Ray's poker journey

I love tournies

2006-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

Long time no post, sorry.

I got drunk one night and lost 3K at 10/20NL, smart eh?

I was also down a lot of MTT buyins.

Then I satellited into event 1 of the full tilt online poker series (FTOPS), and took 4th place for a nice 8000 score. The next night I took 20th out of 1160 in the second chance sunday tourney on stars...only for 970 bucks (215 entry), but I gave myself a good chance at the 48K first place prize.

The night before last, I took 4th in a $75 tourney on full tilt for 2K, then last night I took 3rd in a 109 tourney on tilt for 4200.

My results are improving, and I'm playing great. I've been sooo close to winning tournies, and the wins aren't far away. I can feel a big score coming soon.

My short stint at 5/10NL

2006-10-12T16:08:00.000-07:00

Well I did good for a little while at 5/10NL. I held my own, played great, made good reads, good calls, good laydowns (I think), and made some cash.

That is until last week. Don't get me wrong I didn't lose a ton of cash, I just went on a 4 buyin downswing. That doesn't sound too bad, until you figure that a buyin at that level is $1000. So $4000 down the drain, pretty much what I was up at that level. So for the past couple weeks I didn't technically lose any money, but I did learn some good lessons.

I don't plan on moving back up to 5/10NL until I have 20 buyins (online). Although, I might play some 5/10NL at a live casino if 2/5NL goes well. It's easier to play live because there are a lot worse players than in the online game.

So, here's why I lost this week (or so I think). I think I just got too comfortable with putting a lot of money in on not so strong hands. I played really great until a guy bet 700 bucks into a 1400 pot (he was all in), and I folded the best hand. He showed me his stonecold bluff. That 1 hand cost me a HUGE pot, and played tricks with my mind. Everytime after that someone made a big bet, I just didn't believe them. That 1 hand crept into the back of my head, and re-emerged everytime someone made a big bet.

Players are better at 5/10NL than my regular 2/4NL limits, and therefore pick better spots to bluff. They don't do it as often. And I didn't catch on until I paid off too many hands. I played way better when I played cautious (I almost said scared, but I really was never scared of losing that much cash).

So, for next time I play these limits, I'm going to play cautious, and not get a lot of money involved in hands, unless I'm SURE I have the best of it, or have the odds to call. It's small ball poker for me next time.

As for now, I took a few days off to cool off my head and think things over. Losing a lot of money really quickly is bad for my confidence, and I don't want to play bad poker. Either tonight or tomorrow though, I gotta jump back on the saddle and get a winning session in.

Ray

Taking shots

2006-09-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

When I play ring games, I have been playing 2/4NL for the past couple of months. This week, after reading an article by (I forget who) about taking shots at higher limits, I decided to sit at a 5/10NL table. My bankroll isn't big enough to play the game consistantly, so I thought I'd just play and win, or lose my 1000 buyin then move back down in limits.

I had a winning session, so I have played a bunch more 5/10 this week. In the past 2 days I'm up 5000, and I'm up about 7000 for the last week or so. It feels pretty incredible.

I feel that I've played pretty good, but I did get lucky a few times, especially for a 2K pot the other day.

I made a terrible check raise on a J high board with 2 diamonds, after the turn, and got all my money in as a big dog. I had AdJd and my opponent had AA. a nice J on the river let me win the big pot, and had me labeled as a donkey for the rest of my session.

Anyway that's just a small update, poker is going GREAT this week.

I'm going to play less tournies and focus more on cash games, until November. Then I'll play a few MTT's to get me ready for the classic. Also I'm going to read Harrington on Holdem 2 before then.

Online Poker Classic

2006-09-02T18:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe I qualified for this. I have tried a bunch of times, and blown probably around $1000 trying. Since "turning pro" I have only spent about 150 bucks, and tonight I did it. I won a 10 person tournament (73 entry fee) to get my 600 dollar ticket. Then I won that 10 person tournament, to get my 5200 dollar ticket! Pretty pumped as you can tell. With this, also comes a $50,000 freeroll tournament tomorrow, which will include everyone who has won a ticket so far.

Here is a link if you want to know more about the ongame classin.

www.ongameclassic.com

Aside from that, I also won about 800 in 2/4NL today. I have gone deep in tourneys a lot the past week, but with no "big" cashes. I got 1025 for 4th place out of 310 players, but lost a coinflip, followed by my AK going down to A6. I also have a 9th out of 270 (hardly any money) and a 12th out of 500+ for hardly any money. Before this week I had been on a bit of a downswing, hopefully the slump is over now.

