To say “it hasn’t been my month” would be an understatement. That would be like saying girls I date don’t always try to ruin my life (they do). Or Hitler was not that nice of a person (he was evil). I finished 40 hours down -$150 this week (scary close to break even, but still a loss). I’m still down 3 buy-ins total for the month.
I played close to mistake free this week, but nothing went my way. There were a few big suck-outs. One in particular for $1200 where I was all in with 85% to win, with one card to go. Couldn’t hold. 85% of the time I’m up over 1k this week. I guess that logic really doesn’t help me now, even if it is true. I still busted my ass 40 hours with nothing to show for it, and this is the beast that is live poker.
I don’t think I flopped a set in a meaningful situation this week. There were stretches of card dead that I really can’t explain. You would actually have to sit through the torture yourself. I remember an 8 hour stretch on Saturday where the best starting hand I saw was one JJ, while I flopped 0 sets. Many of the sessions this week went like that. Live poker can be brutal.
I have one more week in May to try to get something going. I’m extremely pessimistic right now. I go into sessions with a solid mistake free mindset, but I don’t expect anything to go right from a profit stand-point because it just never happens (when talking about the past 3 weeks). To put things in perspective 120 hours (my time logged this month) is under 3,500 hands. Much can go wrong in such an insignificant sample size.
It still takes a toll on your psychological state. Every night you do your best and it usually doesn’t matter. Meanwhile you glance over at the table next to you and the most ABC regular in the casino has miraculously won his standard $1500 in 3 hours or whatever. Must be nice….
That’s about all I have right now. I have noticed my desire to write has really plummeted since my decision to go pro. Most of my time is consumed you know.... trying to survive and improve at 2-5. I guess there also isn’t as much to rage against. I mean ok the downswings suck sometimes, but yeah we all know this. And it was 100% my choice, I knew what I was getting into. Well not really. I didn’t think Pokerstars would disappear over-night, that really wasn’t factored into my long-term plans, but I’m not even going to get into that right now. I think rage would fuel most of my good writing in the past. Not that I have ever written anything great on here, but I used to at least bash the corporate world well.
I think the grind has sucked out some of my creativity. Perhaps it’s just when I’m having a losing month.
I’m trying to stay positive about this upcoming week and I should have a better mind-set after I get some rest.
I played 7 hours tonight (Sunday) and lost -$25, another amazing result lol. One hand really destroyed my night. I isolated with a $30 PFR from the cut-off with QKo, 3 callers. The initial limper was UTG+2. UTG+2 is a very unimaginative regular. Tonight he has a $1500+ stack and is running like God.
FLOP: Js Tc Th
This is a good flop for me, I have an OE straight draw. There isn’t much anyone can hit on this flop and I’m thinking I take the pot down a large percentage of the time here. My tight image also makes the cbet success rate here higher. And if called I can always turn a straight or barrel for the pot on the right texture.
I lead out $70 into the $125 pot. Some clueless player in-between called all in for about $50, UTG+2 (regular mentioned above) also called. The regular calling concerned me to say the least. I know him calling me in a multi-way pot like that out of position means extreme strength.
Pot is now $245.
Turn 9s
I now have top straight. Action is on villain+2 and he donks out $75.
What the fuck?
I call. I’m not sure what this guy is donking here. All I know is that there is no way this nit is capable of making a move on me. He is extremely strong, and I’m not about to raise the turn with a straight here with the board paired. Pot is now $400.
River 8s.
BOARD: Js Tc Th 9s 8s
The river should change absolutely nothing. Villain+2 fearlessly leads out $150. I only need to be good 21% here to break even, but I’m not thinking about this river situation in those terms. I tank and think about the hand. I instinctively know that I’m beat here. This is the kind of lay down I used to make that I haven’t been able to during the past month. He LIMPED UTG, and I isolation-raised pre-flop. He can’t be playing JJ/TT like this? Not even he is that bad? I sense I’m beat, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what the fuck he is playing that could beat me. Maybe he has AT? Or QK? Same hand? I’m pretty confused.
I call after tanking a bit. He shows JTo. I fucked that up. What a god damn donation that was. It absolutely put me on life tilt that I just donated to such an unimaginative nit on that river. After the hand I actually walked outside for a few minutes I was so pissed off. And here we have an adjustment from online to live, which is the skill level of the regulars. In the half a million hands I played online TJ is not in a regular’s limping range UTG+2 EVER. It’s just not there. I think that is the reason I didn’t even consider TJ.
But live they really are that bad. This is a guy I see at the casino every week nitting up the tables. But there you have it, TJo is actually in his EP limping range pre-flop as stupid as that is. And he’s going to defend against my isolation with it. And 99% of the time he’s going to not flop a full-house, and I’ll take the pot from him usually, but tonight is his night. He is running like God remember? Of course he flopped it!
So really I paid him off because I under-estimated how bad of player he is, or ok that is not quite fair. I paid him off because I under-estimated how bad his pre-flop play really is. I didn’t think he was capable of limping UTG+2 with TJ and defending against my isolation with it pre. I felt I was beat on the river there. I think I called for the small percent chance he has something like QK, AT, KT, T9. But that’s just my imagination running wild, I really felt I was beat. I WAS SO SURE, that I even threw the $150 in for no reason. If life or death depended on the right play there would I have still called? NO I think I fold there. If someone had a gun to my head and I had to make the right play I think I fold. But it’s just $150 and I have the TOPS STRAIGHT!
Now that I thought it over I don’t think it’s a terrible call and I’m not going to beat myself up over it, that’s for sure. It was a very tough lay down. Probably the hand was a gray area, there isn't a 100% right or wrong choice. Sometimes he could show up with the same hand there. And I think sometimes he shows up with AT or Tx there. How does he play KT or AT there? Probably the same way on the flop. The turn donk bet was confusing, but I think with Tx he raises larger on the turn. The only hand he bets so small with is TJ. It’s almost as if his logic during the hand was “Ok don’t raise him out on the flop you have the NUTS omg omg, ok TURN SHIT, I better BET FOR value, Make it small KEEP HIM IN, I BET $75!”
Anyways, tough hand. The call on the river certainly wasn’t my worst mistake even though I sensed extreme danger.
That’s all I have for now, man I’m tired.
OH YEAH:
That hand was not actually the biggest mistake I made tonight. There was an extremely cute Japanese girl that was playing on my table. I have no idea what her age was. She could have been like 20 or 30. But anyways, she was a really bad player. When she busted out I should have gone over and talked to her, but she left pretty quickly. But I couldn’t pull the trigger, blew it. Oh well guess I’ll have no wait for the next club-rat which seems to be the only situation where I have the chance to hit on anyone. That worked out really well last time. Oh wait it really fucking didn’t.
-bag
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 6:00AM 