Haven't been blogging much as of late because I haven't had much to talk about positively. It gets repetetive talking about bad beats but outside of 2 or 3 good runs the past 6 months I have been running cold. And when I say cold I mean dead cold. Fortunately I am still winning overall but to put in the past 2 months work and barely have anything to show for it can be quite depressing.

And when I say depressing it can get pretty bad. Most of you have played live poker and know what that is like when you run card dead. You get stuck and the game is so slow and you just can't seem to win a hand at all for 8 or 10 hours. For me I would rather rake my hands on a chock board for hours than sit through that and I have many times. But that is also how online has been so picture that at light speed.



I raise utg with jacks they flat call with ace 4 on the button. They bink an ace and call down and then bink the 4 for good measure. I hit top pair they call down with 8 high and a five high flush draw on a 3 flush flop and nail it. Even heads up which is my bread and butter I can't seem to make a pair. Guys have been reeling off 30 bet wins like it is nothing and these are the guys I should be crushing the majority of the time no matter how good they run. I just can't make hands. I can flop open end straight flush draws but I can't get them completed. Guys call me down with deuces on wet boards and they are always good. It has been pretty sickening to say the least but I keep grinding it out every day.

When most people start running bad they start compounding their mistakes and I am no exception to the rule. I have played in some bad games and I can count right now of at least 6k that has cost me over the past month. It didn't cost me cause I am not good enough it is just the variance of the games and some of these games normally I would stay out of because they just aren't good spots. I have made other mistakes like tonight for instance where a donk quits and I am not paying attention and I get stuck with 2 all stars so I have to play another orbit cause I didn't uncheck autopost blinds. Not that I am not good enough to battle with these guys it is just that you lose that huge edge of the donk in the game and then the variance kicks in. That mistake cost me about 300 tonight. 20-40 hand I held AQ vs 44 on 43q flop. Sure I could have won but I don't want to be playing 2 all stars when I can just wait for a super donk to join.

Playing tired has killed me at times as well. Long sessions usually equal bad decisions. And then sometimes those bad decisions carry over and then you are spewing bets. Add it all together and it def can fuck up your win rate or lack of win rate. Fortunately for me I have been putting in tremendous volume @ 6 max and I have been rewarded with some decent rakeback. Now I need to just plug ALL of my leaks from posting buttons to making sloppy reads and bad call downs at times and I will be good to go.


Another thing that doesn't help is guys running white hot against me. Examples as follow. 15-30 3 handed the other day in a 20-30 hand span I catch aces 3 times and lose all of them to the same guy as he creamed me with 2 pair and 2 sets. I flopped top pair vs him 3 or 4 times and lost all of those as well. He flopped 4 sets in that time span. Tonight against a guy HU I held top pair or top two 4 times in 8 hands where he held kj or k10 and he just flopped the nuts both times.


As I am writing this a guy joins me hu 15-30. First 20 hands he made kk , jj 2 times and made a straight and 3 flushes and I had showdown hands every time. One of those hands I held j7 on button and flop was j79 turn 7 and he had JJ. It is just unreal. And then to add insult to injury when games goes 3 handed evry time I raise the BB from SB I whiff and they make a pair some how or when it is opposite I never make a pair. When I 3 bet from SB against button raise I dont make hands either. When stuff like this happens I almost get scared to make a move even though it is correct. I don't let it deter me but in the back of my mind I am saying here we go before anything happens.



So anyways on to the 40 to 4k which happened when that guy cracked those 3 aces and flopped those sets against me. Oh and before I go on that day I had 18 sets flopped against me vs making 1.

So it was riday I hit an all time low on one of my accounts. I was down to $40 maybe even 20 I can't remember exactly but I know it was AT LEAST as low as $40 and I was all in and I won. I doubled up again and then I doubled again. This was in 10-20 limit BTW. Ironically as this was happening I was talking to a potential backer about getting a stake going for a certain site and he told me how I should just use my own money as that would be the smart thing to do but reloading more money onto this site was making me sick just thinking about it .

