DAY 56 NIGHT SESSION - Roller Coaster

• Today: -64.35
• To go: $591.31
• Bankroll: $1908.69

6-max: 96 hands *** 0.52 hours *** 14.58/8.33

Got back on the horse after my blowup this afternoon. Went back the 6 handed NL. Two hands of the day, both I think I played badly. One win, One loss:

KTo: http://www.pokerhand.org/?862586 . I think checking the turn was marginal when 3rd diamond hit. When my money card hit on river it all went in anyway. I actually feared KQ here.

AK: http://www.pokerhand.org/?862589 . I played this hand wrong. Preflop in the SB, I have to 3-bet AK. I hate doing that out of position. Guy makes a button raise, and I must repop. My King hit on flop and I choose to slowplay it. Turn gets dangerous and I finally check raise, but not nearly enough. I get mini-raised on river and call. 3 mistakes in one hand. Blah. I hate even posting it.

DAY 56 - 02/27/07 - My name is Erik and I'm a Donk

• Today: -117.10
• To go: $644.06
• Bankroll: $1855.94

Full Ring: 263 hands *** 3.32 hours *** 14.80/9.13

One of those days to make me think I suck at this game. I am going nowhere. Bonus is only thing bailing me out right now at Stars.

I got stacked three times today. Twice with AK, and once with KQ. Same situation in all three hands. I flop top pair on a raggedy flop. C-bet and it goes all in vs. a set each time. Do I start laying down my hands whenever I get resistance? Seems like everytime it happens, I am dead. But then, how do I play with no confidence? They had it everytime today.

I suck.

02/25/07 - Live Game Results

Our crew went to a big tourney last nite. 35 people with $60 buy in. You started with 400 chips and blinds at $1/$2 with 45 minute levels! Talk about slow tourney. At the break, we played for over 3 hours and blinds were $4/8. I felt like I had to make a move soon, but my "M" was still over 30. I have never played a tourney where I just wanted to give up and go home. The tourney started at 4:00 and I bubbled on final money table at 2 in the morning! I bet they are still playing.

The play was horrible as usual. Everyone limping, no one knowing what the bet is or how to bet. Same people constantly asking same questions on how to deal the flop. People rabbit hunting. A guy ranting how he had QQ 4 times and every time he lost. Of course I get the guy on my right with a sinus cold coughing and shit all over me. Saying how he went for a cat-scan the other day because his sinuses were so plugged. Thanks buddy. Donk. I can't wait. There was a drunk Jerry Springer guest at my table bluffing every hand. He was amusing to me, but the whole table hated him. He was dropping the "n" word because I think he thought he was black. One guy was getting pissed at him for that. I just kept laughing. This dude was so gone, he was hiccuping. Plus he was so high, he didn't even know it. (Caddyshack quote)

On top of the slowwww structure, 33 of the 35 people were smoking. I am a non-smoker and usually smoke doesn't bother me, but after 10 hours of sitting in the smog, I think I had to burn my clothes when I got home. I got right into the shower at 3 in the morning so my bed wouldn't stink.

So, I work my stack up to about 1000 playing ABC poker all nite. Playing aggressive against the donkers with huge premium hands. We are down to 11 people and all my crew that I came with is knocked out and waiting for me. Payouts are horrible were its a $1700 pot and they pay top 9. Top 3 is only good pay days. I am painfully tired of the smoke, tired, tired of the drunks, donks, etc. Blinds like 40-80 and I have 1000. A9s gets cracked by 10-4 all-in. Down to 650 or so and blinds hit 50-100. It's go time. I'm in SB and a player I know limps UTG. I know if I push against him, he's folding. Cards don't matter. I have 9-4 sooted and push. BB wakes up with JJ and I almost win with a flush draw and 9 out there but no. I think I woulda cried at that point if I doubled up.

Then on the way home, we had to drive in 6" of snow/ice storm at 3 in the morning. My buddy and I decided we hate people in live tourneys and it's easier to play online. LOL.

