Heater
Following my most recent semi-retirement from poker, I predicted that I would start playing better and that I would soon rebuild my bankroll. Afterall, that's what happened following my two previous "semi-retirements" from poker. Sadly, that did not happen and I managed to donk away 2/3 of my relatively small bankroll (i.e., small because I cashed out most of my money).
Once my bankroll dwindled to around $200, I realized that I either needed to start playing better or I would be forced into permanent retirement from poker. I decided to put virtually all of my online money into Poker Stars, a site where I had broken even at best in the past. I had two problems with Poker Stars: (1) I felt cursed there (bad beats seemed to follow me wherever I went), and (2) the game played very slowly, so it annoyed me (it's best not to play while annoyed).
This time, however, I focused on playing my best game and focused really hard to not let the bad beats put me on tilt. In short, I planned to play through the bad beats that I expected to come. Luckily, Poker Stars solved my problem with the slow play in that they have since introduced "high speed" tables that better fit my personality (I am a fast acting person in general). To summarize a long story, I entered the weekend with about $500 in my account. This is a "safe" buy-in for $25 NL (buying in full, that is), but I was itching to start playing $50 NL.
Yesterday (Saturday), I spent considerable time playing because I was left in charge of my infant daughter. She mostly sleeps all day, so I laid her on my chest and sat in my chair while two-tabling $50 NL (6-max). Because I don't have the bankroll to play this with a full buy-in, I started by buying in at $25 per table. I almost immediately lost my stack to a donkey who caught a lucky river card. I knew that he was a bad player, so I decided to re-buy for the full amount. I also decided to buy-in full at my other table too.
Well, donkeys being what donkeys are... re-buying in for the full amount was completely the correct play and I was eventually able to win my money back from the donkey when he made another bad play. I finished that table about even for the session. On my other table, though, I went on a heater and I doubled my [full] buy-in. Nice! I managed to squeeze in another combination baby nap and poker session later in the day, netting another $100 in profit plus almost $40 in bonus money. At this point, I cashed out $50 as part of my plan to re-build my bonus whoring account.
Today (Sunday), I won another $50 or so in a shortish session (~100 hands). I started out losing a bit on one table to loose-passives who kept catching cards. I kept attacking, though, and eventually they called off large portions of their stack when I held the goods. I finished that table about even.
I made almost all of my money for this session in a single hand when I called a button raise from the big blind holding JTo. The button had raised about 30% of his first 30 hands, so I interpreted this move as a steal. The flop came J 9 3 (rainbow) and I decided to check-raise. Strangely, he bet $30 into a pot of $4. I figured that he either held a very strong hand or nothing. Giving his aggressiveness prior to the hand, I guessed that it was more likely nothing and I pushed all-in. Even more strangely, he called another $18 and flipped over two eights. He did not improve and I took down a nice pot.
And finally, just before bed I played another short session that netted me another $30 in profit or so. Most of the profit came in one hand when it was folded to me in the small blind and I raised with AKo; the big blind called. The flop was perfect (something like K 8 3) and I made a pot-sized bet. The big blind mini-raised me and I decided to call and then check-raise the turn (all-in). The shocking part of the hand was when the big blind called my all-in with just K4 and I took his stack. After that, the newborn starting crying and I quit.
In other news, I've managed to piss away most of my stack at UltimateBet. For some reason, I thought that I could beat the $10 NL game there, but I lost two buy-ins, dropping my bankroll from $12.50 to $2.50. So, I am currently trying to grind it out at $0.05/$0.10 limit. It's not much, but I think I can manage it without going bust because the bonus is so good at low stakes.
Once my bankroll dwindled to around $200, I realized that I either needed to start playing better or I would be forced into permanent retirement from poker. I decided to put virtually all of my online money into Poker Stars, a site where I had broken even at best in the past. I had two problems with Poker Stars: (1) I felt cursed there (bad beats seemed to follow me wherever I went), and (2) the game played very slowly, so it annoyed me (it's best not to play while annoyed).
This time, however, I focused on playing my best game and focused really hard to not let the bad beats put me on tilt. In short, I planned to play through the bad beats that I expected to come. Luckily, Poker Stars solved my problem with the slow play in that they have since introduced "high speed" tables that better fit my personality (I am a fast acting person in general). To summarize a long story, I entered the weekend with about $500 in my account. This is a "safe" buy-in for $25 NL (buying in full, that is), but I was itching to start playing $50 NL.
Yesterday (Saturday), I spent considerable time playing because I was left in charge of my infant daughter. She mostly sleeps all day, so I laid her on my chest and sat in my chair while two-tabling $50 NL (6-max). Because I don't have the bankroll to play this with a full buy-in, I started by buying in at $25 per table. I almost immediately lost my stack to a donkey who caught a lucky river card. I knew that he was a bad player, so I decided to re-buy for the full amount. I also decided to buy-in full at my other table too.
Well, donkeys being what donkeys are... re-buying in for the full amount was completely the correct play and I was eventually able to win my money back from the donkey when he made another bad play. I finished that table about even for the session. On my other table, though, I went on a heater and I doubled my [full] buy-in. Nice! I managed to squeeze in another combination baby nap and poker session later in the day, netting another $100 in profit plus almost $40 in bonus money. At this point, I cashed out $50 as part of my plan to re-build my bonus whoring account.
Today (Sunday), I won another $50 or so in a shortish session (~100 hands). I started out losing a bit on one table to loose-passives who kept catching cards. I kept attacking, though, and eventually they called off large portions of their stack when I held the goods. I finished that table about even.
I made almost all of my money for this session in a single hand when I called a button raise from the big blind holding JTo. The button had raised about 30% of his first 30 hands, so I interpreted this move as a steal. The flop came J 9 3 (rainbow) and I decided to check-raise. Strangely, he bet $30 into a pot of $4. I figured that he either held a very strong hand or nothing. Giving his aggressiveness prior to the hand, I guessed that it was more likely nothing and I pushed all-in. Even more strangely, he called another $18 and flipped over two eights. He did not improve and I took down a nice pot.
And finally, just before bed I played another short session that netted me another $30 in profit or so. Most of the profit came in one hand when it was folded to me in the small blind and I raised with AKo; the big blind called. The flop was perfect (something like K 8 3) and I made a pot-sized bet. The big blind mini-raised me and I decided to call and then check-raise the turn (all-in). The shocking part of the hand was when the big blind called my all-in with just K4 and I took his stack. After that, the newborn starting crying and I quit.
In other news, I've managed to piss away most of my stack at UltimateBet. For some reason, I thought that I could beat the $10 NL game there, but I lost two buy-ins, dropping my bankroll from $12.50 to $2.50. So, I am currently trying to grind it out at $0.05/$0.10 limit. It's not much, but I think I can manage it without going bust because the bonus is so good at low stakes.
posted by frazwood at 12:47 PM
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