I'm currently up $167 for the month; my bankroll is $1932. It's been slightly frustrating - I've had a few sessions where I could have made a killing but have had to settle for a modest profit or in some cases a small loss.
Update: Make that $1976, which was a long hot summer in the UK so my mum tells me, thanks to a mini heatwave of my own at the badugi tables.
Update 2: So much for that. From the long hot summer of '76 I plunged back into Victorian times as I lost $103 at $2/$4 badugi in just over three hours.
3:12 pm: Eight minutes into the session I get 953A in the BB. Great, but I despair as four players limp into me and my equity takes a real hit. Of course the pot will likely be huge too. I really want to shove but can't find the all-in button and have to min-raise. We go 1:0:1:2:3. Yes it's a loose table. The cut-off gets out of the way on the flop. Second draw goes 2:0:1:2 (yes UTG, who initially drew one, now draws two). UTG folds on the turn and we go 0:0:1 on the last draw. Right so he's either freezing or slow-playing. I happily bet the river but the other pat guy was slow-playing 654A and naturally raises me. I make a crying call in a $54 pot. I'm already minus $44 and I've hardly started.
3:20 pm: I win my first hand of the session as my pat J97A (from the big blind) holds up three-way. Minus $21.
3:41 pm: I make 8642 on the first draw to win my second pot as my lone opponent gives up on the turn after drawing two for the second time. It will be two hours before I make a better hand. Minus $41.
4:11 pm: I'm happy to get T754 on the button but two players limp into me, I raise but both blinds come along. Aarghh! We go to the flop five-way again. On tables like these the value of a pat ten takes a hammering. I get check-raised on the flop and call. Two players pat in front of me so I break (probably bad), miss and happily fold the turn. It's just as well I missed as the guy who check-raised me had 654A. Had I clung on to my ten, I'd have been in fourth place at showdown. Minus $86.
4:16 pm: I get 42A in the SB. Cut-off open-raises, spewy button reraises, I cold call. We go 1:2:0. Button could have any badugi here. I miss and call the flop; we go 1:2:0 again on the second draw. I spike a jack and check-raise, desperately wanting the third player out. In fact they both jettison and I take down the $33 pot uncontested. Minus $69.
4:22 pm: I get T987 UTG. I open it, almost instantly wishing I'd folded on such a loose table. Just the blinds come along and we go 0:1:2. My top secret spreadsheet tells me I've got 48% equity so I'm in reasonable shape. Second draw goes 0:1:1; thankfully (and surprisingly) they both fold the turn. Minus $58.
5:02 pm: I open 73A UTG at a full table. Some people fold this hand in that position but I think it plays well, particularly as you'll often improve to a monster tri. However at a loose table the probability that a smooth seven is beaten at showdown is not insignificant. I'd just about the worst-case scenario for me as the pot is six-way, everyone drawing one except the guy to my immediate left who times out and stands pat. I see all three draws without any improvement - I was drawing to one out to tie on the last draw in a $66 pot. Minus $104. I've got $26 left and don't intend to top up.
5:12 pm: An aggro guy in mid position opens, button calls, I decide to call with 93A in the SB (a little loose on some tables perhaps but fine here I think), BB also comes along. I drop the nine and we go 2:3:1:1. I improve to 53A on the first draw, button bets, we all call. All four of us take one on the second draw and I make a slight improvement to 43A. The button bets again and I decide to check-raise him, hoping to knock out the other two players who could conceivably fold a rough badugi. They do indeed get out of the way and we're heads up to the last draw. We go 1:1 and I don't improve. We check down the river with the same hand. The small gain from that chop puts me back at minus $104.
5:33 pm: Two players limp, I overlimp the button with double-suited 32 which plays well multi-way. SB calls, BB checks his option. I brick the first draw (3:2:1:1:2) but nobody bets the flop and we're still five-way. Second draw goes 2:2:1:1:2 and I make Q32A. Second player bets (what's he got?), fourth player calls, I just call. The others fold. We all draw one (I ditch the queen). I miss. Same guy bets, other player folds, I call, he made 653A on the last draw. Minus $116.
5:41 pm: Very short-stacked now, I get my few remaining chips in with 653A which I make on the second draw in a three-way pot with all of us pat. I beat 742A and a dealt rough ten. Minus $96.
5:44 pm: We're six-handed, aggro UTG opens, UTG+1 calls, I call in the cut-off with 72A, button also calls while both blinds fold. First draw goes 0:1:1:2, I miss, UTG bets, we all call. Second draw also goes 0:1:1:2 and this time I make T72A. Bet, call, I raise, button folds, UTG then releases his hand. Third draw goes 1:0, we just check down the river and I take down the $46 pot to reach the dizzy heights of minus $65.
5:50 pm: UTG opens, I call the button with 654. It's a major shock as we're heads-up. We go 1:1, I miss and the flop is checked. I contemplate snowing the last draw if I miss again but I make a ten on the second draw. He checks the turn, I bet, he calls. Third draw goes 1:0, he checks the river and I chicken out of a bet. He check-raised me yesterday when I bet a similar hand. This time he hesitated before checking, not that that means a lot but I just had an inkling he was eyeing up another check-raise. He had 65A. I'm on the comeback trail now: minus $58.
5:56 pm: Folded around to me on the button, I naturally raise 74A. Small blind three-bets me, I call and we're heads-up. He pats, I brick, bet, call. He pats again, I brick again, he bets and for some reason I decide to bluff-raise. This wasn't clever: I have a read on him that he doesn't like breaking rough dealt pats. He calls and stands pat on the last draw, I take a card which doesn't help me, he bets the river, I fold. Minus $79.
6:10 pm: Aggro button opens, I've got K74A in the big blind. I expect him to have a lot of two-card draws in his range. I reraise and pat the king; sure enough he draws two. Bet, call, 0:1 on the second draw, then he check-raises me on the turn. Ugh. I guess I have to break here which I do. Last draw goes 1:0, I make 42A and (although I didn't think about it at the time) perhaps I should have called his river bet. Minus $103.
Amongst those hands were a whole bunch of multi-way hands where I had a good draw but couldn't hit. Such is life.
