Cogs turning

I didn’t make a fortune last night. A mere 25 bucks in more than three hours, in fact. But I was satisfied overall.

That was because the session (one table of PLO and one table of $1-$2 seven card stud) had begun badly, necessitating semi-reloads on each table. I was over $60 behind inside an hour. I have had an issue with tilting a little in such circumstances, even when the losses are not from horrible beats, so I am always pleased when I avoid that state and just keep on playin’. I’m grateful to an opponent I chatted with over a year ago, with whom I agreed to swap ‘notes’ on one another. His notes described me as a strong player ‘but can tilt badly when losing’. That was an eye-opener for me, and in fact I was slightly affronted – I expected his notes to read ‘Future world series of poker winner’ or something. But it was almost certainly the most helpful thing an opponent has ever said to me.

So last night I made sure to just keep playing well, making good decisions, playing the game not the results, and all that jazz. PLO turned around with a top set that filled up and still got two callers, and my opponents’ poor play at the 7-stud table gradually caught up with them. I made 7 big bets there in two hours, but I have no idea what kind of expectation is considered reasonable or desirable in stud. Frankly, I don’t care. I just want to make my best decisions.

I took a break at this point, to do some personal stuff, and returned later just to play around a bit in a couple of cheap tournaments before bed.

That proved to be a break-even waste of time. I played a headsup PLHE tournament first, and got beat by a poor player. Somehow I never expect to suffer bad beats in headsup play - which makes no sense, since the game demands that people play all sorts of toiletpaper hands and don’t fold too often.

Anyway, this particular weak opponent didn’t raise enough, didn’t appear to make any ‘moves’ (he never once showed down a bluff or even semi-bluff) but got me stuck badly early when he called flop and turn on a board of 278x. I was pushing my 8J hard. I caught a Jack for two pair on the river only for him to show 9T catching a straight. This left me outchipped 4-1, but I got back in front relatively quickly, as he had no idea how to finish me off. Then I called his button raise with my A6 and saw a flop of A94. He called my pot bet, then another pot bet on the turn, which paired the 4. I was a little concerned he had a bigger Ace or even a 4, but he tended to raise when he did hit cards. On the whole I felt very confident I was ahead. I didn’t entirely appreciate the King on the river, but figured if he did have an Ace with a better kicker than mine then we should now split the pot. I tried to get max value anyway by betting, and he called and showed a horribly played KK for a two-outer. That effectively ended the game.

After that I played another PLO 'sit and go'. I cruised into third place, where I exited by trying to take out my fellow small stack in order to have any chance in a showdown with the massive chip leader.

I’m enjoying my poker at the moment. Playing a variety of games has got the cogs spinning in my head, improving my ‘card-sense’ and making me feel like a poker player rather than a guy who just sits at a Pot Limit Omaha table waiting for the clueless to wire their money.

The only thing that has phased me slightly is that when playing stud and Omaha at the same time, I have fleetingly found myself thinking that I have some upcards in my Omaha hand. Not that it would matter against some of the players…