I got a great night's rest and am pumped up to grind some tournaments today. I am going to be playing the 2 FTOPS events on FTP today, $120KO and $500 ME, mixed with some smaller mtts.

Sunday Hopes and Dreams Come True One Time? :):):)

AC Trip Report: My 2nd session in AC this past Thursday was another brutal test of patience and level-headedness. I continued to run like Keyser Soze pre-viewer-epiphany. 

I raised KJss in the cutoff after a few limpers. 5 people called and we saw a flop of J 9s 4s. 

WHen you see a flop like that, you just think "sweet, ship it on over this way, hope I get action etc. "

I bet, got checkraised by sb, and I shoved all in. He called with A8ss. Turned Qs, and I thought my flush had to be good, but of course he flipped over his hand and I was drawing to one out, the 10s. Total Sighaments.

I had managed to build up a nice stack picking up uncontested pots and making one sick call with 4th pair, so that setup hand totally sucked. But I had to keep it in perspective, because there was nothing I would have done differently in the hand with the KJss. And with each hand being an individual, isolated incident, I had to remind myself that all the bs situations I had been involved in at the live tables recently, were all a part of this game that I have a love/hate relationship with. =)

The key to me only losing half a buy-in at the end of Thursday was that I managed to regroup multiple times after ridiculous hands/spots I found myself in and keep a level head. And so while I might have lost monetarily the last 2 sessions, I still feel as though both sessions were successful, because I am so excited with how I have been playing and the patience/stability I have proven to myself. 

This mental focus and stability is a constant work in progress for most poker players. This becomes very apparent when I play live and watch how other players react to bad beats, bad luck, even getting dealt a string of bad cards tilts players. I have seen players go on tilt this week over hands they werent involved in, but seeing someone else ship a big pot, set them off.

This is the weakness WE need to prey on, not be the prey ourselves. At the poker table, I want to always be a predator... strong, cautious, showing no vulnerabilities or weaknesses....stoic in the face of victory and defeat...always controlling the upperhand.

I look in the mirror and see stripes. 

So today, go ahead, put on your stripes....Be a Predator. 

P.S. There is also a $15 bounty on Me in Today's Poker Curious Freeroll at 2pm. Gl doodles xxx

Hey guys...I really only have a few minutes so pardon the short blog and future typos;)

*FTops Event #10 that I was excited about never really got going. I busted pretty early with QQ on a J high board...villian had 1010 and called all the way down to river, where he binked his 2 outer. SO that was that. 

*I have decided to mix weekly trips to AC into the mix. I want to dedicate some serious hours to working on my live NL cash game and my live bankroll. I went down on Tuesday with a good friend of mine, but unfortunately it was not a warm welcome. I ran beyond bad!! I am not even exaggerating. I ran into Quads twice, lost with trips twice, lost with a 10high flush in a $700 pot at 1/2 nl when all 3 players in the hand rivered a heart flush!! It was quite frustrating, because of course I was hoping to have a solid first session, but I found a great deal of comfort in how I played Tuesday, even though the results were shit. I made one really sick fold, and I like to think I lost the minimum I could have on the overall session based on how high the cards were stacked against me. 

I was going to drive back down yesterday to jump right back into it, but decided to take the day off from poker. My friend had Veteran's Day off from work, and so he asked me to hang out. We went to a really cool lunch buffet, where I ate waaayyyyyy too much but whatever... I doubt a buffet is the place to count calories ;) Then we went to the movies and saw The Fourth Kind. To be honest, I really didn't know what this movie was about other than something to do with aliens, but it was really quite intriguing. I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it, but I would definitely recommend it if you are into alien theories. I can't wait to do some research on the movie, because it had a lot of "real" audio/video footage that has left me with a lot of curious questions. 

Then later in the evening, we found a new show on netflix to start watching called "Leverage". It came out in 2008 and I think just got done with Season 2. We watched the first 2 episodes and I really like it so far. To go along with the shows was a cheese (swiss, sharp chedder, pepperjack, and portwine cheese if you must know;), fruit, and cracker plate with a bottle of white wine. Yummm-O. Was a great day and I feel pumped to drive down to AC and grind back my losses from Tuesday's ridonkulous session.

So I will let you guys know how it goes. 

Enjoy the day.. gl with your grinds, and if you have nothing else to do.. go watch The Fourth Kind and let me know what you think!!! And anyone that has seen it, pm me what you thought about it plz.

Cheerios! xxx

I'm off to an early day. I had a great night's rest after lounging at a friend's place all day watching movies and shows. I am ready for some solid poker today. Not going to be playing high volume today, but I have my sights set on going deep in FTOPS Event #10 $300+22 No Limit Holdem @ 6pmE.

