Taking a break

I have simply got to quit playing live poker for awhile and concentrate on tournaments. I find myself having way too much fun (which is not a bad thing) and staying too long, getting tired and spending too much money (this is a bad thing). So, I am going to play ONLY tournaments until at least the end of March and see what happens. This should save me tons of money and give me some very good practice for Las Vegas this summer. Hopefully. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If I don't play live, I will easily be able to save enough for some fun in LV or maybe a poker cruise to Alaska in August. That sounds like way too much fun, although it would be more exciting to have someone else that I knew go with me. I'll have to work on that. I'm going to keep records on my tournament play and see if I make any money. I never keep records which is another bad thing, but I'm one of those people who try and then get lazy. I'm going to try super hard this time. Wish me luck!

I'm Not Off to a Good Start

Boy, did I get stupid in Sunday's 10:00 tournament. I didn't play any hands at all for 20 minutes. Then, in the big blind I find A-Q off suit. The blinds are at 25-50 and three people limped in, so I made it 200 to go. Naturally, they all called me. This is probably because they all thought I had 7-2 or something. Oh, well. The flop was Q-6-3 rainbow. I felt pretty comfortable about my hand. As I was first to act, I went ahead and bet 300. One guy called me and the other two folded. The turn was a 2. I still wasn't concerned and bet out 600. The remaining player raised to 1500. Now, I didn't immediately get stupid. I thought about it for awhile, but I honestly couldn't put him on a straight. I just couldn't do it. He called 200 cold before the flop. How could he possibly have a 4-5? I thought at worst he had the same hand I did. He was in the middle of the table and not in the blinds, so why would he play something like 6-3, Q-6 or Q-3 or 4-5 with a 200 raise? I was totally convinced I had the best hand or at worst a tie. So then I got stupid and went all-in. He called immediately with his 4-5 of hearts and that was the end of my tournament. I couldn't believe it. I was actually stunned. It was the only hand that I had played and boy, did I play it badly. I feel better getting it off my chest, but I still feel extremely stupid. I tried to put him on a hand, but I just didn't see him calling 200 before the flop with a 4-5. Wow.

Another Resolution

After having blown a terribly stupid amount of money playing low limit on New Year's eve, I have decided to change my playing habits a bit. I am not going to play at all until January 10 at the earliest because I blew most of my budget for this pay period. I will only play the $40 tournament on that date and if I don't make money, I will not play again until January 17. I am only going to play tournaments and 10-20 for awhile. I will not play 10-20 until I build up at least a $400-500 buy-in from tournament wins only. I am really going to concentrate on bettering my tournament skills and not playing really super low limits for a couple of months. This is what I refer to as poker "tough love". I need to get my head straight and quit blowing so much money on low limit crap. Wish me luck!