Last night was murder

I played four sessions last night. They were all brutal:


In both of my winning games, my biggest win was due to a bluff.
In the game I lost $19.75 in, I just couldn't hit anything. My biggest loss was a whopping $2.75 and I only had one win above $1 (a whopping $1.25). So yeah, it was disheartening, but no real intersting hands. I make my standard raises and c-bets, I hit nothing, and I get chased off a pot. Man, I must have looked fishy at that table. Not much I could do though.
In the $7.85 game, I *should* have lost $60 in that game alone. I think all my hand replays are from that game.

I turn top two. Would he call with a guy-shot?

I should have bet a little more on the flop, but he was calling anyway. Oh well. My bad play probably saved me $.50 or $1. Or maybe it would have chased him out and saved me a big chunk of money?

I miss and try to bluff, figuring he has TP/weak or 2nd pair.

Zoink!

So with my world crumbling down around me, everyone pushing me around, etc. I get suicidal. I knew I was beat. I was hoping he'd just fold but really, I didn't care if I lost. I was feeling self-destructive and shoved...

Zoink! I did to other people what they keep doing to me! (Well, in other games.) Runner-runner for the gut-shot! Beautiful!


Anyway, I think I should take a break from the tables tonight. Psychologically I'm not ready to play. Yeah, I ran cool, but I handled it like a newie and exacerbated the the cooler into a blizzard. It was only dumb luck that saved me from losing a ton.

Nothing exciting

Things are still going well at 6-max $25NL.

I played a little last night. Early on this happened:

He picked the wrong time to bluff I guess. I guess he was pretending to have what I had.
Thanks, dude!

Another gift:


Since returning to $25NL 6-max I've bumped into "an old friend" several times. It's good to see him.
I don't think I've ever talked to him, but I have more hands against him than against any other player. He's a multi-tabler, a nit, and is pretty easy to read. Anyway, this hand came up and I played the player.


Not everything went well though. I managed to come back for a small profit at this table (thanks to pocket kings and A/K with a K/K/r flop). But this hand still cost me $9.50.

Here's what I saw before hitting foooooooooooooooooold.

Here are my last 50 games. I'm still green, making a steady profit with some dips along the way.


I've been having no luck with the easy S&G's lately. The last two CardsChat events I've played in though, I got 2nd and 1st, for some decent payoffs.

And for what it's worth, last night I only played three tables, so they're the top three sessions.

Mo $, no problems

Well, a few problems.


I'd taken a few pots without showing. Then I got my hand caught in the cookie jar. Then this happened. I figured he could be making that move with A/K so I popped it up additional $7.50 to see where I stood. Was it A/K or did he have an overpair?

He had an overpair.
He never showed, but I guarantee it.
His stats were 11/9/infinite I think.

A few hands later, at the same table, I messed with a 48/29/infinite player.
I put him on a straight draw on the flop (maybe 8/8). The turn made me sick.


So anyway, I got out of that game with only a $.50 loss. I consider that a victory.

I played 4 games tonight, the top four on the list:


The $.2NL games... I popped in because a bunch of friends from the CardsChat poker forum were playing together. I actually played serious. Usually I just go into donk-mode because of the low limits.

Also, my session stats in PokerTracker 3 aren't showing up until I exit the program and then open it again. I don't know why this is. It messes me up while writing this. "I thought I lost $.50 that game, not $2.85. And where's the other game I was winning?"

Anyway, it's all corrected.

I'm happy with my return to 6-max. When I start to run cold... we'll see. :)

Back at $25NL 6-Max

I started playing $25NL 6-max again, and I'm starting to question why I ever left. Yeah, I know I was burned out and sick of the variance, but it is sooooo much more entertaining than FR.

I made one donkey play where I raised from early position with A/A, and was called by a tight player. I opened the rag flop, and he called. I checked the turn (putting a second 4 on the board) and he checked. I put $5 on the rag river, and he popped it up an additional $17.

I physically opened my mouth an uttered these words, "Why am I calling this? He obviously has me beat." Then I looked at his 12% VP$IP, nodded my head in agreement with my comment and clicked call anyway.


I am a tard. (It was sorta like the replay hand I posted here, but with no factors to justify the call)

I won a few more hands during that session and finished the session down only $18.40. Plus I won $10.55 at another table I was on at the same time. So I wasn't down a lot for the day. Still... it was a dumb-ass call.

Last night I tried three $2.20 satellites into the Sunday $200k. I basically play tight, and then it comes down to winning a coin flip at the end to take the $11t prize. The problem is that when I'm short, on the button, in an uncontested pot, with A/9, I'll shove and the SB or BB will always have A/dominator or T/T+.
I think that last game finally pushed my SharkScope stats into the red for tournaments.
Oh well.

