Monday, December 31, 2007

A little bump on the last day of the year...

Starting BR: $48.61
Ending BR: $51.61

Well it was a nice little bump I got last night and this morning. Had I not played that $2.20 satty to try to get into the sunday hundred grand I would be up 5 on the session. But as it stands I'm jump past the $50 mark. Lets hope I can keep the momentum in the new year and get that $60 early in january so that it is possible to see $70 before February. If I can hit $70 by February, then its possible that by the time March ends I will be up in the new level. Its a slow climb and I'm enjoying it very much.

Leave Comments.

Bryce

Saturday, December 29, 2007

New bankroll high...

Starting BR: $48.13
Ending BR: $48.61

Well hopefully I can do this more often. Announce a new high for my bankroll. After a rough week about a week and a half ago, I've broken back up over my previous high. I once again have the $50 mark in sight, I hope I didn't just jinx it.

Leave some comments.

Bryce Martin

Friday, December 28, 2007

Good last session possibly for the year

Starting BR: $46.06
Ending BR: $48.13

Well what is possibly the last session for me for the year went pretty well. I had one table that didn't do too well for me, but the other table went very well. I'm almost back up to my all-time high for this venture. Only $.27 away now. I'm happy that the bad streak is over. It seems like I've gotten one of those about every 10-15 sessions. I'll have one, two, or maybe three sessions that I'll just get totally donked on. But I'm back. Lets hope the new year is good to me. I might play some tonite yet, but we'll see.


Leave Comments. I would love to know who is topping by.
Bryce Martin

Thursday, December 27, 2007

One session over the holiday plus my lunch hour...

Starting BR: $43.54
Ending BR: $46.06

I got a little session in over the holiday and did ok. Won $1.87. Then today I won $.66. Not bad for not having any cards today until I took down the last two hands. Ended on the up side. That's all one can do. I'm not back up to my high for the month, but I'm getting close. I might get a small session in tonight, but most likely just going to have tomorrow left to finish out the month.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Inconsistant cards, but made the good ones count...

Starting BR: $43.06
Ending BR: $43.54

My cards weren't that great, but the ones i did have I made count. Plus I bet a guy off a draw which helped. Paying attention is the only way to win in the long run. My consistency will persevere over the hit and run fishy fish.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Up and down, but down...

Starting BR: $43.51
Ending BR: $43.06

Had a rollercoaster session. Had my JJ beat by KK. Nothing new there. He deserved to win that hand. But that knocked me down a bit. I recovered for the most part. Just couldn't climb all the way back. There is always tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Continuing my climb back upward...

Starting BR: $42.07
Ending BR: $43.51

Had a pretty good day. I played smart and didn't get played at by a bunch of fish. I had a very good table image on my second table I was playing which is where I won most of my money today. I was semi-tight but aggressive. And when I showed down, I showed down the winner. Makes me very believable when I need to be :)

Monday, December 17, 2007

Ended my bad streak...

Starting BR: $43.73
Ending BR: $42.07

You might look at that and say, "The bad streak is ended? You are still down...". And you would pretty much be right, except for the fact that I didn't get a chance to blog Friday's session. I lost $3 on Friday thanks to a fishy fish going all-in on the flush draw and hitting, 3 times in 3 days. But then today I had a good session and got back over a dollar of that. So far I haven't had a good month, well last week was terrible, but I think I'm over it and on the way back up.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Pretty good session

Starting BR: $42.16
Ending BR: $43.73

I played on two tables today and won on both. I played well but had a few nice starting hands that got picked off. Would have been up much more had my KK held up. But I laid it down to a nice bet with an A and supporting cards on the turn. Nothing you can do. A good lay down is as good as a win sometimes.

Leave comments.

BryceMartin
playing on PokerStars

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

And a fishing they will go.

