More Heads Up online with the Kids and a Mommy Update
So I’m playing this guy online 2easy as I mentioned previously. I’m going to play him a total of 5000 hands and hope to be done before the WSOP starts otherwise I won’t have time for online play. In the first session we played 350 hands and I won $6175 playing $25-$50 no limit hold’em. The second session was much more swingy. Before I tell you how it went, here are a few of the key pots we played:
1) I have AA and raise to 110 from the button, he re-raised to like 400 or 500 and I call. Flop is K-2-4 with two clubs, I have the Ace of clubs. He bet 550, I make it 1200, he moves all in. I started the hand with about $5300 and called. Turn K and he showed AK! Yuk.
2) Not too long after that he made it 150 from the button, I made it 500 with K-5 off suit and he called. The flop was K-J-7 rainbow and I bet 550- he called. Turn was a 3, I checked, he bet 1100, and I went all in for like 3500. He had 77 and I was down 10k.
3) He won a few more pots and I got down to about $1700 before this hand (luckily). I raised from the button with QQ to 100 and he called. Flop was J-7-3 two clubs, he check-raised, I went all in, he called… with KK! Sick, but lucky I was short stacked.
4) He raised the button to 150 I made it 500 with A-7. Flop A-J-8 two diamonds. I check called 550. Turn was a blank, I check called 1100. River was a 2d I check called all in for about 3500 more. He showed A-10 and won the pot. Well played.
5) I raised from the button with 5d 7d to 100 and he re-raised me to 400- I called. The flop was Kh 4d 8d. He bet 550 I called. The turn was a 3c, he bet 1100 and I called. The river came the 10d and he shoved for about 3000. I called. He had Kc Jc and I won that pot.
We played 300 hands and I lost $15,484, so after 650 hands I’m now down close to two buy ins, $9309. It’s really been fun for me. Obviously things may have turned out differently if I didn’t lose that first key pot with AA to AK on a K-4-2 board, but the hand probably plays the same no matter who has that hand I guess. If I have the AK and he had the AA, the money goes in anyway. Just a cooler and a bit unlucky.
I’m going to be a bit busy while in Monte Carlo with “stuff” as usual, but I’m going to try and squeeze some more hands in during the week if I can. I like the idea of agreeing to a number of hands prior to play, just makes sense to me. I wanted to quit after the Aces hand, but I did agree to play at least 250 hands so that wouldn’t have been cool to do.
Just from doing this, I’m starting to realize even more so how small of a sample size even 5000 hands is. So much of the result will depend on how you do in the cooler pots when both players have no choice but to get the money in (a la the A-9 vs 9-10 I won last time and the AA vs AK one this time). In between the grind it’s a battle of who plays fundamentally better and who is doing a better job of grinding in the small pots. I’m happy with how I’m doing in the small pots and think this match will end up having quite a few swings before we hit the 5000 hand mark.
Next time we do play I’ll be sure to notify you all via twitter. My twitter name is RealKidPoker. Unfortunately I won’t be able to twitter during the EPT event, because my cell doesn’t work for texting over here (boooo Sprint).
There wasn’t a lot of trash talk in the match, I could see myself having a beer with the guy, he seems like a good dude. I’m sure there will be some needling going on somewhere along the line, we shall see.
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It’s 6:00am here and I woke up around midnight. Going to have to work that out sometime today. My plan is to run to the grocery store to pick up some essentials, soy milk, walnuts, almonds, pineapple juice, bananas, and whatever else I can find to eat. I’m going to get fat this trip, that’s just a fact. Since working out I’m doing more protein and less carbs, but out here, that’s not an option. They don’t offer much vegan friendly protein and so I’ll be eating more carbs I guess. I’ll do the best I can and work it off when I get back.
When I get back from the grocery store I’ll hit the gym for an hour, then prepare for a lesson for the PokerStars boot camp at 11:30am. I’m doing a seminar on tournament poker, the small ball way.
After that I’ll have to get ready for the Ante Up for Africa celebrity event being held out here. It’s going to be a fun event with all of the proceeds going to charity. There will be no drinking for me, though, as I play day 1A.
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My mother is starting to realize what’s going on. She is regaining some of her brain function and while that would seem to be a good sign, it’s very saddening at the same time. The other day my brother asked her “How are you feeling Mommy, are you comfortable?” She can’t talk, obviously, but she can move her left hand. With her left hand she made a gun and pointed it to her head. That totally breaks my heart to hear that. Just crushes me. I know she wants to die. I can’t imagine what she’s going through.
She also seems aware now that her right side is done for. She pointed to her right hand and made a motion like, “no good.” She isn’t showing any emotion, not sure she is capable right now, but if she could she would. She’s a very emotional person. Very loving, very caring, and cries a lot. I don’t know what to think about all of this, but it’s definitely throwing me for a loop. I feel helpless in terms of being able to fix it and that’s not a good thing for me. I see a problem- I want it fixed. I can’t fix this one and don’t know what to do outside of pray.
I’m trying NOT to self-destruct. I get tempted to a lot recently and am just trying to keep it all together and put on a brave face, but this whole thing just sucks. I miss talking to her and just having her around. She was such a big part of my life and I need to find a way to fill that void with good things rather than destructive things. I get pissed off sometimes at really little things lately. I mean things that just never should bother me at all. I wanna fight.
Rather than physically fight, I’m finding A LOT of comfort in fighting at the poker table. Playing this heads up match, for example, is something that helps me take my mind off of “stuff” and instead I can focus on beating this little punk! He’s not a little punk, I don’t mean it that way obviously, just playing, but focusing my energy on poker and fighting there seems like a decent way to fill the void at the moment.
At the WPT championship I fought like a pitbull. I seriously did. I was close to the bottom in chips from late on day on and never gave up through a few levels on day two. I plan on never quitting in Monte Carlo either. I can’t control what’s going on with my mother, but I can control how focused I am at the poker table.
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