the perils and triumps of cash game variances, and a recent 9th place finish in an MTT

not that i've been running entirely too bad recently, but i haven't been seeing alot of anything with cards lately. alot of nothing, actually. so...i went back to some poker readings during the week, and reread through some pages of Scott Fischman's "Online Ace", an article of NL ring game bankroll management from Bluff magazine, and an excerpt on strategizing from Phil Hellmuth's books. i did this because i've been getting frustrated through the past couple of weeks with the recurring theme i have adopted of making no money online monday through friday, and even sometimes going through a bout of bad beats, being felted here and there as well because of a donkey player's dumb luck. the temptation to play NL cash games spurred over the weekend when i decided to give not one, but two tables, a try (i used to steer clear from these because of my lack of discipline with a stop-loss and stop-win rule of thumb).

to my surprise, i was running really well on saturday. i played two .05/.10 cent 6-handed nl tables, and profited $17 dollars on one table, and $32 dollars on another after an hour or so. but as the week approached, i started to hit a severe losing streak when i would put all my chips in it with the best of it (both pre and post-flop), getting "out-donked" on several occasions to take a $60 dollar blow to my bankroll within a matter of an hour, purely out of reloading frustration. in the end, i had to step down to .01/.02 cent. so far, i feel my week has been a total waste, outside of work. this could just be superstition on my part, but i was beginning to come to the conclusion that the likelihood of being dealt a premium hand at the smallest of nl tables was just about slim to nothing. altogether, it feels absolutely crushing to have to drop entirely to the lowest of limits, and grind out an average of a .20 cent profit an hour. i feel like i am doing slave labor, as cruel as that may sound by any contrasting comparison. but i've been getting burned out on those as well.

so...last night, i was watching my taping of the latest WPT final table, and this kirk morrison guy who has been getting a ton of buzz recently, ends up finishing second on this episode. and apparently, he has cashed in 4 tournaments in this past years' WSOP events after being MIA from any poker for the past several years. i took that, in no relation, as a tiny bit of inspiration, and ended up going back to the 180 player MTT i was so adament about writing about in this blog. shocking as it seemed, about every playable hand i got dealt last night ended up being the nuts in every pot against any opponent who called my pre or post-flop raise...until the final table. the luck of big slick ran out in exactly the first hand at the final table. i raised two times the BB from mid position with AKo with the intentions of just stealing some blinds and antes, only to get called down by the chip leader, who was positioned at the button. the flop came out all low cards. i bet, he called. the turn brought another low card. i checked (seeing that he called my bet), and he bet, pushing me to call with about two thirds of my stack. i figured he paired with something on the board. so i folded, and he showed a King rag hand that ended up pairing on the board. Big slick failed me, and i was left severly short stacked. i look back on the hand and the opponent now, and think that pushing all-in preflop wouldn't have made a difference either. he had me covered in chips six times over and was playing alot of face card suited hands when it came down to the last 30 players (i've been starting to pay attention to the swings of the leaderboard in the later rounds, to get an idea of the opposition).

a few hands later, i am sitting to the right of the button. having been dealt a king, i was about to push all in, when the player to my right pushed all in. i fold, and the SB and BB call his raise. the flop comes out with two kings. i'm pissed at this point, except the player to my right has now pushed with nothing more than J10s, and somehow catches a runner runner to make a straight. i guess, had i committed, it would have made no difference. so the next hand, i push with 9-5o, and get called by the button who is holding A5s. guess who went out? yours truly. ;)

of course, it's easy for me to get pissed over not finishing with a better payday (i only received twice the amount of my buy-in for my efforts). but, as i go to check my stats on "thepokerdb.com", i'm still pleased with the fact that out of the 6 ITM finishes so far, 5 of them have been at the final table (which is where i want to be every time i'm ITM. i took it as a decent win, nonetheless, watched a movie, read a little bit, and went to bed.

something to note about "Online Ace" though when it comes to cash games. apparently, if i was loking for a return on my investment playing cash games, the suggestion is that a full ring game is possibly more profitable than short-handed, because more limpers will call with anything, allowing you to be the aggressor with premium or close to premium hands, stealing blinds pre-flop with ease, and raking some pretty pots.

