Live by the numbers

Die, die, die.

Yes, I'm running bad. The weekend has been fueled by bad beats and sick calls.

After my tilt fueled post from EXTREMELY early Saturday morning, I've played a wee bit more poker. It would appear I lied in my Mookie profile. I think I am a masochist.

After dropping 3 buyins on Friday night (thankfully after winning one). I took the day time portion of Saturday off. The girls and I went shopping for Wii stuff. Toys-r-us was running a sale, buy 1 game, get $20 off the second. Mario Galaxy and Smash Bros. Brawl are now in the line-up. We beat the poop out of each other all afternoon. Mom didn't seem to approve of a fighting game though, but thankfully, life has thrown her a bout of digestive disorder. Back to the fighting when she runs to the can!

Still a bit tilty from the night before, I figured I try to deposit some funds on other sites. I've been playing Full Tilt exclusively for cash. I'd never made a deposit elsewhere.

I first tried Bodog. I'd really like to try the Bodonkey but unfortunately, it doesn't matter how many play chips I have, they won't let me in! Taking another bad beat, all of my credit cards rejected the transaction. Damn you UIGEA! Until something changes, it would appear there is NO Bodonkey in my future. Ugg.

Over to Poker Stars I go! I always forget that I have the beginnings of the Ferguson Challenge over there. PS seems to have the easiest freerolls on the planet. I've played 3 of them cashed twice for a grand total of $2 in my bankroll! Of course, I've never used the money, but I remember someone writing about how easy eChecks were so I figured I'd give it a try. Within in a matter of minutes a crisp C note is sitting in PS just waiting for action, but whats this? Hold the phone! Its a new freeroll promotion!

I realized just how tilted I was so I decided to opt for the freeroll and risk nothing but my already fragile psyche. It would appear I value my mental health less than money...go figure.

I signed up for the tournament and sat in amazement as 5,062 suckers volunteered for a little S&M action on a Saturday night.

I played this tournament like I've played all the freerolls on Poker Stars. Large pocket pair, get as much money in the middle as possible. Anything strong but not AA or KK, call and see the flop, if you hit hard, bet hard. Everything else, play cheap. This worked pretty well again. Within an hour, we were in the money. Granted, it was a $1.20, but that's still a pretty sweet ROI...TripJax, you manage money people...making a $1.20 on an investment of $0.00 is a good return?

Well at the money bubble, I was sitting there with an M of about 30. Sweet! Avoid risk and cash! Having avoided all risk for a while, and seeing no cards that would resemble a risk inspirer, I folded to about the $3 level. I shoved them all in 78o. Why would I choose that hand? Very simple. I was the BB. The blinds were 2000/4000 with a 200 ante and I had 5000 in chips. Seemed like a perfectly reasonable assumption that I might not see a better hand with far fewer chips on the next hand. But hey! I made a $3 profit on an investment of $0.00. Common you math whizzes! What's the ROI on that?

So I made a deposit on PS AND cashed in the freeroll in the same evening...coincidence? I think not!

I played a couple of $1.20 SNGs. I really don't like the UI and I really miss the "Last Hand" feature and my bet Min, Pot and Max buttons. This will take some getting used to. Oh, and I lost both of those SNGs. Kind of funny, I lost both of them with KK. I run g00t?

Woke up this morning, refreshed and invigorated having made such a deep showing in a large MTT. Figured there was no stopping me in a $1.25 45 person sng on FTP. Well, lets examine the damage.

• AA - lost 70% of my stack to JT0. Couldn't resist the pot size raise and of course hits the 2 pair.
• KK - lost twice once to 77. The money went all on the turn. The first 4 cards were Q8AA. 77 HAS to be good. In my defense, I was on the button. I raised Pot from the button with 2 limpers already in. Bet half the pot on the flop. Got 1 caller. Bet pot on the turn, Villain pushes. I really figured that if I was beat it was either AQ or AA. All other hands would have already been going crazy. Called saw the 77, chucked and then watch as I was full tilted on the river with a 7. Chat window fills with the Villain typing...Sucker. KK lost the other hand by running into T7o. A flopped flush draw was more than he could hand, my flopped set of kings was dead to 4 clubs.
• AK - Lost with it 3 times. Pot size raises were all called by various suited and unsuited connectors all of which hit various things bigger than my flopped top pair top kicker.
• AJ - Flop comes AT5, two spades. Some shoving occurs. The villain in this hand had over played many hands. Sure enough, AJ vs A2...500 play chips for anyone that can guess the river. Oh, money was all in on the turn, after which a 9 had come.

I'm just about ready to give up on the top ten hands. QT was a great hand for a BB special and tripled me up. Ducks even flopped a set to triple me up. Its just too bad that I had to have a premium hand in the middle of each to set me back to crippled.

How do you get through periods of running really bad? Do you keep playing? Do you take time off? Do you fire up Guitar Hero III and play til your fingers bleed?

This weekend, I've also been evaluating the Beta version of Poker Tracker 3. It's been pretty obvious to me that Poker Tracker 2 is pretty much gear towards cash game players. Since I'm obviously not one of those players, its been a good tool for record keeping, but not much else. This new version is in beta, and has a long way to go. There are many features that are missing or don't work. I do really like the graphs and reports, but many of those aren't done yet either. I think this will be a post soon. Just wondering if anyone else has tried it.

For those of you keeping track of these things...Happy Easter. Easter Bunny was good the kids here. Many giggles filling our heads today. Off to Grandma's House for more Easter Egg Madness!