i fvcking HATE it when i turn into a calling station and call off my chips with marginal values against relatively tight players.






ok, now that's off my chest, i think i can play some decent poker. the damage wasn't bad -- just two stacks -- but i REALLY hate losing it that way. fwiw, i totally disagree with mute that losing 2, 4, or 5 stacks is not a big deal (posted in daveb's LJ) -- when your opposition sucks this bad, you're usually doing something wrong or got massively sucked out on. in my case, i was just doing something wrong for the bulk of my losses.

yeah, i absolutely hate when i go into call-down mode and proceed to hand money over to donks. When a cold-deck streak combines with slight tilt play, things can get really ugly.

Unfortunately I think I have a latent tendency to pay off people too much when I get outdrawn. Another one of my favorite leaks is re=raising top 2 or top+bottom into top set... I do it like it's my job.

my personal fave is bottom set into top set... i've done that twice in the past month against rocks. i justified it by telling myself that since they were half-stacked, they could have a wide range... NOT!

aynway, i temporarily banished myself to the 50s and 100s until i sort it out. i just had a short session to get the bad taste out of my mouth. it worked.

although there was that AA23ds hand...

forum/viewtopic.php?t=19442

yeah... i'm familiar with the statistics, and this is a very good explanation of "typical" variance. that being said, these stats assume either that you're playing your best and/or your "best" includes making stupid call downs.

in my case, i was making stupid call downs that i would NEVER make when playing my A-game. as such, i don't really consider it "variance" as much as "bad play". this particular type bad play is NOT a normal part of my game (perhaps it is over the course of a year, but i think you get my point).

fwiw, i looked over the stats... i would have lost about one buy-in anyway had i folded. furthermore, i did actually have some equity (a flush redraw) in one of the hands, so in sklansky bux, i lost less than a buy-in. again, the amount isn't that big of a deal -- it's just the way i lost it.

finally, a lot of the increased variance in the big games seems to be a byproduct of people pushing and calling with marginal holdings. if one knows how to take advantage of it, then there is a lot of money to be made (e.g., mute). at the 200s and lower, most people only raise with the nuts or a HUGE draw, so you usually should have a good idea of where you're at. this seems to lead naturally to lower variance simply due to the nature of the games -- at least in the way that i play them.

one thing i wanted to mention -- maybe i should start a new thread -- it's amazing to me that so few people will jam with the nut low + nut flush draw on the flop at the 200s and lower. the typical line is to call the flop, fold the turn if it's a blank, call the turn if it makes a low, and bet/raise the turn if it's a flush. in a way, this makes it easier to play against these players, but don't they realize that they have a mathematical edge AND jamming these kinds of pots gives the game a good image to attract more dead money?

ugh

Sigh, so is this a normal phase for an omaha player? I seemed to be playing this way this last weekend and it lost me 2 buyins over the weekend. I was down 4 but corrected it sunday afternoon and got 2 back. Wednesday I start the recovery process...

yeah, i think it's pretty normal.

it happens to me when:

- i haven't played in a while

- i'm drunk

- i'm card dead / flop dead for an extended period of time

- when i play FR immediately after playing SH


fwiw, it was interesting to watch mute play FR and HU/SH at the same time. i imagine that i could do it, too, IF i played a lot and played regularly, but it was nice to watch someone do it well (usually).

Yeah...what Mute said...uh huh