I usually love to play poker, but last nite was the first time I just wanted to leave. Weird.

02/24/07 - Huge Live Game Tonite!!

Our crew is going to a big multi live tourney tonite. $60 buy-in with about 40-50 guys. Should be at least a dime for 1st place. Let's hope my live streak continues. The guy said it starts at 4:00 and is like an 8 hour tourney of you go deep. Does that mean long blinds or deep stacks? We shall see.

I will bring a couple of hundred for cash game donk action.

DAY 55 - 02/23/07 - Solid

• Today: +46.70
• To go: $526.96
• Bankroll: $1973.04

Full Ring: 325 hands *** 1.07 hours *** 14.46/7.08

ABC poker today. Hit some good hands.

AQ: http://www.pokerhand.org/?850931 . Bet the whole way against calling station limper. Calling me down with bottom pair is nice. He insta called river bet with his 2 pair.

AJ in BB: http://www.pokerhand.org/?850932 . I hate AJ, especially in the blinds. I checked action flop. His pot sized bet on turn screamed like he was trying to buy it. I hit my money card and face a decision on river. I value bet str8 on river and he insta raises almost 3x. I timered it and called. Hard to lay down broadway, but I picked off his bluff donk style. Ran into resistance and almost folded. wow.

DAY 54 - 02/22/07 - Welcome Back Donk

• Today: -62.00
• To go: $573.66
• Bankroll: $1926.34

Full Ring: 394 hands *** 2.02 hours *** 16.24/7.61

Played awful today. 2 hands I stunk it up:

AQs: http://www.pokerhand.org/?847614 : I was in LP with AQs. EP guy makes a weak bet. I smooth call. Probably should have raised here. 4 people see flop. Check, original raiser goes all in short stack. I call, knowing he missed, and the blind check calls. Warning. Turn the blind check caller guy comes out betting 1/2 the pot and leaves himself $10 behind. I couldn't lay it down. I knew I was beat when he check called flop bet. All I had was top pair and stacked off. I suck.

53s SB: http://www.pokerhand.org/?847643 : I played this hand passive which saved me a ton I think, but I think I played it wrong. I probably should have raised the turn hoping to hit my huge draw, but I donk off almost $30. On flop I figure I had flush draw, plus my cards to make 2 pair. Turn brings me open ended straight and flush draw. Instead I check call and worst card hits on river. He makes a nice bet and I almost push. I saved an extra 20 by just calling station it. I really put him on an ace this whole hand. He limped preflop, so like A-10 or A-J. Nope.

Felt a little rusty today. Out of practice and nothing hitting. The 2 hands above were the hands of the day where I lost everything. No big winners either. Small pot poker wins. I donked a guy with AQ when I went runner-runner straight. I chuckled, but he was short stack. LOL.

02/21/07 - Break Over

Good to be back in town from Seattle. Poker Time again. Batteries recharged. GO!

DAY 53 - 02/17/07

• Today: +23.30
• To go: $511.66
• Bankroll: $1988.34

Full Ring: 147 hands *** 1.48 hours *** 17.01/11.56

Another short session. Here is one hand of the day I could have gotten away from:

JJ: http://www.pokerhand.org/?833858 . The $3 preflop bet was strange. I called in SB with JJ out of position. Flop was terrible. On the river I bet my J flush. I put him on hand like QQ or 10-10 with no flush card. He mini-raises my value bet and I knew I was dead. I couldn't get away from it.

$3 bet with KK is strange to me. He is betting his hand based on strength. He checks the flop with nut flush draw and KK. Then he turns the nuts and checks again. Of course, I fall into the trap on the river.

DAY 52 - 3 tabling

• Today: +30.55
• To go: $534.86
• Bankroll: $1965.14

Full Ring: 177 hands *** 0.68 hours *** 18.64/8.47

Toned it down a little from 6 or 7-tabling to 3 tables today. 6 tabling is too much. All I was doing was playing cards and position, which is a good strategy for these donk levels. I felt like I was just pushing buttons and not playing poker. 3 tables today, I fired up PokerAceHud and concentrated on numbers, etc.

