Sick as a dog

As I mentioned in my last post I may not get a chance to play for a while. Well I did manage to squeeze in a little poker at the Muck last Friday and played a little $30/60. There were some people there that are not usually there in the game. There was supposed to be a $200/400 game going so some of the bigger players came to play that game. It did not get going so they opted to play $30/60 instead. It took me about and hour to get a seat but I did manage to get one and played pretty well as follow on to my last session. Unlike my last session however I was getting crushed when I had big hands. Lost pocket KK's to a flopped set of 66's from a guy who called a three bet cold out of the small blind with pocket 66's. I obviously did not put him on that hand and paid off to the river. OUCH. Very next hand I had pocket QQ's and got three bet behind me. Played the 9 high flop to the river and paid off again. Maybe not the best move in the world but was also looking for a bit of info for future play as I had not played with that guy before. Managed to grind my way back to even and then played this to go back down. I had pocket 88's in middle position. Three callers already so I elected to call as a raise would do nothing here to thin the field. It then did get raised behind me and all 7 of us took the flop of J,8,6 rainbow. I thought that was a pretty good flop for me. I suspected that there will be some straight draws out there and someone would bet so I checked it when it came to me. The raiser did not disappoint and bet. It got called by three more people and I check raised. The raiser then three bet and it was down to heads up. I just called the three bet. A 7 came off on the turn and I wanted to find out where I was so I bet into the raiser. He just called me. Good. A 3 came off on the river and I bet out again thinking I was good. He called, good, oops NOPE, he had pocket JJ's for a set over set flop. OUCH. I played a little longer but it was not to be. I lost very little but a loss nonetheless.

I then went home and proceeded to get sick as a dog over the weekend. Spent the whole weekend on my ass. I did not even enjoy the Seahawks making the super bowl that much as I was pretty sick on Sunday as well. Cool though, GO HAWKS. I will not play tonight my regular night as I have to work, but will try to get a day in before Tuesday next week somewhere maybe. I also added two new blogs to my list of reads. Josh Arieh seems to be updating more regular so I added him and Twenty-One outs Twice is a good read. I have been reading a while but had not added. He plays some big games and tournaments so I enjoy hearing about his poker.

Hope you all had a better weekend than I did, and are winning. Good Luck....SJ

Break Through Day

Finally had the breakthrough day. If there is anyone actually following(reading this crappy blog) of what has been going on for over a month now knows, I have been running like shit, and not playing particularly well to boot, which is a lethal combination. It has lead to a very frustrating month or so of poker and I was getting really tired of saying the same thing every week. "Ran like crap and played like crap". Well I can say today that last night I actually played very well, and finally ran ok. Funny how those things seem to go together.

When you lose you always think the world is conspiring against you and the cards always seem to miss whatever you decide to play. Sometimes you need to take a step back and realize that yes the cards are not coming your way, but that does not mean you need to play them anyway. I truly was playing too many hands, which was costing me money because I tend not to draw after the flop so I was doing a lot of calling and missing, then mucking. Not a recipe for success as those $100 bets add up fast. The other aspect of lose play is that you get no credit for a hand, and people tend to draw at you more often or call with weaker cards on the flop. So when you finally do pick up a premium hand no one thinks you have it and you get drawn out on more often(at least it seems that is the case). You also lose almost all of your bluffing equity. You can never bluff because you are going to get called and must turn over a winner. That said I was determined to play tight last night.

I got down to the Muck and the $50/100 game was full with a list. I was third up and no one seemed poised to go anywhere. I jumped into a short handed $30/60 and proceed to play pretty well and tight for a short game, which frankly is not very tight, while I waited for the $50/100 seat. I went nowhere shorthanded and then the game filled up so I had to bide my time and try to execute on what I came down to do today. So as the cards continued to mock me I just sat there and watched. I did not play a hand for over an hour, I was not going to gamble today. Endless strings of (10,4) (8,6) (7,2) (K,5) etc. Not even raising in late position to try and steal. I was going to play good cards today. I sat there for two hours and got stuck $400 in blinds. Then I was moved to the $50 game. The game was super rocky. No one was gambling, and I mean no one. This was the tightest $50/100 game I have seen in months. All the usual suspects with only one face I had not played with before. I posted and actually won my first hand with what I don't remember, it was not memorable. What was memorable was that I got even on that hand and never looked back. I actually got some cards today. Not great cards mind you. I only had AA's twice all night, and KK's twice as well, winning all but one of them with KK's and it was easy to get off the flop of 5,6,7 two diamonds with a pile of action on the flop not coming from me. I had three bet an early position raiser and got called by both blinds and the original raiser. I was second to act and it was checked to me, I bet out on the flop and was raised by the SB, the BB called and the original raiser three bet. I mucked and watched as the original raiser had flopped a straight with 8,9 (don't ask why he raised with that I don't know myself and he was not there when the game was considered rocky) and proceed to lose to a flush that came on the turn. The Muck also runs a full house ticket drawing every tues for the last weeks full houses of 10's full or better. I have not had a ticket in the box for the last two weeks and did not have one yesterday either, so it is not like I am running that well yet. Barry, who asked if I ever mentioned him in this Blog, there you go Barry won $1400 in the drawing. I have yet to win any money and have been playing down there over a year and a half. I did manage to hit when I needed to and was able to bluff yesterday as I had some bluff equity from playing tight and reading ok.

