 20k hands in that time. I have been improving a lot though and I'm confident that improvement will continue. Certain guys who were giving me action when I first started playing have begun to refuse it to me so that tells me I must be doing something right. In trying to find action I ended up playing a number of different guys HU @ 5/10 and 10/20. Those shots didn't really go too well and were where I lost the largest amount of money during the month.

Still haven't started working with stinger yet since he's been so busy with bracelet bets during WSOP. I assume we'll start working on my game as soon as WSOP ends which I'm excited for since I really am focused on trying to improve and become as good a player as I can be. I'm just too good at this to give it up for anything else so if I'm going to commit to anything this has got to be it.

It's super difficult for me to make any kind of commitments and I'm always talking about trying to do different things and I usually have good intentions and want to do what I'm saying but don't seem to have a lot of follow through on them. Like I was saying I was gonna move to Vancouver but I feel like that's sorta changing now and I'm thinking of getting a place in Rosarito instead so that I can drive down and play poker Sunday through Wednesday and then come back to San Diego and still have fun here from Thursday through Saturday. I feel like that might help to provide me with some structure that I pretty much completely lack now.

I guess that's it for now.

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Comments (6)

So I've been focusing heavily lately on improving my PLO game. I've attempted to get a little better here and there in the past but this time I'm really putting everything I've got into it this time around. I figured you guys would be interested in my studying regimen and how I go about trying to reach my goals.

Essentially my plan is to (finally) move out of the US after this summer to be able to play on stars. If the games are good enough on ultimatepoker.com I shouldn't have to move, so just hoping that turns into something.

The first thing I did was get in contact with the strongest player I could find who is currently coaching. That was Brian Hastings. I've always found that I improved the most after taking the time to learn from some very smart players. Most notably on that list ATM would be Aaron Jones and Scott Augustine. Without those two guys I might still be struggling to beat mid stakes 6max. So anyways I paid Brian 10k for 20 hours, which we are supposed to start relatively soon.


The next thing I did was sign up a membership with runitonce.com. If you are a PLO player it's pretty crucial to have a membership there.


These are things anybody could and should do, the rest has to do with the best way you learn personally. I know a lot of guys who are able to mass multi table and get in tons and tons of hands and end up just learning by getting in lots of volume. I'm not one of those people, I'd guess most guys aren't like that. The thing is, if I play tens of thousands of hands in a short span of time I'm not able to think about individual hands so much or have enough time in game to actually consider all my options. I do a lot of my learning while in the middle of a hand just by sitting there and thinking about it, so what I want to do is never play more than 4 tables and keep all my sessions relatively short (about 1 hour, never more than 2). So the time I spend is basically divied up like this:


play 1 hour session-->
take ten minute break-->
review session-->
watch 1 video-->
take ten minute break-->
spend 30 minutes posting/reading whatever forums I can find-->
then repeat it all over again.


I've been doing this about 8 hours a day, 4-5 days a week for the last 3 weeks. I've already improved quite a significant amount. At first I would feel really lost trying to post on the forums not sure what to do in a lot of spots, whenever I'm really unclear as to what to do I try to think what questions I need answered in order to figure out what the correct response would be. This is where I struggle a lot, but once I figure out what those questions I need to be asking are, that's where I find I am able to fix a lot of my sticking points and spots I'm leaking money. I think one of the biggest things I was doing wrong for a while was undervaluing my hands in 4bet pots and another big issue was my bet sizing in 3 and 4bet pots. You have to know what you're doing wrong before you can fix it, if you never figure that out you aren't going to really get anywhere. Kinda obvious I know.

Anyways, PLO hasn't been going particularly well for me this month, think I'm down something like 14-15k, good thing NL is still going well as I'm up around 35k from that putting me at +~20k for May which is a solid result. I definitely won't be quitting NL anytime soon as it's my biggest money maker and I don't even think there's more than 100 guys who have an edge on me anymore at this point. Gonna keep plugging away at PLO in the hopes that I am good enough to grind 10/20-25/50 plo when I move to Vancouver at the end of the summer.