Starting BR: $46.03
Ending BR: $42.16

Its been a tough two days. Got fished out by 44 when I had AK. There was a raise, and I reraised all-in for over $3. The raiser and the guy with 44(who had more than I did) called. Of course the other guy had AK also and nothing fell. The guy with 44 picked up a nice pot. Blah. I'll get it back. That is not the worry. I'm just getting a bit frustrated after 2 days of this junk.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Got fished

Starting BR: $48.21
Ending BR: $46.03

Well I took a nice little hit today. Today was the second day in a row that I made an all-in move to play back at a semi bluffer when some fish stuck in the middle called with his mediocre flush draw and hit it on the river. They can keep playing like that. The numbers are in my favor, in the long run. And I'm playing for the long run, so be it.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Big up and Big down and a little up...

Starting BR: $47.97
Ending BR: $48.21

So I played very well this session and while I should have been up a lot I only made $.24 on the day. I was up over $2 when I got AK. I raised and was called. Flop was K high. I bet and got raised by a BSing fish. I reraised him and he called. The turn was a blank and I went all-in. He called. Low and behold the river was a club and he hit his flush. So that made me reload. Then I got KK and he had AQ and I got back $3. That put me at even and then I ground out the rest in the last few minutes I had to play.


I was up on the session so that is a positive.

Leave Comments

BryceMartin
Playing on PokerStars

Friday, December 7, 2007

I need to start fishing with a harpoon...

Starting BR: $ 48.40
Ending BR: $47.97

I started out very well, took out two fishy players and I was up a little over a dollar. Then those spots got filled with two more fishes and that was not so good. The first fishes were missing, the next two weren't. They always had me out kicked or would bluff and backdoor me on the river. Stupid.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Starting BR: $47.79
Ending BR: $48.40

Made a nice play on a guy and won a nice little pot, poked around for a while and picked up AA and QQ within 5 hands of each other. Ended the session up $.61 on the day.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

A combination from last night and today...

Starting BR: $44.38
Ending BR: $47.79

Well last night I got a chance to play for a little while I folded the laundry and put it away. That put me up $2.23. Then today at lunch I made another $1.18. So total from last night and today I'm up $3.41. I'm happy to be very much up over that $45 mark now. Hopefully by this time next week I can be up over the $50 level. I'm making my slow climb to $90.

Leave Comments.
I play on PokerStars
BryceMartin

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

tough day...

Starting BR: $45.83
Ending BR: $44.38

Had a tough session. AK vs A8 vs A5. The A 5 raised preflop, I reraise all-in, almost $3. I got called of course by both, and the A 5 won. How poetic.

Monday, December 3, 2007

New Month, Last Month of the Year...

Starting BR: $45.34
Ending BR: $45.83

Well folks, here it is. Here is the round up from last month and my year to date story.

I started this month with a bankroll of $27.05. I got a slow start and lost a little the first week, but buckled down and got refocused and ended I ended November with a bankroll of $45.34. This amounted to a 67% increase in my bankroll from the previous month. I started the year, short year since I just started in October, with $15. After November I have had a 202% increase in my bankroll.

This month probably won't be as good since I won't be playing as much due to the holidays. I will have the first three weeks in full but the last full week of the month will only have 2 days. And I won't get any time on the partial week that ends December. It looks like I'll get 17 out of 21 playable days this month. I may try to sneak in a session or two on the holiday break, but that will have to be played by ear.


As for today's session...

It was a slow session. No real big hands. I just sat around picking up loose changed. Ended the session up $.49.

Leave a message after the beep....

Friday, November 30, 2007

I reached my first mini-goal...

Starting BR: $44.55
Ending BR: $45.34

Well I made it to the half-way mark for my penny table BR play. I'm just over $45 right now and once I get to $90 it will be time to bump up to the $.02/$.05 tables. But for now I'm just happy to be at this mental goal of being over half way to the next level. As long as I keep playing well I should be there by the end of january or mid february barring any major set backs. This is my last post of the month so on Monday I'll do my November round up and show how my bankroll has grown this month. Its been a pretty good and consistent month. I'm pleased.

