No Limit Poker

Since I've been getting a little frustrated with the swings of six-max, I decided to take another shot at NL cash games and I feel like I've been playing very well. I've played a little LAG, and played more unorthodox hands (like suited connectors) than big unsuited picture cards. In the past I always played a TAG style, that was very susceptible to being beaten by a LAG playing more "silly" hands and beating my picture cards. It started out pretty poorly the other night when I sat down at a $50NL table on FullTilt with about a third of my roll on that site. I got down a few bucks, then raised in MP with 77, the button re-raised and I called, planning to fold most flops, but try to get all-in if I flopped a set (I figured I was getting pretty good implied odds against what was likely to be AK or an over-pair). Well, I flopped a set on a not too threatening board considering the fact that he'd re-raised pre-flop. I check/called his flop bet, then checked the turn and he put in enough to put me almost all-in, I moved in with the rest and he called with AA. Unfortunately, he hit his 2-outer to re-suck out on me and I was quickly stuck my $50. I quit for that night, but I wasn't done because I felt I'd played well.

I'd actually started things a couple nights before when I decided to Smash strat some $25NL and ended up playing more of a normal game and ended up about $10-$15. I tried playing $50NL on Party last night (I have over 20 buy-ins in my account on there, so it's not actually out of my bankroll) and I posted a pretty big win for me. In less than an hour I managed to win a bit more than $100. Then, tonight I had doubled my buy-in again, when my KK ran into AA and I got back down into the $40's. I managed to get back to even before having to call it a night and I really feel good about the overall game I've been playing in NL cash this week.

The Swinging Ways of 6-Max

I think I'm finally starting to get a feel for why people say there is so much variance involved in 6-max. For about the past week I've been hitting the 2/4 6-max tables on Party as I try to start getting back into the swing of limit cash games. For most of that time I've been running pretty badly overall. As evidence I offer the fact that I'm losing with QQ, breaking even with TT and I've made a grand total of 4 flushes which I've taken to the river. A good example would be a hand I had tonight when the CO raised and I 3-bet from the small blind with AhTh. The flop came AxKh6h and I bet out, the BB called, the CO raised and I 3-bet figuring I had pretty good equity. The turn was a blank and I bet out and the CO called. Then, the river was an offsuit 6, missing my draw for me, but making my top pair with a T kicker now 2 pair with a K kicker and I figure I'm splitting a decent percentage of the time here. Of course not, the CO had KK. All those outs, and I hit nothing and still manage to pay it off big. Then there was the hand when my KK got called down to the river by AK, who hit an A on the river to beat me; and the hand where I raised with KK and got called by exactly no players winning me a whopping $3 in blinds. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. In fact, I went to the casino this weekend and couldn't even win in an incredibly juicy 3/6 game (I walked away stuck 3 BB).

All that said, I planned to play 200 hands tonight and with just a few to go I hit a mini-rush on both my tables. I closed out at 205 hands on the night and looked at the cashier to find that I was up almost $100 on the night. This after being stuck as much as $75 early on. Like I said, I'm really starting to get just how swingy this 6-max game can be. I've now played 827 hands, a total drop in the bucket, and almost solely on the back of tonights' mini-rush at the end I'm now at 2.99BB/100. I still have to play about 100k more hands to prove anything, but I think I can finally say that I'm starting to really believe that I can beat this game.

In other news, I actually am still running pretty poorly overall. I played a $20+2 on FCP tonight with about 130 players and only the Final Table getting paid. I started out down, but then won a race with 99 against AJ and starting aggressively building my chips until I was up to almost 4k. Then, I got about 1200 of my stack in against a shortstack when I called a small raise with 8h7h and the flop came 5h6hJd. He had A7o and the turn and river were both blanks. Chalk up another 18-outer that I can't hit. Then, a few hands later I ended up in a set over set situation when I flopped my TT ran up against JJ and AA on a board of JTx. Of course, I was running 3rd in a 3-horse race pre-flop on that one, but set over set still blows balls.

