Humbling experience are never few and far between when you play poker for a living. Especially at the lowest of low stakes. However I experienced one of my most humbling experiences last Wednesday when I actually booked a win of over $660. I hit 3 sets vs. top pair and got paid off each time and also flopped quads vs. a guy who rivered a full house. Lets just say things went my way.
The humbleness came the next day when I lost about $360. I thought back to my win the day before and realized I didn’t really earn it. Or did I? This game is so confusing. On one hand I was a serious luckbox. However I was able to maximize my earnings in all of my big hands and stay out of hot water the rest of the day. Those 2 things are skills, arent they? I guess theres some days where the cards just play themselves and its our jobs to maximize the wins and keep the losses to a low. That’s most days actually.
Last week started with high hopes and ended abruptly due to some personal things I had to get done. After a small loss followed by my $660 session I played 12hrs Thursday and lost about $360. As I’ve stated before I really have trouble when my sessions go past the 6 or 7 hour mark. Its funny because I really wanna stick to 6hr sessions maximum but then again I need to start putting in more hours to maximize my earnings. Somethings got to give.
I’ve also had trouble playing evening and night hours lately. Thursday I found myself against a wreckless night crowd and It didn’t end well for me. I need more balance and consistency in my schedule and heres what I’m going with for the time ahead….
I’m hoping to play everyday from tomorrow Wed June 27 thru Thursday July 5th. I may possibly take 1 day off. Monday I booked a room so I’m back to putting double Monday sessions into my routine with a break in between. I’m seriously poised for a big week because I’m dying to get up to 2/5 and also play some tourneys. Hopefully all goes well.
On a sidenote I've been watching a ton of poker stuff on YouTube lately. I found this funny Interview with Durrr from 2009 where hes clearly uncomfortable with something. Either being on camera or talking to a girl...I dunno. But aside from the sillyness one thing he said really stuck out and that was "It's really easy to fold". Its so basic yet Its so true. Think about it. I myself am guilty of folding too often. I've told myself that you can't win at this game without folding the best hand often...which is true. But maybe what I think of as one of my biggest skills, is just me taking the easy way out.
The past 4 or 5 weeks have been a roller coaster ride for me. Just when I string a couple small winning sessions together I’m hit with a $400 loss. I’ve spent countless hours working on my game the past few weeks and have felt great while playing but the results just haven’t been there. That is until last Wednesday when everything turned around for me (hopefully for the long run).
Between Wednesday-Friday of last week I played 3 winning sessions at 1/2 equaling only 16.5 hrs but ending up $1300+ to the good. I got back to playing ABC poker, table selected well, and most importantly ran good. I never really got put in a spot at all where I had to make a tough decision and that’s the nuts IMO.
If you’re an aspiring live NL player I highly suggest you start listening to Deuce Plays Podcast hosted by Bart Hanson. Its subscription based now on Deuces Cracked training site but theres about 2 or 3 years of free episodes available online. At first I found his stuff really advanced because he’s crushing 5/10 NL but more often then not I’ll pick up something worthwhile from listening. His Hands From A Live Cash Game episodes are great. His best episodes feature a California pro named “Limon”. I think theres 4 different episodes with Limon on there. One great thing Limon pointed out is that some players focus a ton on creating a table image when they should be focusing more on table selection. Table image is something I’ve been focusing on tremendously in the past few weeks but have not been very successful with. It was nice to hear an established pro say its totally overrated. I think his little advice helped me to fall back in my ABC mode the last few days and just crush the game against inferior players at weaker tables.
So all in all I feel like I’m back and hopefully I’ve still got some run-good left in me for this upcoming week. I had to take the weekend off for Fathers Day plus today to watch my daughter but hopefully I can get a solid 30hrs+ in this week. After squaring away my finances over the weekend My bankrolls just under $4,900. I’m only a big week or 2 away from being able to take shots at 2/5. Im requiring myself a $6k roll to take periodic $600 buyin shots at 2/5 only if the game looks soft. Other than that Im still a 1/2 player until my roll reaches at least 10K. Also when I square up my money every other week Im beginning to put 1% of my winnings aside towards future live tournaments. I just feel like If I want to take shots at tourneys in the next year I better make an organized plan to do so. If I don’t I’ll either just miss out altogether or spew some of my hard earned cash game money on some spur of the moment tourney im not prepared for. This way I can emotionally detach myself from the money before I buy in with it. We'll see what happens.
