Mellowing out

I'm still working on all kinds of things, so I really don't know where I stand as far as poker goes.

I did get pretty frustrated with Full Tilt and all of the sick situations that I was dealing with and pulled everything I had off. I did something very smart to avoid monster vs. monster and sick suckouts.....I moved it over to Party (sarcasm off)

Actually, I've been playing more live and remember that I prefer that to playing online.

This past weekend, I drove up to Indianapolis to meet up with the +1 gang and play at IPC as they've got a really good thing going there. Friday night wasn't too good. $25 rebuy/addon (limited to 2 actions 1st hour). I got stuck at a hyper-loose aggro table and never saw a hand that I wanted to gamble with, so I laid low, picked up about 400 chips, got my addon and then proceded to lose to a gutshot and runner in the first 5 hands after break and I was out.

From there, I moved over to the cash game, which, from what I could tell, was a cheap version of a bunch of guys trying to play like they do on High Stakes Poker. There was plenty of freewheeling, so I went into lockdown mode and figured I'd be the rock for the night. Bought in for $200 and bled through about $40 in the first hour without much fanfare. Then, this hand came up.

I get Ah Jh on the button. 4 limpers to me and I make it $16, I get 4 callers. Nice to know that everybody respects my raises. Anyway, flop comes out 7c 4h 3c. Check to me, and I cbet for $40, UTG (who has been the ultimate donk and already rebought once) calls, rest of table folds. Now, the range of hands I put UTG on is huge, so I'm not real worried. I took a stab and can still get away from this hand depending on the turn.

Turn 10h

OK, now this is interesting. UTG checks and I figure "thanks for the free card". I'm thinking he's got A7, draw, or an overpair and is going to push the river. If he had a set, there's no way he lets a double-suited/coordinated board go for a free look on the river.

River 7h. Beeeeeyoutiful. I think. Flushes and paired boards can make for ugly situations, but I'm probably good here. He probably has me on clubs or an overpair. UTG says what I'm hoping he'll say...."all in". I look at him and then board and I'm thinking, "there's no way he played a set that bad and then catches one of two cards that has me call" I shake off my negative feeling and figure he's probably made trips or is pushing his busted flush. I say "I'm not good enough to lay this down" and call. He shows 44 for the boat and I just shake my head.

Don't know how classy it was, but I say "you either played that horrible or fantastic, nh" and leave. I did get a little consolation as one of the two guys I felt knew what they were doing told me he couldn't have gotten away from that either.

Saturday was a bit better as I went fairly deep in the $50 freezeout, making the final table. Was super short and card dead, for most of the last hour. Lots of fun and pulled an all-in in the dark when I was in the BB with less the 3BB and had two limpers. Got two callers and had the best of it going in and it held up.

I'm toning it down a little bit as I've realized I'm WAY too creative and getting myself in situations I don't need to. I'm back to playing $25NL at Party for a while, trying to get my feet back underneath me and remember what ABC poker is. I haven't played that in a while, so I think I need to revisit it.

Damn.

Well, I like poker for 3 days and I get reminded why I hated it.

I've really been playing well. Being aggresive in spots, making laydowns, trapping....I've put together some stuff without getting myself stuck in bad situations.

Tonight, was the night of the donks. I got in 3 big hands in dominating situation and lost all 3.

Playing $1/2

Hand 1: Short stack ($30) makes it $7 from MP. I've got TT in the BB and put him all in. He calls with 99 and flops a 9.

Hand 2: (this one really got me going): UTG is an LAG donk and makes it $5, I've got AK off in MP2 and pop it to $20, he calls. Flop is all clubs, but rags (I have no club). I make a cbet of $30, he calls. Turn is a fucking 8 clubs. He checks. I bet out repping a big club, he pops it and shows Ac 9d. The fucker called OOP with A fucking 9 off. I probably should have backed off, but I took a shot I could pull off the bluffing the A....he just happened to have the one fucking card I was representing.

Hand 3 (the capper): I get AA in the SB. MP raises, I reraise, he reraises, I bait him with a min-reraise, he pushes, I call. AA vs Jc J. FOUR FUCKING CLUBS HIT THE FLOP/TURN/RIVER and I immediately quit before I throw the computer through the window.

