davidross
09-28-2003, 03:25 PM
Wow. I’m really pushing the variance envelope here. After a poor week brought on by bad results at Paradise, Sunday went the exact same way. Playing 2 tables of 5/10 at Paradise I lost another $626, making the weekend loss almost $1,100. I’m going crazy. Fortunately, at the same time on 2 3/6 tables I won an incredible $706 in 6 hours of play, putting me up almost $1300 for the weekend at Party. Then after a break even Monday afternoon at Party, Monday night started out looking like a disaster, I had to rebuy at both sites in the first half hour, and at paradise I was down another $300, putting me down $1400 for 3 nights and over $1600 for the previous week. Then the dark clouds parted and the sun shone through. Just as I had decided to cash out the rest of my account and switch to Empire my hands started holding up, and I started hitting my draws and I went on an $800 rush that left me up $546 at paradise. I even made a comeback at Party to finish down only $140 there for a win of $400. So for the 2 days I’m up $480. And the sun is shining again.
Clearly the variance of the 5/10 game is making me uncomfortable. And there are not many weak players in the paradise games. I love the paradise software and support, and I’m nostalgic because it’s where I learned the game, but this is a business for me now and clearly the smart thing for me to do is stop playing there. I can play 4 games using another site and Empire seems to make sense. I can still play 5/10 if I want at party and Empire. Can anyone comment on the games there? Are the Empire games the same quality wise as the Party games?
I’ve had 7 people offer to have me sign up under their affiliate programs at Empire. Obviously I can only choose 1 and I hope the rest of you understand that I can only use 1 of you.
I received an e-mail from Party investigations regarding my bonehead move from last week that I posted about in the internet forum. Posting it was even stupider I guess because they tell me that several people brought it to Party’s attention. If you missed it I was playing with the same 2 players on 2 tables. On table 1 a woman who’s play was suspect was running over the table hitting everything. The 3 of us were chatting about it on table 2 saying things like omg she did it again. Then I flopped a set of 6’s against her on table 1. The board however was all hearts. I told the guys on table 2 that I might get her this time, I’ve got a set. When I went back to table 1 I realized to my horror that 1 of the 2 players was still in the hand, and I’d just told him my hand. To make it worse he had flopped a flush, and the turn paired the board filling me up. He check folded to my turn bet and the woman stayed to the river losing to my full house. Clearly there was no intent to cheat, but I gave information to one player that not everyone had and it’s inexcusable. Thankfully Party chose to reprimand me only. I hope I’ve learned my lesson.
Hopefully we are always learning in this game and I want to focus on my blind play in the short term. Usually if I flop top pair I don’t worry very much about my kicker. I play premium cards so I usually have the best kicker. If I lose the occasional KJ to KQ so be it. But from the blinds I quite often find myself with top pair and a lousy kicker. I tend to play it as if it’s a normal hand and bet out, but then go into check/call if I’m raised, and usually lose to a better hand. I think I need to be willing to fold to those flop raises more often, especially if there are no draws on the board. Or even check/raise those top pair hands depending on where the bet comes from.
I got wiped out by one horrible 5/10 player on Sunday night. I’m sure this one guy was responsible for $400 of my 600 dollar loss. He was 2 seats to my left and kept either drawing out on me, or dominating me with AA vs KK and the like. This was one of the hands.
Bad player limps UTG and aggressive guy raises. 1 cold caller, and the SB calls. I have AQo in the BB and just call. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I am running just horrible at this point and I bet right out. Nothing fancy. BP calls and so does AG. Turn is 8h. I bet and both call again. River is 8s. I bet, BP raises and AG calls. BP makes all kinds of weird plays, so AG will call this with KK or AK. I call too. BP had 86o. This is paradise 5/10. Sigh. He did this to me only it seemed for hours. I hope I see him again, but I don’t think his bankroll will last.
10 minutes later I have QQ in MP. UTG raises and I 3 bet. BP calls 3 cold with KTo (it’s more fun if you know what he has). 3 of us see the flop of A 5 4 rainbow. UTG checks, I bet and BP raises. UTG folds and I sigh and call. I can raise for value, but he wont fold so I thinkit’s better to just call down these guys. I don’t think a free card can hurt me at this point. Turn is a T. I check he bets and I call. River is another T. Check – Bet – call – another sigh.
