One mistake kills another session

One mistake kills another session

So last night I get in quite late from a 10:30 PM hockey game with an itch to play for a few minutes. I haven't played all day and I need a fix. I grab the last beer out of the fridge and fire up the laptop. Its already 1:00am and there is no time to really even play a sit&go so I go to the cash tables. Now, you should know that I'm pretty much sworn off the cash games. I can hold my own up to 1/2NL & 2/4L but in the long term it doesn't seem to pay off for me. There are the inevitable bad beats but primarily its because I eventually make one bad move that will ruin my session. Last night was no different.

I did make 2 good decisions last night, I sat at a low limit game and since I was pretty much playing for fun I went for PLO. A very fun game. I found myself at a pretty social table. There was a lot of preflop limping and a lot of first bet folding. Even the action hands were tame for this level of buy-in.

I bought in for the max and started limping into every pot. After about 45 minutes of ABC High-Low PLO I was up about 10%. Not much, but decent considering how many flops I had seen and how many flops I folded. It seemed like I was the only one even bothering with playing the low. The table is playing really straight forward and because its PLO with very little money going in preflop there was no real point in trying to bully and bluff.

As closely as I can remember here is the had that killed my session. It was going to be my second to last hand of the night. I had already turned on the "sit out next blind" button and I was feeling very proud of myself for being patient and booking a small (very small) profit for the day. Especially since it was late and it was a very small buyin for me. Normally a recipe for some very loose play. I'm dealt Ac3cXdXh and there are 4 limpers in front of me. I follow suit as that has been the norm and I'm really only drawing to the nut flush and a possible low if the deuce hits. Flop comes 2d,4s,K. I'm liking my nut low/wheel draw so when the min raise comes around I bump it up 3x to get some $ in the pot. It folds around and I get only one caller, 2 spots to my right. Turn completes low hand (2d,4s,K,7c). He bets, I reraise, he calls. At this point all I'm putting him on is the high hand. Maybe trip K's, I'm not positive, in fact my thought process never really went past the fact that I have the nut low. The river brought paint, didn't fill in my wheel and only reinforced my assumption that my opponent was playing the high end of the hand. After he called my All-in 3 bet we flip em over and I see he has the A3 as well to split the low, but he also had 2pr for the high. I was sick. A split low never even once entered into my mind. It should have. At the very least I could have slowed the betting. I ended up losing half my buyin. Again it wasn't a lot of money but this is very indicative of the brain fart that costs me in cash games and sometime in MTT's as well. I get so hungry to get paid off when I get a good hand that sometimes I forget to stop and think it through.

If the other player is not showing weakness, seems willing to get a lot of chips in the pot, and most likely is also out of position, what kind of hand range can I really put him on and can I beat it? At least once in the majority of my cash sessions and to a lesser extent in my MTT's I miss the boat here and completely forget to consider the possibility that he has a monster. This is generally a very expensive for me. Its a full buyin problem. Now, I'm not saying that I should play with fear or with the "look out" mindset. Playing fewer hands harder has been one of the good changes I have made recently to my game. What I have to be working on is my ability to dodge the big loss hand. If you see enough hands you are going to run into trips, flopped straights, the works. So what are the clues..........

Against about ½ the field I don't think there is any protection other than a commitment to playing small ball.

One year later !

Its hard to believe its been a year since I decided to start and subsequently forget about this blog.

I think I chose at the time to not continue because I wasn't sure that I had a unique angle about the game that people would find interesting. I'm not a pro, I'm not a traveler, and I can't afford the bigger buyin games. Yet! I'm working on that. I'm also an avid blog reader and I can't stand blog's that are never updated. I never wanted to be that guy.

So why am I here now? I guess its because I feel like I'm turning an important corner. I feel like I have made important changes in my game. I have the confidence to play with the better players. I'm having more fun playing again and I'm making a little money (very little). Poker is a lot more fun when your bankroll isn't on tilt all the time.

What I'm hoping to do in the coming posts is to analyze and write about what it is I have been doing to improve or change my game that has changed me from a 5 year straight B/E player to being a slightly profitable player. A trend I hope will continue until I can hit that big cash which will float me in big games for the year.

Principally I think there have been 3 main contributors.

1) Harrington on Holdem 2 (completely renewed commitment to the "M")
2) Playing in higher buyin games
3) Watching better players play and watching the finish of games I've just been knocked out of.

