In lieu of an extended Vegas trip I've been just grinding online. The week started off with a nasty downswing, but I've mostly recovered and am up slightly. I'm in the green about 8 buy-ins at the new site, but that's over 12.5k hands so my winrate is a little lacking.

I'm certainly playing a more loose-aggressive game. I'm not even sure if it's optimal. I'm running at 29/24/4. Those are unusual stats for me. My normal game is something like 24/19/3.5. I think the players are a little more passive and so I'm raising limpers more and bluffing at more pots. I may be missing some value with marginal hands though. I should probably look into more places for value. They always say optimal is 30/20. Perhaps I should aim for that.

*Sigh*

This is getting a little annoying.

I've been trying to figure out what my Vegas schedule for this World Series would be and it just keeps getting shorter and shorter. At one point I was hoping to stay for a whole month, but I didn't get the room in the house I was looking for. Now I'm thinking about staying a week or two, but I'm not even sure that's worth it. I'm definitely going over the 4th weekend with my friends, but I'm not sure of anything else.

My biggest hinderance is also the most classic - I just don't have the money. The money for some sort of bankroll, at least. This past week I paid $14k in bills, and now there isn't much left. I have two checks coming from Full Tilt but their arrival is like trying to predict the weather. You think you know the storms coming but then it holds off for just another day...

So I'm at a loss. I can still book a room for this coming week, but I'm not sure what I'd be able to do. Cardrunners party has been my main draw, but if I'm not playing poker what's the point?

My only other options are:

1) Find some staking. I asked MyNameIzGreg but I haven't heard from him in a while so I don't know what's up. I've never done staking before so I don't really know.

2) Find someone to trade cash for a Full Tilt transfer. This could work as long as I don't busto my Full Tilt account. I suppose I could get enough to play 2-5, which wouldn't be as profitable as online but make the trip worth it.

My wonderful streak with the New Player Boom Switch has ended. Last night I lost races, watched villains hit flushes, and got raped by set-over-set. Luckily, I managed to keep my losses to just 2 buy-ins. Gotta keep putting in the hands.

I'm also undecided about whether to use Hold'em Manager or Poker Tracker 3. They both have attractive features. I tried to download Hold'em Manager yesterday and it didn't show up on my desktop. That could influence my ultimate decision.

I got most of the kinks out of the new site. Everything should be clear sailing, right?

Well, not actually.

I decided with my branching out it was time to upgrade my poker tracker. So I did what any sensible person would do and downloaded version 3. It's got a lot of great new features, allegedly. Really, it's importing my hands incorrectly and screwing up all my stats. I've been reading the boards and apparently there's other issues with it too. I'm holding off on buying it till I get some assurances it's worth it.

Otherwise, after two days of grinding I'm up a bit over 8 buy-ins. Not bad for a start. Only downside is I deposited a limited roll so it's all at 1-2 nl. Gotta work my way back up.

Tried a new site today. My plan was to play one orbit as I get used to it and there's still a few things I'd like to make sure of.

First hand in big blind I folded.
Second hand I flop a set and stack a guy with a medium pair on a low board.
Third hand I raise the button and take it down with a c-bet.
Fourth hand I get Queens and stack a short stack who had fives.
Fifth hand I fold.
Sixth hand I raise A8s UTG but fold when the shorty jams over me.

Not a bad orbit, I'd say.

I may commence serious grinding soon.

Is to run hot, obviously. Check it out:

Full Tilt Poker, $2/$4 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: $257.70
BTN: $1,366
Hero (SB): $1,051.20
BB: $400
UTG: $481
MP: $848.10

Pre-Flop: A A dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP raises to $14, CO calls $14, BTN folds, Hero raises to $66, BB folds, MP calls $52, CO raises to $257.70 and is All-In, Hero raises to $500, MP raises to $848.10 and is All-In, Hero calls $348.10

Flop: ($1,957.90) J 5 J (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Turn: ($1,957.90) 4 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($1,957.90) 3 (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $1,957.90 Pot ($3 Rake)
CO showed T K (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-$257.70 NET)
Hero showed A A (two pair, Aces and Jacks) and WON $1,954.90 (+$1,106.80 NET)
MP showed K K (two pair, Kings and Jacks) and LOST (-$848.10 NET)

Won 5 buy-ins today in 1200 hands. I considered to keep playing but the past few dismals days started with nice upswings followed by cold decks. I'd rather book a nice win. ****ty pro, I know.

So I've been planning on switching over to this blog full time, but I've been waiting to make the right post. You know, an awesome post proclaming how great I am with charts and graphs to back it all up.

That ain't gonna happen.

After having a disapointing May, I've been on vacation in one way or another most of this month (we're half way through) and what I've done so far this month has been dismal.

So here I am. TheOneWizard. I'm a pro who doesn't play as often or as well as he should. I do harbor other goals in life and I feel this contributes to my lack of time at the tables. Still not the best excuse. I waste a lot of time.

I won't be posting any graphs yet. I will say that I may be trying out some other sites with different screen names. I figure the smart pro finds the best games regardless of site.

That's all for now.

Apparently I have a blog. I didn't even realize it.

Matt said I should start posting here instead of livejournal. I will consider it.