EVERY CLOUD...

Today marked my return to the cash table. Fresh, invigorated, and raring to go, I whipped out the ipod and braced myself for 2 hours of hardcore winning. Unfortunately, the cards didn’t fall my way and I ended up $177.87 down. However, I believe I played well and shall therefore put my loss down to bad luck and poor cards.

This may have been my fourth consecutive losing day, but I remain undeterred. There was a lot to take away from what was a tough session. Firstly, I didn’t tilt, even when morale was at its lowest. At one point, I was in excess of $300 down, and this would normally either transfer into a $500+ loss, or a small profit. This time, however, I pulled just a little back, which probably speaks volumes about how I am striving to change my game. This brings me onto my second point – I knew when to quit. Instead of battling past fatigue in an attempt to break even or claw my way back into profit, I decided to cut my losses and call it a day. And you know what, it felt pretty good.

Thirdly, considering the cards I was dealt, a $177 deficit isn’t too catastrophic. I’ve been on the receiving end of a lot of bad luck recently, but what differentiates a good player from a bad, is his ability to cope with the knock backs. Hopefully, I’m heading in the right direction. I must try to avoid the issue of feeling low when I’m losing, and high when I’m winning. I’m sure every poker player endures these emotions, but if I can just neutralise my feelings, whatever’s happening at the table, then the game won’t affect me as emotionally as it sometimes does.

According to Poker Tracker, my profits tend to derive from three avenues:

-- Pocket pairs that flop trips.
-- Open ended straight draws that hit on the turn.
-- Being dealt pocket aces.

Today all three of these were a rarity, which is pretty odd for a 2.5 hour session. I think I recall hitting a set on one occasion, but, apart from that, none of the others occurred. Therefore, I should perhaps look at the session as a success. I wasn’t given the opportunities to win big pots, so therefore could have finished off a lot worse. To be honest, I really don’t recall losing any sizable pots. There were two or three times when I was reraised out of a pot, and if that happens on more than one table, you can be $150 without even playing much.

For instance, one hand I raised to $8 preflop with A-T. The big blind smooth called. The flop came down A-J-2. He bet $25, I reraised to $50 and he moved all-in for $180. Not wishing to risk my whole stack on just the 1 pair, I opted to fold. This is probably a pretty standard play, but, if it keeps occurring, it can prove costly in the long-run.

As a side note, I think I’ve decided that I prefer to raise suited connectors preflop. I just think that flatcalling is asking for trouble. If you hit trips, you could be outkicked. If you flop a flush, you could be either already beat or playing against the lone ace. At best, if you make a straight, you could get paid, but how often? In fact, I’d rather hit the hand with something like 9-7, as it will be better disguised and more likely to win a big pot.

In contrast, if you raise preflop, you achieve a number of things. Firstly, you push off any of the hands that would outkick you if you were to hit trips. Secondly, you create the illusion of a big hand, so, if you do flop something, it will be extremely well hidden. Thirdly, it makes people aware that you are playing hands and not just waiting for nuts. If you only raise now and again, it’ll be harder to get paid off and opponents will find opportunities to trap you, safe in the knowledge that you are holding big cards.

Well, that’s my theory anyhow. I’m sure others see it differently.

There didn’t seem to be many fish online today. I kinda hoped that a few players would be hung over and not playing up to scratch, but everyone was pretty solid. A real cagey game with no one throwing chips away. It’s made me consider rising at 5 or 6am in order to catch the Americans at their weakest (and tiltiest – new word?). Think I’ll give it a shot after the Bash, just to see what happens.

Anyhow, that’s the story of the day. Just thought it was worth writing about considering it was a return to the fray after a week out. I could really do with stopping the rot, even if it’s only a small win. But I’m not down, quite the opposite in fact. I lost, but learnt from the session. Every cloud I guess…

Right, onto the Walsall £300 doublechance freezout. I’m in good live form and confident about my ability to win this event. Why not, eh? Let’s give it a shot.

Bye bye people. Will see some of you there.