So right after 2 huge sessions and being up $100, I am down a mighty $61.60 today.
742 hands
-$61.60
$318.30
Now I am $81.70 away from my goal for this month. It’s been a rollercoaster ride this poker thing. Maybe i don’t play enough hands to breakeven faster, but it seems like losing 1-2 buyins a day comes more often than i think it would. Sure i made bad calls when i had the 2nd best hand all day, but i feel like i am being outdrawn a lot today. AK vs AA on a K high board. JJ vs set of Tens on a 7T382 board. He call flop, raise 3x on turn. I really couldn’t beat anything by now except a flush draw semi bluff, which is unlikely since he’s a 12/0 player AF only 2. I called raise on turn. Check river, he bet $9 into $16 pot. I think for longest time, and actually think he might be bluffing with a busted draw, called and he obviously has TT for the set. I shouldn’t think so much when against tight players, they basically play really standard, i shoulda just fold turn.
I am increasing frustrated by putting people on a range, especially on a 4straight/4flush kinda board. It’s just so many cards they can call you down with, you have no idea what they actually have, and I don’t know when to stop barreling on such boards. I feel like my poker is plateauing at the moment, meaning I haven’t learned anything new this week. I can’t seem to be able to think about poker away from the game. I guess playing and losing helps in the motivation to study the game more.
Live Cash Game
Played a cash game yesterday. Basically plan to play exactly like i do online. Meaning bet premium hands for value. Since live is always loose and call-y. A very loose player limped and i raised like 8x with A9s, which is slightly on the bigger side of a raise but in this game, bound to get a caller still. One guy called. Loose player who limped announced he is all-in for 75x. I thought for a while, and since a limp shove range is at best a weak ace, KQ KJ and low pockets 22-88 type hands, i definitely thought i was ahead most of the time with A9s to call. That plus the fact this player has shown that he is capable of shoving preflop with almost atc – 56o etc. Well i didn’t factor in the fact that he thinks I am tight player, and yet willing to shove over my raise. That means he probably has a better hand this time. I called his shove for the first time in like many times, shockingly another guy called behind. We are all-in. Loose player shows AQo, I am very shocked to say the least, never expect him to limp such a strong hand. Guy behind showed A8o, which is so bad a call. I got A8o guy covered, but loose player got me covered. In my shock i forgot that I was dealer for that hand (I had position that is why i raised with A9s in the first place). I opened the 5 cards, and i got myself a diamond flush for the bad beat. I felt so bad to loose player coz it was obviously a wrong move on my part to call. But given a limp shove and super loose image, the decision to call was right. Loose player began to tilt after this bad beat and lost like another 3/4 buy-ins.
I didn’t enjoy myself though, i thought i wasn’t thinking like half way into the session. I didn’t get any reasonable holdings. In fact i only had 3/4 premiums all night. Nevermind, managed to steal some pots with huge cbets in position. Always a great strategy against loose limpers. I donked off some money trying to play position with A5o against a huge raise. Then donked off some more in i forgot what. But i was sitting with a nice 250-300BB stack after that 3-way suckout. I donked off like 50BB. And decided to play tight like online. Got a run of bad cards. I can’t believe it 38 4T Q2s keep getting dealt these type of shit cards. I prolly could be more “pro-active” like my friend W who was playing well and on a sick run. He was raising 56o and all sorts of junk from any position. I think his PFR is something like 40-50%. But whatever, his 3.5x raise always still gets 4-5 callers every round. But i really don’t think there is any fold equity against loose players, that is why i don’t try his strategy, but W begs to differ and maintains it is a very effective strategy coz he would get paid of when he actually has his premiums. I don’t know, i think these people just call with like 30% of theirs hand all the way up to a 25BB raise preflop. Which is kinda crazy but not uncommon in live cash games.
Also i would like to add that one thing about live cash games is that people smoke. And i have to breathe in the 2nd hand smoke, and my whole body smells of smoke too. I may be over blaming things for my bad sessions, but i think that inhaling smoke makes it harder for me to think. Whether this is true or not, i don’t like playing in a smoke filled area.
Oh ya so much for complaing I had no hands. The 2nd last hand of the night I was dealt red Queens. Shipped it and got called by KJs. Flop came Q, then board paired so I had the nuts. Happy. That is how patience pays. The last hand of the day, everyone posted 2.5bb ante. Pot was around 30BB to start. I looked down and found… red Queens again! wow.. what are the chances. I thought that my tightness was really getting rewarded finally right at the end of the session. People limped of course it was a friendly last round, everyone wants a piece of it. I had to spoil it by raising huge, 15BB. Super loose guy to my left shoves. I don’t really think about his range now, although he did showdown some crazy hands like K8s or something earlier. A girl who is a big winner in the 2 cash games we played so far shoved too. I call of course. Flop came KTxxK. Girl rejoiced and showed King six -.- Guy showed Q8. Awesome way to lose to a 3 outer. Wasn’t so affected, coz i was up 3 buyins by then, and i only lost a buy-in this pot.
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