downward spiral...

after a really good winning month i am now in a downward spiral... i lost around half of what i've won for september in a span of two days. that is around $5k plus... my confidence in the game is a little bit low right now, so i think i'm gonna take a break for a couple of days... i withdrew the rest of my winnings from last month and i am moving back down to 200NL... the plan is to grind it out once again and take another shot at 400NL in 2-3 weeks... i don't think i'll be able to make the $30k challenge by november and i don't think i'll be able to play highstakes by december... so i guess i'll just ride out the storm and hope for the best.

playing highstakes poker will happen later than i thought... hopefully by february '08...

-choy

got it back...

got my money back! fuck you internet poker!

-choy

very good run...

NOT!

setting my sights on 1000NL...

my mind has never been clearer... thank god! all past issues have been resolved and it is time to get back to pokerrrrr!!! so now i am setting my sights on 1000NL... and i am almost there! i am currently playing the 400NL tables and i plan to skip 600NL and go straight to 1000NL when i have 35-40 buy-ins...

harder, better, faster, stronger... can't wait!!!

-choy

very nice month...

this is my biggest monthly win so far... it's great that i can make this much money doing something i love... i feel so lucky... anyway here are my results.




you can see that i am still playing a standard tight aggressive game... but this is gonna change soon... i plan to loosen up more pre-flop and mix it up a little bit more post flop... i need to be able to deviate from my standard play when i reach 1000NL... hopefully :-)

here's my monthly graph...














i am gonna take a break for two days and just relax... been playing too much...

update on my $30k challenge...

amount needed: $11,241.70

amount made: $18,758.30

11k more to go!!! i think i'll be able to do it by the end of november! nice!

have a nice weekend...

-choy

.....

the casino is a horrible place... don't go there...

today's run...

variance...

so so run...

i got really sloppy...
anyway here are my results for the week...

that graph reflects how my mood was for the week... hehe

-choy

this is what happens when...

had a nice run at the beginning of the week... had a bad run at the end of the week...

-choy

august results...

i started this month with a bad run and ended it with an even worse run... anyway here are my pokertracker results and my graph for the month...


still up for the month, so i guess i'll take it...


update on my race to 30k...

amount needed: $22,711.90

amount made: $7288.10

i don't think i can make it, but i'll keep on trying...

-choy

big loss...

... i'm not playing for a couple of days... gonna buy that car i've always wanted... fuck it!

-choy

APPT manila bust...

busted out at 14th place... i made a stupid move (donk! lol)... i was getting tired and i couldn't handle the pressure anymore... plus i didn't think my stack was gonna last anyway, i had a really short stack... i am happy i made some money tho...

so tomorrow i am taking the first flight out of here... i think i'm gonna be sick again as i was just recovering from the flu... sayang, would've loved to stay here a little longer...

-choy

let's go PLO...!!!

i think i'm ready to play pot limit omaha for real money online. i watched a few videos, read a LOT of articles about it and talked to some really decent omaha players online... i ran some starting hands odds and stats at pokerstove too... so, yeah i am pretty excited to start playing some plo action! gonna start with $2k and start playing at the 50 dollar buy-in tables at fulltiltpoker.com...

-choy

flu...

yep, i have the flu... nice... #$@%$@^#@$^^$^

sick...

i am feeling sick atm... i think i caught a virus somewhere... anyway this is good for me i guess, cos i need a break from drinking, smoking and poker. i think i'll just rest for a couple of days.

-choy

bad start...

had a bad start this week... meh.

-choy

running well...

i ran well at the end of this week... so i am definitely gonna find something "NOT POKER" to do...
here's my results for the week...



looking at my pokertracker... and i can say that the "gods" are on my side... here are some hands where i can say i got extremely lucky!

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/253109

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/253510

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/253516

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/252635

enjoy...

-choy

brag post...

i made $1k today! yay! so tomorrow i am gonna take a break! i've been playing day and night cos i wanted to maintain a nice winrate since i've been running bad. anyway, i don't think it's a bad run really. i think there are more decent players logging in and lately i haven't been that selective in choosing the tables i play in. i should be playing the fish more and avoid those fucking nits.

anyway... here's my results for the day...

prop bet...

ok... to whoever knows me... i'll make a proposition bet... i will not smoke for 3 months starting at a specified date... they say the first 3 months is the hardest part when you quit smoking... SO, you win if i smoke, i win if i don't... the bet is 10k php... any takers?

you know where to find me...

