29

Target: $750
Amount from: $667

So a small loss today but the overall aspect is better. I was way more focused than I had been and paying much more attention. Its the end of the week today cos im taking tomorrow off. I'll post some hands and results later.

Later that same day........

A good session. I think my PT stats are wrong cos I won more today than it says I did

Target: $750
Amt won: $390
Result: $(360)

I didnt hit my goal but I had a winning week. Not a loosing one, Not a break even one. A winning one. Feels great! I know that I am gonna have a great week next week. I feel much more confident in not only my game but my focus and my drive also. I really want to play poker again. I went through a week or two of just not wanting to play so much.

A few of the good and the bad.

Bad 1
Fold river. I was not commited so why call. Stupid pride.
Bad 2
Got to bet that turn or check raise it all in. Be happy with stacking 1 person.
Good1
I love sets!
Good 2
Really what was he doing betting $1 on the turn. I didnt fear a house here too much but it was possible so I just called his min raise as opposed to pushing. look at his Stack PF and then look at this hand

Ugly
I still think I was ahead of him PF. He said he had AA but I really dont think so. He wasn't very good at all and I wouldn't be surprised if he had AK. Thats one thing I dont like about Prima. dont get to see the hand unless they show it.

Happy new Year!

My resolutions, Work harder and have more fun! I'll tell you 2 ways on the 1st 07

28

Target: $750
Amt from: $(622)

Poker:

Back to the grind after a few days off over christmas. I put in just over 1500 hands today and I was really happy with my play. I was really on form and I was playing the way I know I can. I just hope that I can keep it up.

No really big hands to talk about. I got stacked with AA when I should have folded. I know I have a problem with laying overpairs but what this dude showed wes crazy. He called a 5bb raise after he limped, called a cb with no pair and no draw, bet pot when the turn brought a 3 and pushed for pot again on the river J. He had J3s

Starting another day now and only have $622 to go.

Work harder!

27

Target: $750
Amount from: $(846)

I had a quick session today. only a few hundred hands but I think I was playing my A game again for the most part.

Even though it was only a few hundred hands, I still had some dude suckout on me but it didnt piss me off one bit. I was disapointed that it happened but not abgry at my opponent.

Hand
I knew I was ahead when he bet pot, I was pretty sure anyway cos I had been quiet but over 50 hands I hadnt limped or cold called once. I was aggressive. the way it should be.

Here is one of the non A game hands i was talking about.
Idiot misclick hand
I was moving tables and I accidentally min raised here. I should have left it with that and check folded but I figured I could take the pot off a weak opponent. Wrong.

My reads are way off recently and I have been raising people with made hands and not been able to get people off hands at all. Its tight week for TheJohnster!

Going to the beach tomorrow for some surfing depending on good waves and weather.

New Phrase about me:

"You could try harder, right?"

26

Target: $500
Amount won: $(437)

Needless to say, not a good week!

It started with some bad varience.
KK into AA followed by AA into QQQ and my QQ into KK.
Then I stopped playing my A game and even though I new I was not playing well I continued trying to force the action and hit big on flops and Just playing badly.

The good news is that it was Christmas yesterday and I had time to look over my stats and hands over the past week.

Its funny, I have a new excitement for poker again. I think that its not only poker but life in general. Not that I didnt have a passion for life before but I think I just realised a few things. I watched something on Buddhism which really hit me.

Next weeks goals:
Weekly goal: $750
Amount from: $750.

26

Target: $500
Amount won: $(412)
From Target: $(912)
New Target: Breakeven for the week.



OOPS. I had a bad day. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut yesterday. Now to hit my target I need a major run.

Dear Santa,

I would like to be hit in the face by the deck for christmas. I have been a bad boy this year but in the loveable rogue type of bad boy not the mean to other kids bad boy. I didnt cheat on my girlfriend. I only smoked a little weed (I could have smoked more). Im Irish so we are predesposed to drink lots. I nhad a good time but I was generally a good boy.

Thank you,

TheJohnster.

