The Plan is Going According to...Plan

Well, I have much good to report from my big two days of play on Friday and Saturday. Buckle in. Here's where you find out if you really like to read my blog or not. And if you make it to the end, there is potentially a prize. So get reading.

Friday - Online - 5 hours
Friday was more about moral victory than monetary victory. The first thing I did was play a $3.30 MTT. If I had this to do over again, I'd have passed on the MTT. Because after about 2 1/2 hours, I busted in 14th for a profit of $.01. I thought it was going to be another average card-dead MTT, but about the time I got to 7-8x the BB, I pushed and doubled up, then hit a rush of cards, and before I know it I'm in a pretty commanding lead over the whole field. Problem is, after the first break I knew my big stack wouldn't be big for long, so I kept trying to stay in and pick up what I could, but ended up running into some big hands by the smaller stacks. So my luck had run out, and I busted. Good MTT experience that I'm proud of, but my time probably would've been better spent in SNGs. First, because I had a better shot at real cash, and second, because after busting out of the MTT, I didn't have enough time to open a SNG before I went to meet the wife for lunch, so I jumped into some micro limit cash games and proceeded to donk away about $10.

After lunch I came back and had a pretty good afternoon. I didn't want to multitable SNGs because I feel like I'm not great at that, so I played $5.50 SNGs while playing some $.10/$.20 Limit. In my first SNG, I got super stupid and got involved in a 4-way all-in early w/TP, terrible kicker, and I was immediately pissed at myself because I promised myself that this is exactly the way I *wouldn't* play. So after that I buckled down. I won the next SNG I played, busted on the bubble of the one after that, and then took 2nd in the last one I played. The cash game was pretty break even, and the end result was a bankroll of $100 even.

Saturday - Live - 2 1/2 Hours
Saturday was what I was really looking forward to/most nervous about. I headed out to the local casino and got there at about 9:30 AM. Its not ideal because I'd be playing basically locals, and didn't have a giant win potential. But at the same time, it would be a great test of my skills. I headed out there w/$165, and my plan was to buy in to 3/6 Limit w/$65, and then if/when I completed that 2nd hundred dollars, I'd venture into 1/2 NL with one buy-in behind. Well, when I showed up, there was a full 1/2 table going, and a list for 3/6. I got myself on both lists and waited. By 10:00, seat 5 opened up in the NL game, so I figured I'd just take it and play crazy tight until I could get my 3/6 seat.

I didn't see a whole lot early, and probably was blinded down about $20-$30 by the time I picked up my first pot. In the small blind, I look down and look at a black AJ, with the nut ace. I made it $12 to go, and got a call from the BB only. He was a "play any two" type player who liked to run his mouth and yuck it up, and was pretty much overall a bad player who hit real lucky to win his pots. The flop comes J89 of spades, so I'm looking at TPTK, with the nut flush draw. The thought of slow playing crossed my mind, but I felt like I could get a value bet out of this guy. So I threw out 10. He called pretty quickly, and I immediately suspected he was holding Q 10. Don't ask me why, but I felt like that was his most likely holding. So when the turn came down a J, I went ahead and checked, on the feeling that it wasn't good. He put out $15, and I called with my full house and nut flush draws. Well I'll be damned if the river wasn't the case J, giving me quads. Now here's the thing about this hand. I can't possibly lose. "He could be holding the straight flush" you say, but as most any of you know, there's a little something in card rooms called the "Bad Beat Jackpot". If I lose to a straight flush with quads and an ace kicking, I'm actually much better off, bringing home a handfull of thousands. I'm actually HOPING I'm beat here. But knowing you can't possibly get away from this hand without turning a profit is a DAMN good feeling. Anyway, I went ahead and checked the river, as I don't think he was putting me on the J. He, of course, fired $15 at it, and at that point I pushed all-in. He went into the tank for a while, and eventually mucked, convincing himself I had the J. He said he had Q 10, with the Q of spades. After the hand was over, I was extremely upset with myself for the push. I feel like there was a 50/50 shot he'd call the push just based on the kind of player he was. But I *know* I could've raised him x amount and he'd have paid to see it. Please let me know what you think about the push there. I've really gone back and forth about it, and am having a hard time deciding what the best play there is. I feel like the bottom line is that I didn't get the most possible value out of my hand as I could, but at the same time, with a 50% or better chance this guy calls my push, I feel like I have to do it, just on the possibility.