Tuesday night was the kiss of death for Paradise. Another terrible start with no recovery and a $360 loss. I won $400 at Party to give me a small win for the day, but immediately after quitting for the day I withdrew enough from my paradise account to start up an Empire account.
Everyone who plays poker has a competitive instinct. In some people this competitive instinct can be their downfall by pushing them to keep competing long after logic should have told them they were beat. We applaud the athlete who keeps getting up to try again, but in poker it can be a destructive trait. I am convinced I can beat the paradise 5/10 game. I beat it for months, and even in the 4 weeks I started playing it again I was up $1,000 despite the horrible last 10 days. But it’s time to be realistic. 1) it’s not the same game. The old fish have gone broke, and the new fish are going to Party. It’s the same faces night after night and most of them are good, and a few of them are very very good. 2) I can beat the party 3/6 for more money despite the smaller stakes, or at least have less chance of losing. Paradise has better support, and their cashouts are almost immediate. I cashed out from both Paradise and Party on Saturday night at around 3:00 AM (Sunday morning actually). Paradise had the money in my Neteller account at 7:00 AM Sunday. After I contacted my “Executive Hostess” at Party on Tuesday, they made my depost in 15 minutes late Tuesday night. Party has never made a transfer for me without my having to call them. They say they have an internal review to do for all cashouts that takes 24-48 hours. I will miss Paradise, but until they get some fresh blood in there I’m gone.
So Wednesday morning I opened my Empire account under a disguised name, which I will keep secret for now. I have decided to play 4 3/6 games both afternoon and evening for now. Maybe everyone else knew this but I did not, Party and Empire actually share the tables. I thought they were two different sites using the same software, but it’s just 1 big site as I found out when I tried to sit at the same table with davidross. The software is sophisticated enough to recognize that we are the same person and wouldn’t let me. So it’s the same games I love so much, only in blue. I played for 3 ½ hours in the afternoon, breaking even on my Empire tables and winning $100 on the Party tables. It was interesting to play completely anonymously, but I didn’t play any of the 2+2’ers anyway. The evening got off to a disastrous start. I rebought on 3 of 4 tables within 30 minutes of starting, and rebought again on one of the tables an hour later. But I got real hot on the remaining tables and won $550 an the empire tables, plus my $100 sign up bonus kicked in after 500 hands. I lost $230 on the Party tables but had a very comfortable $520 day putting me up $1,050 for the week despite being down $450 at paradise.
I had an interesting exchange under my alias on the following hand. I limped behind a couple of other guys with As 2s in LP. Another limper behind me then the BB raised. 5 of us saw the flop for 2 bets each. Flop was 8 6 2, no spades. BB checked and EP bet, got a call and I decided to call too. I’m getting 12 to 1 at least on the call and have 5 outs probably. I don’t think that’s overly loose. The guy on my left raises, BB folds and we all call. Turn is an A. I bet into the raiser who raises me again and fearing A8 I just call. I check call the river and beat his 86. He and another player start moaning about my calling his raise when I was a 20-1 underdog etc etc. He claimed his raise should have told me he had 2 pair or a set, and when I asked how I was supposed to know what he had, he told me it was just math. I’m not kidding. It was kind of fun.
I complained yesterday to Party support about a possible all-in abuse. It was a very small pot, where I flopped top pair from the blind with something like T2 on a T 5 3 board, and everyone folded to the button who timed out. River brought a K which made his hand good and he won a $15 pot. He was out for the next hand and right back in after that. I asked if he was having connection problems and he said yes, sorry. I sent it off to support and got an e-mail back this morning saying they reviewed all of his all-ins and suspect a pattern of abuse. They have warned him and restricted his reset ability. Of course I’m not getting any money back.
Betting into a scary board. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. I limp under the gun with 88, and the limping frenzy begins. 7 of us see the flop. Flop is 9 9 5 rainbow. Not the worst flop for me. After the blinds check I bet. Everyone folds to the button who just calls. In these games that scares me as usually everyone slow plays. Only 2 of us see the turn. Turn is a 3, completing rainbow. I bet again and he raises. I hate folding heads up, but it sure seems I’m beat here. Knee-jerk reaction though is to click call and my 8 comes on the river. I check raise him and he had K9. It’s easy to say he should have raised the flop and the slow play cost him, but when he raises me on the turn I’m getting 7 ½ to 1 on my call, not nearly enough to spike my 8 so I think his waiting for the turn is the correct play. And I’m not sure I would fold to the flop raise anyway, suspecting a play. So probably just an example of a suck-out.