On track

Played seven sessions today. All were pretty short.
On one I was down $.30 as I was quitting tables and wanted to play until I was even.

Yeah. It's a bad habbit I have.

So I lost $8 trying to get that $.30 back.

Later I had 3/3, read a guy as weak, and won a $15.60 pot with my pocket threes when he folded to $10 bet on the turn. The board was 6s Jh Ts 7h. Yeah... probably dumb. I put a whole lot of money on the line for a meaningless green stat. (Ended up making a $2.40 profit)

Here's my first big hand of the night:


Here's the other important hand:
He three-bet, I looked at his stack, he had enough to justify a call, so I called...




The top seven hands are what I played today. The top 5 were from tonight, and the other two were played earlier today. I am pleased. I've had good luck in the my good hands have been holding up probably more often than they should.

Feeling better

I played 4 tables this afternoon. I sat back and waited for opportunities, and I was lucky in that they came. Well, except for the first table I opened. In that one I had a VP$IP of 0%. I lost $1.65, not taking a single pot. Could be worse. But I'm glad that I didn't get frustrated and try to make something happen.


Feels good to run well. Things in my personal life are affecting my game, and I've had trouble shaking off the last 4-table session I did (the 4 top ones). I played those on my 9th wedding anniversary a couple days ago. Stupid stupid stupid (my wife is filing for divorce so if there was one day not to play...):


Oh, and in the interests of fair disclosure there are a couple sessions of $2NL that are in-between these stats. I did them just to tinker with my PokerTracker settings. I lost something like $3.50 total. Man... the play there is awful. You can guess how I lost the $ so there's no use talking about it.

I get Aces. Villain is 7/0/2 over 42 hands:

At the time, my primary reason for calling was the short stack. But looking back, I'm not sure if it's a good call most of the time. She doesn't seen like she'd play A/8 for TPTK, so I'm only beating 9/9, T/T or slow played face pairs. I think I'm up against a set most of the time.
Oh heck... I'm analyzing it wrong. I never would have shoved if she was a full stack. And a 7 isn't likely to play small pocket pairs, so pocket 8's are what'd beat me, and those just aren't as common as the other hands she'd make that move with.
I stand by my move after all. (Especially easy to do since it worked out)

A few hands later at the same table:
FACUMDP 8.9/6/1.5
enEngel 55/5/.6

I'm basically set mining, in position. FACUMDP has something like J/J or Q/Q. enEngel could have anything. Since he check/raised, he had me beat pretty badly.
The hand irked me some because I was closing tables at this time, and waiting for the blinds to hit. This cut into the $15.60 profit I had going at this table. Oh well. I guess it's not worth posting. I think everything is standard. I'm taking the $ away from them most of the time in this situation.

Villain is 22.6/9.7/3 over 31 hands:

I was just hot this hand. If you check/raise me and I have the nuts, I'm going to do this every time. I thought he had something like Ac/Qc or A/J. But a King high flush draw? No... I didn't expect that.

Belated update

Mentally, I just haven't been involved in a lot of my games lately. I'm too aggressive, watch TV while I play, and I gamble too much. I get in too many life-or-death decisions on coin flips, and really, at the level I play in those are not good moves, even favorable pot odds.

That is, if I think it's about 50/50, there's no reason to risk my tournament life even when I'm 55:45 on my money, because a more favorable situation is likely to come up. That is, the bad players are bound to give me better value on my money.

Here's my play, up until I started doing bad ($76.65 loss was the beginning of the slide, so the ones at the bottom are the oldest):


Then, the meltdown. I moved to $25NL a little mad and wanted to win back a lot to get back, which is always a huge mistake. I should only play to make the best out of my current table.
So anyway:


This does not show all the $ I've lost in S&G's and MTT's. I have no business playing MTT's, and I just can't concentrate that long at this point.

Since I have a low bankroll at FT, and because it's new, I've been giving Full Tilt some serious effort. I think I played two games that were questionable. One was an 18 player game that I didn't want to play (I ended up winning it though) and the other was a knock-out tournament, that I won $1 in bounties on (A/Ts > A/Qo) , but was KO'd 17/90. I think it was 90 anyway.

Anyway, Sharkscope and OfficialPokerRankings like me:




I think the Full Tilt games have given me a bit more confidence. Plus, I've lost enough on PokerStars lately that I'm starting to get a little scared. I had $1,200 at the last cash out, and it's slipped $7XX at the lowpoint.

My last 10 ring games:


Anyway, the BR is above $900 but I'd *like* to play smart and grind my way back to where I was. Maybe $1,500. I was making soooo much more $ before I lost my drive. It'd be nice to get that back. I don't care about the $. I've already cashed out a lot more than I've ever deposited. And I have no plans on ever spending the money that's in my account. I sorta see them as points, and I'd like to collect some so I can play better games.