Played a short session and I was up about a buy-in at one point, until fancy play syndrome came out for a little while. Ended up $30, but I think 3 or 4-tabling is more like it. Standard stuff like AA vs 88 short stack, AK vs A2 sooted short stack, etc. No eventful hands. Might play a little tonite. Friday nite donks.

02/16/07 - Nightmare

So the last 24 hours has been eventful. While at the Chicago Autoshow yesterday, we had unfortunate news of a death in my wife's family. So our trip today was cancelled and we are now going to Seattle Sunday. Thank god for frequent flier miles. I had to lose our tickets for the original trip today. It was a $100 change fee, but the tickets cost $100, so it was a wash.

Thank god my wife had 100,000+ miles and I had 70,000. We saved $1300 using our miles for our tickets. Then of course, we have to bail my wife's brother and mom out since they are broke and give them miles for thier tickets. I better get good karma. $3000 worth of plane tickets for free. Or a nice christmas present. LOL. Of course I wanted to stay at the W hotel in downtown Seattle, but that was shot down since no one wanted to pay $360 a nite. I had Starwoods hotel points for free nights there too. So now I have to stay at Motel 8 type. Weee.

Autoshow was nice. Narrowed down search for vehicle to Acura MDX, BMW X5, or BMW 5-series. I fit into all of them and it seems like the No Maintenance BMW thing is swinging me towards them. Brakes, Rotors, wipers, oil changes, etc. covered for 4 years. No headaches which I like.

Posted above is a car I am going to buy myself when I hit a financial milestone in my life hopefully in next 6 years. Simply awesome.

You have to be my friendso to ride in my benzo....

02-15-07 - Break

Going to the Chicago Autoshow today. My lease is up on Benzo in August and going to look for new toy. X5, 5-series, and Acura RL all in the running. Now I have to see if a 6'3 person can fit in the drivers seat.

Going out of town too tomorrow. No poker til Monday, which is good after my 3+ buyin loss yesterday. Thank god for that $150 pokerstars bonus. I'm still mad about the misclick too.

DAY 51 PART 2 - WORST MISTAKE EVER!!!

Session #2: -92.45
+ $150.00 Bonus
- 88.90 Session #1 = -$31.35 total loss for day
To go: $565.41
Bankroll: $1934.59

Full Ring: 980 hands **** 2.48 Hours **** 14.5/8.01

We'll I finally did it. I misclicked my way to losing a stack. I make a raise in LP with k-10 sooted. 1 caller. I go to make a c-bet, and my computer froze for a second when I typed $3 in the window. It didn't register, so I typed it again. Still nothing, so I clicked the scroll bar. We'll I mistakingly went all in when computer unfroze and guy limped and checked with AA. I blew up couldn't believe I made such a dumb error.

MISCLICK : http://www.pokerhand.org/?824264 . I am sick about this. I actually almost won the hand!! So awful. That's what I get for multi-tabling.

Other hands: Stacked off with a flopped set against a flopped flush. Stacked off with a flopped straight and donk goes all in with flush draw and hits. Steamers.

DAY 51 - 02/14/07 - I knew it was coming

Today: -88.90

To go: $622.96

Bankroll: $1877.04

• Full Ring: 1133 hands *** 2.15 hours *** 15.80/8.3
• 7-tabling session. Almost done with $150 bonus at stars. I can't wait to clear it. 200 fpps to go.
• Hands of the day:

AK: http://www.pokerhand.org/?823361 . I knew I was against AA or KK when I was 4 bet. Short stack goes all in with a draw and I'm 60-40.

AK #2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?823367 . When I got 3 bet by short stack, my only move was to put it in. I win race and know the K on the turn hurt me.