A tough fold. My first Empire hand history. I open raise in EP with Ad Qc. Button cold calls and SB completes. BB folds. Flop is the lovely Ac As 6h. No slow play for me I bet out. Button raises and SB cold calls. Hmm. Even my simple math tells me there aren’t enough aces to go around, and there are no draws on the board. Maybe a pocket pair that doesn’t believe the A is out there. I 3 bet, button caps and SB calls again. If we were heads up I’d believe the button had an A and take my chances, but what could the SB have? It’s certainly starting to look like Ax in the blind, and 66 on the button. But I’m still not certain. Turn is a 2. I bet into him one more time, he raises and SB calls 2 more cold. I call again. River is a J. We check to the button who bets, and now the SB raises. Ding. Finally I fold and the button doesn’t believe it so he raises again and the SB caps it. He of course had AJ. Button did indeed have 66. I would have been prouder of my hand reading if I could have laid down to the turn raise, but I did save a couple of bets. And if I laid down on the turn and the Q had rivered…..
I have always been a huge sports fan. Hockey was my first love and I grew up in Montreal during the Canadiens hey day. I was 8 when the Expos joined the National league and my dad had season tickets for many years. I used to know all the players in all the leagues. Something happened over the last few years, it’s probably called life, and I no longer follow professional sports as closely. I still watch games now and then, but I don’t know half the players on any teams anymore. Maybe it’s players strikes or over inflated salaries or free agency. More likely I’ve just become more interested in my kids sports, because love watching amateur sports. I watch the local high school football team, and I took my kids to watch the city soccer teams this summer. The Olympics are the ultimate to me, especially the track and field, and the world cup of soccer is another favorite. Something about people competing for the sake of competing I guess. So my favorite team in the world right now is the Canadian women’s soccer team. I fell in love with them last summer when the under 19 world cup was held in Canada and the team went on an amazing tear only losing in the finals to a powerhouse American team on penalty kicks. Most of that team now plays for our national team and a lot of people thought that 2007 would be the year for this young team. One girl, Christine Sinclair is already the 6th ranked player in the world at age 19 and is clearly the future for our program along with a 16 year old from the town next to me. I have been so looking forward to the Women’s World cup which started last Saturday. We lost to Germany in the first game which was expected, but can still advance to the quarter finals with wins over Argentina and Japan. What was disappointing was how easily the Germans controlled the game, but I was hoping it was just jitters. We played Argentina last night and won 3-0, but again played terribly. We now have to beat Japan on Saturday to advance, a tie puts them through because they beat Argentina 6-0. I postponed my poker for 2 hours last night to watch the game, that’s how important it was.
Just when I thought I had turned a corner I got smacked down again. Thursday and Friday were the worst 2 days I’ve ever had, losing the proverbial 200 BB’s that we’re supposed to keep for such emergencies. I dropped over 700 on Thursday, all on my empire tables, and another 360 on Friday. I’m so frustrated it’s ridiculous. The only thing that helps is I went back and re-read my posts form my last 2 weeks of hell in June, and it made me realize that there isn’t much I can do about it except keep playing well. Saturday was a struggle for most of the evening until I finally went on a rush around 1:00 AM and managed to win $500. I finished the week up $464 for the 2nd straight disappointing week. But if I compare it to the 2 bad weeks in June when I lost $2,300 in 2 weeks this is miles better than that. My party tables had a good week, but Paradise and Empire killed me. The empire is just chance, since it’s the same tables as Party, but I’ll be curious to see if my results are affected at all by people not knowing me as davidross.
My Canadian girls played great last night in beating Japan, so we move on to the quarter finals against the winner of the Russia China match today.
What can you do. This is a perfect example of what happens to you when you’re running bad. I open raise in MP with AQo and only the BB plays. Flop is A T 5, 2 hearts. I bet and get check-raised by the BB. I 3 bet and he caps. Uh oh here we go again. Turn is the 9s. He bets and I just call. River is the Qh giving me my 2 pair, but putting what I suspect is his flush on board, so I just call his bet. He shows J8o for the straight. He 4 bet the flop with nothing, then went runner runner heads up. Sigh.