I really can't figure it out. I know I can play this damn game, but I sure can't see any results. Even some of the iffy hands I lost with last month weren't totally horrible, but tonight was flat out stupid.

I'm playing a live tourney tomorrow night....maybe. I am just fucking ill right now.

Now, that's better

*sigh*

Well, I don't want to get too excited, but the worm may have turned.

I had a decent night on Monday, solid night on Tuesday, and a great night last night finishing 4/472 in the 7PM $10+1 MTT at Full Tilt. I'd love to say it was my mastery of poker, but it was a combination of playing smart/aggressive, picking my spots, and being a luckbox in one critical hand. All in all, I wes really happy with how I played. I made on bonehead play at the final table, but it didn't kill me and I almost made a comeback. Essentially, the chip leader dominated from beginning to end and we were just there fighting for 2nd.

In the end, I got back $380 and made back about 1/2 of my losses for July......thank God. I'll be honest, I was a bit depressed about how poker had been going and starting to question every decision I made....not a good way to play poker.

I'm hoping this time I've got all of this experimentation crap out of my system. I know ABC poker is boring, but even at $100 NL, it's profitable. My problem is that i want to try and think on a Greenstein/Reese level when I'm playing with people who can barely understand the concept of hand selection and position. Granted, the play at $100 NL is better, but it's also generally TAG and people don't get away from hands very easily.

It will sink in.......I hope.

At least I'm learning....a little.....slowly......

Did that just happen?

I think it did.

I just had a solid session.

Wow. So that is what that feels like.

Played some $100 NL with some focus, at Full Tilt, no less, and actually played well with good results by almost doubling my buy-in. It really could have been a HUGE session as I flopped a couple of sets in position, but the guys I needed to be in the hand never were.

Nothing really exciting, had AA vs. KK (short) and picked up a nice $60 pot.

Probably my big play of the night went like this.

I've got AK off in MP, UTG limps, I make it $4, UTG calls.

Flop is 3 9 4 with 2 diamonds. UTG checks, I make a cbet of $8, UTG calls.

Turn is a rag club, UTG checks, I bet out $15, UTG calls

River is a J spades, UTG bets out $10, I'm pretty sure he was on the diamond draw and raise to $30, he folds. It's more than likely that I was ahead, but it's still tough to fire that bullet, but this guy had been pretty loose, so I figured I had a shot.

Played in a MTT and multi-table SnG, too, but never got anything going. I got up pretty good early in the MTT, but went stond dead for about 4 orbits and got caught in a steal which pretty much did me in.

Overall, I feel a lot better about how I'm playing. I'm trying not to overthink and get "cute", but avoiding being mechanical, too. It's a tough balance, but I think I can get there.

I sure would like to make a good run in a tourney soon. It's so tough, you not only have to play well, but get lucky, and manage your stack, too.

Sure is nice to have a positive night for a change.

Something weird this way comes

One thing I've really been focusing the last 3 sessions is making good decisions. I've turned down the aggress-o-meter and trying to play smarter rather than brute force (i.e. checking when I miss (sometimes), calling instead of raising). I feel a bit more in control and think I'm on the way to recovery.

Here's the weird thing....at Stars I've done well with 3 pretty good sessions in a row. At Full Tilt, I couldn't beat Stevie Wonder. I can make the exact same plays at each site and have completely different results. Also, I think Full Tilt is mad at me because I haven't been in a good situation (solid hand with position) in so long I'd have to break out a calendar. It's getting so bad, I'm tempted to move my money to Stars or Party.

I'm still cutting way back, trying to play solid sessions rather than a bunch of sessions. I'm debating actually depositing *gasp* some money or just continuing to play on what I've got. Funny thing is, you'd think I was broke the way I'm acting, but I'm still up for the year and almost double of what I had at the beginning of April. That little surge in June when I got up the $1500 keeps hanging in my head and that's a number I'd like to get back to.

Don't know what the week's shaping up to look like. The WSOP stuff is on tomorrow night, so I may just watch and not even play myself.....or I could play for 4 hours. It all depends on my mood.

Overall, I'm in a pretty good state of mind about poker. I'm doing some real analyzing of what I need to work on and I think there's some long term benefit that will come out of it.

