So, life is crowded. Today I got up at 6:45, was in class until 4, worked out until 530, went to a finance meeting about the current downswing in the economy, went to a Quantitative analysis review session, came back for a coaching session that ended up being cancelled, went and ate (hadn't eaten since breakfast), came and did a paper and studied for a test wednesday, and then I played 6 tables of 25nl for an hour and 15 min. Whew, I am so f*cking tired. But, my gf shipped a new watch for me, very very sweet. I got a new band for it too, cause damn that's a blue watchband.


So today I played poker, I have been hovering breakeven for two sessions since my wonderful 6 buyin downswing and today I didn't ever look at if I was up or down. I felt like I was playing well, but not perfect. The hands I posted where I was clearly in doubt and I would like some input, I felt like I lost a lot today, but when I ended today and checked my stats, I was only down 4 dollars, which was super sweet

BTW, If anyone wants to sweat me holla, because I really want some outside input to help me develop.

Last, please do the PPA thing that someone posted in the general online poker forum, we ALL need to do our part to protect online poker.

So today I got in 2k hands, lost 4 buy-ins. Felt like everything was going wrong. I have some hands here that I felt were tricky. In all cases Villains are relatively unknown, but I will provide what I do have.


Villain is 88/17, loves to pot bet rivers- no real pattern of bluffs/value bets. Just random.
------------------
HAND #1
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $104.75
SB: $49.75
BB: $28.70
UTG: $64.20
Hero (MP): $50
CO: $86.35

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.10, CO calls $1.10, BTN calls $1.10, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.85

Flop: ($4.75) (4 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.75, CO folds, BTN calls $4.75, UTG calls $4.75

Turn: ($19) (3 Players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $13.25, BTN calls $13.25, UTG folds

River: ($45.50) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $85.65 and is All-In, Hero calls $30.90 and is All-In



Villain is 56/18, best friend (literally) of villain 1. Plays more scared generally, seen him bet/fold.
------------------
HAND #2
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $135.95
BB: $56.80
UTG: $27.65
MP: $21
Hero (CO): $86.15
BTN: $81.10

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $0.25, MP raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $3.10, 2 folds, BB calls $2.85, UTG folds, MP calls $2.35

Flop: ($9.65) (3 Players)
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $8.50, BB calls $8.50, MP folds

Turn: ($26.65) (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($26.65) (2 Players)
BB bets $20, Hero folds




Villain is 66/34
------------------
HAND #3
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $27.85
Hero (UTG): $48.65
CO: $11.30
BTN: $33.80
SB: $46.60

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (UTG)
Hero raises to $0.85, CO folds, BTN calls $0.85, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.05) (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.25, BTN calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.55) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.80, Hero calls $2.80

River: ($10.15) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $7, Hero folds



Villain unknown.
------------------
HAND #4
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $74.20
CO: $140.55
BTN: $37.45
SB: $20.50
Hero (BB): $80

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $0.25, CO raises to $1.10, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.85, UTG calls $0.85

Flop: ($3.40) (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO checks

Turn: ($3.40) (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO bets $3, Hero calls $3, UTG calls $3

River: ($12.40) (3 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $12.40, 2 folds

