BUSTO!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the poker world we refer to going broke as busto. I'm almost there. Not yet though, but with some hard work and determination we should reach our goal. I think this is gonna be one of the most interesting posts I've written. I am full of information right now.

Ok my pal Derick is awsome at poker. One of the few people I can talk to about certain texas holdem concepts and know he actually gets me. My friend Kirk is pretty good at poker but has never really taken it seriously, I will tell Kirk the same concepts and he just pretends he has also thought about them, but I know he's fulla shit. And I'm not worried about him finding out I said this cause I know he will never visit my site. There are some very very advanced ways of thinking that I can not go into right now, but if you see texas holdem on a high enough level its really profound how deep, and how many levels your thought process about a hand can go. How do I know a pair of 7's is good here? With a board of K J 8 6 3, and a huge bet on the river? How do you call with 7's? I just can cause I know he has Q10. How I know this, to hard to explain. But Derick is at par with me as many good players are, but how many of them do I talk to on a regular basis? Not many, Derick is the only one who really understand hands on my level. All Derick does is win, he has a story every other day about picking up half a G. But all Derick does online is lose. Says he's down about..... well I don't even wanna go there, that wouldn't be cool. But live, up a lot, a whole lot, all he does is rake in the dough. Heres another thing we have in common.

Of course there was a time when you I was doing okay online. Of course technically you can make money online if you really really want to. Derick could to. However you would have to approach in a very painstakingly, dry, boring way. I did this for a period of time. However when you do this your advantage will never the same as it live. So frustration will always creep in. And even though ur making money, your not really enjoying what you do. Which defeats the whole purpose of playing poker as a job. The possibilty of frustration will always be looming over you like a black cloud, cause the psychological aspect will be almost completely gone. Table talk, table presence, all that good stuff that I've learned helps me win is gone. You still are basically playing the same game, but not exactly the same game. The advantage will always be lesser, and there are many spots online where I'm stumped, and have to fold, or guess. If only we were playing live, I would know what to do here. This subject is a dead horse.

What was I talking about? Why did I really come back from AC? Why would I choose to come back here and play online? Save money? I was suppossed to just stay in AC, I was doing real well. Didn't wanna go back to Mahopac. Was gonna get everything set up like I planned. Then I couldnt stop thinking about paying for this place. 1100 a month, 1100 a month, 1100 a month, 1100 a month, ur fuct, ur fuct, ur fuct, ur fuct. And then it all went haywire, and everything spinned out of control.

So arrogant, loud, talkative, full of himself Frank who played everyday and won mad money everyday like took a vacation or something. And then this quite, worried fella who was freaking out about shit played, and lost. And then I couldn't win. It's funny cause living in hotels and shit was costing me like 240 a week which comes out to roughly 1000 a month, I had been doing fine this way. But still I couldn't stop freaking out over this shit. And thats the real reason why I came back here. Turns out, if I stayed there, I'd have been better off. Playin online, what a stupid idea. So now you all know the real reason...........

Slowly hurdling toward Bankruptcy

It's a good thing no one actually reads this shit or else I might be embarassed. I'm sick of posting all these plans I have of what to do with my bankroll. I hate playing poker online more than anything. I've jsut been chilling and have gotten so used to never having to work that its caused me to continue spending without having income. There is no one their to fire you when your a poker player, I kind of wish their was. From now on I'm just going to play till I make 300 profit everyday. The only way I'm gonna be happy is if I'm pulling 300 a day. Then when I spend money it won't piss me off. I don't care how fuckin long I am on my computer each day. Not stopping till I make 300 profit. Gonna stick to seven card stud for a while, been doing well at that. No more ranting about my plan of action. Just gonna make 300 tonight and I'm gonna be one happy fuck when its over. Gotta make 300, gotta run 30 minutes, gotta write 3 pages of my novel. 333, the 333 plan 300, 30 and 3. Gonna go run, peace out all. Fuck ya all for not leaving comments and not going on my site at all. Straight up. Fuck all ya all....... I'll still put up a picture of a hot girl though.

Looking toward the time when I'll look Back

Soon I'll look back on what I've done in my life and I can't help but feel if I'm 80 and remember spending my time on Earth only playing poker would be a shame. I wanna do more I guess. It would be so unfortunate if I never wrote a book that was published.

