SNG - Day 25

Short and Sweet again. Only played one set.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 30	MTD	ITD
Games	3	276	416
1sts	2	31	51
2nds	0	34	57
3rds	0	31	42
4ths	0	32	42
5 - 7	1	91	124
8 - 10	0	57	100
ITM%	66.67%	34.78%	36.06%
ROI	203.03%	5.07%	11.45%
Net$	335	770	2620

1. 7th - KQ lost to JJ
2. 1st - A8 beat Q7
3. 1st - Q9 beat J3

I played 3 games in a little $10 neighborhood tourney tonight. I lost all three. I am like 0 for my last 10 or so with these guys. Nice piece of humble pie. None of them are great poker players (including myself) and they don't play a lot... just in our game that we probably play twice a month. I thought I was on the virge of winning one when my ATs got 2 pair by the turn; but the river put a 4 card flush on the board of which I obviously didn't have the right suit. Oh well, what can you do. We have a good time and that is what it is really about anyway.

SNG - Day 24

Well, the month is almost over. I played 2 sets last night. Nothing has really changed. I continue to have unfortunate luck; but am still remaining on the postive side. The one I did win was kind of lucky. I was sitting in 5th chip position with 5 people left. A huge all in by others and just like that I was in the money. I then won a 3 way all in and tripled up and the other 2 guys went to war and put in top 2. I then won the heads up challenge. Here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 29	MTD	ITD
Games	6	273	413
1sts	1	29	49
2nds	0	34	57
3rds	2	31	42
4ths	1	32	42
5 - 7	1	90	123
8 - 10	1	57	100
ITM%	50.0%	34.43%	35.84%
ROI	36.36%	2.90%	10.06%
Net$	120	435	2285

1. 3rd - AQ lost to 66 on river... Ace on flop
2. 3rd - AT lost to KQ
3. 4th - AT lost to A7 on river
4. 6th - KQ lost KT on river
5. 9th - AQ lost K6
6. 1st - 88 beat Q9

In other news, I have cleared two casino bonuses playing blackjack. The second casino bonus chase didn't go as well as the first one. I made $140 on the first one and only $5 on the second one. I will continue on ScurvyDog's schedule of big honking casino bonuses.

A re-ocurring conversation with Mrs Wonka is how to fund her hobby... scrapbooking. While this is a great hobby and she does a great job chronicling our life with pictures, it is a pretty expensive hobby. I proposed this casino bonus chase idea to her. She is NOT a gambler and I told her that it is easy and that I even have a chart to follow to tell you exactly what to do.. She declined. Oh well, I tried. For some reason, she doesn't like it when I say my hobby (she calls it an addiction) makes money instead of costing money.

OK, I've been humbled

Take a look at this link to a 19 year old poker pro in Maryland... The gist is that he played 1,000 200+15 SNGS in less than a month. Check out the link to see the results..

http://www.zeejustin.com/journal.php?journal_id=33

Wow... and I'll say it again... wow.

Oh to be young and fearless.

It does raise an interested question. What is the true difference between a $5 SNG and $10.. $10 and $50... $50 & $100... $100 and $200. I can only actually speak on SNGs from $5 to $50. I can say that I can tell that there are better players at $50 than $5 (obviously)... but I didn't see a great difference between say... 20, 30 and 50. I guess it is all about bankroll.

Did I say wow?

SNG - Day 23

Short and Sweet Today.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 28	MTD	ITD
Games	3	267	407
1sts	1	28	48
2nds	0	34	57
3rds	1	29	40
4ths	0	31	41
5 - 7	1	89	122
8 - 10	0	56	99
ITM%	66.67%	34.08%	35.63%
ROI	112.12%	2.15%	9.67%
Net$	185	315	2165

1. 5th - AA lost to 98
2. 1st - A3 beat 82
3. 3rd - AJ lost to A9

I thought I would the following hand in. I did everything wrong on this hand and still came up on top. I'm really used to be on the other side of these bad beats. The only reason I did it was that I was kind of shortstacked. I deserve any abuse that I get on this one.

***** Hand History for Game 2440863630 *****
100/200 TOURNEY TEXAS HOLD'EM GAME TABLE (NL) (TOURNAMENT 14347252) - THU JUL 28 23:03:10 EDT 2005
Table Table 22518 (Real Money) -- Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 1: boatt1ts (370)
Seat 4: wilwonka (700)
Seat 5: dunemaster (1900)
Seat 6: win17ga (1660)
Seat 7: LennyTomah (1205)
Seat 8: Nagaroo62 (360)
Seat 9: Raise28 (2550)
Seat 10: rrichone (1255)
Raise28 posts small blind (50)
rrichone posts big blind (100)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to wilwonka [ Jd, Ah ]
boatt1ts folds.
wilwonka raises (300) to 300
dunemaster folds.
win17ga folds.
LennyTomah raises (1205) to 1205
LennyTomah is all-In.
Nagaroo62 folds.
Raise28 folds.
rrichone folds.
wilwonka calls (400)
wilwonka is all-In.
Creating Main Pot with $1550 with wilwonka
Creating Side Pot 1 with $505 with LennyTomah
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Tc, Jc, 9s ]
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9d ]
** Dealing River ** : [ 5c ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: 1550 Side Pot 1: 505
Board: [ Tc Jc 9s 9d 5c ]
boatt1ts balance 370, didn't bet (folded)
wilwonka balance 1550, bet 700, collected 1550, net +850 [ Jd Ah ] [ two pairs, jacks and nines -- Ah,Jd,Jc,9s,9d ]
dunemaster balance 1900, didn't bet (folded)
win17ga balance 1660, didn't bet (folded)
LennyTomah balance 505, bet 1205, collected 505, lost -700 [ Ks Ac ] [ a pair of nines -- Ac,Ks,Jc,9s,9d ]
Nagaroo62 balance 360, didn't bet (folded)
Raise28 balance 2500, lost 50 (folded)
rrichone balance 1155, lost 100 (folded)

Oh well... live and learn..

When is Good, Good enough

No poker last night. I took advantage of the relief of the excruciating heat that the Midwest has been getting. I went on a walk with Mrs Wonka and baby Wonka (19 months) and then talked to some of the neighbors who where also hanging out outside. It's funny how cooler weather will bring people back outside. The kids were out there no matter what (Oh to be young again); but the parents were pretty scarce. It was very nice. It looks like it will be getting back to hot again; but thankfully not as hot as it was.

Per ScurvyDog's blog, I came across him saying something like how his casino bonus chasing was out doing his poker recently. Now, he plays mid-limit poker (15/30 I believe) so that comment naturally peaked my curiousity. I then followed a link (Casino Bonus ) to see what is up. So, the short story is that I have now taken the plunge into casino bonus chasing. I've only downloaded one site so far (Starluck... which is associated with Party Poker) and am following his guide... which is more or less play $1 blackjack for the minimumly required # of hands to be able to cash out the bonus (which is 100% by the way .. up to $100). Currently, I am probably about half way done and have a balance of around $260 on a deposit of $100.

