Small steps

William : Oi sir, what are you doing?
Chaucer : Uh... trudging. You know, trudging?
[pause]
Chaucer : To trudge: the slow weary walk of a man that has nothing left in his life but the impulse to simply solider on.
William : Uhhh... were you robbed?
Chaucer : [laughs] Funny really, yes, but at the same time a huge resounding no. It's more of an... involuntary vow of poverty... really.

"A Knight's Tale"

Reading over my last post now in the light of day, I am a little disapointed. It was fantastic that readers decided to post some postive comments, but really it was a bit of a downer and in the end I guess you just have to get back on the horse. I have taken in everything everyone has said (in the comments and via email), and I think things are looking up. In yesterdays sessions, I have reverted back to teh SNG game to get soem hands back under my belt. On Poker Pages, with 8 left I make a pre-flop raise with AKo and get two callers. Flop comes King high with two diamonds. There is a bet, I raise (show aggression son!) and he re-raises all in. I call thinking I will have him out kicked or he is looking for the flush draw. I flip over AKo and so does he - unfortunatly he has the ace of diamonds and I only have the king. Runner-runner diamonds and I am out in 8th, well out of the money.

Hoping to get in one last game before the distraction comes home, I sit down at a $2.50 +25c SNG at Pacific Poker. On a side note, I found out that you can not multi table at Pacific, as I signed up for a MTT the same time as a SNG and could not play in the MTT when it started. At least I get my money back I guess. The play was solid for the first orbit, but then the distraction came home early and informed me we would be seeing "Wimbeldon" tonight. My God, it was like she hadn't seen me in months, she just kept talking. After the unlucky and foolish loss before I could feel the blood rising. Then this hand comes along. I have A8o, flop is JJ8. Not bad I think, but there could be a Jack out there. Few callers to my modest raise. Turn is a Jack again. Oh shit. Now pocket pairs could hurt me a lot, so I have to check. The river is a rag, and the second last person to act make a reasonable bet. What should I do humble bloggers? Call, hoping he is bluffing or maybe has the other 8 and split the pot, or fold thinking his higher pocket pair or perhaps the Jack are in play? I decided to call since it was less than 1/4 my stack, and he shows his Jack. I was happy with that loss because I was aware that quads was a possibility, and I didn't go out with my boat. I think this was the turning point for me as with everything that is going on - the bad run, the distractions, work is shit - this should have meant tilt factor 5.

Another cruical hand was when dealt 73o in the big blind, 4 players left, the small blind makes a raise. Oh well, lets call and see. Flop comes 73K rainbow. He bets, I call. Turn is another 7 giving me the full house - but what if he has the Helmuths? I bet, he calls. River is a rag, and he checks. Hmm, is he trying to check-raise me? Am I going to be betting into him? Could this be the second time tonight that my boat goes sinking? Screw it, I bet big. I think if he had the kings, he would have bet them stronger. He calls my big bet, which was enough to put him all in, then mucks his hand. I wish I knew what he had, perhaps just King rag or soemthing. But this hand put me in the chip lead and I never lost it from there. I took out the big $6.25 for first place, giving me a daily profit of about $3 - but a profit none-the-less. This means my account on Pacific is now back into triple figures which makes me slightly more comfortable.

Second bit of good news, the live game is back on in a few weeks. This will be my third showing at these games and I have walked out of there with a profit every time so far, and besides that even it is good fun. I'm thinking even about asking if they want me to host it this time, since the thrid bit of good news is that the KEM cards arrived today. WOO HOO! I must admit, they are thinner than I thought they would be, being used to casino cards that I am. I can't wait to get home today and give them a try out.

So yes, all up I am in a better mood than last post and I regret posting it. I was slightly disapointed that nobody posted a comment along the lines of "Stop whinging you bloody pussy!" but the positive coments were very much appreciated. We are moving along at a snails pace, but at least it is in a forward direction at the moment.