This is my Journey, Man!

[Journeyman_1]

Poker really ****ing sucks sometimes. I just finished another session at 50nlHU, and dropped another 9 BI. the first 1 was to a shorstack hit'n'runner, the second to a fullstack that hit and ran. then I played a guy for a decently long session ~ 450 hands. Kinda early on I made a big move that didnt work out. I c/r'd an AA6hhx board with 54hh and barreled a Qx turn and 4x river a little over 100bbs deep and he called 77. I soon realised that the guy was a bit of a maniac, and he was basically 3betting or folding pre, and he was 3betting alot! i tried a 4bet bluff and he insta-shipped. After a while of me raise/folding I started min-raising otb. this worked well for a while, and then he started 3betting that too, a lot! He was very inclined to c/c down when he had showdown value in these pots and had a pretty polarised betting range. I found this extremely difficult to play against, mainly because I wasn't hitting ****! He also wasn't folding to my 3bets, or my barrels unless he missed completely. In one of the first pots I had 3bet, we got to showdown he showed T6o on an AQ6xx board. I know I bet the flop, and I think I bet the turn.

I decided I wasn't going to 4bet again as a bluff, and that I would 3bet wide, but only high cards, no 67s type of crap! I eventually picked up KK otb and min-raised, he 3bet, and I 4bet! He calls obv (we're 140-150bbs deep), and the flop comes A87ssx, chk chk, turn 9x, chk chk, river 8s and he bets 3/4 pot! Fml, I suck so bad.. call. AJo, nh. It also seemed like anytime I 3bet 99-KK that the flop contained at least one over card or was 765 mono or 2-tone. When I defended to his 3bets (which I didn't do too much) I would invariably miss, or as happened in one hand where I defended KJo, I flop TP on J74r turn 9, river T and he bets close to pot on all streets. I think he had a bet-sizing tell, and close to pot was strength, so after flopping a huge hand in a 3bet pot, I have to fold the river, as I beat QJ and bluffs. I ran so bad with my big pairs that if the board didn't come scary as hell, he had probably folded pre.

I decided to re-adjust and tighten my button opening range way up, and start 3x'ing again. therefore I would be able to defend more against his constant 3betting, and I would have a much stronger range. This counterstrategy seemed to work pretty well. I wasn't being chipped away at, and I was actually starting to gain some ground back. I finally made a hand, and got paid off. I have no idea what he thought I was 4barreling that he could beat, but w/e, ship it!

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players - View hand 905821
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
BTN/SB: $253.55
Hero (BB): $57.95
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with K Q
BTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, BTN/SB calls $3.50
Flop: ($10.00) Q 8 J (2 players)
Hero bets $6.50, BTN/SB calls $6.50
Turn: ($23.00) K (2 players)
Hero bets $15.50, BTN/SB calls $15.50
River: ($54.00) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $30.50, BTN/SB calls $30.50
Final Pot: $115.00
BTN/SB mucks T Q
Hero shows K Q (two pair, Kings and Queens)
Hero wins $114.50
(Rake: $0.50)

Then after losing a few medium sized pots I have $75 and decide to defend 42hh to a 3bet. I think I had subconciously loosened up a little, I probably should just fold 42s here. The flop came A95r and he makes a weak 1/2pot bet. I haven't seen this bet yet, he usually bet 2/3rds-90% pot. My read was that it's pretty weak, so I raised the 4.50 to 14.50. He called, and I think damn, why do I always make stupid moves against stationy players! I got bailed out by the offsuit 3 though, and he check/shoves over my bet, and I fade the A/9 to double up. to 150. I'm stuck under 2BI to this guy now, and pretty happy about how my strategies are working out. I pick up AA and QQ two buttons in a row, he flatted and folded to a cbet and folded pre the 2nd time. The very next hand this happens. I have no idea if I played this well, or if I was just putting money in and hoping I had the best hand. I have a really vulnerable hand, but putting 300bbs in probably isn't good, and I have the bottom of my range to do so. anyway...

Poker Stars $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players - View hand 905852
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter
BTN/SB: $161.05
Hero (BB): $145.25
Pre Flop: ($0.75) Hero is BB with 2 A
BTN/SB raises to $1.50, Hero calls $1
Flop: ($3.00) 4 A 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $2, Hero raises to $6.50, BTN/SB raises to $17.25, Hero raises to $42.50, BTN/SB raises to $159.55 all in, Hero calls $101.25 all in
Turn: ($290.50) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)
River: ($290.50) T (2 players - 2 are all in)
Final Pot: $290.50
BTN/SB shows 6 A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows 2 A (two pair, Aces and Fours)
BTN/SB wins $290.00
(Rake: $0.50)

I know this is my second post like this, but it helps me cool down a lot, which helps a lot obv. I have now decimated my stars roll, and lost a lot of the $250 I had on party last night, so I will be back to playing 1/2TD and .5/1-1/2 8-game, no HU and maybe some HU sng's. I'm not very happy about this situation. I hate having to drop down because of runbad because it takes a long time to grind it back, and getting an upswing at half the stakes sucks too! w/e though, I play recreationally thankfully. I just hope that I'm not fooling myself into thinking I'm playing well, and that I actually suck

[jrw5001]

[Daragh999]

Lol that isn't the Richmond i see in the background is it???
Congrats on the job btw, landed on your feet quite nicely there.
Incase u forgot il take 30%ish of you in the WCOOP 2-7 before you sell it here.
My phone is currently fecked so i figured this was the best way to contact you seeing as you spend 23 hours a day on here, suld b gettin it fixed tomorrow or the day after.
Oh and i havn't forgotten about the deposit, txt me sometime next week and il meet u somewhere for it.
Later dude.

