a 2/4er's orbit at 15/30

[kem]

Like a lot of posters on here, I'm just a casual poker player. I try to fit in hands whenever I can, but I don't get to play nearly the number of hands that I'd like to. Probably pro's play more hands in a week or two than I've done in the past year. I've played 0.5-1 enough to be comfortable playing 4 or even 6 tables at once. I've played some 1-2 6-max, and a bit of 2-4 as well, but lately things have become stagnant. My bankroll has been helped a lot by the many bonuses, which are pretty easy to knock-out with 4+ tabling. This isn't really satisfying poker though, and I worry that my bankroll has grown faster than my abilities. This boredom led me to try something crazy. I guess I was trying to jumpstart my interest in poker again. I wanted to feel like I did when I was playing online for the first time and really had no clue what I was doing, but was excited to learn. For some reason I decided that I was going to sit at the 15-30 table. Like I said, the highest I play online is 2-4. Live, I've done 4-8 in Vegas. Obviously this is a bit of a jump to 15-30, but I needed to do something.

I decided that I was going to sit down at a 15-30 table, and play a single orbit. I set out a few goals for myself:
(1) I didn't want to lose my entire buy-in.
(2) I would err on the side of tight, and be aggressive to a point.
(3) I wanted to win a pot.
(4) If at all possible, I would in fact attempt the trifecta.. the blessed trinity of 2+2.. the triple check raise.

I don't know if it was just me, or the games tonight, or maybe it's always like this, but it took me a long time to find a table. As always, I sorted tables by highest pots, and tried to join a table with an empty seat. It took forever to find a table where 3 people weren't sitting out. Or two people were sitting out, and two other seats "reserved." Obviously since I don't have the bankroll for this game, I did not intend to post a blind in the CO -- I would wait for the BB. On a couple tables I sat down, and before the BB got to me the table had broken up. Eventually, I was able to find a table where I sat and waited for the blind with only one person sitting out.

I bought in for $630, because I always buy in for 21BB. I wait for the BB, and we're off.

Hand 1: 6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]5[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]
UTG calls, folded to the button who calls, SB calls, I check.
Flop comes 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (my first 15-30 flop!)
SB checks, I check, UTG bets. Button folds, SB calls, I fold.
Turn is J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]
SB checks, UTG bets. SB calls.
River is the 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
SB checks, UTG bets. SB calls.
UTG flips over 8[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], SB has A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] and wins the pot.

(limping with 86s UTG? Did I accidently sit down at the 2-4 table?)

Hand 2: T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] in the SB. Button open raises, and I fold.

Hand 3: K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] on the button. UTG limped, UTG+1 raised, UTG+2 cold-calls, folded to me and I fold.

Hand 4: T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] one off the cutoff (poster in the CO). Folded to me and I fold.

Hand 5: J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] I'm UTG+2, folded to me, and I fold. Would my VP$IP% end up being 0?? I pray to the poker gods for some cards.

Hand 6: K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] HERE WE GO! UTG folds, I raise! Folded to the SB who calls, BB folds, and we're headsup! In my limited sample, SB seemed slightly loose pre-flop.
Flop comes 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]
Not a bad looking flop for KK. A couple draws on the board, which he can't possible gets odds to hit heads up.
SB comes out betting, and I raise. He calls.
Turn is J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and he checks. I bet, he calls.
River is 5[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]. SB comes out betting.
Did he catch the runner runner flush? Did he hit 2 pair on the river? Seems like either one of these cases he would check-raise. Perhaps I should have raised the river? If it's a bluff and he folds to my raise, I gain nothing over calling. If it's not a bluff though, I'm risking the 3-bet if I raise. Maybe it's a clear raise though? Or maybe it's close. Anyway, I called.
SB flips over 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and my hand is good. Hero wins 8.4BB.

Hand 7: J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] UTG, I fold, and I'm spent.

So what gives, why did I only get to play 7 hands? People kept leaving the table, and the newcomers would post in the CO. And one guy was "away" the whole time I was there. I don't know if this is typical for 15-30, but it was annoying as hell.

So my general observations are consistent with what everyone says. In terms of pot sizes, it seems comparable to 2-4, but VP$IP% is lower and people are more aggressive. Practically every pot was raised pre-flop. The table seemed to have a high number of tight players, and then a couple really lose ones. What a rush though. I was definitely worried of walking away down a couple hundred, but the luck of the irish prevailed. So I left the game up $107, giving me a win rate of 50.95/100. Now I know some naysayers will naysay about "insufficient sample size", but it's good enough for me..