theredpill's Poker Journal

hi

2005-11-25T15:26:00.000-08:00

Hi. This blog was created decades ago. My new blog is over here:

Redpill's new blog

In the money

2005-03-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been hitting the SNG's. It's been good. I played SNG's all day on Thursday. 8 SNG's . 5 2nd places and 2 1st's and 1 out-the-money. $140 profit tonight. That's a good night for me. I have yet to be able to break the $200 barrier. I've reached about $170 or so profit in one day but have never been able to go into the $200 range yet. I will eventually, I'm sure. I'm taking Friday off because I feel terrible. I must be manic or something. I tend to win a whole bunch then crash. I stay up for 36 hours at a time then crash. I think this going to age me quickly but people still think I'm 18 years old when they look at me so I guess I'll be OK. I really wanted to keep at the ring cash game but nothing has been happening in my ring games lately. SNG's are so much more exciting anyway. Later...

Back to winning

2005-03-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

Tonight I won in cash games and SNG's . It felt great. Had one of my best nights ever . Made $170 tonight. Made about $85 in SNG's and $85 in cash games. I lost one buy-in with KK. THat was a crazy hand. I reraised preflop to $5.50 on a .25/.50 NL game (11x the blind) and some guy called me with Ac 8c and flop was 5c 6h 7c . He flopped a monster draw. He had about 18 outs. He was actually 60 % to win right there and had me betting. Unbelievable. I really didn't have enough money in my stack for him to justify calling 5.50 preflop with that hand. He needs about $100 in my stack to have the implied odds in my opinion. What can you do. I ended up getting about $10 back from him later but that was about it. He got scared and left.
Had a good night and I have a feeling I'm gonna be winning again. sweet.

SNG's

2005-03-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

man, seems I can't lose lately on SNG's. I'm 3 for my last 3 . Not just in the money but 3 1st places wins. I feel like I've improved my game after playing so much poker last month. I think I put in over 200 hours last month. This month not as much but I'm still playing nearly every day. I've just been battling some stagnation lately.

No more cussing, though. I get rivered and don't say word these days maybe because I feel more confident in my game. Give me a month of bad beats and no money, and we'll see where I am emotionally, though.

playing good

2005-03-02T01:45:00.000-08:00

I really feel like I've been playing some good poker lately. I've decided to play some SNG's to add to the bankroll. I had $50 left over in an account on a site where I dislike their cash games so I decided to play the SNG's. Two nights, two tourneys, two 1st places . Nice. $100 extra. I don't normally play SNG's but I figured what the heck. I feel like I'm playing nearly perfectly these days in the SNG's. I also have been getting really good cards but I'm no longer wasting my time on K8 suited and Q J o , hands that aren't that good.

Besides the tourney win, I made about $70 or so. I really didn't much time to put into poker today. Doctor's appointment etc etc. Things are going much better though lately and I feel like I'm able to handle things much better. I think the first few days of the month is tough for me. BTW, my month is from 19th to the 19th. hahaha.....

banned from poker chat

2005-02-24T17:19:00.001-08:00

haha...I like you guys and your comments. Funny stuff. Yeah, I've had my chat banned at 3 different poker sites. That has been about 2 months ago, though. I feel that I'm a different person now. That was the old tournament playing me. I realized that wasn't for me and switched to cash games. I've been happier ever since and I don't really cuss anyone out anymore. I did tell someone to F off yesterday because I had been unable to win a pot for like 2 days. It was nuts and I hadn't seen anything like it. I had QQ . I was in the BB. LP raises to $1 (.25/.50 NL) , I reraise to 3.50 folds around to LP who folds and guy in SB who calls. So its just me and SB. Remember, I hadn't won a pot the whole damn day and my bankroll on the site had been stuck at $1000 for a freaking weak. I was getting sick of seeing the money just standing there. SB checks and I bet $5. He calls. Oh, Flop was Qh 9h 5h or something like that. It was all hearts. I had a set of queens. Turn is a Ad . Pot is $16 . I say no way this guy is going to hit his flush on me. I bet $22 . He reraises all-in for $38 and I call and he shows A 7 suited of hearts. River is no help I'm out $45 or so. I said in chat: A 7 .... Fuk you. He says , "sorry" . I didn't get banned from this one, though. But I used to play tourneys. Tourneys are different in that one hand and you are out of the tourney. No one wants to get knocked out. I remember one banning. I had K K . I raised the usual 4x blind or so. One caller. Flop puts 2 spades on the board. I overbet the pot by a little. Player calls. I'm like ????? I think the flop was Ten high or something so it was wierd. Turn put another spade on the board. Pot is huge at this point because the blinds were big. For some odd reason, I push all my chips in and the person calls with the flush. It was dumb play but I sure did give it to the person. I got banned about 1 hour after. I was on the play money tables and all of a sudden this red writing came up saying that I couldn't use chat anymore. Where ever I went for one week following that day I had people saying, "hey red what's up" and etc etc. They would ask me about my city's football team and I would have no way of responding. I would just have to listen to them and be mute. A lot of players knew me so it was kind of awkward that I couldn't respond. I learned my lesson, though and things are much better. I very rarely say anything to any players anymore about the way they play.

