Good week all round!

"Im winning,

Im winning,

Im winning,

And I dont intend on losing again"

Winning, Carlos Santana

OK, I do expect to lose again, but hopefully I can put it off as long as possible. This week I've only played 3 sessions again and here's the details...

Session 1
This session was fairly dull and I won my standard half buy-in. I got stacked early on when I got all-in with 9h8h v 9s7s on a JsTs7c-3c board and he rivered a spade. After that though I managed to win quite a few average-sized pots to make it a winning session.

Session 2
This was the session I'd been waiting for! In under an hour I won 5 and a half buy-ins. I had a few over-pairs, hit a couple of sets and made one debatable play with AK. It was 4-handed and the button made it $2. I made it $6.50 out of the SB and he called. The flop was a difficult K-Qh-10h. I bet $8 (in hindsight too small) and he called. The turn was a 6. Now I was stuck. I decided to check and see what happened. He bet $12 and I decided it would be just about profitable to push. He insta-called with JJ and luckily missed. I'm not sure about this play. I felt that if I bet the turn then I am committed to calling his push, and so if I am planning on playing for stacks then I should check and give him a chance to bet a weaker hand. I'm not sure if that is correct thinking but luckily it worked.

Session 3
Now I had reached my bankroll target and could move up! I eventually managed to get 9 $100NL tables open and got going. I was a little nervous but I think I played ok and won about $75. I hit a set against TPTK and a flush draw and managed to win, and apart from that nothing exciting happened. It will take me a week or two to get used to the change but hopefully I can continue to run well. We shall see.

A hug.

Hands: 7,452
Profit: $587
VPPs: 1,780

No real excitement

In the last week I have only played 3 fairly short sessions and they have not been very exciting at all. In the first I managed to win about half a buy-in, but only because I managed to stack someone when I had 9-10 v AK on a 999-A-7 board. Standard! I didn't feel I was playing that well though, and I felt that the big swings that I've had lately were affecting me.

In the second session I again won half a buy-in, and this time I definitely got lucky. I called an all-in with AA v Q5 on a Q-7-5 flop and managed to turn a 7. Again, I wasn't playing great and definitely appreciated this luck!

Then Friday came around again and I was looking forward to a win! But it started badly, I got committed pre-flop with AK and got it all-in on a Q-10-5 flop drawing pretty slim against QQ. But after that things picked up and I managed to win just over a buy-in, but again I feel as though I got lucky as I doubled up with 55 v AQ on a A-Q-5 flop. I don't really enjoy stacking someone when I know that if I was them then I would've been stacked too. There's just no real point to it, as these situation will even out over time. I much prefer when I stack someone when I have 55 and they can't fold A10 on a AJ5 flop, knowing that if I was them I would've saved money there. Oh well, I guess it is always nice to win.

A hug.

Hands: 5,626
Profit: $218
VPPs: 1,357

Big swings

In some ways I have done well so far this month, mainly because I have managed to play a few more hands than I have recently. However, the poker has not been straightforward. I started out by playing 2 short sessions and was running amazingly well, up over $150 in an hours play. I felt I was playing well. I was calling a few bluffs but also getting fairly lucky as I stacked someone with AQ v A5 on a AQ5 flop. Good times.

Then came bank-holiday Monday. I had nothing really planned and intended to get a few thousand hands played. This I managed, but at the same time I lost over $260. This was my biggest ever losing day by over $100. I didn't feel as though I was playing that badly, but it was one of those sessions when ever C-bet seems to get raised when you miss the flop and everyone folds when you hit it. The only hand that I feel I played badly was stacking off with QQ pre-flop when I was pretty sure I was beat, but that's not the worst play in the world. Anyway, considering it was a lot of money for me, I didn't actually feel too bad about it but decided to take a few days off poker anyway just to purge it from my brain.

So Friday comes around and it seems a good day to get back to winning ways. I haven't actually played that much on Friday nights before, but I've heard that the play is awful, and from my short 1-hour session I can definitely vouch for that. In just over an hour I won $210, which felt pretty good. People were just crazily aggressive, and so I sat back and called bluffs. My stats for the session are 19/7/1, not good, but when most other players are going crazy it seems to work!

From now on there's going to be more play on Friday night and less on bank-holidays!

Hands: 3,209
Profit: $100
VPPs: 835

Lazy April

So there's the graph, which looks pretty good, except the number of hands! Less than 8k, what the hell happened there? I am so lazy. Also according to PokerEV I am about $200 up in All-In luck, so I have run very well this month, but I think I have played well as well and hopefully it can continue! Overall I ran at 6.2 BB/100 and after a few small MTT losses I won about $435 this month.

Biggest Pot of the Month
- Playing 4 handed, I make it $2 UTG with 99 and the button and BB call.
- The BB stacked me about an hour earlier and I want revenge.
- The flop is 6-7-10
- BB checks, I bet $4 and only BB calls.
- The turn is a 6 and we both check.
- The river is a beautiful 9.
- BB bets $9 and I push.
- He thinks for ages.
- I type "Hurry Up!"
- He calls with 88
- I win $70.45

Targets for May
I have to get back to playing more, and I don't know how it's going to happen but I have to play 12k hands this month. It would be nice if I could play well and run well too.

Bankroll ~ $3.9k