| 27 Sep | Moodswings At The TablePosted by PokerBarney on 8:37PM, 27th Sep 2006Permalink |  Send to a friend |  RSS feed |
Poker is a funny old game isn't it? Some days I love it, some I hate it. Some I can think of nothing I'd rather do than sit and play for hours on end, and some days I can barely stand the thought of looking at another deck of cards.
But, I want to make something from my poker "career" (hah!), so I'm sticking to playing as often as I can for now. I (still) don't really have large enough chunks of time to play tourneys, so I'm stuck with the cash. Today wasn't too bad, but it had it's ups and downs.
It's really hard to avoid the mindset of "Oh balls, nothing is hitting. I have a bazillion outs and, typical, I missed them all. I'm destined to lose, and I'm constantly scared that even when I have a good hand I'm going to get drawn out on". This sort of thing leads to passive scared poker, which is seriously detrimental to my bankroll.
Over the last few sessions, I've let myself get a bit too concerned over the money, and so I become wrapped up in how much I'm losing. As I often tell other players, poker and money are not the same thing! So I'm trying extra hard to play as objectively and clear-headedly as I can.
Todays hands are all about how a player's mood can easily be swung by the oddities of poker.
The hand that started it all - Qs9s from the small blind. Again, I have a bazillion outs that don't hit and it costs me. It's these situations that I should be raising back and playing my semi-bluffs, but I am having trouble pulling the trigger. I end up losing some cash, and being grumpy about it.
Next comes a some goon that thinks his hand is good after lots of action from me with KK. Unfortunately, I can't hold it up (even though I'm waaaaay in front) and I get stacked. Grrrrrrr...!
Now here's an interesting one. AQ in late position, so I raise it up. Normally I raise between 3xBB and 5xBB, but on average I got for 4xBB. This is more than I would like to raise, but it seems any other size earns you a squillion callers, as seen in this hand. Now the flop looks great.. but I'm seriously concerned about that much action, so I fold.
Was it inspired? Or stupid? I think I'm behind most of the time, if not to a made hand then at least to a couple of combi-draws. Anyway, I was happy with it and it turned my mood around.
Finally! What better way to round off the summary than with a triumphant AA, my favourite kind. Not a lot to be said about this really, except - my god I love it when donkeys call. And lose. When they call and win I put it down to the work of Satan, and then throw Holy Coffee over my laptop in a vain attempt to dispel the daemons. It hasn't worked yet...
I need something to help me stay calm and focused at the (virtual) table. Perhaps whale music.. or the mating call of a donkey on heat. Who knows?
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Comments (2)
2. PokerBarney (contact [at] allinpokerblog [dot] co [dot] uk)
Thu 28th Sep 2006 10:00
Hello again :)
I'm not sure what the max buy in is - probably about $5, but I've only got a tiny little bankroll so I can't afford it. Plus, I can't play at any lower stakes, so I stick with a $2 buy in.
Once I get up to $25 I can move up to 2/4c or start buying in with larger amounts.
I'm happy with the fold on the AQ flop. I'm not happy with the Q9. Seems I know when to fold, but not when to raise. Practice!
Thu 28th Sep 2006 10:00
Hello again :)
I'm not sure what the max buy in is - probably about $5, but I've only got a tiny little bankroll so I can't afford it. Plus, I can't play at any lower stakes, so I stick with a $2 buy in.
Once I get up to $25 I can move up to 2/4c or start buying in with larger amounts.
I'm happy with the fold on the AQ flop. I'm not happy with the Q9. Seems I know when to fold, but not when to raise. Practice!
Thu 28th Sep 2006 09:40
The Q9s hand you played ok until the turn where you were too passive and I think it cost you the pot. You have 15 outs (7 to the flush, 2 to the straight flush and 6 to the OESD), even the 3 queens maybe outs if nobody holds a Jack so 18 outs are possible. I'm possibly check-raising all-in on the flop as you'll improve with 15 outs 0.85/1 and 18 outs 0.6/1.
The KK hand is pretty standard and just plain unlucky and you'll win more than you lose here.
AQs I'd raise short-handed 4xBB plus 1xBB for each limper in the pot. The board is possibly as bad as it could get and I'm folding here to any resistance.
What is the max buy-in for the stakes you're playing as I notice that on every hand that every player has a much bigger stack than yours. Playing short stacked is good from time to time to IMO and according to all the books I've read you should be playing with the max buy-in to maximise when you win a big pot and so you also have some folding equity when you raise all-in etc.