I'm back

2005-02-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

I had a bad 4 day stretch where it seemed like I couldn't win a pot on one particular site. Today, I got A K like 10 times. Unbelievable. I won a bunch of pots today. It was great. I'm taking the rest of the day off , though I think. Too much poker isn't good. Anyway. My first month down and I'm feeling good about it. It was easier to make money than I thought it was going to be. I think the harder you try the less you make. I'm about to make my first big deposit into my bank account. Not real big but big enough for me.

WHat did I say ?

2005-02-19T05:25:00.000-08:00

I guess I posted last time that I'm done with the blog. Well, I'm still unsure. I guess I just lack discipline. I have to report some good news. My first month as a pro was a good one in my opinion and I think I was right. I can do this. I made about $1300 or so. I have counted it exactly but it is over $1000 and that is more than I made at my old job. Plus, I can do anything I want now. I'm my own boss. I think that was a good first month. I had a bad wednesday and thursday but today is off to a great start. I'm up $150 in the first two hours so far and I got like 12 hours left in the day. Wednesday and Thursday weren't terrible but I just didn't make any real money. I didn't lose any money, though. I just sort of stayed the same. To me, after making about $100 /day for the last 9 days in a row, that is a disappointment. I just got frustrated but I did the right thing. I logged out and came back the next day. I'm learning. I think in the months to come I will just get better and better. I don't necessarily want to move up, however, since I'm loving the limit that I'm at now. I'm making enough money and its fun. I really don't want to play with players that are as good as me. That just makes sense, though. Ok, well, I was thinking things were bad but I actually am going to mark down the first month as a success. Ok, later.

Blog is over

2005-02-18T02:13:00.000-08:00

I've decided to stop doing the blog entries. It'd be different if I was making a ton of money. I'm making a small amount and it is nothing to get excited over. I've had two bad nights in a row and it doesn't look like it is going to end. I need to do this for me and not for anyone else. Besides, I hate blogs.

Theory of Poker

2005-02-16T03:59:00.000-08:00

I'm revisiting this book. I had read the first chapter or two and was bored a few months ago so I put it down. I'm using my time away from the cash games to read how to properly play poker. I feel that I play a decent enough game to win consistently against average and below average players but I need to learn how to really play. So I'm reading Theory of Poker by Sklansky. I'm on Chapter 12. Actually, it seems in Chapter 11 and on, it gets much better and more interesting. The better player I can become, the better my earn rate. See you later.

sloppy playing

2005-02-15T01:11:00.000-08:00

I played for about 6 hours tonight. I haven't slept in over 24 hours. Bad idea. I managed to make $70 tonight. I should have made more but I made a ton of mistakes. I was drawing to gutshot straight draws without correct odds. I was doing all kinds of dumb things. I think I need a break. I need a day off. Hell, I've already made more in the 2 weeks of poker play than I did at my old job for a whole month anyway. I think I can afford a day off. I think I might just play a freeroll or maybe a $5 SNG. Something cheap and just for fun. I can barely see the screen right now. I'm just glad today was profitable. I was getting horrible cards for the entire night it seemed. 2 guys runner runner flushed me tonight on 2 different sites. I lost about $20 on one of them because his miracle flush card made me top 2 pair and I just didn't believe he hit runner runner flush so I called his all-in on the river.
I just have to take a moment and let some of you poker players know how much bluffing is going on in small stakes NL games. Geez. Unbelievable and the last 20 minutes of my play made me realize just how much I might be being bluffed. I took a guy's complete stack from 2 different plays in which I believe he bluffed me on both of them. I'm not usually interested in calling bluffs or challenging someone but I was only up $30 for the night and a little pissed and so I called a huge raise with A T o with only 5 players at the table. I hit a flush but I still feel my pair of aces on the flop was good. I saw one guy who bet huge on me on the river lose his whole stack on another table probably because he tried the same thing. If it wasn't for the scarey board, A Q T , I would have called him. I think I've been a little too conservative in my play. A little too worried about my bankroll. My bankroll is now at its peak point , don't get me wrong but it could be bigger if I had a little more guts in some situations. Tomorrow, I might be just playing freerolls and having fun.

