Cold Cards Continue, Bad Play Creeping In

My string of cold cards continues. My weekly Hi/lo 4/8 with 1/2 kill last night. In stud8 I can't close a hand or I'm losing to miracle 1 or 2 outers on the river. In Omaha8 I can't hit a flop. I did play a few too many hands last night. Played some weaker Omaha hands from EP that I should have dumped. Made one terrible call on the turn in Omaha with A34x. Turn was capped and I called for a counterfeitable low draw 4 handed -- if I hit I get 1/4d, I missed completely but either way a terrible call. Played some marginal starting hands in stud8 to try and pick up a big draw on 4th, but dumped them all when I missed -- not a huge blunder in multihanded pots, but it adds up. Worst plays in stud8 were playing hands like KK in the hole too far in multiway pots, these are hands to dump if there isn't improvement on 4th in a spit card game.

My worst loss to date in this game. Found myself getting impatient and getting frustrated.

7h hours, -36BB for -5BB/h.

BAHHHHHHHHHHH

4 8 with 6 12 kill LHE tonight. Lost 30BB and quit. Big hand of the night in a kill round LP with black KKs. Capped 5 ways preflop...AK8 with 2 hearts. By the turn its 3 handed with a fishy player who would cap a flush draw and who would raise in EP with a variety of hands. Turn AK88. Gets capped heads up. River completes the flush, I bet out and get raised...I call knowing he has AA.

That's poker, I wouldn't play it any differently, tough hand.

After that I flop trip 9s from EP with a QT9 rainbow flop, bet into by ultratight player in SB. I just call with 3 players behind me hoping to fill and win a big one...I can't rule out a flopped straight by the tightest player at the table. When he bets out again on the turn QT96 I just call again. River QT967 and I lose to Q8. TOugh hand. Maybe if I raise the flop and bet the turn I win it, hard to say.

One other hand of note. Posting a $6 kill I get in for free with Q8o...flop the straight on a KJT rainbow board...5 handed or so. I decide to play it slow from EP and noone bets the flop. Turn brings KJT9 with 2 clubs, I bet get a call and a raise and I call thinking that I just lost 1/2 the pot and the raiser is now freerolling for the flush. Turn brings the flush and I lose the whole pot, not to the raiser but to 56s from the caller. The reason I slowplayed had to do with a hand last night where I flopped KJTs with AQo with A of the suit, bet the flop and all folded (5players).

I was down tonight and wanted to win a big one, instead may have cost myself 2 pots.

I wouldn't play the KK hand differently, but I know not to slowplay in this game as you get callers regardless.

One last bad hand. SB I limp into a 6 handed pot with 98o. Flop A65 with a flush draw. I don't draw to a gutshot with a flush draw on board as I only have 2 live outs and can get redrawn if I hit the turn. But.....I decide to bet the flop, all 5 call. Turn A652, no flush. I check, SB bets and 4 callers, I think I am 20:1 so I fold, but actually had the right odds to call with the implied odds and the fact that my hand was well concealed and the bettor was on my immediate left. I fold and hit my 2 outer. SB bets and all call. 84 takes it on the A5672 board.

Well, crappy session. Played 3-4 hands wrong and lost a big pot that I played right.

5 hours, -30BB, -6BB/h.

My first 30BB losing session in almost 4 months, 30BB is generally my cutoff unless there is an especially good game.

Boredom of Low Limit Makes for Bad Play

Last night played 3 6 w/ 5 10 true kill, so basically 3 6. The night started short handed 5-7 players for the first few hours which made for a lively game. The only thing I find tolerable about limit holdem at low limits is playing a short table. A full table is just tooooo boring.

Player in seat 1 was one of the most horrendous players I've ever played with. Would call to the river with Q7o on a flop of AK6, just amazing. He did flop many hands early, hitting 4 sets and flopping 3 straights. Of course, he left with no money. He paid me off well twice..my AKs vs his KQo. Flop K8x 2 suites (not my suit). Flop is capped between us after 5 saw the flop. Turn is an 8 -- could be a scare card with this player but, but he wouldn't cap an 8...he would bet it and call a raise, but not cap. He bets, I raise, he calls. River completes the flush..he checks, I bet, he calls. I win a big pot. Later on i flop a set against the same player who bets and raises all the way with top pair medium kicker.

So, I'm up almost $200 after 2 hours and then the table fills to 11 handed....yawn. I SHOULD HAVE JUST GOTTEN UP AND LEFT as I didn't feel like playing 11 handed, it's just too boring to sit and wait for cards in showdown poker.

I stayed, lost back alot, mostly on one hand that I though I played very well. Limp UTG +1 with black 10s. 4 or 5 to the flop. Flop is 997 with 2 spades. SB bets, 2 callers and I raise to see where I'm at. Player behind me folds, all limpers call. Now I know I'm leading given who was in the hand and that there was no reraise. Turn completes the flush with an undercard, checked to me I bet and get only the sb as a caller. river 7...997x7, not a spade which I know would have helped me. SB bets out. He is not tricky enough to check a 9 on the turn so he has a 7 and somehow stayed all the way. I call because the pot is big. He shows 73 or some such crap. I say nice hand. This is one of the many players that any decent player wins lots of money from in these small games, but this is the hand that keeps him playing...oh well.

