Another Good Month?

mood: damn tired.

After starting the month fairly cold and not much happening, I've run hot over the last two weeks. I'm playing well both live and online and have made some nice scores. Just yesterday I won $1400 in a 3 1/2 hour session of 1/2 online, then won close to $700 playing 2/5 at the Venetian for another 3 1/2 hours..

Only now do I realize how bad I started to play during my cold streak at the end of June and the entire month of July. In that time I had lost my confidence, my aggression, and my fearless style of play. It took a good while to get it all back.

If I hadn't started playing online again in late August and all of September, I may very well be broke. I needed a fresh venue for poker. Every time I walked into casino I had a sense of dread before I sat down. Loss after loss will do that to you. I played a fearful game. Instead of exploiting my opponents' weaknesses, I became a passive weak-tight old man. I would still get in big pots with the best of it (and lose to suck outs) but I would miss value on smaller pots. I stopped bluffing. I stopped playing poker and played only the cards. That's probably good enough to win over the long run in a 2/5 live game, but it's not my style nor is it the most profitable approach.

Online saved my game and my bankroll. It's amazing how fortunate I was to get a hot run of cards these last two months. I'm my old self. I'm making big bets, big calls, and big laydowns with confidence. Suddenly I'm alive again with dreams of bigger things. 2/4 online is in front of me and I can see 5/10 on the horizon. My excitement for poker has been renewed. I'm filled with confidence and I have more experience from my last climb up these stakes. I won't repeat the same mistakes I made.

Now if only I could play more hours!

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Stats for September so far:
Earnings: $6297.27
Sessions: 34
Time played: 82h 16m (so weak)
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Hands:

This guy accused me of cheating. However, I had played with him for a few hours and was waiting for him to finally try a steal on my aggressive play. I didn't think his betting made much sense for the hand (unless he had a huge monster) so I called him down accordingly.

Hand #1267011477000978: Amsterdam (6-max) 11477
Seat 2: NoTurNanBack (678.95 in chips)
Seat 4: CrazyIvan (382.30 in chips)
Seat 5: alwayswins (928.35 in chips)
Seat 6: tcalcs (272.00 in chips)
alwayswins: posts small blind $2
tcalcs: posts big blind $4
Dealt to alwayswins [ 8d 8h ]
NoTurNanBack: folds
CrazyIvan: folds
alwayswins: raises to $12
tcalcs: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Ts 2s 7h ]
alwayswins: bets $16
tcalcs: raises to $32
alwayswins: calls
*** TURN *** [ Kh ]
alwayswins: checks
tcalcs: bets $43
alwayswins: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 5h ]
alwayswins: checks
tcalcs: is all in
alwayswins: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
tcalcs: shows [ 6s 3d ] (High Card, King)
alwayswins: shows [ 8d 8h ] (Pair of Eights)
alwayswins wins $542 with Pair of Eights

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Opponent was a reg at the 2/4 game. I knew that he knew I had a low overpair, but since he knows I'm weak, why would he bet so big on the river?

Hand #1267011472000609: Amsterdam (6-max) 11472
Seat 1: CrazyIvan (425.00 in chips)
Seat 2: gotcha28 (408.05 in chips)
Seat 5: alwayswins (646.40 in chips)
Seat 7: dgt21 (292.85 in chips)
Seat 8: hodog020 (300.00 in chips)
Seat 9: The_Machine (443.60 in chips)
alwayswins: posts small blind $2
dgt21: posts big blind $4
Dealt to alwayswins [ Jh Js ]
The_Machine: calls
CrazyIvan: folds
gotcha28: folds
alwayswins: raises to $24
dgt21: folds
The_Machine: calls
*** FLOP *** [ 6s 3c Ah ]
alwayswins: bets $34
The_Machine: calls
*** TURN *** [ 9d ]
alwayswins: checks
The_Machine: bets $80
alwayswins: calls
*** RIVER *** [ Kc ]
alwayswins: checks
The_Machine: bets $200
alwayswins: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
The_Machine: shows [ 4d 4c ] (Pair of Fours)
alwayswins: shows [ Jh Js ] (Pair of Jacks)
alwayswins wins $678 with Pair of Jacks

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The only river card that would cost me a ton of money in this pot:


Hand #1267011472000642: Amsterdam (6-max) 11472
Seat 1: CrazyIvan (379.55 in chips)
Seat 2: gotcha28 (423.95 in chips)
Seat 3: ptbaba (41.30 in chips)
Seat 5: alwayswins (967.60 in chips)
Seat 8: hodog020 (482.40 in chips)
Seat 9: The_Machine (460.00 in chips)
ptbaba: posts small blind $2
alwayswins: posts big blind $4
Dealt to alwayswins [ 6h 6d ]
hodog020: folds
The_Machine: folds
CrazyIvan: folds
gotcha28: raises to $14
ptbaba: folds
alwayswins: calls
*** FLOP *** [ Qc 3h 4c ]
alwayswins: bets $22
gotcha28: calls
*** TURN *** [ 7h ]
alwayswins: bets $52
gotcha28: calls
*** RIVER *** [ 5h ]
alwayswins: bets $120
gotcha28: raises to $240
alwayswins: calls
*** SHOW DOWN ***
gotcha28: shows [ 9h Ah ] (Flush, Ace high)
alwayswins: mucks

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Just an unimportant hand that shows betting scare cards sometimes work. I don't remember what I had except that I def didn't have an ace.

http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand= ... wcLCxMA%3d

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I had 7c9c. Missed everything but my opponent had been folding to big bets, and that's one hell of a scare card. This is a bet I would not have made a few weeks ago when I was still recovering my game after the losing streak.

http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand= ... wcLCxMA%3d

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Leading with sets does work on occasion

http://cakepoker.com/HandHistory/?Hand= ... wcLCxMA%3d

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Congrats on your run KG. Now get some more fucking hands in, jeeeeez.

On the A scare card HH, why can we see his cards?

Last HH - guy with K9o is unbelievable.

I dont like your play with the set. I think you either need to reraise the flop or lead the turn.

The hand where the A hits the turn is pretty standard but the 66 and 88 hands are unreal. Good job!

Whats always amazed me about your play is your unreal calldowns. I have watched just about every Cardrunners video there is but still never seen anyone do calldowns like that. As I think you know, just be wary with them in the future before they get out of line

Nice play.

/Cooper

well done KG, glad to hear you're running hot again.