A few hands That I lost money on are:

Bad play
I should have pitched the hand preflop after the reraise but he had done this to me a few times. I might have been better 4 betting him but I devided to call. I felt he was at it so I reraised his lead. Bad move and I was pretty wuch commited and hoped to suck out.

AA into trips .

Reraised pot. I typed "QQQ?" into the chat box but I couldn't lay this down.

Flopped the nuts.
Can I really not get stacked here.can I put him on 8J

Today will be better!

25

Target by 24th: $500
Amount won: $(40)
From Target: $(540)


I havent had much to repoer lately. I have played almost 2500 hands in the last few days and I am down $40 or (1.29)bb/100.

It really has been one of those weeks so far. I have n't been stacked once and I have made a few good reads but not been able to exploit them.

I have had a few good hands but I haven't really made the most of my image and I have been loosing unless I stack someone. I think im just going through a patch.

24

A review of goals.

Short term:
Make $1500 by Sunday 26th November. (Achieved)

Make $1000-$1500 a week on average up to Christmas. (Not Achieved)

Have the BR to be continually playing $1/$2 by10th December. and be achieving a PTBB/100 of 5+. (Not Achieved)

Medium term:

Have made $6000 by Christmas.( I still have a week but I am $4.5k off with less than a week.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New goals. I need a weekly goal to be able to assess if I am anywhere on target.

Weekly Goal: $500 until I am up to $1/$2 full time.

My BR will start at $0 so I can see where I am at.

BR: $0 + $337 +$100 (roughly through rb) -$350 cashout = $87

23

Poker:

So its been a few days since I last poster. I need to start over again with my goals. I have not been keeping track of them properly so I need a new setup.

I had 2 goood days and I think I was up just shy of $250 for teh last 2 days. I played a few $200nl hands and I did ok. I was only playing 1 table so not many hands but I was happy with my play.

Hand 1

Floping the nuts on your last hand always goes down well but I think just calling the reraise and trying to get it in on the turn would have been a better option. Im not sure if he had JJ or KK without the K of Diamonds.

Hand 2

I was about 75% sure that this guy was not call/reraising me with AA. This guy has a note that im a fish cos I sucked out on him and he is on tilt with me. Its nice when people just try to give you money!

I have posted all my bad hands before adn nothing really eventful has happened.

22

Poker:

Good day yesterday.

I still made a few mistakes but I ended up in profit. I lost a buyin with a hand I thought I had good odds to call and after analysing it with more time I realised I was only like 20% to win when the money went in vs his hand. I out him on an overpair to which im like 49% to win and good for my image so I dont think its a really bad play. Not 100% sure though.

Hand 1

Hand 2 I should have been able to let this go, I mean I had a pretty good feeling he had AA.I think I would have gotten away if I didn't have the spade draw.

Hand 3 is a good example of playing an opponent based on their image and your image.I had been involved in a few pots with this giy and had 3 bet him a few times too so he thought I was messing. Thats why I played it so fast.

No more eventful hands really. I moved back to Poker.ie and it seems to be going well. I think I was playing alot better yesterday. I tightened up and stopped trying to force the action. Looking forward to a good day today.

Life:
Bah Humbug!!!

I am not in the christmas spirit at all. I went ot get a tree yesterday at the closest place to my apt that sells them. Its 1.5 MILES away. So I get there and they are cheap enough so I ask about delivery, No dice.

I go out and ask a few cabs at the taxi rank if they will take a tree and they say very politely. Fuck off, no fucking way. Decision time here. So I make a choice, here my gf whining about how christmas here sucks blah blah blah or carry tree 1.5 miles home. I choose the latter. So I find a nice tree, a little 6 footer which still is a big ish heavy tree. So I proceed to carry it out of the mall, and start walking home to the apt. Just me and my tree. After about 10 mins/ .5 miles I decide to get into the christmas spirit and I start to whistle christmas songs when all of a sudden it starts to rain. Yes Raining carrying a christmas tree 1.5 miles.

Lets just say that I was not too happy about this but I laughed it off and continued. I eventually get the tree back to the apt and I have to say it looks great. It will really make christmas.

I went to this free christmas concert in the park yesterday evening. It was kinda cool but korny. Everyone had candles and were carroling etc. Still enjoyable.