Well now I am only one tournament away from becoming a millionaire :D

Ups and Downs

2006-08-17T15:43:00.000-07:00

Well once again, a roller coaster week. Tournaments have been killing me lately, and if I hadn't been playing them, then I would be up a lot more than I am, but I guess it's worth it, one of these day's I'll cash for 20,000 or something and it will be great.

I played the big deal (320), and 3 tournies on full tilt (216 each), and a few 109 tournies on stars.

AQ is my enemy. In the only 2 of those tournies that I was feeling really good about, I busted with AQ. In a stars 109 I got busted in 32nd place (top 27 paid) by BeL0WaB0Ve when his 97 beat my AQ on an A97 flop. Then in the 216PL event for the FTOPS, I got it all in as a short stack with AQ against A7, and a 7 flopped, to knock me out. Winning that hand would have only put me at an average chip stack, but I was playing good and really felt I could make a nice run towards a final table.

Well it wasn't meant to be for my tourney game this week, but it's been a different story with ring games. In my last 4 sessions of 2/4NL I have won 2439, lost 810, lost 154, and then last night i won 1333.

I have also been dabbling into the 3/6NL game when I'm feeling confident, and have lost a little bit, there but won 715 bucks in my last session. I'm down maybe 400 bucks total at 3/6 over the past week, but that's only from about 1000 hands, not even close to enough to let me know if I'm winning at it or not. The play doesn't seem to be much better than the 2/4, so I'm pretty sure I can beat it.

So that's my week. So far since "turning pro" I am up around 5700, and my 5th week isn't over yet. Way more than I'd be making at the factory, and a way better job.

Woo hoo

2006-08-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I finally got a new password, and will hopefully post more updates. I get sick of doing this all the time, but I'm thinking once or twice a week should be enough to fill you in on what's happening.

So I did it, I quit my job. The day the factory finally hired me, the day of my orientation, the day where I would be making 6 bucks an hour more than I did as a temp, I walked in the building, I asked to meet with human resources, and I told them I changed my mind. " I don't want this job, thank you ".

Here I am 2 and a half weeks later, and I love playing poker all the time. My goal for now is to make 3000 a month, and I had done that after the first week. However I have gone downhill since then with losing 700 bucks in 2 trips to the casino this week ( I need to just play poker, blackjack is definately a leak), and losing almost all of my 600 deposit on pokerstars.

I still have made money on fullcontactpoker though, and including those losses, I am still up 2000 since turning "pro". I seem to be doing well at 2/4NL shorthanded ring games, and 100 dollar 5 man turbo tournaments, so those will be the focus for me for the next week. I will play some multi table tournaments as well, but not as many as I have been playing. I've gone deep in a couple tournies, only to find myself busting out in 13th or 17th to bad beats, and just missing out on some big cash.

Well that's a lot of typing for me, so I will post again later.

Oh I also wanted to mention the 4200 I made on a trip to Connecticut, and 8000 on the Big Deal tourney on FCP. Those cashes gave me enough confidence, and enough of a bankroll to take my shot at doing this for a living. Ok I'm done now, later

Ray

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2006-06-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

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Another good day

2006-05-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

Just got finished playing a 400 hand session. At one point I was up over 1000, then I dropped a few hundred on a couple of weak plays by me. I lose big pots with top pair top kicker, and yet I mock the fools that marry their top pairs when I break them. I don't always do this, I think it was just me being tired at the end of a session, and playing over aggressive with the monster stack of chips I had. End of session totals...up 740 bucks, bringing my balance to $9975.

Great day today

2006-05-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

I just finished a 5 hour session (off and on), and played over 700 hands. I 3-tabled for about a half an hour...it was hard, but I am tired and wanted to clear this bonus I've been trying to clear. It would be a lot easier if I had a monitor with higher resolution, so that the tables wouldn't overlap.

So for the session, I made 350 bucks, and also cleared my 300 bonus, bringing my account up to 9235. I am almost back to the highest my account has been at...I could use a few more good sessions this week!

Running good then running bad

2006-05-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

I had a good day, two days ago, winning over 500, then yesterday I was up over 500 again, but I lost a couple of big pots to bad beats. On one hand I called a raised preflop with 10-8 suited, and flopped the nut straight. The turn brought it so that there were 2 diamonds and 2 hearts on board, and I got all the money in before the river. The board paired, and I was unfortunate to see my opponent had flopped a set, and rivered the full. This pot was for well over 400 bucks.

