Travels, Ramblings, and some good'ole Poker

I started once, saved a draft, and then forgot about it.

3 months later I've finally decided I'm going to start blogging again.  Blogging is an on-again-off-again therapeutic process.  But they are awesome journals and it's always fun and refreshing to read back through old entries.  I used to blog @ mikeysong.blogspot.com when I was first starting out.  I was so tilty back then, $50 meant the world to me, and I was struggling to become a proven winning poker player.

3 years later I've become a proven winning poker professional and I'm struggling to become a millionaire in the next or two.  I'm ambitious, curious, lazy, and optimistic.  I've started playing PLO (Pot-Limit Omaha) and it's the craziest swingiest (winning or losing a lot of money quickly) game ever made.  I think I played someone heads up yesterday and we went all in at least 6 times in a very short span.  It was 5/10 so that's 6 6k pots, me winning 2 of them putting him up for a profit of 2k.  Now swings are what everyone goes through, whether you're a recreational player or a professional, the difference usually is is that the professional is almost indifferent to the swings, we're used to it and we've accepted that it's part of the job.  

But when you breakeven for the 3 consecutive months, it really gets to your head.  If you're competitive, this kind of losing streak (most people consider breaking even on your gamblings to be satisfactory right?) gets depressing.  You start entering with the mindset you're going to lose, you get aces all-in against kings and you're expecting to see a king hit on the flop. 

My best month ever in my career, happened this year in February.

And then come April, the worst stretch in my career began, and it began to torment me. 

These last 4 months have been so difficult to deal with.  Buddha was right, out of desire comes suffering, but I'm OK with that.  We have to fight hard and go through Hell to get what we want.  It's a worthy battle and I'm proud to explore the battlefields and see how far I can push myself.  This year started out so promising, I was getting cocky, I felt like I was on top of the world and I could only look up.  Now my confidence is being tested and I have to remain strong.  There's a lot of fog in the air but eventually through hard work, giving and receiving coaching, I'll persevere.  I've got a great track record of doing so.  It's the one good thing about going through rough swings like this, you always know you have it in you to pull out of it and make it to the end of that damn tunnel.  I've got a lot of goals in life that I want to achieve and we don't really live very long so there's no time for this self-pity nonsense.  I'm finishing up 2010 with some awesome trips around the world.  Montreal in August, San Diego and South America in September, Philippines probably in October, Vegas in November, and Australia in December, the future looks pretty bright.   

Biggest Pot I ever won - I've been curious about this for awhile, so I might as well share!

***** Hand History for Game 22921183191 *****

$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, February 10, 12:52:57 ET 2010

Table Death Valley (Heads Up) (22921183) (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Seat 1: Syous ( $20733.00 USD )

Seat 2: SweetFish ( $9557.00 USD )

Syous posts small blind [$25.00 USD].

SweetFish posts big blind [$50.00 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to Syous [  7c 8h ]

Syous raises [$125.00 USD]

SweetFish raises [$500.00 USD]

Syous calls [$400.00 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 8d, Kc ]

SweetFish bets [$750.00 USD]

Syous calls [$750.00 USD]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 2h ]

SweetFish checks

Syous bets [$1800.00 USD]

SweetFish raises [$5400.00 USD]

Syous raises [$17000.00 USD]

SweetFish calls [$2857.00 USD]

Syous shows [7c, 8h ]

SweetFish shows [Ks, Qh ]

** Dealing River ** [ Ad ]

Syous wins $19113.00 USD from main pot

(Anyone know how to embed images?) 

Biggest Pot Lost (Notice the difference in pot sizes haha)

***** Hand History for Game 22916336304 ***** (Merge)

$5000.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Wednesday, February 10, 01:05:58 ET 2010

Table Deal It Twice  Death Valley (Heads Up) (22916336) (Real Money)

Seat 1 is the button

Seat 1: Syous ( $9551.00 USD )

Seat 2: SweetFish ( $10661.00 USD )

Syous posts small blind [$25.00 USD].

SweetFish posts big blind [$50.00 USD].

** Dealing down cards **

Dealt to Syous [  5s 8s ]

Syous raises [$125.00 USD]

SweetFish raises [$500.00 USD]

Syous calls [$400.00 USD]

** Dealing Flop ** [ 8h, Jh, Qc ]

SweetFish bets [$700.00 USD]

Syous calls [$700.00 USD]

** Dealing Turn ** [ 5c ]

SweetFish checks

Syous bets [$2000.00 USD]

SweetFish raises [$6000.00 USD]

Syous raises [$6301.00 USD]

SweetFish calls [$2301.00 USD]

Syous shows [5s, 8s ]

SweetFish shows [Qs, Qh ]

** Dealing River ** [ Kd ]

SweetFish wins $19101.00 USD from main pot

Good luck at the tables guys. I'm out.