If any of you guys are gonna be in Vanouver around Sept/Oct/Nov let me know.

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Comments (13)

April definitely went much better than March. I didn't play that much, only got in around 40 hours and got in about 10-12k hands. Finished up ~+$45k or so. NL has been kinda boring for me lately and not particularly challenging so I signed up for runitonce and have been studying a bunch of PLO lately. I'm still not very good at it but I need to be more intellectually stimulated by the games I'm playing otherwise it just gets too boring for me and leads to burnout. It's definitely fun to be learning about all the different types of spots though.


Here's a few interesting hands I played last month...
Seat 3: Schleprock ($1,401)
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 ($1,000)
Seat 5: fastbreak10 ($2,010.50)
Button is seat 4
fastbreak10: posts small blind $5
Schleprock: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Th Ks]
Lu1if3r666: raises $30
fastbreak10: raises $85
Schleprock: folds
Lu1if3r666: calls $60
*** FLOP *** [Kd Qs 6s]
fastbreak10: bets $90
Lu1if3r666: calls $90
*** TURN *** [Kd Qs 6s]
fastbreak10: bets $190
Lu1if3r666: calls $190
*** RIVER *** [Kd Qs 6s]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: raises all-in $630
fastbreak10: calls $630
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $2,008.50 | Rake: $1.50 | BBJ: $0 |
Board: [Kd Qs 6s 3c 4h]
Seat 3: Schleprock lost -$10
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 lost -$1,000 [Jc Ac]
Seat 5: fastbreak10 won $2,008.50 (+$1,008.50) [Th Ks]

Seat 2: Lu1if3r666 ($1,664.77)
Seat 3: 3xKrazy ($1,155.25)
Seat 4: thesl1ceman ($1,172)
Seat 5: fastbreak10 ($1,270.75)
Seat 6: Mayland long ($1,264.83)
Button is seat 2
3xKrazy: posts small blind $5
thesl1ceman: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Tc 9c]
fastbreak10: raises $30
Mayland long: folds
Lu1if3r666: calls $30
3xKrazy: folds
thesl1ceman: folds
*** FLOP *** [Js Qh Kd]
fastbreak10: bets $50
Lu1if3r666: calls $50
*** TURN *** [Js Qh Kd]
fastbreak10: bets $120
Lu1if3r666: calls $120
*** RIVER *** [Js Qh Kd]
fastbreak10: bets $680
Lu1if3r666: calls $680
Lu1if3r666: mucks
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $1,772.50 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [Js Qh Kd 6s 8h]
Seat 2: Lu1if3r666 lost -$880
Seat 3: 3xKrazy lost -$5
Seat 4: thesl1ceman lost -$10
Seat 5: fastbreak10 won $1,772.50 (+$892.50) [Tc 9c]
Seat 6: Mayland long didn't bet


Seat 3: Schleprock ($1,212)
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 ($1,743.50)
Seat 6: fastbreak10 ($1,722)
Button is seat 4
fastbreak10: posts small blind $5
Schleprock: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Js Ts]
Lu1if3r666: raises $20
fastbreak10: raises $75
Schleprock: folds
Lu1if3r666: raises $190
fastbreak10: calls $130
*** FLOP *** [5c 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: bets $175
fastbreak10: calls $175
*** TURN *** [5c 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: bets $310
fastbreak10: calls $310
*** RIVER *** [5c 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: checks
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $1,398.50 | Rake: $1.50 | BBJ: $0 |
Board: [5c 5d Jh 3h 7s]
Seat 3: Schleprock lost -$10
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 lost -$695 [Ad 8c]
Seat 6: fastbreak10 won $1,398.50 (+$703.50) [Js Ts]


