Thursday, March 19, 2009

What's happening lately

@RawrStar invited me over to an awesome post (http://www.pokertweet.com/?p=288) to rant about some of my bad beats. Since March the 8th, I’d say that I’ve been on tilt a little bit. I’m really bothered by a bad beat that took place during the Midnight Madness. I blogged about it earlier, but basically I was playing some of my best poker ever, and I got it in with KK against 10-10, and he flopped a 10. I cashed in 77th place for $37, and that started a downward spiral for me.

I didn’t belong in that tourney to begin with. It was for about 1/5 of my bankroll, but I played like I belonged. I really controlled action at my table early, and through the middle parts, and then got unlucky late. Since then, I’ve entered a total of 102 tournaments and/or single table S&G’s to the sum of $190.20 worth of buy in’s, and I’ve cashed in enough to the sum of $106.49. That’s a net loss of $83.71.

But the tough part for me has been the way that I’ve been losing. I have had my fair share of stupidity, where I just get it in when I’m way behind only to never recover. But the vast majority of the time, I’m getting crushed on sick suck outs. Since that loss of KK vs. 10-10, I’ve seen the following losses:

JJ vs. A4 – 125 players left in a $3.30 MTT, I’m leading my table in chips when I wake up with JJ from the CO. I call a pre-flop 3 bet, and the button and blinds fold. We see a flop of J-7-4. My friend raises the pot, and I move all in having him covered, he calls with his A-4. The turn and river run out Ace, Ace.

Qh-10h vs. 99 – Midway thorough a large tourney field, I limped from early position only to find the BB check after everyone folded. The flop J-K-3, all hearts. The BB checked, and I bet the pot, I was raised to half my stack, and then I shoved the rest. He showed his pair, with one 9 being the 9h. The turn was a 9, and the river was a dagger 3.

10-10 vs. Q4 – Close to the bubble, I called a pre-flop raiser with my 10’s, and the board produced 9-8-4 rainbow. My opponent bet, and I called. The turn was a 10, and I called my opponent’s all in. The river was a J

QQ vs. Ac-8d – Early in a tourney, flop comes Qc-8h-3c. Opponent moves, I call. Turn comes 2c, River Kc.

10h-10d vs. Jd-7d Tonight at the TPT, I held Red 10’s, and called a pre-flop raise again. Flop was Jc-10c-5c. My opponent bet the flop, I moved, and he called. He turned a 9c, then an 8s.

These are some of the more brutal beats that I’ve taken. They’ve been tough to swallow. I also analyzed where my money was being spent. I’ve been basically playing 3 different structures. Single Table S&G, 90 person S&G KO tourney, and Larger MTT’s.

My stat lines are as follows:
90 person S&G – Buy in $3.30
Total # of Tourneys since 3/8 =23
Avg. Finish – 37
Total profit – (-$31)

MTT’s – 16 played
Avg Buy in - $3.24
Avg field size – 650
Avg finish – 225
Total Profit (-$14.90)

Single Table S&G’s
# Played = 61
Avg Buy In = $1.00
Avg finish – 4
Total Profit – (-$2.66)

I guess that I’ve been playing best (although not profitably) in the single table S&G’s. The only cash that I’ve had in an MTT was in the Midnight madness. I’ve been 0 for 15 since. And I’ve been getting crushed in the KO S&G’s. Although, I’ve made up some by knocking out my fair share of players throughout.

My bankroll currently sits at $22.59, which is all that is left off of my $50.00 deposit. Anyone care to read into this for me?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul, I share your pain and frustration. I have had bad sessions over the last few years that have almost made me want to just give up poker. What helped me was to take some time off from poker. For me it was a month off. I went to reading fiction and non-fiction books, non-poker related. I tried to do everything but think about poker. After that month, I went back to reading about poker from my best books such as Super System II, watching WPT shows, etc. It took some time, but I got my enthusiasm back for the game. And it gave me a chance to think about my choosing cash games vs tourneys as my main course of play. Again, some players like and play tourneys better, so it is an individual choice. I am just stating what I did. I still hit road bumps but I am now able to shrug them off. I have a bankroll that I use just for poker and it is sufficient to allow me to play in the $1/2 No limit games and the $2/4 limit games and an occasional higher priced tourney. I am trying to stick to the 2% rule for tourneys. Hope my comments may help. Just be sure to take some time off for your mental health and physical as well.
Best wishes, Steve

Ryan Hoegg said...

Honestly your variance looks healthy and normal to me. Remember, big field MTTs make your bankroll graph jagged (like mine, not public yet). Small fields like SnGs are more dependable, and less stressful. With a $50 roll, I think you should play an Unprotected roll, and expect to go broke from time to time.

In summary, steam a bit, then come back and try again.

Anonymous said...

Hey buddy I am going to be honest with you, a lot of the play you describe is weak tight. While you are getting it in ahead you should be trying to take pots down with no showdown.

JJ vs A4 hand. If you raised and got reraised you either fold this or go all in right there. if you think he has AA KK QQ you are dominanted why even call, if an AKQ hits you have to assume he hasit whether he does or does not. if he reraises you jam if you think you are good, if you dont then fold.

Qh-10h vs. 99 This hand you should just fold in early position you are hoping for too much and its too hard to play out of position. If you do play it, raise it up so you can represent things later on. I will say this is a horrible beat and the guy was a horrible player but you can change this a bit.

10-10 vs. Q4 If its close to the bubble you need to be playing aggresive. You need to jam this all in with TT or 3 bet.

QQ vs. Ac-8d legit bad beat is going to happen, but if you get this 5x in a tourney you are going to get a badbeat once.

10h-10d vs. Jd-7d quit calling with TT mid to later. raise it up sometimes and see what happens. This guy folds and you collected 5 bb and move on.

I mean these are bad beats but anytime you let it go to showdown you are allowing luck and not skill to dictate the hand. stick with it.

If you saw me in the 30RA you saw me go from 40k to 75k with no showdowns. I never once had a premium hand in there. I just knew they were weak so i acted like i did. AFter i started 3 betting no one wanted anyting to dowith me because they knew i was a strong player.