So I ran it up to 1k or so and then dipped back to 500. Then I saw a great 20-40 and I was $80 short to buyin. So I said fuck it and I jumped on some guy who I didn't recognize 10-20 HU table and hit and ran him for $160. My read to play him was probably right because his play was rather sloppy in 4 hands and I will prob join him when I am bored again. So I popped into the 20-40 and ran it up to like 1600. Then I dipped back to $550 by the next night and saw another juicy 20-40 but was 50 short. My buddy shipped me the 50 and I ran well and shot up to 3k. Then by the time the weekend ended I was at about 4k and I have been sitting on that amount ever since. The game I was presently getting crushed in has turned around a bit and am only stuck a few hundred now.

Anyhow that is how poker has been going. Sooner or later I will burst through though. 50k sample and I am ahead but just not as far ahead as I would like to be or as far as my #s over the years show me I should be. I just need to start being more professional in all aspects of my play and trusting my reads more because they are usually spot on even when I make a losing play etc.

Other than that I have a big project going @ a site I will be heavily involved in called fantasydraft.net. Fantasy sports are exploding and the gambling side of it is about to take off as well and this should be a fun ride. I will be updating more on that project in the coming days weeks and months. I have been heavily neglecting my diet and my exercise and I need to get that going. I have been obsessing over poker and locking myself down to try and get out of this slump but the correct thing to do would probably be get that going strong because the exercise kills stress and eating good while it isn't fun is good for health. I haven't been eating terrible or anything but I have not been exactly dieting the way I should be. Also the forums are back open @ Venompoker.com. Come and check us out.

www.venompoker.com

The "boomswitch" has been partially activated haha. After breaking even for 30+ days and getting tortured with some of the worst beats I am finally on a nice 4k upswing the past 5 or 6 days but not winning nearly as much as I think I should be and the #s tell me that. But slowly my BB 100 is increasing but it is WAY below where I expect it to be so hopefully the good things continue.

2 hands that I lost from last night that stick out to me are as follows. I get dealt AAdc utg and raise it up. Very loose reg 3 bets and another guy calls and I cap. Flop is qj3ccc. I lead reg raises, other guy mucks i 3bet he calls. Turn is king and I lead he raises I call. river x and I check call and he shows me kj off no clubs.

Now I am not claiming to be the perfect player or anything but his plays are not very good from my point of view. First off I am pretty tight in ring in most lineups. I am not opening anything less than 10 10 most of the time and very tight with non pairs. So he is dominated most of the time. I cap pre also which should tell this guy I am pretty strong. He flops second pair with no draw with a guy behind him and he wants to balloon the pot when most cards but that king cant help him etc etc. Just a terribly played hand IMO

Then a few hands later some guy posts his blind in MP as he just joined the table, I see AQss utg +1 and raise it up, MP flat calls , someone 3 bets then a cold call and I flat. Flop was q74. I ch flat checks then guy bets guy folds and I raise and flat 3bets, turn x I ch call, river 4 and he shows me 48 off. These type of things have been routine every day.

I am playing long days and multiple hands like these have been the difference in my session. I am just baffled at how often these hands are going down. Right now I am stuck 1k in a 20-40 game and it is 6 handed. OBV the donk has everyones money right now. Hopefully that changes.

Anyhow back to the games. I have a VERY LARGE project coming up that I will fill all of you in on when the time is right. Back to the grind

pz

Well booked a little win yesterday for about 500 but still getting smashed overall in certain games. Shit is getting frustrating and it is constant. Buyin and drop 30 bets in 2 orbits. SB vs BB or reverse I cant make a hand. I am constantly getting CR when I have nothing but ace high and just not flopping ANYTHING with ak aq aj a 10 etc. I really don't remember the last time I made a set and have lost my last 5 times with AA. Add all of that together and you get 1 frustrated man.

Fortunately I started today off well as I raced ahead 1k in 15-30 and 20-40 HU/3 handed and then lost about 250 playing some 6-12. I feel good and am well rested and am looking for a good day. Hopefully it does not end like the majority of sessions the past 2 weeks. Up 1500-3k and then break even. Those highs turned to lows just about every day are not fun.

