Broken

All of a sudden, my results have gone bad, and I don't know whether it's because I was running hot and now am not, or because I am playing badly, or a bit of both. Looking through the games, I think I am not doing the right things some of the time, often enough anyway to hurt me. I lost a bit at Full Tilt, and it's not like the players were better or anything, because they weren't. But my style means that I don't tend to make the small mistakes that kill the fish, but if I make a mistake, it's going to be big.

These are my notes on how I busted out of each tourney in the past three days:

FT: ran T3 into AA on AT3 flop

The guy had limped AA, so it was very hard to pick this. Could I have laid it down? I had 1160 chips and the blinds were at 60. Four to the flop, so the pot was 240 and I had T3 in the BB. I bet 2/3 pot and villain minraised. I put him on an ace and raised him a chunk more. He pushed. I didn't have much behind so I couldn't fold. Earlier on, we had played another hand in which I was in the big blind with QdJh. The flop had come Q high with two diamonds. I bet 3/4 the pot, he called. So I'm thinking uh oh, maybe a Q, maybe a diamond draw. The turn was Jd, so I bet that. With two pair and a draw to a Q high flush, I figure I'm going to be unlucky to be behind and not draw out. I bet about 2/3 pot, so he has no odds to draw if he happens to have a higher diamond, a hand like Ad5, which would have made middle pair and a backdoor draw on the flop. If he's called with a diamond flush draw, he'd surely raise. So he calls and if he does have the high diamond, well, let's hope another doesn't come on the river. Which it did. I bet out to stop him from bluffing at me and he just called. I was astonished to see his hand. He had AdQ! On the flop he had had TPTK and just smoothcalled. On the turn, he made a mistake but he wasn't to know it. He probably thought he was still ahead and could at worst draw out against the flush if he wasn't. On the river, only he knows why he didn't raise. He had the nuts and had nothing to lose.

Okay, so this suggested to me that the guy thinks he's "trappy", so in my bustout hand, I couldn't put him on anything that beat me, because I'm thinking he'll let me bet them for him.

As a side note, I couldn't help thinking that if the flop had come T32, he would have thoroughly deserved to lose the big pot he would have lost, and would have whined about it to his mates afterwards. These guys think that limping their aces in is the cutest slowplay ever, but whine like bitches when they get cracked by the big blind flopping two pair.

OTOH, I can't tell you how many times this week I've put in a standard raise with AA or KK and watched the whole fucking table fold. The one time someone did call...


FT: raised 3BB with AA, guy with K8 flopped trips

I might have been able to get away from this. But let's face it, the tards love to bluff at a paired flop, and it's hard to fold when they do. Okay, it's hard when you're playing badly. In good form, I shrug my shoulders and allow them to bluff if they're bluffing. I know I'm in bad shape when I start getting all macho about it.


FT: KJ on KJ9 flop of course tard had QT

But I played it badly, because I led out and they pushed and I wouldn't lay it down. I'm not sure you can though. Of course, you can be beaten here, but also you can be ahead of AK, K9 and various other hands that the guy is sure are winning, not to mention straight draws etc. Mind you, I knew the tard had it when I called. I just knew it and should have laid it down.

FT: short 33 into QJ, he rivered straight

Nothing I could do about that. The guy made a very loose call and got lucky.

FT: Q9 vs KQ on Q high flop

Shortstacked, top pair is not easy to put down, particularly in an unraised pot. I had bet the flop and he called on a not too drawy board. On the turn, I checkraised him to represent making my hand, but he didn't buy it. I know, I don't need to be told, that fancy plays are stupid at this level.


FT: AK vs QQ

This was on the bubble, so it really really hurt.

FT: AQ vs JJ

At push or fold blinds, I'm pushing AQ every time, but I can't remember the last time I won a race, regardless whether I hold the pair or the overcards.

A bit short hu but okay otherwise

I just had too short a stack to overhaul the chip leader, but I came second at least.

FT: desperatelyunlucky heds up vs Calling station

I remember this. The retard got lucky on me twice in two hands. First, I raised nicely with AJ and he called with T9, flopping two nines. He bet small flop and turn, so I called with pot odds to outdraw what I took to be a small pair (I didn't think he had the 9, of course). Then on the next hand, I raised nicely with AK and he called with T6. When the flop came J66, I bet pot to take it away (this guy had shown no willingness to lay down hands to halfpot cbets, and I figured I was almost certainly ahead here). He minraised, which I could not call without committing myself. Now, on a good day, maybe I fold here, but I simply refused to believe that he had flopped trips two hands running! He had also made the same move a couple of hands earlier. I had raised nicely with A2. He called with whatever the hell he had. The flop had come down J high. I'd bet out and he checkraised me. I called instead of showing the good sense to fold and he pushed the turn. I was convinced he'd bluffed and when the same sequence came again, I was never laying down my ace high.

