Two steps forward, two steps back

Things I should do this weekend:

• Go to Casino on Friday
• Go to stag w/ really juicy card game on Saturday
  
  

Things I will likely do this weekend:

• Neither
  

I just don’t feel like it. Fuck.

Cash Game Madness & New Online Strategy

Live Stuff: I played a cash game this weekend. It's not often I get to play these as I don't really talk to many people. It was the third time I played this game. It's a $1/$1 blind structure and ante games are played w/ $1 ante. I'm the only "poor" one in the game and every time I've been in the game someone had a piece of me. I'm really not comfortable with that, but I do love to play cards and it's a pretty soft game. I did well and I'm pleased.

After a good session I like to do something nice for the GF. We went to a movie on Sunday and had a nice steak dinner at home. Man I love steak. BTW, when did movies get so expensive? $7 for a MATINEE show? WTF is up with that! It's $9 for an evening show. Wow. I remember in college seeing movies for $1.50 and in my post college years I had friends that worked at a theatre. I guess I'm making up for not paying for those years. Geez that's expensive.

Oniline Stuff: I play exclusively at stars right now, and I've got a new strategy to stop me from bleeding chips when I'm drinking. I've got a bunch of FPP points, so when drinking I've been playing "free" satellites and I've been playing cash/SnG. So far it's good for an entry into the guaranteed 100k (1/4? on those), and a chop of an entry into the Sunday Million (1/1). I also finished 7th in a TD tourney (first time playing it online - 1 through 4 got something I recall) and I'm looking for a satellite to play tonight. Something I'm noticing is that good players are quite a bit easier to read than the bad ones. It's not even close. In the 70fpp sat's (winner gets $11), they are crap shoots. 3-4 people get knocked out very early and the rest try to coin-flip their way to victory. Not much post flop play until it's down to 2 to 4 people. In the Sunday Million sat (winner gets T$530), there was a TON of post-flop play, and it was good play. These people are better than I am by a long shot. I may watch some of these satellites just to see the play. The cutoff for good play/bad play seems to be ~1500fpp. Anything below that has pretty poor play, and the ones 1500 and up have much more solid play.

My cash game results at 10NL & 25NL have been pretty bad, but I'm quite pleased with my play. I did really well in 10NL sessions and got stacked twice in 25nl (once full once short). Once w/ flopped straight (lost to runner-runner quads - lol), and once w/ turned boat losing to larger river boat. Bummer man. Overall I think I'm playing well in the cash games. The one big leak I'm seeing is my pre-flop play in reraised pots. I've made some really bad calls. I'm taking it slow and not playing too many hands this month. These stakes frustrate me a bit.

Overall I'm fairly comfortable with my game right now. I wish I was rolled better for live play. I really wanted to be playing 2/5 by years end. Moving up is easier with online play as the money is out of reach. It seems that every time I make a nice score live I use the money for something else (stupid living expenses) and end up w/ the same meager roll. It's frustrating.

Vacation Ends & Some Live Micro Fun

After my week of fun camping and the week of crap that was work, I went back last weekend for more punishment. Also the camper needed to come home. That always helps. I tried to get out of going but it wasn't happening.

I was exhausted Friday night, but stayed up and played cards anyway. Saturday some new people came to visit. An older couple that love hold'em. What's that you say? I kept quiet and they got a game going. I joined a short time after the first person broke. I won't post hands as they really weren't entertaining, but I came out of the game up 400bb ($20). The next biggest winner made $8, and the know-it-all made $4. Fun stuff. Normally I can't play cards and enjoy it unless there is some significant action, but this was really refreshing for me. Perhaps because my last two live sessions have been disasters.

I read most of Phil Gordons Little Green Book over vacation and it's quite good. I came out of my reading with the following lessons (notice I didn't say I've learned them:

Position: Regardless of the table, I need to pay more attention to it. I've been opening up more from EP/MP, and sizing raises differently. I still need to work on my raise sizing by position, but not by playing more weak hands OOP.

Post Flop Play: Just because I feel I'm a better player post-flop doesn't mean I need to play more hands further post flop. I'm comfortable with the % of the time I'm c-betting, but I think I need to give up more on the flop, and slow down with one-pair hands & two-pair hands on the river in multi-way pots. I'm torn on this, but looking back at my play in July, I lost a ton in the last two sessions w/ TP or two pair. I'm not sure if it's just a bad run or if I'm overplaying my hands (see hand in last post for example).

I'm coming into the busiest time of the year for me, which kind of sucks. I want to play live once more this month and twice in August. I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it. I may have to play more online, although I don't feel comfortable after my last blowup.

Vacation & One Short Session

I left for vacation after work on the 3rd. I arrive and everything is set up and ready to roll. Had great steaks for dinner. I am the grill master. Had a martini and one too many G&T’s. Ended up being woken up by an alien. It was pretty traumatizing.