Now, for the real reason of this post. Obviously, I am a fan of the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I have not seen the remake of this movie starring Johnny Depp. My contention is that some movies should just be left alone. Now, this movie may be good and it is getting good ratings from imdb.com and the original author was involved in the making of this film so it is probably good; but when is good, good enough. The ever loving greed of the movie community never ceases to amaze me. At the same time, who can blame them. It seems as if sequels and remakes are starting to monopolize our movie selections. Where has all the creativity gone. Of course, this is coming from a person that has zero creativity. Maybe that is why I depend on the creativity of others to satisfy my insatiable appetite for creative outlets. Anyway, I took a look at the current top 10:

1.. the aforementioned Charlie and the chocolate factory (remake)... 2... Wedding Crashers (remake of sorts... see below).. 3.. Fantastic Four (don't know how to categorize).. 4.. The Island 5.. Bad News Bears (remake).. 6.. War of the Worlds (remake).. 7.. Hustle and Flow.. 8.. Devil's Reject.. 9.. Batman Begins (sequel).. 10.. March of the Penguins.

So.. half of the movies are either remakes or sequels. Now for Wedding Crashers. Although, this is not truly a remake, how many movies can either Vince Vaughn, Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell or Owen Wilson make that are essentially exactly the same. Again, who can blame them because they are making butt loads of moulah off of these.

So for 2005, half of the top 10 are of this type (Star Wars, War of Worlds, Batman, Longest Yard and Fantastic Four). Same for 2004 (Shrek 2, SpiderMan2, Meet the Fockers, Harry Potter and Bourne Supremecy).

Now for the can't have the cake and eat it to section. I have to admit my favorite movie of all time is Rocky and Sly being one of my favorite actors ,First Blood is also one of my favorites. Of course, Sly is one the major people that made sequels so popular.. and of course I liked all the Rocky's and Rambo's (I'm sick that way). Also, I can think of some remakes that I really liked like Ocean's 11, Point of Know Return, 12 Angry Men. So what am I complaining about. Who knows. I guess I would just like to see more original, creative movies being made. Realistically, the point is really moot. Since my daughter was born almost 2 years ago, I believe that I have only gone to one or two movies in the theatre. We are a Netflix family now.

One more technicality comment. Movies based on books are OK. So what if the creativity was done by the author of a book and not a screenwriter. Ok, that covers another one of my favorite movies, Shawshank Redemption which was written by Stephen King (my favorite author). I guess I can also lump in sequels that already had books written (i.e. Lord of the Rings) as also being OK.

Anyway, I could go on for months on this subject; but I will call it quits for now. Will I ever see the new Willy Wonka... only time will tell.

SNG - Day 22

In the comments yesterday, I posed the question whether I was running bad this month or just over my head. Thanks for the honest answer G. It's a good question and it deserves some analysis. First off, let's supply our baseline for our analysis. For this, I will use my ITD results in the $50 prior to July. Here they are:

Games: 140
1sts: 20 (14.29%)
2nds: 23 (16.43%)
3rds: 11 (7.86%)
4ths: 10 (7.14%)
Net Profit: $1,850
In the Money%: 38.57%
ROI: 24.03%

OK then. What constitutes a winning SNG player. I think the consensus would be to be in the money around 40-45% of the time with an ROI of 25-30%. So going into this thing, I was a little under this goal; but still making money so I was OK with it knowing that I needed to improve. I would also say a goal would be to have more 2nds than 1sts and more 3rds than 4ths (corrected). OK, again, I was a little behind the curve on the heads up and barely above on bubble play.

OK, let's fast forward to present time. First, let's look at the updated numbers. I have added a column that shows Inception to Date stats:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 26	MTD	ITD
Games	6	264	404
1sts	1	27	47
2nds	1	34	57
3rds	0	28	39
4ths	1	31	41
5 - 7	1	88	121
8 - 10	2	56	99
ITM%	33.33%	33.71%	35.40%
ROI	21.21%	0.90%	8.91%
Net$	70	130	1980

1. 9th - JTs lost to A3s I was shortstacked and had 2 big bets in front of me. I called hoping to more than triple up. I did get my flush draw on the flop... but didn't hit.
2. 5th - 66 lost to K2.. all in on flop.. lost on turn when he tripped up his deuces
3. 2nd - 96 lost to K9 on river. Had 2 pair; but board paired on river to give him higher 2 pair
4. 9th - AQ lost to JJ.. no surprise there..
5. 4th - K2s lost to AJ.. you have to steal blinds when it gets down to nitty gritty. I just picked a bad spot.
6. 1st - AA beat K8. This may be the longest SNG I have ever played on Party. 1 hour and 8 minutes. This was up and down from the beginning.

I wasn't really into them last night so I just played 2 sets. Another question was brought whether you can effectively play 4 tables at a time (or even 3). My simple answer (and there is more to it) is that once you are used to it, it really isn't a problem. Anything that you miss can be immediately looked up in the hand histories directly from the PP client. I have my resolution so that I can see most of all the tables at all times.. 1600x1400 is just a little too small for me (even with a 21" monitor) so I play at 1280x1024. Anything that you do lose on ROI due to multi-tabling could possibly be made up with volume. But realistically, it is not too hard to follow the action. In fact, I still find myself surfing the web or doing other things (especially during the beginning stages). I do need to quit doing that.

Now back to the analysis. July has been bad on all fronts. We've defined the goals for SNGs. How do you define a "bad run". This I don't know. I think this is where you have to look past the results and go to the decisions that you make and look at some of the beats that you are getting (and how many of them you are getting). Looking back, in my humble opinion, I think I am getting an inordinate amount of lousy beats. This may be the glass half full persona coming out. Anyway, I'm not completely sure what I have discovered with this analysis. I didn't see anything that overly concerned me looking at the big picture. It's kind of mind boggling to think that I have thrown almost 15K into tournaments this month. I'm on the plus side; but there is a lot and I mean a lot of work to do to get better. I do look forward to playing other games in August. I'm actually kind of missing the ring play.