Leave comments, come back often.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Inching closer...

Starting BR: $44.40
Ending BR: $44.55

Once again I was over the $45 mark today but I had running quad 4's beat me when I made a read on a guy. I flopped the top pair, and Ace, and he bet. I called him putting him on a miss. Which was true, until the turn have him trip 4's and the river quaded him. So I doubled him up. Not much you can do when you make a read and go with it like that. With his preflop raise I didn't put him on 44. Oh well. Up on the day still, although only a tiny bit closer to my goal. If I get there tomorrow I'm just gonna be done playing for that session...

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

up and down again, but up...

Starting BR: $44.12
Ending BR: $44.40

I was at one point up over the $45 mark. But I got chipped away at when my cards dried up about mid way through the session. I couldn't even flop a pair. I made a good play against a player when I sensed he wanted to roll. He was getting antsy and wanted to get some chips in the pot. I had AQ and flopped an A. It turns out that he too had an A with a 6 kicker and I took down a nice pot. Like I said before, I float for a while until being chipped away. Ended up $.28 on the session. A positive session is a good session.

Leave some comments :)

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

played the fool!

Starting BR: $43.08
Ending BR: $44.12

Just fooling around a bit this evening waiting on some laundry. I got a chance to play back at a bluffer when I had second pair and took down a nice pot.

Rough day...

Starting BR: $41.97
Ending BR: $43.08

Its a good thing I was playing on two tables today. It doesn't happen very often that I bust my buy-in but when a guy is drawing a gut shot to my two pair and back doors a running nut flush, you know that you weren't going to win no matter what. So thanks to that and then flopping a flush only to be outflopped by the same guy there goes $3.

However! On the other table there were two guys going at it pretty hard with their bets. There was a raise to 8, and a reraise to 13. There were 3 people in front of me commited already and I had A Q. So I called. The original raiser went all-in and the other guy called, it was $1.82 to me and I made the call. Well I won. One guy had KK the other guy had 8 7 off suited. I took down a $5.52 pot and I'm up $1.11 on the day!

One table horrible, one table great. I love how the odds are exactly that, the odds. And, over time, they are always right. :)

Don't forget to comment. I would love to see who is poking on in and viewing my progress.

Friday, November 23, 2007

Nice long lunch session...

Starting BR: $40.10
Ending BR: $41.97

I climbed ever closer to that halfway point at my penny table level. Today is one month that I have been playing now. I think it will probably take me until sometime in February to get to the next level. December is a short month for me because of all the holiday stuff going on. I should, if I keep at this pace, break the halfway mark next week and hopefully get up above it a little. I'll have 4 days to win $3. Its doable if I play smart.

JJ is usually my enemy but today it took down a fish that was pushing all-in with a little over $2. Next hand he went all-in for .53 and another guy at the table took him out with JJ again. So it was the devil hand once again, just not to me this time. Big change from normal :)

If you stop by feel free to comment. Good luck to anybody going hunting on Monday, especially ME! haha

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Got up over the $40 level..

Starting BR: $39.90
Ending Br: $40.10

In an up and down session, I knocked out one guy. That put me up, and the fish nibbled at my profits for a bit until I decided to walk with my profits. Its nice to be in that $40 level right now since $45 is the halfway mark until the next level. Its been about a month now that I've been on this adventure. I started at $15. So that means that being at $40 makes me up $25 which is 166%. I would say that is a good push. I'll do a monthly recap at the beginning of each month from here on out.

Tomorrow as everybody here in the States knows is Thanksgiving. I won't be playing. I will be playing on Friday, as I have to work so that I can get the following Monday off. That is the first day of deer season and so I won't be playing then. So I'll play Friday the 23rd, then 4 days the following week. The Monday after that, December 3rd I'll crunch some numbers and get a nice recap written up for the month of November.

