poker and life update

Poker is going fairly well so far this month. Although I’m no pleased with how many hands I’ve played. I’m right at about 6k, and I should be to 8k by now. Planning on trying to get in 6 hours tomorrow to get caught up. I guess other things just easily distract me (TV, girlfriend, working out, laundry, video games, etc), and also I don’t like playing in bad games. Typically if the bad players get up or go broke I get up to. I just don’t see any reason in fighting over pots with good regulars, and just paying the rake.

Here is a recent NL hand that I thought I played horribly:

Full Tilt Poker $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

Hand Converter Tool from www.DeucesCracked.com

BB: $435.50

UTG: $200.00

MP: $181.85

CO: $446.80

Button: $189.00

SB: $186.00

Preflop: Hero is BB with Qs, Qd

UTG raises to $8, MP folds, CO folds, Button calls $8, SB folds, Hero raises to $35, UTG raises to $75, Button folds, Hero calls $40.

Flop: ($159.00) 5h, 2c, Jd (2 players)

Hero checks, UTG bets $125 (all in), Hero calls $125.

Turn: ($409.00) Th (2 players)

River: ($409.00) 7h (2 players)

Final Pot: $409.00

Results:

Hero shows Qs, Qd (a pair of Queens).

UTG shows As, Ac (a pair of Aces).

Outcome: UTG wins $406.00.

($3.00 Rake)

The villain in question was basically unknown, though seemed weak tight through 20 hands or so (only played 1 hand and raised pf). When he 4-bets me pf I can narrow his range down to JJ-AA and AKs. The problem is that I just couldn’t bring myself to fold QQ pf getting 3-1. I have 43% against this range pf, so the call isn’t horrible. Especially because I know if I spike a set I will get the rest of his stack 100% of the time (almost giving me correct implied odds). The problem is that on the flop I only have 22% equity against his range, and his bet is screaming I have KK or AA. I think the flop was an easy fold, and in retrospect pf was probably a fold as well. This player is probably not very likely to 4-bet pf with less than QQ, so I am probably totally crushed. I thought I played this hand horribly, and it cost me a buy-in.

Overall though I feel as though I’m playing NL very well. My winrate is very solid, and I’m quite comfortable 4-tabling and still playing a 32/22 type style (after 2k hands this month). It is providing me a nice break from when I don’t feel like grinding limit. The money is also much much easier in NL, since you can really just pick on the poor players and punish them for all of their mistakes. In limit you can only maximize your advantage to a certain extent, since you have to have the best hand at SD most of the time. But in NL I can win a ton of pots without having the best hand, and better yet I can easily isolate poor players so that I can make the maximum for the least amount of risk.

Pitching is also going pretty well. The last time I was throwing I felt like I had good command with my fastball, and my splitter was really falling off the table. I’m still struggling with my slider, but I think I might have found something by dropping my arm to a 2/3rd arm slot to throw it. It isn’t hat much different than normal since I have had a pretty low arm slot ever since I tore my rotator cuff (story for another time). I really need to get with the owner of the facility that I work out at and have him take a look at my stuff. He is a former minor leaguer who gives great advice and instruction. He has also said that he thinks he can likely find me some tryouts for next spring.

I’m also excited because two weeks from today is Thanksgiving, which is one of my favorite holidays. I’ll be back in WV for the week, and probably spending most of my nights two tabling on my parents crappy old computer. Probably won’t have pokertracker or a HUD, so it is going to be interesting. I’ve considered taking my computer home, but since I’m flying that is just too much hassle. I’ll need to get in about 5k hands or so while I’m home to keep my monthly goals on track. That could be tough, but I’ll do my best.

Feel free to add comments and tell me about anything interesting or something you think is worth talking about.