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.