The Morning After
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Like a poker hangover, I woke up today tired, groggy and with a general malaise. Losing in poker sucks, plain and simple. When it's a significant loss, like last night's $90 debacle, the malaise can stick around for a while. Fortunately, tonight there is a poker ban in my household, suggested by fiance Kim. I've been playing so much, it seems like we don't have time together...even though we live together. In the end, this is good for me. One day off will give me perspective. Already, I am beginning to see the errs of my way last night. They are mostly two-fold.
ONE: Getting away from good hands that are definite losers. On two occassions I called big bets with a great hand when, in my heart of hearts, I knew I lost. In the first instance, it was Robbie Hole, Randy, and me in one hand. I had AQ. The flop was rags, all low. There was a small raise preflop ($2) from Rob. Rob raised on the flop for another $2. I had him on a small pair. Randy called, I called hoping to hit my overcards. The next card was an A. I believe that Rob bet $5. Randy, who is very loose, called. I called as well, with a sinking suspicion I was going against an AK or some other hand. The river was a blank. It dawned on me then. One of these guys probably has A and a low card that paired the board. My AQ had lost to a two-pair. Rob raised $10. Randy folded. I thought for a while. I was pretty sure I was beat, but I only had $7 in front of me, so if I folded I was in trouble anyway. Knowing Rob is loose, I called...and lost to A5, a two-pair. I knew it. But I could not fold my AQ. Stupid me. I have said in the past that this is a major flaw in my game. I must work extra hard to end it.
TWO: Walking away from bad games. As I said in my last post, my table image was crap. Even if I had the nuts, I was going to lose. So everyone was calling me down. My style is generally agressive in live games. I try to make it so no one can call me down. It doesn't work with a crappy table image. I kept buying back in, and each time I was in a losing state of mind. I should have stopped after $60 or even less. But home games are not very often and its hard for me to walk away. To make matters worse, once you've lost a couple of buy-ins, your $20 rebuy is a pittance compared to the other stacks at the table. That means they can call you down EVEN MORE. So you have to be extremely patient. When the clock is ticking, patience is not my strong point.
On a final note, Gamblor, the god of gambling, was really messing with me yesterday. In one hand I folded pocket 3s after calling one raise and being re-raised. The flop had a 3. I was upset until someone showed their trips 7s. At least I got away from that one. Aside from that, it seemed that I hit every flop I folded to hard. I mean, at least two straight flops, and several other sweet hands that would have won if I played marginal or even crappy cards. Gamblor, your rebuke is harsh. But I will pray to you (tomorrow) anyway.
On a second final note, I may play in an underground poker room this or an upcoming weekend on Long Island. My little brother's friend works there and he told me about a $30 ($20 rebuy) tournament at 2:30pm on Sat and Sun. Sounds good to me. I think $10 goes to the house, which is high, but I guess underground rooms have a lot of overhead. Rumor has it, 1st place takes about $3000. Would be nice.
Happy poker everyone. May your protecting raises be folded to, and your value raises called.
posted by Jordan @ 9:03 AM,
1 Comments:
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At 10:33 AM,
STeelerJosh said...
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Sorry to hear that man, it seems to be going around!! It will turn around.