88 - fancy play syndrome: http://www.pokerhand.org/?823378 . EP limps and calls my raise with 6-4. When he bet out on the turn after my re-raise, I shoulda shut down. Instead I get fancy and blow it. Gotta ABC it sometimes.

JJ: http://www.pokerhand.org/?823405 . Used the timer on this one. Guy raises me all in to $30 from my $2 raise. I know donks don't play AA, KK, or QQ like this. I figured him for pocket 8-8 or 9-9 or AK? It's a bet that doesn't want to be called. I gambled and called.

DAY 50 - 02/13/07 - Short Session, PL Donkaha

Today: +21.50 NL - $37 PL Omaha = -$15.50
To go: $534.06
Bankroll: $1965.94

Full Ring: 93 hands

Played a short session today and won a quick $21.50. Played PL Omaha and lost a quick $37. Basically Omaha is this: Flop the nuts or turn the nuts. Bet pot the whole way. Get donked on the river to fish calling you down with gutshots.

I adding color to my blog now. I am not a computer donk.

02/13/07 - A true Poker Player....

Check out my coat. Nice!

DAY 49 - 02/12/07 - 1000 hand day

Today: -4.55
To go: $518.56
Bankroll: $1981.44

Full Ring: 1089 hands *** 2.60 hours *** 14.78/8.08

Took a break from NL this past weekend. Played Omaha this on break though. Came back today with a short 6-tabling Full Ring session. Had a win 5.10BB/100. I'll take it. My goal in this whole challenge has been to average 5.0BB/100.

****UPDATE****

Played a long session of 6 tabling tonite. Had some good hands. Was down over 2 buyins at one point, but clawed back almost to even.

Hands of the Night:

JJ: http://www.pokerhand.org/?818339 . How do donks play like this and win? I can't stand this. I got rivered with this guy with AK vs his AQ one hand before this too. He is just trying to give me $50 here.

AJs: http://www.pokerhand.org/?818346 . This hand happened right after my JJ getting cracked by 10-7, so I was steaming. When I look back at this hand, I think I played it like a donk. Flop a monster and decide to slowplay it vs. 2 people. When the turn comes, EP bets out, middle calls, and I make a donk all-in bet. When EP called, I knew I was dead against a boat. I hit 7 outer on river and chuckle. Quads. I never slowplay and it almost got me. I should have c-bet flop, but probably would have gotten everyone to fold and not made that much money. If the dueces villian called my c-bet, we would have gotten it all in on the turn anyway.

10-8 offsuit: http://www.pokerhand.org/?818352 . I turn the nuts here. Villian re-raises me on river and I had to hit timer to figure out what could beat me. LOL. So then the next problem becomes, how do I get as much as I can from this donk?? I mini-raise and leave $14 in my stack, thinking he would just push. He just called and I was mad I didn't go all in. He had smaller straight and complained he always loses on the river. Little did he know, he was drawing dead on the turn. WEEE!

AA: http://www.pokerhand.org/?818358 . Here the slowplay worked. Pretty safe flop to do it. When I called my turn bet, I actually put him on KQ. I bet just enough and donk gives away his money to me with 3-3.

1 bad beat tonite and I was down only $20 for the evening session and about even for the day. I'll take it. It's supposed to snow here tonite in Chicago. I hope it snows 2 feet. I'll get to use my new snowblower....weeeee!

02/11/07 - PL Omaha Part 2

Played Omaha again tonite. Lost about 10 bucks, but folded best hand twice. It's a hard game to get used to. Everyone limps and plays any 4 cards. I hit a few hands, and won some nice pots. I got in same situation tonite like I did with Erbo. I flop nuts and get reraised like 1/2 my stack and draws hit. I folded today though.

02/10/07 - PL Omaha

Played PL Omaha last nite. I was up 1 buy-in and ended up breaking even after pissing away my profit to my friend Erbo in one hand. No one knows what the hell they are doing. I was playing $25 PL table, so everyone is playing any 4 cards to get lucky....like Erbo playing AQ52 and hitting his miracle after I flop the nuts. Drunk Donk.