No it was not a typo. Foker is what I call the game I played last night. See we have this annual event at my college where they have free buy-in poker games where when you finish you can cash them in for tickets to be entered for raffles, last year I won a DVD player so I figured why not go for it again. Well obviously everyone is completely oblivious to how to play the game and I 10x my stack in an hour and cash in. But I notice on another table there are some foker regs playing, people who watch hellmuth videos and the like. So I sit down and buy-in for 25K, there is a guy across from me with 1.3 mil. Real fair. Well I had watched him a little while and my GF was there and was like, own this guy. (my ego was inflated to epic proportions) So I'm dealt AQ first hand and raise to 8k. Three callers, flop is Q73, Big stack donks, I shove he calls with KJ, turns a K and wins. Ok so no biggy, buy back in. Two hands later I shove from CO with big stack in BB and he says "Now you have a big hand" and folds, I flip 94o and he gets pissed. Next hand I get AJs and shove, he asks how much and I say 50k, he calls with A7, flops a 7 gg. So I turn to my gf and say "this is stupid he is so deep I can't play him" and she says she'll stay for awhile and play. (She plays .01/.02 and is learning from me). I play another table and lose with 44 on a 348 board to 67 that rivers a 5, so I come back to check on my GF, she is at 750K. I'm like "wtf happened???" And she says that she went all in on a J turn with board K73J holding AK and got called by a deep guy with 66 (who says "I know you're bluffing). Right after she triples up with AQ on a Axx board to some other people who then left, then won with ATo on a KQ6 flop, got it in against QJ then she rivers a J to win. This is why it is fake poker- foker. But she had a good time and of course rubbed in how much better than me she did, but I liked seeing her happy. We ended up with like 75 tickets in the raffle out of 120 ish and lost, it was some $60 gift card set or something. Anyway it was fun, there were some great dancers, food, craps, blackjack, roulette, all kinds of stuff. Also some sick outdoor blow-up things, you know like american gladiator stuff. But enough of that, on to what happened today-

I had an awesome session today, ended up down 1 1/2 buy-ins, but I'm not really that upset about it, had some coolers and one spot where I got it in vs. a 46/13 with JJ on a 473 FD flop and he wakes up with QQ. But I had an awesome spot that I had to talk about today.

So the villain in question was playing loose, about 36/20 over 120 hands, but opening every orbit from the BTN just about, probably 90% of hands. I had been responding mostly with flatting his opens and calling his cbets with overs or any piece, he'd continue on a lot of turns and I'd end up taking it down on the river or showing my piece and winning. But I had also been c/r and 3 betting him, and I could tell he was getting irritated. So he opens from the BTN and I flat, flop is really dry looking. I pretty much ignore the aces but at the same time I know I can't profitably call here knowing he will be double-barreling a lot, so I c/r knowing that being frustrated his most likely move with an A or a PP would be an insta-shove. Instead he tanks and calls. Well the turn is effectively a blank so I know that I need to be following up here with a double-barrel, I make it smaller because I know that the size doesn't really matter here, he will call with the extremely unlikely (due to my read) pp no matter what, and fold most everything else. When he calls I figure him for PP that he just didn't have the guts to get in with so I plan on checking through and giving up. The river giving me a pair doesn't really mean that much, because I figure betting would only get called by worse but when he bets I get really confused. See Matt correctly stated that people's value -betting range will always be more narrow than his calling range, however upset opponents will often times bet as a means of showing aggresion when they are tilting, so his bet actually makes me feel much more comfortable with my hand. Sure he could play KK, QQ this way, but if he is truly frustrated why didn't he raise the flop? A "good" player would play it that way, but not a poor, upset player. So I tank a little bit, reason this out and call. Shortly thereafter his is extremely frustrated and hand 2 occurs, I love when things go right.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $28.35
SB: $25.35
Hero (BB): $29.90
UTG: $25.25
CO: $48.15

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.85, SB folds, Hero calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.75, Hero raises to $4.05, BTN calls $3.30

Turn: ($9.90) (2 Players)
Hero bets $6.25, BTN calls $6.25

River: ($22.40) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $11.50, Hero calls $11.50

Results: $45.40 Pot ($2.25 Rake)
BTN showed (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$22.65 NET)
Hero showed (two pair, Aces and Tens) and WON $43.15 (+$20.50 NET)

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $26.05
UTG: $25
Hero (CO): $52.15
BTN: $25
SB: $47.90

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.85, 2 folds, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80) (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.80) (2 Players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.25, BB raises to $5.55, Hero calls $4.30

River: ($12.90) (2 Players)
BB bets $19.65 and is All-In, Hero calls $19.65

Results: $52.20 Pot ($2.60 Rake)
BB showed (two pair, Queens and Threes) and LOST (-$26.05 NET)
Hero showed ...