The 4th was a mix of rain & clouds and pretty shitty out. I played euchre all day and didn’t drink much.

The 5th was my free day. I left for the casino at around 10am, waited until 11 for a game. I camp less than 20 minutes from the casino. Man I wish I lived that close. I played some 2/4 while waiting for the 1/2NL game to open up. Horrible play. I miss limit. I didn’t play one hand past the flop and left after about 15 hands for the NL table. It was a good table. Directly on my left I had two pushers. They would spew chips, get down to $50 and do a stop & go. It usually took down the pot. I waited and waited for a chance to bust them. I did finally do it, but the pot was just over $20 and he pushed for $40. I had a AK on an A high board, and he had pocket 3’s. Um. Thanks.

After my last session I decided to stick with coffee. Not the best idea. I ate some breakfast, but not much. I got pretty sick to my stomach and ended up leaving after only a few hours down almost 4 buyins ($100 max game). I had a string of coolers. Nobody want to read about set over set, but I did have a hand where I held Ac Tc, the final board was 9c 8c Ax kc 7c (yeah, the 7 came on the river). If I’d have had the Jc Tc it would have qualified for the BBJ. I don’t run like Donnie.

The last hand of the night really got to me. I kind of had the shakes, but was playing well. I ordered a sandwich, took 2 bites and puked in the bathroom. Awesome. This was the 2nd or 3rd hand after I returned. I had AQ in the cutoff. 3 callers, I raise to $7 (pretty standard at this table). Strong player on the button calls, blinds fold, UTG and UTG+1 call and there was one fold. Stacks were pretty even. Button had about $180, I had $155, and UTG had about $200. Flop was A48 rainbow. I bet $20 into a ~$28 pot. Button & UTG fold, UTG+1 folds. Turn is a Q that also gave a flush draw. I bet $40 into an $85 pot, both call and I’m stoked about a nice pot that will get me back to almost even. River was a 7 that didn’t complete the flush. UTG checked, I bet $40, button said “you’ve got me out-kicked” and folded, and UTG pushed. Fuck me…

At this point there is over $300 in the pot and I have less than $50 left. I really had an impossible time putting him on a hand. I’ve played with him several times before. He’s an average player, but not at all tricky. Getting 5:1 I called. There was no way my two pair was good but I can’t make that hero laydown against that player with those odds. He smirked as I called and flipped over 56 for the river gutshot. With one pair, I think this is an easy river check. With two pair, I thought that was a good value bet. I guess not.

I went back to camp and relaxed the remainder of the day. Dinners the rest of the weed included ribs, steak, sausages & burgers, and pork tenderloin. This was the first year I brought a full size grill and it was worth it.

I also looked like a lobster when I left. I really should wear sunscreen.

My schedule sucks for the next seven weeks or so, so I’ve got to work at least a couple of trips in. It was a good vacation and I really enjoy camping. I re-read most of ToP and some of Phil Gordon’s book. I’ll throw some stuff from there in the next post.

The Good, The Bad, and The Drunk Guy

Damn it. I had this post done and I somehow deleted it. Groovy!

The Good: June was my best month of the year. I played well online (25nl) with the exception of one gin-induced session, and I played well live. I'm nowhere close to where I should be, but there are many hands that I play well naturally now, and fewer hands where I have no idea what to do. I think I'm where I was in my limit game in mid '05. I'm getting more comfortable. I had my best ever live session, followed by my worst session of the year. Technically not my worst session as I found $45 in reds in my pocket (no clue how they got there), but after the 2 hour mark, I recall very little and I played horribly. I'll easily say this was my worst live session of the year. Perhaps the worst in almost two.

The Drunk Guy: As I mentioned, I played one live and one online session quite poorly. Both involved large quantities of alcohol. I played very few live hands after my meltdown. I don't want to play with a drink in my hand. In live play, I'll usually drink coffee, and every 3rd one have coffee & baileys. For some reason the last comple of sessions I've switched to bourbon on the rocks (wtf?). I really don't konw why. I didn't have many in earlier sessions, but last week I went kind of nuts. I'm playing on Thursday and I'm going to try to not have one drink. We'll see how that goes.

The Bad: Calling - What the hell is wrong with me? It seems like every time I call a river bet I'm behind. If I raise I'm ahead. Either I need to call less or raise more. :)

Two Pair - Probably just variance, but I got killed with 2 pair the other night. About $400 on 5 or 6 hands. I'm a big fan of two pair (especially in EP), I know it's not always good, but I really got hammered with it.

Vacation: I leave tonight and return on Sunday. I'll get one day in at the casino, and it looks like we'll have several rainy days. I'm ok with that. I'll catch up with my buddy G.n.T. and do some reading. I've brought with me a host of magazines, as well as TOP, HOHv3, and Phil Gordons Little Red Book (or whatever it's called). I look forward to having my feet up and reading.

Have a safe hoilday!