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Big Dave D once observed sagely in these columns that the only way that you can get used to winning and losing large swathes of cash is to win and lose large swathes of cash.
Around about 10pm last night I felt that I had spotted a slight flaw in this line of thought, in that, although I was losing large swathes of cash with what seemed like alarmingly consistent repetition, I was not "getting used to it" and, I feared, I might actually run out of the cash to lose before I did get used to it.
Fortunately, by 11pm last night the poker gods had turned and my $400 loss for the session (making $650 at $8-$16 for the day) had been eradicated to the tune of $406. Yes, I had a nice, albeit small, green number sitting by the session in Pokertracker.
Given that I had comprehensively ripped up the $5-$10 table, this brought the loss for the day down to a nano-measurement of $25. When you think of the bonus money that about 600 hands of $8-$16 can generate, I was probably well in front.
To be frank, it confirmed my suspicion, but not certainty, that I had just been well-unlucky for 800 or so hands. The players are trickier, and most of them know what they are doing. Which is fine by me, because that tends to make them easier to read. Unfortunately, a good number seem to be as tricky as me and it's quite possible that there are a few around who are trickier. Here we enter the stage of "is he lucky or is he good?"
Unfortunately I started off by burning $200 in 10 hands in two lots of $100 -- both being somewhat marginal, although I think I should have got away from the second example (one opponent hit a flush on the turn in a big multi-wayer when I had KK in the big blind).
The first hand was quite interesting though. I had posted (let's leave whether this is a good idea in general or not), and had picked up the normal ragbag of 63 off. Then things went a bit strange.
First, three players limped before me (they have read the advice that it's best only to raise with premium hands with a poster behind - a fact that has passed by most players at any level up to $5-$10, who actually become more likely to raise). I half-thought about raising here, but I decided to risk a check. This had the inevitable result, with the button raising. Everyone else called and I called as well.
In a sense, this isn't so bad. If I had raised and button had folded, I have position, but position on three players is less valuable than position on one. As it is, I have an effective button position on the flop anyway.
Flop comes 6-5-9 rainbow.
Now, button's range is enormous here, but he's probably going to continue. Everyone checks and, sure enough, he does. Then things get weird again, because everyone passes round to me.
That means there is $101 in the pot (or thereabouts), which makes it a bit hard for me to fold a pair of sixes.
Turn brings an ever-more tempting 4. I now have a straight-draw to match my powerful pair. I check and button bets, giving me $128-to-$16 for my money.
If we assume that the turn had not helped me (call it an Ace) then there's an argument for me folding here. However, I have to think that a six, a two, a seven and quite possible a three will win me the pot, making 13 outs. On top of that, if I call, I am committed to calling the river as well, even if I miss. This is because I will be getting $160-$16 on the river that my sixes are good, which I can't really turn down.
Anyway, I call, river is something like an eight. Opponent bets after my check. I call, and he shows a set of nines. Well, fuck me, he has a range as wide as the English Channel and he flops top set. That's roughly how my luck was running.
The games above $5-$10 seem to run with some inconsistency, which is another of the disadvantages of playing at this level -- you just don't know when a game will be available. I might restrict myself to these levels at weekends, sticking to two-tabling at $3-$6 or maybe $5-$10 during the week.
Around about 10pm last night I felt that I had spotted a slight flaw in this line of thought, in that, although I was losing large swathes of cash with what seemed like alarmingly consistent repetition, I was not "getting used to it" and, I feared, I might actually run out of the cash to lose before I did get used to it.
Fortunately, by 11pm last night the poker gods had turned and my $400 loss for the session (making $650 at $8-$16 for the day) had been eradicated to the tune of $406. Yes, I had a nice, albeit small, green number sitting by the session in Pokertracker.
Given that I had comprehensively ripped up the $5-$10 table, this brought the loss for the day down to a nano-measurement of $25. When you think of the bonus money that about 600 hands of $8-$16 can generate, I was probably well in front.
To be frank, it confirmed my suspicion, but not certainty, that I had just been well-unlucky for 800 or so hands. The players are trickier, and most of them know what they are doing. Which is fine by me, because that tends to make them easier to read. Unfortunately, a good number seem to be as tricky as me and it's quite possible that there are a few around who are trickier. Here we enter the stage of "is he lucky or is he good?"
Unfortunately I started off by burning $200 in 10 hands in two lots of $100 -- both being somewhat marginal, although I think I should have got away from the second example (one opponent hit a flush on the turn in a big multi-wayer when I had KK in the big blind).
The first hand was quite interesting though. I had posted (let's leave whether this is a good idea in general or not), and had picked up the normal ragbag of 63 off. Then things went a bit strange.
First, three players limped before me (they have read the advice that it's best only to raise with premium hands with a poster behind - a fact that has passed by most players at any level up to $5-$10, who actually become more likely to raise). I half-thought about raising here, but I decided to risk a check. This had the inevitable result, with the button raising. Everyone else called and I called as well.
In a sense, this isn't so bad. If I had raised and button had folded, I have position, but position on three players is less valuable than position on one. As it is, I have an effective button position on the flop anyway.
Flop comes 6-5-9 rainbow.
Now, button's range is enormous here, but he's probably going to continue. Everyone checks and, sure enough, he does. Then things get weird again, because everyone passes round to me.
That means there is $101 in the pot (or thereabouts), which makes it a bit hard for me to fold a pair of sixes.
Turn brings an ever-more tempting 4. I now have a straight-draw to match my powerful pair. I check and button bets, giving me $128-to-$16 for my money.
If we assume that the turn had not helped me (call it an Ace) then there's an argument for me folding here. However, I have to think that a six, a two, a seven and quite possible a three will win me the pot, making 13 outs. On top of that, if I call, I am committed to calling the river as well, even if I miss. This is because I will be getting $160-$16 on the river that my sixes are good, which I can't really turn down.
Anyway, I call, river is something like an eight. Opponent bets after my check. I call, and he shows a set of nines. Well, fuck me, he has a range as wide as the English Channel and he flops top set. That's roughly how my luck was running.
The games above $5-$10 seem to run with some inconsistency, which is another of the disadvantages of playing at this level -- you just don't know when a game will be available. I might restrict myself to these levels at weekends, sticking to two-tabling at $3-$6 or maybe $5-$10 during the week.
