Yesterday I sat down at four 25NL tables and didn’t do so hot right out of the box. Caught a couple bad rivers that gave me just enough to pay someone off (don’t you have that?) And I was quickly down two buy-ins. Considering that I know I am playing over my head and $50 is about 1/6 of my roll I forced myself to drop down and grind it back.
Normally I hate sessions like this. I hate when I am quickly down a buy-in or two. It’s pretty crazy cause I play super tight when I start a session. I like to pick my spots until I have some sort of image that I can work with. Also like I mentioned before, I tend to not have any Holdem Manager reads on players when I sit down – so for about the first 50 hands or so I basically just ignore any stats as the sample size is just too low (50 is still too low for some stats but ok for stuff like VPIP and PFR%).
Anyways I started grinding at the $10NL level and after about 2 hours had won back to even. I decided to call it a day because despite not winning any money – I was able to walk away feeling good about my overall play at the end.
Today I sat at my computer actually planning to play some SNG’s to mix things up a bit. Sometimes I do this as a sort of “reward” for myself as I enjoy some SNG and Tournament poker even though I feel my style is strongly more suited for cash. Anyway I logged in and noticed that I am only like 50 FPP’s from my deposit bonus of $50 and I decided to work that off before anything else.
So this time I decided to sit down at only three 25NL tables. Yes I know really it’s probably dumb – but I am stubborn and realize I can play at the level – and dominate – I just don’t have much room to move when variance throws a brick into my face when I first sit down. So I decide to only sit down at three tables rather then the normal four to increase my focus and concentration. I figure I have the $50 deposit as insurance and away I go.
Well let me tell you – I really need to start clocking some hours on the weekends and prime time. I played for overall about 3.5 hours and initially was probably down a buy-in across the three tables while I was just waiting to catch some hands. I had a couple hands where I rivered a second pair – only enabling me to then pay off some guy with a set. This happened twice and I hate when this happens. It’s an easy fold with one pair – but when I hit my kicker on the river it’s so hard to fold it to some of these passive players.
The first two hours were really odd. It seemed each hand I got it in good either pre-flop or on the flop – I ended up losing. So why isn’t this a bloodbath post about how much I hate poker? Cause when the reverse seemed to happen I sucked out some major river cards to take down some huge pots. It basically evened out.
I seriously think I am a much better player when I have a larger stack. Yeah I hear most of you saying “Duh” but I just think it really fits my game. I am able to apply much more pressure. And with my real aggressive style – when another player looks over and is trying to think “should I 3 bet him?” he knows that not only am I not afraid to mix it up – I also have the ability to felt them.
I think it just really lends itself to my styles’ image at the table. Now when I talk about style dont misunderstand. Generally at these levels image and style mean absolutely zero. But there is generally one – or maybe two people at a 6max table that will pay attention. You MUST identify these people and play accordingly.
For about the last 30 minutes of my session, I went on an insane run. It just seemed like I was getting good starting hands – and even when I didn’t my garbage turned to gold. I had two sets of quads (didnt get to win much with them though). I was also able to really assert myself on the table and was really being aggressive pre-flop. I also had the immense pleaser of tilting a few players with my constant aggression and 3betting.
Isn’t it an awesome feeling when you have raised this guy in the blinds 5 rotations in a row from the button, and when he finally decides to push back and shoves his $30 stack in against your $1 raise you look down at KK or AA. This happened to me. They finally got fed up with me and shoved trying to “make a statement” and wouldn’t you know it – I wake up with a monster. God that’s a great feeling.
Basically I milked this out for a bit – but I knew I was going to get caught at some point so I tightened up a bit and won a few more smallish pots and decided to just call it a day. It’s a great feeling in my quest to know that I basically just doubled up my bankroll (up $200 in winnings and the $50 from the bonus). Now my roll stands at $500 and I am able to comfortably and guilt free play $25NL.
I have another $300 on FullTilt but I think with all the deposit headaches going on these days I will just keep it there. I am nowhere near ready for 50NL right now anyways so I am in no rush to get my bankroll to that level.