Haven't written in a while. Was thinking about titling this entry 'what a stud' cause I been playing seven card stud online recently and winning alot. But I'm leaning toward other things as of late. It seems like everytime I get on the computer I just have no desire to even play poker anymore. It's strange. It's like one day I woke up and just didn't care anymore. I can't even tell you how weird it feels. But still need money and I've been playing better online lately. I've decided to start building a bankroll from scratch and to use the 5% rule with it. Got about 800 or so online right now. Gonna use only this money to play from now on and only 5% of it a day. Gonna use the other couple a G I have left just to spend money and by the time it runs out I'll have a lot online. I have most of my funds with my friends account and 5% of it sent to me a day. This way I littlerally only have acess to 5% a day cause right after I receive it the account with all the money receives a 24 hour exclusion. After the money gets to my account there is no way to have anything else but that money till 24 hours go by. So I been receving 5% of whatever I got, it started with under 700, usually like 35-40 bucks and running it up as high as I can before sending it back and adding it back to the bankroll. There is no limit of what you can run it up to as I currently sit with 107 after receiving 40 a few hours back. You can lose it all after enough but you only start out with your original 40 and can't lose more than that in a day. So worst case scenario you drop 40. Each day that you profit rewards you with a slightly higher amount to start out with the next day. I love this system.

However i find myself only playing to make some money and get it over with. Not really loving the game as much as I once did. Not really admiring and trying to emulate people like Gus Hansen or Phil Ivey anymore. If I spent my life just doing what they did and never writing I would be so dissapointed. I don't care if I'm not the fuckin greatest living poker player anymore. Just doesn't seem to matter. I've actually been playing much better now that I don't care anymore. This new system also is sweet cause I know I can't have one of those retarded days where I lose a shitload of money ever again so I am less stressed and playing better.

I really admire someone like Seth Rogen. Pineapple Express, Superbad, Knocked Up, all those movies fuckin rule. He's been a creative mind behind all of them. They are funny and comedy driven but still have an important message to say about people. They are all great forms of art because of their distinct ability to be a silly comedy yet make us feel optimistic about life and truly state something of importance.

I still glad I am really good at poker because at any point I can always play poker just to put together some dough and still have the freedom to pursue things I truly enjoy. No one is ever going to be my boss. I may not be able to get by jsut playing online. Hell I don't even want to, but I can always go back to Atlantic City. Perhaps even out to L.A. where I can play my 30 or so hours a week and still have the freedom to pursue other interests. Think the bankroll is at like 3k or so. Peace out -Frank

WOW

I was playing on Full Tilt and it was making me so sick. I felt like I hated poker and it was such a strange feeling. Like all of the sudden I just snapped out of some trance. Strange. I think I wanna play poker more on the side, and just try to make money writing books say. But I always get the feeling that the stories I want to write about are only interesting to me cause I only write about things I care about. I'm reading and I think it's great cause I wrote it but then other people read it and it seems like pointless blather. So how should I know if what I wanna write is really interesting. Well I wasn't playing for real money on full tilt. Trying to make a deposit on there so now I have 2 sites to choose from each day. I don't know, feeling kind of down on poker, very strange.

Damn.... what happened?

