Having a rough time at the $100 6max tables on UB lately, and I'm trying to find out what part is due to bad play and what part to bad luck.
I used to do very well in those games - then I moved to the $200 tables, quickly lost the 10buyins i had set apart for those (where 6 of those were probably unavoidable, like flush over flush things and the other 4 were probably avoidable, like flopping overpairs against sets).
Anyway, back at the $100s I'm having an extremely hard time to keep afloat. Past 10k hands I'm not down a shocking amount - about 7 buyins, but what worries me most is the fact that I don't seem to be able to pull any successful move.
I'll post a few hands below, but as far as I can see the main culprits are as follows:
1) by far the biggest losers: AA, KK. Especially in reraised pots I have a hard time getting away from those on innocent looking flops, especially against hyperaggressive opponents.
2) whereas it used to be that raising pf and cbetting would be at least sufficient to keep up with the blinds, now I'm hardly ever taking down a pot without a struggle. Some players in the game 3bet me virtually every time, and others simply float any flop. I checked my 350 hand session for today, and only 12% of cbets was successful. In about 50% of cases I was checkraised, the other cases floated.
3) Not able to produce hands with enough showdown value. For example, the last 3k hands I have made 8 sets (statistics experts, is this indeed not enough or is it my imagination) out of which only 2 resulted in a decent sized pot won. 3 resulted in stack loss (2 overset, one outdrawn) and the other 3 nobody had anything.
Other than that, I simply have too many sessions where I can't get anything better than middle pair, and with the aggression levels at these games I'm often hesitant to invest half a stack with those. In short, I'm losing almost everything which goes to showdown.
4) Problems with shortstacks. Maybe I'm not combatting those in the optimal way, but it seems that they just take my stack 30bb at a time. Losing most allin preflop confrontations, and simply can't show down a winner against them.
5) Unsuccessful bluffs. I don't bluff a lot in these games, but there are a lot of people getting out of line, 3betting preflop with crap, 3barreling garbage hands or simply bullying too much. It used to be the case that at least once every 100 hands or so I'd rake in a medium sized pot with a well-timed bluff, but those days seem to be over. Since I'm getting pretty weak cards I've tightened up considerably (down from laggy32% or so to 20%), but it does not result in people giving you more credit when you come in for a raise, even from EP.
Anyway, this is doubly troublesome; I'm not making good enough hands to bet anything for value, and most of the time I have at best a pure bluffcatcher. So, I need the occasional bluff to work in order to make up for all missed flops and small pots lost.
Some hands as a sanity check:
1a) As said, big pairs in reraised pots:
I have
[Kc] in the BB, CO raises, I repop to $11. CO calls (both started with full stack). I haven't been 3betting a lot.
Flop:
[7s][8c]. I lead for $20, CO pushes, I call?
1b)
[Ah] UTG. I raise to $3,50, CO reraises to $16 (he's been doing every other time I raise). Folded to me, I call. (Thought of reraising here, but I'm pretty sure he'll fire a pot bet on any flop). Flop:
[2h][6d]. I check, CO bets $30, I CRAI?
2) Very standard situation. I get
[Jc] on the button and raise one limper to $4,50.
BB calls. Flop is
[Th][Qs]. BB checks, I make a $8 Cbet, BB checkraises to $20. This is the fate of most of my Cbets. How many times does this have to happen before you play back?
3) Pay off this river? I get
[Jh] on the button. I raise to $3,50, BB calls. Flop is
[6h][Ts]. BB leads for $5, I raise to $18, BB calls. Turn:
. BB leads for $12. I call?? River:
. BB leads for $30?
4) I have AQo in the CO. Button is short with $30. I raise, button calls, rest folds. Flop: 45Q rainbow. I bet $7, button pushes, I call?
5a) I don't like to 3barrel a lot ( in fact I hardly ever do it, and if opponent would pay any attention would know this). Here my hand improved on the turn, and on the river I didn't see how not to continue firing.
I get
[6s] in the CO and openraise to $3,50. SB, BB calls. Flop is
[4s][5s]. I fire a $9 CBet/semibluff. BB calls (I'm pretty sure BB would checkraise with a decent hand there). Turn:
. Picked up oesd as well. BB checks, I fire $24, BB hesitates but calls again. River:
. BB checks again, I fire another $35? BB calls with TT.
5b) I get
[9s] OTB. CO raises (he's been insanely loose aggressive preflop) so I decide to repop to $12. CO calls. We both start with about $120. Flop comes
[8s][Js], giving me the big draw. CO bets $4, I raise to $25, CO calls. Turn:
. CO checks, I bet $40, CO calls again. (Was hoping that the A was a scarecard). River:
CO bets $4 again, I shove for almost $40. CO calls with 99?