This is starting to feel like such a grind. I don't even mean the playing itself, I mean the fact that I hardly ever seem to really book a good win anymore, just a whole lot of small losses and small wins. I don't get it. A few months ago, I had a week where I made $2400 playing 3-6 in the first 5 days. Granted, I pissed away 900 of it over the next two, heh heh. But why is that sort of thing so impossible now? I realize 2400 in 5 days is way beyond what I have the right to expect playing 3-6...but other than the $400 I won the other day, I haven't really been seeing nearly enough big wins.

I just finished a 3 hour late-nighter, trying to get the new week off to a good start, and had no success. Wound up about 100 down, and it's just so god-damned frustrating because I stayed calm and patient the whole time, only to have the beats keep raining in. What a fucking waste.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1240

-TW

So it occured to me today that there are mistakes, and there are MISTAKES in poker. When I really have to think about a decision, or when I wonder about it afterwards, this means that there's a chance I'll make or have made a mistake. Examples are things like whether to value-bet the river, or whether to call or value-raise with a big draw. Whenever there's more than one option and you're not entirely sure which is best, there's a chance you'll make a mistake. And while these mistakes add up if they happen too frequently, the truth of the matter is that they really only signify a small fraction of a bet. Everyone, even great poker players, makes mistakes.

And then there are MISTAKES. When I make a MISTAKE, I know it's bad when I'm doing it, and there's no doubt in my mind that it was a big time fuck-up afterwards. Think like being raised on the turn and calling down with a one-pair hand I know is beaten, or cold-calling preflop with a hand that I know is gonna be trouble.

Bad players make a ton of mistakes and a good number of MISTAKES. Good players make some mistakes, but not many big ones. And great players only makes a few mistakes, and rarely if ever make...okay, I feel like an idiot doing the capital-letter thing yet again. You know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, the point that I'm trying to reach is that if I could just eliminate the capitalized-mistakes, I'd be sound as a bloody pound. And it seems so easy. Like I said, I know it'd the wrong move before and after I do it...and yet they still happen.

The good news is that I didn't make very many of them in this past session I just completed. I played a bit tighter than I usually do, trying to just get in some sort of comfort zone and avoid putting myself in bad spots. I tried to remember that selective aggression doesn't quite work without the selective part.

The cards weren't even all that good. QQ was really the bane of my existance. I got it six times, and won twice. And the wins were quite small (on one, it was heads-up with an A-K-x flop. I bet, he called, we checked down and I won. On the other, I flopped a set with 3 clubs on the board; the 4th came on the turn, we checked down, and I won another tiddler.) The good news is that I didn't lose much on the times I lost. 3 of them, there was an overcard and heavy action; there's a situation where even I can manage to fold, tee hee. The final hand, the flop came 8-7-2 and I wound up losing to 55 when he hit his runner runner straight. That one was fucking annoying.

Honestly, even aside from those stupid queens, the cards were not hitting me very hard. I ran AQ into AK an impressive three times, missed some really gorgeous draws, and kept having to fold when my big cards kept missing. But for a nice change, I just continued to play solid, didn't really get frustrated, and wound up...well, slightly short of where I started the week. But considering I lost almost 200 in my first couple sessions this week, it's actually nice to be back where I started! Hopefully, I can keep it going and exceed 500 for the week, thus bolstering my rather tight bankroll.

I'll close with a couple hands for your viewing pleasure. You may notice a common denominator between the two.

HAND 1: I think my opponent's river play is worthy of your consideration here. I'm not sure whether he had pity in his blackened soul, or he just didn't realize he had the nuts. And I mean THE nuts. They don't get much nuttier.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: TW is CO with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, TW raises, 3 folds, UTG+1 calls.

Flop: (5.33 SB) , , (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, TW bets, UTG+1 calls.

Turn: (3.66 BB) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, TW bets, UTG+1 calls.

River: (5.66 BB) (2 players)
UTG+1 checks, TW bets, UTG+1 raises, TW 3-bets, UTG+1 calls.

Final Pot: 11.66 BB

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has Td Qd (straight flush, ace high).
TW has Ah Th (full house, aces full of tens).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins 11.66 BB.

Hand 2: The funny thing about this hand is that when I hit my card on the river, I was wishing he had more money in front of him for me to take. LOL!!!

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: TW is MP2 with , .
3 folds, TW raises, 4 folds, BB calls.

Flop: (4.33 SB) , , (2 players)
BB checks, TW bets, BB calls.