So I was 5 for 5 since Johnny Cashout started playing, had my intial deposit of 160 in tact and had sent 492 dollars to cashout land. We were going strong then yesterday I started a session and just could not focus. I just didn't have any patience and my opponents were really getting on my nerves. I think part of it was cause most of the people I hang out with were chillen and I was jsut starting to work. One of the other problems with poker as your job, its supposed to give you all this freedom but if your always free when no one else is then whats the point? So i couldn't stop thinking about what everyone was doing and I was playing bad so I cut the session short. I began playing people heads up for a bit which I said I wasn't going to do anymore but I really wanted to. I then decided to stop cause I don't wanna be that guy anymore. I actually won some money back playing people heads up but lost 60 on the day after only like 300 hands of 6 max and like 30 minutes of heads up. I did a 24 hour exclusion so i could not play till 5:30pm today. I went out later on and just took it easy with a couple of my buddies. Then today I got up and watched the Yankee game till 5:30pm and my self exclusion was over. I figured I would play well and began a session. However like 100 hands in I just couldn't get myself to play well and dropped a few buy ins. Then again I started playing people heads up, I actually did pretty well but was still down like 100 overall. So I just did a 1 week exclusion and am going to chill with online. I've got about 500 total on pokerstars which is triple my total investment but I was up more before yesterday when I had that first bad session. So in a week I'll re evaluate the online situation and will do well. I just couldn't play good, I mean I couldn't do it. I just hate playing online so much. I like playing live but don't like living where I don't know anyone. I'm just fucked either way. And now it's Saturday night and in my fucking room writing this shit cause I was to busy screwing around all day to make any plans and I got nothing to do tonight. Everyone's out in another town or in the city or long island or upstate and I don't know how the fuck I'm stuck home, it all happened so fast. And now I've got a week till I can play online again, shit, what the fuck am i gonna do? I had to do it though, or else I would of probly lost it. I can tell Johnny Cashout is gone, Frank is back and all Frank does online is donk off money. I really thought 24 hours would be enough time to get Johnny Cashout to come back but it wasn't. A week will definately do the trick. But what the fuck am I gonna do for a week? Just not earn any money? Go down to AC and pay for overpriced room? Maybe I can do the poker rate at Bally's I don't know, gotta call em. I'm definately not playing online. I guess the good news is the old Frank would win a bunch online and then have 2 shitty days and lose it all back and some. At least now I can tell when I'm not playing well and know to self exclude till I'm back to normal. So in a week from now I'll turn that 500 into a G and so on. Just gonna take it slow, no pressure, I have tripled my deposit, and I feel the A game leaving so I'm taking time off, we'll go back in a week and play well. No big deal, no pressure, no time frame.
I don't know though, I really hate playing online. But why? You can play so many more hands, so many more tables, its so much easier to be patient. Playing quality starting hands and not playing weak hands will always be a huge advantage and enough to produce a profit, and it's so easy to do this online cause you can play so many tables at a time. So why do I prefer and excel at live poker? Why am I such a consistent live player and so inconsistent online? Live is so slow, i mean God! Its soooooooooooooo slowwwwwwwwwwwww. J3 Q6 32 43 82 A3 K7 you just keep getting dealt garbage and it takes so long and is so tough to keep playing well but somehow I still prefer it. Maybe I just hate poker cause I've made it a job and I've taken all the fun out of it. I have to win or I won't have money. If I had a real job and it didn't matter if I won or lost I would enjoy playing more. But then I would hate my life so much every morning. And hate going through each week counting the days till the weekend. I don't know man. I'm just really bummed right now. I'm just looking at everything and feeling really down. Like what the fuck is going on here? I've just neglected everything for years now cause all I ever wanna do is play poker. All through college I just neglected doing well in my classes cause I was just playing poker all the time and I didn't pursue any kind of career in my field cause all I wanna do is play poker. I didn't even graduate, I went to four years of college and for shit and I wasted all my parents money when other people have to take out student loans and are still paying them back I got it all for free and just wasted it. Cause all I ever wanna do is play cards. Then after college I have a whole sucessful business that I'm there heir to and when I worked there I just slacked off and didn't get involved at all cause all I ever wanna do is play poker and it got to the point where we all jsut agreed I should quit cause I'm not into it at all. When other people who's families aren't as well off never would have this oppurtunity to take over a sucessful business would of jumped at the chance and I just waste it. So I've just neglected everything all just to play poker and now I'm just chillin at my house, 25 fucking years old and i've got like 3.5 grand saved and I live with my parents. And I'm suppossed to be a professional poker player and I can't even get myself to play good for a full week. I've jsut thrown away countless oppurtunities that most people never have had to play poker and I hate playing poker. How the fuck did this happen? I don't get it at all. I'm just feeling really negative and pissed off right now. I'm a fat fuck I need to hit the gym and lose some fucking weight and work out. I'm just airing out all my dirty laundry tonight but who cares no one reads this shit anyway. I been watching that shit the hills on mtv all day too, yeah I said it. Theres so many hot bitches in it I can't help but watch it. These girls are so hot and there driving around in there little cars going to there stupid little jobs and talking shit about eachother and I start thinking what would these girls think if they met me. This guy is fat fuck who lives with his parents and is supposed to be a proffesional poker player but doesn't even have enough money to move out of his fuckin parents house. How the fuck can you be 25 and still have this little money to your name? What the fuck? I am so pissed off and discouraged right now. Theres these 21-22 year old millionaire online players. I don't know man. I met this cute ass girl at this party and I got her number and I wanna call her but I won't do it cause I hate my whole situation here at home. I just wanna be out on my own, having my own place playing poker everyday, making mad dough. Then I feel good about myself. When I'm in AC all I wanna do is talk to every hot bitch I see. I wanna tell all about all the money I win in this city and how professional poker is all good and shit and I' just generally feel better. Here at home I don't even wanna call a girl, what the fuck am I gonna say? Wanna come hang out at my parents house? I don't know man I just don't feel it yo. Just not feeling it. This is not how I envisioned my life would be by this age. How did I let it get to this point? How am I writing all this shit on here? Whatever no one reads this shit. Ya see I had this vision in college. Of me, outta college, living in Las Vegas, playing poker full time, in my own apartment. It was the perfect life. And I knew what I wanted the future to be. I've tried to make it happen but there is always so much in the way. I don't know man, maybe it was just a dream and not a very realistic idea of life. I'm having some serious issues right now with everything. I don't know, just second guessing everything I've set out to do. Maybe I'm jsut bummed. I mean how could I leave all my best friends since childhood and everything that is here at home and just go live in a whole other state and just play poker for a living? It was the future I envisioned in college but life never goes as planned. Life is what happens when your making other plans. Ever heard that? It's so true. TOTAL WEALTH: 3.5k -Franko