Seat 1: bibi777 ($604.75)
Seat 2: WhosGotItBetter ($1,719.50)
Seat 3: fastbreak10 ($1,249.50)
Seat 4: twinning2 ($1,182)
Seat 5: Milwaukee2 ($1,000)
Seat 6: Tcrowley ($2,211.41)
Button is seat 3
twinning2: posts small blind $5
Milwaukee2: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Jh Jd]
Tcrowley: folds
bibi777: folds
WhosGotItBetter: folds
fastbreak10: raises $20
twinning2: raises $75
Milwaukee2: folds
fastbreak10: calls $60
*** FLOP *** [2h Kd Kh]
twinning2: bets $110
fastbreak10: calls $110
*** TURN *** [2h Kd Kh]
twinning2: bets $260
fastbreak10: calls $260
*** RIVER *** [2h Kd Kh]
twinning2: checks
fastbreak10: bets $220
twinning2: calls $220
twinning2: mucks
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $1,346.50 | Rake: $3 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [2h Kd Kh 8d 2c]
Seat 1: bibi777 didn't bet
Seat 2: WhosGotItBetter didn't bet
Seat 3: fastbreak10 won $1,346.50 (+$676.50) [Jh Jd]
Seat 4: twinning2 lost -$670
Seat 5: Milwaukee2 lost -$10
Seat 6: Tcrowley didn't bet


Seat 3: Schleprock ($1,000)
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 ($1,143.50)
Seat 6: fastbreak10 ($1,092)
Button is seat 4
fastbreak10: posts small blind $5
Schleprock: posts big blind $10
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Ac 2c]
Lu1if3r666: raises $20
fastbreak10: raises $65
Schleprock: folds
Lu1if3r666: calls $50
*** FLOP *** [3c 7c 4h]
fastbreak10: bets $70
Lu1if3r666: calls $70
*** TURN *** [3c 7c 4h]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: bets $190
fastbreak10: calls $190
*** RIVER *** [3c 7c 4h]
fastbreak10: checks
Lu1if3r666: raises all-in $813.50
fastbreak10: raises all-in $762
Lu1if3r666: pulls back uncalled bet $51.50
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $2,192.50 | Rake: $1.50 | BBJ: $0 |
Board: [3c 7c 4h 3d 8c]
Seat 3: Schleprock lost -$10
Seat 4: Lu1if3r666 won $2,192.50 (+$1,100.50) [4c 4s]
Seat 6: fastbreak10 lost -$1,092 [Ac 2c]


Seat 1: flowerchild ($1,039.26)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($739.21)
Seat 3: charityfund ($501.10)
Seat 4: cypruschild ($1,044.20)
Button is seat 4
flowerchild: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Kc Kh]
charityfund: folds
cypruschild: raises $8
flowerchild: calls $6
fastbreak10: raises $32
cypruschild: folds
flowerchild: calls $28
*** FLOP *** [3c 4d 6h]
flowerchild: checks
fastbreak10: bets $40
flowerchild: calls $40
*** TURN *** [3c 4d 6h]
flowerchild: checks
fastbreak10: bets $108
flowerchild: raises $225
fastbreak10: calls $117
*** RIVER *** [3c 4d 6h]
flowerchild: bets $607.50
fastbreak10: raises all-in $438.21
flowerchild: pulls back uncalled bet $169.29
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $1,483.92 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [3c 4d 6h Qs 9s]
Seat 1: flowerchild lost -$739.21 [6d Ad]
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $1,483.92 (+$744.71) [Kc Kh]
Seat 3: charityfund didn't bet
Seat 4: cypruschild lost -$8