We got the cable TV upgraded the other day adn we got a few more channels. Now I dont have to go to the pub to watch the football games. I can sit on the couch and have a beer. so natrually while doing this yesterday I fell asleep. typical.

Anyway. I just started a session and am down 1.75 buyins, Got to make that up now.

21

Interesting day today after yesterday.

I played on Poker.ie and UB. I was playing ub and nothing was happening so I opened Poker.ie and almost instantly lost a buyin and a half. I made abouy 3.5 buyins on UB after I went back there.

I felt I was playing well but I know that something is still up with my game. I am only having a winning session when I stack someone, not by just outplaying someone. I am loosing money in the small pots.

I have a plan though. I am going ot watch some Cardrunner videos before and after a session. I think I might be trying to be too much like Taylor when I am not able to play like him. I am going to watch Stinger and Andrew a bit and see what I am doing wrong. If I dont get cards, I have a loosing session. Great players dont play that way.

I really think I have been unlucky with hitting cards recently, I have not been hitting cards after the flop which is obviously gonna make it difficukt to play. I may have found myself CBing too many checked flops that are draw heavy/bad flops.

Still making stupid plays:

Stupid 1
I thought I could get him off this hand.

Stupid 2
"Hi, I called your flop bet and now I lead the turn. I would complete with Qj and now I am broadcasting to the world that I have a straight. Listen to me. Oh, you must be beating a straight if you raise my river value bet. we have to be splitting. Oh no, you are a doney!" My opponents words during the hand.

Stupid 3
SIgh, I suck when I am not paying attention,

SAVIOR HAND
Title says it all.

At least I am realising what im doing wrong, Why I am doing it I dont know. I will not be doing it abymore. New dawn,New Day.

Life:
The surfing took alot out of me as I was out there for 4 hours. Unfortunately my cold from last week has not gotten worse and I have a fever too. I got some pills and hopefully they kick in tomorrow. I slept for most of today apart from when I was playing. Not much else to sya really. I have to start getting some presents for Sandie for crimbo.

20

Poker:This will be an edit cos im playing later.

OMG I suck. granted im tired after an awesome day surfing but My game is going horribly. Why am I playing bad. I am not consentrating on my game 100% while playing adn my head just is not in it. I followed a huge donator up to a $1/$2 table as it looked very profitable. I almost imediatly gave him a buyin when he hit a set, I pushed thinking he was bluffing and merry christmas, here is $200.

I got that back cos the table was easy to play and then I started playing my A game again but for some reason, only on that table. I managed to drop 3 buyins at my normal game $.5/$1. no bad beats really just stupid play. WTF Johnster.

Stupid move 1
I have played over 2k hands with this guy and he is very nitty(tight). He doesnt defend much but I dont know cps I didnt even look at his stats before trying this.

Stupid move 2
Thats right genious, Bluff the shortie.

Stupid move 3
Bluff in a reraised pot with 2 villans and both being calling stations. Get this man to the high stakes tables!!! NOT

Hand 4
Not sure about the river call here. Otherwise Ok based on the villan and I had been playing back at him lots so he thought I was at it.

As you can tell im not too pleased with myself or my play over the last few days and almost deserve to go busto if I keep playing this way.

Life:
As usual I took a few days off to chill out and just get things done. 1 thing I need to do is find a christmas tree. Now normaly this is not a problem but when living in a city that you dont know very well aswell as having no car ect it is proving quite difficult. Its not the transportation of the tree that is the problem, Its finding one. Real or fake i dont care but im not forking out $100 on a tree. WTF. its like they dont celebrate it in this country.

Normally this would not be a big deal for normal people but my Girlfriend was born on Christmas day and therefore its a huge fucking deal.Oh its true, "in the poker game of life, Women are the rake, they are the fucking rake." "worm"Ed Norton from rounders.

Anyway, its like 32 degrees outside and im going to the beech for a surf. i'll update later.

19

Poker:

BR: +$134

I've stopped playing my A game.

