Friday, August 26, 2005
Things to do when no a losing streak:
My bad run the past few days can be chalked up to variance, bad luck, lack of praying to the poker Gods. My good hands lost, right?
While the above paragraph my be partially true, there's a lot I can be doing to become a better player and hopefully cut down on the severeness of the swings I'm taking.
First and foremost is a matter of table selection. I'm probably the world's worst when it comes to table selection. I just sit down at any old table and start slinging cards. I can usually adjust to the table conditions. If the tables, tight, I loosen up or vice versa. Instead of having to adjust so much, why not just get up and look for another table? I'm sure Party Poker might just have one available.
Sure the games are getting tougher these days. The blogs, books, 2+2, etc. These are all making poker players more skillfull. However with over 70,000 players on one online site, there are some fish available.
Today I focused on table selection. I sit down at 2 tables before I found a decent one. On my third attempt to find a table this hand comes along:
***** Hand History for Game 2601150974 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 26, 14:09:22 EDT 2005
Table Table 54777 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 5 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 6: gsouljah ( $55.50 )
Seat 3: GodsmackBLS ( $136.84 )
Seat 5: Ace19788 ( $63.82 )
Seat 1: thanksprod ( $100.50 )
Seat 2: silverrecks ( $100 )
gsouljah posts small blind [$1].
thanksprod posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Ts Kd ]
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 raises [$9].
gsouljah calls [$8].
thanksprod folds.
GodsmackBLS calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 6c, 3s ]
gsouljah checks.
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 bets [$3].
gsouljah calls [$3].
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 raises [$6].
gsouljah folds.
GodsmackBLS calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 bets [$6].
GodsmackBLS calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 9c ]
GodsmackBLS checks.
Ace19788 checks.
GodsmackBLS shows [ Ts, Kd ] a pair of kings.
Ace19788 doesn't show [ 2h, 2s ] a pair of twos.
GodsmackBLS wins $61 from the main pot with a pair of kings.
My apologies for the crappy hand history, but the Bison hand converter seems to be broke right now. Anywho. It was 4 handed at the time (one of the guys was sitting out). I raided from UTG with KT and was re-raised. I see a note on the guy and it reads "Biggest donkey on Party Poker". The table selection was on.
This guy proceeded to kick my ass on a few hands after that. Twice he rivered me when my Ace high would have won. Typical maniac. Just the type of guy I can make some money from. The problem was that I was out of position on him which made it difficult. I wanted to switch seats, but I was afraid to lose the table.
I eventually got most of my money back from the fool and had the pleasure of being the guy that busted him with this hand:
***** Hand History for Game 2601235818 *****
$3/$6 Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 26, 14:31:27 EDT 2005
Table Table 54777 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 3: GodsmackBLS ( $80.34 )
Seat 5: Ace19788 ( $25.82 )
Seat 2: silverrecks ( $76 )
Seat 4: KimJongIl911 ( $220 )
Seat 6: pal66 ( $176.50 )
Seat 1: squeebly ( $480 )
silverrecks posts small blind [$1].
GodsmackBLS posts big blind [$3].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to GodsmackBLS [ Ad As ]
Ace19788 calls [$3].
pal66 folds.
squeebly folds.
silverrecks folds.
GodsmackBLS raises [$3].
Ace19788 calls [$3].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3s, 5s, Kh ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$3].
Ace19788 raises [$6].
GodsmackBLS raises [$6].
Ace19788 calls [$3].
** Dealing Turn ** [ 3h ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
Ace19788 calls [$6].
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
GodsmackBLS bets [$6].
Ace19788 is all-In [$4.82]
GodsmackBLS shows [ Ad, As ] two pairs, aces and threes.
Ace19788 doesn't show [ Td, 9d ] a pair of threes.
GodsmackBLS wins $1.18 from side pot #1 with two pairs, aces and threes.
GodsmackBLS wins $50.64 from the main pot with two pairs, aces and threes.
Ace19788 has left the table.
I left that table not so long afterwards. We were just passing blinds back and forth after he left. I found another decent table and proceeded to get my money back, plus a bit more.
I need to take better advantage of Poker Tracker to help with my table selection. I've completely cleaned out my buddy list. It was full of fishy players that no longer logged on. Now there's some friends and I have 2 fishy players on there.
I'm off to a wedding this evening and tomorrow. I won't be back in town to play any poker until Sunday. Hopefully with the little bit of success I've had today and the day and a half break, things will go well next week. I hope they do anyway. I got a new fridge, washer, and dryer to buy.