Enjoy your thanksgiving everybody. And don't forget to give thanks to who it matters most, God. :)

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Big day on the penny table today...

Starting BR: $35.90
Ending BR: $39.90

It was a good day on the penny table today. A nice big $4.00 jump in my BR. The table was constantly full of predictable big betting fish. All I had to do was sit back, hit a hand, and reel them in. The big big hand was when I had KK. I raise preflop, get raised, then an all-in reraise. I call, the first guy calls. 10 high flop. I win. My hands held up today, plus most of the betting and calling was done with some sort of pair rather than a draw which was nice for a change.

Monday, November 19, 2007

And they have no fear...

Starting BR: $36.39
Ending BR: $35.90

Got called by second pair on a nice play by me. I saw his weakness, and took control of the hand, but despite not having top pair, not even second pair, he still calls a nice big bet on the river to take the pot. Mindless play for sure, leaves me down .49 for the session.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Sunday Afternoon Session...

Starting BR: $35.07
Ending BR: $36.39

I had a little time this afternoon and played for about an hour and a half. I won $1.32 without too much trouble. Had a nice fishy fish call me when I had KK. I would have bet more but the board lent itself to caution.

Good session.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Frustration + 1 lucky hand = positive session

Starting BR: $35.04
Ending BR: $35.07

Every fish in the ocean was hitting, my cards were on dry land. I saw AK one time and no pocket pairs. Not a single one in an entire hour. My next highest starting hand was A 10 off suited and QJ suited. That was it. Got frustrated and called with K 3 suited to some guy that just came on the table and went all-in a couple hands in a row with a dollar. I hit my king and he had J 2 off suite. I won. That put me up $.03 on the day.

A positive session is a good session.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Nice steady session...

Starting BR:$34.14
Ending BR:$35.04
I had pretty even cards today. A couple hands that should have won didn't, but I laid them down to save my roll. Then hands I picked up held up. It was a good session. Consistent, not just from me, but from the other players as well.

Feel free to comment if you stop by.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Double Post on two good sessions...

Starting BR:$31.43
Ending BR: $32.40

Last night I got on for a bit while I was playing with my puppy. There was a nice fishy on that like to call me down for a few hands. Probably would have made more, but I had to stop playing and take the dog out.


Starting BR:$32.40
Ending BR:$34.14

Up to a new high in my quest. Flopped a boat with pocket 10's and brought AA along with me for the ride with a 10 high board. There was another joker in the pot for a while and make two nice big calls before folding. There was a guy going all-in but I couldn't get an above average hand to call him with. Finally the other guy at the table picked up AQ, called him and took his .90. Better timing could have produced me some more, but that's poker.

Remember to leave comments when you stop by. I would love to know who's following along. Probably nobody at this point. It won't get exciting until I've been posting for about a year and my BR is enough that I can play higher limits.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Out kicked on the hands I did have..

Starting BR: $32.72
Ending BR: $31.43

Couldn't get anything rolling. I either lost with top pair to an over pair or got outkicked by a fish that hit something backdoor. And the list goes on. Bad day on the table.

Hopefully things pick up mid week and I can regain my spot of 11 buy-ins.


On a side not, please feel free to leave comments. I always love to know who's stopping by :)

Monday, November 12, 2007

Crappy lunch session...

Starting BR: $33.01
Ending BR: $32.72
Well my cards dried up again, and was able to salvage only a .29 loss thanks to a nice semi-bluff all-in play. Took down a nice pot to get me back close to even. I'll continue my climb tomorrow.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Sunday afternoon session

Starting BR: $30.14
Ending BR: $33.01

I got to play for a couple hours this lovely Sunday afternoon. It was a bit back and forth and it took a while to get anything going, but a nice rush at one point put me up and that is where I stayed.

I now have 11 buy-ins. only 19 more and then i'll be at .02/.05. This is definitely a slow grind, but I like it :)

Friday, November 9, 2007

Pair over pair over pair makes a winner...