so this morning, i decided to try out a full ring nl table at the .02/.05 cent limit, folding the first couple of hands, and not really observing the table all that much. but as i'm sitting on the button, i get dealt A10s, and watch as a couple of mid position opponents limp in. three spots behind me, the big stack at the table raises the bet to .60 cents, immediately beind called by the next player. i decide to call, seeing that .60 cents is nothing to cry about, and for the pure fact that i would be the last to act post-flop with a pretty decent hand. everyone else folds after me, including the SB and BB. the flop comes out all face cards (i can't remember specifically, except that i paired my ace, with two face cards to my suit for atop pair and a flush draw and a gutshot straight draw). the original raiser bets, the player that called the original bet calls the raise, and i decide to put all my chips in the middle of it with seing that my outs and percentage to catch a straight or flush, with the possibility of even stealing the pot with my reraise, are entirely good. both players now call, and all three of us are now all in. the turn brings a rag, at least keeping my ace flop alive, and the river brings my fifth card to my suit, giving me the nut flush, with no possibility of a full house to my opponents. original raiser shows AKs to make two pair on the board, the caller imediately after shows an ace rag hand (obviously a fish who is committing to the ace on board with the worst of it, and i steal the pot with my flush, netting a profit of around $10 dollars in just one hand. i take my winning, log off, and go to work. life is sweet this morning, and it's friday! woot woot!!!

crucial folds and table ettiquette

65 players left. i'm dealt AJs from mid position, i double the blinds in an attempt to at least steal from the SB and BB, and get called by three players (the big stack to my left, and both SB and BB included). flop comes A-J-x, all heart. i've hit top two pair and am first to act. i make a pot size bet, get called by the player to my left, and the other two fold. turn brings another heart. the player to my left has been committing himself to the pots everytime he has either Ax suited with the possibilty of catching a flush, or offsuit face cards to catch a straight. so i now had to consider that he was chasing a flush. i just couldn't put him on a straight draw. i check, and he goes all in. i think for about ten seconds, and fold. he turns over KQo (no heart), basically bluffing me with nothing other than a straight draw. i went from 6th in chips, to just about the shortest stack in the tournament. i hung around to end in 34th. needless to say, i'm still thinking about that hand. the board was just too scary to commit to with four hearts now on the turn, and the big stack still in. i couldn't risk all of my chips in the hopes - in my mind, at least - of catching another one of my two cards to make a full house.

so anyhow, i'm now at work on my day off, figuring it'd be best to blow off some frustration by playing catch up in the office before i approach the virtual felt again today. plus, i finally got a long-needed haircut for summer. no more long locks. hello beautiful babies! :)

5th place is for losers! ha ha

i am willing to become a firm believer of the fact that sometimes you just don't see hands. not like blind stealing when short stacked to run up against a pocket aces hand all in, but just more so the fact that when you get pretty hands to see a flop with, there's always someone at the table in early stages being super-aggressive trying to come over the top. same thing applies at the final table. example:

a player was sitting with over 100,000 in chips last night when it came down to the final 18. in the time it took to get to 9, i saw maybe two playable hands, at the least to steal some blinds with, where this player either was calling every pre-flop raise from any position, or going over the top with an all-in.

with seven players left, one severly short stacked, and another sitting out, i was not about to go out in a lower place than them when i was comfortably going back and forth between 3rd and 4th in chip count. needless to say, i made a faux pas based on the number of times i attempted this by basically losing a hefty amount of chips in the process. the downside for me was that i sat at the same table with this player the entire way. my goal was to get to the final 3, although at this point, i had to settle for 5th. there was absolutely no way to push him out of a hand. he was willing to risk up to 1/5th of his chip stack in the attempts to kiock another player out with the worst of it in hands. i can't say that i'm not happy with my progress, and my return to the final table after a week of not coming close. but, i'm not sure i would have gotten farther than 4th based on his table actions. to my surprise, his mannerisms somehow got him finishing in third. so, i guess, in a way, his actions caught up with him.

