Back to the Slog Fest
I fired it up again last night down at the Muck. Tuesday has turned into a great day as they are now getting the $50/100 game on a regular basis on Tuesday. Unfortunately for me when I got down there after work it was full game and no seats. I sat around for a bit and decided to play $10/20 to warm up. Nothing exciting there and was down $40 bucks in about an hour.
I still could not get a seat so I decided to go play in the NL tournament they run down there. It still sucks, which is why I don't play it anymore. You either #1) don't start with enough chips for the blinds or #2) the blinds go up way to fast for the amount they do start you with and they skip some limits to get the tournament over fast. So I decided to try a new approach. You don't get time to work your chips so I figured I would play a little more aggressively and open up some starting hands to hit some flops. So what happens on my first hand, I am in late position with 8,9 hearts. I raise, and get called by both blinds. The flop comes down 8 high with two spades. It gets checked to me and I make a pot size bet of $300, the SB blind comes over the top for all his chips of $1,500. That smelled really fishy like a spade draw so I called looking to doubble up. He shows me A,8 and I lose my buyin on the first hand. OK rebuy. You only get one rebuy so now I had to play a little more cautiously. I play another hand soon after that in early position for a raise with A,Q and I get four callers including the blinds. Flop comes Q,6,6 blinds checks I bet the pot which was like $600 everyone folds and the BB comes over the top of me again. OK now this sucks, I put him on a 6 and just lay it down right there. What other hand could he have to make that move with such speed and confidence. He shows me 6,7 off and takes the pot. Now I am short stacked, as I pay a round of blinds, and I have like $800 left. I get dealt A,Ko in early position and just move in as the blinds are now $50/100 and a raise to $300 pretty much has me pot committed anyway. I get called in two spots late. A,Qo, and K,Js, prefect I have them both dominated. Nope, K on flop then runner runner to make the K,J a straight. Out fast. Off to $50/100.
This is where the slog begins. I am back to running pretty poorly. If you were reading a few months back I was not getting any cards to play and could not hang on to hands. Well last night was a repeat of that fun. Two outers and three outers galore, and then long stretches of not getting hands to play and mucking everything is site for hours at a time between playable hands. I was focused on playing really disciplined poker and I did. The last session I played I got really loose and gambled it up a bit to try and win. Bad idea. This time I just did not play anything, but then when I did play I just could not get over the hump on a run. I did have fun, and I was happy with the play, but the result was still a loss. Net for night -$40 in $10/20, -$210 buyin to tournament, -$190 in $50/100. Basically a break even session loss of -$440. The sad thing was it was a great game. One player all night just playing super aggressive and lose, and having huge swings in chips, like a swing of $8,000. I did not get any of them. That happens.
On a side note, NYC was great. I ate my way through the city at some great spots and no I did not play any cards. I did want to go see the club where A Rod got busted but my brother did not know where it was. Also to the comment on being too concerned with being stuck and maybe playing too high two things. #1) If you don't keep track of your results you have no clue how you are doing or playing. Those that don't keep score are most likely loosing players. You are also damn right I care about being stuck. I am there for fun, but I am also there to win. I want every chip on the friggen table. I hate to lose, if you like to lose please come sit at my table, I can help you with that. Being stuck sucks, you should never like it, and I surely don't. #2) As for playing too high one should never play with money that you need. If you need the money on the table don't play, simple as that. Pressure to win changes your game and usually not to the good, it goes to weak tight, don't go there. Last, I am lucky to have a great job that pays well. It is why I don't play much, but it also allows me to play whatever level I feel like. So while I appreciate the concern, the $50/100 game can't hurt me. But as I said I hate to lose so it pains me to lose $1 in the game, but it ain't going to make a ounce of difference in my life. Hope you are all winning and running better than I. Good luck...SJ
I still could not get a seat so I decided to go play in the NL tournament they run down there. It still sucks, which is why I don't play it anymore. You either #1) don't start with enough chips for the blinds or #2) the blinds go up way to fast for the amount they do start you with and they skip some limits to get the tournament over fast. So I decided to try a new approach. You don't get time to work your chips so I figured I would play a little more aggressively and open up some starting hands to hit some flops. So what happens on my first hand, I am in late position with 8,9 hearts. I raise, and get called by both blinds. The flop comes down 8 high with two spades. It gets checked to me and I make a pot size bet of $300, the SB blind comes over the top for all his chips of $1,500. That smelled really fishy like a spade draw so I called looking to doubble up. He shows me A,8 and I lose my buyin on the first hand. OK rebuy. You only get one rebuy so now I had to play a little more cautiously. I play another hand soon after that in early position for a raise with A,Q and I get four callers including the blinds. Flop comes Q,6,6 blinds checks I bet the pot which was like $600 everyone folds and the BB comes over the top of me again. OK now this sucks, I put him on a 6 and just lay it down right there. What other hand could he have to make that move with such speed and confidence. He shows me 6,7 off and takes the pot. Now I am short stacked, as I pay a round of blinds, and I have like $800 left. I get dealt A,Ko in early position and just move in as the blinds are now $50/100 and a raise to $300 pretty much has me pot committed anyway. I get called in two spots late. A,Qo, and K,Js, prefect I have them both dominated. Nope, K on flop then runner runner to make the K,J a straight. Out fast. Off to $50/100.