Outside of poker not too much going on. Started hitting the gym solid every day and then I got hit with a massive cold and my energy is gone. I am starting to feel better and can't wait to get things back in order monday. Speaking of Monday it is my 35th birthday. My how we get old so fast. Off to the races

-China

Took yesterday off for the most part. Won $60 for the day in a short amount of time and developed a nasty head cold. Skipping the gym today and will be playing off and on all night . Have a few things in the works that are very positive for team china. Will update more on this when I get a chance.

Had another bad day yesterday and didn't stick to my plan. I vowed to play only HU for a week and I broke that plan on Sunday night as I played some 15-30 and 20-40 (cause there was a huge donk in game) and booked a nice 1200 win. So I wake yesterday and get back to the plan. Only heads games right? Well I won about 300 in the first hr of play and it took me a lot longer to exterminate my opponents as I would have liked. One guy must have made trips 15 times but in the end I got the money so I was happy.

Then I see a 15-30 6 max game going with a huge donk so I joined. I lost the first 3 hands I played which all went to showdown and 2 of them were absurd beats. Then it was all downhill from there. I gave a few bets away with a few spewy plays but the majority of the time I was usually ahead when the majority of the money went in and by the time the hand was finished I was the one exterminated. One hand that sticks out to me was where I opend KQss utg. and the cut 3bets and SB caps(huge donk). SB leads on KQX flop and I raise and he 3bets and I 4 bet. Turn is jack and he leads I raise and he 3 bets and I just call. River is an ace and he leads and I make a crying call and he rolls over k10 sigh.

I feel like a guy who is robbing a bank and gets in a shootout with the cops. I have full body armor on but they find some magic way to penetrate it. That scenario in that hand happened about 10 times yesterday. I think I won 1 pot with aces, lost 2 showdowns then the other 3 times I had AA everyone folded. Got RR 4 flushed by crap countless times etc.

It has been a neverending cycle for about a month now. I run up 1500-3k in a session and then take horrific beats and give it back. I am playing in great games and getting the best seats most of the time but it just doesn't matter. But sooner or later they are going to give it all back and I will be on my high horse. I feel a 10-20k run about to come. Iv'e been through this before and it is no fun so I can't wait to start having fun again. Today I am sitting only heads up and so far so good. I won 9 bets my first match and it feels good even though it was only 50 bucks. Any little win I can book will help get me going in the right direction.

Be back tomorrow with some updates

China

What a terrible day. I have been fucking with this new PC for 2 weeks now and have spent easily 50 hrs combined fucking with shit and now the guy tells me the case is too old and the system won't support the sound so I have to ship it back

4dragons-god-t84783.html

So now I have to bring this fucking thing to fedex and ship it back and also have to return the sound card to best buy because I wont be needing it anymore. What a fucking pain in the ass.

Anyhow I have been in a game for about 3 hrs now. I said I was taking a break from 6 max for a week or 2 but this game I would kill myself before I wouldn't join. Well anyways things haven't changed 1st hand I pick up AQss UTG and raise it up, folds around to BB and he calls. Flop aa3 bet call, turn 7 bet call river K which puts a 3 flush on board and I bet and get raised. Guy turns over KK. I then got hot and went up about $900 in the game. Then BOOM KK loses to j8 , qq loses to q 10 , aa loses to q10, had 59 vs 57 in blind vs blind and flop comes 234, turn was a 6 and you know the rest etc etc , now down $150 in the game as I type and I'm not quitting till game is bad.

Tomorrow is a busy day. Take PC apart, package sound card and return it. Take PC to fedex and ship it. 2 hrs at gym and then back here to hook up old PC for a lil poker. Then tomorrow night off to sleep study to get sleeping machine fitted.

OOOH just turned a nut straight vs a set and won! Run good 1 time ftw!

What a frustrating ride it has been since I ended my stake. Up down up down and running worse than I ever have in my life and not getting killed but a ton of fucking headaches. Gotta hand this one to Jewdonk too. I think I told him I won like 2k or something one day and he said "Hey China, I've never seen anyone brag about how much they win" And I said to myself man this might be the kiss of death here. But the truth is you do hear about my wins just as much as my losses. I just happen to usually win a lot more than I lose.

Lately all I have been saying he just grabbed it. Sometimes I don't see it coming. Other times I call it spot on. But it is like they are ordering their turns and rivers @ a drive through window. They drive up they see the flop order the turn card. If the meal isn't ready the drive through guy tells them to pull up and he hands them the river card.