I tried not to play dry AA, KK, or QQ, like KK72, etc. I stuck to drawing hands like sooted connecting cards and it was working. I'm gonna keep playing it casually and see how I do. It was fun.

DAY 48 - 02/09/07 - Approaching 2 dimes

Today: +58.65
To go: $502.08
Bankroll: $1997.92

Full Ring: 186 hands *** 0.67 hours *** 16.67/11.83

Short session today. All my profit was from having hands like KK taking out QQ. Other big winner was me flopping set against top pair donk off. Didn't feel like playing today, so when I hit +1 buyin, I was happy.

02/08/07 - Full Ring Graph

First 2000+ hands going as planned. Note: This is the curse. I will drop 5 buy-ins tomorrow. LOL.

02/08/07 - Solid 6-tabling Session

Today: +32.75
To go: $560.73
Bankroll: $1939.27

Full Ring: 481 hands *** 1.10 hours *** 13.51/8.52

Solid session today. 6.81BB/100 over 481 hands. Took it up a notch to 6 tables. Played straightforward ABC-TAG poker. My stats were a little tighter due to 6-tabling.

One Critical hand, I was gonna bluff at a pot when I missed my 15 outer when the guy checked, but I gave up on hand and checked the riv. He had AJ with 1 over out there and he bet the J when it hit turn. His numbers were calling station donk so I saved myself some money. TY PokerAceHUD.

02/07/07 - 2 outer and QQ again

Today: +12.50 + $81.00 rakeback = +$93.50
To go: $593.48
Bankroll: $1906.52

Full Ring: 432 hands *** 1.45 hours *** 15.74/9.26

Was down over $30 whole session until I stacked a guy with KK. Then I ran hot to be up over $30. Then my QQ donk hand came and pissed away half my profit. Still feel good at Full Ring. That's where I made my $7500 roll before and it feels good to be back in the grind there.

Hands of the day:

KK: http://www.pokerhand.org/?802457 . I think I'm getting good at this game. I get KK and get called with my preflop bet. He checks flop. I bet pot on flop and he calls. Spidey sense tingled. Something is fishy. He checks again on turn. I check!! My river of dreams comes. Weeeee. He is hating life.

QQ: http://www.pokerhand.org/?802468 . Check out my chat in hand history. I knew the whole time he was milking me. I blew $17 on this hand after having a nice profit built up.

Rakeback posted to my Full Tilt account today. I love rakeback.

02/07/09 - This Bastard Ate My Phone

$70 donk. My dog grabbed my cell phone and punctured the screen. Thanks dick.

02/06/07 - QQ = Autofold???? LOL.

Today: +3.45
To go: $686.98
Bankroll: $1813.02

Full Ring: 369 hands *** 1.22 hours *** 15.72/8.40

I played well today. I think I made some good plays. I got murdered with QQ today. -$44 on the day with them. Check out hands:

QQ #1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?799497 : I reraise to $6 and he insta-shoves. Guy was 17/4, so I gave him credit and folded. I don't know if I go to felt with QQ here? I'm in a race at best and usually 80/20 situation.

QQ #2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?799503 : He comes out firing for a reason. I put him on AJ here. Turn is worst card. Fills flush and gives him 2 pair if he has AJ. Easy fold I think.

QQ #3: http://www.pokerhand.org/?799510 : Someday I will be good enough to fold to his river value bet. He had odds on flop to call, but not turn. 10 outer, but donks don't even fold to 4 outers sometimes....or 2....LOL.

Made a good comeback to be about even for the day. Flopped a couple sets, but didn't get paid huge due to 4 flush boards, etc. Not bad.

02/05/07 - Full Ring Poker Action

Today: +68.90
To go: $690.43
Bankroll: $1809.57

272 hands *** 0.92 hours *** 15.07/8.46

I have switched to full ring NL holdem. Still playing NL $50. Been on a hot streak since I started full ring and bankroll is going back up again. I'm back above when I had my 5 buyin meltdown session, so that's good.

