and the bankroll keeps rolling...

I skipped the normal Friday night game cause I was so tired from Thursday's late night, but got invited to my friend's home game. I started out with $20 at around 8:30pm and busted fast. I cashed in for another $20, lost $5 of it right away, then turned my game around. I cashed out for the night at 3:30am for $166. $126 profit in 7 hours for an average earning of $18 per hour. That puts me ahead by $965. That pays for my airfare, food, booze, entertainment, and part of my Caesars tournament buyin. Another $550 would make me have a great trip to Vegas. Gotta love the Vegas freeroll trip. Looks like the next game is Tuesday. Catch ya.

Stephanie, Morgan, and I went back to the Thursday night game. There was no tournament, so it was the usual $1-2 NL hold em game. I was card dead almost the whole night from 8:00pm til 1:00am. My best starting hand was a pair of eights, but an eight was exposed on the deal, so I mucked them. My next best hand was pocket threes, which I folded to a decent raise. My whole winning mostly came from a single hand, where I made a royal flush. The flop gave me a straight and the royal draw. Everyone checked to me who was 2nd to last to act. I checked hoping someone would pick up two pair, or I would make the nut flush over someone else's flush. The turn didn't help much, and everyone checked again. There was only $8 in the pot when the river brought my royal. The first to act bet $8. Fold Fold. I put on what I thought was a poor acting performance. I have done much better. I pretended to think what hands he could have. I kept shaking my head like I couldn't figure out what he had. I sighed and pushed all in. He started to curse, got up from his seat, and cursed some more. "What the F**k!" was the most common saying that was coming from his mouth. I way over bet the pot hoping that he would think that I was trying to steal. He said he had a flush. After about three minutes, he called. I didn't see him push in his chips cause I was zoned out so he couldn't get a read. He flipped over his cards, but I didn't see them. When I realized he called, I announced my royal and showed my cards. It was the first royal at that game in 4 years. I cashed in for $200 and cashed out for $465. That puts me up $839. That pays for airfare, food, and entertainment (as long as I don't go nuts buying shots or buying my friends lap dances). The rest of my winnings will go toward poker. Might play tonight. Stay tuned.

I am back baby!

After a long time off from poker to focus on my new business, I am back. On last Thursday, I called up this girl Stephanie that I met a year ago at a poker game and asked her if she wanted to go play at a local game I knew about. She said yes, and she brought a friend who has been playing for 2 months. They sked me to stop at a liquor store, so we did. This was a well organized $1-$2 cash game with lots of cash. We started around 8:00pm and we stopped around 3:00am. About every 30 minutes, we got up and did a shot. I was wasted by 11pm. I bought in for $200, the girls each cashed in for $100. I cashed out for $450, Steph cashed out for $400, and Morgan, stephanie's friend, cashed out for $850. It was a great night. I played very well, and so did Steph. Morgan played some unconventional poker, but it worked. I averaged about $35 per hour.

The next day, I went to my friend Vince's who was hosting a poker night. This was a home game where we take turns dealing. It was only a .25-.50 game with a $20 buyin, but is a lot of fun every time I play. When the night goes on, we sometimes change from NL Holdem to some crazy games. WE are fairly drukn by this time, so we just go along with any game people can make up. I had another decent night, cashing out for $85 for roughly 7 hours of play. $9 per hour, which is almost the same rate as the previous night if the stakes were the same.

The next night, my friend Ryan hosted a poker night. This was another home game where we take turns dealing. I got very drunk very quickly, and after 4 hours of very slow play (cause we kept getting up to drink, smoke, etc) I passed out. I cashed in for $20 and out for $42. I was awake for 4 hours, but really only got in about 2 hours of play time. This was another .25-.50 game, so I made roughly $5-$10 per hour. I have not played so much drunk poker in my life.

I took some days of from drinking and poker and did not play again until this past Friday. Me, Steph, and Morgan went to a different local organized game where the players are known to be reckless, wild, and crazy. Almost every player's goal was to bluff everyone out of each pot. The game was only .50-1.00, but it was not uncommon to have $10 or $15 raises under the gun. I cashed in for $200 at around 8:30pm, and cashed out for $337 at around 2:30pm, when it was only Steph, Morgan, and me left at the table. We had busted everyone that was still there in the last hour. This was my best rate of return night given the blinds, at $23 per hour.

I am very happy with my play, and plan on playing some more soon. I am building my bankroll, and plan on entering some big events on my next trip to Vegas in June. I am looking at a Caesars tournament, a Venetian tournament (where I am staying), and possibly a WSOP event if the days work out. I still feel that my tournament play is lacking, but I am hoping that these events will give me some more experience playing with the big boys.

I am up $574, so $180 will go toward airfare, and $400 will go toward food and booze. The next $200 I win will go toward other activities like clubbing (including strip clubs - lot of girls going on my next trip want to go to a strip club), and everything else I win beyond that will go toward poker.

Stay tuned for my results from Thursday's poker night. They might have a tournament for a WSOP qualifier, so I may start off my cash game in the hole. Later.