I lost to rivered sets 5 times on Thursday/Friday. Those are 2 outers. Then this hand came along. This is pretty wild.
I have AA in the SB and UTG raises. It is 3 bet from the button and I cap it. BB calls as do the other 2. Flop comes Ah Kh Tc. That’s probably hit someone. I bet, get called in 2 places and the button raises. I 3 bet, get called twice and the button caps it. We all call. Turn is the 3h. I bet into the flush board, one call and one fold and the button raises again. I finally slow down and just call. River is the ugly 9h putting 4 hearts on board. UTG now bets out and button raises. I swear, look for the dog who is way ahead of me and left the room, and finally come to my senses and fold saving 2 bb’s. UTG calls. Button wins it with a set of Kings. OMFG!!! I laid down the winner for $12 on a $153 pot. I’m an idiot. UTG had Qd 7d for A high and called the river bet, and I folded my set of A’s. When will I learn?
From the what is going on here department. I limped utg with 8c7c. Table was loose/passive enough I thought I could get away with it. 7 of us see the flop for 1 bet each. Flop is the lovely Ac Qc 9c. BB bets out and I raise. No pussy footing around with 2 cards to come. 3 folds and a 3 bet in LP. BB calls and I cap it. Both call. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet, LP calls and now the BB raises. Uh oh. I decide to raise once more, I still can’t believe 2 of us flopped the flush. LP calls 2 more and BB caps it. We both call. River is 3h. BB bets. I just call and LP raises!! BB 3 bets and I make another crying call remembering my AA hand and the LP just calls. All 3 of us flopped the flush. BB had KJ, and LP had 54. Sigh!
This happened countless times this week and I still don’t know if I can fold it. I open raise AQ in LP. Button 3 bets. He has 3 bet with any A and any Pair I have discovered. BB calls 2 and we see the flop 3 handed. Flop is AT3 two diamonds. I bet, button raises and we both call again. Turn is a J. We check to the button who bets and we both call. River is another 3, no flush and again the button bets and we both call. He has AK and takes it down. So can you fold AQ when you are 3 bet pre-flop, and raised when the A flops? I think you have to pay the guy off here.
Well, I hope I have seen the worst of this run. The texture of the games seems different to me, but I wrote the same thing when I was losing last time. There seems to be more raising pre-flop making some of my pet hands a bad play. But essentially I think I just need a few river cards not to fall against me to turn these break even weeks into winners. I’m just not winning big pots right now, and I think most of my winnigs come from 1 or 2 big pots per day.
Clearly the variance of the 5/10 game is making me uncomfortable. And there are not many weak players in the paradise games. I love the paradise software and support, and I’m nostalgic because it’s where I learned the game, but this is a business for me now and clearly the smart thing for me to do is stop playing there. I can play 4 games using another site and Empire seems to make sense. I can still play 5/10 if I want at party and Empire. Can anyone comment on the games there? Are the Empire games the same quality wise as the Party games?
I’ve had 7 people offer to have me sign up under their affiliate programs at Empire. Obviously I can only choose 1 and I hope the rest of you understand that I can only use 1 of you.
I received an e-mail from Party investigations regarding my bonehead move from last week that I posted about in the internet forum. Posting it was even stupider I guess because they tell me that several people brought it to Party’s attention. If you missed it I was playing with the same 2 players on 2 tables. On table 1 a woman who’s play was suspect was running over the table hitting everything. The 3 of us were chatting about it on table 2 saying things like omg she did it again. Then I flopped a set of 6’s against her on table 1. The board however was all hearts. I told the guys on table 2 that I might get her this time, I’ve got a set. When I went back to table 1 I realized to my horror that 1 of the 2 players was still in the hand, and I’d just told him my hand. To make it worse he had flopped a flush, and the turn paired the board filling me up. He check folded to my turn bet and the woman stayed to the river losing to my full house. Clearly there was no intent to cheat, but I gave information to one player that not everyone had and it’s inexcusable. Thankfully Party chose to reprimand me only. I hope I’ve learned my lesson.
