Struggling Economy

Loss: $2

You may have detected a hint of frustration in my voice (or my words) during the last blog and you would have been right.

I took a bit of a break and then came back to it after finally being able to withdraw most of my CDpoker (ipoker account) which I've been working on to clear the bonus for the past six months (yes, six months). I started on a new ipoker site with a very, very good rakeback deal (check out Raise the River for more details (soon) about that) so I can now enjoy what everyone else raves about.

I made a good start too with good cards, good play and good confidence. But, as always seems to be the case, I had one hand that switched things back against my favour. In a room with a total maniac in (dusted off 140 bb in four hands) I was dealt KK. I was under the gun but was pretty sure I'd get reraised if I just potted it to begin with. A very loose player next to me called but the maniac didn't. Shit. Big blind also came in for the ride.

Flop came J210 (I think). I bet 4/5 pot and loose player min raises. Oh bollocks. I shoved and naturally he called with the J2.

Unfortunately the downward spiral, as you can see from the graph, starts there. The following session was, I think, one of the worst sessions I have ever had for complete deadness. There were no bad beats, no unlucky hands, no players to call fishes. It was just one of those sessions where I was 3bet every time I raised with a marginal hand, floated on every flop when I c/betted with nothing, flopped completly board-suffocating monsters when other players had nothing, card dead, flop dead etc. I found myself in a dozen difficult situations. I think the biggest pot I won was 88 cents in 400 hands.

One of the last hands probably summed up the session, although by that time I might have been tilted to a point where I wasn't playing a very strong game. There was a raise and a three bet to 8bb in front of me so I called in the sb with JJ. Flop came 2910. I checked with the intention of a min-check raise (partly to find out where I was for little cost and partly to annoy someone with that move). It's a shit move and I know even more now how shit it is. He called the min raise so the pot was about $8 now with a blank on the turn. We both check and the river pairs either the 9 or 10. Can't remember which but I decide to put in a blocking bet of $3.50 which, I hoped, represents that I'm value betting and will call a shove with about $3 left. He tanks for 10 seconds before shoving for the rest of his chips. Despite getting odds of lots to 1 (about 7-8) I know I beat nothing - QQ or KK seem his most likely holding (with TAGish stats). It's probably not the correctly play by the books, but this is one of those micro NL specific hands where I know I'm behind and need to save whatever I can.

I quit the session soon after about $20.

So onto yesterday and very early on I have JQ and limp in (because of five other limpers and me in the sb). I'm looking to flop better than top pair to continue on with the hand and I do with a flop of JJ4. I bet, one other full stack raises and a short-stack call. Great. Not sure what to do so I decide to call and try and play the pot as cheaply as I can. Turn is a 4. Oh well, going all in now I guess and splitting the pot at worst. Not when the full stack tables 44.

Despite this I battle into a profit for the session when I raise K9 preflop and get a flop of K9X while someone holds AA. No worries, I was the aggressor, I played it well. But the very next hand I river a straight which makes someone else a flush so I go back into the red (didn't get stacked because I sensed the flush and just called a small river raise by my opponent). So any confidence I got from playing K9 hand well is slapped back in my face with second best hand syndrone.

I've used the term before but it's very appropriate: I just can't get any traction going at all. Any hint of good play is smashed into the ground because I'm losing all the big pots at the moment - even though I'm getting it in good for most of the time. And as for races with short stackes (say AK v 77 and 10 10 v KQ all in preflop when the other guy has 20bb) I never seem to win then. This thought stems back to last summer. I would love to get the stats for these sorts of situations but I have no idea how to do.

The top figure shows not much movement in my bankroll but the graph depicts the manner in which it's moving.

Hard times and poker certainly isn't fun at the moment.