Bits and pieces...

Well, I'm going to do another post where I try to catch up on a weeks worth of entries that I wanted to write but don't have the time and desire to do it. Might as well just use a little list format:

1. Online tournies have been going well lately. I was burning off my Party Points last weekend and generally was donking them off until I found myself in a 1,000 point qualifier for the $100K Party for Free tourney. Neglecting details, I made a conscious decision to focus on the tourney and do my best, and I ended up qualifying for the tourney (1 in 30 made it).
   
2. Online ring is going ok. Part of it is I've really been focusing on keeping consistency and control -- avoiding large bluffs in situations where they probably won't work, and betting for value a bit more. It also helps I haven't been playing much. I wouldn't call it an upswing, but I haven't lost money...
   
3. My body is starting to feel the effects of lots of coding at work and a lot of button clicking while I'm grinding. Specifically, my elbows of all things have been sore lately so I've been backing off the online grinding by quite a bit. It has also helped my mental sanity.
4. The superbowl party yesterday really hurt my bankroll (more of a "OMG, I can't believe I lost every single bet I placed" rather than a "F___, where did my bankroll go"). Still, it was demoralizing and depressing and I felt it all last night and this morning. On top of that, I ended up running the big tourney and took a lot of grief from pretty much everyone. Yes, I realize that a single rebuy (only when you are out of chips) sucks and messes up the game a bit, and I realize that the ante structure I set up was fast, but I was attempting to get the tourney over before the game started (which failed miserably). By the end, I just wanted to say "F___ you" to pretty much everyone. You know, running a tourney with 18 players and rebuys is not easy, let alone trying to play in it too. Then to have everyone bitch at me because they disliked one thing or another (often contradicting bitching) is pretty annoying, especially since I get no benefit (financially or otherwise) for showing up early, setting up for an hour, jumping up out of my seat every five minutes, and all the other crap that goes along with running a tourney. Maybe I should locate another poker group in the area and just play a few tournies as an unknown player. That'd be cool.
   
5. My live tournament game is officially in the toilet. Seriously, the past two months, I have not made the money once and lost over $120 (pretty hard to do with $10-$20 buy-ins). Furthermore, I know I am playing poorly. Part of it may be that I've been hosting about 50% of the games -- hosting really screws you up (I limped KK UTG the second hand yesterday because I wasn't thinking straight). But more than that, I've become super-duper weak-tight in my live game, afraid to play anything unless it is the near nuts, not bluffing, not raising. The end result is I call off most of my chips, many times with the worst hand. I've really got to go back to basics and adjust my game. Probably a bigger post is due on this in the near future (maybe before the Wednesday game).
6. I'm eager to get some live 3-6 again. Hopefully I'll plan a trip pretty soon, but it is definitely a game that fits my style and that I can beat pretty easily.
   
7. Six Feet Under is corrupting my mind. It is an excellent show (with many characters matching my family a little too well), but they use the F-word so much that its starting to creep into my mind and I keep finding myself wanting to use it in conversations throughout the day. I'm generally not one to swear much (long story behind that which involves Christianity and campgrounds) but the past week or so I've definitely noticed a change. It doesn't help that my wife and I have crammed three seasons into about two weeks. And one guess what I got at the library on my way in to work today...

Ok, that's it. F___ you all!