Playing Hooky
I skipped work yesterday; this was a much needed break. I took care of August most of the day, letting Kelly finish painting our spare bedroom. August was very well-behaved (i.e., she slept all day), and I was able to clean the house while she slept.
I played very little poker and what I did play was not of a high quality. I won $4 playing 7stud at Poker Stars and I lost about $5 at both Absolute and Party playing a mixture of NL and limit holdem. I had very little enthusiasm for playing, which can be deadly playing no limit because it depends so much on feel.
The reason for my lack of enthusiasm? Probably the fact that I cleared the Titan Poker PSO promotion late on Monday night. I had played rather well there, building about $100 in equity almost entirely playing no limit. The games were VERY aggressive and I had to pick and choose my spots very carefully. To be honest, though, I had got very lucky. I had taken very few bad beats, which is difficult to do with such aggressive games. I don't know if I was simply worn out from playing these games or my luck had run out, but I starting taking bad beats and making bad plays. I had starting losing; and because my primary goal was to clear the PSO promotion, I started buying in for the minimum and playing really tight -- merely accumulating raked hands while trying to lose as little as possible.
This worked reasonably well, except for the suck outs. One hand that I recall: I was dealt Kh 8h in the big blind. A donkey in early position made a minimum raise (note: minimum preflop raises are VERY common at Titan) and there were two callers. I called, hoping to catch a big flop. The flop was Ah Qh 7h, giving me the nuts. The original raiser made a smallish bet, another person called; I made a smallish raise, both people called. The river was 2s and the original raiser made a big bet; the caller folded and I pushed all-in; the raiser called. The river was 2c and the pot went to the raiser who held QQ.
Eventually, I thought that I could lose more slowly playing very tight limit hold em ($1/$2). This was a decent theory, but my version of tight limit hold em is usually profitable, as it was in this case. I won about $15 playing a full ring game (maybe 70 hands). Towards the end, I also started playing a 6-max limit game ($1/$2) where I caught cards and won $17 in about 40 hands. After winning my last pot, I checked with Titan online support and found out that I had accumulated more than 3500 Titan stars. I had also ran my net profit at the site to a little more than $100, not including the $20 in bonus that I had earned. So, I quit for the night and I cashed out yesterday. I expect that I'll receive my Nevada Jacks chips in about 10 days.
I don't ever plan at playing at Titan Poker again. It is a very nice site and I think it is worth playing if you're looking for a new site. The games are beatable at the stakes that I was playing, but thanks to Party Poker, there is no shortage of beatable games to be found. And besides, I am already playing too many sites. My biggest complaint is that their bonuses are very difficult to clear, somewhere in the range of Full Tilt. Unlike Full Tilt, though, the site is not compatible for Pokertracker, you can't play with Phil Ivey, and you can receive cool ancillary gifts like sunglasses, t-shirts, etc.
I played very little poker and what I did play was not of a high quality. I won $4 playing 7stud at Poker Stars and I lost about $5 at both Absolute and Party playing a mixture of NL and limit holdem. I had very little enthusiasm for playing, which can be deadly playing no limit because it depends so much on feel.
The reason for my lack of enthusiasm? Probably the fact that I cleared the Titan Poker PSO promotion late on Monday night. I had played rather well there, building about $100 in equity almost entirely playing no limit. The games were VERY aggressive and I had to pick and choose my spots very carefully. To be honest, though, I had got very lucky. I had taken very few bad beats, which is difficult to do with such aggressive games. I don't know if I was simply worn out from playing these games or my luck had run out, but I starting taking bad beats and making bad plays. I had starting losing; and because my primary goal was to clear the PSO promotion, I started buying in for the minimum and playing really tight -- merely accumulating raked hands while trying to lose as little as possible.
This worked reasonably well, except for the suck outs. One hand that I recall: I was dealt Kh 8h in the big blind. A donkey in early position made a minimum raise (note: minimum preflop raises are VERY common at Titan) and there were two callers. I called, hoping to catch a big flop. The flop was Ah Qh 7h, giving me the nuts. The original raiser made a smallish bet, another person called; I made a smallish raise, both people called. The river was 2s and the original raiser made a big bet; the caller folded and I pushed all-in; the raiser called. The river was 2c and the pot went to the raiser who held QQ.
Eventually, I thought that I could lose more slowly playing very tight limit hold em ($1/$2). This was a decent theory, but my version of tight limit hold em is usually profitable, as it was in this case. I won about $15 playing a full ring game (maybe 70 hands). Towards the end, I also started playing a 6-max limit game ($1/$2) where I caught cards and won $17 in about 40 hands. After winning my last pot, I checked with Titan online support and found out that I had accumulated more than 3500 Titan stars. I had also ran my net profit at the site to a little more than $100, not including the $20 in bonus that I had earned. So, I quit for the night and I cashed out yesterday. I expect that I'll receive my Nevada Jacks chips in about 10 days.
I don't ever plan at playing at Titan Poker again. It is a very nice site and I think it is worth playing if you're looking for a new site. The games are beatable at the stakes that I was playing, but thanks to Party Poker, there is no shortage of beatable games to be found. And besides, I am already playing too many sites. My biggest complaint is that their bonuses are very difficult to clear, somewhere in the range of Full Tilt. Unlike Full Tilt, though, the site is not compatible for Pokertracker, you can't play with Phil Ivey, and you can receive cool ancillary gifts like sunglasses, t-shirts, etc.
posted by frazwood at 12:10 PM
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