So anyway, after that I was up around $40. My 3/6 seat opened up not too long after this hand, and I promptly turned it down, having already hit my profit milestone in the NL game, and would've been looking for a seat there at this point anyway.

The next hand I played was not too long after the quads hand, and it involved the guy in the 7 seat. He had just taken a pretty bad beat, and after several limpers, made it $15 to go in the big blind. It folded around to me, and I decided that I wanted to see a flop with my 89c. The flop came 89J, and he threw out another $15 bet. I raised him to $30, fully willing to take it down right here, and he disgustedly folded. Not an earth shattering pot, but $30 + blinds in profit is reasonably significant.

After this hand there was another long period of inactivity and I was approaching even again. But then I look down and find KK in late position. I made it $20 to go, and the same loose/bad player in seat 6 that I was in the quads pot with re-raised me. Easily planning on re-raising here, things got further complicated when the new guy in seat 1 limp-pushed his $100 buy-in in. I'm not gonna pretend there was a whole lot of thought involved here, but not having a read on this guy, and not willing to put all my chips on the line, I figured $20 was a pretty cheap price to get away from my kings. So I mucked them. Thankfully, the other player called, and when all was said and done, seat 1 showed down his aces, picking up trips on the turn. The only unfortunate thing was that seat 6 didn't show down his preflop re-raise hand. At this point I'm thinking to myself that I may be pretty decent at this game. Like I said, in the moment, it was a pretty simple laydown, and any decent player should understand that, but how many players can *really* make it?? So I really felt like I was clicking at this point.

The biggest hand of the day came about 20-30 minutes later when I picked up QQ in late position. There were 7 limpers so far, and I made it $20 to go here, too. But here's where it got interesting. Everyone called. So that was quite intriguing to me, and I'm thinking a whole lot of the aces and kings are already out, and that I just need to tread lightly depending on the board, really looking out for possible pocket pairs, straights, and flushes. But a whole different scenario appeared when the flop came Q-high, all hearts. It checked around to me, and I really only had one move. The good news was that all my chips was more than the amount of the pot, so I gave nobody odds to draw to their flushes. I just hoped they knew that. They all mucked, and all the sudden I'm up over $200 total, and thinking I'd really have to screw up for this to be a losing session. It started to settle in that I was going to be a winner today.

So even though I had about an hour and a half until my designated quitting time, I instead started thinking about a monetary high mark for quitting. I've run well, and I need to quit before things get ugly. So I got to thinking if I can get to $235, I will have completed the "stray" hundred plus another hundred, (aka walking out w/$300) and if I can't walk away happy with that, there's something wrong with me. I was sitting somewhere in the $220s at this point, so I didn't have far to go.

One more major pot occured before I called it quits. A bunch of people had limped into a pot, and I did the same in late position with a red QJ. So things were stacking up pretty hunky dory until the button made it $8 to go. He was new to the table, but had played just a couple hands pretty meakly, and I wasn't terribly scared of him. A few of the limpers stayed, as did I, and we saw a flop of x 9 10 rainbow. Works for me. It checked around to me, I also checked to see what the button was up to, and he threw out a $15 bet. It folded around to me, I called the bet, and then came the turn. A king of the 4th suit, completing my nut straight. I checked again, and the button bet another $25. Perfect. Looking to sink my teeth in on the river, I "went into the tank" for 10-15 seconds or so and then called. The river was a meaningless card, and I checked again, drooling at the prospect of the endless riches headed my way. Well, the damned button checked behind me, and I took down what was there.

Now I *know* I played this hand wrong, but the question is did I play it wrong well before I had made my hand, or was just my lack of a river bet the worst of all transgressions?

Anyway, at this point I was up over $270 total, which doubled what I walked into the casino with. I stuck around for the last of my free hands. After I limped UTG w/33 and folded to a late position raise that left me with $270 exactly. Enough to have doubled what I walked in with and an extra $5 for lunch. It felt like fate to me, so I walked away about 45 minutes before my designated quitting time.

