my ill-fated first shot at 15/30

[MicroBob]

initially was sending this as a PM to bicyclekick but then I thought....ahhh, whatthehell, i'll just post it.
not sure if anyone really gives that much of a darn....but i think it's an interesting follow-up to the wildly popular 'hey, why aren't you guys trying to kill these 15/30 games with me?'

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thanks to bicyclekick's post and my recent large tourney win I was encouraged to try out the 15/30 games. Could afford to blow a few thousand if it went badly (worst-case scenario).


Yup....it went pretty badly. One last shot at it tonight after the thread in the general forum on just how juicy those games have been lately.
And my KK lost 2x and my AA got clobbered by the mighty 75o (capped PF 4 ways...Wow!!).
TT lost set-over-set to QQ by a total lag who I assumed was over-playing garbage as usual. Sometimes they actually DO accidentally pick-up a hand. Who knew??

Anyway, The usual story.
trip Q's loses on board of QK342 when the guy with A5 hit's the big runner-runner.
You know, the typical miracle runner-runner garbage.


Some of my earlier losses were my own fault....I felt like I was a little overmatched and got outplayed (or just plain 'played') on some of the blind-steal and heads-up hands.
Then C/R'ed at times where I really cringed, etc etc.


But overall, I saw some really bad play. Just can't help it if the VPIP-45, PFR-4 guy kept on beating my AQ, AK, JJ, etc.


So I'm down over 100BB there but it's okay....as I said, wouldn't have done it if I couldn't afford it.
Back to 3/6 and maybe some 5/10 to grind back my losses. But I shall definitely be returning to the 15/30 games at some point.


BTW, I have done extremely well at the 5/10 and 10/20 games on a couple other sites so it's not ALL bad.


Happy hunting. See you there full-time.......eventually.
Back to the regular grind for me.

[joker122]

Well, clearly your sample size isn't sufficient. My winrate at 15/30 is 22BB/100 after 400 hands /images/graemlins/smirk.gif

But
[ QUOTE ]
But overall, I saw some really bad play

[/ QUOTE ]

This is all that really matters.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]


But overall, I saw some really bad play


[/ QUOTE ]


Of course, part of the problem is that some of it was my own!

[Blarg]

Sorry to hear you had a short bad run at, it MB.

You know, when I used to play 7-stud live, I remember this lady saying, "It seems every day when I play this game, I have to lose a thousand dollars first before I start winning." We were both down about that much at that point -- again. I saw her there at the Commerce all the time. I nodded and smiled and so did one or two others at the table. We both got our thousand back and went on to book a profit that day, like we did more often than not.

Those kind of losses are a lot more typical than you'd think from much of the ecstatic posting here about people making enormous money at any level you could think of. They may be doing that, but they are the rare exceptions even among winning players, and even they have crummy days. Being down a grand or more is just the nature of the game at that level. Don't take it too hard. Heck, a grand is only 33 BB at 15/30! And 1,500 is only two standard buy-ins.

I know you're doing this for a living and you might not feel secure at this level for quite a while, though. You'll adapt eventually. Maybe some more time spent at 10/20, and more profits pocketed at that kind of level, might be a good way to get acclimiated.

If it makes you feel any better, I've had a 25% win rate with my aces for the last few days. /images/graemlins/wink.gif And that's including a few times when I flopped a set of them, and some more times when I tripped 'em on later streets. Keep yer chin up -- it's the same weather all over sometimes. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[MicroBob]

Thanks for the kind words.
I expect to make it back someday but for now I have to go back to the grind.
No biggie.


Forgot to mention the hand in my last orbit (when I was already going to pack it in) where I had it capped 5 ways PF with KK and naturally ran into AA. Obviously I slowed down at a certain point and it's not really a 'bad' beat....just one of those 'not your night' things that can't be helped.


I took my shot....dropped my 100+BB's....and said, "well, it just wasn't meant to be yet."

I'm completely confident in my abilities to grind it back at 2/4, 3/6 and 5/10 and bonus-chasing over the course of a few weeks.
i'm not entirely confident in my abilities at 15/30 though. Some of the players sucked....but a few times I ran into some really sharp play.
So, there is much to be worked on in my game as well....along with the bankroll rebuilding.

[mplspoker]

Ultimately, I believe that if you just know how to play "solid" poker you can beat the 3/6 games at a very good rate. The same is not true for 15/30. There are many fish 2-3 per table at night, but also many very good players. If your just a "good" player you will lose money in my opinion. my thoughts.

[thirddan]

its time to move up to 30/60 joker...:)

[Michael Davis]

If you are a good player and can recognize players who are equal to or better than you, you should have no problem grinding it out if there are 2-3 fish at the table.

-Michael

[bicyclekick]

Sorry to hear that your luck ran poorly. It really does sound like you just ran bad. It's especially hard to run bad when you're taking your first shot. It really helped me that I hit the ground running. I got lucky.