A bigger game and I'd have left once I was up 30BB, but I don't take the 3 6 game too seriously wrt wins and losses.

Not a great session, didn't make too many errors with my play, but my leak of staying too long in a game I'm not in the mood for was evident...should have left earlier.

6h of play +1.5BB/h.

No cards

O8/stud 8 -- didn't catch many starting hands all night, maybe played a few too many hands here and there due to how soft the table was and not being able to enter any pots. Game was very beatable as always.

My first losing session in a long time, likely in 4-6mo at this hi/lo game.

Frustrating, but was patient for the most part, just couldn't get the cards to help me. Made a bit back when the table became short and it was Omaha only at the end of the night, but the bad players quickly left and the game broke.

A good session overall, bad cards overall.

8h, -1BB/h.

Hi Lo Night

Played the weekly Omaha8/Stud8 hi lo games last night. After 6.5h picked up maybe 10 playable hands, won 3-4 1/2 pots and was down 14-16BB. Played very patient. The game was great -- it was 11 handed, but if you can't get a hand there's nothing you can do. Tried representing a full house in a stud round with QQ88 showing only to be called down by trip 2s. Reminded myself that I just had to be patient in this game and the goal is not to try and make moves, but just wait for the cards against 90% of the table.

6.5h in the game became short, 5-6 players left and the consensus was to switch to only omaha8 for the rest of the night. Only 1 strong player in the game, and I thought at least I could play more hands now with less players. In the next 1.5h got some monster starting hands that I'd been waiting for all night and sinply outplayed almost everyone who wasn't a strong shorthanded omaha player -- went on a +50bb swing and ended up for the night.

For the night, 8h of play and +35BB for +4.5BB/h.

A frustrating night for the most part that turned out well. 11 handed stud rounds with no hands can take a longgggggg time to sit and fold, but that's what you have to do with rags, sometimes for hours, to beat this game.

Swings!!!

Didn't make it to the ex. Went to play some loose 3 6 at the West end club. Started off playing extremely loose for fun and was down 150 or so, then decided to play my regular game. Played an aggressive game, limping in with hands like Kxs in late position with 5-7 callers. MISSED EVERY DRAW ALL NIGHT -- built huge 5 way pots with the nut draw on more than 4 occasions only to lose to crap like K4o making 2 pair on the river, calling 3 bets cold on various streets with K hi or top pair no kicker. Played these hands perfectly, but missed every draw all night.

At my lowest down $450 in a 3 6/ 5 10 kill game!

Somehow had a $500 swing and was up $150 at some point late and ended up ahead a small amount by the time I left -- lets call it even.

To exemplify my night -- last hand of the night we are 5 handed UTG raise, cannon reraise, ends up 4 handed capped -- I have ATs. Flop 56T rainbow, capped on the flop -- both players at this point playing very looose as this is the last hand of the night and I know I'm ahead. Turn J, UTG is all in at some point on the turn, river is checked and I'm shown AJ and 66.

Still not sure how I broke even, played solid poker when I was down and the weak players stopped catching their miracle draws -- all the weak players busted out as usual.

Played a solid game except for the screwing around at the start -- I do this when I play very low limits once in a while just to test the waters.

+0.5BB/h, not accounting for the true kill.

Hi Lo So Beatable

Well, had to take a week off from playing due to work. I;m fortunate in that my job affords me lots of time off to pursue poker. I generally only have to work 10-11 days a month.

I played for the first time in aweek at my favourite West end club -- Wed is high/low night, and this is a very beatable game. I closed a few holes in my game that I had been noticing in past weeks and played a very good session. Only once during the night did I make a huge preflop blunder -- pots were getting capped 6 ways in a forced-betting O8 round and I originally called a single raise out of the SB with QQ23. Needless to say I called a capped flop and had to fold on the flop of K23. Other than that I played a solid game. I got outplayed in one hand of stud8 forced betting with a spit, but was happy with my fold after I thought about the hand for a bit. I folded aces up (AAJJ) on 5th street when facing a bet (low hand) and a raise from the strongest player in the game representing trip Js (J was the spit)...I almost reraised as calling was not an option given the only low was yet to act behind me. I had raised the strong player on earlier streets and he had just called, now he was raising into me. I ultimately folded the hand, but thought the raiser may have been making a move. Ultimately, in this game there are better spots to pay a cap on 5th street. Strong player showed down only a pair of Js for high (actually scooping a drawn low).

Great session -- up 6bb/h.**

Another hole in my game that is being smoothed out is playing too long a session when the game is no longer good -- this has been hard for me, but playing more frequently has helped me to drastically decrease losses based on this hole. I don't have to stay for 10hours when I'm not sharp or only the solid players remain, I can just play again tomorrow or the following day.

Generally a good session for me is 5-6 hours, after that I lose a bit of an edge, become afraid to lose what I'm up. Someone on RGP once told me that he locks-up sessions by not allowing himself to get below a certain fixed amount when he's up -- for example if he is up $400 in a 10 20 game after 5 hours, he will leave if he gets down to $300. For myself, this is a good rule as it is emotionally draining giving back alot of chips at the tail end of a session.

Game's going well. Next session will likely be 10 20 at the CNE during the day Saturday.

**note that in a kill game with many kill pots (this game is a kill based on the size of a single pot), I measure a BB as the average of the fill and non kill rounds (ie -- $10 in a 4 8/6 12 game)