Oh yeah, funny guy today. I was at 2 or 3 different tables tonight and this little guy kept buying for $4 on a $50 max buy-in table. It was just funny to me. He would call a $2 raise and be left with $2 in his stack. It was awfully funny and he had a funny name to go with it.

woops, I think I missed a day

2005-02-14T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, played about 8 hours tonight and made about $130. I know I made at least $100 but I was up about $170 or so and dropped about $70 in the last hour. Pissed me off but oh well. I'm definitely breaking new ground in my poker playing. I used to be happy with $50 win. I played 3 different sites. I made $100 on one and $25 on another . Then on the 3rd site I made $30 or 4 0 then moved to another table and was up another $30 and then the cold streak came and I lost like $70 on that table. The cold streak came on a .50/1.00 NL table which I probably shouldn't have been on, anyway but it was a loose table when it started but it turned ugly. I made one mistake. It was during the cold streak. I called a raise with K Q and hit a queen and called to the river. The raiser had K K and I lost $20 right there. Bad move.

sick again today

2005-02-12T12:54:00.000-08:00

I'm still sick but managing to get some poker in. I played about 4 hours last night. I did a real dumb thing. I called a raise with K J and let a poker player get under my skin. He didn't say a word but he raised me what seemed like everytime I bet the pot. Annoying. I folded the first few times. I guess I decided to take my stand with K J when I paired kings. I lost. I lost almost half of my $110 stake with a pair of kings and a jack kicker. Very stupid and I know better. The guy limped in with A K then someone in LP raised and he called and so I didn't put him on A K . But he was raising like a maniac. I have information now. He is willing to call off his whole entire stack with a pair of kings and an ace kicker. I'm going to look him up today or later this week. I got a royal flush last night and 2 4-of-a-kinds. What a night. I got paid off on all 3 of them, too. BIG. I made $130 last night but I could have made more . I folded QQ to an all-in on the flop and I would have won that one. That was $50 I could have won. I messed up on the K J so - 50 . Geez. I could have made almost $300 last night. I'm seeing a lot of people checking their monster hands to me on the river. It just seems like everyone is doing this. I'll probably play some today but not a lot.

sick

2005-02-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

I woke up sick today so I haven't played any poker. I might get in an hour or two but I'm going to keep it to a minimum today.

mid-day update

2005-02-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

So far so good today. Yesterday was just nuts I suppose. Hell, if I lose one out of 10 days that isn't so bad for a record. Yep, up $60 . I'm hoping to go on a huge run and make all the money I lost back today but if it doesn't happen then it doesn't. Ok, I'm feeling a lot better today just mad that I lost so much of my bankroll. It was hard work building it and to lose that much in 4 hours or so pissed me off.

the morning after

2005-02-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Got my ass beat pretty bad yesterday. Part of it was my own fault. Over-confidence. I'm going to use today to read a little more of some of my poker books. When you are winning, poker is fun but when you are losing, you feel like you will never win again. I've already played a little more today. I didn't lose a buy-in but just pretty much stayed even. I flopped a set of 9's and got no action. Recently, I've been flopping sets but no one bets or will give me any action. It's not that I'm not winning pots but the pots I win are really small. KK preflop everyone folds. I let a player or two get to me and lost more money than I should have. I over played trip 6's . Putting your whole stack at risk with trips is a bad idea. I didn't know Villain raised with 2 2 . I haven't known many players to raise with that hand so when the flop came 6 2 6 . I thought I had the best hand.

maniac

2005-02-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

Made $150 yesterday. Today, in the last hour, I'm down $120 so you do the math. I barely remember how I lost the first buy-in. Part of it was with A K . A bluff that didn't work as this maniac called me down with pair of 7's with an 8 kicker. Then same maniac who had been raising every hand. Yep, raised every single hand. No lie. Raised and I called with A 6 suited. Flop was 6 2 6 . Awesome. My chance to bust this guy. It was 5 handed at the table at this point. It's bet around and he raised it and I reraised to $17 and he called. Turn hit and I went all-in with my remaining $20 and he called and showed 2 2 . I left the table after that since that guy couldn't be beat. I think he is up to $300 now starting from $50. I'm into folding mode at this point. Hopefully I can just break even today or maybe make a little. It'll be a long road to break even.