The Day off Worked

My new and improved Finance Tracker:

Bankroll (will now consist of bank account A and pending cashouts and money currently on Poker Stars which is ofcourse 5% of the total): 3475
Expense Account (will now consist of bank account B): 160
This is not technically my totally wealth cause I will always have some money on me. Total wealth: 3.6k

Today I stand at the same total wealth since I won 100+ today but took 100 out of the atm last night. But with this organization method it will be easier to keep track. So here is how we looked at the start of the day:

Bankroll: 3367
Expense Account: 160
Total Wealth: 3.5k
Today: 170 (5% bankroll) on Stars/ 4 tables of 10cent 25cent No Limit Holdem 6 max/
Result: 1015 hands/ +108
Data: Increased bankroll by less than 3.3%, sending 108 to cashouts pending
Bankroll: 3475
Expense Account: 160
Total Wealth: 3.6k

So I pickup a cool 108 profit, my 3rd biggest cash out of the 5 since the new system has been enacted. I am 5 for 5 and expect to be about 80% after like 100 sessions. I love my new system and wish I had been doing this since April, imagine how much dough I would have if I had been averaging about 100 a day 7 days a week for 4 months. I just did it on the calculator, around 12k, my dream number. My live 1,2 bankroll that could produce 65k a year cash. It must be a sign. Anyway 100 bucks a day is not that good a job, but if you work all week cause your working so few hours its 700 a week. I started this shit on Saturday so the week is over by then for me and I gotta send out for my first check. I got one more day of playing and have sent 500 to cashout land so far. So if tomorrow session goes like the other 5 were looking at a 600 dollar profit week. It should of been 7 but I felt the need for an off day yesterday. It really did work, I believe I actually refreshed my mind and played better, breaking the 100 dollar barrier and putting an end to the steady decline of profits. I was worried that I might break even or lose a little money because each of my victories were for less of a profit one after another. Well I sure as hell put a stop to that. The day off really worked out and did the trick. Nice, very very nice. I love playing online and following the 5% rule. The worst case scenario I could lose 170 dollars, wow. I wouldn't even care about such a small amount. In a month 170 will be even less a percentage of my bankroll and in a year may seem microscopic. I am feeling very focused and confident, not a bit stressed. Bad beats don't get to me at all since I'm playing so bankroll friendly. Just need to follow this sytem forever and never let up. Almost back to 4k, soon 5, and then 6k. Wow I had 6k just a short time ago, no wonder I dropped so far down with the amount of variance in my daily online poker regimen. Now I'm making money slow but I'm cancelling out the possibility of a disaster day, no more negative 500 tank days. Johnny Cashout is the man in charge now. He plays well and never acts irrational, knows how to put his ego aside and just muck. Closing in 4k baby. We are looking so good, heres how the first 6 days of the new system has worked out.

Saturday +168 2.5 hours

Sunday +140 3 hours

Monday +74 2.5 hours

Tuesday +22 2.5 hours

Wednesday day off

Thursday +108 2.5 hours

Friday ? send for check

Total: +512/ 13 hours/ 39 an hour

This is how my online week used to look when I played people heads up everyday. (this is actual records)

Sunday +293
Monday +128
Tuesday +60
Wednesday +269
Thursday -620

Friday off

Saturday off

I was winning alot more on days I won, but that disaster day was always lurking around the corner. Then I would be broke online and have to take days off or just shot. A total roller coaster, high highs, low lows. I am now making online more like live poker is for me. A steady income. Lets keep it up.

Steady Regression

So yesterday was my 4th day in a row of the new system and I was 3 for 3 going in. I still am batting a thousand as I made a small profit yesterday but it was so insignificant that I'm not even going to post anything about it. I played the 1000 hands, played 4 tables, did the normal routine and only made 22 bucks. Each day since I began my profit has decreased, Saturday was +168, Sunday +140, Monday + 74, and now a dismal +22 on tuesday. Approximately 400 bucks in 4,000 hands. Pretty weak, but I am making money on good days and only winning a little on bad days. This is so much better winning big on good days and losing big every so often. So I think I'm becoming a good online player. I'm contemplating just taking the day off today so I can refresh myself and play more like I did the first 2 days. I'm obviously playing worse each day and with less patience. I had a pretty cold run of cards yesterday to only make 22 bucks but I believe if I played perfectly I coulda won 80 or so. It's all good though cause I'm practicing smart bankroll management and unable to lose more than 5% of the roll in day. When I was playing 25c 50c 6 max it was obvious it was a beatable game when I tried hard so when I can't wait to have the bankroll to be playing 4 tables of that shit.

