Death By 1,000 Paper Cuts

Wow, I am really running like shit right now. Just a painful grind as I try to find a way to eak out a win. I played a long session from 2:00pm to 1:00am last night. I started in the 8/16 game which went to 12/24 about 7:00pm. I started out up a little just grinding out pots. Nothing really going my way and the game was full of good players. Not conducive to a big win. I played at Diamond Lil's in south Seattle where there is usually only one big game(12/24 is the biggest game you can play outside of the Indian Casinos, so this is considered a big game here). The problem with that is all the good players only have one game to choose from so if they want to play they have to sit here. 9 handed only two soft spots and one of them was running hot. You had to pick your spots, and I did not get my fair share of premium hands as has been usual lately. So I folded and folded and then played my big hands and lost. No conducive to a win. I got a little passive in a few spots where a strong bluff would have picked up the pot, and then bluffed or called what I felt were bluffs at the wrong time. Ouch. No big swings though, never up more than $200 and never down more than $200. I continue to play a good game, not great, just good. I need to be a little more selective on starting hands, and a little more aggressive in pots. It is tough for me to play marginal strong hands hard, which means I should not play them right now. When you run bad you really need to concentrate on staying aggressive. Being aggressive and keeping the lead gives you more ways to win the pot. Otherwise you just have to turn over the best had. It is easy to get passive and try to let the pots come to you. This does not work in a game of good players that will take every opportunity to pounce on weakness. The end was three quick pots that I played like shit with marginal strong hands and lost, it was a sign to get up and try another day. Net paper cut -$104. SJ