So I didn't do a good job at not playing for a couple days. I played this morning and continued my drastic down swing. I'm trying to figure out if it was bad play, or just a really cold deck.
I did have a bit of a blow-up. I do know that. Which I am going to try to real in. But I know that not all of it can be attributed to bad play. Here are the major hands I can remember from my 3 hour session, on four tables this morning.
1) QQ versus KK. So I was doing ok, not losing too much yet. I think the most I was down on any table was $3. I'm in the sb with QQ, and I get raised. I 3-bet it to see if I can chase away any A rag, or KQ to avoid them hitting their over card. The original raiser smooth calls. I hit a Q on the flop, and begin thinking about how to get money from him. I make a small raise, and he instantly shoves for the rest of his $25 into a $4 pot. there are no straight draws, no flush draws. At best he could have two pair (or Aces), maybe a lower set. I had to call. He showed his KK... turn is a blank, but the river is another K.
I'm not devastated at this point, but really frustrated. I get up and go get a coffee, and I sit down to try an win it back.
I take in a few small pots, but the overall results are mostly based on these hands.
1) AK versus A5. I was already pretty short-stacked. He three-bet me, but I decided I would much rather take it down now, and I four-bet shoved. He called and hit his 5.
2) AKs versus A9o: This one was a bit of a blow-up. I was a little steamy about the AK a few hands ago, and got 3-bet again, so I shoved. Again somehow the person called, this time I hit AK... but they pulled off a flush with their 9.
3) I have 67c. My opponent min-raises, and I call from the SB. Flop is 6Q7. So long as they don't have a set, I'm golden. My opponent bets, and I make a 2.5 re-raise. He hesitantly calls, and I put him on a Q. he only has $15 left, and there is $10 in the pot, and I am positive I am ahead. he checks on the turn, which is a blank deuce, and so I bet $7. If he has AQ, he may shove, and if he has a straight draw, he can't chase.
He shoves, I call. He has KQo. No straight draw, not flush draw, all I need to dodge is a K or another Q was the thought going through my head. But just to get a good laugh... the poker gods throw out another deuce. Counterfieting my two pair, he rakes in the $40 pot.
I'm steaming. Just losing it. I was so annoyed, and this is where I have my mini blow-up. I'm with those 3 hands (plus a few that I'm not remembering) I'm down $80. I throw in a few all-ins that were probably unwarrented, I run into AA versus my KK (and I lose), and then I check to the river with 33, to catch my set, just to find out that my opponent was checking a bigger set to me hoping I would catch.
I lose one more AK verses A rag, and decided... I can't do it. Something is just plain wrong with my game today. Pokerstars has my number, and I need to relax. I'm down almost $150, which isn't a disaster. I can make that back easily; but not today. Right now I'm sitting at $866.83 from my $1000.
I'm forcing myself to take a break. I locked away my laptop with pstars on it, and can't access it on my desktop. I need to regroup, and see if I can get back some of my loses next week. I might take some time to see if I can follow what's going on with the Fallsview poker classic coming up next week.
I'll let you know any good poker news I hear or catch up on while I take my break, but for now, I'm down. Next week I'll try to recover.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Blow Up
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Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Break-time
Ok, so I'm still up, but I've had two really really bad sessions. I'm going to spend some time taking a break. Relaxing a bit, and coming back to poker in a couple days. right now I'm sitting at $1032.68. I was up to $1120ish, but as a result of my two really bad sessions am down.
It's going to be REALLY hard to not play for the next three days. Really hard. But I think it would be good to step back as I have been playing very consistently, and a lot over the past week.
I will hopefully be able to take some time, analyse, and look at my play for holes. I know I chase way too much, but hopefully I can look and see 'how much am I chasing too much?' or 'is there times when I'm losing big pots by chasing, but getting the right odds to call?'
I want to look at these questions and see if I can figure some of these out. I also want to be able to discuss the best kind of table that I play on. Whether I want a loose table, with really high average pots, or tighter tables with low average pots. I was playing at a really high average pot table, the other players were betting REALLY big, and always taking stabs, etc. Perhaps the answer is, when I'm on these tables, be more patient. If I know I'm over aggressive sometimes, these might be good spots to be more patient for big hands, because I know very well that I will probably get paid off.
I might try to read Dave Sklansky's Theory of Poker on this little three day break. I will hopefully be able to learn something, and I will let you all know. Anyways, that's all for now. See you guys later.
It's going to be REALLY hard to not play for the next three days. Really hard. But I think it would be good to step back as I have been playing very consistently, and a lot over the past week.
I will hopefully be able to take some time, analyse, and look at my play for holes. I know I chase way too much, but hopefully I can look and see 'how much am I chasing too much?' or 'is there times when I'm losing big pots by chasing, but getting the right odds to call?'
I want to look at these questions and see if I can figure some of these out. I also want to be able to discuss the best kind of table that I play on. Whether I want a loose table, with really high average pots, or tighter tables with low average pots. I was playing at a really high average pot table, the other players were betting REALLY big, and always taking stabs, etc. Perhaps the answer is, when I'm on these tables, be more patient. If I know I'm over aggressive sometimes, these might be good spots to be more patient for big hands, because I know very well that I will probably get paid off.
I might try to read Dave Sklansky's Theory of Poker on this little three day break. I will hopefully be able to learn something, and I will let you all know. Anyways, that's all for now. See you guys later.
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