So I still don't know if I'm taking the day off. I may play a live game at my neighbors later, depends on what happens. I'll definately do well in that. Otherwise not to much to say today, just trying to get to the bottom of this steady regression online. It's a pretty nice problem to have since I'm not losing money online, just trying to figure out how to win more. I'm feeling good. Football is just around the corner. I'm a big Jets fan and am quite pumped with Mr. Favre coming in. Football is one of the most emotional games there is, but unlike poker it actually helps you do better when you get upset. It's a strange coincidence but I actually have the famous David Tyree superbowl catch, and my friends reactions to it, on video. I wasn't to excited because I'm a Jets fan and also because I decided at the last minute not to bet a large portion of my net worth on the Giants. I was thinking about it for a while and had a gut feeling like it was a can't miss bet because of the spread of 12.5 points. I also thought the Giants might win outright. I coulda put like 6k on it but I didn't and I was sick to my stomach the whole 2nd half. You gotta go with your gut! I did not, but check out this crazy video:

Okay it's not that crazy and filmed quite poorly. But if you knew these people it would be funny. Good thing no one actually goes on my site or else I might hear some complaints.

The New Kind of Bad Day

Allright well just finished up today's session and I am not happy with my performance. I only made 74 dollars over 1023 hands. I do not like how I played and was way to loose preflop at certain times during the session. However this is my first day since Johnny Cashout has taken over that I have not played my A game, however I still profited. When I was just playing people heads up as a job I would have a bad day and possibly lose over 500 bucks. Today I had a bad day but won a small amount, this is a pretty dope bad day. From now on when I'm not playing well I'm not gonna be dropping half a G like I once did. I am becoming a good online player I think, for a while I was only a good live player but I know I can become just as good online. I still as you all know am only keeping 5% of the bankroll online (170). So even on a really bad day I am only going to lose 170 not 500. And when I have 10k I can lose 500 in a day. You know the system, I tlak about it constantly. Anyway heres a look at today:

Banked: 3100

PokerStars: 160
Cashouts pending: 290
Spending: 100+
Total wealth: 3.55k
Today: 170 (5% bankroll) on Stars/ 4 tables of 10cent 25cent No Limit Holdem 6 max/
Result: 1023 hands/ +74
Data: Increased bankroll by less than 5%, sending 74 to cashouts pending

Banked: 3100 Poker Stars: 170 Cashouts pending: 364
Total wealth: 3.6k

HAND OF THE DAY

My hole cards: Q7 of diamonds

I'm in the big blind and the button raises to a buck. I call the extra 75 cents to see if I can hit a flush. Remember kids, your not trying to make a pair of Queens here because you have a 7 kickers, this hands value comes from it being suited. It's not even that good of a hand anway because the Q and 7 are to far away from each other to make a straight on the flop. Hands like Q8 Q9 Q10 QJ QK and AQ suited are the ones you should be playing. Q7 even suited should not really even be played, and Q8 and Q9 should only be played when suited. You should never play Q7 offsuit and Q7 suited is a stretch. But I was playing it because I felt the player who raised was very weak and would pay me off if I make 2 pair or z flush. The flop is very action inducing. It was an A Q 9 with 2 diamonds. I flop a pair and a flush draw. He bets hard when I check it to him. I know he has AJ or AK and is not going to fold. I also know any Q, 7, or diamond gives me the win. So I go ahead a make a big checkraise, I know he has an ace and is not going to fold, I don't care I am trying to win a big pot here. I figure I am a 53% favorite against his 47% because I have so may outs to win the pot. It's actually even money, I just looked it up. I still feel this a plus EV play. (Expected Value) In the long run I make money with checkraising here. Either he puts me on 2 pair or a set and folds and I win, this was unlikely cause this guy plays bad but some players will muck here. If he doesn't fold and we wind up getting it all in I win half the time. So out of all the times he doesn't fold if win half the time, breaking even in the long run and all the time he does fold I make a profit. After 100 hands like this if we get it all in 80 times and I break even, either winning big or losing big, and the other 20 times he folds and I win a smaller pot by forcing him to give up, I am ahead. This makes this a long term mathematically profitable play, understand? This is not everyones style, but I think if your adequately bankrolled for the stakes you play like I am you can afford to play like this. I think the gamble is worth it becuase if you win you have a big stack at the table and can really make some noise, and may even put the loser of that pot on tilt and profit even more. If you lose, you just reload, no biggie. Here is a play made by Patrick Antonius where he employs the same type of logic: (fast forward to minute 8)

http://www.pokertube.com/Movies.aspx?movie=4762&title=Aussie_Million_Cash_Game_2008_Ep01_3_4&player=1&page=1&FreeText=aussie%20million%20cash%20game%202008&list=9

Antonius knows this asian amateur is not going to fold his pair of aces, or that there is a small chance he will because he is not a very good player. But the play makes sense in the long run for the reasons I mentioned. This is another reason you need to play with responsible money management, so you can make plays that are correct and not worry about the money, just look at your chips as a way to keep score, don't stress yourself out thinking about what you could have bought with the money. I love playing a loose volatile style and I am well equipped to do it because I will never again experience swings or variance like that of playing heads up everyday. The classic semibluff, incorporate it into your game. Oh yeah, I rivered my flush, but remember, the short run is irrelevant, it was a positive expectation play whether I won or lost. Peace out....