SNG - Day 21

What can I say... Back to the drawing board. I was 3-5 in all in race situations as best I can tell. I'll just let the numbers do the talking:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 25	MTD
Games	12	255
1sts	1	26
2nds	0	33
3rds	2	29
4ths	1	30
5 - 7	5	87
8 - 10	3	54
ITM%	25.00%	33.72%
ROI	-31.82%	0.42%
Net$	-210	60

1. 6th - A7 lost to QQ and KK
2. 8th - AT lost to KQ... Ace on flop
3. 6th - 55 lost to QQ
4. 8th - Q9 lost to J4... four card flush
5. 3rd - K6 lost to 83 all in preflop
6. 3rd - AKs lost to 55
7. 8th - AT lost to 66
8. 6th - AJs lost to JJ
9. 4th - 77 lost to Q9... just b4... AJs lost to KQ... Ace on flop
10. 7th - AA lost to KK
11. 5th - A9 lost to JJ... Level 7
12. 1st - AA beat TT

SNG - Day 20

Could it be law of averages? Maybe the cards just weren't so against me yesterday. I did track my all in races and I did lose my first 3; but then won the next 2. I'm not sure if I recorded them all. Sometimes things get pretty hectic playing the multiple tables and I forget to write down some things. I'm still amazed at the play of some of the people... especially at the $50 level. Oh well, what can you do? Here is what seems to be a typical tourney these days. As with most SNGs, there are the critical moments that will either make you or break you. In this one, there were 4. I would be interested to see your opinions on these.

Critical Hand#1. I have played 20 hands and am a little over what I began with. With blinds of 15/30, I am in EP+1 and get KJc. It is always risky raising from this position; but I raise 3x and get 3 callers. Flop comes 32J (2 spades, 1 club). SB bets 30 and I raise to 375. 1 caller and then an all-in (who I have covered). SB folded and there is one more person to act after me. What do you do? Results below.

Critical Hand#2. Hand #24. Blinds are 25/50 and I have a 2320 stack. I have AKs One limper and then a raiser to 200. I raise to 550 and the next guy goes all-in for 1115. Orig raiser folds. What do you do?

Critical Hand #3. Hand #36. Blinds are 50/100. My stack is around 1055. I am UTG and get A7s. It is 8 handed. I limp and the blinds call. Flop is 6A6. Blinds check and I bet 150 and get raised all-in for 550. What do you do?

Critical Hand #4. Hand #37. Blinds are 50/100 and my stack is 1105. I am in BB with KQ. Folded to SB who calls and I raise to 300. He calls. 89Q. I check and he checks. Turn brings 5. What do yo do?

Results #1. I called. The River brought an ace and I ended up winning the side pot with a guy who was on a flush draw and split the rest with the all-in guy who also had KJ. That put my stack at 2320

Results #2. I called and lost the race to 55 putting my stack back down to 1055.

Results #3. I called the 400 and the turn brought a 6 so I ended up splitting pot with a guy that had A3. I must have split 4 pots today/yesterday when being ahead when the chips got in.

Results #4. I went all in and got called immediately. He had Q5. That crippled me down to 75. Obviously should not have checked the flop. The intention was to check raise.

So you can see.. Those tournies come down to critical moments and you need to make the right decisions. I went out in 8th place in the one above. Again, as Greg Raymer said, it's not the results that count, it is the decisions. I'm ok with my decisions from above with the exception maybe of the 4th one.

Anyway, here are the numbers from yesterday:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 24	MTD
Games	13	243
1sts	3	25
2nds	3	33
3rds	1	26
4ths	2	29
5 - 7	2	82
8 - 10	2	51
ITM%	53.85%	34.15%
ROI	81.82%	2.00%
Net$	585	270

1. 9th - AK loses to 77. Ace on flop. He hit gut on river
2. 8th - KQ loses to Q5 on turn
3. 1st - T9s beat KQ
4. 2nd - KQ loses to AQ
5. 6th - 33 loses to 75s. I was short but he still called my 3x allin with 75s.
6. 3rd - 44 loses to T6
7. 2nd - Q2s lost to A9
8. 6th - 77 loses to AA.. level 7
9. 4th - -KJs loses to T7.. and .. KJ loses to AT on river... hit straight
10. 4th - Q3 lost to KQ. He limped from UTG and I went all in. oops.
11. 1st - 55 beat 93s
12. 2nd - 43 lost to T3
13. 1st - A8 beat 55 on river.

Just one note. The above doesn't alway represent the hand I actually went out with. If I am left with a stack that doesn't cover the BB, I put that hand down as that is really what lost the tourney for me. 95% of the time, what I write down is actually what I went out with.

One more week of exclusive SNGs. I wonder where I will finish. Stay tuned.

SNG - Day 19

As you can probably guess, the uphill battle continued yesterday. I did something yesterday that I hadn't done in a long time. As I have mentioned before, I have gotten to a point that I can handle bad beats and/or tilt pretty good. Well, until yesterday. Yesterday, something actually had to go airborn. In this case, it was just a pen. I was already past the point of screaming and pounding on the desk. I have to admit, that they weren't all bad beats... just bad timing. We'll call a Series of Unfortunate Events (more on the this non poker subject coming soon). When does patience and determinedness get passed up by stubborness. Is that the point that I am at now? I certainly don't think that the $50 SNG level is beyond my abilities. So what to do? Well, one thing for sure, I am going to continue on this path through the end of the month. Maybe the law of averages will work for me. My bankroll of over 12K is certainly in no danger of being busted. More on bankroll coming later. Well, here are the eagerly anticipated numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 23	MTD
Games	26	233
1sts	2	22
2nds	4	30
3rds	1	25
4ths	3	27
5 - 7	10	80
8 - 10	6	49
ITM%	26.92%	33.05%
ROI	-16.08%	-2.46%
Net$	-230	-315

1. 8th - AK lost to 99... I am actually going to track the all-in races starting today.
2. 7th - AK lost to K9s.. all in preflop... hand b4... TT lost to AK on river
3. 2nd - J4s lost to 83 on river.. 4 card flush
4. 5th - 77 lost to 99
5. 4th - K6 lost to A8
6. 4th - AQ lost to 33
7. 9th - QQ lost to A5... all in preflop.. This guy also called all in on the very first hand (preflop) with A4.. The other person also had QQ. What can you do?
8. 6th - KQs lost to TT... 2 Qs on board
9. 5th - K9 lost to TT
10. 2nd - Q7 lost to K3
11. 7th - K9s lost ATs.. again I had second nut flush only to lose to nut flush.
12. 7th - 44 lost to 93
13. 2nd - J3s lost A7s
14. 1st - AK beat Q6
15. 8th - QQ lost to A2 on river... trip 2's
16. 8th - AQ lost to AK.. bad raise from after flop that had an ace on it. I actually went all in to get the other out. Well.. I got the original better out instead and buttoned called with the AK
17. 3rd - 44 lost to AA
18. 4th - 77 lost to AA
19. 9th- AK lost to J9
20. 6th - A5s lost to A3
21. 5th - K9 lost to 77... most lost a little earlier on KQ losing to KK when Q came on flop
22. 2nd - A6 lost to AK
23. 9th - AQ lost to AK... again
24. 5th - QQ lost to A3... this was the final straw when something went airborn. Normal 3x raise preflop. flop KKK... I bet 75% of the pot and got called. Turn is rag. I go all in and he calls. River... any guesses... nope not an ace... the 4th K so I got outkicked. I feel like throwing something now after repeating it.
25. 1st - QQ beat A7
26. 6th - 85 lost to QT.. flopped middle pair with gut shot.. Level 6 so I tried to make a move. The flop also had T so IGHN.

