Protecting hands

[Biff M.]

How do you protect your hands? I usually bet 3/4 or the pot, and lately that's been really firing back at me. Getting outdrawn really costs a lot when you bet that hard and you are cursed with bad luck.

When I first started playing I had little idea how to protect a hand, so I just bet very cautiously. That way getting outdrawn wasn't so costly, but at least I avoided the huge downswings. I've lost $1500 at $1/2 tables in the last 36 hrs, and I don't think that's from a lot of bad play.

I suppose everyone's been through such streaks, but this is my first and I'm really beginning to doubt my play.

Any advice? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Daann]

Stop playing for a bit, and have a look at those hands that you got stacked on, the bad beats from the start will probably have skewed your judgement a bit for later hands, especially if this is the first time you have had such a swing. It happens to all of us though, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Biff M.]

How do you get your hand history on other sites? I play Expekt, and they only store for one day at a time, meaning I'll have to request it every day if I want to keep up.

And it's a bit of work too, first I have to search for all my hands, then export them to a file (which takes a really long time) and then finally import them into Pokertracker.

Is this easier on other sites? Can you request hands like, let's say once a week?

[BlueBear]

$1500 in 36 hours is a fair bit and I'll take some time off to careful review my play and plug leaks. Do consider playing on a poker site which allows downloadable hand histories because PokerTracker is very useful.

[Biff M.]

Re Pokertracker:

Yes, I have now registered at Ultimatebet, Partypoker and Pokerstars but from what I can tell only UB allows for multiple tables.

Should I make a deposit to UB? Is their history system recommendable?

And yes, I will not play so much this weekend and I will also step down to 0.5/1 for a while [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Wayfare]

Hi Biff,

$-1500 at 1/2 is not variance. You have either been tilting or not beating the game. I agree that it is prudent for you to take off some time, and review your hands. In that time, I suggest posting a couple of the hands that you lost on the forum so we can take a look at them.

[ethan]

Party allows 4 tables, but you may need to make a deposit before you can open more than one. (I opened an account on Empire which runs the same software, haven't deposited, and can only have one open there.) The hand-history system on Party may be best at the moment - Party just upgraded their software to write your hand histories to your hard drive as you play and pokertracker can read them in immediately.

The one downside to party is that the max buyin is 50BB, whereas it's higher at other sites.

[turkkito]

[ QUOTE ]
I play Expekt, and they only store for one day at a time, meaning I'll have to request it every day if I want to keep up.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is not true, you can view hand histories as old as 22 days from expekt (from the advanced search -tab). A good way to replay them later is to get pokertracker and to import your hand histories there.

[Biff M.]

Here are some hands I remember:

Dealt aces. On a minor tilt here, raises to 4x BB UTG. One caller from the blinds. Flop comes K72. He checks to me. Ok, he has a set - or nothing. I bet the pot, he calls. Ok, he might have hit a king, but wouldn't he raise with pocket kings, either here or preflop? Turn comes blank, I move all-in for about 200. He calls, and a second king comes on the river. He shows KQo.

I hold sixes. Pot is raised 3xBB, 2 or 3 callers before me so I call figuring this could be a good one. Flop comes 86-something. PF raiser bets out, everyone folds to me and I raise and he calls. Ok he has an overpair. Turn comes another 8 giving me full house and him two pair. He bets, I raise, he calls. River comes another 8, giving him a higher full house. He made a minor bet on the river, I called reluctantly. He shows 8's full of kings. I read that so perfect (not hard, really), thus making it even harder.

Some hands like this, and some bad chasing by me on a modest tilt. That's how you lose $1500 at 1/2. I think my major problem is that I commit too much with hands that are easily outdrawn. People will chase in small stakes, and this will cause swings. Let's take one hypothetical hand: Raise to 8 PF with aces, 4 callers, pot is now est 43. I hit an ace, but there are two scare cards. I bet the pot, committing another 40. Two chasers. Turn is blank, I fire again, pot is now 160 so I have to make it decent. I bet 100, one caller who hits his miracle card. That's $148 in one hand. Some of those, and some bad play and you're down $1500.

I'll post the exact hands if I can get them into a decent format. But now I'm gonna go do something else for a while.

And regarding Party Poker, I believe no multitabling until deposition made might very well be the fact.

[schwza]

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Biff,

$-1500 at 1/2 is not variance. You have either been tilting or not beating the game. I agree that it is prudent for you to take off some time, and review your hands. In that time, I suggest posting a couple of the hands that you lost on the forum so we can take a look at them.

[/ QUOTE ]

i disagree. assuming you're playing 100xbb stacks, this is only 7.5 buy-ins. i guess what i'm saying is that it could reasonably be variance (but could be the dreaded -EV as well).