I think Johnny Cashout is here to Stay

Allright just finished up another good session online. We are 2 for 2 and it looks like I'm going to regain my old form and start making some dough. Heres how we looked when the day began.

Banked: 3100
PokerStars: 160

Cashouts pending: 160

Spending: 100+

Total wealth: 3.4k

Today: 160 (5% bankroll) on Stars/ 4 tables of 10cent 25cent No Limit Holdem 6 max/

Result: 1045 hands/ +140

Data: Increased bankroll by slightly less than 5%, sending 130 to cashouts pending, adding 10 to base bankroll
Banked: 3100 Poker Stars: 170 Cashouts pending: 290

Total wealth: 3.55k

So I'm up about 300 or so since my deposit on Sunday. It comes out to 168 + 140, being up 308 overall from 4 tabling 10cent 25cent 6 max NLH in 2 days, about 6 hours and 2050 total hands. This an astonishing 50 bucks an hour but I might have played more than 6 hours I don't know, didn't keep track, maybe 7.5 hours, which would be a good hourly rate either way. Anyway everyone measuring online winnings alwyas goes by hand. I saw a graph of a guy who made a million online and averaged about 3 bucks per hand. From my two sessions that I've recruited Johnny Cashout to play I am up 308 in 2050 hands, or 15 cents per hand. Pretty sick since a hand takes about a 2 seconds most of the time. I'm making 15 cents just to click my mouse. Let's see if I can keep up this pace. I must avoid having that terrible day where I lose sanity and destroy my hourly rate. So far so good. Oh yeah, Brian, my roomate from college doesn't wanna move to Atlantic City anymore, pretty weak. So I don't know what the future holds right now. No big deal though, I feel I'm going to do well online from now on. Heres the:

HAND OF THE DAY

My hole cards: 10 10

I raise with position over most of the players and get 2 callers both out of position against me. The flop is both awsome and scary. K J 10, I spike a set in a raised pot, however each card is a heart. A royal flush is the nuts here. Even if I make quad 10's if anyone is holding an AQ or Q9 of hearts I am on the wrong end of a serious card combination, also known as a cooler. This slow witted player with about 20 bucks bets into me, I have about 45, a modest stack. He bets 1.50 and I flat call. The turn in just what I wanted to see, a K, giving me the full house with 10 10 10 K K. He bets a weak 1.50 again and I grow frustrated that his hand must be weak and I will not get payed off. I figure if he is weak I don't wanna raise him and if by some chance he actually has me beat with a straight or royal flush let me limit my loss. I saw no reason to raise him here. I am actually afraid I am beat and thats why he is betting so small, to suck me in. His range of hands to call a preflop raise definately hit that board, K J 10 K, he could easily have K 10 or KJ, so easily he could have a better full house than me and I'm being coolered. The river was a 9 of clubs, for a board of K J 10 K 9. Now if he has K9 I'm beat too, damn, I dont know what to do. He bets 1.50 again on the river. Now its hard for me to get action even if he has trip kings he cant beat a single queen in the hole cause that would make a straight. I kind of feel like if I raise here I can only get called if I'm beaten with this kind of board. I decide the bet is so weak that he must have less than a fullboat and just raise him his last 15 bucks. He hesitates and calls. I win, he had K5 off suit. He couldn't even beat a straight, not to mention a full boat, a flush, a straight flush, it was all out there. And he calls off his remaining money with trips Kings, what a donkey. The only hand I may have that he has beat is AJ, but who would reraise with AJ on the river there? It was a terrible play by him, an absolute joke. In his defense he was probably on tilt and just didn't want to fold. It was a bad play by him and not a great play by me, a bit greedy of me to raise him there I think, with such a dangerous board. But my read was that my little boat was good due to his small river bet. These donks make small bets when they are strong often, but then almost always make a big bet on river if they got you in bad shape. I sensed his 3rd consecutive small bet was not a trick or a 'please call me' bet. So I guess it was a good play by me, but I still am not in love with my play. I really wanna hear some feedback on this hand, leave comments please. See you next time.