2 days this week it hit it's all time worst. In the span of 8 hands this happened. I was playing in a 15-30 6 max game. There was one mega fish and all 3 of these hands were 3 or 4 handed and he just grabbed it. 1st one I 88 and pot was capped. Flop 832 rainbow. I think the flop got 4 bet, 3 players to the turn and it gets 3 bet or 4 bet on the q. River is the jack and 3 bets go in with me and the donk and he rolls over 10-9. Like 2 hands later I had AJ and 3 bet preflop donk cold called. Flop was ak9 and only me and the donk were left on the turn where I bet when a meaningless (at the time LOLLLL) 5 fell and he called my bet. River was a 2 and he raised my bet and I looked him up and he had 34 off. Then I think he rivered a runner runner flush vs my set of 6s. Standard donkery I guess. Funny thing is I got dealt aces about 15 times this day in a VERY small amount of hands and still broke even

Then the next day I am back in a 15-30 6 max game. I bought in for 600 and saw my stack dwindle down to 200. Then I went on a massive heater hitting EVERYTHING and I was sitting at about 3k. I though about quitting for the day just to book a win and gtfo but the game was too good. I said to myself just play normal don't get too caught up playing too many hands and I did just that. But just about every hand I was dealt made it to the river and I lost. Oh and they were grabbing everything. Some of the sickest shit ever. Anytime I checked behind with ace high they grabbed their jack. Anytime they drew to a runner runner flush the board would run for them. 3 flush 4 flush you name it. they need to hit the 2 for a set on an ak7j board they grab it.


Once my stack hit 2k I took a break. I grabbed some lunch and came back after a couple hours. Same game with 2 donks. They just kept grabbing their hands. Down to 1k. Then I quit again for a while and cleared my head. Guy joined me in a 15-30 game and I played him heads up. Probably shouldn't have played this match cause guy was pretty good but I said fuck it. I played him and found a few massive leaks but I also got lucky vs. him. I only had maybe 600 left in my acc and I was all in during the match and hit a 2 outer to get back in it. Then I pulverised him and he started shooting some of it off. I ran it up to about 1500 and then he grabbed every card he needed. We have the same pair and my kicker is higher , NO PROBLEM. He just grabs his other card over and over.

I quit thew match a 200 winner and frankly I have been feeling like shit while playing cards. Sometimes these downswings are just so bad for your head and can also be detrimental to your wallet if you play too long and if you tilt which I haven't been doing a whole lot of but I won't say I have been tilt free.

So I decided what my plan is and I started enforcing it today. I need to book some wins. I need to book wins every day and if not every day at least 4-5 days a week. So my plan is to stick to all heads up. I am playing anything from 2-4 to 15-30 heads up and I am just going to play that for this week and maybe next week. I will get in a lot less hands but sometimes just booking a few wins will get you back in the swing of things and it can do wonders for a poker players mindset.

Today I put that plan in action. I have seen some great games going but I passed. This will almost be like a vacation of sorts for me and will give me a chance to get a lot of other work done that I need to get done. So far so good as I am ahead about 1k today and feel good. And while I am waiting for heads up games I will do some breakdowns of hands I have played and see how I can play them better. I am going to go in and not only break down my mistakes but go through some of my opponents plays and study what they are doing both good and bad and just try and be honest with myself on what I am doing wrong. And I plan to watch at least 5 videos per day starting tomorrow from some of the better players out there to compare and gather other thoughts of other guys.

Also to keep my head clear I am going to start my sessions very early in the day after I have gotten in a 2 hour workout. No workout then no play. It's that simple. I always play better when I get my blood flowing and I am thinking clearly but I neglect that in cycles and just hop on and just start clicking. I need to take this much more serious and I need to structure everything where I am doing the same things over and over every day. Not just grabbing my laptop and saying ahhhh I guess I'll play now. Got another match here. Enough rambling its time for some gambling!