There you have it and there you are.

SNG - Day 18

OK, I made one minor adjustment. I reduced my play to three tables at a time. That really shouldn't make any difference; but I guess it does allow me to focus on the individual tables a little more and see some of the hands that I'm not involved in. More importantly, I won some of the important races and yes even had a suckout or two. One that comes to mind is my A9 beating an AQ on the river. Boy, did he give me a lashing then..... If he only knew. I told him that I felt his pain... but he wasn't buying it. Let's see... nope... I didn't lose any sleep over it. Yesterday was a pretty busy day so I only got in 2 sets. Here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 22	MTD
Games	6	207
1sts	1	20
2nds	1	26
3rds	2	24
4ths	0	25
5 - 7	1	70
8 - 10	1	42
ITM%	66.67%	33.82%
ROI	81.82%	-0.75%
Net$	270	-85

1. 7th - 97s lost AT.. shortstacked
2. 3rd - A3 lost to 64
3. 1st - A5 beat Q7
4. 9th - AK lost 44.. he got set
5. 2nd - KJs lost KK... hand b4... A8 lost to K7
6. 3rd - J2 lost to T2

So as you can see... I still did have a little misfortune; but given my week, I will take the above results. We'll see how the rest of the month goes.

SNG - Day 17

Now, I am just totally confused, miffed, frustrated (insert your own adjective). Surely, this kind of streak can't last forever (maybe not... but quit calling me Shirley). The only positive note was that the night ended up above zero; albeit barely at +$70. I had 5 bubbles out of 16 tournaments. The cards are just not falling my way. At this point, I don't know how to fix i. Is it that over time, I have determined that I'm not at a $50 SNG level? Hmmmm. I've looked over a few tournaments and according to the way I play, I wouldn't have changed much. Did I make some moves that backfired on me? Sure... but that's poker. I have a few people that maybe I can review this stuff with.. maybe that is what I need. I've now completed my 200 tournies... I don't see me quitting them this month while still in negative territory. Realistically, this could/should have been the night that put make positive. Oh well.... that's poker. Here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 21	MTD
Games	16	201
1sts	2	19
2nds	3	25
3rds	0	22
4ths	5	25
5 - 7	4	69
8 - 10	2	41
ITM%	31.25%	32.84%
ROI	7.95%	-3.21%
Net$	70	-355

1. 7th - AK lost to AA
2. 4th - A2 lost K4.. 2 pair on flop... he got trips on river
3. 7th - 88 lost AT on turn.. hit gutshot
4. 1st - J9s beat K3s... ok I got one when I probably shouldn't have
5. 8th - TT lost to A8... hand before... A9 lost to TT... I'm sure somebody is getting a good laugh up there on my poker results.
6. 7th - AK lost to KJ on river... K on flop
7. 4th - 44 lost to 73 on river... flopped set
8. 2nd - 76 lost to A8 on turn
9. 9th - J7s lost to KK.. oops... major pot and I had straight and flush draws with top pair
10. 4th - AT lost to Q6 on river
11. 4th - AQ lost to 77.. Ace on flop... yep you guess it.. AQ gets me again
12. 5th K2 lost to TT
13. 4th - AJ lost to T7s
14. 1st - QQ beat JT
15. 2nd - KT lost to 55
16. 2nd - 88 lost to K6

Only time will tell... Stay tuned!!!!

The Powers that be

Well, as we can see, I have not been burning up the SNG tables. A popular notion would be to take a break; but at the same time, I wanted to finish out the month. Well, the powers that be had other ideas. They were on the "take a SNG break" camp. For whatever reason, Party Poker wasn't cooperating and they were having software troubles. I figured something was wrong when it took 5 minutes to logon. So I thank the "powers that be" for giving me a much needed SNG break.

So what did I do? Maybe I should take the whole night off. Certainly a popular choice with my wife; but then she went to walk on the treadmill... so of course... Poker here I come. So I played about an hour and I had a positive session... OK, OK, I won a whopping $2. I'll take that over a losing session anyday... especially the days that I have been having. I was down over $120 at one point; but came back and quit once I got back to postive territory (plus the wife was done working out). We stuck in a movie (Bourne Idenitity) and we both proceeded to fall asleep within 30 minutes.

I sat down at some sites that I haven't played in awhile. I played 5/10 at Poker World. I do like that site; but they just don't have the traffic. They have a really juicy $1K guarantee every night ($20 + rebuys). I didn't make it to the PC in time for that. They start at 8PM Central time. I played some draws agressively at first and wasn't hitting (it was only 6 people when I first signed on); but things got better as we moved towards a full table. A lot of people are better at 6 max tables; but I'm only about 50/50 on those. I also played 1/2 at PokerStars. I only have $30 at PS. I had just made a $50 deposit to play in the Charile (or should I say donate since I didn't play). This was my first site and in my mind, it has always been my favorite site. I really hadn't played in the site in over a year. Anyway, I didn't like it as much. The cards seem smaller (since I have my monitor set pretty small to accomodate my 4 tabling) and in general slower. In my humble opinion, Party Skins software are second to none. The cards are bigger. Hand histories on the hard drive. You can immediately pull up prior hands from table and see what people who mucked their hands at showdown actually had.... not to mention that I am getting rakeback from that site. I would be curious as to what others thought the best software is (not including the players that play there... just software).

That should do it for now.

SNG - Day 16

And the hits just keep coming... In the comments yesterday, there was some nice discussion on variance... I mentioned that I left the ring game for a while to get away from the variance. As I've said in previous articles, I would would win 4 or 5 days and then it I would tend to give it all back in one day. On the other hand, SNG play had been very consistent... I was averaging over 40% in the money with a 25% ROI and I was getting close to that through last Friday as I was up around $860. The ITM wasn't quite 40 and the ROI wasn't 20; but I was staying consistent. Yes, I had my bad days and yes I had my share of bad beats and bad decisions; but whoa... this week has not been good. Can it be attributable to variance or something else. To tell you the truth, I just don't know. It's kind of like golf... you think you are swinging the same way but for some reason, you are shooting in the 90s instead of the 80s. One small flaw in the swing can do that... Same with poker.. some small leak can cost you. I need to pour over some PT stats and see if anything sticks out. One thing for sure is that I'm going to stick through this thing at least until 200 SNGs because that was my original goal. Anyway, here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 18	MTD
Games	12	185
1sts	0	17
2nds	1	22
3rds	2	22
4ths	2	20
5 - 7	2	65
8 - 10	5	39
ITM%	25%	32.97%
ROI	-46.97%	-4.18%
Net$	-310	-425