Lots of Thinking Done Thinking now just Playing

Allright I'm back on the horse for online poker. I knew I was gonna win a lot today because I haven't played in so long. And like I've said countless times in me blog, its all about playing ur A game and if u play less you can keep up the A game. So I knew for a fact I would do well today. Lets log our data now like we have been. Here's how we looked before today's session began:

Bankroll: 3200 (money on pokerstars + 2 bank accounts combined)
Spending: 100+ (this is the money I have on me + the other money in my account that I am not counting toward my bankroll and will not count toward total wealth since its gonna be gone soon, I have a little over 3200 in the bank, but I round off to the nearest hundred and count that as spending money)
Cashouts pending: 0
Total wealth: 3.2k

Today: 160 (5% bankroll) on Stars/ 4 tables of 10cent 25cent No Limit Holdem 6 max/
Result: 1005 hands/ +168
Data: Increased bankroll by slightly more than 5%, sending 160 to pending cashouts, keeping 160 on Stars account, using 8 dollars to screw around till tomorrow/ 168 bucks in 1005 hands comes out to roughly 17 cents per hand.
Freerolling with 8 bucks, and have increased bankroll by 5%, and have the rest of day off, sweet.
Total wealth: 3.36k

HAND OF THE DAY

My whole cards: Q J of diamonds.

I have a big stack at this 25 max table, maybe like 68 bucks or so. I raise in early position to one dollar and get quite a few callers. The flop comes 9 7 2 with the 2 of diamonds. For some reason I bet into like 3 players with nothing and get 1 caller. The turn comes an 8 of diamonds and now I have a flush draw and an inside straight draw. I decide to bet big like 6 bucks so represent an overpair and get the callers to fold. Even if he calls I have a lot of outs. With the time he took to call I knew he had a 9 for top pair on a board of 9 7 2 8. I know he doesn't have 98 for 2 pair because then he would reraise me all in not fearing I have a big pair in the hole. He is to stubborn to fold and calls my 6 dollar turn bet. (in my opinion you need to raise or fold here, decide whether your top pair is good and make a decision) he opted to call and hope he was good which is a weak play. The river allows me to hit my flush. And it was another 9, the 9 of diamonds! I back into a flush and he makes trips on river. Cha ching, I am on the winning end of an action inducing board or as I like to call it: card combination. If only he had raised me on the turn or folded, he would not be in this perdicament. I am still afraid he might have 9 8 for a full house and I am actually the one on the wrong end of a card combination. But I was fairly certain he had just a 9 cause he moves in on the turn if he has 89. I know the 9 is a sweet card for me cause he cant put me on a QJ diamonds. For all he knew he just outdrew my big pocket pair, whether it was AA, KK, QQ didnt matter. So I bet the rest of his money knowing he'll call with trips. And he does and I scoop a nice pot worth about 75 bucks.

You can learn a good lesson here from both our plays. First, if ur not willing to reraise with a hand that can easily be outdrawn, just suck it up and fold. Don't call and hope, you must raise or fold. I know its tempting to just call and hope cause you know you might be winnings but your not sure enough to fold or raise, but you must decide or your putting yourself in a tough situation where you may have to guess for even more chips on later streets.

And you can learn from my play that you must analyze the hand street by street, decide what your opponent has and make sure you make the correct bet, if I dont put him all in there I'm losing value cause I know that novice ain't laying down trips.

I can keep this up if I don't burn myself out and will be making nice dough. Tomorrow should go all right as well but after like 3-4 days I may start to lose sanity and be forced to take a break so I don't lose back all my winnings. For now we are smooth sailing. Thats why I called this post Lots of thinking done thinking now just playing. Cause I am very prepared and have thought out a solution to many of my online debacles. See Pineapple Express right now by the way. ASAP.

So Many Roadblocks

I found a sweet 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment 10-12 minutes from Atlantic City. Close to where I wanna be and not at all a ghetto. A real nice little town called Absecon so close to AC but so much nicer a place to live. And we would each have our own bathroom. However they're asking me for proof of work stubs so I can move in. I don't have that shit I don't work for the man. So I need a cosigner, and theres no way around it. No one wants to cosign for me because everyone has enough money problems themselves and they think I'm going there just to be a gambling addict and still fail to understand what professional poker is all about. No matter how many fucking times I explain it to them. These people want proof of work? How bout this here?

