Just Poker Talk

I finished with classes last Friday, so I hope to play more poker. I started my return to poker with two sessions. Yesterday I won a meager $10 in about two hours, and today I lost $39 in three.

The losing session was inevitable, and I’ve been waiting for it, expecting it, almost embracing it. Now that I’ve lost and don’t feel invincible anymore, I feel horrible. At the end of a losing session I always feel that way. I’m rusty after playing sporadically for two months. Not even sporadic, to be honest, more like not playing at all, save for three one-hour sessions. It’s a shame because I got into a great groove at Doyle’s Room the last week before they moved to the Ipoker network. That was the best week of poker I ever played, even though I’ve won more money during similar one week runs.

Since I’ve been playing at Full Tilt Poker, my play has been reckless. The problem was that I was winning. Every move I made was the right one. Every bluff I made was successful. No one hit anything on me. I saw 35% of the flops and won 18% of my hands, mostly off bluffs. I got paid off with my big hands, which came often. My pocket Aces and Kings didn’t get busted. I knew I was playing too reckless, but not in that I was playing too many hands, more that I was making a lot of marginal calls, which, when successful, I attributed to my stellar reading skills.

Tonight was the end of my good luck, and I’m thankful for it. I needed a reality check, however I wish I quit a bit earlier, before I lost $18 in six minutes, losing $12 going all-in with 7-2 off suit. There was no doubt that I was tilting for most of the session, but the blame also goes to making too many marginal calls, being over aggressive, not making good reads, and basically playing like a complete donk out there.

My first few hands sums up how I played tonight. On my first hand I had pocket fours and bet into someone with two pair, then on another table I called someone with a pair jacks and ended up rivering another jack to beat someone’s cowboys, but a few hands later I lost to someone’s aces full of fours versus my tens fulls of fours. Though I have to note that both players limped in preflop, which was puzzling.

Something I’ve noticed about poker lately is the propensity for winning hands to be distributed unevenly. What I mean by this is that certain people will catch cards all night and then others will catch nothing. I’ve noticed this when I play home games too, but usually those are against three to four players versus nine when I play online. Maybe it’s bad shuffling, but when I play home games, there always seems to be one player that wins almost every hand, while the others get cold carded.

Tonight I was cold carded, and every time I tried to bluff, someone had strong hand, which made it an easy call for them. Bluffing is a big part of my strategy, but it doesn’t work when people are hitting big hands left and right and when I can’t catch anything. Obviously I have to play through those sessions and maybe tighten up, but I’m wondering why those kind of hot and cold streaks are so prevalent for me. Is it product of my play? my mentality? the cards? Full Tilt Poker’s random card algorithm? Most likely all four, but I also think that for me to be successful, I have to have the right mentality, and that’s what a losing session does for me.

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I was trying to incorporate this into my post about losing, but I’m uninspired tonight, too bummed about losing and just plain tired. Anyway, I wanted to mention that the Golden State Warriors are playing the Dallas Mavericks tonight. If the Warriors win and the Los Angeles Clippers lose to the Phoenix Suns, then the Warriors will be in the playoffs for the first time in twelve years. It’s exciting and I wish I were in the Bay Area right now to root for them. I hear the atmosphere at Oracle Arena has been amazing. I’ve followed the Warriors since the year Sprewell choked PJ Carlesimo. Can’t remember what year that was; all I know is that it’s been a long time.

In a way, it’s a lot like poker; I lose fair my share, but I keep playing and working at it. I’m still waiting for that moment where everything clicks, that moment where I reach the next level. Once I get there, I hope it feels as great as listening to and watching the Warriors make their run at the playoffs this year.

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I guess I’ll leave with some Monta Ellis highlights from the 2007 Rookie Sophmore Game:

poker, Full Tilt Poker, losing session, Warriors, NBA, Mavericks, playoffs