Another hand, which isn't as bad of a beat, but still hurt, was when i had 7-5 suited and called a preflop raise. The flop came Q-7-5 rainbow, and buddy married his KQ, which is exactly what I wanted. Until turn and river brought another pair on board to give him a higher 2 pair. This pot was for about 350 bucks.

Another hand that I lost a bunch on wasn't a bad beat at all, it was just a tough decision where I'm not sure I made the right play. With a few limpers, I raised it to 9 bucks preflop with QQ from the small blind. Big blind reraised it to 55. I didn't know why he raised it so much, so I figured probably a smaller pocket pair, trying to take the pot right there. I pushed allin, and he quickly called with KK, and the board bricked out.

After being up so much, I quit the session down 70 bucks. Right now I'm sitting at 8584 bucks. I also won a qualifier into the big deal tourney on sunday, which is 300+20 entry fee, and has a guarenteed prize pool of 80,000. Hopefully I can cash huge in that, and go to Vegas in July for a smaller buyin WSOP event. I'm thinking if I get my roll to 11,000 before then, I may treat myself to a fun trip.

Running bad, then running good.

2006-05-19T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well I was running bad on FCP, and dropped down to around 8500. Sure there were some tough beats, but I also think I played pretty terribly during that run. Yes it sucks to admit it when you play bad, I wish every post I made could be about how I played awesome and was unlucky, or I played awesome and killed the tables, but I admit it...I played bad. The positive thing was that I realized I was playing bad, so I took a break from 1/2NL, and played a little bit of stud and omaha just to clear my mind. I'm not a great stud player by any means, and dropped $100 bucks playing heads up 10/20 over about 50 hands, which was fine by me. I enjoyed playing, and learned a thing or two. Omaha lost me 20 bucks playing some .50/1 PL hi/lo.

Yesterday I decided to take a trip to Brantford Charity Casino to play some 10/20 limit (also a nice change of pace from NL!). I feel that I am primarily a NL player, but I can hold my own in limit also, and made just over 600 over 3 hours at the poker table. I also played a little blackjack (one of my many leaks that would have to stop if I decide to play for a living), and had a good day there winning another 350ish. The biggest pot of the night for me was capped 6 ways preflop, with me holding AsQs. I flopped a queen, with 2 rags and a rainbow flop, and 5 of us saw the turn. The turn created some draws, but fortunately the other 3 that were still in missed, and my pair of queens took down a $450 pot.

Today I got back into the 1/2NL and am up just under 600 after about 400 hands, and am sitting at 9097. I am also close to clearing a bonus which will give me another 300 bucks. Thanks FCP!

Down a bit

2006-05-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

It seems I'm on a bit of a downswing at 1/2 NL. Am down to $8920 at the moment. I haven't slept in 27 hours (Have hardly played any poker in that amount of time believe it or not!)..only about 500 hands. Bed time!

2006-05-13T07:24:00.000-07:00

Just played 275 hands while 2tabling 1/2 5max NL. There was some guy who showed up on my table with 200 bucks, and on the first hand pushed all in (there was 5 bucks in the pot), and showed 44 when everyone folded. I luckily picked up JJ a couple hands later, made a raise, and he pushed all in once again. So what am I thinking? He must have a small pocket pair. I call (normally I wouldn't go all in preflop with JJ, but against a guy like this it's an easy call). Turn brings an ace and I'm thinking crap, but the pot comes my way, and he shows QJ offsuit. WOW.

A few hands later I have K8 in the big blind, and we see a flop bring 883 with 2 clubs. It goes check check check, and the turn brings the Q of clubs. I bet 4 bucks into the $6 pot, and the same clown pushes all in for close to 200 (he had reloaded). I think for a minute, and decide to call because this guy is a clown, and he shows Q3, after my quad 8's win the pot (nice river eh?).

So because of this guy, and some nice pots at my other table, I'm taking a break after 275 hands up $1079, and it's only 10:30 in the morning!

With my roll up to $9537, I could take a shot at playing 2/4NL but I'm thinking since I've only played about 16,000 hands at 1/2, I should keep playing this level for a while to make sure I can beat it in the long run. I foresee a cashout happening soon, and me buying something nice for myself. maybe once I hit 10K.