So I am a little pissed right now, while driving my overly priced and underperforming land rover this evening my super-enhanced-state-of-the-art-self-adjusting-and-value-minimizing suspension system crapped out. And by crapped out, I mean my car literally FELL onto my tires. I was unable to drive it and stuck in the middle of the road. I managed to get it slowly moved into a parking lot and called AAA. Any of you with exp. with this company knows that no matter WHAT geographical location you are in, you are an hour from help. I call, I inform them of the problem, I tell them I need a flat-bed and that I hate life and everyone in it so please get it right. Lo and behold, an hour later captain america shows up in the wrong kind of truck. He proceeds to begin to hook my car up, to waste 30 minutes because it won't work. Then smokes a cigarette and walks into a nearby dominos leaving his truck in the middle of the road blocking traffic for 15 minutes. I call AAA and rant, alot. They inform me that the mistake was not made on their end but that a new flatbed was on its way and would arrive in an hour. yay. By this point I have a friend come and pick up my gf so she can go back to wake to get some work done while i wait. My friend has already gone way out of her way and needs to study for a test tomorrow so i am feeling bad about her coming back out to get me and try to call a few other people to no avail. When she calls back in 45 minutes she tells me that while helping my gf unload the car, she got a parking ticket from out local revenue generation team. I tell her I will cover it but she is one of those nice people and won't let me. So I'm mad, I'm guilty, I have no car and captain america is sitting in the truck behind me being berated by his boss who was just berated by AAA who was berated by me and he is looking at my direction menacingly. He gets out, says he is sorry about all this but he knows I am upset about my car too, so he walks to his truck, takes out a f*cking ax (you can't make this up) and walks towards me saying "here this will take care of it" I laugh, **** myself, and tell him I will be fine. He gets back in the truck, flips me off and leaves. So I'm sitting there thinking about how my 3 hours was supposed to be spent relaxing and getting some damn hands in when my friend gets back, and we wait for another 10 minutes when the flatbed gets there. He walks out, picks up my keys and says "Ill take care of it you can go ahead and leave" I praise him and thank god I have had one good experience with AAA and return to wake.
Tomorrow I will call Land Rover and get a quote, and if it is in excess of $3000 I will be telling them I no longer want the car. For all of you out there, I bought a 2006 land rover LR3, I am a dumbass. It was ranked the worst car of the year. I have taken it in for faults 4 times, 2 recalls and 3 normal services. I paid 41K for this piece of Ford-Made sh*t. Please berate me.

I am God, I am above all who I see. That's pretty much how we all feel after a ****ty run of days and then we just pwn the field right? In 300 hands I won 5 buy-ins today. I had my biggest lay-down ever, as well as some other very very sick folds (I really really focused on developing my reads today) and won my Biggest pot evar!
Things I did well-
I definitely played my limped pots much more aggressively.
My ranges from the blinds were not only wider, but fluid from table to table based on my opponents and, dare I say, gameflow.
I became much more aggresive with my suited connectors, turning them into bluffs where I knew it would be effective, and disguising my made hands to showdown.
Wet-flops where an opponent either deferred his cbet, or bet small I would take away.
I deliberately rose marginal hands like KTs/QJs/ATo from MP to isolate weak players in the blinds, with mostly great results (twice I had to fold TP to a rr on the turn.)
Things I did not do well- I felt there were hands I could have exploited much better, I know some of my villains were cbetting too often, but as a rule I was unable to determine which spots would be effect to rr. I rr a very dry 973 flop when I flatted PF AQs to a loose BTN then he 3bet me representing like... a set??? I ended up folding but I might have made a mistake, I dunno.
I definitely owe much of my success today to my one session with Matt, he has given me a lot more than just the concepts we talked about, because my resulting more aggresive play is allowing me to get much more value from my big hands. I also have come to enjoy double-barrel bluffing early and letting them see a marginal hand, then shortly after mimicking the line with a big hand and getting them to walk into me. Very very sick. I love mood swings.

Hands Below-
Villain = Unknown, played one hand over 16.