i had to do a little bit of rereading, just to maybe pinpoint some recent leaks in my game. and to my surprise, there have been many, especially emphasized with the recent win i made last sunday night. so, i went back to the game last night with an emphasis to fine tune my game, hence the fifth place finish. i'm hoping to have better results over this weekend. i would love nothing more than to move up in limits. two things to remember though: bankroll, and table image. ;)

the remedy of a home game

after getting pocket kings cracked by pocket aces about 65 hands into last nights MTT, i made a last second decision to join in on a home game and give Pokerstars a break. it's been almost an entire week with no ITM finish, as opposed to the three i cashed in over the weekend. this is leaving me with a convincing feeling that i'm better off as a weekend online player.


anyhow, i joined up with my brother and his friend (from the valet business that they run together) over at a local restaurant by his house, sat for about fifteen minutes with them before they finished their beers, and was able to grab another player in the process.


the game started at about 10:45pm, almost an hour later than what i was told previously, and we had about seven players. i decided to organize the structure of the chips and clock for the night, since we were starting so late, and most everyone else involved was interested in smoking weed and drinking beers. so, i did what any poker player does when there's money on the line: play smart, play hard, and fold without aggression.

anyways, i won! and pocketted $60 dollars for my efforts. i'm happy!

save it for the weekends?

my stop loss plan is already failing in its infancy. i logged in time for 4 MTT's last night, failing to cash in all of them. a net loss of $17.20. and although, i had been playing my hands to perfection, the river failed me again. one thing that is obvious about low limit stakes is that there is no respect for the bet. and although i had a pretty good read of my opposition at the table, somehow that miracle ace reared its ugly head on the turn, sending all of my chips to two different players. i'm sure as the day goes on, i'll rethink my latent decision to commit to a wired paired of jacks severly early in the game, but i knew with two opponents committed pre-flop to whatever the bet was, my hand would most likely hold up on the flop against the two players holding aces. my misread was that they both were holding big slick. a king wouldn't scare me, cause most players would fold against an all in and two callers pre-flop with a king high hand. it's just those crying callers that are ready to die without thought as to whether their hand might not hold up.

anyways, the upside is that i have yet to bring any emotion in to the game, which is a plus for me. i play the best to my ability. but i must stay focused on my stop loss plan. so, tonight, i will allow myself only one MTT.

again, here is an updated graph of my progress (and in this instance, my decline):

i know where my recent leak lies

i'm discovering that the recent leaks in my game have resulted from pushing all-in on draws, and mostly flush draws super early in the MTT's. granted, they work from time to time (and have frequently as of late), but not always. i seem to be relying on them all too often to save me from grinding against the donkey culture in the early to mid stages to gain a significant chip lead.

for example, big suited connectors are nice to limp in with early in the game, in my opinion. but my recent slide has been due to overagressiveness on a flush draw flop against the donk who calls your all-in with ace rag and gets lucky on the turn or river as you miss your flush entirely. if the pots is sitting at less than 400, why on earth should i be moving my remaining chip stack in when i don't even have a read on the player yet? i think my dreaded mistake also lies in getting monster hands early in the tournament (specifically within the first several hands). i think it's more of a mental trap for me. like getting dealt pocket Q's, pre-flop raising to push all the limpers out, and isolating the donk who carries Ace rag and is willing to go to the river to catch his ace, or at least see if i had anything. now, if the ace comes on the flop, i can easily throw my hand away to a raise-call, or a check-raise-call (depending on who is first to act). but if the ace comes by the river, and my opponent follows me through four rounds of betting, only to turn over his ace rag hand to win what would by then be a significant sized pot early on, i'm left crippled and superstitious over monster starting hands.

anyways, i went back to view my hand histories for the last seven tournaments i failed to cash in within the past two days, and see where my most recent leak lies: trusting the board to hold up for me, especially since this is low limit MTT holdem i'm trying to move up from.

tonight's goals:
1. restrategize
2. limit myself to two tournaments tonight (if i fail to cash in the first).

i must discipline myself to maintain good bankroll management skills. there's always another game around the corner.

until the next post,
adios! ;)