1. 8th - AT lost to AJ... battle of blinds.. Ace on flop.. no preflop raising. I was in BB
2. 9th - TT lost to JJ
3. 2nd - Q2s lost 98... Flush draw and gutshot on flop
4. 6th - AA lost to TT
5. 8th - KK lost to JJ
6. 3rd - Kts lost A6
7. 3rd - Q4s lost to AA... prior to that while down to final 3.. AQ lost to A5 and AQ lost to 87.... I may just fold AQ from now on... not really... but man.. this is getting really brutal
8. 4th - A6 lost to AJ
9. 9th - AA lost to AJs on river
10. 8th - 55 lost to AQ on river.. short stacked at level 5
11. 4th - KT lost A6
12. 5th - A6 lost to KK on turn... ace on flop... level 6

As you can see, at the present moment, it doesn't seem to matter if I get my chips in with the best of it... For now, we will call it Variance with a capital "V".

SNG - Day 15

OK.. back to negative territory. Boy am I glad that I decided to play so many SNGs. Last night, I continued to get my money in while being dominated. Something has gone wrong here and I will look back on some of the tournies to see what is going on.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 17	MTD
Games	16	173
1sts	1	17
2nds	1	21
3rds	3	20
4ths	1	18
5 - 7	5	63
8 - 10	5	34
ITM%	31.25%	33.53%
ROI	-20.0%	-1.21%
Net$	-180	-115

1. 5th - 77 lost to 99
2. 8th - AQ lost to AK
3. 3rd - KQ lost to AQ
4. 3rd - QJs lost to AT
5. 7th - K9 lost to T3
6. 6th - A3s lost to KK
7. 1st - TT beat AQ
8. 5th - A7 lost to T9
9. 8th - AT lost to AJ I was BB and the button did standard raise... Ace on flop
10. 9th - QQ lost to KK and AA.. nice... it's bad enough to lose to one of them..
11. 9th - KTs lost AJs flopped 2nd nut.... Doh... somebody had the nuts.
12. 4th - 22 lost A6
13. 8th - ATs lost 55 on turn.. T on flop
14. 6th - 85 lost to 82... battle of blinds.. he flopped 2 pair to my top pair
15. 3rd - T9 lost K8... T on flop
16. 2nd - 85s lost JT 5 on flop with flush draw

Hopefully, the law of averages will settle in here soon. I'm obviously not having too much these last few days.

SNG - Day 14

Well.. Back to the drawing board. I'm not sure what to say. Things are not going my way. I went 0 for 18 ITM and then finally won #19. If I'm in a race.. I lose... If I'm dominiated, I lose (to be expected), and if I'm dominating, I lose. According to math, that ain't good odds. One possible solution whould be to quit playing so much or...... I can just hop right back on that horse that beat me and continue to play what I think to be good, solid poker... which is what I'm going to do. I did take Sunday off due to a busy scheduled day. I didn't get to play in the Charlie tournament; but I did finish 61st by blinding out which is probably better than I would have if I were playing my cards... lol. Anyway the nubmers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 16	MTD
Games	19	157
1sts	1	16
2nds	0	20
3rds	0	17
4ths	2	17
5 - 7	13	58
8 - 10	3	29
ITM%	5.26%	33.76%
ROI	-76.08%	0.75%
Net$	-795	65

1. 6th - AK lost QJ on River
2. 5th - KQ lost KJ on river
3. 5th - T9 lost AA... oops... flop T high.. bad read
4. 6th - A2 lost KJ
5. 5th - KQ lost to AQ... yep, I still hate AQ
6. 5th - QT lost 33... flopped opened ended
7. 4th - JJ lost 99
8. 10th - AT lost A6
9. 7th - 98s lost QQ
10. 5th - A9s lost AQ... A on flop with 2 of my suit
11. 5th - KQs lost to AQ... Q on flop
12. 7th - K8s lost KQ on turn... flopped 2 pair
13. 7th - A5 lost to AQ... tilt
14. 8th - 99 lost to AA... oops again
15. 6th - 33 lost to 88
16. 7th - 63 lost straight on river... just b4... AQ lost to KK... flopped ace
17. 8th - 22 lost QQ... bad push from button in Level 4
18. 9th - 88 lost QT
19. 1st - 66 beat T3

My congrats go out to the Aussie that won the main event. Can't wait to watch the action. WSOP of poker coverage starts tomorrow on ESPN.

SNG - Day 13

Good news and bad news.. I didn't have many races today to worry about.. that's the good news. The bad news is that when I put all my chips I was totally dominated. Oops. This could have been a great day; but as we know with poker, sometimes the cards don't play along.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 15	MTD
Games	8	138
1sts	0	15
2nds	4	20
3rds	1	17
4ths	0	15
5 - 7	2	45
8 - 10	1	26
ITM%	62.5%	37.68%
ROI	59.09%	11.33%
Net$	260	860

1. 7th - 77 lost to TT
2. 6th - 44 lost 77 ... most of chips were lost when my KQs lost to AQ with Q flop. AQ did not raise preflop and I fell for it.
3. 2nd - 98 lost to T8
4. 2nd - A7 lost to A8
5. 10th - J9 lost JT... most of chips were lost on a bad all-in flush draw semi bluff. Again, that's poker
6. 3rd - 33 lost to TT
7. 2nd - A3 lost to K8 on river
8. 2nd - K7 lost to 85 on river 4 card straight

As I write this Saturday morning, the WSOP is still going on... Wow.. I hope those guys got their rest.

SNG - Day 12

Same old thing... different day

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 14	MTD
Games	8	126
1sts	1	15
2nds	1	16
3rds	1	16
4ths	2	15
5 - 7	3	43
8 - 10	0	25
ITM%	37.5%	36.15%
ROI	13.64%	8.39%
Net$	60	600

1. 7th - Q9 lost to 44
2. 4th - AQ lost KQ... 2 Qs on the board. I just can't win with AQ
3. 1st - AQ beat A5... Hurray.. AQ held up
4. 3rd - A8 beat AQ... OK AQ gets be back.. touche
5. 7th - KT lost 76s on river
6. 5th - JJ lost to KQ
7. 2nd - A2s lost to 22
8. 4th - A9 lost K7s on river

I was saddened to see Raymer and Ivey knocked out. It would have made for a great final table.

I see that there are 61 people registered for the Charlie Tuttle tourney. I'm sure that we will get many, many more.