I think he lost his mom in a tragic occurance and prefers opera music while playing poker under his neon-lit disco ball. <--- Coach tease
------------------
HAND #1
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $34.05
BTN: $43.35
SB: $12.50
BB: $8.75
UTG: $26.15
Hero (MP): $25

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to $0.85, Hero raises to $2.90, CO calls $2.90, 3 folds, UTG raises to $10.25, 2 folds

Results: $9.05 Pot
UTG mucked and WON $9.05 (+$6.15 NET)



Alright so I was playing 33/28 or so, UTG was a mega donk and CO was pretty taggish. Seemed to be getting a little over-zealous with his hands to punish my perceived weakness. As such, I got a little trappy betting on the fact he would raise any PP, which ended up right on.
------------------
HAND #2
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $27.65
BTN: $31.30
SB: $25.75
BB: $43.95
UTG: $70
Hero (MP): $61.10

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (MP)
UTG raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $2.15, CO calls $2.15, 3 folds, UTG calls $1.65

Flop: ($6.80) (3 Players)
UTG bets $3.50, Hero calls $3.50, CO raises to $10.50, UTG calls $7, Hero raises to $58.95 and is All-In, CO folds, UTG calls $48.45

Turn: ($135.20) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($135.20) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $135.20 Pot ($3 Rake)
UTG showed (two pair, Queens and Fours) and LOST (-$61.10 NET)
Hero showed (two pair, Kings and Fours) and WON $132.20 (+$71.10 NET)

Turns Out the villain who folded folded 77!!! W00T!

I listed my hands today that I felt I played well, with one that I wanted some input on.
I ended up winning 1 dollar. One. But it is a special one because it has our nation's greatest first president on it, so i feel quite lucky. I think if I keep this up I may displace the need to work at Mcdonald's the rest of my life...



My coach will enjoy this hand, this was a concept I had only partly right and perfected in this session. Villain was a reg I had just recently pushed out of a pot.
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HAND #1
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $50
Hero (SB): $51.80
BB: $45.90
UTG: $43.80
CO: $50.70

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (SB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.85, Hero calls $0.75, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.55) (3 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, BTN bets $2, Hero calls $2, BB folds

Turn: ($6.55) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $5, Hero calls $5

River: ($16.55) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $12, Hero calls $12

Results: $40.55 Pot ($2 Rake)
BTN showed (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and LOST (-$19.85 NET)
Hero showed (two pair, Aces and Sixes) and WON $38.55 (+$18.70 NET)



This is the hand I wanted input on. Obviously I could check/call to keep his range as wide as possible. However I had lead in similar spots already that he folded to and I felt like the last time it was really difficult for him and that he may get frustrated. Do you feel like it would have been better to just place passive?
------------------
HAND #2
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $28.60
BTN: $25
SB: $16.45
Hero (BB): $42.65
UTG: $25
MP: $25.30

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.85, Hero calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($1.80) (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.25, BTN raises to $4.75, Hero raises to $9.75, BTN folds

Results: $11.30 Pot ($0.55 Rake)
Hero mucked and WON $10.75 (+$5.15 NET)



I felt like I played this hand like a champion. But I might have just been stupid. He used his whole time bank and called with 2 seconds left and sent me on life tilt. He was playing very solidly and was 21/18 I believe, so i felt like his range was either pocket pairs or AJ.
------------------
HAND #3
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

SB: $27.30
Hero (BB): $25.35
UTG: $40.30
MP: $31.05
CO: $22.30
BTN: $25.20

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.75, SB folds, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $1, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($3.60) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3, Hero calls $3

River: ($9.60) (2 Players)
Hero bets $6.75, BTN calls $6.75

Results: $23.10 Pot ($1.15 Rake)
Hero showed (a pair of Twos) and LOST (-$11.50 NET)
BTN showed (three of a kind, Twos) and WON $21.95 (+$10.45 NET)

This last hand is similar to hand 2.I felt like a donk-bet would be raised a lot here. Was this another spot I should be checking to keep his bluff range wide?