Seat 1: flowerchild ($412)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($1,206.16)
Seat 3: 3xKrazy ($410)
Seat 6: Sm3ag0l ($985.26)
Button is seat 6
flowerchild: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Kd Kc]
3xKrazy: folds
Sm3ag0l: folds
flowerchild: raises $10
fastbreak10: raises $28
flowerchild: raises $64
fastbreak10: calls $44
*** FLOP *** [9s 8c 2d]
flowerchild: bets $66
fastbreak10: calls $66
*** TURN *** [9s 8c 2d]
flowerchild: raises all-in $270
fastbreak10: calls $270
*** RIVER *** [9s 8c 2d]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $821.50 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [9s 8c 2d Ah 4c]
Seat 1: flowerchild lost -$412 [Qd Qc]
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $821.50 (+$409.50) [Kd Kc]
Seat 3: 3xKrazy didn't bet
Seat 6: Sm3ag0l didn't bet


Seat 2: cypruschild ($408)
Seat 4: fastbreak10 ($400)
Seat 5: 3xKrazy ($1,534.22)
Button is seat 2
fastbreak10: posts small blind $2
3xKrazy: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Js As]
cypruschild: raises $8
fastbreak10: raises $30
3xKrazy: raises $68
cypruschild: folds
fastbreak10: calls $40
*** FLOP *** [5h 6c Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
3xKrazy: bets $48
fastbreak10: calls $48
*** TURN *** [5h 6c Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
3xKrazy: bets $76
fastbreak10: calls $76
*** RIVER *** [5h 6c Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
3xKrazy: bets $398.50
fastbreak10: raises all-in $204
3xKrazy: pulls back uncalled bet $194.50
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $806.50 | Rake: $1.50 | BBJ: $0 |
Board: [5h 6c Jh 2h 8d]
Seat 2: cypruschild lost -$8
Seat 4: fastbreak10 won $806.50 (+$406.50) [Js As]
Seat 5: 3xKrazy lost -$400 [Kc Qh]



eat 3: noamchomsky ($436)
Seat 4: 20kperday ($925.20)
Seat 5: 3xKrazy ($635.22)
Seat 6: fastbreak10 ($400)
Button is seat 4
3xKrazy: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [9c Ks]
noamchomsky: folds
20kperday: raises $8
3xKrazy: folds
fastbreak10: raises $28
20kperday: calls $24
*** FLOP *** [3s 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: bets $36
20kperday: raises $72
fastbreak10: calls $36
*** TURN *** [3s 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: checks
20kperday: checks
*** RIVER *** [3s 5d Jh]
fastbreak10: raises all-in $296
20kperday: calls $296
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $799.50 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [3s 5d Jh Kh 9d]
Seat 3: noamchomsky didn't bet
Seat 4: 20kperday lost -$400 [7c 7d]
Seat 5: 3xKrazy lost -$2
Seat 6: fastbreak10 won $799.50 (+$399.50) [9c Ks]



Seat 1: flowerchild ($1,144.87)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($500.30)
Seat 3: charityfund ($400)
Seat 4: cypruschild ($897.50)
Button is seat 4
flowerchild: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [8h 7h]
charityfund: raises $12
cypruschild: folds
flowerchild: folds
fastbreak10: raises $40
charityfund: calls $32
*** FLOP *** [7s 2d 3d]
fastbreak10: bets $32
charityfund: calls $32
*** TURN *** [7s 2d 3d]
fastbreak10: bets $64
charityfund: calls $64
*** RIVER *** [7s 2d 3d]
fastbreak10: bets $108
charityfund: raises all-in $260
fastbreak10: calls $152
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $799.50 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [7s 2d 3d 5s 9h]
Seat 1: flowerchild lost -$2
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $799.50 (+$399.50) [8h 7h]
Seat 3: charityfund lost -$400 [Jd Qd]
Seat 4: cypruschild didn't bet



