Soaring Eagle Trip

This is about a week late, but I wanted to fill everyone in on my trip to Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

Bobby and I left last Thursday and after a couple mixed/wrong exits finally got on a table at 6:00 PM and played till 2:30 AM.

I bought in for $200 at their 1/2 NL Hold'em table and immediately started building my stack.

Very early on, I raised from 2 UTG with 7-8 of clubs. I got one caller, the guy to my left (dealer in between us), and the flop came 884. We both checked the flop and the turn came a 10. I bet out $22, and he called. The turn came a 7 to fill me up. As I went for chips, I noticed that he was also doing the same.

I normally bet here, but I thought my odds at a check raise were very high. So, I checked and he immediately bet out $40. I made it $95 to go and he flipped over his hand, thinking I just called. After a minor debate, with me saying nothing, they ruled his hand dead. I am almost certain he would have called with his two pair, 10's and 8's.

The night ran pretty stale from there on. I was running cold for starting hands. I picked up AK and made it $16 to go. I got one caller from the BB and he checked dark. The flop came A64. I bet out $35 and he called. The turn came a blank, I think a 10 or something, and he checked. I proceeded to bet out $55, and he raised me all-in.

This is where I made what I feel was my only mistake of the trip. I knew I was beat, but I called off the rest of my stack ($130). He flipped over his pocket 4's and scooped in a nice pot.

I then bought another $200 and leaned on the guy to my right. He was a very aggressive player, but got too friendly with me. On about four occasions, I called him with bad draws that missed, but he would check to me on the river, I would throw out what looked like a value bet and he would fold.

I cashed out for $313, an $87 loss for the night.

We got back on the table at 11 the next morning. The table livened up within the hour and it seemed like it would be a good day. My stack fluctuated between $250 to $300 for the better part of the first three hours and then an old lady cost me about $200.

We had a super aggressive player, raising every hand and making ridiculous bluffs at the table. There was a straddle to $5 and he made it $25. Two people called in front of me and I knew the straddle was calling. I had 78 off suit and made the call. The flop came 569, to flop me the nuts on a rainbow board.

The straddle and raiser both check, and the next guy bets $40. This is when the old lady blows up my hand. She pushes all-in for $980. I call, the straddler folds 10's and the guy that bet $40 folds pocket 9's, top set. She flips over 78 too. If she just smooth calls and I do the same, we get caught in between the over pair and top set, and make at least another $150 a piece with the chop.

I also had two very frustrating straddles in a row. The table was ultra aggressive and each pot was a fairly good size. I was sitting around $300 and straddled for $5. I pick up J10 and the flop comes AKQ rainbow. I throw out $5 and six players fold, very unusual for this table. The very next time around I straddle for $5 again, pick up J7 of spades. The flop comes 456 all spades. So I flop fourth nuts with an open ended straight flush draw. The flop is checked, turn comes a red 3 and I bet $5 and get one caller. The river comes the 3 of spades, giving me the seven high straight flush, and get him to call $15. He too had J7, obviously no spade. If he wasn't a donk, I wouldn't have made any.

I then got up to around $400 and picked up AA 2UTG. I make a raise to $12 and get one caller. Flop comes K high and the lady bets into me, I think $20. I make it $46 and she shoves. I put her on a pair of kings and call. She shows AK, and turns a K. My stack is now at $175.

On my next button, I pick up QQ. There is a straddle to $11 and I make it $34. The guy two to my right, pushes for $90 total and I call. Flop comes 8910, turns a 2 and rivers a Q. He turns over JJ.

I am now sitting with $90 or so and about two rounds later get all in pre with 10's vs. K's and don't catch up.

I exit the Casino being down $287 in my first trip since concentrating on bankroll management.

Current Poker Plans

So, I am currently refreshing myself at the game of poker. I haven't been playing nearly as much as I should have been over the past year and a half really. Mainly because of the bankroll management issues I have had, along with the investments in Just Muck Poker, Inc.

This is all about to change though. I am currently writing my own bankroll management program in Excel. I think this will help me a great deal.

To go along with that, there is a very good possibility that Just Muck is about to take the next corner like a drift car. I will definitely have more info on this in the coming weeks.

As of now, I am really trying to nail down pot odds. I am really decent at them, but it is still one of the weaker parts of my game. I don't want to have to think about them, want them to just pop into my head.

Hopefully only a couple more weeks and I will be playing five or six sessions a week.

My Quest Thus Far

Like many other journeys started, it was 2003 and Chris Moneymaker went from regular "Joe Schmo" to the "Rich Joe Schmo."

It was then that poker popped up in countless basements and millions of computer screens. It was like a pandemic that sucked people in as soon as they got a little taste.

I was one of those people. After my first time playing the game I could not get away. Over the last six years, my life has been engulfed with poker.

I have been truly lucky. Since the day I started, I have been a consistent winner. Though, for the first few months, it was playing random games, including some that we even made up.

Then, everyone went to college and the nightly game deteriorated. I was left with nothing to go on and my second income was now gone.

I turned to the internet, Party Poker to be exact, and did not have near the same success. After losing the first $900 I deposited, it became clear to me that I was in over my head. So I bought books, read forums, and did whatever I could do to gain the knowledge I needed to at least win.

From their on, I became a decent online player. I then turned my attention to live tournaments. I had immediate success, chopping my second ever live tournament.

It was at that point that I was stuck and stuck for good.

For the next two years I would play games just big enough to live while in college. At least that is what I thought I was doing at the time. In reality, I had lacked to learn one major aspect of being successful in poker.

Bankroll management.

Even after college, I overlooked the most important thing. When I won money, I spent it.

It paid for my 52 inch tv, 20 inch tv, 300+ dvd collection, two XBOX 360's and an ungodly amount of alcohol and fun nights at the strip club. Not all was bad. It also paid my rent, car payments, insurance among other bills.

I was successful, but somehow I was always broke.

Now, six years after I wish I had learned, I have finally set myself on a plan. This time, I am not going to waste away a bankroll. I won't be stuck at 1/2 NL or $100 tournaments anymore.

I am dedicated to bankroll management.

I am an aspiring poker pro, and this blog will chronicle the trials and tribulations I go through as my journey as a poker pro progresses.