Full Tilt Poker, $0.25/$0.50 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): $50.80
UTG: $129.70
CO: $68.80
BTN: $54.80
SB: $42.30

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $2, SB folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.25) (2 Players)
Hero bets $2.50, BTN folds

Results: $4.25 Pot ($0.20 Rake)
Hero mucked and WON $4.05 (+$2.05 NET)

So I have the most interesting hands from my match below following my first lesson with probability. He is a very good communicator and a good listener to questions and I highly recommend him.


This is the very first hand vs. this villain I played him in. Two hands ago I saw him lose his stack to a hit and run with tptk to a set.
------------------
HAND #1
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $26
CO: $29.80
BTN: $24.15
SB: $27.65
Hero (BB): $25
UTG: $10.10

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.35, BTN calls $1.60

Flop: ($4.80) (2 Players)
Hero bets $3, BTN raises to $7, Hero raises to $22.65 and is All-In, BTN calls $14.80 and is All-In

Turn: ($48.40) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($48.40) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $48.40 Pot ($2.40 Rake)
BTN showed (a flush, Queen high) and WON $46 (+$21.85 NET)
Hero showed (two pair, Tens and Twos) and LOST (-$24.15 NET)



Villain was playing 48/13 no real history of note other than he was floating way too often.
------------------
HAND #2
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $13.55
CO: $25.35
BTN: $23.90
SB: $25
Hero (BB): $26.40

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.75) (3 Players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, UTG raises to $2, SB folds, Hero calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.75) (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $2.75, Hero folds

Results: $4.75 Pot ($0.20 Rake)
UTG mucked and WON $4.55 (+$2.30 NET)


Villain 50/11, no other pertinent reads.

------------------
HAND #3
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN): $39.10
SB: $22.40
BB: $9.80
UTG: $8.65
CO: $51.25

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (BTN)
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, SB calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.50) (2 Players)
Hero bets $1, SB raises to $2, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($5.50) (2 Players)
Hero checks, SB bets $2, Hero folds

Results: $5.50 Pot ($0.25 Rake)
SB mucked and WON $5.25 (+$2.50 NET)


Villain was 26/22. Seen him double barrel bluff then give up on pairing river with QJ on a 983K3 board.


------------------
HAND #4
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

Hero (SB): $25.10
BB: $18.85
UTG: $6.40
MP: $36.90
CO: $32.40
BTN: $25

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG calls $0.25, MP raises to $1.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $4.25, 2 folds, MP calls $3

Flop: ($9) (2 Players)
Hero bets $5.50, MP calls $5.50

Turn: ($20) (2 Players)
Hero bets $7.25, MP raises to $27.15 and is All-In, Hero calls $8.10 and is All-In

River: ($50.70) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $50.70 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
Hero showed (a pair of Aces) and LOST (-$25.10 NET)
MP showed (a flush, Ace high) and WON $48.20 (+$23.10 NET)


Villain was an unknown in this hand, just sat down recently.

------------------
HAND #5
------------------

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 3 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $72.90
Hero (SB): $29.65
BB: $19.60

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (SB)
BTN folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BB raises to $2.25, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.50) (2 Players)
Hero checks, BB bets $4.25, Hero raises to $27.40 and is All-In, BB calls $13.10 and is All-In

Turn: ($39.20) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($39.20) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $39.20 Pot ($1 Rake)
Hero showed (a pair of Queens) and LOST (-$19.60 NET)
BB showed...

