Stuck

Before the last 2 weeks, I had the most ridiculous run of poker at NL25 and then at NL50. In a course of a month, I turned my $50 at Pokerstars and $100 at Bodog into a combined $650. Along the way I cashed out of Bodog and moved it into Pokerstars so that I could start playing NL50 exclusively (still underrolled of course). I was feeling pretty good about myself, even having plans to move up to NL100 by the end of June and then maybe NL200 by December. I was on a roll.

Of course, now I'm on a downswing.

I'll be lucky if I'm not back at NL25 by the end of June, the deadline I had hoped to move up on. It's been 2 weeks of consistent losing, sprinkled with 2 days of slightly finishing up on the session. From a high point of $650, I'm now at $480. I promised myself I'd move back down to NL25 if I ever drop below $400 (bankroll management kuno). Great, that means I just have 1.5 buyins of NL50 left.

Here's a couple of steps I'm taking to help me stay in NL50:
1. Play less tables. I've been trying to get myself to playing 6 tables regularly, and even went up to 8 tables at 1 point. Although I do feel like I'm more focused and I play better with more tables, I should drop to 2-3 tables just to control the amount of my roll I'm putting into play.

2. Start at 60BB again. I made that run buying-in for only 60BB per table, the amount which I think is perfect for playing top pair hands. Once I reached $580+ I moved to buying-in in full and then always reloading once it dips slightly, just like they do in the poker training videos.

I noticed that at 100BB I'm more scared (and rightly so) to play single pair hands. Now that in itself isn't a bad thing, but I overdid it and turned my game into tight-passive where before I was tight-aggressive. Maybe playing mid-stacks will help me play better again. Easier to get the SPR I want on the hand and all that.

3. Start reading again. What the fuck Jino. Mom got me Harrington on Cash Games vol. 1 about 3 weeks ago and I still haven't read 2/3 of it! I was expecting to have finished vol. 2 by now. I have to finish vol 1 before she next flies to the US so I can ask her to get the next book by then.


Still hoping to move up to NL100 before the end of the year.

Fuck the Fates

Last night I played 25-50 at the Metro and had a table that grinders dream about. I had 3 foreigners drunk off their asses having a shot of tequila every other hand, 2 obvious beginners who didn't know shit and was just there to gamble (Called a PF all-in with 5-3 offsuit. What. The. Fuck.), a good player who was super tight (ie, easy to read), and across me was a friend of mine so we were just gonna get out of each other's way. It just doesn't get any better than that kids.

After 3-4 orbits, I get 10-2 in the small blind. There's a lot of limpers so I just limp as well and that flop comes 10-7-2 with two clubs. Bullseye. I bet out around 300, and get called by the beginner on my right. Turn comes a non-club 3 so I bet out enough to have him commit all-in, which he gladly obliges. River is a non-club 4 which I thought was perfect until that monkey shows me his 56 offsuit. Yes folks, he called a pot size bet on the flop with 6 high and no draws, and then bet all-in on the turn with a gutshot. Really nice.

So I'm short stack now, and get QJ in the small blind after 1 orbit. There's a straddle to 100 so after a couple of callers I just call again. Flop is J high with 2 hearts. I go all-in for my last P700 on a P400 pot and get called by the foreiger with a flush draw. (Never heard of pot odds or implied odds huh?) Of course, a heart comes on the turn and I'm broke.

Normally I just call it a night after losing my buy-in but this table was just sooo juicy, I just had to rebuy. So I top up my stack and gird for battle once again. On the button I limp with J-8 of hearts. Flop comes all hearts. The shortstack CO raises 200 and I reraise to 700, putting him all in. He calls and shows me the nuts. Fuck!

Okay, now I'm starting to wonder what the hell is going on. I get 66 and I'm floated on JJ4 flop by the beginner with 9-10 and a 10 hits the river. I get JJ, raise, and the flop comes AK10 and people are betting like there's no tomorrow. None of my pocket pairs hit their sets and none of my draws make it. I DIDN'T WIN A SINGLE HAND IN 5 FUCKING HOURS!

My night finally ended when on the button I get QQ, raise to 400, and the drunk foreigner on my left goes all-in for 6k. I may have been tilting, but I forced myself to call and he has JJ. Whew! The pot was big enough to get me unstuck and maybe even leave me slightly ahead. Flop brings a J.

I was down 10k and now I have to rebuild at the 10-20. Sigh. Just another day of poker.