Franko's Lifetime Atlantic City Stats

+4557 total/ +4022 cash games/ +535 tournaments
198.5 total hours/ 193.5 cash game hours/ 5 tournament hours
cash game hourly rate: 21 an hour
total AC hourly rate: 23 an hour

Can I just show this to them? No, I guess not because theres no way of proving I didn't make this shit up. If you would like a more detailed stats page with results from each individual session just leave me a comment and I'd be happy to email you my entire stats page. The above is just the total sum. There were bad days and good but as you see over the course of time a professional poker player has a built in edge that just produces a profit. The same way a casino takes your money after enough time and the only way to come out ahead against the house is to get ahead and then stop. A professioanl poker player is a living breathing casino with a built in edge that takes your money after enough time and the only way to come out ahead against one is to get ahead early and then stop. If your considering becoming a professional poker player or at least taking it really seriously and making it a secondary income consider my stats above. You can't win one time and say you have an hourly rate. You can't win 2 times or 3 or 10 and say anything. Anything can happen in the short term, to really know whether or not you truly have an edge and you will be able to beat the game and make consistent imcome you must log a lot of hours at the table, and at the same stakes of course. I recommend at least 1 months time, or at least 150 hours of play before you can call yourself a winning player. Even at 6 hours per session this is still about a month of playing poker everyday. So after enough of a sample size, if your a losing or a break even player your not ready. And don't get a big ego after a solid week, have 200 hours logged like I do with a decent hourly rate and you can consider quitting your job. I really need to get back to AC and start making nice money again but there is all kinds of road blocks right now. First of all I can't seem to get this apartment cause of the work stubs bullshit. And my bankroll has shrunk considerably as you all know from last post. I'm suppossed to have a 12G bankroll to be playing 1,2 as I've talked about countless times. and I have like a quarter of what I should. And I have to use that money to buy other shit. All this will just lead me to being more stressed out upon taking bad beats and make it more difficult to maintain my A game day in and day out. This may lead to me having to get a job for a short period of time in AC, which is the last thing in the world I ever wanna do. But if my bankroll gets small enough I'm going to have to. Kill me God, just kill me.

I've just been back home being a fucking bum for since early April. I guess thats not entirely true because I was playing online and doing well for a period of time. The plan was to play online till I had a big enough bankroll to really handle living on my own in AC and playing everyday. But I fuct that all up cause I suck online. Now I'm trying to get back there with even less money than I had when I left. Theres so many problems right now. I got till late August to get some money together. Brian, my roomate from college is gonna be ready to move to AC by then. I gotta sell my car and I gotta put in some good hours online. I know I can make money online if I try. But whatever happens I know I can make a good hourly rate playing live in AC. I have proved it, so no matter what goes wrong I know I have a good job that is going to net me more than 20 an hour and possibly 30 or more. My hourly rate can increase a lot if I put in more consistent effort, it should be higher than it is. I had some days in AC where I just wasn't myself. There are some 1,2 pros that average up to 40 an hour. I know this is true cause my hourly rate from Borgata is over 35 an hour. Ofcourse I don't have enough of a sample size to really state that because I have played way less than 150-200 hours there. 63 hours to be exact. I don't care about that never start a sentence with a number rule, you understood what I meant so why do you care?

The plan is to have a 12k bankroll to play 1,2, risking 5% or 600 dollars a day. And then an expense account with a couple of thousand to use for spending money and to pay bills. When my I save enough money I will put it in my bankroll and move up in stakes. A 20k bankroll with an expense account on the side will allow me to play 2,5 No Limit, risking 1000 dollars a day. If I'm making over 20 an hour playing 1,2 at a rate of lets say 11 big blinds per hour. (For anyone who is a moron: the big blind is 2 dollars in a 1,2 game, which is what I play, the max buy in is usually 100 big blinds, which would be 200 dollars in a 1,2 game.) However in Atlantic City the 1,2 has a 300 dollar buy in, so you need 600 bucks, or 2 buy ins to bring to each game. So if you are a 2,5 player your going to buy in at 500 and bring 1000 to the game. Get it? Now if your averaging 11 big blinds per hour like I do at 1,2 but in a 2,5 game, how much are you making? 11 times 5 is 55. So if I win like I do at 1,2 I'm going to be making quite an hourly wage when I move up in the stakes. This is why I love poker so much and it is so exciting. I'm only 25 and can make this hourly rate at the smallest stake game in the casino, imagine what I'll be making in 5 years. Imagine your a 25 50 player, buying in for 5 grand at a time. If my big blind per hour rate dropped significantly due to the tougher competion I would still only have to average 1 big blind an hour to be making 50 an hour. If I won at the rate I win playing 1,2 at 25, 50 I would be making 550 an hour. Hilarious. Ridiculous. Unlikely. But a win rate of maybe 4 big blinds an hour sounds good to me at those stakes.

Yet again I find another poker proffesional with the same thoughts and feelings and frustrations as me. This kid is talking about all the same things I was writing about for a while: http://www.andrewrobl.com/blog/2008/07/17/playing-your-a-game-and-life-as-a-poker-robot-%e2%80%93/ read this shit. Very good stuff and expands uponmy thoughts on this matter.