Starting BR: $25.87
Ending BR: $30.14


Its always nice to be sitting with KK when the guys betting in front of you have QQ and JJ and a 9 high board. It sure makes for a nice pot :)

I had a really excellent session. I've been waiting for one of these for too long now. I should have ones closer to this more often but that's the luck of the draw.

Almost had a really nice pot at the end of my session. I had A Q with a preflop raise in front of me. I called. The flop was 7 Q A. I checked, he checked. Turn was some junk card. I checked, he bet .08. I snap called. The river was an A. I bet .20. He goes all-in for $2. I called. We split the pot cuz he had AQ as well. haha. Gotta love it when that happens, I was just hoping he had the case A. Still a great session.

Until Monday, have a great weekend.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

A fishin' we shall go

Starting BR: $24.74
Ending BR: $25.87

The first table that I sat down on ended up breaking after only a couple hands. I was down .09 at that point. I got onto another table and made it up though...

I spent the whole session trying to catch a fish. And I did ok at it. I trapped him on a couple nice hands that he tried to bluff at. It was to the point that he would hardly play against me let alone make big dumb bets. I walked away after an hour up $1.13. Not a bad session for pennies :)

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Up and down, but up....

Starting BR: $24.62
Ending BR: $24.74

It was an up and down session. More up than down but only netting $.12 on the hour. Every time I made a great play and grabbed up and nice pot, someone else would squash me with some draw. I think I'm playing against a bunch of starving artists sometime. All-in all not a bad session.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

nice short session this evening...

Starting BR: $23.52
Ending BR: $24.62
Well I decided to try and play a little bit this evening and it payed off.

Another long losing session...

I can't seem to hit much lately, and when I do I get out hit. Lost .40 today. And that is only because I ground it out at the end. Try again tomorrow.


Current BR: $23.52

Monday, November 5, 2007

Same cards, different day....

So a guy sits down at my table with a buck after I have been there maybe 3 hands. I get KK and raise. He goes all-in, I call, he wins with AA. So that starts me down right away.

I got a little taste of revenge...There was a preflop raise to .06 and I was the 3rd of 4 callers. I hit my set but a spade draw presented itself. I was in late position. There was a .02 bet, a call, then a raise to .08. I called. There was a fold, then the better folded, and a third guy called. On the turn the spade it. The short stack went all-in for .54. The next guy folded and I called on hopes of pairing the board. I did. I won. Up a couple cents now, hopefully this half hour will be productive.

And at the end of the grind I'm up $.70.

Starting BR: $23.22
Ending BR: $23.92

Good to be moving in the right direction again.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Dry run...

Starting BR: $24.07
Ending BR: $23.22


Been a tough week this week. Between being fished out of the water and not getting any nice runs I'm down about $4 this week. Still up $8 from my start. I'll see if I can't get it rolling better next week.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Some days its win big or lose big....

I've gotten off to a rocky start today at the beginning of this post. I'm down about $2.50 right now thanks to my set of 6's getting beat by a straight, and the guys hole cards were 5 2. But I have over a half hour to play yet, so we'll see what happens...

Wow, rough session. Trips busted by a cheap straight, two pair beat by a cheap set, top pair beat by a rivered straight....and the list goes on. I lost $2.98 this session...what a bummer... There is always tomorrow...


Starting BR: $27.05
Ending BR: $24.07

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

half hour session with a short roll....

I haven't played the first two days of the week due to a sick day on Monday and having to go look at the wife's car during my lunch break on Tuesday. But here I am for a half hour session on Wednesday...

Well, after logging into my account on stars I see that a certain somebody has had a bit of a dry streak. So today over lunch I start with $1.87. My bankroll is still the same as before, its just that most of it has been borrowed. By the way, if some of this sound present tense its because I write it while I play. So lets see what happens...

Apparently A 10 loses to A 8. It happens, but it hurts. I have $1.18 at the breaking of the table...

