into the abyss

On Sunday morning, at 1:40 a.m. to be precise, I was awakened by my hubby who had climbed into bed and wanted to cuddle. After a few seconds, he fell into an Ambien-induced sleep while I was left wide awake. After taking an Ambien myself, I decided to make productive use of the time it would take for the drug to kick in. Not being able to decide whether to get ahead on work or to try to make a few more pennies, I settled on both. Alas, this led to a disastrous plunge in my fortune, from $118 to $93. And the Ambien never did kick in.

Notes to self:

• Do not play poker while on Ambien.
• Do not attempt to work and play poker at the same time.
  

in the green again

Yay! Managed to come in 6th in the .10 tournament and am now in the green again. Definitely the biggest achievement of 2010 so far.

green for a minute

After a week of back-breaking work and grinding it out at 5 a.m. multiple mornings before heading to the gym/job, I finally made the $19 it took to reach $100 from the low point of $81. Following a brief happy dance, I decided to treat myself to a .05/.10 game. A mistake. On my very first hand, I neglected to pay attention to my previous notes to self (do not call with mid-pair) and called a bet of $5 (huge money) with a pair of Kings when there was an Ace on the board. Note to self: Remember notes to self.

bad memories

Hand: AK
Raised, two callers
Flop: A A 3 (so happy)
Bet 3/4 pot, there is a re-raise, I go all-in

Opponent has 4, 5

Turn: 6

River: 2

Opponent wins

Hand: AA
Raised, two caller
Flop: 10 7 3 ragged (happy)
Go all-in, one caller

Opponent has 4, 5

Turn: 6 again

Opponent wins

notes to self

• Do not bet on river unless have the best hand and think someone with decen hand will call.
• Do not call with mid-pair
• Stay in with suited connectors if 3 or 4 others are in.
• Do not call with nothing.

learning is hard

Despite my efforts, I am down $15. Blech! I have mainly been playing .05/.10 and free to $1NL tournaments (for some reason, tournaments seem more fun). Most of the money was lost in two big chunks, once with AA and once with AK. I guess I should be more careful with them. The few times I managed to place in the money (and net pennies) in the tournaments were sadly not enough to offset the losses.

I am looking forward to getting good feedback and education from the poker experts of this challenge! Thanks in advance for helping me get better and answering what may seem like very obtuse questions.