davidross
03-21-2004, 02:52 AM
Taking some time off paid dividends this week. There is nothing fair about the game of poker over a short period, but in the long run you’ll get the results you deserve and I’m getting better and better with accepting the short term fluctuations. Last week I played a lot of hours trying and failing to bank some winnings in anticipation of a few days off for the kids March break. So this week I played minimal hours and had terrific results.
Last Sunday my wife left with the 3 younger children for Montreal. My older daughter had to work and I had to curl on Sunday night, so we stayed behind an extra day and left for Montreal on Monday morning. It was just a short trip for me, as the two older kids had to be back home by Wednesday afternoon. So I drove 6 hours on Monday, made a 90 minute drive to ski on Tuesday, then after a full day of fantastic ski conditions made the 90 minute return trip Tuesday night. Finally Wednesday morning I came back with the two older kids. 15 hours of driving in a 54 hour period, but worth every minute. My wife is still in Montreal with the 2 younger kids, but will return today. Life gets back to normal tomorrow.
Freed from my parental responsibilities, I made a rare Sunday afternoon appearance at the poker tables and immediately wished I hadn’t. My mediocre results from the previous week continued and I dropped $300. The men’s Canadian curling championship final was on Sunday night, and after finding out our game was cancelled, my teammates and I headed out to watch the final in a bar. It was a fun night out with the boys, and the curling was fantastic, maybe the most exciting final ever (keep the comments to yourself), although I readily admit the highlight of the evening was the lingerie match on the WWF show that was on the adjoining television. Anyway I got home around 1:00 AM after a few cold ones and proceeded to lose $600 more. I was just about ready to call it a night when I hit a few hands and decided to play a little more. By 5:00 AM I had won back the $900 and actually finished the day ahead $27. I changed my departure time to 11:00 and got a little sleep. I didn’t play at all in Montreal and got a couple of good nights of sleep. I don’t usually feel tired when I’m on my normal routine, but there is something nice about 7 straight hours of sleep. I got home Wednesday afternoon but didn’t have time to play. I got home from the curling club around 11:00 PM and proceeded to have a good night, winning $616. Thursday was back to a normal schedule, and I had posted wins in both the afternoon and evening sessions, winning $1,081. My son and I had a male bonding couple of nights, take out food and action movies. T3 on Thursday, and Jackie Chan on Friday. It was pretty nice. Even better were the big wins I had. Friday was another big day, up $1,047. Finally Saturday night, in only 2 hours of play I won another $791, finishing the week ahead $3,562 playing only 27 hours.
It has now been over 3 weeks since my last $500 loss. Clearly my more aggressive play is paying off in fewer losing sessions, as well as smaller losses when they occur. The games are still full of people willing to cold call with crap, and chase to the river with anything. This leads to a lot of river beats, but you sure win some big pots as a result. On one of my huge nights this week I lost 3 hands where I flopped or turned a full house, when the other guys AA made a boat with a 2-out A rivering. They were all $150 plus pots, so that night could have been even bigger.
It’s interesting for me to look back at how my game has evolved in the last year. Playing full table 5/10 at paradise, and 3/6 at Party I was very much a weak tight player. I did a lot of limping and saw a lot of flops. But I managed to win steadily, although probably at a rate that was less than optimal. However, seeing so many flops did allow me to develop hand reading skills that I think help me a lot now. Using Poker tracker and comparing my results with other 2+2’ers was the catalyst for me making changes to my game, and although the changes weren’t extreme, they made an immediate improvement in my win rate. I can’t help but think though that the time spent playing “weak-tight’ was an important developmental stage for my game.
I didn’t play any tournaments this week, but Empire has a WSOP qualifier tonight guaranteeing 3 seats for a $150 entry. I think I’ll buy in for that one. And next Saturday is the 1st VIP reward tournament where the top 100 players (as of Wednesday) will play for a $30,000 package to the Bellagio 5 star tourney. I currently have 8916 points and 100th place is 7006. I think I’m safely in.
Here is something I’ve done more of lately with good results. I believe I have the table image of someone whose bets mean something, so occasionally I try and take advantage of that. I had Qd 8d on the button and with one limper in, I limped too. Both blinds played. Flop came Kd 7s 5d. The blinds checked and the limper bet out. I just called hoping the blinds would come along too. This is my usual play in this situation as I would rather play 3 others for 1 bet when drawing than get it heads up for 2 bets. SB called, and the BB folded. Turn was the 6h giving me a few more outs. Again the limper bet, and now I raised. The BB called (damn) but the limper folded. River was the Ts. BB checked and I bet my Q high busted draw. BB folded. Too often I would check this river to save the $10, but clearly I don’t have to steal the pot too often to make this play worthwhile.
I was flush blind here. I have Qh 8h in the SB, and there is a poster who checks. I just call and the BB checks. 3 to the flop. Flop is Th 9s 7h giving me a great draw. I bet, the BB raises and the poster calls 2 cold. I 3 bet, and the BB caps. Poster calls 2 more cold and all 3 of us see the turn. Turn is the 8c, not a great card for me. I check, BB bets and we both call. I start chanting “Heart’ ‘Heart’, but my prayers go unanswered as the Jc rivers. I check, thinking that at least I might split the pot with us all playing the board. They both checked behind me and I was shocked to see the pot sliding my way. I completely missed my Q making me a straight. I also missed 2 bets I’m sure. BB had 8s 3d (wow) and poster had Ah 6h (WOW, glad heart didn’t come).