-choy

nicotine and the brain...

came across this article this afternoon... http://www.today.ucla.edu/2000/001121nicotine.html
... this is a lot worse than lung cancer! so i am gonna try to QUIT smoking for the nth time...

-choy

quote...

a quote by frank wallace...

"Poker is merciless.

Poker is a game of money and deception. The consequences are always deserved. The penalties go to the weak--the rewards go to the strong. The loser dissipates his time and money. The winner earns satisfaction and money. But what is the net result of poker? Is it merely time consumed and money exchanged with nothing positive produced? Is the net result a negative activity?

Poker exposes character ... poker is a character catalyst that forces players to reality. Those who evade thinking and act on whims cannot escape the penalties. Those who use their minds and act on logic are rewarded. The results are clear and true: The lazy evader loses--he can never fake success. The thinking performer wins--he is always rewarded.

The good poker player functions rationally. He views all situations realistically. With objective thinking, he directs his actions toward winning maximum money. He pits the full use of his mind against the unwillingness of his opponents to think. Thus, the good player cannot lose.

In poker, a person is on his own. He must act as an individual. No one will help him. Success depends on the rational use of his mind. Success depends on exercising his positive qualities and overcoming his negative qualities. Success depends on him alone. In poker, a person can function entirely for his own sake. The results are his own. The loser makes himself a loser. The winner makes himself a winner.

Poker is sheer justice. "

'night

-choy

PLO...

i am getting bored playing NLHE... i think i'm gonna learn to play pot limit omaha, as there are a lot of juicy games at pokerstars and fulltilt poker... this should be fun...

-choy

i'm up, i'll take it...!!!

looking at my week's results... all i can say is i am so okay with this considering i was running bad... won some money... i am happy even if it's just a small amount...

results:

what a loser...!

well i lost AGAIN! i never get any breaks in these tournaments... meh... anyway i had fun and i really enjoyed playing with these guys from cebu... i am definitely going to that tourney at sinulog!

anyway, i am sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooo drunk...

night!

-choy

tourney...

looks like i'm joining the tourney tomorrow after all... this should be fun... :-)

wish me luck.

-choy

random thought...

opportunities come and go in life... once you realize you're in a really good situation, focus on it, never let go and plan all the way to the end... and never EVER let anything or anyone distract you.

anyway, today was a pretty good day. went to the beach with my kid vincent this afternoon and just goofed around with him... it was fun, i forgot how much i really REALLY love the beach. just being there brought back good memories of random stuff that has happened to me.

after the beach me, vincent, kaleng and michael had dinner at "harana"... it was a pretty good day... 'night

-choy

still running cold...

not getting any good hands lately, tho i am up for the day... nothing big, just a little more than a buy-in which isn't bad... i'm pretty happy with the way i played today, i adjusted accordingly with what's happening at the tables, how the players are playing and what kind of cards i'm being dealt... tho i really don't want to play too tight, i had no choice but to nit up just to squeeze in a win for the day...

-choy

fuck poker...

i was up over $1000 yesterday in one session... tried to steamroll and played some more... then went down around $800... played some more till 3am, almost broke even... then lost it all so i was down around $500... when i woke up this morning i played really really TIGHT... just broke even... well, almost... i am down 50 bucks or so...

i can't believe someone could run this bad... fuck!

-choy

update: i won some money playing just 2 tables... nothing big... just a little over 2 buy ins... but still, fuck poker! meh...

reminder for choy2(me): just go for 2-3 bi a day until the end of august you dumb stupid little f@#$! you were running good before you started playing longer sessions, YOU SICK #@$#!

heads up...

was playing a little loose today... and the variance was just too high for me to handle... and, also, i was playing more heads up poker so yeah... "variance"... nice word, eh santino? lololololol... anyway, there was a hand that put me on tilt... i played it really well until he caught his 2-outer and sucked out on me... it is pretty sick...

sick hand

i need a break... i'm gonna play airsoft this afternoon... i need to do something NOT POKER!

-choy

beer...

i promised myself i will not drink this weekend... but i ended up drinking with my good buddy, isidro, and my cousin, niño... i've been drinking quite a lot lately, i think it's time for me to stop for a while before it becomes a habit...

So tomorrow night will be my last! i wont drink for a while after that...

-choy

lost...

i lost some money today... i made some bad plays in tough spots, and that made me think that i really really need to improve how i play. i still have a lot to learn, especially now that i am planning to play longer sessions. anyway here's today's numbers... really hate looking at it.

i was planning to play tonight... but after this post i think i'd rather do something else... i might just relax and watch a movie or something...

