Poker flows in cycles. Ride and enjoy the highs, but try to get out of the lows as quickly as possible, while trying to learn all you can.Welcome to the low.
Played at Irish Jim's on Wednesday. Good table, 10 handed. I could not have played worse if I tried. I went bust once, and rebought once. Got felted when I lost to a Broadway straight. I wasn't mad at the player that beat me--I was mad at me. Poor decision after poor decision, compounded by even more bad decisions.
I am a victim of my previous success in the league. My 2 wins had me feeling bullet-proof. Not any more.
I played a tourney online at UB (a freeroll), with over 4000 players. Just for kicks, nothing really on the line. I make some money if I hit top 30. Inside of 800 players remaining, I pick up AQ offsuit, and raise in early position. Button has me outchipped, but not by too much. Blinds are 100-200 (or something like that). I have about 30K in chips. I bump it to 1200 after 1 other player limped. Button pops it another 2K. I re-raise it to 6700, he pushes it to 12K, I go all in. Basically, I don't believe he has anything other than a stack to try and bully someone. The all in would drop his stack to about 13K, and he calls with J-10 off.
I flop a set of Q's, he picks up a heart flush draw on the turn, and gets there on the river.
Believe it or not, I actually started feeling better about myself after that hand. Yes, I lost, but I lost to a complete lunatic who got all the chips in way behind, and needed a miracle to win it. I made the right decision, made the right play. The result wasn't what I wanted, but still, I was in the correct position with the best hand.
Ultimately, that's all we can hope for. When the money goes in, have the best of it. If the cards break even, good decisions will be rewarded more often than not.
Think another trip to the pub league is on tap for Sunday--don't hold me to that, but if I go, I look forward to making more good decisions. Hopefully, I have turned the corner and will start having those good results to go along with good decisions.
Make it a great weekend.
~M
2 comments:
The AQ hand is one of the saddest stories I've read in a while. Why not lay down to the reraise? If you're gonna repop, why not shove since you're willing to put your tourney on the line with an AQ?
Even if he's weak, you're most likely a 3:2 favorite. At best you're 3:1 if he's holding something like an 83. Any pair, even deuces, it's a coinflip.
anon-
After watching that player play several hands prior to the AQ, I had seen him reraise with less than premium holdings. He was also playing premium hands very passively. Those reasons combined to tell me he was not holding a pair, or even an ace of any kind.
Again, I felt I made the right play, and I did. The result didn't come, but, in the end, correct decisions are what I needed to see me make.
Against a different player, I could easily muck AQ. I also hadn't taken many flops in the time I was sitting at the table, and at one point raised with KQs. This same player flat called, and made a ridicu-bet on the flop, which I mucked face up.
I'm not too beaten up about busting on the AQ hand. I did what I wanted to-got my opponent in drawing bad for a majority of his stack, and got unlucky. It happens.
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