Hopefully we are always learning in this game and I want to focus on my blind play in the short term. Usually if I flop top pair I don’t worry very much about my kicker. I play premium cards so I usually have the best kicker. If I lose the occasional KJ to KQ so be it. But from the blinds I quite often find myself with top pair and a lousy kicker. I tend to play it as if it’s a normal hand and bet out, but then go into check/call if I’m raised, and usually lose to a better hand. I think I need to be willing to fold to those flop raises more often, especially if there are no draws on the board. Or even check/raise those top pair hands depending on where the bet comes from.
I got wiped out by one horrible 5/10 player on Sunday night. I’m sure this one guy was responsible for $400 of my 600 dollar loss. He was 2 seats to my left and kept either drawing out on me, or dominating me with AA vs KK and the like. This was one of the hands.
Bad player limps UTG and aggressive guy raises. 1 cold caller, and the SB calls. I have AQo in the BB and just call. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I am running just horrible at this point and I bet right out. Nothing fancy. BP calls and so does AG. Turn is 8h. I bet and both call again. River is 8s. I bet, BP raises and AG calls. BP makes all kinds of weird plays, so AG will call this with KK or AK. I call too. BP had 86o. This is paradise 5/10. Sigh. He did this to me only it seemed for hours. I hope I see him again, but I don’t think his bankroll will last.
10 minutes later I have QQ in MP. UTG raises and I 3 bet. BP calls 3 cold with KTo (it’s more fun if you know what he has). 3 of us see the flop of A 5 4 rainbow. UTG checks, I bet and BP raises. UTG folds and I sigh and call. I can raise for value, but he wont fold so I thinkit’s better to just call down these guys. I don’t think a free card can hurt me at this point. Turn is a T. I check he bets and I call. River is another T. Check – Bet – call – another sigh.
Tuesday night was the kiss of death for Paradise. Another terrible start with no recovery and a $360 loss. I won $400 at Party to give me a small win for the day, but immediately after quitting for the day I withdrew enough from my paradise account to start up an Empire account.
Everyone who plays poker has a competitive instinct. In some people this competitive instinct can be their downfall by pushing them to keep competing long after logic should have told them they were beat. We applaud the athlete who keeps getting up to try again, but in poker it can be a destructive trait. I am convinced I can beat the paradise 5/10 game. I beat it for months, and even in the 4 weeks I started playing it again I was up $1,000 despite the horrible last 10 days. But it’s time to be realistic. 1) it’s not the same game. The old fish have gone broke, and the new fish are going to Party. It’s the same faces night after night and most of them are good, and a few of them are very very good. 2) I can beat the party 3/6 for more money despite the smaller stakes, or at least have less chance of losing. Paradise has better support, and their cashouts are almost immediate. I cashed out from both Paradise and Party on Saturday night at around 3:00 AM (Sunday morning actually). Paradise had the money in my Neteller account at 7:00 AM Sunday. After I contacted my “Executive Hostess” at Party on Tuesday, they made my depost in 15 minutes late Tuesday night. Party has never made a transfer for me without my having to call them. They say they have an internal review to do for all cashouts that takes 24-48 hours. I will miss Paradise, but until they get some fresh blood in there I’m gone.
So Wednesday morning I opened my Empire account under a disguised name, which I will keep secret for now. I have decided to play 4 3/6 games both afternoon and evening for now. Maybe everyone else knew this but I did not, Party and Empire actually share the tables. I thought they were two different sites using the same software, but it’s just 1 big site as I found out when I tried to sit at the same table with davidross. The software is sophisticated enough to recognize that we are the same person and wouldn’t let me. So it’s the same games I love so much, only in blue. I played for 3 ½ hours in the afternoon, breaking even on my Empire tables and winning $100 on the Party tables. It was interesting to play completely anonymously, but I didn’t play any of the 2+2’ers anyway. The evening got off to a disastrous start. I rebought on 3 of 4 tables within 30 minutes of starting, and rebought again on one of the tables an hour later. But I got real hot on the remaining tables and won $550 an the empire tables, plus my $100 sign up bonus kicked in after 500 hands. I lost $230 on the Party tables but had a very comfortable $520 day putting me up $1,050 for the week despite being down $450 at paradise.