Despite every bone in my body itching to go the poker room today I’m taking a well needed day off. Maybe even more than 1 day. I just really need to re-energize myself right now. I’ve been having a ton of mental fatigue the last few days and the run of cards I’ve been getting hasn’t done much to help.
After last weeks huge memorial day loss of almost $600 I was down over $900 8 days into my 2 week pay period span. After 2 weeks I take all my profits and divide them into bills…pocket money…and 30% goes back into my bankroll. More often than not Im up after 2 weeks so im comfortable doing this. Well, after being down $900+ last Monday I was able to grind my way back even by Saturday which was pretty remarkable. 5 winning sessions in a row to cap off the period. But since I had no profit I’ve been picking at my bankroll little by little this week. Which is OK but I need to get something going on the felt so I can get moving on up to 2/5. And so I can live comfortably between now and then.
This week has been a nightmare. Losing less than 2 buy ins in 2 days shouldn’t be considered a total travesty but the way its been happening is just wrong. I’ve been positioning myself on tables with truly incompetent players and I’ve been playing my A Game and I’m still not coming out ahead. Monday I squandered a session in which I was up over $200 to being stuck over $100 at a table with 2 complete fish. I raised in position every time with superior hands to these guys and got out flopped over and over and over and over again. Wednesday was more of the same. Key hands included me raising preflop with AQ and getting called by a donkey with a deuce in his hand and the flop was Q22. And also Aces all in on the flop getting cracked by a flush draw. 2wice that day I either turned or rivered a 1 outer that completed my gutshot straight and gave another guy a flush. It just hurts when you work on your game as much as I do and these totally novice recreational players end up winning your money. I understand who wins in the long run but it definitely weighs on you when your trying to make a living off of this game.
Yesterday I found myself at what I call a low variance table which I was happy to be at due to mental reasons. In other words I really couldn't afford a big losing day so I played it safe. The table was a mix of nitty regs and a couple unknowns that were all pretty shortstacked. The deck of cards tried its hardest to set me up for defeat but I would not let it happen. These are the folds I made:
Fold 1
Older reg who never raises pre pops it to $10 utg. Im in UTG+2 with QQ. He only has $150 behind so if I 3 bet hes gonna shove Aces or kings and fold everything worse except maybe jacks. But that’s a maybe. I have a solid image remember. So I just call. I put him on a rang of big PP’s and AK maybe AQ. Flop is J66 he bets about ½ pot and I min raise figuring he’ll fold or flat with hands that I beat or re-pop with all hands that beat me. Hes a guy that just plays the strength of his hand, nothing tricky. Well, without hesitation he raises me about half his stack just begging for a call so I fold my QQ. I guess its plausible that he has AJ there and just puts me on a worse jack but I feel its more likely im beat…especially when I didn’t really have AJ in his range initially. He doesn’t show.
Fold 2
After 2 limpers I pop it to $12 with AT in the cutoff. Ive got a tight image I’d be fine taking down the blinds and dead money here with this hand but I actually end up with 3 callers. Flop comes AJT with 2 diamonds and the sb who is a well known reg I always play with donks an overbet into the pot. The other 2 fold. I play with this guy enough to know hes protecting his BIG made hand against the draws. He has anything from 2 pair to a straight which leaves one hand I beat. So after grinding for the last 3 hrs without a hand I have to fold two pair on a flop. The reg shows me pocket tens for a nice laydown by me.
Fold 3
I finally get my best starting hand since QQ when Im dealt TT UTG. I raise $12 and get insta called by tight old lady to my left which already has me thinking I might be behind. Then a SUPER tight old man reg 3 bets to about $50. I fold and the old lady actually folds KK face up…hilarious as the 3 bettor shows QQ.
Fold 4
I 3 bet a loose utg raiser who opened $7 to $25 with QQ in mid pos and get 4 bet by the reg from before who had the set of tens. He would NEVER 4 bet without the goods. Especially against me. I fold and he shows KK.
Fold 5
I raise UTG with AK to $13. My buddy from last hand 3 bets. This is clearly QQ+. Then a newbie in the blinds 4 bets. I fold and the two players get it all in with AA and KK. How am I dealt AK here? How is this happening?
So see what I mean when I say the deck was stacked against me. Would you believe after all of that I ended up $74? I actually made a lot of money folding. Yesterday could and should have been a big loss for me. I would’ve never folded those big hands to a wreckless Friday night crowd but when you play with the same opponents a lot and know their tendencies those folds aren’t really as hard as they seem. With that being said I think at least 1 day off to relax and take my mind off things might be in order.
