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Bigtimin's Poker Friends

160k Hand Challenge.

Date: Fri, Jun 19, 2009 Internet

Soooo, it's been 4.5 months since my last update, which is what happens every time I start a blog. I'm hoping to keep it updated more regularly, but we'll see how that works out.

I've decided to start a 160k hand challenge over the next 4 weeks. It starts today and will end at noon Friday, July 17th. I'll be playing all NL 6-max. So far for the year I've averaged 80k hands/month, so doubling my play over the next month will be quite tough, especially considering I have a wife, 3 daughters and work full-time 2 hours away from home. I'm gonna have to get in a bunch of 10k hands to make this happen and running well would be good.

So why the challenge? It's almost vacation time! We'll be headed back to Navarre Beach, FL July 25th for a week. 160k hands will give me plenty of FPPs to pay for the trip so I can Concierge how much I'll need through Pokerstars. Kinda makes it a free trip (sounds good anyway :) .)

I'll be making updates via the blog and Twitter (twitter.com/jmcleland). Til then, GL at the tables.

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January and early February

Date: Thu, Feb 5, 2009 Internet

Well January was a pretty crappy month for me. Here are my results overall:

18k hands NL50 +$70 - .38 ptbb/100

68k hands NL25 +$210 - .62ptbb/100

Tourneys/FPPs ~$400

So not a great month for me at all. I started off and was +$620 over 25k hands, then the bottom fell out. I dropped steadily for the next 22k hands before finally starting back up. Overall I played 72k hands last month and was breakeven, which is a fucking grind if you've never done it. I was happy it has finally started turning around b/c I was starting to doubt myself somewhat, even though I knew I could beat nl25.

TUNICA!

Omfg this was the best trip ever. I can't say that I remember much, but from what I do it was a blast. Yankees is a solid dude and it was nice getting to hang out with him and was awesome getting to watch him win a LAPT seat. I didn't get to play any tourneys (ok, I was too drunk and passed out all day to play) but I am hoping to make plans to go again next year. The worst part about the trip is that my car broke down and us 4 guys had to ride back home with my parents (luckily they drove their Suburban to Tunica that weekend.) I am somewhat happy that it will only cost $1700 to fix it and am waiting on a new/used motor.

I'm back to work now which sucks. I was off from Dec. 5-Feb. 3 and it's amazing how fast the time flies by. The baby is growing well and mom is back to normal. It's amazing how fast they grow.

So now we're on to February. I've started off Feb. great. I won a seat to to the $1m on Stars Feb. 1 and that seemed to set it off. It put me up enough to start playing NL50 and I actually ran good and am mixing up some nl100 too. For whatever reason, I am more comfortable at nl100 then nl50 (prob b/c over 150k hands I'm still not beating nl50.) So far I'm +$628 from cash and ~$180 from tourneys, so I can't complain atm. I'm just hoping I can stay at nl50/nl100 and not have to cash out, it's amazing how much faster vpp are earned. I'm needing to get 22k to be back on pace for keeping Supernova by July. It's gonna be tough, but I can do it.

That's all for now, I'll try to get an update more regularly from now on. GL at the tables.

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Starting off the new year

Date: Fri, Jan 9, 2009 Internet

Well it's been a couple weeks since my last update so I figured I should get to it. The holidays are over, thank god, so now I can get back to the grind. I ended up going out to Texas on New Year's Eve and spent 4 days deer hunting with my brother and his father-in-law. It's absolutely amazing how many deer there are out there. I killed 1 doe while my brother killed 2. I'm hoping to get to go out there again next season as the scenery is beautiful.

I got back late on the 5th so didn't play my first hand for the year until the 6th. My results so far:

NL25 - 8.5k hands - +$275 - 6.5ptbb/100

NL50 - 9k hands - +$4 - .04ptbb/100

I came home and ran good at nl25 so decided I should move up to nl50, where I run like shit obv. I was +165 after 2k hands, but it has been a roller coaster. I am playing nitty as hell so am gonna keep working on that, but I still think I can beat nl50, even though it's the devil, imo. I'm starting to work on position and 3 betting more so we'll see what happens there.

We're less than 2 weeks away from the Tunica trip and I can't wait. There are 4 of us going plus some of the ITH guys so it should be a blast. I'm planning on playing the $200 6max on Friday and the $300 on Saturday so hopefully someone will run good and go deep in one of the tourneys. I'll try to keep it updated a bit more, but it's hard finding the time when I'm trying to get in at least 5k hands/day.

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December so far

Date: Fri, Dec 19, 2008 Internet

Well so far poker hasn't been going so great this month. It started out ok, but after cashing out all but $200 I've hit a wall. It's just too hard for me to play so few tables, but I have to do it. I've been hunting a lot which has cut into my playing time and it seems that even though I'm off work, there's always something to do. Hopefully I can get some time in over the next week though.

