Not a lot of playing lately, as I've been making arrangements to move the morning of the 23rd. Which reminds me, I will probably be dark after this entry until Monday afternoon, when my cable is installed.

My last session was reasonably good, up two buy-ins. When I'm playing well and focused, it seems like the game is reasonably easy. Even if I lose some big pots, it's not the end of the world when my frame of mind is good. This got me thinking: a number of pros have commented that among serious players, everyone's A-game is reasonably good. The secret that divides success from failure is knowing when you're not on your A-game and adjusting, even if the adjustment is to quit for the day or until you're back in the right frame of mind.

Do you know why Chip Reese was the best in the game? Is it because his A-game was so much better than everyone else's? No (although he was certainly as good as just about anyone else). He was the best because his B-game, C-game, and D-game was...

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You ever have one of those days where there is this one guy, who is at one or more of your tables, where no matter what you do, you just cannot win against him? Most often, it seems like he is playing badly, or at least a little more aggressive than is warranted. He might be running good against everyone, but it seems like it's mostly against YOU? Yeah, I've had a couple of those guys the last few days. Really sick when it happens in PLO and O8 where you might have them drawing to half the pot and they hit that miracle 3 outter.

Been running pretty close to even the last few days, but it was enough to come back solidly from a really bad session a few days back. More bleeding in HORSE, where I just can't seem to win on the river. Still up 11 buy-ins at 25/50 cent PLO, and I had a really good session of 6-max limit O8 today, despite having a table nemesis.

Also had a reasonably deep finish in the $3 rebuy last night. 86th or so for like $60ish. Luckily, I was only in for $9,...

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Had some bad luck today, but also lost some money due to tilt... very bad. I lost about 3 buy-ins in PLO, and then donked off like $90 in HORSE, which wasn't a very good game at all.

I need to stay focused and disciplined. Have to stick to PLO, no more HORSE, and have to control my steam. I just have to accept that some guys some days will just run better than God, and that variance happens.

Still have plenty of buy-ins for 25/50 cent PLO, and I got my last check from Stars, so all $1300 on the site is pure profit since I started back up in June. If only I'd stayed exclusively with PLO, I'd be up even more.

Tomorrow (well, later today when I wake up), I'll finish up the FPP's I need for Sept Gold Star, and then maybe play a couple Double Shoot-outs for the Sunday Mil. Actually, maybe I'll take the day and try out some donkaments. I have a big pizza in the fridge to eat, so maybe a donkament day will be a nice break.

Well, all it took was one day to completely reverse my 5 BI PLO downswing. Very good day today, winning all 5 BI back with some good play. I made some mistakes as always, but they are getting to be fewer and fewer, and I'm getting a lot more comfortable with my game.

I'm starting to develop my own style, which is a bit different from other PLO players I've seen. For one thing, I don't jam the pot as much on the flop as some of the more aggressive players--a lot of times, I wait to see the turn before deciding whether to commit to the hand, unless my hand is so strong on the flop that the turn probably won't matter (ie top set on a dry board, or the nut straight with redraws). For one thing, I think some players are too eager to get all-in when they have a hand that rates to be about 50-50 against a set, and a favorite over other hands. The problem with this is, if an opponent does have a set, he may make a full house on the turn and kill all of your outs. Plus, many players are...

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Saturday night, I got invited to a home game, and I cleaned up majorly. We played two small tournaments for $20 a piece, the first with 6 people, the second with 5 people. House tradition is to give 2nd their money back, and 1st gets the rest. I swept both games. Sweet. :)

I changed up a few things while I was there against the bad players. For one thing, I limped a lot, which goes against conventional wisdom. Some of them might have let me steal their blinds, but I found it much more profitable just to see flops with them, because they would stick in with any pair, etc, and there was almost zero risk for me. I didn't want to give them the chance to accidentally make correct plays by inflating the pot, so I kept it very small and just made effective post flop value bets. I've heard Grinder does stuff like this because he likes to put people in marginal spots, and even bad players are decent preflop players nowadays. Anyhow, that $140 profit was much appreciated, because I'm...

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