Swings and roundabouts

Profit: $30-40 (not sure though, could be less).

Who hasn't used this headline in a poker blog?

I want to describe to you a session I've had this morning that sums up the way my poker has been going for the last couple of weeks.

I started playing on carbon poker and got 56. I limped in and the flop came 556. I checked and one player bet with about 30bb. I decided to just smooth call him until the river to try and get his stack. Turn blank, river K, all in, I call. He has KK. Fair enough, that's a beat but not a terrible one. I don't think either of us was folding from the flop onwards so I was destined to lose the money.

A little later on I get 1010 and raise. Two callers. Flop is nine high, not draw heavy. I bet and am raised. The raiser seems to be fishy and likely to over value top pair so I guess at something like A9. I re-pop for most of his stack (about $6) and he goes all in. I call and he has 79. He gets runner-runner straight. The table immediately empties. Nice.

Feeling quite aggrieved at the $13 loss, but not tilted, I head over to Full Tilt (irony and all that). After 10 minutes I flop set over set and stack a player for $9. Then I flop another a set of 8s and get it all in with someone who's flopped a straight - the board was something like 89j rainbow so when he re-raised my raise I should have figured he had the flopped straight but I guess my judgement was clouded by the huge pots I'd already played. I was in a bit of stubborn 'well I'm not folding a set' mood. Anyway, the turn is a J so I fill up and stack someone for another $10. A little after that I call a shortstack's all in with AK. He has 88 and I lose $2.50 - coming from my SNG experience I should know better than to race because I never seem to win them.

I think I flopped another three sets after that but didn't get paid off on any of them. For the 40 minute session I finished up about $4.

Everytime I start a session I get heavy beats and end up $10-20 down but I then go on a tear and end up in profit for the session. This was one of the less volatile days. Yesterday I was $20 in the red at one point but ended up by $16. It's not that I'm gambling much either. The lucky boat that I got today was a rarity in that I was behind. I would say that 90% of the time I'm getting my money in as a 3/2 favourite. I just seem to be playing a lot of big pots recently. Obviously this is due to my table selection which has improved. I'm actively seeking at the tables where I can trap players. I'm not saying that I'm just waiting for the nuts. I'm getting in there with suited gappers and playing weaker hands in position. I'm playing hands that will crush the players with top pairs who just can't fold. I'm reading situations well and reading players pretty accurately too. I think I've definitely added something my game in recent weeks.

It's annoying that I always seem to start with a downswing but it has helped me to disconnect from short-term events. Before I'd have to stop if I lost a buy in. Now I just go 'meh' and carry on without tilting. As long as I think I have an edge at the table and the cards aren't screwing me over (sometimes you just have to quit if you've been outdrawn four or five times in a row) I'll stay in the room because I know I'll eventually be a winner in the game.

I know I said a couple of months ago that if I ever started playing on micro-limit cash games you should shoot me but I think it is my best game - at the time I was just pissed off with poker in general. I can hold my own in sngs and have profitted from them but too often it comes down to having to go all in on the bubble with overs versus a pair. They don't allow for patience which I have in abundance.

Moving onto a slightly different topic. I'm starting to realise the value of rakeback now. I've been playing carbon poker and betfair where I get rakeback and even at these small limits it's nice to get a further 2-3% edge on the tables. Unfortunately I already have accounts at Full Tilt and 888 where I make most of my cash room profits so I can't benefit from rakeback. I've been looking for other sites which might offer it. I quite fancy a party poker client site (I already have a PP account). The trouble is finding sites with lots of players at the lower limits that I can play at. If anyone has ideas, suggestions I'd be open to them. Thanks.

I've recorded another video, one that illustrates perfectly my crazy recent sessions but I'm trying to find the best way to compress it into a smaller file.

One last thing. Is it impossible to make money at pokerstars? I've been playing in there micro rooms for a couple of months now and am down maybe $10 or so. I find it an immensly difficult place to play at. Maybe the micro limits are full of sharks.