12:14am: I’m finally starting to find more time to play actual poker, in addition to running the blog. Results have been consistent over the last 24 hours, as usual as I am now 11-4 over the last 15 matches. Included in this session was a truly sick come back story:

Ever lose a match on a misclick alone? It’s happened to me quite a few times, and for all intents and purposes it should have happened to me again tonight. I had KK, and there was a four card straight on the board - in addition to trips (the top pair on the board paired and the guy had called a strong lead out bet on the flop, and had bet the turn when the straight hit). Anyhow, the guy tried to get “cute” on the river, making a bet that would leave me with 20 chips, should I call it. Unfortunately, I was adjusting the mouse pad on my GFs desk, and I accidentally clicked the button which was hovered over “call” - leaving me with 20 chips (see below):

PokerStars Game #17256435605: Tournament #87459939, $50.00+$2.50 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level I (10/20) - 2008/05/07 - 00:04:56 (ET)

Table ‘87459939 1′ 2-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Old Wolf 200 (2980 in chips)
Seat 2: trujm (20 in chips)

Well, I doubled up a number of times, which included me getting rather lucky on at least one occasion. However, that goes without saying as anyone who comes back from 20 chips is going to need a TON of luck. 13 minutes later, the nail in the coffin:

PokerStars Game #17256655371: Tournament #87459939, $50.00+$2.50 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level III (25/50) - 2008/05/07 - 00:18:52 (ET)

Table ‘87459939 1′ 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: Old Wolf 200 (160 in chips)
Seat 2: trujm (2840 in chips)
Old Wolf 200: posts small blind 25
trujm: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to trujm [Kh 8d]
Old Wolf 200: raises 110 to 160 and is all-in
trujm: calls 110
*** FLOP *** [6h Jc Js]
*** TURN *** [6h Jc Js] [Ah]
*** RIVER *** [6h Jc Js Ah] [Ad]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
trujm: shows [Kh 8d] (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
Old Wolf 200: shows [8s Th] (two pair, Aces and Jacks - lower kicker)
trujm collected 320 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 320 | Rake 0
Board [6h Jc Js Ah Ad]
Seat 1: Old Wolf 200 (button) (small blind) showed [8s Th] and lost with two pair, Aces and Jacks
Who said it’s better to be lucky than good? Because it sure wasn’t me

*EDIT*, 6:54am: Played 2 more games after the PokerStars server restart, and won them both, so I finish today’s 24 hour session 13-4.

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

9:48pm: Many a poker career has ended on a player’s decision to move up in limits too soon. Conversely, many careers haven’t realized their maximum potential by not moving up soon enough. This is not exclusive to heads up sit n gos. However, this article will cover advice tailored only towards heads up sit n gos.

First off, we’ve already established that 40-50 buy ins is a safe enough threshold to withstand the variance in heads up sit n gos. The question is: what if you’re sitting there with 70-80 buy ins? Is it time to move up? How do you know when it’s time?

I have established a few existing conditions that NEED to be present within yourself and in your game before you decide to take the climb to the next limit:

• Complete and utter mastery of your current limit from a statistical standpoint - This means that you should be absolutely crushing the $5 heads up matches before you decide to move up to the $10s. That begs the question: how does one define “absolutely crushing”? There’s no one set way to gauge this. However, I would fare to say that if you’ve won 58% or more of your games over a sample size larger than 1,000 games - then it’s safe to say you’re CRUSHING IT.
• Complete and utter boredom with the level of competition. Each match should challenge you and push you to get better. If the matches you play have become so easy that you can watch TV while playing two heads up matches, it’s probably a good idea to move up in limits.
• Thriving financial conditions. If you live on your own and/or have dependants, this means you have enough money for 6 MONTHS of bills + enough money for 40-50 buy ins at the level you intend to move up to.
• A strong back up plan. You have to be prepared to fail. The probability of it, given your success in the past, isn’t high. However, there is a remote chance that this upward move won’t work out for you. Being as such, you’re going to have to have a back up plan in case this doesn’t work out for you. You’re going to have to have the discipline to step down in limits when your bankroll is no longer objectively a bankroll for your limits, but rather the correct bankroll for the limit below it. There’s no shame in moving down. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: this isn’t about pride, glory, being a rock star, or fame - this is about money.
• Complete fearlessness. You can’t be intimidated by the thought of moving up. Sometimes people get scared at the idea that the opponents will be too much to handle, even moving up from the $5 to the $10 level. Whenever you need something to inspire you to not be afraid, just think about how the $5,000 heads up players would regard the $20 heads up players. Those are the guys you should fear, not the ones in one level above you. There are many levels of skill, and the sky is the limit in poker. Do not let the fear of the unknown overcome your desire and will to succeed.

If all these conditions are in place, then I would definitely suggest moving up. If even one is missing, I think it would be in your best interests to make sure it is addressed, and then you can move forward from there. If this article even helps one person from becoming like all the others who never realize their potential due to having too much fear -OR- not having enough of it, then I can rest easy.

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

3:36am: Previously, you had to be a member of the site (which I still 100% recommend you do) in order to leave a comment. However, I feel a lot of people would casually like to state an opinion about an article without having to be a member. So this one’s for you guys.

Hopefully this will generate some intelligent conversation and will free the comments from the “pingback wars” (which are those funny looking excerpts you see when you click on comments). So if you’ve got something to say, you can now say it - even if you’re not a member.

However, you still need to sign up in order to participate in the discussions in the forum. I’ve said it before, but it’s true: signing up takes 15 seconds, max. I can’t think of one reason why anyone who plans on coming back wouldn’t take the 15 seconds to do this, but to each his own!

2:12am: I waited until now to post it because I was too upset to talk about it. The title says it all. Today, my GF and I received our insurance check, and it was a whole $10,000 less than we were expecting. The contents declarations sheets lists jewelry and office supplies separately from “Personal Contents”, so we assumed that we were getting the max. amount of personal contents in addition to jewelry and office supplies (which, put together totaled around $10,000). Unfortunately, both those items are INCLUDED in personal contents, which we were already maxed out on so basically we’re out $10,000 now.

This is devastating news to me, and I’m furious with the insurance company for making the policy so misleading. Why list those items on a separate line if they all fall under personal contents regardless? I told the guy how I felt, even though I knew it wasn’t going to change anything and to be honest he kind of agreed with me. He took the “I’m sorry I know where you’re coming from but I can’t change the outcome” tone, so I’m pretty much shit out of luck with this situation.

There is some slight silver lining:

• On next years tax return, I can claim the gap between what insurance didn’t cover and what I owned - which essentially will make my poker playing tax free THIS YEAR.
• We might still be able to take legal action when they find someone liable for having started the fire. I have to call and find out more, but we will eventually get to the bottom of it, and find out who’s liable because everyone had $100,000 liability insurance in that complex, and we are entitled to a piece of it. My GFs aunt is a lawyer, so she would take the case pro bono.

• This will force me to put in a lot more volume, and I’m going to win 60 out of 100 matches any way you cut it. My goal is to play at least 600 matches this month, which would net me $5,700 profit if I stick to the plan.

This is definitely a bad beat for me. I sure hope you guys are rooting for me as this is definitely a time of adversity.

*EDIT* 2:24am: 3-0 so far tonight. Way too easy, but I’m focused on the prize so that always helps.