So final tally I have made up the money I had lost the previous two sessions this year and got solidly in the black for 2006. I posted the second biggest win in that game from all of 2005 so you could say I had a good day. Hope this ends the streak of bad play and we can now get back to our regularly scheduled programming. I am not going to get to play much in the next week as next Tuesday I have to work so I will not be at the Muck, but maybe I can find a day to squeeze in somewhere. I am also hoping to get to LA for two days in February as the LA Poker Classic is my favorite tournament of the year and I would hate to miss it. I like it even better than the WSOP. Good luck and I hope you all had a winning week. SJ

Opening Day at the Muck

So opening day of 2006 at the Muck occurred last night. I went down there ready to start the year off on the right foot and it took me a little time to get into the game. I got a seat after about 1/2 hour of waiting and the game was tough. Some of the regulars back from break like myself as well as a new/old one who is no picnic named James. He used to play at places I used to moving up the limit ladder but had moved to LA to play 100/200. He is now back based in Seattle, but still travels to LA a lot and supposedly is moving back to LA for while in February. I hope so because I don't want to see him in the game on a regular basis. He is very good, super tight and aggressive, but the worst part about him is his attitude. He uses a style that is very abrasive at the table and tries to intimidate people that play pots against him. It works for him, but it is really annoying to play with at the table. He is always bitching about something and just seems downright pissed off at the table all the time. He even bitches when he wins. I actually like him, but man he is a downer at the table.

The game was ok, seat one who I had not played with before was just tearing up the table all day. By the time I got into the game he looked like he was up about $6-8k, and was still on fire. I played a few pots with him and he beat me almost every time. So I tried to stay away from him for a while. I just could not get anything going all night. The donkeys in the game kept winning as I hovered around even for most of the night, watching people come into the game and take a rack and get up and leave. I on the other hand could not get above even. As soon as I would get up, I would get pushed right back down by getting AA, or KK cracked in a big pot on the river. Then the game got short at about 11:00pm, perfect for me. Of course right at that moment when you need it most I go card dead. The blinds are coming every three hands and I can't play. When I do pick up a playable hand short handed I raise get called miss the flop and have to lay down. The pots I do push I loose as well. At the end of the night I went a full hour without winning a pot and just gave up conceding once again that this was not going to be my night.

I have forgotten what it feels like to win. I have not seen any good luck in months, and everything is hard. Why does it seem like the bad luck seems to go on for longer than the good luck. Why do you get 2,7 off four hands in a row, when you have the same odds of getting AA four hands in a row but of course don't. I just need to minimize the losses until it turns. It always does, but I hate having to play through these stretches. I only get to play one or maybe two nights a week and the bad runs can go on for what seems like months when you only play 6 sessions a month. O well enough bitching. I lost a bit as you can tell, less than one buyin, but damn to start off the year with the same crap as December is painful. I played ok, not great, but good enough that if cards would have even remotely come my way it would have been a win. I will play even better next time and will book a win. I need to reexamine if there is something else that I am doing to cause these losses. I don't feel like my game has changed much but the results are not there. It can't all be the cards. Talk to you next time, hope you are winning...SJ

Happy New Year

I am back and ready to play some poker. I actually played a little on Friday night up at Parkers. I had not been there in 6 months so I thought I would ease back into the poker thing. I got a late start and did not want to drive down to the Muck as it has been raining and downright yucky here in Seattle for about a month. But hey this is Seattle and it does rain a lot here, so get used to it. The place is great now that they have banned smoking in all public places, you can play and not smoke a pack yourself. The only problem is they can't play any bigger than 12/24 and they usually only have an 8/16 game going. I knew that going in but wanted to play smaller than usual anyway just to get back into the swing. Glad I did because my run of cards has continued from the end of last year. I played a little over 4 hours and won a grand total of 5 hands. Yeah for me! I mostly sat there and watched as I really did not want to gamble it up with weak hands, and when I did come in with big hands I was really missing badly. As you can tell I lost, not a lot, but I booked a loss to start the year.

I am going to play tomorrow for real at the Muck. I need to work on a few things. I am reading poorly right now. I am having a hard time putting people on hands. I don't know if this is from a lack of playing or lack of attention, but I am not doing it well right now and I need to concentrate on this. This makes me a bit more passive in the game as I am not sure where I am. I need to amp up the aggressiveness as well. I need to get back to more than one way to win. Right now I am down to one, turning over the best hand, not a good way to book a winning session. I will work on those two aspects of my game tomorrow. Hope to get the year off right. Also, I bumped into the foodbanker in the game at parkers. He is going to give the pro poker thing a go it sounds like. Good luck to you and I hope you have a great 2006, just don't take any of my money. Hope you all have a winning year. SJ