This is where the slog begins. I am back to running pretty poorly. If you were reading a few months back I was not getting any cards to play and could not hang on to hands. Well last night was a repeat of that fun. Two outers and three outers galore, and then long stretches of not getting hands to play and mucking everything is site for hours at a time between playable hands. I was focused on playing really disciplined poker and I did. The last session I played I got really loose and gambled it up a bit to try and win. Bad idea. This time I just did not play anything, but then when I did play I just could not get over the hump on a run. I did have fun, and I was happy with the play, but the result was still a loss. Net for night -$40 in $10/20, -$210 buyin to tournament, -$190 in $50/100. Basically a break even session loss of -$440. The sad thing was it was a great game. One player all night just playing super aggressive and lose, and having huge swings in chips, like a swing of $8,000. I did not get any of them. That happens.
On a side note, NYC was great. I ate my way through the city at some great spots and no I did not play any cards. I did want to go see the club where A Rod got busted but my brother did not know where it was. Also to the comment on being too concerned with being stuck and maybe playing too high two things. #1) If you don't keep track of your results you have no clue how you are doing or playing. Those that don't keep score are most likely loosing players. You are also damn right I care about being stuck. I am there for fun, but I am also there to win. I want every chip on the friggen table. I hate to lose, if you like to lose please come sit at my table, I can help you with that. Being stuck sucks, you should never like it, and I surely don't. #2) As for playing too high one should never play with money that you need. If you need the money on the table don't play, simple as that. Pressure to win changes your game and usually not to the good, it goes to weak tight, don't go there. Last, I am lucky to have a great job that pays well. It is why I don't play much, but it also allows me to play whatever level I feel like. So while I appreciate the concern, the $50/100 game can't hurt me. But as I said I hate to lose so it pains me to lose $1 in the game, but it ain't going to make a ounce of difference in my life. Hope you are all winning and running better than I. Good luck...SJ
posted by Seattlejohn at 10:52 AM
5 Comments:
Thanks for the update. Since you hadn't posted in a while, I thought you must be running bad. I sweated you a couple of weeks ago on a Tuesday night at the Muck for a short time, but I got into the 10/20 game pretty quickly so I didn't introduce myself.
Your comment about weak/tight totally describes my game up until about a month ago. Since I stopped the nonsense, my bankroll has really started to climb.
-DrChako
Oh yeah - I stopped playing the Muck tournaments a while ago. Worst tourny structure around. I'd rather play 10 SNG's on Poker Stars anyday. The only local live tourney worth a damn is the one at Freddies of Fife. Even there the blinds go up too fast, but at least you start with 3100 chips and reasonable blinds. It helps that I've cashed there three times. See you at the tables.
Nope, I am still here. I just went to NYC last weekend so I took some poker time off. Just got back into it last night. Make sure you stop by and say hi next time. It would be good to put a face to the name. SJ
Will do. Just to be sure, when you play at the Muck, you go by initials, right? Sorry to sound cryptic, but I'm not sure if you wanted others to know.
Yes, JDS
Very cool meeting a fellow blogger and poker player last night at the Muck. I never got into the 10/20 game, but the loose 4-8 game doubled me up and I got my poker fix for the night.
Hope you fared as well as I did.
-DrC
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