Roller Coaster Ride
"But alas, poker is much like baseball in that you have to control your emotions. You can let the high's get to high and you can't let the low's get too low. Roll with the punches and all that." Sounds like good advice, I am applying it after my Friday/Saturday roller coaster ride.
Friday Night / Saturday Morning
I was on fire, I literally could not lose, most borderline hands I was catching what I needed, or going up against weaker draws. Having the session of my piddly-ass poker career. I would have kept playing, but by 2:00am I was damn near asleep and had to call it quits. Granted, by most poker standards a 2 hour, 39 minute session (162 hands) is nothing, but for a guy with four mouths to feed, five if you include the new sponge dog (and that is no small appetite), I usually can't start playing until 10:00 or 11:00 at night and have to be at work by 8:30am every morning. This means I usually get to play for about an hour or so. Weekends are not much better - true, I don't have to go to work, but that doesn't mean the baby sponge's sleep in. ANYWAY, sorry for the side track into my domestic scheduling problems. After my 162 hand session playing $2/$4 limit, I cleared no less than $167.50. I was still winning when I closed it down, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
Saturday Night / Sunday Morning
Reality check. I started off on a table that was fairly aggressive with some very loose players which usually plays right into my strengths. I am a fairly tight player, and very aggressive before and after the flop (TA according to poker tracker's default auto-rating system). This combination usually means I will run loose players into the ground. The problem that I ran into on this table was that these loose players kept catching their long shots.
Example ($2/$4 Limit):
The second hand of the evening.
I get KK in first position and raise pre-flop, the button and both blinds call my raise (pot=$16).
The flop comes 10s 7c 3s, both blinds check to me and I bet. The button raised my bet which the small blind calls immediately, the big blind folds and I re-raise which both the button and the small blind call (pot=$34)
The 3c comes on the turn, a scare card for sure but I am not going to back off of my pocket kings with this raggedy-ass board - keep pushing. The big blind checks to me again and I bet (of course) which is raised by the button again while the big blind folds. Now I am certainly curious if he has a 3 or is on a flush draw and I think it is worth the price to find out so I call his raise.
The river is Ad. I am a glutton for punishment if nothing else so I bet into the river which is called by the button.
The button then shows me Ah3d. I wanted to throw up. I was out $26 because this ass-hat RAISED his third-best pair of threes on the flop after my initial bet. Such is poker, such is life (see first sentence of this post).
After 45 minutes of this I could take no more and switched table. Net loss = $54.
I probably should have just shit-canned the whole night and gone to bed, but nooooo, I had to get even again. "I will just play until I get my money back" I told myself. I read something from the great Mike Caro once that emphasized how stupid an idea this is. The new table proved to be just as disastrous as the one I started on.
Example ($2/$4 Limit):
This is the 23rd hand on this table.
I get AA 2 spots off the button (fairly late position), 2 players in front of me call, I raise, the small blind folds, the big blind calls the raise both initial callers call my raise and all four of us see the flop. (pot=$17)
The flop comes Qc 6s 2c, all three players check to me and I bet. The small blind and 1 of the players in front of me fold, so I have 1 caller into the turn. (pot=$21)
The turn card is 9h, a very harmless looking board indeed. I had put this guy on a flush draw or a pocket pair as he checked to me and I bet. When he raised me, I changed my mind and put him on top pair with the Queen and that he was slow playing me on the flop so I called his raise (the correct move here was probably a re-raise, but I am glad I didn't as you will soon see). (pot=$37)
Jh hits on the river and he bets into me. Since I put him on top pair, I raised him and he called me. (pot=$50.50)
I am out another $22 as he shows me his pocket 9's. He tripped his nines on the turn and I fell right into it.
So went the rest of the night. I ended up cashing out 2 hours later with a net loss of $78.25. But my stats do not really reflect bad play on my part:
228 hands played
Vol. Put $ In Pot 17.54%
Preflop raise = 8.46%
Aggression Factor 1.47
I could have been more aggressive, but I think with the way things were going it would have only added to my net loss. After 228 hands on two tables I lost $132.25.