eat 1: flowerchild ($1,263.70)
Seat 3: fastbreak10 ($549.70)
Seat 4: charityfund ($564)
Seat 5: gadolparah ($404)
Button is seat 5
flowerchild: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Ad 8d]
charityfund: raises $12
gadolparah: folds
flowerchild: folds
fastbreak10: raises $36
charityfund: calls $28
*** FLOP *** [Jd 7c 6s]
fastbreak10: bets $40
charityfund: calls $40
*** TURN *** [Jd 7c 6s]
fastbreak10: bets $104
charityfund: calls $104
*** RIVER *** [Jd 7c 6s]
fastbreak10: raises all-in $365.70
charityfund: calls $365.70
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $1,098.90 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [Jd 7c 6s Qd 4c]
Seat 1: flowerchild lost -$2
Seat 3: fastbreak10 lost -$549.70 [Ad 8d]
Seat 4: charityfund won $1,098.90 (+$549.20) [6h 6d]
Seat 5: gadolparah didn't bet



Seat 3: noamchomsky ($442)
Seat 4: 20kperday ($511.70)
Seat 5: 3xKrazy ($607.72)
Seat 6: fastbreak10 ($400)
Button is seat 5
fastbreak10: posts small blind $2
noamchomsky: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Jd As]
20kperday: raises $12
3xKrazy: calls $12
fastbreak10: raises $46
noamchomsky: folds
20kperday: calls $36
3xKrazy: folds
*** FLOP *** [5h 9c Ts]
fastbreak10: bets $44
20kperday: raises $88
fastbreak10: calls $44
*** TURN *** [5h 9c Ts]
fastbreak10: checks
20kperday: bets $96
fastbreak10: calls $96
*** RIVER *** [5h 9c Ts]
fastbreak10: raises all-in $168
20kperday: calls $168
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $813.50 | Rake: $2 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [5h 9c Ts 2c Jh]
Seat 3: noamchomsky lost -$4
Seat 4: 20kperday won $813.50 (+$413.50) [Qh Kd]
Seat 5: 3xKrazy lost -$12
Seat 6: fastbreak10 lost -$400 [Jd As]



eat 1: flowerchild ($1,123.40)
Seat 2: Pescado Grande ($448)
Seat 3: fastbreak10 ($583)
Seat 4: charityfund ($1,098.80)
Seat 5: WhosGotItBetter ($442.50)
Seat 6: hillbillybob ($126.50)
Button is seat 1
Pescado Grande: posts small blind $2
fastbreak10: posts big blind $4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [9d 8h]
charityfund: folds
WhosGotItBetter: folds
hillbillybob: folds
flowerchild: raises $8
Pescado Grande: folds
fastbreak10: calls $4
*** FLOP *** [Ts Tc Qh]
fastbreak10: checks
flowerchild: bets $11.06
fastbreak10: calls $11.06
*** TURN *** [Ts Tc Qh]
fastbreak10: checks
flowerchild: bets $27.50
fastbreak10: raises $92
flowerchild: calls $64.50
*** RIVER *** [Ts Tc Qh]
fastbreak10: bets $148
flowerchild: calls $148
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $516.62 | Rake: $3 | BBJ: $0.50 |
Board: [Ts Tc Qh 6c Ah]
Seat 1: flowerchild won $516.62 (+$257.56) [2h Th]
Seat 2: Pescado Grande lost -$2
Seat 3: fastbreak10 lost -$259.06 [9d 8h]
Seat 4: charityfund didn't bet
Seat 5: WhosGotItBetter didn't bet
Seat 6: hillbillybob didn't bet


eat 1: JumboKittens ($942.33)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($764)
Button is seat 2
fastbreak10: posts small blind $3
JumboKittens: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Th 5h]
fastbreak10: raises $9
JumboKittens: raises $42
fastbreak10: calls $36
*** FLOP *** [Kc Jc 3s]
JumboKittens: checks
fastbreak10: bets $54
JumboKittens: calls $54
*** TURN *** [Kc Jc 3s]
JumboKittens: checks
fastbreak10: bets $144
JumboKittens: calls $144
*** RIVER *** [Kc Jc 3s]
JumboKittens: checks
fastbreak10: bets $324
JumboKittens: folds
fastbreak10: pulls back uncalled bet $324
fastbreak10: mucks
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $491 | Rake: $1 |
Board: [Kc Jc 3s 9c 4h]
Seat 1: JumboKittens lost -$246
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $491 (+$245)


