Back at it

Took some time off. Busy with work and did quite a bit of golfing recently. Not the best golfer but I really enjoy the slow paced game. Very difficult to master which makes it quite fun to play for me. Since my last update, I have played some streaky poker but the good news is that I am still up a bunch and close to the 100 mark. I am currently playing right now, but let me update you on how I did in live poker over the weekend.

Decided to play some live poker on Sunday so my Dad and I drove to Keene, NH to join the freeroll tourney. Usually 50 or so people join the tourney, sometimes more sometimes less. There was around 5 tables so we had somewhere near 60 people in the game. It is always fun playing live poker especially with a bunch of people you don't know. Outsmarting these people is what makes poker so fun. So let me give you the rundown of the game I joined. It was a freeroll game meaning that to enter I did not need to invest anything. I sit down with 1000 in chips and blinds start at 25/50 increasing every 15 minutes and you can add on to your stack whenever you feel like it. I enjoy knowing I dont have to invest anything, but let me tell you I have never had the skill and luck enough to get my chips up so I am not forced to add on. Did well for awhile with my starting stack doubling up once but then once blinds got up I was forced all in and lost. Decided to rebuy for the maximum before break of 8000 in chips for $40. Played maybe one round and got up to about 9500 in chips before we went to break. During break you get an addon and I invested another 40 for 10,000 in chips with the blinds being 300/600 when we return to action with my chip stack at 19500. After break is where the real action starts and now it is time for real poker playing to start. And for me it started early. First to act I look at QQ. Thought about it for a minute and then threw in 2200 in chips. Pretty hefty raise but being at an aggressive table I wanted to make them pay to hit there cards. Instead the button pushes all in for a little more then 10, and then after a long time thinking the small blind calls the all in bet. She hesitated to call, and only called the 10000 which was a little less then half of her stack. She was sitting with maybe 3K more then I had. This was a very tough decision for me, but seeing that she was prettying much invested in this pot, and almost 100% sure she was not holding KK or AA I decided to go all in over the top and hopefully win the whole pot but go for the side pot atleast. It was a weird thought process but I just didn't feel like I should fold my QQ in such a prime spot so early on in the tournament. Once again she thought about it, counted out her chips with maybe 3000 left over and shoved them in. She turned over AK, and the button turned over KK. It played out well for me and no A fell so I took down the side pot giving me slightly more then I started the hand with. Haha. Not much for that much stress but I profited a few thousand. The KK player got quite the triple up. So played continued and not long after I played a stellar hand and got many compliments including a "genius play" but the dealer of our table. With KQ off suit, and blinds at 400/800 I make it 2300 to go. Next guy calls and all others fold. Board is K87 and I lead out acting first for 2500. He just smooth calls and we see the turn. The 9 comes down and I am a little scared so I decide to see what he does and I check this time. He checks right away. The river is a K. This is where I was confused and thought if he had something he would have bet the turn, but still confused with what was going on I decide to check again on the river and see if he bets. Well you can guess it, not only does he bet but he pushes all in for 20K in to a pot of maybe 15K. I was so confused but after running all the hands through my head I made the call and he said " I was just making a move" and showed A6. A huge pot my way and I could breathe easily. From then on I played conservative poker till the final table and even there I did the same thing. Had a few hands here and there got a few chips but after an hour of play the players dwindled to 3 and I was left just pushing and praying. Got my money in with the best hand A5 diamonds but couldn't beat Q7 after the 7 hit the flop. It was a successful day for I got 215 dollars for 3rd place meaning I profited 135 dollars. I got a little greedy and joined a 40 dollar game right after and busting early but still profited 100. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to going again sometime soon.

Back to online poker action. After an hours worth of play today, I finished up 2.55. Saw around 250 hands and didn't have any big hands just kept grinding away and winning small pots. I want to avoid the big swing I had last time I played and today was a good sign. I feel like after playing live poker I was able to concentrate more in online poker and play solid consistent poker. Need to keep increasing one day at a time. Below is the latest graph.