Why oh why. I was hitting good cards but making bad decisions. not stupid ones but I think I was cbing too muhc adn a few small things that I would like to stop doing. I was loosing money in unraised pots etc.

There was lots of background noise and people watching tele and just being around which took my attention away from poker but there aint nothing I can do about that cos i live with 5 other people.

Hand 1
I knew he didnt have it here. I thought a 5 or an over pair. Runner runner, beautiful.

Hand 2
Look, Proof that Poker loves the johnster again. I got my moner in way behind and I hit runner runner. I figured him for a good hand but I had seen him make this move with TPTK so I was happy to stack off here.

Life:

I am suffering with a cold or something. i haven't felt right in a few days. Hopefully the weather will be nicer tomorrow and I can hit the beach and sweat it out of me. I live with 2 nurses so they have offered to get me some free drugs, I kindfully obliged. Not the great kind but free med is better than paying for it.

I bought a DVD for Sandie and as I was getting that I saw Rounders for $10 or US$7. I had to get it. Good flick. We rented Click(the Adam Sandler movie) lastnight and I thought it would be good but I was not expecting it to be that great. i am glad to say that I was proven wrong. I laughed outloud a few times during that movie and I was trying to be quiet cos Sandie had fallen asleep. She always does that, Its like a dvd and me to lay on is like a bottle of sleeping pills and a few joints to most others, She goes out for the count within minutes.

She has gone shopping with our roomies today and thank god I got out of it. I would prefer to stab myself in the foot for a day than go shopping. Next time i'll try the sleeping pills and weed if I cant get out of it! Im not sure how much poker im going to play today cos im under the weather and might not play the best.

Time to go, My nose is running and its pissing me off. Fuck this im going to Starbucks, Nothin like majorly overpriced coffee to make me feel better.

18

poker:

BR:+ $450 for the week.

I had an alright day and managed to loose 1.5 buyins before turning it around. At the end of the day I was sitting at a table that I would have paid $1 a hand to be at. Unfortunately, I was too tight and didnt get paid off on some of my big hands. Made some big laydowns and I think I played it ok.

I had some tricky hands this wesk. Here are a few I played that I liked and a few that I could have played differently.

Hand 1
I thought this guy had a weak hand and that if I pushed I could get him off the hand. He had garbage but didnt think I had anything. I spiked one of my15 outs(13 now I know his hand) on the river. I should have bet the flop instead of calling. It was pretty weak.

Hand 2
I played this hand weak because I didnt think he had any of that flop adn if I 3 bet, He's gone. I wasnt sure I was good on the turn but I was confident I was ahead as this guy only plays big cards.

Hand 3
This guy had minraised me before and another guy and he turned out to have top pair so I knwe I was aheah here. I think I had to act weaker in order to induce a bet on the turn. I love hitting sets.

Loosing hands!
Hand 4

So here is a trick hand. I dont 3 bet this much preflop but this guy was getting a little out of hand and I wanted to let him know that I dont get pushed around. My image was tight adn I thought I could take this away on the flop. The turn is tricky as after he calls I out him on AJ or maybe a slowplayed QQ. I checked the turn to try and get more value out of my hand and he hit his boat on the river, i think I need to bet the turn here. Oh well.

Hand 5
What can I say about both of those calls. This flop is either a check or a push. although I lost nothing while behind.

Hand 6
Alll in on a pair and a OESD, bad play Johnster.

Hand 7
I ran my KK into AA and didnt even loose a whole buyin.

Think thats enough poker for now. gonna put in another session today.

Life:

Slightly hungover right now. I get hangovers really easy, I only had like 3 beers adn 2 gin and tonics. Thats one of the coolest things about drinking here, You can get all sorts of strange things like wine in a box and JD/rum and coke in a can and G&Ts in a can. Its sweet.

Its funny how Irish people travel all over the world and we always congrigate at an irish bar. Its like we leave home, Say this place is crap, lets go to the nearest thing to home we can find,, I know, The pub! Im telling you, If the irish ever wanted to take over the world, We could do a better job than the romans. We already have all the troops in every corner of the world. One word from our corrupt poloticians and you're all screwed cos we dont give a shit who we harm. We're all pissed anyway and drunks are always better at fighting. Easy way to beat us would be to stop selling us boose. Then we'd wake up a day later with an awful sore head and be like "oh sorry, eh its the drinks fault". you'd be mate with us again in a week, Not like then hated germans.