-China

After a poor showing to end/start the year things got kicked into gear this past weekend. I was up and down after my last entry and one of my accounts hit a low of $200 on Saturday and then shit started to turn around. By Monday or Tuesday night I had the account back up to 5k. I have lost a bit since then but I feel great about where my head is at in these games. Hopped back on the diet this week as well and I am feeling pretty good about the coming weeks. Will update more when I get a chance.

PZ

Nothing worst than feeling lost when your playing poker. You just know every move you make whether right or wrong just isn't going to work. That has been the ongoing case for the past week or so for me.

Was hovering around breakeven for a couple weeks and then BAM. I feel like I have been kicked in the nuts so hard. Losing at this pace and this frequent just can bring your demeanor down at certain times. But you have to just stay positive, fix mistakes and work hard and you will get what you need.

I have been getting priced into so many hands in awkward spots I normally wouldn't play and if I am ahead they almost never hold up and the same can be said when I am behind. The games have been so good at times. 4 limpers etc and I am getting like unreal odds to play some trash hand like q6ss from the blinds. I flop a flush draw with a pair. I never make it. I flop top pair they make a better top pair. I flop middle pair they have top pair or catch up.

Honestly tonight I have flopped 5 or 6 sets on relatively dry boards and maybe 1 has held up for me and the pots added together are at least 3k alone. Lost AA to 85 etc etc etc. u know the drill.

Most of the terrible run bad started the other night when I was in a ring game and raise JJ from MP buddy of mine 3 bet 22 from the small and we were off to the races. flop was k102 and he led and I called. Turn was my jack and he led and I raised and I think he 3 bet and I capped or he may have just called it I cant quite remember. But the river gave him quads and it filled me. We got in 6 or 7 bets on the river and I was dumbfounded. Hadn't been blasted with a one outer in a while and didn't expect him to roll over 22. It is not a play I would make but this guy has made a lot of money playing this game so I am not going to question it. More I think of it his hand is very disguised there and looks more like a monster. If you ran that situation with 22 vs a random open I would guess long term the 2s get get crushed but in certain situations it can work vs the right player.

About 75 hands later I was involved in a 3 way capped pot preflop with jj. Flop jj9 and I think we got 3 bets in a piece. turn was x and we got 4 bets in and the other guy folded after 2 bets. River was the 3rd 9 and I got CR and he had the nine obv. I should have thought and prob check the river more I think of it. He could have had aces there but the way the hand was played it was more weighted towards 9x. But a lot of time when your running a little bad you can get that quick trigger finger and over the past 2 days that finger followed me a round and I lost some coin because of it.

But in the grand scheme of things the cards just aren't coming for me and playing in games filled with multiple limpers usually you get one of these scenarios.

1. You crush them and bank when your hands hold up

2. One of them makes a hand and cracks your hand


When #1 happens we can't get much higher. When #2 happens you lose money and you get that sick feeling.

Another thing that has been hurting my game is this hectic schedule from the holidays. I have been playing later in the day when I am not focused and have been playing 2 hrs here and 2 hrs there and I just can't get into a flow where I feel totally locked in. I probably should have taken off 2 weeks or so but I never take time off. So only thing to do now is correct the mistakes and they are easily correctable.

1. Think EVERY play through instead of clicking on gut reaction. This habit has cost me a lot over the years. Playing that way you can develop a lot of bad habits and possibly give away some click tells as well

2. I need to play early in my day. I need to get in a workout (which I have been failing at)of at least 45 minutes then right to the table every day. That is mandatory shit right there. This is something that I have been neglecting a lot because I have had so much going on over the past month because of holidays and birthdays etc.

3. Play in the best games. I have been playing in mostly good lineups but here and there I will play in some not so great games and that can be a bankroll killer.

4. Max of 2 tables and not neglect HU play. Sometimes i will get so wrapped up in these 6 max games which can be lucrative but at the same time even a game as little as a 4-8 game you can make a quick 100-200 and this adds up rather quick.

5. need the doomswitch turned off. I don't believe in these things but if there was ever a doomswwitch it has been turned on but I know it won't last forever. Going to start weekly blogging again so will report back in a week to see how things go. Need to practice EXTREME discipline in all areas or I wont be where I want or need to be.