I've gone on long enough though. I'm glad that I'm finally starting to get back into the swing of playing poker. I'm also working on looking into a job as a dealer. I hear the big casino hear is opening a poker room and I plan to try my best to get a job there.

Back to the Party....

For reasons that I can't really go into I've been off the Party cash games for a couple of weeks and I finally got back on tonight. For now I'm going with a $1600 bankroll and playing 2/4 6-max until I reach a minimum of $2400, at which point I may take a stab at 3/6 6, if my winrate co-operates. I played about 400 hands tonight, 2-tabling the whole time and spent most of that time stuck by a pretty decent amount. I took some really sick beats on one of my tables...the capper was when I flopped top pair with AhKh on a board of KdTd2c and lost to 2d3d which caught two pair on the river. But overall, I did manage to fight and claw my way to a win of $5.59. Pokertracker put it at .34 BB/100, which I guess is better than losing. I'm not sure I played all that well the whole time, but I do think that with some practice and work I can get to be decent at six-max. I also have a new name on Party, if you want to know it you can always PM me on FCP and I'll probably give it out.

I also played a $10+1 MTT on FullTilt tonight, which didn't go very well. I never really caught any cards and spent most of the time folding. Eventually I got tired of it and donked off my chips shortly after the break when my Q2o flopped bottom pair from the BB on a board of 234 and my dumbass pushed. Frankly, I don't even fault myself for the play, because I knew it was idiotic when I did it, I was just tired of dealing with that tourney and not focusing well on it anyway because of my 2/4 tables. I then played a SnG and again didn't catch much of anything, but did managed to get to about 2400 in the 80/160 round when I pushed in my last 900 or so with AKs and beat KJ. I then proceeded to bubble out when it got four-handed and I was by far the shortstack with about 1200, I wasn't getting any hands that I could do much with, but I was keeping my stack about even at 1200, then I picked up A7o and it was folded to me in the SB, I pushed and ran into AK. Not much you can do, just bad fuckin' luck to run into a better Ace in a 4-handed situation.

It was frustrating though, because I've not been doing well in SnG's lately at all. I'm starting to think that I've lost my touch and my ability to play them well. I also haven't done much in tourney's the last couple of weeks, so I've been a bit frustrated. Hopefully, I can start catching cards and keeping patient in SnG's though and maybe the fact that I'm back to the Party cash games will help me to renew my SnG patience enough to start cashing again.

Filler Post - Mostly non-poker

I haven't updated in a while and I just wanted to throw a little bit out there. I haven't played much poker the last couple weeks for several reasons. In the last two weeks or so, I've moved and been without internet for a couple of days, gone to Mt. Rushmore and other locales in SD for 3 days and gone to Chicago for a day and a half. I have to admit to being awed both by Mt. Rushmore and by the sheer size of the city of Chicago as seen from the top of the Sears tower. I was very impressed. All in all, it was fun few hours exploring downtown today. My friend and I stumbled into an immigration rally, went up the Sears Tower, then walked around downtown for a while before eating Chicago style pizza for dinner. I'd never been to the downtown of a city so big and I'm still awestruck by the sheer size of it. Unfortunately, I also can't sleep at the moment because I drank a bunch of Mountain Dew on the way home.

In poker, the only thing of note that I've done is finish 3rd in my final FCPFC match on Tuesday. It was the first time I cashed in one and I think I could have done even better if my internet connection hadn't been constantly fucking with me. And of course, if I hadn't played the final hand like a donkey. It was 3-handed and I raised on the button with AKo, only the BB called. The flop came 2J5 and the BB checked, and totally uncharacteristicly I decided to check behind. I'm still not sure what possessed me to "change gears" in that spot and check in a spot where I will nearly always continuation bet. Then, the turn card was a 4 and the BB bet out into me. I thought to myelf..."he probably doesn't have much and I have two overs and a gutshot, I'm gonna all-in semi-bluff here." So, I pushed and he insta-called with A3o for the wheel. River as a blank, nh, gg, IGHN. All in all, I feel like I played the hand rottenly, but at least I managed to get a few points for my team. Like I said, other than that I haven't played much. I hope to get back on the Party cash games this week though.