I can see clearly now...

the rain is gone. Well, figuratively speaking. It's pouring here and I'm stuck at work. Fun fun.

Got back on that horse last night and am happy with my play, for the most part. No monsters out there. Amazing what happens when you face your fears...many times they wilt away like a dream.

Though I did not have a winning session (in fact I lost 2/3 of my buy-in...$100), I played rather well. Got Aces twice, doubled up the first time when I raised from UTG, a way-too-loose calling station raised me on the button and I poooooooooshed. He called and showed QQ. Nice. The other time I got Aces, we were down to 5-handed and I got them, again, UTG. I raised to $12 (blinds 2/5) and got 3 callers. Flop comes 345 all spades, and no, of course I don't have the ace of spades. I bet out $40 and one of the LP callers raised me $100 more. I hated it, but laid down my Aces, showing them to him and he shows me his KQs. Not the hardest laydown, but it made me feel good that I was able to get away from them.

Hands that I find that I am having the most trouble with are hands such as Axs where x is any suited card below a ten. If I limp in MP and the flop comes Axx I find myself with far too many questions on what to do...there are times it seems so clear and there are times that it seems I have no clue how to play it. So, that being said, I have noticed that I need to work on two specific areas though:

1- I desperately need to go buy Poker Academy Pro 2 to work on my percentages and to be able to run simulation after simulation to alleviate questions on how to play a certain hand etc. I do know the percentages fairly well, but I feel that if I can get the percentages down cold, and we're talking not even having to think about them and knowing them, I will improve my game ten-fold. No, I don't need that program to do this, but being able to run the simulations will be a huge bonus for this as well.

2- While I am reading a bunch on strategy and such, I find myself in too many situations that I really am not sure what the right play is. I feel that I need to post more over at CAP, and 2+2, to try to help improve my game. I've been wanting to do this, but either haven't made the time or have been to "scared" to do so. Absolute nonsense and I know it. If I really am serious about doing this, I need to set the ego aside and ask for help in areas in which I feel I need it. Couple this with the first problem area, and this should shore up my game quite nicely, over time.


So all this being said, plan on seeing me post much more on CAP (caseacepoker forum) and dedicating more of my time to improving my play and not just playing. I have 8 months til I plan on making a go of this, so this is what I need to concentrate on. Improving my game is more important than making money, at least, right now. If I do the former, the latter comes much more easily and frequently. Well duh...maybe I just needed to "say it" outloud. :rollseyes:

Seeing Monsters...

Monsters are scary. Real or imagined, they can terrify, implicitly, and cause you to not act/react rationally. While there are real monsters out there, such as guys like BTK (ie. Dennis Rader ), it's usually the imagined ones that haunt your dreams. Guys like Freddie, Jason, and Michael are not real, but, to millions of people, that makes them no less scary.

In poker terms, seeing monsters means that even when you have a big hand, your mind tries to convince you that your opponent has an even bigger hand...a monster, regardless of your read of him. This usually happens after a prolonged downswing or a series of bad beats. Currently, this is where I am. And frankly, I am not enjoying it.

See, it started 2 weeks ago, where I not only had a series of bad beats, unlike which I had never sustained (though this didn't really bother me as I know I played well, just got unlucky), but then I had something terrifying happen 2 days after...

No-Limit Texas Hold'em has been termed "a game of people, played with cards". I find this to be a perfect description, as reading your opponent(s) is as important, if not more so, than the cards you are dealt. Over an infinite amount of hands dealt, everyone will end up with the same hands. It's how those hands are played, namely by being able to read your opponents, that determine whether you win or lose money. And this brings me to my single most terrifying moment I have ever experienced at the poker table.

The week prior, I had a great week, winning just a shade over $1400. My good play was being rewarded. Then the following weekend, the weekend the monsters came out of the closet, I lost $1000 of it between Friday and Saturday thru the afore mentioned string of beats. C'est la vie. We move on. Then on Sunday, I played some of the worst poker I remember playing. Then "it" came. "It" being that I got called down, for my entire stack, and got caught bluffing. Now, this would not be big news, as this does happen on occasion. What shook me so badly was that I got called down with him holding 23o (2 and 3 off-suit). Let me replay the hand and explain:

I am viewed as a TAG (tight, aggressive) player. Generally, this style of play is accepted as the best way to consistently win. Sure, you have to mix it up at times, but as a table image, this is mine. For those not "up" on poker-ese, this means that I play fewer hands than most, and when I do, I am very aggressive and bet stong. Thus, when I raise, since I play fewer hands than most, and when I show down a hand, it's a legit hand, my raises are usually respected. On this night, though, I was not playing my best and was playing far too many hands, and hence, losing.