I want my stats to be about 15/12 for full ring. I did some limping today, and it felt weird. Nothing too big today had QQ vs JJ all-in preflop with $25 short stack. An ace and King hit and I thought for sure I was dead.

The caliber of play at the full ring tables so far has been sort of shocking to me. Compared to 6-max, they are idiots. The play is horrible, but my hands have been holding so it has been profitable. I'm sure once Stars sees that I have won, they will flip the donk switch on. I've only played 500 hands or so, but that is my preliminary opinion. We'll see what happens when I get 10-15,000 in.

02/05/07 - SuperBears.....SuperDonks

I was really excited to watch the Bears yesterday. I'm not much for football, but I was excited. Superbowl commercials, booze, snacks, food, etc. I went by Neighb's and he had a good spread. We even played poker before hand and I managed to get 3rd for my money back against total donks hitting 1 and 2 outers.

Highlight: One guy's girlfriend looked like Sarah Silverman. She got drunk and rubbed her boob on me in her stooper. Awesome. LOL. My wife even laughed. Whale Tail sightings all nite. (thong action)

My parents are in Vegas at Bellagio for Superbowl and they managed to score 2 tickets from their Host to the Superbowl Party. They called me today and described the total bling action. King Crab, Sushi, gourmet food out the ass. Two grand ball rooms with 40 foot screens, high def plasmas everywhere. Sports betting galore. I wish I was there.

I got drunk on Captain and Diets all nite and managed to miss every square I bet on. Went to bed at 9:00 pm. Came to office today to find water heater broke a flooded everything. So, the phone is ringing off the hook, I have a hangover, and I'm cleaning up water damage to our carpeting with a rented Rug Doctor machine from Ace Hardware.

Good times. I love Monday's.

02/01/07 - Live Game Heads Up

Had our Home game last nite. Got heads up with Neighb. He steamrolled me. He had all the chips. Final hand to push, 8-9 sooted, he called with Q-J sooted. I had 16,000 chips, he had 34,000. Blinds were 2000/4000, so it was go time. $135 was win. Not bad for 2nd.

My live game streak is still strong.

02/01/07 - Live Game with Crew Tonite

BANKROLL: $1740.67

I haven't posted my stats in a while. Been playing tourneys, limit, and full ring. Still clearing bonus at Stars. Gonna concentrate on $50 NL full ring and count it part of my challenge, when I play next.

I'm hosting a live game with my crew tonite. Should be fun. 10 person sng tourney. Probab $10 rebuy for first hour. We usually get pot up to $400 so I plan on donking it up. We play every other week. I like hosting because I can drink and walk upstairs and go to bed. I plan on drinking tonite too.

We have a bunch of characters and nicknames: Cano, Widowmaker, Recluse, Affleck, Erbo, Flav, Teabag, Neighb. It's fun to forget about business for a few hours and relax.

-Cano: Guy explodes like a Volcano and has a huge temper. We call him Hulk too. Says quotes like, "I can't win a fucking RACE!!!" We all laugh and make fun. We call Pocket KK, Pocket Hulks because he always loses with them.

-Widowmaker: Our only girl in the group. Self-explanatory.

-Recluse: As in Recluse spider. If you mess with him, he will attack you. He freaked out about a spider landing on him, so it stuck. AKA Big Pappa, Mark Seif (looks just like him)

-Affleck: Guy looks like Ben Affleck. Really. Foreign tourists were taking pictures of him on his last cruise trip. AKA Piven, Jeremy Piven

-Erbo & Flav derived from last names. Other names too bad to post.

-Teabag : Guy was cold one time and asked me to make him tea. LOL. Only beer, pussy. LOL.

-Neighb : Short for neighbor. He has a long drive home too.

-Snowplow: Derived from his All-in motion with his 2 fingers snowplowing chips into pot. AKA Wrigley Field, turning chips on the side and rolling them in, like the tarp they cover Wrigley with in the rain.