I lost my( adn my girlfriends) Drivers licences. I cant find the fuckers anywhere. really pissing me off.

Im going to get my hair cut now, Hopefully im not like Samsun and loose all my "power" by cutting my hair. Part of me wants to let it grow and part wants to cut it cos its in that middle ground at the moment. Its so annoying. I think that is enough rambelling for the moment.

Later

17

Poker:
BR: + $212.

Sweet as! I had a posotive day. Its amazing how one good day after about 1,000,001 loosing days feels so dam good. It was only 2 buyins but still it feels great. I played quite alot of cards today and I was feeling confident. I had 3 tables going, I was 3 betting more preflop and I was more in tune with the ebb and flow of the games although I was playing tighter than I would have liked and I didn't get paid off on a few hands that I should have.

This is the end of my week and although its not going as well as I planed im still up. I'll break it down for you in leahmans terms.

Up$ = Good.

Down$ = Bad.

Life:

Playing again tomorrow as Sandie is working. I might go to the beach but only if I am having a killer day. It i'll be way easier to take a day off when Im winning in the $1/$2 game as my income effectively doubles.

16

Poker:
Word of the day- Stagnent.

BR: -$23.

I only played for half a day yesterday and was very stagnent. I barely moved any of my stacks. I dont think of this as a bad thing as I probably made more than I lost via rakeback so its ok. Im happy as long as I dont loose a few buyins a day.

Im looking forward to start killing the tables again cos obviously I much prefere that than being stagnent.


Life:

I took the afternoon off and went surfing. The waves were big enough for me as I am still learning but it was so dam choppy that it made it really difficult to get out there and when I was out there, I was getting pounded and found it hard to get positioned right to catch the waves well. It was still fun UNTIL I got stung by a blue bottle jellyfish AKA Portugese man of war. I'll have a nice scar on my wrist now. Thanks Blue!

My Sister got engaged yesterday, Im really happy for her and Im kinda wondering what took the guy so long to ask. lol.

15

Oh its on like Donley Kong BIACH.

I have had enough of loosing. I am really focused, Motivated, Determined and I am going to get through this. I have gotten to a point where I was semi depressed with poker and just didnt want to play, I could see busto looming but now I know thats not going to happen. I am feeling posotive and if the beats keep coming, I'll keep taking them until my luck swings.

I dont want to speak too early but Im back or atleast my A game is. I am still taking some amount of beats and 2 outers etc, but I played really well today even though I started with a 2 buyin loss, I turned it around and made about $200 ish today. I rarely played more than 2 tables and when I did it was only due to changing tables.I made some good reads and some good lays. Overall I am very pleased with the way I played and my disipline. Disipline is a huge part of poker and so is controlling your emotions. When in a rut you have to know that it will end and dont make stupid moves just because.

I moved to UB for a change of scenery. Poker.ie has some great rakeback but I have just had a few too many beats there and need to look at something different for a few days.


Here are a few hands from the last 2 days. The good and the bad.

Hand 1
I was a little thrown off by the overbet and this guy was a bit of a miniac. I figured he had a good A and wanted to make it appear he was bluffing. Heads up, 2 pair is usually a pretty good hand. Not this time though.

Hand 2
I cant see why he called PF for that size bet first off. second, What did he put me on to call the flop bet. I had to check that down cos he was not going away if I kept betting. Maybe I should have shoved the flop.

Hand 3
This was the very next hand and I wanted it to look like I was steaming and just pushed with Garbage. It worked and Varience reared its ugly head again.

Hand 4
This was just an ugly hand by me. I really didnt see him limping with QJ and I didnt think he had a 5. I probably should have layed this as he is not going to dothis with AJ or lower and he would have raised most hands that I beat. Bad Call

Hand 4

Another Beat, He had JJ

Hand 5
I really like the way i played this hand and this is a prime example of playing your opponent. He had a very high agression factor so I check called the turn hoping to make it look like I was drawing. The overbet was to look like I had missed and was stealing. It worked. He reraise me with K4o.