I had an interesting exchange under my alias on the following hand. I limped behind a couple of other guys with As 2s in LP. Another limper behind me then the BB raised. 5 of us saw the flop for 2 bets each. Flop was 8 6 2, no spades. BB checked and EP bet, got a call and I decided to call too. I’m getting 12 to 1 at least on the call and have 5 outs probably. I don’t think that’s overly loose. The guy on my left raises, BB folds and we all call. Turn is an A. I bet into the raiser who raises me again and fearing A8 I just call. I check call the river and beat his 86. He and another player start moaning about my calling his raise when I was a 20-1 underdog etc etc. He claimed his raise should have told me he had 2 pair or a set, and when I asked how I was supposed to know what he had, he told me it was just math. I’m not kidding. It was kind of fun.
I complained yesterday to Party support about a possible all-in abuse. It was a very small pot, where I flopped top pair from the blind with something like T2 on a T 5 3 board, and everyone folded to the button who timed out. River brought a K which made his hand good and he won a $15 pot. He was out for the next hand and right back in after that. I asked if he was having connection problems and he said yes, sorry. I sent it off to support and got an e-mail back this morning saying they reviewed all of his all-ins and suspect a pattern of abuse. They have warned him and restricted his reset ability. Of course I’m not getting any money back.
Betting into a scary board. I’m not sure what the lesson is here. I limp under the gun with 88, and the limping frenzy begins. 7 of us see the flop. Flop is 9 9 5 rainbow. Not the worst flop for me. After the blinds check I bet. Everyone folds to the button who just calls. In these games that scares me as usually everyone slow plays. Only 2 of us see the turn. Turn is a 3, completing rainbow. I bet again and he raises. I hate folding heads up, but it sure seems I’m beat here. Knee-jerk reaction though is to click call and my 8 comes on the river. I check raise him and he had K9. It’s easy to say he should have raised the flop and the slow play cost him, but when he raises me on the turn I’m getting 7 ½ to 1 on my call, not nearly enough to spike my 8 so I think his waiting for the turn is the correct play. And I’m not sure I would fold to the flop raise anyway, suspecting a play. So probably just an example of a suck-out.
A tough fold. My first Empire hand history. I open raise in EP with Ad Qc. Button cold calls and SB completes. BB folds. Flop is the lovely Ac As 6h. No slow play for me I bet out. Button raises and SB cold calls. Hmm. Even my simple math tells me there aren’t enough aces to go around, and there are no draws on the board. Maybe a pocket pair that doesn’t believe the A is out there. I 3 bet, button caps and SB calls again. If we were heads up I’d believe the button had an A and take my chances, but what could the SB have? It’s certainly starting to look like Ax in the blind, and 66 on the button. But I’m still not certain. Turn is a 2. I bet into him one more time, he raises and SB calls 2 more cold. I call again. River is a J. We check to the button who bets, and now the SB raises. Ding. Finally I fold and the button doesn’t believe it so he raises again and the SB caps it. He of course had AJ. Button did indeed have 66. I would have been prouder of my hand reading if I could have laid down to the turn raise, but I did save a couple of bets. And if I laid down on the turn and the Q had rivered…..
I have always been a huge sports fan. Hockey was my first love and I grew up in Montreal during the Canadiens hey day. I was 8 when the Expos joined the National league and my dad had season tickets for many years. I used to know all the players in all the leagues. Something happened over the last few years, it’s probably called life, and I no longer follow professional sports as closely. I still watch games now and then, but I don’t know half the players on any teams anymore. Maybe it’s players strikes or over inflated salaries or free agency. More likely I’ve just become more interested in my kids sports, because love watching amateur sports. I watch the local high school football team, and I took my kids to watch the city soccer teams this summer. The Olympics are the ultimate to me, especially the track and field, and the world cup of soccer is another favorite. Something about people competing for the sake of competing I guess. So my favorite team in the world right now is the Canadian women’s soccer team. I fell in love with them last summer when the under 19 world cup was held in Canada and the team went on an amazing tear only losing in the finals to a powerhouse American team on penalty kicks. Most of that team now plays for our national team and a lot of people thought that 2007 would be the year for this young team. One girl, Christine Sinclair is already the 6th ranked player in the world at age 19 and is clearly the future for our program along with a 16 year old from the town next to me. I have been so looking forward to the Women’s World cup which started last Saturday. We lost to Germany in the first game which was expected, but can still advance to the quarter finals with wins over Argentina and Japan. What was disappointing was how easily the Germans controlled the game, but I was hoping it was just jitters. We played Argentina last night and won 3-0, but again played terribly. We now have to beat Japan on Saturday to advance, a tie puts them through because they beat Argentina 6-0. I postponed my poker for 2 hours last night to watch the game, that’s how important it was.