-choy

live poker...

meeting my old college buddies was really good... but we didn't really talk that much, cos... i dunno... maybe cos i haven't been hanging out with them for the longest time... but anyway, me and my good friend sani decided to ditch the party and go to the casino and play live poker... i dunno what his problem is, but he seems quiet lately, so i decided to force him to come with me to play poker... he din't play tho... but it was FUN!!! though i lost, i am definitely going back there for networking purposes... AND show them who the REAL poker player is... :-D

-choy


P.S. i am soooooooooooooooo DRUNK right now... 'night...

funny incident...

i went to a hardware store with my cousin this afternoon... then someone behind me called my name... "carlos?" when i turned around it was april (i think she owns the store...), my seatmate at elementary school. we chit-chatted a bit then she asked me the question that i have always dreaded ever since i started playing poker... "so what do you do?"... i go... "for money?"... "uuuuhhh... i invest in the stock market..." wahahahahaha!!! what BULLCRAP!

anyway i saw the car i have always wanted ever since i was in college... i asked how much it was... it is way cheaper than i thought, but i saw the prices on the internet and it is way waaaaaayyy lower than the price they are asking for here... i guess i have to think really hard about it for a couple of months...

-choy

my internet connection sucks...

i quit playing for the day cos my internet connection is sucking right now... i'd rather quit than force the action cos it really puts me in a bad mood when i keep getting these disconnects... So anyway here are my results for the month... i could have squeezed in 2 to 4 more buy-ins, but oh well...



here's my graph for the month...


i made a little over $5000.00 this month... i'm pretty happy with it... :-)

so, i think i'm gonna have some fun tonight... my old college buddy is having a birthday party at his place... so that's another opportunity to get DRUNK!

-choy

P.S. update on my race to 30k by november...

amount needed = $24334.09

amount made = $5655.91

hmmm... din't make that much this month if i really think about it... my target is $8000.00. i hope i can move up at 400NL this august so i can reach my 30k target by november...

one year...

i've been playing poker hardcore for about a year now... i still remember last year, i have to look for a place with an internet connection just to grind the nickle and dime games at pokerstars... i was flat BROKE... every time i went out to play poker i only had a few coins in my pocket for cigarettes, and a sandwich in my bag for lunch... but the funny thing is i was at peace with myself, i was optimistic and i knew that luck was just around the corner...

i know i am still far from my goal... and i'm not even making any serious money atm, but i still feel lucky... and i am grateful... :-)

-choy

buying a gun...

i'm thinking i need a new hobby... so i was with some airsoft guys last night and i was finally convinced to buy a gun... so this is the one i'm gonna buy... a marui M4... it is soooo niiiice...

got my money back...

i got my money back! yes! even tho i run bad this week, i can say i played pretty well... i didn't go on tilt, i played my A game most of the time and didn't let the results bother me. here are my numbers for the week. i lost only $21.++... that is not bad from being down almost $2000 at one point.


here are also a couple of hands from today's session... it's really frustrating when this happens, but what can i do? i'll just have to think about the long run and i know the odds will even out...

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/239631

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/239629

tonight i'm gonna go out and get drunk! .... again :-D

have a nice weekend!

-choy

and the bad run continues...

just a few hands to share my frustration...

"wooohooo wtf?"

"i run good!"

"...real good! :-D"

"OMG! you all suck!!!"

enjoy...

-choy

$400 No Limit?

i lost around 1500++ today playing 400NL... thats around 3 and 1/2 buy-ins, so if you think about it, it isn't a big deal. BUT IF YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT as money, then yeah, it is a big hit on my BR... well not that big and 4 to 5 buy-in swings at these limits are pretty much standard... that is what i say to myself whenever i lose... heh. but there's this part of my brain saying... "YOU LOST $1500 TODAY YOU DONK!" so i guess i will be going back down to 200NL and play there 'til the end of the month.

i am looking at the 400NL games right now and it's really really tempting to play there again... we'll see at the end of july.

-choy

edit: finally got poker grapher working! here's my graph for the month so far...

boring night...

another boring night... i'm just here d/ling songs and data mining the 400NL games and trying to figure out how they play up there. really can't wait to move up, i think i'm gonna try to play a couple of 400NL tables tomorrow...

anyway, here's a funny poker video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aolVYSMRw_0

enjoy...

-choy

moving up...

i finally reached 12k, that's 30 buy-ins for the next level, which should be enough for me to move up. so maybe by the end of the week i will. i'm gonna start data mining at 400nl and log some hands into poker tracker so i'd know what to expect.

wish me luck...