I took Sunday off to watch a movie with my kids and catch up on some quality family time with the rest of the sponges. I will be back on tonight and we will see if things improve.
Friday Night / Saturday Morning
I was on fire, I literally could not lose, most borderline hands I was catching what I needed, or going up against weaker draws. Having the session of my piddly-ass poker career. I would have kept playing, but by 2:00am I was damn near asleep and had to call it quits. Granted, by most poker standards a 2 hour, 39 minute session (162 hands) is nothing, but for a guy with four mouths to feed, five if you include the new sponge dog (and that is no small appetite), I usually can't start playing until 10:00 or 11:00 at night and have to be at work by 8:30am every morning. This means I usually get to play for about an hour or so. Weekends are not much better - true, I don't have to go to work, but that doesn't mean the baby sponge's sleep in. ANYWAY, sorry for the side track into my domestic scheduling problems. After my 162 hand session playing $2/$4 limit, I cleared no less than $167.50. I was still winning when I closed it down, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
Saturday Night / Sunday Morning
Reality check. I started off on a table that was fairly aggressive with some very loose players which usually plays right into my strengths. I am a fairly tight player, and very aggressive before and after the flop (TA according to poker tracker's default auto-rating system). This combination usually means I will run loose players into the ground. The problem that I ran into on this table was that these loose players kept catching their long shots.
Example ($2/$4 Limit):
The second hand of the evening.
I get KK in first position and raise pre-flop, the button and both blinds call my raise (pot=$16).
The flop comes 10s 7c 3s, both blinds check to me and I bet. The button raised my bet which the small blind calls immediately, the big blind folds and I re-raise which both the button and the small blind call (pot=$34)
The 3c comes on the turn, a scare card for sure but I am not going to back off of my pocket kings with this raggedy-ass board - keep pushing. The big blind checks to me again and I bet (of course) which is raised by the button again while the big blind folds. Now I am certainly curious if he has a 3 or is on a flush draw and I think it is worth the price to find out so I call his raise.
The river is Ad. I am a glutton for punishment if nothing else so I bet into the river which is called by the button.
The button then shows me Ah3d. I wanted to throw up. I was out $26 because this ass-hat RAISED his third-best pair of threes on the flop after my initial bet. Such is poker, such is life (see first sentence of this post).
After 45 minutes of this I could take no more and switched table. Net loss = $54.
I probably should have just shit-canned the whole night and gone to bed, but nooooo, I had to get even again. "I will just play until I get my money back" I told myself. I read something from the great Mike Caro once that emphasized how stupid an idea this is. The new table proved to be just as disastrous as the one I started on.
Example ($2/$4 Limit):
This is the 23rd hand on this table.
I get AA 2 spots off the button (fairly late position), 2 players in front of me call, I raise, the small blind folds, the big blind calls the raise both initial callers call my raise and all four of us see the flop. (pot=$17)
The flop comes Qc 6s 2c, all three players check to me and I bet. The small blind and 1 of the players in front of me fold, so I have 1 caller into the turn. (pot=$21)
The turn card is 9h, a very harmless looking board indeed. I had put this guy on a flush draw or a pocket pair as he checked to me and I bet. When he raised me, I changed my mind and put him on top pair with the Queen and that he was slow playing me on the flop so I called his raise (the correct move here was probably a re-raise, but I am glad I didn't as you will soon see). (pot=$37)
Jh hits on the river and he bets into me. Since I put him on top pair, I raised him and he called me. (pot=$50.50)
I am out another $22 as he shows me his pocket 9's. He tripped his nines on the turn and I fell right into it.
So went the rest of the night. I ended up cashing out 2 hours later with a net loss of $78.25. But my stats do not really reflect bad play on my part:
228 hands played
Vol. Put $ In Pot 17.54%
Preflop raise = 8.46%
Aggression Factor 1.47
I could have been more aggressive, but I think with the way things were going it would have only added to my net loss. After 228 hands on two tables I lost $132.25.
I took Sunday off to watch a movie with my kids and catch up on some quality family time with the rest of the sponges. I will be back on tonight and we will see if things improve.
posted by Sponge at 10:30 AM
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