August Update

So things have been a bit stagnant at the tables this month. As you can see from the graph, I've been mildly swinging back and forth pretty much since day 2-3 and the end result has been a break-even stretch for the month, after the initial early profit. I'm out a bunch in EV and feel pretty good about the way that I've been playing so hopefully some positive variance is right around the corner!

Here's a cool hand that I won though. Given the positions pre-flop, I decided to flat rather than 4-bet and make pretty much everything but AA fold since this is nit-ring. I think that raising the flop here is obviously fine but I don't think that I'd ever have many bluffs here so I decide to call and rep the weaker part of my range...if the board was 2-tone or if I had some kind of read that the villain would never fold a hand like Kx then I'd probably make an exploitable raise anyways. I think that the turn card is really bad for me after the villain bets again...they can credibly have all combos of AQ and the SB can even have it too I think when you consider their pre-flop calling range in that spot and price that they're getting on the flop (especially if it has a BDFD). I'm pretty much not folding any river anyways (unless the action went like SB shove and BB call, then maybe I'd consider it depending on the actual river card) but I think I lose action from some stuff by shoving and want to keep trying to rep a hand like AK or KQ and let villain dump in the rest for me on the next street. I also think that I'm coolering a set regardless too. Anyways, I get an absolute dream river and the rest of the hand just plays itself:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (9 handed)

UTG ($104.67)
UTG+1 ($143.20)
MP1 ($130.09)
Hero (MP2) ($181.79)
MP3 ($48.97)
CO ($101.50)
Button ($98.50)
SB ($103.50)
BB ($100)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, K
3 folds, Hero raises to $3, 3 folds, SB calls $2.50, BB raises to $12.50, Hero calls $9.50, SB calls $9.50

Flop: ($37.50) 2, J, K (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $15, Hero calls $15, SB calls $15

Turn: ($82.50) 10 (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $27.50, Hero calls $27.50, SB calls $27.50

River: ($165) 2 (3 players)
SB bets $48.50 (All-In), BB calls $45 (All-In), Hero calls $48.50

Total pot: $307 | Rake: $2.80

Results below:
SB had J, J (full house, Jacks over twos).
BB had A, Q (straight, Ace high).
Hero had K, K (full house, Kings over twos).
Outcome: Hero won $304.20

I'm going to be playing a lot of hours over the next 5 days to try and bump up my volume a bit and close out the month with some solid effort. Between vacations, distractions and weekend commitments, August hasn't been as high-volume at the poker tables as I would have liked but with a relatively clear schedule for the rest of the year, there will be lots of poker to be played yet.

Speaking of distractions, I'm entering 2 fantasy football leagues and my first draft was tonight. It's a 12-team league and I got the 12th pick...since it's a snake draft that's not necessarily a bad thing though and I actually much prefer it to a mid-round pick. Anyways, here's how my team shaped up:

I took Bryant and Marshall in the 1st/2nd round, which amounted to me being stacked at WR but pretty weak at RB. I was lucky to get Tate in essentially the 6th round to give me at least 1 starting RB but Jackson is pretty iffy considering Spiller's a big part of Buffalo's running game. I am excited about Cameron and Patterson and overall I'm pretty happy with my team so we'll see how things play out.

I've been busy away from the tables this month as well. I've been keeping up with crossfit and have been going very frequently...I'm seeing huge improvements across the board and my time seems to be paying off with increased fitness and strength. I've been to a wedding, going-away party and my friend's birthday party all this month too. I also did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and donated as well:



And practiced my rap skills on my most recent road trip:



So yeah, things have been pretty busy and the month has been good. It would be nice to catch a bit of a heater to cap off August though and get me a bit closer to my $100K goal! End of month report coming soon,

gl at the tables!