[deadmoney19]

Just hang in there man and keep trying to make good decisions and try new things which it sounds like you are doing. Also I think your right about writing to help you cool down, this is why I started writing a blog. Its nice to be able to express your feelings about poker both good and bad to people that understand the game. I try to explain stuff to my sister and bro-law who I live with and it just doesnt work lol.

[Journeyman_1]

So, it’s been a while and I’ve been moved to the 2nd page of the forum… It could be worse though!

When I last updated I was looking for an apartment and starting a new job. The job was great and I was really enjoying it. Then, alas, some ****ty stuff happened that resulting in me being ‘let go’. Basically I accused someone of stealing from the shop and it turned out they didn’t. This person was pursuing legal action against the company on charges of slander, so the owner decided to fire me. I ****ed up pretty big and paid a hefty price in my job. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’m taking the ‘live and learn’ motto from it, and hopefully it won’t come back to haunt me. One thing that I didn’t like about the whole affair was the owners attitude towards me. I was still working there for 3-4 weeks after the incident and anytime he was around it was so ****ing awkward. He wouldn’t talk to me anymore, just snap at me or give orders when we had a good working relationship previously. There were occasions when I rang into the office because I needed something, and he ignored it and I had to ask someone else to help me out. After my ‘disciplinary’ hearing he shook my hand as he looked at the computer and mumbled “thanks, I’ll let you know the results in the next few days”. Things like this and the letter informing me of the hearing (which I was given at 6pm the previous day, giving me an evening to arrange to have a colleague or trade union rep accompany me to the hearing) was worded in such a way that I was convinced he had already made up his mind, and was going through the motions so that I couldn’t come back suing for unfair dismissal. Whatever though, I’m thankful he gave me the job, and at the same time, **** him!

I did not get the apartment that I posted pictures of, but I am living in a similar one in the same complex. It’s a very nice ground floor, 2 bedroom apartment, and I’m living here with GF!!!11! Yup, we moved in together, and couldn’t be happier, so that side of life is good

Hmm, what else is there… oh ya, poker! LOL. As some of you may know, I quite enjoy a little bit of 2-7TD. Now during my working period, I didn’t play that much poker, but when FTP introduced draw games, I couldn’t resist playing a little bit, as the games were going to be soo soo so juicy. However my online roll wasn’t at it’s greatest after my little HUNL experience, and I didn’t want to deposit almost a grand to play 2/4-3/6 and a little 5/10. So I arranged a backing deal with a friend where he would give me $X and we would chop the profits at the end of the month. Obviously a good deal for both of us, but I couldn’t win a hand on ftp and I wasn’t able to play enough to override variance, and I busted the money and 1.5months in (it wasn’t that much for the stakes fwiw, but it still sucked), and we didn’t continue that deal.

So it’s just after Christmas, I’ve lost my job and am pretty tilted so I start playing $3/6TD on stars with about $600 in the account. The first few sessions were quite swingy and I even played some $5/10 in that few days. As far as I remember, I broke even over the few days I played during that period, but I felt that I was running bad, and I realised that the play wasn’t particularly great. So I started playing semi-regularly, and with the increased stakes I achieved platinum star with almost 2 weeks to go in January. This was pretty big for me as I had never gotten anywhere near that before. I easily retained it in February and am half way this month. I feel pretty confident about achieving supernova this year. Aswell as playing a lot, I’ve been crushing the games too. Including bonuses I have built that $600 up to over $5k this year. This is an unprecedented BR for me and I’m thrilled. I’m not even running way over expectation or anything either, so I’m pretty confident I can pay my rent and bills from this. I will still look for a job, but with the way our economy is at the minute, nobody is too hopeful about getting one of those. I hope to start taking some shots at $10/20 soon. There are times when I see the line-up and there are people that I like to see at $5/10 playing, so hopefully things will work out

A fun hand from today. Villain is a good reg:
Poker Stars $5/$10 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball - 5 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter
Pre Draw: (1.4 SB) Hero is BB with 9 9 8 6 3
UTG folds, CO raises, BTN folds, SB folds, Hero calls
First Draw: (4.4 SB) (2 players)
Hero draws 2, CO draws 1
Hand: 9 8 7 6 3
Hero checks, CO bets, Hero raises, CO calls
Second Draw: (4.2 BB) (2 players)
Hero stands pat, CO draws 1
Hand: 9 8 7 6 3
Hero bets, CO calls
Third Draw: (6.2 BB) (2 players)
Hero stands pat, CO stands pat
Hand: 9 8 7 6 3
Hero checks, CO bets, Hero raises, CO folds
Final Pot: 8.2 BB
Hero wins 8 BB
(Rake: $2.00)

I honestly can’t say this will be a regular blog, but I was bored and have already played 1100 hands of TD today, so I decided to update. If you’re really interested in how I get on in my day-to-day TD games, I sometimes tweet how its going. I’m Journeyman_1 on twitter, or you can AIM me. I think my profile on here has a link.

Peace,
Journeyman.

[PokerViking]

Great read, as always. Sorry to hear about the job/boss drama..that sucks, but it sounds like life is going well for ya, and that is always good news. I'm kinda bummed that I don't get to come to Dublin and ride in your new Lambo tho

[Journeyman_1]

Originally Posted by PokerViking

Great read, as always. Sorry to hear about the job/boss drama..that sucks, but it sounds like life is going well for ya, and that is always good news. I'm kinda bummed that I don't get to come to Dublin and ride in your new Lambo tho

Believe me when I say I am too