December 1 - 17, 2004

Wed Dec 1. my first time playing with my cousin's wednesday night game. i bought in for $20. lost that fairly quickly. bought another $4 and i was out. i realized quickly that this game was a lot different than my friday night game...a lot of tight players.

Fri Dec 3. bought in for $8. left with $9. i don't remember what happened this night.

Wed Dec 8. this night was kind of two games for me. i knew i had to play tight to stay in but didn't quite realize what that really meant at first. i thought something like J9 was a good hand to call a $3 or $4 pre flop bet on with a lot of action on the table. i lost the $20 quickly, bought back in for $10 and lost that. all that in under an hour. my cousin spotted me $9 in chips. i took a break, came back and played for a couple of more hours. at the end of the night i made back the $9 plus an extra $12. so i was down for the night but learned to fold a lot more hands, play tighter, be more patient in waiting for the right time to act. the last hand i went all-in. i beat ace, 8 kicker with A, 9 kicker.

Fri Dec 10. bought in for $10. played a steady game but eventually lost it all with an all-in against marty. i don't remember the hands.

Wed Dec 15. bought in for $20. stayed in all night without buying back in.
ended the night with $21.50. i basically broke even and felt really good about that. played tight, mostly played good hands.

Fri Dec 17. bought in for $10. played two games that night. first game i broke even. second game i lost it all on an all-in again. tonight i ralized that the wed and fri games are really different and i'm having more trouble playing the fri game. a lot of times we invite new poker players to the fri game and have to teach them on the spot how to play. so new people tend to bet on anything and can destroy you in a hand (say your pocket aces against a straight 2-6). new players are less predictable, which makes it harder to play against. the extreme difference between playing against tight and loost players is really interesting.