Hey guys, so this weekend has been pretty sweet. I hosted a tailgate which Greg and Craig came and we had a good time, ate some of my awesome burgers. Wake won the game by a field goal in the last 8 seconds, which was exciting. Didn't play too well but we also had a real bonehead referee who doesn't understand a pass to an empty part of the field cannot = pass interference, but w/e we win. As a side note, if you even marginally have a sense of who a good person is, Houston or w/e the F ole miss' coach is, is a big douche. Screaming on the sidelines and b*tching about all kinds of crap. One day he will be on my casino blacklist : ).
Poker has been a little rough, I lost about 10 buy-ins over three days. I will admit 3 were tilted and one was a hilarious misclick (I had 22 and was habitually flatting the BTN's raises from the SB, but then BB rr and SB shoves and I hit call [****] and the BB calls. AKs vs AA vs 22. I shipped it over and they were like "WTF?" and I said "I had a read.") So I was feeling a little down because 10 buy-ins was all I was up on my new laptop so I basically destroyed like a week and a half of hard work. I ended up deciding that I may be a good player, but I know I have plenty of room to improve so I talked it over with Matt (probability) and hired him as my new coach. I made a vid. of my session and it went really smooth. Had some interesting spots and can't wait to get some professional feedback. Hopefully he can get my confidence back on track and get me to really maximize how quickly I improve.
In terms of school, meh. I have two BS classes, Organizational Behavior and Management Information Systems. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the material, but I hate taking a class that loads me with busy work to "actively learn." I believe I am a the typical type of student, I love learning- but when you MAKE me learn I just shut down. Plus I think when you have two classes you aren't excited about it hurts your overall performance. So I am trying to focus on my difficult finance class more, and staying with my exercise and poker routines. Exercise sucks being so out of shape but I like the effect it has on me post-workout, and I can feel good about myself. Anyway, I know I keep saying I will put a graph up, but now it's just going to be a variance graph so I don't think there is any point. I will definitely put it up post-lessons though to show my hopefully sick improvement rate. Other than that, I guess that's all I really have. Hopefully by the end of this year I can boost my GPA, get up to some .5/1 action and lose 30 lbs. Later, Matt

Well I am experiencing a whirlwind of emotions right now, I got my new laptop, very awesome, played some poker and won 2 1/2 buy-ins, very sweet to book a winning session on my new computer. I also got my room completely organized, its a ****ty small dorm room, but I have a loft, with an awesome love seat beneath it, a 30" TV, fridge+micro, and my comp. monitor and printer conveniently placed. So the room is nice, new laptop + making monies. But, tomorrow I meet with my adviser and we talk about my major, finance. I dunno if any of you have read Craig's blog, but he is a finance major and a year ahead, his posts about junior year have freaked me out, plus I have to re-take a course I failed over summer that I am worried about. One of the finance courses apparently has a fail-rate of like 40%, which is wonderful. I can honestly say, while I feel I am very smart, I am a terrible student. I distract easily, I have never put much value in the coursework, I guess I am a brat or something. Regardless, I have to work my ass off to do well this year, so I've written some express goals about what I want to accomplish. I want to makes all B's, or A's and one C. I want to move to .5/1, and I want to lose 30 lbs. I lost 80lbs freshman year, but now ive gained back like 20, and maybe more cause I lost some muscle mass, so I feel pretty terrible and out of shape, and I think that affects your ability to concentrate and perform. So my schedule will basically be, wake up at 7:45, go to class, work out, study for 3 hours or so, play poker for a couple of hours, study the rest of the night, rinse repeat. I am f*cking glad I have such a sweet TV I'll never use. But seriously, I will put alot more value in my weekends, so I won't ever really just switch off, and will likely stay busy all the time. I have some plans to sweat with garbageman if I can ever work a time out, and I also am teaching poker to my GF. (She's gonna play .02/.04 on stars, yay shortstacks!). Looking ahead everything seems so busy I have difficulty focusing on my long term goals, as well as keeping everything in perspective, but honestly, I just don't have time to think too deeply about alot right now. Anyway. since I just got a new comp. I lost some of my HH and I won't be able to post a graph just yet, but one will be up asap. Later, Matt

