Spent some time at Crown this weekend, playing cash games & a tournament ... and it was chalk & cheese ... swings & roundabouts ... or whatever your favourite cliche is for such a situation.
Saturday turned into a horrible session of $2/3 NL. After getting off to a reasonable start, I managed to find a number of second-best hands (which is never good for the chip stack) & was treading water slightly down when a novice player sat down at the table. As seems to happen so often, he managed to run like God & in no time had his $150 buy-in up to around $700! Given the number of 4 (or less) outers he hit, myself & the others at the opposite end of the table could not wait to get our hands on some of this, when the inevitable end to the run good happened. Of course the other problem that the beginner's presence created was that everyone else wanted to get in on the action. I managed to find myself on the wrong end of this in a big hand where I had TT in the big blind. After most of the table (including the beginner) limped, I made it $20 to go, which was called by 6 players! The flop came down J43 & I lead into the field for $40. The only callers were the beginner & the player to his immediate right. Although not the ideal situation, it was still not such a bad result, though obviously the jack was a little concerning. The turn brought a 5 & I bet $60 this time, which was called by the beginner & the other player moved all-in for just over $90. Obviously this was not ideal, but I called the extra amount (as did the beginner) & checked the repeat jack on the river. I showed my TT, the beginner showed 87 (yes, he called the flop with 87 & the turn with a gutshot!) & the all-in player showed his A2o for the wheel to take the $400+ pot! FML! I played poorly for the remainder of the session, getting more frustrated by the horrible play of the beginner, as well as his chipping up, then redistributing these chips around the table. My final hand for the evening saw my horribly misplay AK. It was folded to middle position (this was about an hour after the beginner had left ... with no chips & a lighter wallet) & a tight player raised to $15. This was the first time he had raised pre-flop & only a few hands earlier he had called a pre-flop raise & called flop & river bets in position with QQ to take down a pot worth around $100 on a K-high board, so I thought he had to have something pretty reasonable to be doing this. The button, who had been playing solidly & was the major beneficiary of the recently-departed novice player, called & I decided to just call from the small blind. I generally do this for a few reasons - it disguises the strength of my hand; AK can be a difficult hand to play out-of-position with the betting lead if you miss the flop; it keeps the pot size manageable - technically my hand is just a big drawing hand at present, so I don't feel the need to make the pot overly big (yes, I tend to go for the 'big hand, big pot; small hand, small pot' type of mentality). Three to the flop & it was KT7 with two diamonds. Expecting a c-bet from the pre-flop raiser, I decided to check, only to see it check around. The turn brought an offsuit 4 & I bet $30, which was called by the PFR, only to be min-raised by the button! Of course because I had played the hand so strangely/badly to this point I had no idea what kind of a hand he might have (although I knew it was decent), though it could be anything from a combo straight/flush draw (QJdd, 89dd) to top pair, two pair or a set. I decided to call, as did the PFR. The turn was a horrible card for me (in hindsight), an offsuit ace, giving me top two pair. I only had about $90 left, so shipped it, to see the PFR insta-muck & the button insta-call ... and I knew he had a set & I was heading home. Of course when he showed his 44, it simply made me more frustrated with myself for playing the hand so badly, as he most likely would have folded the hand on the flop to a bet. Oh well ...
Today I turned up late for the $125 Sunday tournament ... and it made no difference! I didn't even survive a round! After folding my first few hands, I looked at 66 in the BB & checked my option after 5 limpers. I check-folded the J75 flop & was just about settling into my table, which had quite a few familiar faces at it (yes, the Sunday tournament definitely brings out the regulars!). Of course on the very next hand there were again 5 limpers to the big blind (a regular who tends to overplay marginal hands) who made it 1300 to go (blinds were 100/200). I looked down at AK in the SB & re-raised to 3200 (we started with 10,000 & I'd only lost 350 in blinds prior to this hand, so pretty much had a full starting stack, with the button having me covered). It folded back around to the button, who moved all-in fairly quickly. I called & he showed his QQ. The dealer dealt the flop ... ACE! ... queen, four ... groan, FML, etc ... Of course I was drawing dead by the turn, but picked up a consolation ace on the river (what a lovely book title Mr Greenstein) before heading to the cash games.
The cash game proved to be great. In my first 2 orbits at the table I picked up AA twice! The first time I doubled-up (with change) on an AJ9 flop when I got it all-in against 99. I then stacked an opponent on a king-high flop when he got it all-in with K6 & did not improve. Obviously this was a great start to have my $200 buy-in up to over $600 within 30 minutes! I kept my stack around the $600 mark for the next few hours, with a few minor fluctuations, until another big hand came my way. This time I picked up AK in the big blind after 7 people had limped in, so made it $20 to go. Two players called to see a flop of A75 with two hearts. I bet $35 & they both called. The turn was an 8 & I bet $55 & was again called by both opponents. The river was a T (flush did not complete) & I checked, intending to check-call (I had the ace of hearts, but was concerned about one of my opponents having two pair). It checked to the player in the cutoff who bet $75 (about half of his remaining stack). With the pot being so big, I could not possibly fold, so I called his bet. After the other player mucked, the bettor insta-mucked & I took down the $450+ pot uncontested! I left about an hour later with a healthy profit that well and truly made up for the previous night's forgetable performance.
I've also decided that this week I will play a minimum of 25 hours of online low-limit holdem, playing at least 4 tables at a time. I was hoping to do this by Wednesday (roughly 8 hours per day on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday), though this may not be possible, as I am actually going to be playing chess (for Elwood) on Tuesday night. Will see how things go (both the poker and the chess) & I will update my progress here. Lets hope it turns out well!
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