I am UTG (under-the-gun - first to act) and look down to see KQs. I have about $145 in front of me (bought in for $200 in our 2/5 NLHE game), and I raise it to $20, which is a standard raise, but being UTG, usually suggests great strength. I get called by a player in middle position (MP) and one in late position (LP) and we see a flop of: A69. I bet out $50 into a $65 pot and the player in MP calls and says "See you on the river". Turn brings a 3. I push my remaining $75 and he calls, almost instantly. Well, I know I'm beat, as he has to have an Ace. The player was also a TAG, who's play I respect and know that he can lay down a weak A. The river was a 5 and he tables his hand and says "Straight"! First thought is, "Are you kidding me?!?". For him to have a straight, he had to call me down with 24, which is beyond belief. I stand up, stare at his hand in disbelief and see him smile. Wait a minute, he doesn't have 24. He has 23. And that still beat my unpaired KQ.

Some of you are probably wondering why this messed me up so badly. "So you got caught bluffing". Well, it's not that I got caught bluffing. It is what I got caught with. HOW THE HELL DID HE KNOW I COULDN'T BEAT HIS PAIR OF 3'S?!?!?!?!?! I raised preflop from UTG and bet when the Ace flops. How does he call that? So welcome to my monster. That was the last hand of poker I played until the tournament this last Sunday. I just do not know how he read me like that. I have never had that happen before and I play mostly live. I have friends who tell me that I do not give off any noticeable tells. I work on changing up my play and my betting patterns, but try to act the same during a hand, everytime. So this shook me to my core. Should it have scarred me like it did? I don't know. Probably not. But, boy, did it. So needless to say, I did not play my best during the tournament. Here are the 2 relevant hands. The first comes about 55 mins in, and I was doing quite well. Was...



Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter



saw flopsaw showdown

CO (t825)

Button (t1945)

SB (t1960)

BB (t1705)

UTG (t1460)

UTG+1 (t1305)

Felix (t2180)

MP1 (t4040)

MP2 (t1770)

MP3 (t1125)

Preflop: Felix is UTG+2 with Tc, Td.

2 folds, Felix raises to t100, 4 folds, Button calls t100, 2 folds.

Flop: (t245) 7c, 9d, Jc (2 players)

Felix bets t200, Button calls t200.

Turn: (t645) Ts (2 players)

Felix bets t400, Button raises to t1000, Felix raises to t1645, Button calls [t645] t1000.

River: (t3290) 2c (2 players)

Final Pot: t3290

Results in white below:

Felix has Tc Td (three of a kind, tens).

Button has Kh Qh (straight, king high).

Outcome: Button wins t3290.

There are a few different ways I could have played this, such as not raising preflop, as most of my value in this hand comes from flopping a set. But, as I did play this, putting him on KQ or any 8 is improbable. A few fellow FBG'ers (if you don't know, don't worry about it) and I were playing in this and we had a chat going on Yahoo, during, so we could follow each others progress. We were talking about this hand and agreed that the most probable hands were QJ, KJ, JJ, a club draw, or a small possibility of KQ. Even with KQ, I had outs. Regardless, I think that I could have and would have gotten away from this hand, had I been playing my best game. But thanks to my monster, I wasn't. Shame on me. So here is the other hand, 3 mins later:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (10 handed) converter

saw flopsaw showdown

BB (t1725)

UTG (t4270)

UTG+1 (t1930)

UTG+2 (t1810)

MP1 (t1385)

MP2 (t420)

Felix (t190)

CO (t4130)

Button (t1425)

SB (t1030)

Preflop: Felix is MP3 with Ah, Qh.

5 folds, Felix calls [t190] , 1 fold, Button calls t190, 2 folds.

Flop: (t235) 9h, Qc, 8s (2 players)

Turn: (t235) 2d (2 players)

River: (t235) 9d (2 players)

Final Pot: t235

Results in white below:

Felix has Ah Qh (two pair, queens and nines).

Button has Js Ts (straight, queen high).

Outcome: Button wins t235.

Felix finished in 1712 place

So, I have decided to face my monster and I am spending this time doing a lot of reading and working to improve my game, via Party Poker's $25 max NL tables. It's doing wonders for the self-confidence and also, all the reading I am doing is helping me tighten up my game as well as improving how and when to vary it. So until I September, I am going to keep up what I am doing and keep working hard at exorcising my demon. First weekend in September, though, it's gonna be time to get back on that horse and ride it back into the black numbers. Input is greatly appreciated. I'm all ears, trust me.

I guess now you guys know why I hadn't updated until now. You know how long this took to write??? ;)

Big tourney...

Well, I may have underestimated the number of people who were going to play in this thing. We are about to start and the final number of $385 entries?







2245


Well, here we go. Game on!