Welcome to my first blog post!
I guess the first thing in it should be an about me. My name is Matt Cross, I am a junior at Wake Forest University, I am a finance major and have the not-so-lofty aspirations of owning a Las Vegas megaresort and casino. I have been to vegas three times in my life and I am not even 21 yet, and before you think I am some vile degenerate, the only reason I went the first time was because I had turned 13, my parents asked me where I wanted to go (tough life) and I told the vegas. They thought it was hysterical and said there would be nothing to do, but my dad proceeded to pull a chevy chase "vegas has changed honey" speech and soon we were on our way. I immediately fell in love with the city, and although I didn't know they were his at the time, I felt Wynn's casinos were clearly the best (Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio). But I didn't ever think about owning them, I just had a good time :-P. The next two times we went we went either for a conference or for special shows, like the Phantom at the Venetian, which I enjoyed more than broadway. Like many people my age I was a little confused about what I want to do with my life and tossed lots of ideas around, then one day while watching the WPT they mentioned that some guy owned a casino, I can't remember his name because I immediately was swarmed with images of owning a casino and playing poker, and living in that awesome city. So I bought some software where you "build" casinos, most of them sucked and were totally unrealistic, so I bought some books on the history of casinos, gambling and the city of Las Vegas. One, called "Winner takes all" told the backstory of Steve Wynn, and I came to idolize his story and his success. It was his innovation that has largely changed the culture of Vegas, and I wanted to be a part of that life. This was as far as I was down the path to owning a vegas casino other than some loose plans regarding working in a casino and thoughts of opening one with the local indian reservation with whom my Dad does business, when my Mom came home and told me a patient of hers (She is a clinical research coordinator and RN, one of the first RNs in TN to work with a surgeon directly in surgery!) knew "Stevie." I naturally freaked and met with him last week, and much to my delight I will be meeting him in september or october and will need to take lessons on composure. So I've got that going for me, which is nice.
So that's the usual, but not the important stuff. I'm a very committed boyfriend to my wonderful girlfriend and best friend who I have known since 1st grade, dated since 11th, and wanted to date since before that :-P She is definitely my support and with her I feel like I can accomplish anything, including owning a resort the likes of which now approach 6 billion dollars. She has also taken my new hobby in stride, which is a huge testament to her credit, given that when i started last year I donked off (and I mean THREW OUT THE WINDOW) nearly 375 dollars in under 300 hands (playing .25/.5 HU!!!WTF?) , please don't insult me. I stopped playing to focus back on school and this summer I have dramatically improved my game, and I will post a graph of my success once I get back to wake and get my new computer (we are given computers fresman and junior year). Poker is a sick game that I love for all kinds of reasons, the players, the culture, and obviously the monies. My goals for poker are, for now, to make it to mid-stakes and get a bracelet from one of those ridiculous tournaments. Anyway I will keep this blog updated best I can with my poker/life successes and I definitely think it is +ev to befriend me, as I will own a casino one day and I will cut any of my pals a deal




Moved up from .05/.1 to .1/.25 yesterday and I am now up 6 buy-ins. I've held every time I got it in ahead and sucked out once, but all-in-all I think people have basically been giving me there money because it burns oh so much to hold it in your cashier. I've posted a few of my sick run hands below as well for your jealous pleasure.


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HAND #2
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Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

UTG: $46.70
CO: $29.45
BTN: $27.50
Hero (SB): $28.85
BB: $21.25

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (SB)
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.85, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.70) (2 Players)
Hero bets $1.40, BB calls $1.40

Turn: ($4.50) (2 Players)
Hero bets $3.60, BB raises to $19 and is All-In, Hero calls $15.40

River: ($42.50) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $42.50 Pot ($2.10 Rake)
Hero showed (two pair, Kings and Sevens) and WON $40.40 (+$19.15 NET)
BB showed (two pair, Eights and Sevens) and LOST (-$21.25 NET)


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HAND #4
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Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: $47.15
SB: $31.85
BB: $37.25
UTG: $29.35
Hero (CO): $25

Pre-Flop: dealt to Hero (CO)
UTG calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.35, BTN raises to $5, SB folds, Hero raises to $25 and is All-In, BTN calls $20

Flop: ($50.60) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($50.60) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($50.60) (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $50.60 Pot ($2.50 Rake)
BTN showed (a pair of Kings) and LOST (-$25 NET)
Hero showed (a pair of Aces) and WON $48.10 (+$23.10 NET)

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $26
BTN: $40.20
SB: $24.75
...