Another good day

2005-02-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm off to another good start today. 3 hours + $90 . I'm starting to think that I can average 200/day now. 100/day used to be wishful thinking but it seems the more I do this, the better I am getting. Or I could just be on a good run of cards. I made about $130 yesterday. I'm definitely glad I quit my job. I'm now making 3 or 4 times what I made. I thinking I'm just getting better. A good player in NL can do lots of manipulation and have a huge edge. I'm going to try to make 200 today. I think I can do it.

Went on tilt

2005-02-08T01:57:00.000-08:00

Well, I lost it again. I lost composure tonight. I hadn't lost composure for at least a week on the poker table. Even when things were going bad that one day, I still didn't lose it like I did tonight. Earlier in the day I signed up at a new poker site. Well, things went bad in the beginning. KK lost to A9. KK lost A J . ETC ETC. I still wasn't angry . I go back to my absolute favorite site. I go to a nice table. I get A K . I raise. Someone reraises me preflop. Ok, I call . I check to him and he bets big and I fold putting him on a medium pocket pair. Ok, no problem. I play 6 7 in mp because I like to mix my game up a little. Flop: 6 A 7 . I bet the pot and I get reraised ....I fold...thinking ok maybe he has A 7 or A 6 .
Then I get KK and I raise in BB. Two callers. Flop is 2 5 6 . I bet 3/4th the pot = $8 . I get reraised and LP guy calls for all his chips. I'm like WTF. This is the 3rd hand and 3rd time I've been reraised with a decent hand on the flop . Pot is about $30 and I decide to push my $40 stack in and he calls and show 2 5 suited. I don't play 2 5 suited. I don't play any 2 5 at all let alone to a raise. I sit there pissed. I rebuy immediately. No one gets the best of me. I see his stack as grown from around 70 to 115 and that is my money he has. I'm pissed. He goes on a raising spree. I call everyone one of them with J 8 , 9 T , anything to bust him. I don't though as I miss the flop completely. I call a few more raises with junk and realize what I'm doing and log out. I sit there for about 10 minutes to try to relax. I finally relax enough that I feel I can play some more. I end up going to another table and getting A A and doubling up and making all the money back but I should have never lost the money to begin with and it is hurting my EV. Ok, story over. Later.

Superbowl

2005-02-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Hi. Took about 2 days off for superbowl weekend. Drank beer and hung out with some friends. It was fun. That was saturday. On sunday, I sat through 2 or 3 hours of agonizing football. I guess I have attention deficit disorder because it is hard to sit still for that long watching football. I never watch sports by the way unless it's a poker tournament. I just can't sit there and watch and be entertained by football, baseball, etc. It doesn't do anything for me. I don't understand why people get into it and actually care if so and so scores a touchdown. I used to play football, baseball, etc when I was young but I have always hated watching it. Ok, well that's all. Poker is tomorrow or might play a little tonight.

perfection

2005-02-05T10:35:00.000-08:00

I'm such a perfectionist. I scrutinize everything that I have a passion for. For this reason, I haven't put up anything BIO information because I feel that it just wouldn't be up to par . Well, today I'll put some BIO up since you are probably wondering who the hell I am.

Today, started out absolutely fantastic. I usually start off losing a buy-in or two but not today. I'm up a buy-in or nearly that. I've hit sets (trips) left and right so far and I was doing so well that I took a break. Maybe I am getting a little burnt out after putting in nearly 12 hours yesterday. I played all day basically with breaks in between. I started yesterday at about 9 am and played up to 10:30 pm. My bankroll was on a roller coaster ride. I made some mistakes and I've learned from those. I just hope my memory can hold on this information. I'm finding that I'm forgetting some of my friends' names. Strange. Maybe I'm not getting enough vitamins. I eat a lot of candy.

Bad beats from yesterday:
A K beat by K J
3 of kind tens beat by miracle 3rd jack on turn (I pushed all-in on flop)

That's it I think. But I lost about $60 on just those two plays. Eventually, I hope $60 will be pocket change as I will be making more and more.

A K again

2005-02-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

A K again ran into something. I have no idea what it was. Villain's bets grew twofold on each street until he was betting $20 at me on the river. I folded to the river bet. I think he had A A or K Q two pair which would leave me dead. I learned that I needed to checkraise on the flop or preflop. I haven't been doing much checkraising lately. I needed to take a stand on that hand.