We'll see if I can't double up and win something with 8 minutes left on my lunch break...

Well, I made up some ground and at the end of the lunch period I was down $.32. This brings my bankroll down to $27.05. I'm still above the $27 mark which is 9 buy-ins. Hopefully the rest of this week will be a bit more positive.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Crazy flush hand...

Starting BR: $25.82
Ending Br: $27.37


Early on in today's session i had a pretty crazy flush hand...

I had 10 6 of diamonds and flopped the A Q J flush. I bet, get raised, which gets reraised, and called, then I called. 4 people in the hand. I was hoping that no one had the K of d but wasn't counting on it. Then the turn put down a 4th diamond, so I obv lost. But the kicker is that the 4th diamond fell even though the first guy to raise me had 9 5 diamonds, the reraiser went all-in wiht the K of d, I had 10 6, and A Q J was on the board. And of course with only 5 cards in the deck that could beat me, it happens.


But on the bright side I ended up recovering from that hit later on when I flopped top pair and went all-in, got called by 2 people and won with two pair. They had nothing and I knew it, so I took a shot and won.


up a buck fifty five today. Not too bad. Its a slow climb, very a slow climb.

PS. Jay, leave me $5 in my account, you can borrow the rest ;)

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Full session 10/25/2007

Well last night I sat down for about 15 minutes (dumb) to tinker around, I was waitin on the wife to get home. Lost a few cents but nothing big. Today I got in a full one hour session over lunch where my cards were drier than Vegas in the summer. Then the last couple hands I played I flopped a flush and hit a boat to put me up $.24 on the session. Not much, but better than losing.

Current BR is $25.82. One mild session and I can be back up over $27. Just have to hit that hand against the right fish. Shouldn't be too hard at a penny table....til tomorrow :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Short session today...

Beginning Bankroll: $27.20
Ending Bankroll: $26.07


I had to go out and get some lunch today....rough time getting up this morning, didn't have time to make a lunch.

Only played for a half hour. Had a tough time of it. Early on a fishy guy was pretty hot and running me down. So I had to try and climb back to even after being down about $.80.

Was almost back to even when a I flopped 2 pair, but a guy flopped the flush and just called me down. I got a little greedy on him, definitely didn't put him on the flush, and he rolled up about $.80 on me on that hand. Aggression doesn't ALWAYS pay off...haha. Oh well, tomorrow is another day, can't win them all.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

What its all about...

Hello and thanks for stopping by Lunch Hour Poker. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the poker I play on my lunch break. I know it sounds a bit simple, but there is much more to it....read on..

Here's the scenario, I play poker online on PokerStars.com (this is not a paid endorsement, i truely and honestly believe it to be the best poker site out there, in a future blog I'll explain why.) I started with $15 that my buddy Jay gave to me on there. Now, I've been playing on there for years, and am the one that taught my buddy how to play. From time to time he borrows money from my bankroll and plays. The $15 was just a small taste of what he owes me, but I though that having that little amount online would be a nice starting point for this venture.

Here's the goal....To build my bankroll to the point where I can make more money during my lunch break than I make in my whole day at work. I will do this by good bankroll management and consistent play, and you can follow all the EXCITMENT! here :)

To bring you up to speed.
I started this last week, on Tuesday or Wednesday, 16th or 17th of October 2007. Now it is the 23rd of October 2007 and my bankroll is up to $27.20. $11 of that is back on Jay's tab ;)

I am using the rule that I play at a level until I have 30 buy-ins for that level. Then, after I reach that goal I will go up to the next level and play there until 30 buy-ins and so on...
Currently I'm at the penny table level. The buy-in that I use is $3. This means I will move up to $.02/$.05 when my bankroll reaches $90. This is going to take a while to do, but I think that if I stick with my plan, that someday I will get there. It may take years to do, but I'm willing to give it a shot. So until tomorrow's lunch, have a good day.

BryceMartin