SNG - Day 11

Not much to say. Dreadful night. I need to work on my conditioning. I am losing all my races lately.. I must be out of shape... The only bright side was I did hit a straight flush in a huge 4 way pot

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 13	MTD
Games	16	118
1sts	0	14
2nds	2	15
3rds	2	15
4ths	1	13
5 - 7	7	40
8 - 10	4	25
ITM%	25%	36.07%
ROI	-43.18%	8.05%
Net$	-380	540

1. 8th - TT lost to AK on river... 4 card flush
2. 6th - AQ lost to 66... yep AQ again
3. 5th - A9s lost to AT
4. 5th - A2 lost to 55
5. 9th - 86s lost 44 on turn flopped 6 and flush draw
6. 6th - Kts lost to AT
7. 5th - KK lost to TT
8. 3rd - A8 lost to 55
9. 8th - AJ lost to KK.... ill timed re-raise at Level 4
10. 4th - QQ lost to AK on river... 4 card flush
11. 2nd - A9 lost J8
12. 3rd - A9 lost to 87s
13. 9th - AK lost QQ... Ace on flop
14. 6th - T9s lost to AA on river... 2 pair on flop; but board paired on river
15. 6th - K4 lost AQ on river... most lost b4 with A6 losing to J8
16. 2nd - Q6 lost Q7 on river... 4 card flush... otherwise it would have been a chop

In other news:

I registered for the Charlie Tuttle tourney. I won't be able to play due to softball (unless Pokerstars lets people start an hour late.. minus the blinds of course). I hope we get a lot of people to sign up. It's a good thing to do.

SNG Day 10

Boy, did I have some bad timing. I ran into monster after monster. I ended up only playing 2 sets and then called it a night to go watch a movie. I watched Celluar with Kim Basinger. It was one of those movies that pleasently surprised me. I didn't go into the movie with high expectations and enjoyed. Any movie that I start watching at 11PM and can stay up until the end is worthy of my praise. Even my wife stayed up for the whole movie. Anyway, it is worth a watch. Here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 12	MTD
Games	8	106
1sts	2	14
2nds	0	13
3rds	0	13
4ths	1	12
5 - 7	3	33
8 - 10	2	21
ITM%	25%	37.74%
ROI	13.64%	15.78%
Net$	60	920

1. 7th - AK lost KK
2. 5th - KTs lost to KK
3. 8th - TT lost to AA It was level 4... got to make moves
4. 4th - A7s lost to AT
5. 9th - JJ lost to AA
6. 5th - KQs lost to 55
7. 1st - A5 beat 98s
8. 1st - 55 beat K7

The last game was something else. It was one of those games were somebody at the table was catching everything. By the time it got to heads up he had 9 - 1 chip lead. He wished me good luck and I told him that I had my work cut out for me. A couple hands later I get KJs in the SB. He limps in and I go all in. He says... sorry bad timing and turns over AA. Yikes... typical for the night... but wait... J on the flop.... K on the turn... nice.... double up... things went good from there as he didn't call a couple of re-raises.

In other news:

I don't know if anybody heard the story of Charlie Tuttle at the WSOP. If not, I have put some links below from http://taopoker.blogspot.com/ . I am going to sign up; but probably won't be able to play as I play softball on Sunday nights. This week I play 4PM and 5PM so if Pokerstars keeps people at the table, I will be able to do a Phil Helmuth and start late. If not, no big deal.

WPBT Tournament for Charlie TuttleEditor's Note: I know that I blogged this yesterday, but I'm gonna blog it every day until we get at least 500 people to play in the charity tournament on PokerStars!!Charlie Tuttle is a dear friend to the blogging community and the best friend of Jason Spaceman. After a long battle with cancer, he passed away a couple of weeks ago. In honor of Charlie's memory, several bloggers set up a memorial tournament with all proceeds going towards a fund selected by Charlie's family.I'd like to formally ask any new readers of my poker blog to sign up for the tournament. If you are an old time reader or blogger, you should spread the word about this event in newsgroups, poker forums, at your home game, and contact everyone in your address book. We have an opportunity to step up and do a great thing.If you don't know the story... feel free to read: A Guy named Charlie.Here is the tournamnet information (thanks to BG):
WPBT "Charlie" Tournament
When? 6PM EST Sunday July 17th
Where? PokerStars...
Check under the Private Tournamnet Tab
How Much? $20 - every penny goes to charity
What Do I Get When I Win? The comfort of knowing you're doing something good for someone else. No, Really... No. Really.All proceeds to go to wherever Charlie Tuttle's family wants them.The tournament is open to bloggers and readers

SNG- Day 9

I only had time for one set... but it was a good set.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 11	MTD
Games	4	98
1sts	2	12
2nds	0	13
3rds	1	13
4ths	0	11
5 - 7	1	30
8 - 10	0	19
ITM%	75%	38.78%
ROI	172.73%	15.96%
Net$	380	860

1. 6th - JJ lost to AA
2. 3rd - TT lost to JJ
3. 1st - K3s beat T6 called his all-in bluff
4. 1st - Q9 beat 94s

Hey, is anybody else rooting for Greg Raymer to repeat. How cool would that be? I haven't checked the results from yesterday; but I know he was in the top 10 at the start of the day.

SNG - Day 8

It was kind of like deja vu yesterday. I guess since I took a couple of days off, I had to repay my dues. Another words, I was taking some tough beats again. Oh well, it could have been worse.
Here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 10	MTD
Games	12	94
1sts	1	10
2nds	1	13
3rds	2	12
4ths	1	11
5 - 7	4	29
8 - 10	3	19
ITM%	33.33%	37.23%
ROI	-9.09%	9.28%
Net$	-60	480

1. 5th - JJ lost to 66
2. 3rd - AQ lost to KJ - I really, really hate AQ
3. 4th - K4 lost QJ on river. I had top pair on flop. The real killer was just before that. I had AKs and lost to QQ. I got my nut flush on turn but lost to full house on the river.
4. 9th - AT lost 77 - Trip Ts lost to FH
5. 7th - 95s lost TT - shortstacked
6. 5th - KQ lost A9
7. 10th - KQ lost to 66
8. 10th - KQ lost to AQ - Q on flop. AQ again gets me coming and going
9. 2nd - 55 lost to QJ - yep, lost another race
10. 3rd - AK lost to 44 - ditto
11. 1st - A5 beat AQ - flopped straight. OK, sometimes I get lucky.. I shouldn't complain
12. 5th - A7 lost to QJ

I seem to be on a good pace to reach the 200 by the end of the month. Hopefully the 2nd 100 will treat me better.

