Leaving Town (6/21/2011)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 3:11PM I've decided to leave town today and head back to Maryland for a vacation. It's a shame I'm leaving because the action at the tables are completely ridiculous right now.
However, I haven't taken a week break from poker since Christmas and haven't been home for more than 3 days since December. I think a break will be good here. I've already made what I've needed for the month of June so that's it.
The past week on the tables has been brutal. The last two nights in particular were quite insane. Sunday I built up a $1700 stack in about 4 hours. Then I lost about $800 of that in one hand:
Psycho game I complete from the SB with 96s. There are already 6 limpers in. Pot is $40.
FLOP: 5 7 8 (rainbow, I flopped the nuts wow. I forgot 96 could even flop the nuts)
I lead out $25, UTG+1 calls, the BTN raises to $75 total, action is on me.....
UTG+1 is a casual player with about $800 effective. UTG does not understand the game well. He limps in with a lot of very trashy hands, he likes to see flops. He sometimes makes plays on reads that don't make much sense. BTN is an asian nit regular ($300 effective), but he will get super-aggressive with 2nd best hands in big situations, especially when he senses weakness.
So I have a re-raise on me against this asian reg and I can either re-pop or flat. 9 out of 10 times here I probably re-raise and just let the opponent make a mistake. But I decided to play it tricky and flat. I thought UTG had something like two-pair, maybe even weaker since he just flatted. And if I re-raised the regular would escape. My plan was to check shove any turn that didn't pair the board basically.
So I flat. UTG+1 also calls.
TURN. T
There could be worse turns. I didn't really think this changed anything. I still beat all two pairs and sets. And the likely draws of 9T or 46 do not get there. I checked, UTG+1 chceks, regular shoves $200 all-in as expected. I re-raise to $500. Now is the time to shut UTG+1 out of the hand.
He tanks for about 5 minutes and goes all in $700. It's only $200 more so I'm obviously snapping
RIVER brick
UTG+1 turns over J fucking 9 off-suit and drags the 2k pot. I did not even imagine such a hand being possible. I still thought I had the nuts on the turn. I was completely mind-fucked. I should have puked all over the table. But I did get myself in trouble by flatting the flop. Despite the brutal aftermath I don't hate mixing up my play here sometimes, 9 out of 10 times he's going to not four-outer me on the turn but oh well. So I finished that night up only $700, instead of $1700+ if I re-raise the flop.
Then Monday night we have another psycho game. I built up to a $1400 stack at one point. I then proceed to dwindle down to $700 on a mind-fuck span of nothing going right. Which included mega-coolers and a few suck-outs.
It's then 5:00 a.m and I'm leaving after the blinds do one more rotation. I'm in the SB and get dealt JJ (best starting hand in like 3 hours)
There are 3 limpers in. I re-raise to $30 from the SB. 3 callers (UTG+2 MP+2 and CO). UTG+2 is a complete station. MP+2 is an unknown, he just sat down from a broken game, enormous black guy must weight 600 pounds. Cut-off is a well known donator. He's one of the biggest fish in the entire casino, and he's a regular. I've seen him call $130 pre with K4o. When he's in the right mood he could be playing 100% of the deck. Him being on the table causes crazy lines to go around everywhere.
FLOP: As 9d 9h
I sometimes stab at the pot here, but I elected not to. With the station and CO there are tons of aces in their range. Also I have know idea what MP+2's range is like. Chances are I'll get two callers on this flop. Pot is $125. I check and everyone checks around.
TURN Js
Now I have what seems like the nut full-house. I lead out half pot $60 like I'm trying to steal. MP+2 calls.
RIVER Qs
Pot is $240. I make it $160. MP+2 takes about 2 minutes and shoves all in $300 more to me. I think about it about 2 minutes and then call. I mean I'm never really folding this. I'm thinking two minutes because I'm trying to consider what un-imaginable bull-shit actually beats me here?
maybe quad nines? I beat A9, I beat any flush, I beat any 9x, I beat Ax.
I call and he turns over pocket aces for the better full house of course. I stand up, slam my remaining $160 chips down, puke on the table, and immediately leave. I guess the only good thing is he didn't have me covered? But honestly go fuck yourself. I'm really hating the game right now. My emotions are not 100% in control after the last two nights.
It just never ends. And this is why I scrape by at barely winning 3k a month if things go decent, while I know regulars on the same stakes that normally win absurd amounts. So that was a nice -1k pot to ruin my week on another mega-cooler.
But I'm not going to let it ruin my week. I'm going on vacation and getting out of this fucking city for a while. I already made what I need for June.
When I come back I'm going to stay focused and always be looking for spots to improve. I'm not going to give up. It's all going to be about staying mistake free and controlling my emotions each session. I also need to be looking for spots to improve during each session.
-bag
Reader Comments (5)
Bags, I presume you are buying in for $500. If so, when you get to $1,500 why don't you rack out and book the win? You can always take a break and then buy back in for $500. I almost always book the win just to ensure a profitable session. Good luck and enjoy your break.
Lucypher,
Very good point. If I used this advice I really would have had a break through month. I will say I really feel comfortable playing deep stack. I also feel it improves my skill level and allows me to make more moves and get creative.
I dont normally like leaving when I get to 1k. I know why it's smart to leave but I like to go for huge sessions sometimes and I prefer deep play. If I lose the stack because of bs (see above) so be it, I'm only down -500.
Sunday I should have left with the 2k stack, ok that was ridiculous. Maybe when I come back il consider a leaving point unless the game is just too good.
Run better, man.
With your 96s hand I'm going to fast play it OOP 100% but I see your argument for varying play. I don't tend to get sneaky unless I'm last to act on each street in multiway pots but that's just my own style.
The JJ hand is tough. It's so hard to find a fold there and I doubt I find one most days.
enjoy your break!
I don't like the way I played the 96s hand and it cost me a lot of money. Picked a great time to get sneaky!
The break has been ok, I'll be back in action by the weekend.