This session really made me feel good about my game. The recent small limit wins were all well and good, but I was still afraid I was just having some decent luck, and it was due to come crashing down any moment. I was very much prepared to lose on Saturday. It felt like it was time. Also, the beast I really wanted to conquer was NL cash games. Every time I've played NL cash, I tend to really hemmhorage due to a strong lack of discipline. I had too many holes and my game was much too volatile. On Saturday I sat down at that table, played the best way I know how, and walked away with twice what I walked in with. I'm not one to brag, but I felt like Neo the first time he could see The Matrix. Every move the table made spelled out to me exactly where they were at and how to beat them, and beat them I did. I have got to play live more. It just comes so naturally to me. I may not be good at putting people on hands, and I can't tell you any reason or reasons specifically why on a hand by hand basis, but I know when I'm beat, and I know when I have the advantage, and that's all that really matters. I can continue to work on refining that. All that matters right now, is with a clear milestones in place, less than a month ago my bankroll was $15. Now its $400. I think that speaks for itself.

The New Plan
So...since I came out way ahead of what I could've ever imagined, my plan has changed again. Thanks to my spike in bankroll, I withdrew and redeposited my $100 at Poker.com, and will be playing the $500 New Depositor Freerolls for 5 of the next 7 days I'm eligible. TV isn't new this week, so it was a perfect week to do it. I'm also moving up to the $11 SNGs. Word on the street is that you're never to risk more than 5% of your bankroll at any given time, and while $11 may be 10% of my online bankroll, I've got some cash reserves behind to back me up if need be. But I'm confident in my abilities to beat that level, and need to be trying to make some more serious money online if I'm going to build to play in the Circuit Event. I'm not worried about the $50 to Full Tilt any more, because I'll have to work my ass off to clear my bonus at Poker.com with only 30 days to do so, so I'm just gonna wait and see if maybe they pick up my blog submission and maybe I can get $50 free.

ALL THAT SAID...I swear I'm winding up here...I started "The New Plan" last night with the $500 freeroll and a couple of $11 SNGs. The tournament was a straight line, followed by a huge spike up, a plateau, and then a line straight down. With 189 runners, I was getting dick for cards at first, and was sitting as low as 118 out of 124 left with over 1k left (1500 starting stack) and blinds only at 25/50. I couldn't believe how short of a stack that was. The average was only $1900. Not that it mattered, because I knew I had a lot of play left, but it was just surprising. Anyway, I went on a mad rush of cards that I had been waiting for, and before I know it I'm in 8th, with over 6000 chips. I maintained top 10 through the first break, and then I slipped mentally shortly into the 2nd hour. I was in 15th-18th, and for some reason I started getting anxious. I had limped with a suited 6-high in the small blind, and when the flop came 6-high, needing a 5 for the straight, I bet 2/3 of the pot. A bigger stack pushed all-in, and my immediate instinct was to fold, because I'd be in much better shape some other time. Eventually convincing myself that he was on a bluff and I'd love to double up off him, I called and couldn't outrun his 10s. Out in 60th, and loathing myself. The two SNGs basically made up the losses that I feel like I'm owed. The first one was no cards all the way down to 7xBB, where I pushed with 2s and ran into the chip lead's 7s. In the 2nd I was more than doubled up into a solid 2nd early, then went as card dead as I can ever remember from there down to 5 left. Literally nothing higher than a Q6 for almost 4 levels. I finally found KJo in 5th out of 5, ran up against KQ, and although I flopped a J, a Q on the river made things right.

So it wasn't a great start to the new plan, but I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't really into it last night. Like I've said, live takes a lot out of me, and usually tides me over for a few days, so when I sat into that MTT, I just didn't really feel like I had my A game with me. It didn't help that I was running downstairs to greet trick-or-treaters, too. And I also was owed a little variance, which I feel like I saw some of last night. Hopefully that's plenty for a while. I'm much more pumped about playing tonight. I really wanna take one of these down, put another $150 in the roll, and get a little trophy by my name at Poker.com. The tourney was impressively soft, so I just have to keep my wits about me and avoid some bad beats, and I'd love to be talking about cashes in the remaining 4 shots I have at this.

Second to last, I've been stupid busy and I'm WAY behind on my blog reading, which SUCKS.

And finally, as part of my deposit bonus, I got a ticket to an Aussie Millions Freeroll coming up on Saturday. I can't play in it because I have an ISU game, so I was wondering if anybody was interested in playing in it for me. We could work out some sort of deal in the event that you take it down, but I'd hate for the ticket to just go to waste. The field isn't gonna be huge, and you know it isn't good, so I really think the entry needs to be used. Let me know if you're interested.

If you made it this far, I commend you, and appreciate you sticking with me more than words can explain. Hope everyone is doing well, and the poker gods are smiling. I'll be back much sooner than you hope.