I've also been playing on the Myst Poker Tour (MPT). Its a series of freeroll live poker events held at The Lone Star Bar and Grill on St Laurent St., here in Ottawa. Congratulations to local poker pro Marc Karam, his sponsor Eurolinx, Niko, etal for a doing such a great job. The series consists of 10 weekly events with the best 10 players advancing to the VIP tournament (week 11). The weekly prizes are good thanks to Marc and Eurolinx but the final prize of a trip to the WSOP is the real plum. Check out Marc's sick web site for more info.

I played my first game on week 2 and somehow made my way to the final table so I have my seat in the VIP final. This was only my 2nd or 3rd live multitable event. I have nothing to brag about, I didn't play particularly well nor not did I catch great cards. I just folded, folded and then folded some more. Later, when the blinds went up I pushed over and over from position keeping myself afloat. I doubled up a couple times but nothing exciting. In fact when we found ourselves down to the final 13 or 14 I lucked out a few times. Not the standard type of luck ....weird type luck. On two occasions I found myself in decent sized pots with Niko and a 3rd. I missed the flop both times, Niko bet the flop (standard C-bets) 3rd folded and I reraised about the minimum putting myself Allin.I was toast both times but I was so short I wanted to at least give myself a chance to get lucky. Thankfully and to my surprise Niko folded both hands to me, giving me enough chips to advance a few more positions. He folded both hands quickly, apparently he had already decided his action if he was reraised. He really must have been playing with air as the odds were easily there for any two cards and I couldn't bet anymore.The other weird thing that happened is that I actually miscounted my chip stack. No crap, when we had about 12 left, blinds were sick and I kept folding in obvious push situations. I thought I had about 6k with 500/1000 blinds. With only 1 or 2 positions to go I was making real tight folds. Little did I know how tight they really were as I actually only had ½ that many chips.

So after final tabling my first decent sized live event, you can imagine the confidence I was feeling when I went back. Last night was week # 9 and it was my 4th try since I qualified. I've lasted 1 hand, 4 hands and maybe 15 min 2 times. KKvsAA, runner runner straight, runner runner flush, and last night TPTK vs flopped trips. Poker is so humbling. Oh, I forgot to mention that if you get to more than one final table you get extra chips to play with at the VIP.

WOW, that's a long post.......to long. More to come very soon. I've had some decent results lately I'll to post some interesting hands.

Ifoldallday

Diary of a losing poker player

I'm not sure if I will complete this or or how often I'll post, but its my idea to discuss from a losers point of view (closer to BE I think, truth be known) the game of poker. Why I lose, when I win, what I think, read, bankroll etc. You see I'm actually pretty good but online is tough and I have some serious holes. Not so much in the way I play (well maybe some, lol) but mainly the way I chose a game, when I chose to play and my mindset during the game.

Because I love the game I do some very stupid things. I'll register in games I may not even be able to play. I'll register in games knowing I may need to sit out a good portion of the game. Virtually every night because I 'm chasing the kids I preregister in games never knowing when or if I'll get to sit down. Mainly the 7pm to 10pm MTT's.

Just recently, a few weeks ago, I was deep in a $10r on stars, I've got 140k in chips about 45th place and only about 60 players left. I was in the money deep as I believe 180 was the bubble. What do I have to do ! I have to drive someone to their hotel in the city. By the time I get back I'm down to 60k. I played a few more hands and busted out when runner runner 4flush took out my AA in the BB. I think I would have gone deeper if I had of just blinded out completely. How many opportunities did I miss? Finished in 32nd place.

Last night is again a prime example of why I can't keep a bankroll. I'm just to much of an addict. I register in 3 games without knowing when I'll get to play and in one I was down to 700 before I saw a card. I want to play virtually every day and in particular the juicy MTT's. My main problem is.......I have a life. I have a job, a beautiful wife and 3 really great children. 12,8 and 4YO.

Thankfully, I will normally only register in freerolls or games <$5 if I don't know when I can start.

But I'll register in anything up to and including the Sunday million without knowing if I can finish.


LOL, I'm not even sure what the point is to what I'm writing. I just set up the blog today and I'm rambling a bit. I hope to write some interesting stories soon. I see some crazy hands...

A bit about me.

I'm an addict, but... I know poker. I've played every day for 4 years and I'm in information sponge. I read every mag, book, blog I can find. I play on PS,Party,Eurolinx,Fulltilt,Fullcontact,Titan,.....& many others. I've done the bonus thing and many others. I like the occassional live game but I find the pace painful. As it is now I'm bored playing less than 2 online games at once. 4 in normal.

More to come soon.

All the best from sunny Ottawa.

Remember if you look around the table and can't find the donk, find another table cuz its not us!