-choy

appt....?

decided not to pursue joining the APPT cos my bankroll isn't sufficient. i decided to save my money and join next year if my BR is good. so i withdrew all the money i had left from pokerstars... anyway had another nice run this week...










-choy

edit: i have the $2500... but right now i just can't blow that kind of money for a tournament... maybe next year

......

i'm just a simple man, all i need is money, fuck the fame, i'm a simple man... -tupac

been listening to tupac a lot lately... lol

-choy

so drunk...

yesterday i started drinking around 1:00pm with my friend, dingboi, at this cafe but he had to go home at 5:00pm so i met up with jip and niño at his (jip's) office then went straight to chinky's office to pick her and a couple of her friends up then we went to a BBQ place, ate and drank some more, then we went to SPE at around 9:00pm and drank again and then we went home at around 2:30am and i was soooooo drunk.

lol

-choy

reckless abandon...

poker is a game of mathematical precision and reckless abandon. in order to win you have to make calculated moves and at the same time make bold aggressive moves to win the pot with or without a hand... but this week, i haven't been playing well... i have a lot of things on my mind lately and i just can't focus enough and beat the game consistently like i used to do. i have been betting/raising when i should be folding and have been folding instead of calling... So because of that i lost around $1600.00. I won't even bother posting my poker tracker stats cos i hate looking at it.

I won't be playing in 2-3 days to clear my mind and hope that i'll be back in shape next week.

-choy

backseat...

I woke up at around 5:00am today and went for a 30 minute jog. It felt great! My thoughts are clear and I think that I'm gonna put everything in the backseat for now and just focus on making money. I'm also gonna try qualify for this... www.appt.com. It's a $2500 buy-in tourney in Manila sponsored by Pokerstars. But getting in is so hard because I have to go through two satellite tournaments online... And paying $2500 just to join the tourney isn't really an option.

I hope I run good in these satellite tournaments and win a seat.

-choy

weekend crossroads...

there are situations in life when you are put to a test... as you come across a fork in the road, you must make a decision that will change the course of your life... i really don't know which path to take because i know both of them will either make me or break me... but i know one thing, one of these COULD definitely BREAK me and i'm afraid i won't be able to recover... it wasn't like when i was 20 when i could say "fuck the consequences!" and make these type of decisions in a heart beat... i am really having a hard time right now... just as things are starting to come around for me, some higher being puts me in a really precarious situation... it's just both these paths COULD take me somewhere so good, i do not know what to do. why do things have to happen in your past that is so hard to forget...?

i think i'm gonna travel a bit around the country as i feel, right now, there isn't anything here for me... though poker is one of the reasons why i am doing this, it is not the main reason... i just need to think for a while and weigh my options a bit... So yeah, i already have a few places to go to in mind and i really hope this feeling lingers so that i can really push through with the plan and really do it.

anyway, i had another decent run last week... i'm really happy about this but i feel i could've made more $$$$... but i can't complain here...



-choy

hair cut...

I had a haircut today... No... More like I got my head buzzed today... lol

-choy

chest pain...

I was jogging this afternoon before dinner and then I felt my chest ache. At first I really didn't pay attention to it that much as I thought it will go away after running a few rounds. But then after my 21st round... lol, j/k... After running 3 rounds around the park I felt this pain, and it was sudden and it was so painful. So i sat down on a bench and it got me thinking... "I should quit smoking or I die of lung cancer." "... or maybe I should switch to Marlboro Lights..."

But then if we are gonna die anyway, why did God even bother for us to be here?

-choy

P.S. Don't get me wrong, I believe in God and I am thankful for being here... Just wondering why and just thinking about it makes me appreciate my life more... And it makes me a lot happier that I am here even if it is too much for me to handle at times... bah... I thought this was gonna be a poker blog... meh.

30k...

Alright. I have been thinking about this a whole lot lately... I wanna make 30,000 dollars or more within 5 months. At the limits I am in now, I know it's possible. So, July 1(that's tomorrow) will be day 1 of my little adventure. I'm gonna play harder than I ever did and I'm gonna post the results here on a monthly basis, and it's gonna end on November 30.

Wish me luck...

Amount needed = $30,000.00
Amount won = $0.00

Next update on this will be on July 31, 2007.

-choy

update: i'm so dumb... july 1 is today... lol... i will be starting on july 2/monday! that's tomorrow... i hope i run good.

eating oranges...