I'm actually riding on my way back from Louisana atm. My little brother graduates college tomorrow so we drove down to pick up my grandma so she could be there. It's 3.5 hours 1 way so a lot of chill time for sure. We did all our christmas shopping yesterday and have all but 1 or 2 things left. I think the kids will be pumped with everything we got them. I'll try to post more details on poker later. Til then, gla.
Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

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Bigtimin's Poker - 2008-12-16

Date: Tue, Dec 16, 2008 Internet

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

The WBCOOP is an online Poker tournament open to all Bloggers.

Registration code: 543628

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November totals and early December results

Date: Thu, Dec 4, 2008 Internet

I've gotten a bit lazy updating the blog so here goes. November was one of the best months I've had in a while. I didn't get to play as much as I wanted to, but I hunted and chilled around the house quite a bit. I played 79963 hands total for the month and finished +$1857 total. Plus ~$500 from FPPs. I'm hoping to do quite a bit better this month as I'm gonna get in a ton of hands. December is starting off ok so far. I played 1k hands @ nl50 and finished -$285 cause I tilt hard sometimes. I dropped 3 bi to one donkey in no time so I decided to drop back to nl25 and get my bearings. I've been 16 tabling and have had great results so far, imo. 13k hands I'm +328 for 5ptbb/100. If I can do that all month I will be happy. 16 tabling I'm getting about 1500 hands/hr and clearing vpps much faster. I plan on trying 20 tables this weekend so we'll see how it goes.

Nearly baby time, yo. We have just 4 days til Carter will be here. I still have a few things to finish up but we're pretty much ready. I got the office done the other day which has been nice. We're using it a lot more than I thought we would so far. I can barely keep my 3 year old off the computer when I'm home though which is really eating into my playing time a little, lol. I have to work tonight but am off for 6 weeks after that! SHIP IT! It will be a great break and good time to get refreshed.

'Til next time, good floppin.

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WOOT! Finally made Supernova!

Date: Wed, Nov 26, 2008 Internet

I officially made Supernova a bit ago which is awesome. I'll be concierging $6-700 in gift cards in the next few days which is a nice boost to the br. I'll probably cash most of it out though. I should notice a big increase in my "rakeback" since I'll be able to concierge things and get the cash put straight in my account.

I cashed out another chunk after I hit nova and have dropped back down to nl25. NL50 has been going ok, but I've ran even for about 20k hands now so I'm gonna drop back down to nl25 until I can grind it back up a bit to move to nl50. I'm gonna try to squeeze in some hands in the next couple days so I can get back up asap.

So Thanksgiving it tomorrow and I'm looking forward to a fairly peaceful day. The wife and kids will be gone part of the day so that will give me some quiet time to grind. I'm also gonna try to hunt a bit since I have deer running all over my backyard now. We're still trying to get ready for the baby, but all the major stuff is done. My list includes cleaning the garage, basement, office, deck, and everything else outside. I'm going to fry a couple turkeys either today or in the morning. I still need to find a good recipe and directions to cook it. Last year it was a bit undercooked which sucked, but I have high hopes for this year. I'll post again maybe later tonight or tomorrow.

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Grinding the last few days

Date: Sun, Nov 23, 2008 Internet

Has been a while since I updated, so here goes. The last few days have gone pretty well. I've still gotten lazy playing, but just have lot going on still getting ready for the baby. For the last few days:

6.5k hands nl50, +$333, 5.2ptbb/100
115 hands nl50 HU, -$74, thanks dank
10.8k hands nl25, +134, 2.5ptbb/100

As you can see I moved up to nl50, which has been going well so far. I'm getting more comfortable with the $ amounts at nl50 which has been helping. I'm getting more aggressive also, but selectively. I'm so close to nova I can taste it, so hopefully I'll actually play today and get it wrapped up. Will be nice to get a $600 "bonus" from concierge. Will probably update next after I finally hit nova.

VPP to Supernova: 1872

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Last few days.

Date: Tue, Nov 18, 2008 Internet

I haven't played as much as I would like in the last few days. I managed to put in 6k hands yesterday which was nice, but not very profitable. I cashed out quite a chunk the other day and instead of dropping back to nl25, I decided to stick it out at nl50 and regret it now. I only dropped 3.5 bi there yesterday which is nothing, but when your roll is only 500 it definitely hurts. I'm gonna stay at nl25 now for a while until I can build it back up. Then I will move back up to nl50 and lose enough that I have to drop back down, lol. I'm still running very good for the month, actually, with over 43k hands played at nl25 and nl50 and running at 5ptbb/100 on both. Can't complain with that.

In other news, we still don't have baby. We had an appt. this morning with a nurse (whom I don't like) and were in there for 30 minutes and came out not knowing anything more than I did before. We have an appointment next Monday so hopefully we will know more.

I'm still keeping on teh grind to Nova and making good progress, but slower than I like. Just spending more time doing other things than playing. Gonna put in some hands tonight and hopefully in the morning before work though so maybe I can make some progress.