Great tourney for me

2006-05-13T05:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I didn't really do much of anything. I went out and bought Trailor Park Boys season 5 dvd, then I came home and started up in the 15K guarenteed on FCP. This is an unlimited rebuy tourney 20+2 entry, and I rebought during the first hand to give me 3000 chips to start with. After hitting a few hands, I found myself in 4th place after the the rebuy/addon period ended. Eventually I made it to the final table with the chip lead (this started with 504 entrants), where the following hand happened:

I have 330,000 chips to buddy's 162,000. Blinds are 6/12,000 and I'm on big blind with KQ offsuit. Buddy limps in late position with 10/J offsuit, and I check my option. Flop comes Q9x rainbow, I check, buddy bets 30,000, I raise it to 100,000. He calls, with his open ender, even though it's pot committing him for when I push on the turn. 8 falls on the turn, I push, and buddy doubles off of me with the nuts.

I made a comeback after that, and then when 5 players were left blinds at 10/20,000 and my stack at 230,000. The same guy who I doubled up earlier, raised it to 70,000. I pushed all in with 55, and he called with A10. The flop brought three low cards all diamonds to give me a flush draw as well, turn was a brick, and river was a black Ace to give buddy his 4 outer and knock me out in 5th place. I think I could have waited for a better spot to push, and maybe wait for one or 2 others to get knocked out, but I truely felt I could control this table and push them around if I won that last race.

I also entered a 30+3 multi table, and finished 22nd out of 118 or so, where only the top 10 paid. Payout for my 5th place finish was around 920 bucks giving me about an 850 profit for the day. My roll starting out today is $8450, and I'm already up about 300 in 15 minutes at 1/2NL.

My roll, and how it got started.

2006-05-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

Currently, I am playing at www.fullcontactpoker.com and have been playing there since December. I initially deposited $99, for the purpose of checking out the site, as well as partaking in the charter member freerolls for a chance to become Daniel Negreanu's Protege. I didn't plan on sticking around this site at first, as it was a big change from PartyPoker and Pokerstars, which I was used to. So, I played out of my roll for a few days, turning my $99 into almost $500 after clearing the bonus. There was still a big hassle of having to send a whole bunch of info to verify my account in order to cashout over $200, and I still didn't care much for the site, so I decided I would play a couple of higher stakes MTT's, and go for broke. Well I ended up taking 4th place in the GT weekly 100+8 cashing for over $3600, and now I had a roll! I sent in all my verification details, and made a nice cashout for myself.

I kept grinding single table tournaments, and made a few nice scores at some multitable tournaments, and had cashed out $5500 in total, while having $1000 in my account. One night, I drank a bit more than I probably should have, came home and played some party poker blackjack (something I'll never do again!). I lost $400 in about 10 minutes, and decided to go piss away my $1000 roll at 5/10NL on FCP. Once I started playing however, I absolutely crushed the table. Sure I caught some cards, but I played absolutely amazing. Part of me wonders whether it was my wreckless aggression that had me winning, or catching hands at the right time, but before I knew it, I had turned that $1000 into $3700.

So, I cashed out $3000, and then I started my 1/2NL shorthanded (5max) journey. I don't recommend anyone play this game with a $700 roll, as I was still playing nowhere near within what my bankroll indicated I should be playing. I have since worked that up to my current bankroll, which is over $7500, and have cashed out $8500 from my initial deposit of $99.

I am still playing 1/2NL shorthanded, only now I am playing comfortably within my roll. My hopes are to one day be playing this game full time, but to take a chance, I need to (or moreso I want to) save up $25,000. This would allow me to move out, and give me a roll big enough to play up to 5/10NL, or 30/60 limit.

Anyway that's all for now, now you guys know more about me. I will soon do some research and find out the exact amounts I've made since I started keeping track of my deposits and withdrawals about a year ago. Don't ask me about before that because I don't have any idea how much I lost before that...I do know that I was a losing player for about the first 2 years I played.

Ray

Welcome to my blog

2006-05-11T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hey all this is troyomac.
My real name is Ray, and I have been playing poker for about 4 years. I started when I was 18, and as you can probably guess, I am now 22.
If you want to join me on my poker journey, and keep up to date with how I'm doing, I encourage you to keep checking in on me here.

My thanks for poker help go out to:
www.fullcontactpoker.com ( I would not be the player I am today without this website!)
www.westernpoker.org (I enjoy the strategy section here)
All of my buddies who have and still go on casino trips with me.