It's 2:45am, i just got home... i'm drunk... i'm tired... i don't feel good at all... and i'm eating oranges... lol... i have been drinking since 4:00pm this afternoon at the poker tournament at the casino. i finished 12th place out of 60+ which isn't that bad since it was my first live tourney. i really enjoyed the whole experience... meeting new people and all that, laughing at the sick sick beats(my pocket A's lost to quad 5's LOLOLOL!), and just playing poker with them... but if someone asks me if i prefer live poker over online poker, i'd say i prefer ONLINE POKER! two reasons...

first... i don't like the whole live poker scene here that much... that whole environment revolves around gambling and money... it is not like online poker where the guys who play on the internet are there for the challenge and try to be the best poker player they can be... i saw some people at the casino who looked like they had 9 to 5 jobs, there at the tables GAMBLING... not GRINDING... but actually GAMBLING! i'm not looking down at these people and i know it's none of my business, but c'mon... there is certainly something wrong with that picture... i might be mistaken, but if i'm not... man, they are gambling on a budget... that's just plain wrong... but you can also see the really rich guys gambling, which is cool cos it is their way to relax i guess...

second... there is this HUGE possibility i could go broke if i start playing at the casino often... i find it easy, hypothetically, to blow all my money playing the tables there.. though i didn't actually play at the live cash tables, just watching the people pulling out their wallets for more money after getting bust was so bad to see in my opinion. it's just... i dunno... BAD... picture this... a guy who is a 9 to 5'er pulling out what he made this month after getting bust to gamble at the table, and a really rich guy beside him... nice... it's none of my business, i know... i'm drunk and i'm just typing my thoughts away as they come... so yeah, i could picture myself blowing all the money i saved up at the casino... and i do not want that to happen... i might go broke online, yeah, but that would be a different story...

i wrote this not because i look down at those people... or that i look down at that whole casino scene... it's just... i'm afraid of it...

-choy

... but i will still continue to play live tournaments tho... they are fun :-)

cold run...

I woke up at around 4:30am today and I didn't know what to do... Nice! I was feeling good, so I thought I'd play poker for a couple of hours. The thing is I promised myself to take it easy and step back from playing cos I have been breaking even this week. This is usually a sign of the early stages of a cold run, and today I lost more than 2 buy-ins. I reviewed my poker tracker and saw I have been playing my standard solid TAG(tight aggressive) game... I didn't even play "Jeet Kune Do" poker where I try to break the table down by playing a really reckless, aggressive style vs. certain players who I think I can outplay. This sucks but what can I do? I can think only about the long run, and wait for the cards, the odds or whatever to even out.

So yeah... This is officially the start of a cold run. I don't know how long this will be but usually it'll take a couple of weeks for some and a couple of months for others. Anyway, here are my results for the week...









It's not really that bad, but putting in a lot of time playing and ending up losing can be quite frustrating. So I think I'm gonna withdraw some money and play at another site.

I'm also gonna be joining a live poker tournament this afternoon(my friend got me into it), so I hope I do well on that one...

-choy

P.S. I expect to see Niño there, so fuck you if you can't make it... He hasn't been replying to my IM. It's a sign that he isn't going to show up tonight... lolololol

bored...

Bored! Just reviewing my pokertracker, and I didn't play today. I see to it that I get at least one day of rest a week from playing. Playing a lot really gets you drained mentally. Anyway, I noticed one player while looking at my game logs. "Wakex". There was this one session where we'd come after one another, 3-4 betting all over the place. It was crazy. Here are my stats against him for this week:




We are almost breakeven... I am up $98.45 against him though... So yay! This guy is just crazy, so I was forced to step it up one notch and just play it reckless. Here are a few hands with him... fun:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/217555
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/217549
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/217554
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/217552
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/217551

Enjoy.

-choy

nice run...

I had a decent run this week playing at 200NL. It's funny cos I was struggling on my way up as I was climbing "the poker ladder"(still climbing it). The most struggle I've had was when I was playing at 50NL. I felt I wasn't going anywhere cos of the bad runs, bad plays and a month and a half of break even poker. But when I reached 200NL (my first goal), I found out that the games are much softer. Maybe its because they value the money more up here...(?)

Anyway here are my results for the week:















And here's a reeeeaaalllyyyy sick spot with K K... I'm glad my hand held up... I almost puked watching the board as the cards we're coming...

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/216920

Have a nice weekend...

-choy

My First Post....

Ok... So I'll be posting some of my poker results here starting next week. I'm also gonna post some hands, my thought process.. etc... and some rants too... So yeah..