Epitome of my game

I ran into a friend recent who asked me why I hadn't blogged anything in a while. It's because I've been running bad and following that up by playing like crap, and haven't really felt like writing. I should get back into it, but probably won't. It's too depressing to rehash hands like this one:

The guy just *never* bluffed the river. He bet the flop, which he did often enough to warrant my to float to it. When he bet the turn, I *knew* he had a T, and it was confirmed when he called my turn check raise. If he had AT, he would have pushed, so I knew he wasn't full yet. I was just hoping he'd fill up on the river. My original plan was to bet any river. Higher if it was a likely card to have filled him up, less if not. Then that river came. Against most opponents, who might actually get to the river with hands that don't include the T, I'd have to either blocker bet, or call his pot bet. I just can't see him betting 99 this way. I couldn't remember any big river bets that he made that wasn't a huge hand. The only bluff I caught was a complete whiff on his part, but he only bet 60% of the pot. Therefore, I have to believe he has the T.

Second nuts sucks!

Thankfully, I came back and was profitable for the session, but only after 4 hours. Was definitely an exhausting session.

HU PLO8 SNG competition

Enough acronyms there for ya?! :)

For the past month, I've been playing small stakes Omaha, mostly HU, cash games (10PLO, 25PLO and 50PL0). I needed a new challenge because I was pressing too much in the other games I was playing. Since my Omaha game is still in its infancy stages, I knew that I'd be able to stay focused at the tables and avoid going on auto-pilot, and therefore I was pretty sure that I'd make money. I was trying to start with a couple hundred and see how much I could build that up. I had been doing pretty good, and got up to over $700 since I started.

At times when I'm not playing, or occasionally when I need a little break at work, I go to the 2+2 internet forums to read posts on different topics. Mostly I check out the high-stakes NLHE tournament strategy section (because I'm very curious on how their thinking differs from my current thinking), and the PLO8 strategy section, for obvious reasons.

I came across a heads-up sit-n-go competition thread and I read through the posts. I was really interested in doing this. I hadn't played HU PLO8 SNGs in a while, but any avid reader knows that it was a good part of my game. So I let the thread develop a little, then decided to join. Each player puts in $25, which is split between the winning team. There are 24 players. They took 4 volunteer captains and there was a draft to pick the teams from the other 20 players. I was picked 16th! Not too surprising since I don't have many posts on the forums, mostly read not comment, so I was an unknown. My teammates were pleasantly surprised when I told them I could hold my own against the best (according to them: tatta and vendo) that PokerStars has to offer.

Last night, I had my first match. Thankfully, it was against someone I had played once before. Unfortunately, I had lost that match to him. :( TBH, I was nervous. I had talked up my game enough to my team that I felt failure was not an option. We settled on playing the $33+1.5 in a best of 5 series, quitting when the winner had won his 3 games. The first match went back and forth. I blanked on a major opportunity when I had AQ94hh on a JhTd3h flop. Pre-flop, I raised the BTN (150), he 3-bet (450) from the SB and I called. I had 1725 in chips to his 1275, so he had put in 1/3 of his stack. Him 3-betting was not a rare occurrence, so my 3-bet calling range is very wide here. In fact, I don't raise against him unless I'm planning on calling the raise. Since he c-bets so often, I know that if I hit any piece of this flop, my chips are getting in.

He c-bet the rest of his chips (825) as I expected and I called with my monster draw. I'm a solid favorite here, but the turn was a 6s and the Qd on the river split the pot. 3 hands later, I moved all-in PF with AsQd6h4h vs Ad9d2d7d, was a slight favorite and lost. I fought with my short stack as much as I could, but eventually lost that first game.

Oh boy...

The second game was much better and quicker. It lasted all of 11 hands and was over in 4 minutes. The critical hand had me with Ac5c6cTd 3-betting to 90 PF from the BB and him calling. The flop came Kd3sTc. I bet pot on the flop hoping to take it down. He called. The Th came on the turn, and I bet slightly higher than half the pot (280), and he called again. The river was a 6 giving me a full house. I had been making plenty of bets on the river, and he had called me down and seen some strong and not so strong hands, so given that he also had a T in his hand, he called. He was left with 460 after that hand, and I was able to knock him out a few hands later.

Phew. I'm not getting shutout!

The next two games both lasted much longer and had some back and forths, but because he was so aggressive, I ended up trapping him with some very strong hands. I flopped a wheel (A2345) holding the 45 and he bet the flop and turn (at which point I was all-in) and he was holding 46 for second nut low, so I scooped that pot. Another pot, I had A983 and the flop came 599 after he had 3-bet me PF. Turns out, he had AAT6 and committed his chips on the flop.

I won the match 3-1.

It was tough, it was exiting and it was fun. I'll have 4 more matches over the next 5 weeks (every player has a bye week). This is what my poker is supposed to be. I had moved too far from the fun aspect to the profit aspect, and failed. This is helping me get back to the fun part.

If you want to follow, aside from this blog, just check out the 2+2 forum thread for the latest results.

Hate this game

One of the reasons I haven't posted anything in a while is that I'm being whipped at the tables. I'm in the midst of a horrible run, and haven't made the time to post my results, instead trying to play more to get out of my rut.

That's obviously the wrong thing to do: I need to comment regardless of win or lose.

Right now, things are going so bad for me, I'm in the process of revisiting why I even play the game. It used to be for fun; turning nothing into real money, even if it was just $5. Then I started making more money, and then I started making goals. All the while, I was moving up levels. It has since stopped being fun and become more of an emotional drain (online anyways. The .10/.25 home games are still fun, except for being tired the next day).

Is it because I'm trying to achieve goals and failing to meet them? Is it because I'm moving up levels and as the competition is more intense and the variance increases, and I'm not ready for that yet? Is it just because I'm on a downswing, and was not ready to cope for that?

For now, I'm taking a break...