Interesting concept

Had my second winning session in a row, and it was a monster. May have been easiest win ever, did all my damage in just over an hour. I am very excited to have a working bankroll, and an emergency bankroll going forward. I can definitely loosen up my calling ranges.

Interesting hand came about, with me and the super aggressive older gentleman that had a giant mound of chips, and didnt mind putting them in a pot.  He raised it up in early position for $40 from a $6 straddle two customers, I see AA and make it $140. Aggro calls. Flop coms QdQhJd and I shove all in for $400 he folds.

Now here's my question if you have conceded to playing the hand for all your chips, is it better to check and have your opponenet go all in, and call? or do you go all in?

Reverse The Curse

Played 5 more hours at Harrah's to qualify for the freeroll. Another 11 hours is $100. I feel like i should, they'll pay me $9/hr to play cards.

Anyway i broke the streak. 8 losing sessions in a row. I was actually stuck $200 and in the game for $420.... again. But I never lost focus. I still played bad, made some poor calls, made some bad folds, but I caught a heater and ended up +$260 for the session.

Good news is I ended the losing streak, and my bankroll is no longer in a nosedive. Also, there are plenty of things to work on.

Running bad or Bankroll Mis-Management?

Had a 9 hour session at Harrah's. I have now lost 8 sessions in a row. Three cash, five tournaments. Just have not been able to win that monster pot. I started out stuck for about 200 one hour into my session, eventually clawed my way back to showing a profit, but in the end finished stuck for $240.

Considering I am trying to build a bankroll on the smallest investment possible, I could consider locking up those small wins here and there. However, what if I miss out on a great game because I want to lock up a small win. Building a bankroll or not, "scared money never wins money."

I think i should consider capping my table stakes at $500 until I have an adequate bankroll. Having 100% of your bankroll on the table is not efficient bankroll management I'm sure.  That is one thing I need to be more disciplined about. There's more than one poker room in this city.

MGM $1-$2

I played at the MGM for the first time ever. Everyone asks me where i play, and I choose the room with the most tables (showing in bravo) becuase thats the room that has the best chance of holding a game all night.

One thing i noticed quickly was this table was one of the tougher tables i've played at. with a majority of players being confident "experienced" players and maybe two or three "inexperienced-to-little experienced" players. I played considerably tighter than normal.

One big attribute a winning player has, is not getting married to a hand. Its super straightfoward. You have aces, you feel obligated to pay the person off who has been telling you, "i know you have aces (or top pair, etc) but i have better." Money saved is money earned.

Another attribute is thinking the hand through before making a decision. Always have a plan.

Playing where ya work.

I work at a poker room on the strip, and i enjoy my job... most of the time. We spread mostly micro limit (as far as live cash games go) so the job consists a lot of babysitting players. letting them know action is on them, being extra thorough in explaining situations so everyone knows what's going on in the hand, etc.

Often times, co-workers will sit down in a game, and obviously try to win. I'm conflicted by this. Obviously the easiest place to play is there. The game is there, I dont need to leave the casino to find a different game, etc. The problem is, I feel guilty trying to take these people's money after they've tipped me for dealing to them for a few hours.

This last Saturday however, I decided to go after one of the great promotions we offer, as the prize had jumped up to several hundred dollars. I didnt win any promotions, but I did run well, and cashed out quite a bit. I had a fantastic time, had lots of fun, but the next night when i went into work, one customer made a comment about "well at least you can't take my money from that seat." Obviously tongue in cheek, but it made me reconsider playing there again.

I like my job, and the people I meet doing my job, but I'm gonna have to find a different pond to fish in.

Treasure Island Tourney/Mirage $1-$2

Interesting day of cards. Started off at Treasure Island for their 2 pm tourney. Ran like God, and took it down. Interesting thing though was how much play you actually get for $65. You start off with $10,000 in chips and 25/50 blinds with 20 minute levels. Only complaint i really had was that they are eager to get chips consolidated into two colors, yellow (1k) and white (5k). Prize pool was about 25 entries and final table had small stacks with 12bbs, structure was nice, i'll play again.

But as good as I ran at the tourney, i ran bad at the mirage cash game. I would flop middle pair and get raised on cbets, or I'd whiff the flop entirely. I am thinking that I may have put myself in a bad position, because of game selection. I can't just write it off to bad luck. Bad play, bad luck, bad game selection isn't going to net very many wins.

Thats what i love about the game of poker. It teaches you real life. In anything you do, you need to put yourself in a solid situation to succeed. And if you're prepared, and with the right timing, "ANYTHING IS POSSSOOSOOBOOOOLLL" (Kevin Garnett voice)

The craziest hand ever. Bad decision? Ballys $1-$2

Crazy interesting hand. Five handed. Button straddles for $5. UTG blind raises to 15, action starts on me. I call the $5 button straddle, big blind shoves all-in for $140. UTG pulls his bet back and folds. So now the big blind flips out, floor rules that because the action changed, UTG was able to take his bet back. So now BB throws his cards face up on the table, picks up his chips and starts to walk away.  As he's walking away, dealer takes his hand, and places it on top of the muck. I tell the guy "that money is in the pot, he cant take it off the table." So he walks back throws the money on the table and button folds. Action gets back to me. I say, "I'm the only one with a hand, that money is mine." Floor decides that because the hand was tabled, and is 100% retrievable, his hand is live. I argue that his hand was dead, because it was in the muck, and he left the table. After a few minutes of arguing, I decide to let the guy have the pot. (I ended up stacking him two hands later. Karma.)