I'm beginning to realise that my bad run has a lot to do with bad play. Writing this out makes it clearer.


99 into KK

There was quite a nice pot and the guy had limped. A couple of others limped behind him. There's always a chance they're doing this, but on good days, you steal the nice pot. I figured that worst case I get called by overcards and have a race, with the overlay in the pot making it worthwhile to take the edge. The blinds were quite high, and I don't really understand why these guys think it's a good idea to limp decent hands, and allow others to outflop them cheaply, but I got caught twice by the play. I am never not making this move though. It has paid off a ton of times.

ran K2 into KT on KTx flop

This was just terrible, bad discipline, but when you keep losing, you start to chase it a bit.

FT: very bad

I fucked this one so badly I didn't even have a note better than that. Actually, I think I didn't do much wrong but got rivered on a couple of early hands and then pushed when a massive favourite shortstacked and didn't improve.

FT:33 into AJ, he flopped A

On the bubble again, small vs big blind. This is a fold for him, but he didn't know the theory ;-)

JTs on twoflushboard, he had set

This was just one of those things. I had JcTc on a board showing all undercards and two clubs. The guy bet out about 2/3 pot and I pushed to try to take down the nice pot, favourite against top pair. He didn't have top pair, but these guys will only very rarely bet a set. Whether he would lay down top pair is another question. Arguably, I should not push here, but a/ I will win more than I lose, b/ I have fold equity and many players will lay down a weak pair here, c/ quite often the bettor has nothing at all on a raggy board and thought it looked stealable and d/ I can't fold and don't like calling. Draws are a nightmare in no limit. You chase them and you are going to bleed chips unless the bettor makes it cheap.

AJs vs J7, he rivered straight

Don't ask me why a guy put his tourney on the line with J7. I have been seeing this quite a lot though, in low buyin tourneys as well as sitngos. I'm guessing that the donkeys have read somewhere, or realised, that you are better off with live cards if you're gambling. Yeah, but that means you're often better off pushing with KJ than AJ, not that it's a good idea to call off your stack with J7!

stupidlycalled push from KK with AQ

This is not like me at all. I'm generally able to lay down cards that I've raised with but meet huge strength. I wasn't short enough to be anything like desperate. Still, I was pretty disappointed not even to have a coinflip. The guy had been involved in some hands without decent values, so I didn't have any good reason to put him on as big a hand as he had. But I don't like to be calling allins at the best of times.

FT: JT vs A3. They keep calling with shit and beating me

This was on the bubble again. This was an easy, easy fold for this guy, particularly since I had been playing pretty tight, but some people will call any bet with an ace.

played cosily and bravely heads up

Hooray! A win. If I note that I played "cosily", I mean I didn't take too many chances or push edges, just won the hands that were there to be won.

PS: A9 vs A7, he flopped 7

Well, wtf can you do? I was fourth of five and this guy was third, covering me by a couple of hundred chips. Again, there is no way he should be calling a push with A7, but these guys will do it every time. I was pleased to see his holding, not so pleased to see a 7 on the flop.

PS: K6 short into KK

When you're pushing K6s into the big stack on the bubble, even with a very short stack, you know it's time to take a break. Which is what I'm going to do. No poker for a while, to try to recover my broken confidence. I'm going to do some reading and thinking, but just going through these games indicates to me that my game is really badly off. I'm not sure how to fix it though. The problem with the changing gears strategy of playing SNGs is that you tend to be short when the blinds are high, and if you bet at a flop, you don't have much behind if you fold to aggro, or get called. After all, the plan is to get it in with what you think is a good chance. I need to slow down on blind hands though, even if I think I'm winning with them. There's a huge difference between fearlessly getting it in with KQ on a K high flop and doing it with K2, not least that if you get called with the latter, you're nearly always beaten. Maybe I should play one game tonight, take detailed notes of every hand and post it here, so I can read it back and check on myself. Who knows, maybe a kind soul will stumble on this blog and berate me for my shitty play if indeed I play shitty.