Back At It

Beginning Bankroll: $1.51

I finally found some time to get back to working on this project. I've been busy on the road and, frankly, when I've had time for poker, I've been playing on Full Tilt instead of PokerStars. But I gotta start making myself work on this. So I did today.

First, let me point out that PokerStars added $5 to my account as a promotion on the 23rd, giving me 14 days to play with that bonus. (They haven't made it clear what happens after 14 days; will they remove the $5 from my account? We'll see in another 11 days.) So my bankroll may be artificially inflated for a few days. Anyway, back to my results today.

I started out by playing in a $.02/$.04 limit hold 'em cash game, bringing 80 cents to the table. I've been reading up on limit hold 'em strategy lately and thought I'd give it a try (as opposed to my usual game, no-limit hold 'em). I played for a while--at least an hour--but just could not get cards. Oh, I did win some hands, but very few. Most of the time when I bet aggressively pre-flop, I got 3 or 4 calls, then completely whiffed on the flop. By the time I left the table, my buy-in was down to 58 cents. So I dropped 22 cents on that experiment.

Next I played in two no-limit hold 'em Sit 'n Go tourneys with $1.20 buy-ins. I busted out of the first one in 7th place (out of 9). I guess I shouldn't have pushed my hand when I flopped top pair and a flush draw, only to get called by a guy who flopped a straight. Man, I hate when that happens.

In the second SNG things turned out a bit better, but it looked pretty bleak for a while there. I started out fine, won the first hand, won some more, and had the early lead. I was playing well, making correct decisions and betting aggressively. Then I caught an A-Q (I forget if they were suited or not--doesn't matter anyway) and made the standard 3x BB bet. I got one or two callers. Then I caught an A on the flop. I bet the pot (I was in early position), another player raised, and I bet all-in. My opponent called (I had him covered) and turned over A-10. Hallelujah!

Guess what the turn card was. That's right, a 10. So that dropped me from around 2500 chips to 1000. After that I could hardly catch any good hands at all, and my chip stack shrank to less than 600. Finally I managed to double up, then again, and was right back in it. (Not contending for the lead yet, but at least I had some breathing room.)

Eventually I made it into the final four, as the short stack, naturally. Through pure grit and determination (and a couple of lucky hands) I avoided elimination and finally made it into the top three and the money. We had played four-handed for what seemed like forever. Anyway, it's late and I need to wrap this up. I finished in second place in that SNG, bowing out at the end when my pocket aces PLUS another ace on the flop (whaddaya do with pocket rockets, then a set heads up? Slow play, of course) got cracked by a straight. Isn't that always the way?

So, with the $2.70 for second place, my overall result from today's play was a gain of eight whole cents. Woo-hoo! (Don't tell the IRS, OK?) Add in the $5 bonus cash, and it looks like a good day, anyway.

Thanks for checking in today. I promise to work on growing this PokerStars bankroll instead of falling to the temptation of the better choice of games on FullTilt. I am as curious as you about what I can do with it. Good luck at the tables.

Ending Bankroll: $6.59