Yesterday was a disappointment. A small downswing, partly my own fault and partly to being outdrawn.
I started a couple of SnGs after yesterday's post. Lost them both. I started off playing my usual LAG style while the stacks were still deep. (I know there are good arguments for playing loose or tight in the open stages, both of them have their merits and are both effective if done correctly, feel free to discuss this in the comments or on THM forum!) I know, however, I started to get a little too loose. I played a few marginal hands badly and started to loose too many chips. I immediately realised this and started to tighten up, not only to stop losing chips pointlessly, but to extract more value when I get a bigger hand. (This is reliant on the table still seeing me as LAG player). My style switch was to be profitable, managing to get Kx hands to call my A10+ all in, knocking out players and increasing my chip stack considerably. With my stack growing, I tighten up a little bit more, no need to throw away the lead, but continue to be highly aggressive around the blinds/button. (I remember sat to the right of a complete nit, so I was happy to steal his blinds with ATC.) The fun began however when the tables became short handed and we were getting close to the money.
Short handed, I'm happy to get aggressive with A8+ hands. 4 or 5 handed, you are very often ahead, so trying to force an opponent all-in is generally a profitable approach. This is where I see my edge in SnGs, I feel confident playing short stacked, my shoving range is wide enough to get called, but also to be profitable. However, TWICE I got A9 in against A6. TWICE a 6 came on the flop. I ran KK into 88 to see an 8 on the turn. And lost an AK versus 1010 (yes, I'm behind but it's still a flip). My later stage play, I feel, was good. I didn't play silly like I did early on, I just feel I got unlucky with the cards that came out. Now while the defeats didn't tilt me, I felt a bit disheartened. I don't believe in luck, but subconsciously, I was telling myself it was one of those days where you just weren't going to win the coin flips, as though I had no luck. I could toss a coin 10 times, and guess everyone incorrect. With that in mind, I decided to stop the SnGs. I agree I was playing too fast, too aggressive. Maybe the F1 had gotten into me? I was pretty happy that Vettel managed to pip pole position in the final second. Qualifying was exciting, and Spa is my favourite race of the season, and after a 4 week break, I was glad to see it back. Either way, I was playing to fast, so I decided to open up a few HE ring games. A game I play MUCH slower, where I don't see massive wins/losses. It's contained, it's slower and it's steady. I managed to pick up some weaker tables, not ones that were willing to invest a lot into every pot, but when where you could show aggression and be able to take pots down. I'm aware I'm playing the lower stakes, the starting place for most players. I don't claim to be massively better than the people I play against, that would be absurd, but the vast majority I'll have a slight edge over, maybe it's knowing they'll fold to a 3-bet, knowing that with the weaker players, checking the flop generally means they missed, where a bet means they hit. Small edges that let me pick up small 10c pots here and there. I'm not winning much, but I'm winning bits. Half an hour or so later, and I've scraped back a dollar here and there, I decide to take a break. I wasn't on tilt, I wasn't playing badly, I didn't drop below my buy ins on both tables and I was building a steady, but small profit, I was playing good poker for the table I was on, however I decided to take a break. The losses in the SnGs had left a bad taste in my mouth and I wasn't enjoying playing the cash games. I jumped into some League of Legends with some friends and forgot the poker for the time being.
A few hours later, I still wanted to hit my VPP target for the day. I load up Stars and attempt some SnGs again. I played tighter to start, still loose, but not as loose. I had my usual swings in chip stack. Loose a hundred or two chips to start, get a reckless image, and then win some big pots with the big hands. Get to 4/5 handed and I'm sat in 1st/2nd place as always, but like earlier, I run bad and lose the flips, and the massively dominating hands. I fall down to 3BB in game, and manage to pull it back for a min-cash. I'd had enough for the day.
Now you may be think I'm in denial, that maybe I was playing badly, and it's my own fault for losing, however, I wasn't. I was playing good poker, at least for the level I'm at. I close Stars and play some more League of Legends before bed. As always, I fall into restless (my knee injury keeps me awake and prevents me from getting a decent night's sleep) sleep watching pro Starcraft 2 streaming and wake up around 6 hours later for work. I don't enjoy working at ASDA, it's mostly bearable, however some days it's just stressing. Today I had a 10 hour shift, I was shattered, I was in excruciating pain due to my knee and most importantly, I was missing the Belgian Grand Prix. With all of this in mind, I didn't want to play poker this evening. The 10 hours of mind numbing work gives you plenty of time to think, and I find myself thinking mainly about poker and this blog. I'm going to try treat poker like a job. I want this to be something serious, so let's treat it serious. With this is mind, I would admit I'm in state to be working. I'm in pain, I'm tired and I want to have a few drinks. I'll play some games, write up this blog and grind the tables tomorrow, at least until I go to work and providing I don't sleep in too late.
Tomorrow will be a good day, I'm sticking to cash only, see how I go with that and I'm going to revisit some albums I haven't heard in a while.
Hope everyone has had/is having a good bank holiday weekend!
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