VPP to Supernova: 4519

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Kinda blah session

Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2008 Internet

Just put in another quick 1k hands and finished -95. I had AA 5x and KK 11x, but only finished +16 between the two. I lost two big hands with AK vs Ax on A high flop and same with AQ. I think I played ok overall with the exception of those 2 hands. I probably won't post again til Sunday some time as these short posts are a bit tedious.

Also, I think I'm going to Tunica in January to play a couple WSOP events. Dank and another buddy from Russellville are planning on going, as well as yankees from ITH. Hopefully we can get a few more ITHers to join us. As of right now we're planning on playing the $300 6max tourney on Jan. 23 and the $300 on Jan. 24. Hopefully this goes through b/c I'm ready to take another shot at a live tourney after my results in February. Aight, off to work.

VPP to Supernova: 6187

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Quick update

Date: Sat, Nov 15, 2008 Internet

So yesterday before I headed to work I played a quick 1k hand session at nl50 and ended +212. I've been on such a sick run lately. I am definitely keeping in mind that most of it is variance and that I can't really run at 13ptbb/100 forever, lol. Gonna try to get in another 1k hands or so before I head to work so will update late.

VPP to Supernova: 6403

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Finally got some playing in

Date: Fri, Nov 14, 2008 Internet

So I finally got some playing in over the last couple days since I got my new ISP set up. Since Wednesday I've played 8k hands @ nl25 and am +308 and 1k hands at nl50 and finished +112. NL25 has been a major roller coaster with Wednesday finishing +10.5 bi for the day after 2k hands. Then Thursday morning I wake up and proceed to lose 8 bi of that in 2k hands. Standard variance imo. I ended up playing 4k more hands @ nl25 yesterday and made it all back +2 bi. Then I decided to make the jump to NL50 for the rest of the night. It started off rough with me dropping 3.5 bi in 500 hands. I lost AK on an AxTA board to TT as well as set-under-set which always sucks. Even had a flush under flush which hasn't happened in quite a while. I ended up grinding it back though and finished +2 bi so I was happy. I have to get used to the monetary swings @ nl50 or I'll never be able to beat it. It's so easy to throw around a bi @ nl25 but I'm more cautious at nl50 even though it's the same game. I can definitely tell The Poker Mindset is still having a positive effect on my game. Even though I have tilted some (headhunting mostly) I've been able to make myself stop.

So the dell guy just came (while I was posting this) and replaced my LCD, keyboard, palm rest, and wi-fi antenna so now I pretty much have a new system except for the video card, ram, and hard drive. Hopefully this will last me a bit longer until I can buy a new system.

I won't get to play much this weekend b/c I have to work and will be driving back and forth every day which means I'll get home around 8am and have to leave again around 3:30, I can usually squeeze in 1k or 2k hands before I leave though. I'm having the best month I've had in a while so I need to keep grinding. 30k hands so far this month so I'm about 20k behind where I want to be. I really think I can make it up and hit 100k this month which is my goal. I'm gonna try to get in a quick session before I leave this afternoon so I'll post back this afternoon.

VPP to Supernova: 6623

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The Poker Mindset and other stuff

Date: Tue, Nov 11, 2008 Internet

So I finally finished reading The Poker Mindset by Ian Taylor and Matthew Hilger (ITH.) I must admit that I am very impressed with the book overall and think it was very well written. It brought up a lot of new concepts to give you a more in-depth look at the psychological side of things. I would highly suggest that every poker player reads this book.

I haven't gotten much playing in over the last few days. I was off all weekend but only got in around 4k hands. Mainly due to the fact that I cancelled my old ISP b/c it sucked and am waiting on my new service to be installed Wednesday, so I was stuck using my cell phone to connect which puts me on tilt b/c I have shitty signal at the house and disconnect a lot. So rather than tilting all weekend I just kicked back and enjoyed it. I also formatted my laptop over the weekend so it took a while to get everything copied back over, which is always a pita.

It looks like we've almost finished Carter's room. We got it painted and pictures hung up and such. The only thing we're waiting on is her bed and the baby, obv. The wife is kinda thinking that she will come early, and I wouldn't be surprised. She's about to bust and it looks like she has an alien moving around in her stomach or something.

I'm planning on getting in a lot of hands Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Wednesday I will get slowed down a bit b/c of the ISP coming out and I also have Dell coming out to replace my motherboard and processor to hopefully fix my speed issues. I'll probably be getting thelaptop screen and keyboard replaced soon as well. Might as well get it all fixed now b/c the warranty runs out in January.

VPP to Supernova: 7730

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Mobile posting

Date: Sat, Nov 8, 2008 Internet

So it seems pretty simple to post from my mobile. Hopefully this will work b/c I always have my phone with and time to kill so I will actually post. Anyway, just a quick post to test.

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