Back to the tables.

14

Well the week of the fish continued into Monday and I just didnt want to play cards anymore.

My bad run has really cost me mentally, Phisically adn financially. I need to hit a good week or its job hunting time. I feel more prepared for Poker again. I took 2 days off, went surfing ( O think I am getting the hang of it now) shopping and just chilled. I got a DVD player for my apartment cos it annoys me to watch DVDs on my laptop.

I was going to take the morning off and go surfing but the weather has ruined that plan.

I am really going to focus on playing my A game now. I am going to play 2 tables only and play well. I have been too loose out of the blinds and after looking through Pokertracker I have not been hitting good cards in position and when I have, I overplay them. I have run into a few unlucky spots too but that happens even when running well. You just feel them way more when you are running bad. I dont want this to turn into a moaning bad beat thread cos EVERYONE gets beats. I am going to start with 2 tables of $50 and see how I am playing. If I am happy with what I am doing then I will make it $100's. I am now way near rolled for $200's anymore and I'll need to really play perfect or as close to perfect if I want to keep hitting my goals.

This weeks goal. $750 by Sunday.

13

The week of the fish! (me)

How is it possible to go from having one of the best weeks ever and playing so well to playing so badly and loosing back most of what I won last week. I just dont understand sometimes. Here is a graph of the week.

Cant upload for some reason.

Im down $1100 which means I need to drop to the $100's. I had to take out some cash to live on and after the last week I am not rolled enough for the $200's. Im not far off but.

I made some terrible plays this week. Here are a few and why they are terrible.

Hand 1
http://www.pokerhand.org/?647690.
Need to bet the flop so I can force out the draws.
Fold to that turn raise with just a pair in the blinds.
Fold to the super overbet on the river without the nuts.

This could be one of the worst hands I have ever played. I made a bad read that he had an overpair but it was a silly call on the river. No excuses for that.

Hand 2.
http://www.pokerhand.org/?647691

This is a really tough spot but in a 5 way pot I have to asume someone has a set. I got unlucky that the other full stack had it and the odds were not thst bad for me to push here.

Hand 3
http://www.pokerhand.org/?647695

When he pushed it was obvious that he beat a pair of Kings. It was a foolish call but these things happen and I have stacked him before with poor hands.

Hand 4
http://www.pokerhand.org/?647699
I got unlucky here and ran into a bigger house but I should not have been in the pot in the forst place.

I did make some bad plays this week but also some good laydown and good reads. I lost the smaller pots which usually are my money makers. I seem to have tightened up and I am playing scared now but hopefully dropping to the $100's will change this.

I am glad that the week is over as now I can mentally but all the bad play behind me and start afresh. I know I can turn it around this week.

12

Friday:

Poker: There was no poker today.

Life: I took friday off and took care of a few things and then went to the beach. I had checked out the swell a day before and the surf was supposed to be ok. By the time I got there the weather was cold and the waves were not great so I didnt get to do any surfing.I wasn't happy!

A new couple moved into the apartment who are pretty cool. This American Guy who we met over here, Patrick, bought a case of Corona in exchange for us cooking some fajitas. Sandie(my GF) cooks some mean Fajitas. Nedless to say we were all slightly tipsy. We hit a bar and then a club and at 5.30 am went to another club. The bouncers thought i had had enough to drink so they wouldnt let me in. I was happy enough with this cos at that time I was so tired I could barely stand up. I could have gone to sleep on the bar.

The new couple are Canadian. They play poker which I dont know if thats a good or bad thing. I might be encouraged to play even more!.

Saturday: The plan for Saturday was to get up and hit the tables. one tiny little problem with that was that I was in a bad way. I drank too much adn I was dying. I play really badly when im hung over so I thought it would be a better idea to just stay on the couch and watch tv. My body was not going to be doing anything else even if my head wanted to! No drinking tonight so I will hit the tables early tomorrow. I am down $500 for the week and I need to make some of that back and then some!