At one point in my amazing short Saturday session I had the following stats. 229 hands played, 18% won, 90% showdowns won, 30% flops seen and 50% pots won when flop seen. That’s how to win $900 in 2 hours.
Have a good week all.
Last Sunday my wife left with the 3 younger children for Montreal. My older daughter had to work and I had to curl on Sunday night, so we stayed behind an extra day and left for Montreal on Monday morning. It was just a short trip for me, as the two older kids had to be back home by Wednesday afternoon. So I drove 6 hours on Monday, made a 90 minute drive to ski on Tuesday, then after a full day of fantastic ski conditions made the 90 minute return trip Tuesday night. Finally Wednesday morning I came back with the two older kids. 15 hours of driving in a 54 hour period, but worth every minute. My wife is still in Montreal with the 2 younger kids, but will return today. Life gets back to normal tomorrow.
Freed from my parental responsibilities, I made a rare Sunday afternoon appearance at the poker tables and immediately wished I hadn’t. My mediocre results from the previous week continued and I dropped $300. The men’s Canadian curling championship final was on Sunday night, and after finding out our game was cancelled, my teammates and I headed out to watch the final in a bar. It was a fun night out with the boys, and the curling was fantastic, maybe the most exciting final ever (keep the comments to yourself), although I readily admit the highlight of the evening was the lingerie match on the WWF show that was on the adjoining television. Anyway I got home around 1:00 AM after a few cold ones and proceeded to lose $600 more. I was just about ready to call it a night when I hit a few hands and decided to play a little more. By 5:00 AM I had won back the $900 and actually finished the day ahead $27. I changed my departure time to 11:00 and got a little sleep. I didn’t play at all in Montreal and got a couple of good nights of sleep. I don’t usually feel tired when I’m on my normal routine, but there is something nice about 7 straight hours of sleep. I got home Wednesday afternoon but didn’t have time to play. I got home from the curling club around 11:00 PM and proceeded to have a good night, winning $616. Thursday was back to a normal schedule, and I had posted wins in both the afternoon and evening sessions, winning $1,081. My son and I had a male bonding couple of nights, take out food and action movies. T3 on Thursday, and Jackie Chan on Friday. It was pretty nice. Even better were the big wins I had. Friday was another big day, up $1,047. Finally Saturday night, in only 2 hours of play I won another $791, finishing the week ahead $3,562 playing only 27 hours.
It has now been over 3 weeks since my last $500 loss. Clearly my more aggressive play is paying off in fewer losing sessions, as well as smaller losses when they occur. The games are still full of people willing to cold call with crap, and chase to the river with anything. This leads to a lot of river beats, but you sure win some big pots as a result. On one of my huge nights this week I lost 3 hands where I flopped or turned a full house, when the other guys AA made a boat with a 2-out A rivering. They were all $150 plus pots, so that night could have been even bigger.
It’s interesting for me to look back at how my game has evolved in the last year. Playing full table 5/10 at paradise, and 3/6 at Party I was very much a weak tight player. I did a lot of limping and saw a lot of flops. But I managed to win steadily, although probably at a rate that was less than optimal. However, seeing so many flops did allow me to develop hand reading skills that I think help me a lot now. Using Poker tracker and comparing my results with other 2+2’ers was the catalyst for me making changes to my game, and although the changes weren’t extreme, they made an immediate improvement in my win rate. I can’t help but think though that the time spent playing “weak-tight’ was an important developmental stage for my game.
I didn’t play any tournaments this week, but Empire has a WSOP qualifier tonight guaranteeing 3 seats for a $150 entry. I think I’ll buy in for that one. And next Saturday is the 1st VIP reward tournament where the top 100 players (as of Wednesday) will play for a $30,000 package to the Bellagio 5 star tourney. I currently have 8916 points and 100th place is 7006. I think I’m safely in.
Here is something I’ve done more of lately with good results. I believe I have the table image of someone whose bets mean something, so occasionally I try and take advantage of that. I had Qd 8d on the button and with one limper in, I limped too. Both blinds played. Flop came Kd 7s 5d. The blinds checked and the limper bet out. I just called hoping the blinds would come along too. This is my usual play in this situation as I would rather play 3 others for 1 bet when drawing than get it heads up for 2 bets. SB called, and the BB folded. Turn was the 6h giving me a few more outs. Again the limper bet, and now I raised. The BB called (damn) but the limper folded. River was the Ts. BB checked and I bet my Q high busted draw. BB folded. Too often I would check this river to save the $10, but clearly I don’t have to steal the pot too often to make this play worthwhile.
I was flush blind here. I have Qh 8h in the SB, and there is a poster who checks. I just call and the BB checks. 3 to the flop. Flop is Th 9s 7h giving me a great draw. I bet, the BB raises and the poster calls 2 cold. I 3 bet, and the BB caps. Poster calls 2 more cold and all 3 of us see the turn. Turn is the 8c, not a great card for me. I check, BB bets and we both call. I start chanting “Heart’ ‘Heart’, but my prayers go unanswered as the Jc rivers. I check, thinking that at least I might split the pot with us all playing the board. They both checked behind me and I was shocked to see the pot sliding my way. I completely missed my Q making me a straight. I also missed 2 bets I’m sure. BB had 8s 3d (wow) and poster had Ah 6h (WOW, glad heart didn’t come).
At one point in my amazing short Saturday session I had the following stats. 229 hands played, 18% won, 90% showdowns won, 30% flops seen and 50% pots won when flop seen. That’s how to win $900 in 2 hours.
Have a good week all.