Poker? What's that?

I think Ive played a total of 2 hours of poker in the last week....and most of that was the CP tourney on Monday.

I've been in Wisconsin all week for the Drum Corps world championships with my son and had a blast. Poker hasn't really even been on my radar. Given my run lately, I don't know if that's a bad thing.

That's not entirely true as I have been doing lots of analysis of what's been going wrong and what I need to do to fix it. Essentially, I've been way too tricky way too often. I've also been overplaying questionable hands like TPTK two pair. There's no sense in some of my losses, but I guess I need to lose 1/2 of my roll to remember that.

Taking it pretty slowly for now. No big rush. I may play some this week, but don't know what or how much.

On a personal note, I did finally find a person I think I can trust to do my roof. Also, that job I've been waiting for has finally posted and I've already applied. I figure that process will take at least a couple of months. If so, that would be perfect as it would get me through band season. If not, I'll live, but I've got some hope this time....I think.

Making the best of a bad situation

The shitty run continues, but at least I'm being constructive.

I know it's not all about the cards and I've been reevaluating my game a bit. Looking for holes and some explanation as to why I've dropped 1/2 my roll over the last 3 weeks. Dug through some HH and, though I hate to admit it, about 1/2 of the losses are strictly due to stubbornness. There were a couple of pushes and 3 or 4 calls which total about $400 that I could have gotten away from.

Again, it gets back to me trying to be too aggressive and getting caught. Now, I'll also say that I've had some sick hands during this run, but it didn't have to be quite as bad as it has.

Had a new kind of sick beat tonight, the disconnect beat.

I get A7 of spades on the button, two limpers in front and I make it $4.

Flop is A 5 7 rainbow. 1st limper bets out $5, call....and my fucking computer locks.....disconnected and kicked out of the hand. By the time I reconnect I see that there was a $100 pot that hand and the other two had TT and 99.....fuck me. Thanks Full Tilt. I now see the benefit of all in protection.

I'm putting the brakes on this week and will play very little. On Wednesday, I'm taking my son to the Drum Corps World Championships in Madison, WI, so no poker from Wed - Sun....which is a good thing

Actually, I'm kind of in limbo as to what to do, play, etc. I'm down to about $700 from a high of $1300 back in early July. I'm still up for the year, but it hurts to be down that much in such a short time. Then again, I shouldn't be playing higher that $50NL with what I've got and I've been playing $100NL and some $200NL. I could throw some $$$ from my new roll, but I'd like to keep from doing that. I some ways, I'm still a tad leery of throwing real cash online. Weird, I know, but I've been playing on the same money forever and really don't want to get into "my" money if I can help it.

I'm starting to play more MTTs and remember for all the sick beats and frustrating situations, I still prefer that style of poker. I really feel like my game is more tournament friendly and that's where I'd like to go. My plan was to let the ring games cover my MTT costs, but that hasn't been working out lately. Hopefully, I'll plug some of these gaping leaks and get straightened out before I go broke. :P

Taking it easy

Since I went through the "two weeks of hell", I've kind of changed my poker game plan some.

Over the past week, I've played ZERO ring sessions. I just can't get into it right now. I've played a few cheap MTTs and multi-table SnGs, with some moderate success. I final tabled one 45 man and busted with AQ vs. AJ with a 7 9 x 10 8 board and busted out 5th.

I seem to be repeating the same thing over and over.....every single time the bubble starts closing in, I go absolutely card dead. When I say card dead, I'm talking nasty dead like J2, T4, 25, 49...that kind of shit. The stuff you couldn't lie to a blind man over. In these chepaer tourneys, it's "No Fold 'Em Hold 'Em" and I can't seem to pick up ammo when I need it.

As far as poker goes, I've got to look at the overall picture....I'm still up for the year online. Not much, but I'm still up. It comes down to the fact that a majority of the gang at +1 are pretty successful and most run in the black on a consistent basis. I've got so much to learn at this game and while I've been lucky enough to have a little success, I've got a long way to go before I come close to where I'd like to be.

I like the tourney circuit and while you risk spending 3 hours for nothing, you also limit your losses.....and that sounds pretty good right now.

I do feel like I've got a couple of final tables in me, I just need a little help at crunch time.