I'm running bad. Way bad. 100BB in 10/20 bad. Kick-the-cat-during-a-botched-vasectomy-getting-hit-by-an-uninsured-truck-carrying-asbestos-and-killer-maggots bad. I know this will correct itself eventually, but it's difficult to keep up the spirits when getting beats, missing draws, folding winners to heavy action (KK and two raises to me with an Ace on the flop... turned out the aggressor had 99 and took it), and losing things like KK vs. AA (rag flop, K on turn for me, A on river for him... and every street capped by the unsuspecting grub UTG... he
can't possibly have AA, methought, as I'm sure he also didn't put me on KK).
Let's start with a good hand. 10/20 6max. I have AA and raise preflop. One caller. Flop is rags. Turn is a rag. River is an Ace. I bet the whole way, he check-calls the whole way with A4o. I don't begrudge him playing A4o (we're shorthanded), nor calling a raise with it. But going past the flop and turn? It's this type of caller that kills many a QQ and KK hand that I had previously, as he draws for that Ace. It's why I pump the flop and turn, making them pay for the draw... which backfires into making the pot more attractive to continue calling.
And now the bad.
Ring and tourneys alike, seemingly every strong hand this weekend also hit someone else -- usually with a flopped set. I'm sometimes able to fold if reraised here; only problem is, I bet big on the flop which commits me to see it through. One of my leaks is paying people off, but perhaps that's just inevitable for the times they
don't hit their set of 2s when I raise 8x with AA.
Worse was the dreaded head-shaking one-card flush or straight made on the river. One hand flopped me a set and the river brought a 4flush... the winner had a 3 of that suit (a Jack was his other card, and no Jacks on the board). Lord knows why he even called a raise (he was in the blind) and chased a Jack and one-card flush, but such is online poker. I even check-raised the flop and he called to the end. At least he had the decency not to raise the river.
In ring games you can make notes and use that information for future plays, hoping they stick around enough for you to get your money back before they give it away to other people.
With SnGs, once you're out, you're out. At a few tables, people apologized for taking me out with lesser hands (that they saw fit to call my all-in with anyway). One hand I had AA and reraised someone all-in preflop. He typed,
"I have AQ," and then called, hit two Queens, and said,
"sry." We weren't shorthanded at this point. The worst is when people tell him "nh" or say "wow." Worse still is when he's a sore winner and types "lol" or "hahahaha." Fortunately I'm already out of the SnG that prevents me from tilting.
Each time I've withheld saying
anything back in chat. I don't curse, I don't lash out, I don't table coach. I don't even say "nh." I just make a note and keep playing.
My current ROI for SnGs is
still 1 percent. Pathetic.
Barring slots & bj, I'd been running good the first couple weeks thanks to that
TGC multi and playing ring (why
can't 7.49BB/100 hands be sustainable?!), so I knew this was coming. I didn't expect it to happen to the SnGs, but the ring games couldn't possibly stay at that high BB/100 rate. This happened with SnGs last month, where I began the first 100 at a high 56 percent ROI before ending the month with an average 29 percent.
Perhaps I should only play at the beginnings of the month.
I need to steel myself during this downturn and just keep putting in the hours; one or two or three losing sessions don't affect me, but a string of them over the course of a weekend rattles the ol' bones. And it may not be over yet.
ยง
No winner for
Hand of the Week #21 so we add another $5 to the prize pool.
I dropped a hint within the HoW ("...would probably have stayed
straight to the end"). Oh how tricky we can be when we amuse just ourselves.
I had 3
6
.
To recap:
I'm in MP, I call (questionable, but I'll sometimes play these shorthanded when the table's been passive), and the flop is 7
5
8
.
SB bets, I call, button calls.
Turn is K
.
SB bets, I raise (on the straight and flush draw, representing a King, and to knock out the Button who may have overcards), Button folds, SB calls.
River is no help to me at all -- J
.
SB checks, I bet (nothing I can do but maintain my bluff), and SB folds!
Hdouble was right on the mark with his analysis:
Ok, I'm thinking you had a draw on the flop, and the turn helped your hand... aggressive Grubby would have raised the flop if he had a pair AND a flush draw, rather than waiting for the turn. A set or 2 pair is possible, but just doesn't feel right.
My spidey sense is telling me that someone got hit with THE HAMMER... but not exactly. 72h is my guess.
He seems to know best how I play. Perhaps it's time for another heads-up match, HD?
I put SB on medium or bottom pair -- I don't know
anyone on Party who will drop top pair no matter what the kicker, and no matter getting check-raised.
My turn-raise was the only way I could signal to him I had a hand. People rarely check-raise the turn on anything but a made hand. If I represented something strong, I could possibly have gotten him to laydown a smaller pair, which is what he did. Then again, he could also have been on a draw.
Still, I doubt my 6 high would've won the pot on showdown.
Grubby's Hand of the Week #22
for Monday, October 18, 2004
Prize: $25
I'll be in Vegas next Monday, so this one will have to tide you over for two weeks. The first person to correctly guess my hand before the Monday after next wins. Suits may or may not matter. One guess per person, please. Winner will be declared here that Monday. If there's no winner, $5 will be added to the prize pool.
This week's HoW is sponsored by
Party. We still like you, Party, even if you give us action flops, we get sucked out on the river, and we get stuck holding crappy AA cards that come in
third at showdown. If you'd like to keep these hand-reading quizzes going, please consider signing up using
this link. You'll get a 20 percent bonus up to $100 on your first deposit, plus if you're the winner, the prize is
tripled for you.
Leave your guess in the comments section below. You can be Anonymous without registering through Blogger, but do include your name so I know whose guess is whose.
If you don't include contact info and you're the winner,
email me after the quiz is over.
Good luck and good skills,
Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter
Preflop: grubby is BB with T
J
UTG raises,
1 fold, CO calls,
2 folds, grubby calls.
Flop: (6.40 SB) T
2
8
(3 players)
grubby checks,
UTG bets, CO calls,
grubby raises, UTG calls, CO calls.
Turn: (6.20 BB) 7
(3 players)
grubby bets, UTG folds, CO calls.
River: (8.20 BB) A
(2 players)
grubby bets, CO calls.
Final Pot: 10.20 BB
Main Pot: 10.20 BB, between grubby and CO.
What did CO have? Hint: he had one
.
Also please write "X-Box" or "PlayStation" (or "either" if you don't have a preference). A survey I'm doing, but completely unrelated to HoW. Details soon...
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