You know what though? I'm really glad you gave it a real try. I think 100bb is a good number to take a shot with. Good work! You'll get there, I'm sure, it just might take a little extra time as you've said.

[ QUOTE ]

i'm not entirely confident in my abilities at 15/30 though. Some of the players sucked....but a few times I ran into some really sharp play.

[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe you found some bad tables...? And maybe I'm not easily impressed, but I'm only impressed with some guy's play like once or twice per week. I guess I generally try to avoid tables with a couple solid players so it doesn't come up that much where I'm in a hand with a good player, and even then it's usually pretty standard. I guess what it takes for me is for a guy to play a hand HU against me that will make me misread his hand and extract a ton of bets out of me. Just make me feel owned.

Play on there is just usually really aggressive and not often sharp.

Definately fill me in when you take another shot.

Thanks for posting...

[MicroBob]

Well, at least I got $350-$400 or so back so far tonight on the ultra-soft 2/4 and 3/6 tables.

why the hell can't my damn QQ and AK hold-up at the big tables?? LOL

[MarkL444]

Everything you have said does nothing but prove that, if you have the roll, this is where you should be.

[Tosh]

[ QUOTE ]
if you have the roll, this is where you should be.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not wholly correct.

[Lawrence Ng]

Hi Bob,

Well, that's them short term breaks for you. I don't think it has anything to do with your play per say because I think most solid 3/6 players can beat the 15/30 but only if you have the BR to manage it long enough.

Judging by your post, it seems you needed to vent off a little steam and maybe you might want to cross post this in the Pyschology section where some more helpful feedback might come your way.

[Equal]

Hey Bob, I was wondering when you were going to join us at the $15/30 tables, you definitely seem like a good enough player for them! I am sorry to hear how poorly it went - I am glad that you went into it thinking that it was just an experiment, and that you had "extra" money to use for it (if money is ever "extra"!). I think this is a very important lesson for players moving up limits. I am sure MicroBob your next experience with $15/30 will have much better results! Keep your chin up and keep improving.

[MicroBob]

Thanks.
Yeah, that was the general approach. Just an experiment to potentially 'blow' a few K trying to make it happen. If it took off then 'Great!!'....if not, then back to low-limit multi-table grind for awhile.


But I'm definitely not blaming it all on bad-beats. I got schooled on a few hands in the early going and probably should have switched tables earlier than I did.

But the tail-end of my experiment was definitely bad-beats for the most part.


Anyway, got back on track eventually.
Played mostly 3/6 on 4-6 tables for a few hours and got WILDLY HOT.
So after dropping $1100 on 15/30 last night I wound up winning back about $700 of it at 3/6. EVERYTHING was holding up for me. (edit - just went back and added up my acct totals and it's actually even better than that).
Kind of a wacky session to say the least.


One weird hand....
Had 6s3s in BB.
Board goes something like K4825 ALL SPADES.
And my runner-runner St8 flush beats some guy with AsAd who only limped from LP after 3 limpers were already in.
Too bad they don't allow unlimited heads-up raises on Party!!


Thanks for the kind words guys.

[Your Mom]

I could have written your post a month ago. Took a shot and got killed by crappy hands or always ran into a monster. Back to 5/10 SH now but I'll be back some day. Took a real job a few weeks ago though so maybe my poker progress will be slowed. Hope it works out for the both of us.

[Messy Harry]

Hi Bob,

What was your big tourney win?

[MicroBob]

I somehow stumbled and bumbled my way through the Empire $50k-guaranteed field a couple weeks ago and won 1st place for $12.5k.

Numerous happy suck-outs on my way to the finish-line (although I also felt my play was actually pretty decent for the most part).


I believe my previous largest tournament win was $215.

[surfdoc]

Hi Bob. Congrats on your tourney win.

Playing in the 15 game is kinda like masturbation. The first time you do it (and lose) you feel guilty. But then, you wanna do it over and over again and the guilt (and the losses) fade away.
The game is great. I am still transitioning into full time at this level myself. The swings are amazingly large (I had a $1250 swing in 45 seconds), but there are indeed some very bad players. Sometimes I just don't want to deal with the mental side of the 15 game and hide out in the lower limits as well. You are solid, you'll get there.

[MicroBob]

Your analogy frightens me.

[dogmeat]

Congrats on your tournament win, and thanks for the honesty in posting your first $15/$30 experience. 100BB hurts, but as you said, you got a bit back in the $3/$6. Better luck.

I'm doing $5/$10 this month, up from $2/$4 (I played some $3/$6, but moving past it) and had the same experience as yours when I first tried the higher limit a month ago (-75BB).

Dogmeat /images/graemlins/spade.gif

[lefty rosen]

Those games sound like idiot 2/4 games........

[joker122]

[ QUOTE ]
its time to move up to 30/60 joker...:)

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I was thinking about it after my first 50 hands, but after 400 hands I know I'm ready!