Turn: (3.16 BB) (2 players)
BB checks, TW bets, BB calls.

River: (5.16 BB) (2 players)
BB calls $5.50 (All-In), TW calls.

Final Pot: 7 BB

Results in white below:
BB has 6d 2d (straight flush, seven high).
TW has Ts Ad (flush, ace high).
Outcome: BB wins 7 BB.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1320

-TW

WTF!!!!

nut flush and full house lose to straight flushes?? I would call that a bad day. Jeez.

Any day now, I'm bound to break out of this irritating slump of not getting anywhere, right? RIGHT? God, I hope so.

I played for 6 and a half hours today, which is good. I made a total of $70 which is decidedly unimpressive. Especially since my first session netted me about 250. I'm just really getting sick of this bullshit. QQ is killing me, JJ is urinating on my corpse, and TT is doing some extremely impolite things to my orifices. Either it's overcards on the flop, or I run into a higher pair, or I run into a lower pair that hits a set, or something really wacky happens. I keep losing to hands I dominate, i.e. AK vs AQ, AQ vs KQ, stuff like that. If I can manage just one or two days this week where I actually get sucked out on LESS than I statistically should, I'll be just fine.

Anyway, I'll close with the most impressive suckout from today's session. You sadistic bastards should get a kick outta this one.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: TW is CO with , .
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, TW raises, Button 3-bets, 1 fold, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls, TW caps, Button calls, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (20.33 SB) , , (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, TW bets, Button folds, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 folds.

Turn: (11.66 BB) (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, TW bets, BB calls, UTG folds.

River: (13.66 BB) (2 players)
BB checks, TW bets, BB raises, TW calls.

Final Pot: 17.66 BB

Results in white below:
BB has Kd Ks (full house, kings full of tens).
TW has Ac Ad (flush, ace high).
Outcome: BB wins 17.66 BB.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1392

-TW

This is really getting sad. After that last post, I tried to get some sleep, but since I had only been awake for about 12 hours, that didn't work. So I played another session, about 3 and a half hours. Honestly, I'm extremely proud of how I played. Despite some cold runs and beats, I maintained my composure the whole time, didn't make any major mistakes, really just played some great poker.

And lost another $100.

At one of my tables was the ultimate live-spot. Preflop, he was a calling station (though occasionally a maniac), and postflop he was a maniac (though occasionally just a calling station). To be fair, he did fold now and then. Seriously, it was incredible. Against this type of player, I like to get involved as much as reasonably possible...but it was an aggressive table and I wasn't getting many cards, so we only got to tangle a few times. I won a few smallish pots off of him, but the bigger ones...well...I'll just post the hands.

NOTE: It may look like I played some of these a bit strangely...particularly, the AT hand looks like I played it far too hard. But if you knew how this guy played, you'd see that top-pair, ten-kicker is generally more than good enough, even if he is capping the betting.

HAND 1: My first close encounter with the nefarious villain.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: TW is MP3 with , .
UTG calls, 3 folds, TW raises, 3 folds, BB =#A500AF(ArchNemesis)/ calls, UTG calls.

Flop: (6.33 SB) , , (3 players)
ArchNemesis checks, UTG bets, TW raises, ArchNemesis calls, UTG folds.

Turn: (5.66 BB) (2 players)
ArchNemesis checks, TW bets, ArchNemesis raises, TW calls.

River: (9.66 BB) (2 players)
ArchNemesis bets, TW calls.

Final Pot: 11.66 BB

Results in white below:
ArchNemesis has 3h 9c (two pair, nines and threes).
TW has Ad As (one pair, aces).
Outcome: ArchNemesis wins 11.66 BB.

HAND 2 : Only a few minutes later, our hero seeks vengeance!!!

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (9 handed)

Preflop: TW is Button with , .
1 fold, UTG+1 =#A500AF(ArchNemesis)/ raises, 3 folds, CO calls, TW 3-bets, 2 folds, UTG+1 =#A500AF(ArchNemesis)/ calls, CO calls.

Flop: (10.33 SB) , , (3 players)
ArchNemesis bets, CO folds, TW raises, ArchNemesis 3-bets, TW calls.

Turn: (8.16 BB) (2 players)
ArchNemesis bets, TW raises, ArchNemesis calls.

River: (12.16 BB) (2 players)
ArchNemesis bets, TW calls.

Final Pot: 14.16 BB

Results in white below:
ArchNemesis has 4h 2d (three of a kind, twos).
TW has Qd Qs (two pair, queens and twos).
Outcome: ArchNemesis wins 14.16 BB.