China

Poker and Life Update

Heads Up Games

Been running SO SO SO poorly heads up and these are my bread and butter games and most of time I can fall back on these. The action has been slower but not dead. Today I lost 1k in less than 100 hands playing 15-30 and 10-20. Flopped 2 straights and guy made river straights both times for huge pots in 15-30.

Fortunately I just crushed some guys skull for 700 or so but overall everywhere I am playing I have been running bruuuuuuuutally heads up for the past week or 2 and that will change. Especially in heads up play, the donkeys can't sustain this type of pace. If they could I would have noosed myself 2 years ago.

6 Max and Ring

I was getting my head torn off in the beginning of the stake in these games. In fact it was one of the worst runs I have ever been on in my life at times.

I was getting the crapped kicked out out of me in blind vs blind and button/blind play. That has turned around quite a bit and I have been doing well in these games. If I start to run bad or feel any tilt I will quit. Last night I actually got this feeling for the second time on this stake and shut down my PC asap and didn't play till tonight.

Running Bad

Honestly I have run about as terrible as one can run. It is sickening the shit that has been happening. The heads up stuff is going to happen cause that's how shit goes in heads up sometimes but over any sample I should be winning 3 to 5 BB 100 and that will come in time no matter what happens I believe. As long as I continue game selection I will best them.

I am running better in ring but some of the shit is just sick. Regs flatting with K4SS after I raise utg and nailing bullshit. Regs opening 3-4 from cutoff spiking river trips. And some other nasty fucking hands. I see a couple guys on 10 k heaters that will be broke soon. There is just no way to sustain the type of atrocious play I am seeing.

My demeanor overall

Honestly 3 months ago I had a lot of shit going on in my life and poker was just meh whatever. My bankroll was heading south like a locomotive train for many reasons. I just didn't give a fuck when I lost. I wouldn't even think about anything poker related while playing. I was just clicking buttons like an idiot for the most part. I played a couple bad heads up matches, played terrible one day of 4 tabling 15-30 , got about 10k locked up on full tilt, did some heavy spending and before you knew it I was 50k lighter.

I wasn't broke but my poker roll was thinner than it had been in 2 years and my bank account was heading in the wrong direction and I didn't give a fuck till one day I thought about possibly having to work again. That's when I snapped and got my ass in gear. I loaded what I had left in my poker roll onto 4 or 5 sites and started grinding at the 2-4 to 3-3 to 5-10 heads up game. Within 6 weeks I was playing and beating up to 15-30 and some 30-60 consistently. I have been putting in more hours per week right now then I had at any point during my playing days.


3 years ago when I started I was spoiled. Nobody was playing heads up limit. I was only playing 3-6 and 5-10 but I got so much action I didn't feel I had to play that much. 1k-2k profit per week and I was fine with that and I didn't have to play much for it either. Maybe 3 or 4 hrs per day and it was automatic cash. Instead of saving and moving up I just stayed in the 5-10 to 10-20 range and before you knew it the heads up pool increased by 10x.

To counter this I started playing more sites but this only lasted for so long because everyone followed. I had to learn 6 max again and I had to do it fast. I broke even for a couple months and then it all clicked. I started killing the games and was only playing 2-3 hrs a day and taking weekends off. Life was good as I was making 3 or 4 k a week and barely playing. This was good and bad. It was good cause I was making a ton of cash but bad cause I got some lazy playing habits.

After black friday these habits killed me. Especially the habits of barely playing. I had a HUMUNGOUS pool of players I had to adjust to at some sites and it was a growing process having them adjust to me as well.

So basically since September I stared down the gun barrel and made enormous changes on many things or I was about to hit some serious rough patches. I have been playing 50-60 hrs a week and I want to keep playing more and more and play higher than I am now when games run on certain sites. I have been alcohol free (for 3 + months) and am back in the gym and have gained a ton of muscle while losing another 10 lbs and lifting more weight on the bench than I have in a long time. And most importantly I am very happy and hungry to get back to where I was heading before black friday hit.


Bankroll on stake is sitting at roughly $9700 so I am AHEAD $3700. I know there is a huge run coming soon. There is just no way I am going to continue to get as unlucky as I have in these games. And if I do I have no problem with slowly grinding up a little here and there whether it is bonuses or rakeback. Profit is profit baby