All in all, I made about $50 today. I would have made nearly $80 had my set of tens held up. Guy hit his two outer on the turn for set of jacks. Then he told me that I got lucky. AA over QQ at Paradise poker for a nice pot. Ok later. Probably beer tonight.

going good now

2005-02-03T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well, took a few hours off for an appointment I had. Now things are rolling. I've made about $150 in the last 2 hours. I turned the aggression up a little. I only played 2 tables, though. I was going to play 3 . I still can't get over my A K running into a set of aces. I made the mistake of limping with A K . I do that sometimes.

I got Q Q in EP. Big stack is in LP with about $200 . I have $ 60. I raise to $2. He reraises to $4. This big stack is a fish. Very loose with the money. He played EVERY hand. I mean every single one. He bet about 85 % of the time on the flop, too. I reraised him all-in because I didn't think he had AA or K K . I guess because it was only a minimum reraise. I guess I was just willing to take my chances. Reraised all-in for $60 and he calls....I win and he shows J J .

can't win

2005-02-03T08:25:00.000-08:00

After having a great day , yesterday, it seems I can't win today. Strange how that is. I've decided to get through this by playing 3 tables. A K two pair ran into a set of aces today. That is how bad it has been. I didn't lose a buy-in , though so that is one positive. I started the day off feeling really confident and slowly realized that it isn't going to be a good day. I've basically just been folding the whole day. I haven't gotten JJ or better the whole day. I got T T two or three times but that's about it.

A A

2005-02-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

Believe it or not. I think I'm losing money with A A on one particular site. AA has lost to 6 7 . AA lost money for me tonight. I lost $15 to it on one hand. I had to fold it. I've been awake for 8 hours and I've already made $70 . I'm going to continue to play and will let you know what happens. One guy in particular annoyed me tonight. Players don't usually annoy me that much anymore because I feel confident in my skills. One guy reraised me preflop with A 8 o when I had just raised with A T. I check to him after an Ace had hit the flop to see what he would do. He bet the pot and I folded figuring him for A J or better and on the river he shows A 8 and that bothered me a little but it was a beautiful play against me because I'm a thinking player. A little later I have A A and he reraises my bet on the flop . I call . Then on the turn he makes another huge bet so I fold figuring him for two pair or a set. I just don't understand why he does this against me. He doesn't seem to do it against any other players. I told him that I was going to bust him. I told him that about 3 times. If he's playing tonight, I'm going to bust him.

sleeping

2005-02-01T19:23:00.000-08:00

I slept for 17 hours. When I remember things, I'll come back and do a real blog.

2005-02-01T03:39:00.000-08:00

I don't think I like blogs that much. I know I don't like titles for each post in these things so if I do continue with this. There will many that may be title-less.

Decent night tonight. Made about $30 over a few hours. I think I have some leaks that need to be plugged. Can someone help me with this ? I have tendency to draw to hands that I shouldn't be I think. I was tired today so I didn't get much poker in. I'm going to get some sleep since I have been awake for 48 hours now. Later.

Geez

2005-01-31T22:39:00.000-08:00

Well, so far tonight. I have won very few pots. QQ lost to some guy who minimum raised with 9 7 on the button. Not sure what that was all about. He hit a full house. Of course, since he raised I didn't believe he had the 7 . I didn't lose too much, though. I overbet the pot on the flop and he thought his 7's with 9 kicker was good. That is really what pisses me off. He hit his trips on turn and the full on the river. I bet whole way of course and checked on river. Then called a bet.
Finally got trip queens and I got disconnected. I hit a full house on the river and who knows how much I would have made. Instead I made $8.

My first Journal Entry

2005-01-31T14:56:00.000-08:00

Well, since I seem to have a lot of time on my hands and I like to tell people all about nearly every hand I have, I've decided to start this journal. (pointless first sentence leading up to real content) . There is no real content in this one since I haven't played today. Wait, I haven't been to bed today. I have to do that first and then when I come back I'll write something.

I did have a great night last night. My best one day cash game experience ever. $140 on the .25/.50 . I also played .05/.10 and one a $30 pot. Yes, you heard right. I had 2 others all-in for all their stack by the river.

K K in MP

I raise to $.55
mp calls
mp2 calls
EP calls

Flop: K Q 7 rainbow

I bet 90 cents
mp call
mp2 raises to 1.80
call
I call
call
call

Turn: J
check
check
I bet $2
call
call
call

River: J
EP bets $2
MP folds
I raise 5.95 (all-in)
mp calls
ep calls

kings full of J's
mp shows A A
ep shows 7 7

Sorry , about the sloppy presentation. I don't want this blog to feel like work.