I just jumped into a few satellites on FTP to try to win a seat, but either way I will be playing the event. 

Ok Satellites started......

One is a 7500 points sng where 1st place gets an entry,

2nd is a $105 sng where top three get an entry.

.......Busted the points sat. Shoved 9bb with AQ and ran into AK. No lucky lady.

Oh Sweet!!! Just won a seat in the other one. Ok so I'm into FTOPS event 10 for $105, and I am really looking forward to this event.

I plan on playing my best tournament poker and hoping the cards and lady luck dance my way. I have not been playing much at all the past 4-6 weeks, and I think any professional poker player can attest to periods like this, where they struggle to find the motivation to log long hours. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. I have gone through phases where all I did was play online poker for days, weeks, months. It affected my physical and mental health, relationships with friends and family, and led to bad decisions both on and off the table. Extremes always require caution, and most times it is difficult to recognize the pattern when it is ourselves that are caught up in it. The key is mastering moderation, but is easier said than done.

So I don't mind at all that I have lacked motivation the past 4-6 weeks because it is the checks and balances of my Life sorting itself out. I have been distracted by new company, new friends, books, shows, and hobbies. I am sure many poker players can relate to the excitement we feel when these time periods interrupt the pattern, when people or things come along that interest us enough to pull us away from the tables. When this happens to me, I don't fight it. I welcome the distractions, interests and appeals.  I always find that when I return to the tables, I am much more focused. I thirst for it, the way I felt when I woke up today. 

I also have to give a shout out to my friend Ed "BigSoxFan" who played in his first $10k Buyin WPT ME @ Foxwoods this past week. He made it to day 2 without being dealt a single premium and said he played his best despite the sickest dead run of cards he's ever been faced with. I'm sorry the cards and luck weren't there for you Ed, but your progress in poker over the last few years both on the table, but more importantly your mindset, will reap you much success in the future. This was just a step along your journey... not a defining moment...those moments are yet to come for you....

....for all of us. (Follow Ed's Blog here)

Ok well I am off to get some breakfast in me, and then I have a prior commitment that I have to attend to this afternoon, so I won't be able to make the PC freeroll @ 2, but best of luck to all who play. I will be on the tables @ 6pm for the FTOPS event playing as Rex55 on FTP so swing by and say hi!! I like to soak in all the good luck and positive vibes I can get =) If things get off to a good start, I will start an FTOPS thread where I post all important hands as the tourney goes on, and there is a good chance I might hang out in the PC chatroom if I feel it won't take away too much from my focus. That's going to depend on the flow of my table, the zone I'm in etc. 

Best of luck to all who are playing today. Hope you are focusing constructively on your personal grinds, and allowing the bs to strain through the sifter. No point in holding on to that.

-Cj Rex55 xxxxx

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*Frozen snapshots in my mind...you exist in all of them lately...obsessed I pass the day, trying not to be obsessed...infatuation for dinner.*

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Hope everyone had a safe and candylicious Halloween. I went to a really cool party at my friends' house, but I think the most fun part was setting up...carving pumpkins, hanging up spiderwebs and spiders, bleeding skull candles, making orange jello shots, and of course dressing up is always fun :) I was a black cat on a leash! I tried uploading a pic but the file seems to be too big. =\ Probably for the better since the costume was a bit scandalous!!! 

These were 2 pumpkins my friend and I had gotten from a pumpkin patch. I carved the one with the skull :) 

Soon after the Halloween Fun, I ended up having a tooth emergency. I woke up Monday morning with the most excruciating pain in the bottom right part of my mouth. It just felt like my nerves were on fire. So I immediately went in for a emergency dental exam and the dentist told me that all 4 of my wisdom teeth are impacted (which I already knew) but the one on the bottom right is positioned the worst and has been putting pressure on my back molar, causing tooth decay. He said there was a hole in my back molar and the nerves were infected and exposed. Unfortunately they couldn't save the tooth and so I had to go in yesterday for the molar extraction. Wimper.

But all in all I feel sooooooo much better now, even though I will be on a soft diet for a few days and then not sure how its gonna feel chewing without my bottom molar, but I'm just relieved that the pain has subsided and that I didnt have a tumor growing on my mandibular nerve!

I had a great night's rest and felt motivated to grind an early schedule today, so I am currently playing a few mtts on both FTP and PokerStars. If I make any deep runs I'll post in the Rail Call section and might even jump into the chatroom for some end game strategy talk.

Time to focus and have some applesauce on the side :)