Just when I thought I had turned a corner I got smacked down again. Thursday and Friday were the worst 2 days I’ve ever had, losing the proverbial 200 BB’s that we’re supposed to keep for such emergencies. I dropped over 700 on Thursday, all on my empire tables, and another 360 on Friday. I’m so frustrated it’s ridiculous. The only thing that helps is I went back and re-read my posts form my last 2 weeks of hell in June, and it made me realize that there isn’t much I can do about it except keep playing well. Saturday was a struggle for most of the evening until I finally went on a rush around 1:00 AM and managed to win $500. I finished the week up $464 for the 2nd straight disappointing week. But if I compare it to the 2 bad weeks in June when I lost $2,300 in 2 weeks this is miles better than that. My party tables had a good week, but Paradise and Empire killed me. The empire is just chance, since it’s the same tables as Party, but I’ll be curious to see if my results are affected at all by people not knowing me as davidross.
My Canadian girls played great last night in beating Japan, so we move on to the quarter finals against the winner of the Russia China match today.
What can you do. This is a perfect example of what happens to you when you’re running bad. I open raise in MP with AQo and only the BB plays. Flop is A T 5, 2 hearts. I bet and get check-raised by the BB. I 3 bet and he caps. Uh oh here we go again. Turn is the 9s. He bets and I just call. River is the Qh giving me my 2 pair, but putting what I suspect is his flush on board, so I just call his bet. He shows J8o for the straight. He 4 bet the flop with nothing, then went runner runner heads up. Sigh.
I lost to rivered sets 5 times on Thursday/Friday. Those are 2 outers. Then this hand came along. This is pretty wild.
I have AA in the SB and UTG raises. It is 3 bet from the button and I cap it. BB calls as do the other 2. Flop comes Ah Kh Tc. That’s probably hit someone. I bet, get called in 2 places and the button raises. I 3 bet, get called twice and the button caps it. We all call. Turn is the 3h. I bet into the flush board, one call and one fold and the button raises again. I finally slow down and just call. River is the ugly 9h putting 4 hearts on board. UTG now bets out and button raises. I swear, look for the dog who is way ahead of me and left the room, and finally come to my senses and fold saving 2 bb’s. UTG calls. Button wins it with a set of Kings. OMFG!!! I laid down the winner for $12 on a $153 pot. I’m an idiot. UTG had Qd 7d for A high and called the river bet, and I folded my set of A’s. When will I learn?
From the what is going on here department. I limped utg with 8c7c. Table was loose/passive enough I thought I could get away with it. 7 of us see the flop for 1 bet each. Flop is the lovely Ac Qc 9c. BB bets out and I raise. No pussy footing around with 2 cards to come. 3 folds and a 3 bet in LP. BB calls and I cap it. Both call. Turn is an offsuit 7. I bet, LP calls and now the BB raises. Uh oh. I decide to raise once more, I still can’t believe 2 of us flopped the flush. LP calls 2 more and BB caps it. We both call. River is 3h. BB bets. I just call and LP raises!! BB 3 bets and I make another crying call remembering my AA hand and the LP just calls. All 3 of us flopped the flush. BB had KJ, and LP had 54. Sigh!
This happened countless times this week and I still don’t know if I can fold it. I open raise AQ in LP. Button 3 bets. He has 3 bet with any A and any Pair I have discovered. BB calls 2 and we see the flop 3 handed. Flop is AT3 two diamonds. I bet, button raises and we both call again. Turn is a J. We check to the button who bets and we both call. River is another 3, no flush and again the button bets and we both call. He has AK and takes it down. So can you fold AQ when you are 3 bet pre-flop, and raised when the A flops? I think you have to pay the guy off here.
Well, I hope I have seen the worst of this run. The texture of the games seems different to me, but I wrote the same thing when I was losing last time. There seems to be more raising pre-flop making some of my pet hands a bad play. But essentially I think I just need a few river cards not to fall against me to turn these break even weeks into winners. I’m just not winning big pots right now, and I think most of my winnigs come from 1 or 2 big pots per day.