Seat 1: JumboKittens ($728)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($600)
Button is seat 2
fastbreak10: posts small blind $3
JumboKittens: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [Qd Kh]
fastbreak10: raises $9
JumboKittens: raises $42
fastbreak10: calls $36
*** FLOP *** [2s 4h Kd]
JumboKittens: bets $48
fastbreak10: calls $48
*** TURN *** [2s 4h Kd]
JumboKittens: checks
fastbreak10: checks
*** RIVER *** [2s 4h Kd]
JumboKittens: bets $126
fastbreak10: calls $126
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $443 | Rake: $1 |
Board: [2s 4h Kd 4s 9d]
Seat 1: JumboKittens lost -$222 [3c 5s]
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $443 (+$221) [Qd Kh]



Seat 1: JumboKittens ($682)
Seat 2: fastbreak10 ($1,397.67)
Button is seat 1
JumboKittens: posts small blind $3
fastbreak10: posts big blind $6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
fastbreak10: dealt [8d Qc]
JumboKittens: raises $9
fastbreak10: calls $6
*** FLOP *** [Ts Kc Js]
fastbreak10: checks
JumboKittens: bets $18
fastbreak10: raises $60
JumboKittens: calls $42
*** TURN *** [Ts Kc Js]
fastbreak10: bets $120
JumboKittens: calls $120
*** RIVER *** [Ts Kc Js]
fastbreak10: bets $312
JumboKittens: folds
fastbreak10: pulls back uncalled bet $312
fastbreak10: mucks
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $383 | Rake: $1 |
Board: [Ts Kc Js 7h 5d]
Seat 1: JumboKittens lost -$192
Seat 2: fastbreak10 won $383 (+$191)

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Comments (5)

Haven't heard from him or seen him in a long time. Anybody know?

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Comments (21)

Feels like I only post blogs when I'm winning so kinda obligated to post ones when I'm losing.

Lost a lot in March. I think around 50k. Definitely my biggest losing month. I was down about 60 but made a bit of it back. Really only played maybe 30-40hrs the whole month because I had a lot of fun going out with friends.

It's really strange. Sometimes I can be having a really awful day but be up like 4 or 5 grand. I can't talk to my everyday friends about those kinds of things and I try my best to hide it because I feel even worse knowing how much it could improve some of their lives if they had earned that kind of money that day and how badly I sometimes feel despite winning. I guess poker has made me really jaded when it comes to money because stupid insignificant issues I'm having in my life often seem to affect me more adversely than the swings do. It's definitely a good thing for me as a poker player, but almost feels like I'm turning into an emotionless robot.

Did drop down and played a little bit of 2/4 and 3/6 for a few sessions. Was really a lot less stressful and took a lot of pressure off me to not need to be dealing with 5 figure swings on a regular basis.

I jumped back up to playing mostly 5/10 and a little bit of 10/20 once I started to win a bit. Still running bad though. Mostly stuff like flopping top set in 3bet pots OOP and chk/calling down only to get stacked by a random backdoored straight or something like that.

Hopefully things turn around in April.

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Comments (3)

Downswinging

Before I get into this post I just wanted to make sure you guys knew to add me on facebook. I'm trying to create a bit of an atmosphere there and build towards launching my website that is about to come together at some point or another. You guys are mostly poker players, you should know, we can be a lazy bunch when it comes to this kind of thing. It's still in the works though, just takes some time. Anyways my point was, add me on facebook ....facebook.com/peter.jennings.944

Anyways, on to the post:

It's not something I've done a ton of talking about in this blog in general because I would like to be the type of person who doesn't focus much on the negative and who perpetuates positive beliefs and positive thoughts.

