12:08am: Ok, so here’s the situation: Just sat down for my daily heads up session. I’m feeling good. And then this hand happens: see it here. Now, given the run I’ve been on you’d think I’d collapse, give in and pretty much have an all day tilt-fest, right? Well, I can’t completely answer that yet since my session is not even close to over. However, here is how the next three matches went down. I also lost the second one that I had going while I took that bad beat. I made a bad read on this guy and turns out he really did have kings. 0-2 to start the day. -$100, panic time right? Nah. See, I’ve been through this situation too many times to know that it doesn’t turn around. I opened up two more games, and won both of them. Actually its kind of funny because each of them I sort of “put away” at the same exact time. One guy had trips while I had a boat (flopped a set and filled up), and the other guy had trips while I had a straight. I had the first guy covered, so I won the match outright. However, the second guy made a feeble come back attempt that was thwarted when the blinds were getting high and he shoved with AJ off. I called and had him dominated with AdQd, and it held. So I’m heading into a 20 minute break feeling a variety of things: optimistic, unlucky, relaxed, and excited. I’ll keep it real and update when I have more results. That’s all I got for now.

*EDIT*, 1:37am: Someone must be aware that I’m posting a blog with results, because I’m definitely being put to the test when it comes to handling adversity tonight. Yet another cooler happened, this one was just as heartbreaking as the one mentioned earlier because I was 3-3 at the point when this happened. If the river card doesn’t screw me over, im up $50 on the day. If it does, then I’m down $50. See what happened here.

So, as things stand I am 3-4 at the moment. How do I take comfort in this? I should be 5-2 if you throw out two river cards, but we all know you can’t do that. The only thing I can take comfort in is this: If you look at my graph, you can see I’m in the middle of one of the 5-6 points that occur on the graph where I’m basically break even for 75-200 games, before it takes a sharp turn upwards.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

2:29pm: Good news and bad news. First the good: I’m on a 6 game winning streak, which has helped with some confidence issues. Now for the bad: as the 15th rolls around, so does 65% of monthly bills - Car Note (most of it paid, but still owe some), Gym Membership Fees, Cell Phone Bill, Car Insurance Note, Credit Card Payment, School Loan Repayment Note, Cable Bill, you get the idea. The hardest part about playing poker for a living is not running bad, but the TIMING of the bad run. While I’m on a 6 game winning streak, overall I’m still considering myself on a “bad run”. Like I said before I’m only officially out of the bad run when and only when my graph peaks above the previous high point. I hold myself to a very high standard, but that’s what you have to do to maintain a 13-14% roi heads up.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process