SNG - Day 7

Things are going much better; but there is still a lot to work on. I seem to be bubbling more than I historically do and I have more 2nds than 1sts.... So I need to turn the bubble into money and the 2nds into 1sts. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that; but I'm sure I will figure it out when the time comes. Anyway, here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 7	MTD
Games	11	82
1sts	2	9
2nds	1	12
3rds	4	10
4ths	3	10
5 - 7	1	25
8 - 10	0	16
ITM%	63.64%	37.80%
ROI	73.55%	11.97%
Net$	445	540

1. 4th - AQ lost KJ
2. 1st - T3 beat 76 my 4 card flush beat his 2 pair... it's feels good to be on the other side of that.
3. 3rd - 99 lost to KK
4. 3rd - TT lost A4
5. 4th - Q2 lost to AQ... AQ beats me coming and going
6. 4th - A7 lost to A8
7. 2nd - K2s lost to Q2s.. I got top pair on flop but he got flush on turn
8. 6th - KTs lost 22
9. 3rd - A8s lost 77
10. 1st - AJ beat KQ
11. 3rd - J7s lost A4

I can't be too unhappy where I'm at considering where I started. I hopefully am on pace to get to 200 by the end of the month. I am going out of town for the weekend so won't be able to play until Monday; but I should be OK.

Yesterday (during the day) just kind of had a bad feeling to it. I couldn't explain it at first. I wasn't sick... I then read some other blogs and it also hit me. The main event of the WSOP started and I wasn't there. Not that I ever had any realistic visions of making it there; but I hoped. Boy, can hope be a dangerous thing. Anyway, I'm just glued to a fellow bloggers (http://taopoker.blogspot.com/) site to keep up on his updates.

My thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the victims of the bombings in London. I heard Jim Cramer (Mad Money on CNBC) say the maybe the US is complacent against these kind of things... due to the market going up yesterday. I surely hope I, nor anyone, becomes complacent to the heinous acts of these terrorists. It just inconceivable to me the hate they must feel to do these kind of acts. We must continue to fight for the God given right of freedom and not let these people get away we these acts. I'm not going to get into whether or not we should have troups overseas as that is not the scope of this blog.

SNG - Day 6

Much better day. I actually won some races and my best hands were holding up. My heads up play is faltering a little bit; but I belive that will turn around. Anyway, here are the numbers:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 5	MTD
Games	7	71
1sts	2	7
2nds	2	11
3rds	0	6
4ths	1	8
5 - 7	2	23
8 - 10	0	16
ITM%	57.14%	33.80%
ROI	107.79%	2.43%
Net$	415	95

1. 1st - 53 beat KQ flopped str8
2. 2nd - 85 lost to AK
3. 4th - T6 lost to AK
4. 1st - 22 beat J9
5. 2nd - QTs lost to K3
6. 6th - KJs lost A9 on river (4 card str8)
7. 7th - A6 lost to A4s on flop

SNG - Day 5

I only played one set. It only took one set to find out that my luck wasn't changing. In one of my games, I get AQ on the first hand and called a minimum raise from the BB. Nothing on the flop and someone bets out big. I fold, of course, and wait to fight another battle. AQ hasn't been good to me anyway. It was an easy fold. Well, the battle came sooner than I thought. Hand #5 is below:

***** Hand History for Game 2315183923 *****
15/30 TourneyTexasHTGameTable (NL) (Tournament 13679002) - Tue Jul 05 19:26:03 EDT 2005
Table Table 14037 (Real Money) -- Seat 8 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: MMK82 (1190)
Seat 2: axbear (1000)
Seat 3: tballs808 (1430)
Seat 4: wilwonka (970)
Seat 5: mike5757 (990)
Seat 6: markcunningh (1000)
Seat 7: Mad_D (1015)
Seat 8: Bigmustach (825)
Seat 9: henry5101 (580)
Seat 10: SC713 (1000)
henry5101 posts small blind (10)
SC713 posts big blind (15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to wilwonka [ As, Ks ]
MMK82 calls (15)
axbear folds.
tballs808 folds.
wilwonka raises (100) to 100
mike5757 folds.
markcunningh calls (100)
Mad_D calls (100)
Bigmustach folds.
henry5101 folds.
SC713 folds.
MMK82 calls (85)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Jh, 8s, Qs ]
MMK82 bets (150)
wilwonka raises (870) to 870
wilwonka is all-In.
markcunningh folds.
Mad_D folds.
MMK82 calls (720)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4s ]
** Dealing River ** : [ Js ]
Creating Main Pot with $2165 with wilwonka
** Summary **
Main Pot: 2165
Board: [ Jh 8s Qs 4s Js ]
MMK82 balance 2385, bet 970, collected 2165, net +1195 [ Ts 9s ] [ a straight flush, queen high -- Qs,Js,Ts,9s,8s ]
axbear balance 1000, didn't bet (folded)
tballs808 balance 1430, didn't bet (folded)
wilwonka balance 0, lost 970 [ As Ks ] [ a flush, ace high -- As,Ks,Qs,Js,8s ]
mike5757 balance 990, didn't bet (folded)
markcunningh balance 900, lost 100 (folded)
Mad_D balance 915, lost 100 (folded)
Bigmustach balance 825, didn't bet (folded)
henry5101 balance 570, lost 10 (folded)
SC713 balance 985, lost 15 (folded)

Why did I push on the flop? It doesn't really matter, I would have gotten my chips in on the turn when I hit the flush. The question is.... would he have called with the flopped straight. Since he would have also hit a flush, the answer is probably yes. Now, had I known he had the straight, that would have been a different story.. ha.

I then proceeded to tilt away another game when my AT (with an Ace on the flop) got beat by AK. Normally, I would never have called a huge flop bet with AT; but I wasn't in the best of moods. When the ace came on the flop and he went all in; that sometimes means that someone has a high pair (not an ace) and is trying to take the pot right there. Bad read, huh? Yes, I still need to work on this. Anyway, below is the summary:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 5	MTD
Games	4	64
1sts	0	5
2nds	2	9
3rds	0	6
4ths	0	6
5 - 7	0	22
8 - 10	2	16
ITM%	50%	31.25%
ROI	36.36%	-9.09%
Net$	80	-320

1. 10th - AKs lost T9s A high flush lost to str8 flush
2. 10th - AT lost to AK
3. 2nd - KQ lost K6
4. 2nd - J9 lost T7 .. 2 pair lost to straight

Eventually and hopefully, things will return to normal.

In other news.. I just finished Matt Matros's book. It was a very good read. It is not going to make me a better poker player; but that is not the intention of the book. It is basically his story from the kitchen table to the final table at the WPT championship. I definitely recommend it

SNG - From Bad to Worst - Day 4

One word... Wow... This was an incredibly bad day. I don't think I couldn't have gotten more unlucky. I can think of two times when I got lucky. One of my first hands, I got the rockets and did my standard 3x raise that I do on all my open raises. I got one caller. On a flop of 93J rainbow, I fire 100 into a 145 pot and get raised. I reraise.. and we end up all in... He (the BB) had J3s so he flopped two pair. He got his 4th spade on turn; but I then spiked the Ace on the river. It was a pretty bad call; but since it was level one, it was only a $30 call so I can't really blame him. It was actually a bad call on my part to continue to raise; but as you will see below, I was on a bad beat tear and just couldn't let them go. One other time I spike a T on the river to give me a straght (btw, it was not a 4 card straight on the board).