HAND 3 : The diabolical villain must've known it was coming...
*By the way, the other guy in this hand, the one that caps the flop outta nowhere...he's only slightly less of a maniac than my Arch-Nemesis.

Party Poker 3/6 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: TW is BB with , . CO posts a blind of $3.
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 =#A500AF(ArchNemesis)/ calls, 1 fold, CO (poster) checks, 1 fold, SB completes, TW checks.

Flop: (6 SB) , , (6 players)
SB checks, TW bets, UTG folds, MP1 calls, ArchNemesis raises, CO folds, SB folds, TW 3-bets, MP1 caps, ArchNemesis calls, TW calls.

Turn: (9 BB) (3 players)
TW bets, MP1 calls, ArchNemesis raises, TW calls, MP1 calls.

River: (15 BB) (3 players)
TW checks, MP1 checks, ArchNemesis bets, TW calls, MP1 calls.

Final Pot: 18 BB

Results in white below:
TW has Tc As (one pair, aces).
MP1 has 7d Jd (one pair, sevens).
ArchNemesis has Qc 6s (two pair, queens and sixes).
Outcome: ArchNemesis wins 18 BB.

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1248

-TW

As an addendum, it's worth noting that those 3 pots combined add up to $262 that should've been in my stack. Yes, I know that's a silly, inaccurate and unproductive way to look at things...but it still hurts like a bitch.

Also, I actually lost $150 in that session, not $100. But ya know what, looking back at those hands, and the hand I ran KK into AA, and the hand I ran QQ into TT, and all the other hands that went tragically wrong...I'm actually really damned proud of myself for only losing $150. It could've been a lot worse, and I really can't think of many things I could've done to lose less than I did. Kudos, me!

-TW, currently grasping at straws

TW,

Are you playing any bonus'? I am swithcing to NL for some of the reasons MK mentions, don't know if they are valid yet, but I do know that every month between Party and a couple Crypto sites I get $240 or more in bonus money. I usually clear $500 to $1000 per month and that bonus is a big portion.

GL DUDE

Okay, it's too early to get excited, but ladies and gents, I may in fact be...



I played a couple 3 hourish session this morning, and it looks like I may be back in what Tom McEvoy adorably calls the "winner's circle!" I've kinda reverted back to how I was playing a few months ago. This means that I'm playing far too many hands, and making some downright weedy bets and raises...but then again, that's what I was doing back when I was consistantly winning. Sure, I occasionally went a bit too far, but I think that one of the problems I've had lately is that I've been trying too hard to stay in line.

I've babbled on over the last week or two how I've been playing really solid poker...well the more I think about it, that wasn't entirely true. I was avoiding marginal situations, but also avoiding profitable ones. More importantly, I was playing too passively. e.g. I flop top pair or an overpair against one or two people, then a scare-card hits the turn. Lately, I've been checking. And sure, checking feels like it saves you money, but really, it costs a hell of a lot over time. There's numerous bad results that can come from it. (1) If I bet and get raised, I can usually lay down my hand with confidence that it's beat, so I lose one bet. If I check, I don't know where I am, so I have to pay off two bets. So, if I'm behind, checking costs me a bet. (2) If my opponent is drawing, I not only give him a free chance to beat me, but also lose a bet for the times where he misses and my hand holds up. (3) If my opponent has a weaker made hand, I don't get maximum value.

Sure, there are very few absolutes in poker, but I still think I've been checking in these situations far too often. That's just an example, there's other times where I've been failing to be aggressive and losing money as a result.

But I appear to be back to my overaggressive, tad-too-loose ways! The downside is that I'm playing with a short bankroll and my variance will go up a bit, but the good side is that I have a pretty decent history of winning while playing this way. And "winning" is something that seems to have been missing lately.

On an interesting aside, I played most of my first session with our beloved mizor himself, Mecos. He's really a bad influence. Since that bastard has the roll to play 10-20 and higher, he apparently feels he can donkey it up at my 3-6 home. The problem is that I'm not one to be out-donkeyed, so I elevated my level of mizorness accordingly. This of course made for some utterly ridiculous hands which I would rather not post, and I'm willing to pay MK upwards of $10 not to do so either.

Anyway, all told I played about 6 hours and made a rocking $441! Whoopy!!!! I think I really needed to get this week off to a nice start, here's hopin it'll continue, eh!

Current limit : 3-6 LHE
Current Bankroll : $1641

-TW