I'm in the middle of the biggest downswing of my life right now though. I can't be exact because I really don't even know what my actual net worth is. Money is spread out too far among too many different places and people for me to figure that out. I would guess this downswing has fallen roughly near the 60k mark though over the last 5 weeks.

My life has been a lot better since the start of 2013. Finding that perfect balance is almost an impossibility, but I had clearly tipped too far in the direction of only playing poker and grinding to earn as much money as possible. Over the course of this year I've done everything pretty much the opposite. I have been going out or having friends by 5-6 nights a week. Usually up til 5AM, sometimes even 10AM. It's been a good change of pace, and fun.

I'm not necessarily looking to completely re-direct all of my goals back towards poker. That wouldn't be the right thing for me to do right now. What I'm gonna do is just keep living my life making the best decisions I can for each moment I have. I think this is the only sane way to live.

I assume most of you guys reading this blog regularly are pros so you should be able to relate with what I'm going through. Obviously I can't claim to be on the level of these world beating players who win and lose half a mil a day, but I really can't remember too many people lately blogging about being on a 60k downswing over the course of 5 weeks.

I do remember Sauce wrote a pretty insightful blog post a while back about his biggest downer and how he began to question whether he was even ever a winning player. If someone at that level of the game can feel that way, you gotta realize that it happens to all of us. The amount of money isn't really what we are getting at here though, it's all a matter of degree. How big of a portion of your bankroll was the loss? How far down in stakes do you have to drop in order to get back to the position you were previously at? How long do you need to stay there until you will feel comfortable stepping back up?

Personally, I talk to quite a few of the guys I play with on a regular basis. I would say we have a mutual respect for one another. That type of thing definitely helps a ton. Nothing is easier than to think you are a terrible player and that you can't possibly win no matter what you do when EVERYTHING is going wrong. Having some other people around who have been in thoat same spot and can relate to what you are going through while having the intellect to be able to connect with you that you actually are a smart winning player is something that just helps a ton.

Regardless, this is the type of thing that will make or break you as a pro. How well do you handle your downswings? Can you stick with it and keep a level head despite losing day after day buy in after buy in? Those who can continue to make the right decisions and realize the results are merely an afterthought are the ones who survive in this world. I know because I've been doing it for almost 7 years now.

This is as much a reminder to myself as it is to any of you guys out there who I'm sure struggle with the same thing. How strong is your will? Can you continue to believe in yourself when nothing goes your way, when you just got sucked out on for the 6th time straight this session, when the same thing has happened the last 15 sessions you've played? When you just mistakenly bluffed off a stack in a stupid way because you were frustrated about a number of bad beats? When you can do that and not lose your mind, you'll know you've made it.

Anyways, on a side note. I made like 6 cardrunners on the go HH review videos. Each about 5-7 minutes in length. Hope you guys enjoy those.

It's been quite a while since I felt I really needed to drop down below 5/10 but I guess this might be the time to do it.

GL

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Comments (40)

So I'm in the process of putting together my own website. It's just gonna be all about my life and me and there will be a bit of poker stuff sprinkled in here and there. I might make a few training videos and sell them for $20 a piece just for fun and to build a bit of a following to the site.

I'm working on doing more video commentaries as well as graphs and a forum section where people could just ask me whatever. I was also gonna put up some video blogs, you know, me talking to a camera, showing you a bit about where I live, you can check out my setup and probably can find where my new eventual home for my blog will be.

What I wanna do now is like work on starting stuff small. If you guys are on facebook I want you to add me. I never really used it seriously before because I thought it was kinda lame. But now that I'm seeing what capabilities it really has to reach a wider audience I think it's the right thing for me to do and I think a lot of people will find the random stuff I post and the comments I write to be pretty cool.

I'll do a monthly pool with all the people who add me via this blog so make sure you let me know who you are. At the end of the month I'll give one of the winners a free hour of coaching. Every month.

link to it is facebook.com/peter.jennings.944

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Comments (9)