Anyway, the dreadful numbers are below:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 4	MTD
Games	10	60
1sts	0	5
2nds	1	7
3rds	1	6
4ths	2	6
5 - 7	2	22
8 - 10	4	14
ITM%	20%	30%
ROI	-54.55%	-12.12%
Net$	-300	-400

1. 7th - AQ with Q on flop los to AA
2. 5th - A7 w/ Ace on flop lost to 55 on river (four card straight on board)
3. 4th - A2s lost to 99 (you have to play to win... not just cash)
4. 4th - Kts lost to AA (oops)... T on flop
5. 10th - KK lost to AA
6. 10th - QQ lost to AJ
7. 10th - AKs lost to AA
8. 2nd - AK lost JT
9. 8th - AK lost to TT (I had trips; but he got the T to boat up)
10. 3rd - final blow was A4 lost to AJs (see more below)

This last game was amazing. We are down to 6 and lose with AJ to A8 (with J on flop) to a straight. The brought me down to 395 and blinds are at 100/200. Next hand I have K5s in SB and go all in and survive. Next hand I go all in with A4 and split pot against another A4 (same guy as the A8 from above). A few hands later, I double up with A9 against A6. I then lose a small blind and then steal the blinds. A few hands later a re-raise with AQ and get called with K6s and I double up and am now miracoulsy in 2nd. I then won 5 straight hands and now have over half the chips. I go card dead and can't call any all-ins. I then lose with AK to 44 and now. I steal again; but then go down in flames in 3rd with A4 losing to AJs. I went to rags to riches ; but then back down.. I guess... just call me the JERK.

Tuesday is my normal day off so I will probably sit out and let some steam out.

Wow...

SNG - Day 3

This will be the day the could have been. I had some pretty bad beats as well as not winning the races I needed to.

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 3	MTD
Games	14	50
1sts	2	5
2nds	1	6
3rds	2	5
4ths	1	4
5 - 7	5	20
8 - 10	3	10
ITM%	35.71%	32.00%
ROI	10.39%	-3.64%
Net$	80	-100

1. 8th - QQ lost to 88 on turn
2. 6th - KK lost to QQ on river
3. 5th - 88 lost to AQ on turn
4. 10th - AA lost to 99 on flop
5. 5th - 55 lost to A4
6. 5th - 77 lost to A9
7. 4th - A7s lost to AK
8. 9th - A8 lost to AT (lost most on hand before with TT)
9. 5th - A9s lost to AJ
10. 1st - A2 beat J7
11. 3rd - AQ lost to KJ and TT on monster pot
12. 3rd - AJ lost to KK
13. 1st - AA beat QT
14. 2nd - K6 lost to QT

A better day; but could have been a great day... Just a little unlucky. We'll give it go next time. Pretty busy 4th planned so I don't know how much I will play.

SNG Fest - Day 2

Today went a little better than yesterday; but still a down day. Today was more a little unlucky. I just pushed at the wrong times. The plan is to continue to play the same type game that I always play and hopefully things will return back to normal. Again, I am going to post the table and then game notes below. I hope it is not too boring as it does help me review. So, here is the chart:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 2	MTD
Games	15	36
1sts	1	3
2nds	3	5
3rds	1	3
4ths	1	3
5 - 7	7	15
8 - 10	2	7
ITM%	33.33%	30.56%
ROI	-3.03%	-9.09%
Net$	-25	-180

Game Recap:

1. 10th - My set of 6s on flop lost to turned str8 (56s)
2. 6th - Pushed open ender.... bad timing
3. 3rd - 87s lost to T6s
4. 6th - KQs lost AK
5. 6th - K8 lost A9 on river
6. 4th - A3s lost to AA
7. 7th - QQ lost to KK
8. 7th - 77 lost to AQ
9. 2nd - K4s lost to A2
10. 5th - 77 (set on flop) lost to 98s on river
11. 5th - A2 lost to AJ
12. 1st - Q8s beat J7
13. 8th - AK lost 43s. King on flop... 2nd 4 on turn.
14. 2nd - Bad Read.. J7 lost to A5
15. 2nd - A3 lost to QQ

Well, hopefully things will get better.

I just watched the WPT final yesterday. Wow... Wow... I have never seen so many river suck outs. Some incredibly aggressive (loose) play by these guys. Obviously, they know what their doing; but wow watching people raise and re-raise with nothing better than 6 high (or something like that). No mystery now why you see mostly seasoned pros and these final tables.

SNG Fest

Okay, I started the SNG Fest yesterday. My first set (of 3), I went o-for. Bad start. Next set... 2 1sts and a 2nd. Should have stopped there... The rest of the day went south. See below table for results:

July SNG Breakdown
Desc	July 1	MTD
1sts	2	2
2nds	2	2
3rds	2	2
4ths	2	2
5 - 7	8	8
8 - 10	5	5
ITM%	28.57%	28.57%
ROI	-13.42%	-13.42%
Net$	-155	-155

As you can see, things didn't go well. I think I played OK. See below for a detailed description of each match. I won't do this everyday; but wanted to put out there how things went at the end.

1. 7th - Pushed with open end str8.. was short stacked
2. 4th - lost with 88 to A8 on river
3. 8th - lost with TT to AK on turn
4. 1st - called all in with 22 on K39 flop. Guy was betting everything.
5. 2nd - K4 lost to JT (full house). All in preflop
6. 1st - JJ beat A7s
7. 7th - T9s lost to AA... oops
8. 5th - KJ lost to KQ - have I ever mentioned that I hate KJ
9. 2nd - JTs lost to A7
10. 9th - Turned straight lost to river flush
11. 3rd - Lost huge chip lead... AQ lost to A2
12. 4th - AQ lost to A9 (I feel Phil Ivey's pain.. if you saw WPT this week)
13. 8th - lost with AK (with K on flop) to 88 on river
14. 10th - lost with AQ (wih AQ on flop) to slow played AA. I'm really started to dislike AQ
15. 6th - Missed flush draw against maniac
16. 3rd - JJ lost to Q5
17. 5th - lost with QTs to K6. I had two pair; but the board paired to give him higher 2 pair.
18. 6th - 87s lost 66 on river
19. 10th - AK on 6K6 board lost to A6
20. 5th - QJs lost KT on river
21. 5th - Blinded out... Had chip lead early.

So hopefully, you can see the pain I had. I certainly didn't win too many races. Today isn't going any better. I will post those stats tomorrow.