Nope, I'm not back... Oh wait, Yes I am
After my last blog entry that contained so much optimism, I haven't written in awhile. There is a good reason for that -- I have been playing very bad poker.
My bankroll at Poker Stars got as high as $350, but then I donked most of it away. It dropped as low as $100 before I got incredibly frustrated and really stopped playing.
I did, however, use some of my FPPs and I bought a poker book. I am not going to let you know which poker book, but it is easily the best poker book written since the original Super/System. More importantly, it describes a playing style that will beat your average tight-aggressive player playing the Super/System style.
Using my new style, I have been playing very very well. I have run my bankroll up from $100 back to around $350. In fact, I just cashed out $100, which was my original investment from last summer -- I'm back to playing with house money.
To summarize a little bit, I am playing about 50% more hands than before and I am trying to focus on playing in position. I am also trying to get a read on my opponents, which has been incredibly helpful. I'm also folding more, taking fewer chances. As a result, I'm winning more small pots and playing fewer large pots. The key point, though, is that my winning percentage in those large pots is now very very high.
This is not a bad beat story, but more a "wow, I played that great" story. The only large pot that I can remember losing in the last 10 days was a hand where I flopped a set against KK and the dude pushed and I called. He caught a king on the river. I didn't even get frustrated in the slightest!
There are a couple of other hands that I remember.
One was against a guy would had been "stealing my blind" a lot. I don't know if he was actually stealing, but it was annoying me... so I decided to re-raise once with six-deuce of spades. He called. The flop came with three spades and he bet $15 into a $2 pot (not a good play); I called and took it down. He was a little bit pissed off, since he held KK.
I had two great hands from last night. In one, I merely called a raise from the big blind with KK. The flop came with three babies and my opponent shoved when I check-raised him. I called (figuring that I am more likely against AK, QQ, JJ or TT than a set or AA) and I took his stack (he had QQ). About 20 hands later, we played another big pot. He raised and I called with Ah 9h. The flop was Th 8h 8x. He bet and I called. The turn was an ace and it went check-check. The river was a blank and he shoved and I called. He had KK.
And, I just played another very good hand, even though I am not sure that I had the best hand or not. A guy from UTG raised to 4x the big blind, the cutoff called, and I re-raised from the button with QQ. This looked like a classic squeeze play, except that I had a real hand. The small blind twarted my play, though, and he shoved all-in. I thought about it a little bit, but I eventually decided to fold. I can't imagine that he had anything less than KK in that spot. That's only the second time that I have ever folded QQ pre-flop.
My bankroll at Poker Stars got as high as $350, but then I donked most of it away. It dropped as low as $100 before I got incredibly frustrated and really stopped playing.
I did, however, use some of my FPPs and I bought a poker book. I am not going to let you know which poker book, but it is easily the best poker book written since the original Super/System. More importantly, it describes a playing style that will beat your average tight-aggressive player playing the Super/System style.
Using my new style, I have been playing very very well. I have run my bankroll up from $100 back to around $350. In fact, I just cashed out $100, which was my original investment from last summer -- I'm back to playing with house money.
To summarize a little bit, I am playing about 50% more hands than before and I am trying to focus on playing in position. I am also trying to get a read on my opponents, which has been incredibly helpful. I'm also folding more, taking fewer chances. As a result, I'm winning more small pots and playing fewer large pots. The key point, though, is that my winning percentage in those large pots is now very very high.
This is not a bad beat story, but more a "wow, I played that great" story. The only large pot that I can remember losing in the last 10 days was a hand where I flopped a set against KK and the dude pushed and I called. He caught a king on the river. I didn't even get frustrated in the slightest!
There are a couple of other hands that I remember.
One was against a guy would had been "stealing my blind" a lot. I don't know if he was actually stealing, but it was annoying me... so I decided to re-raise once with six-deuce of spades. He called. The flop came with three spades and he bet $15 into a $2 pot (not a good play); I called and took it down. He was a little bit pissed off, since he held KK.
I had two great hands from last night. In one, I merely called a raise from the big blind with KK. The flop came with three babies and my opponent shoved when I check-raised him. I called (figuring that I am more likely against AK, QQ, JJ or TT than a set or AA) and I took his stack (he had QQ). About 20 hands later, we played another big pot. He raised and I called with Ah 9h. The flop was Th 8h 8x. He bet and I called. The turn was an ace and it went check-check. The river was a blank and he shoved and I called. He had KK.
And, I just played another very good hand, even though I am not sure that I had the best hand or not. A guy from UTG raised to 4x the big blind, the cutoff called, and I re-raised from the button with QQ. This looked like a classic squeeze play, except that I had a real hand. The small blind twarted my play, though, and he shoved all-in. I thought about it a little bit, but I eventually decided to fold. I can't imagine that he had anything less than KK in that spot. That's only the second time that I have ever folded QQ pre-flop.
posted by frazwood at 2:52 PM
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