Chumash III – Trip Report compl’t’d

Continued from trip report II

…Sunday morning I woke to a warm breeze which was odd because I didn’t think the hotel room windows could be opened. Well, they couldn’t. Kid was still frrrrrrting remnants of the two bowls of pea soup from the previous afternoon. Damn you, Kid!

Paul and Dena stopped by to give Kid a lift back to Santa Barbara and I got ready to check out. I did so and headed for the poker room before making the trek home. I felt the need to play poker since I had not gotten in as much table time as I had intended throughout the weekend and I wanted to improve on my play from the night before.

The Sunday morning tournament was underway but a couple tables had already cleared and cash games started. There was already a good list for $5 NLH so it wouldn’t be long before I found some action. The game was announced and I managed to snake the 2s. I always prefer the 3 or 7 seat so I can see everyone at the table. But I’ll take the 2 or 8 seat as my next choice.

I started out in my normal tight-aggressive mode, surveying the table and trying to find some tells. It didn’t take long to figure out which players were playing rags and calling down with second or bottom pair. As it happened, there were 4 or 5 players of that type while there didn’t seem to be anyone that I would need to avoid (loose-tricky). I managed to almost double through fairly early with A-K on an ace-high board against an old gentleman who seemed to know he was beat but couldn’t get away from his pocket Qs.

After that, I got mostly cold cards. But that isn’t normally a problem. On that morning, however, it would lead me to trouble. From the beginning of the session, I didn’t really feel like I wanted to be there. In hindsight (and I realized this after a couple hours of play), I knew I didn’t want to stay later than 2pm and, having started at about 10am, I was feeling restricted. I usually go to play on my own terms with no one in tow so I can play for as long or short a session as I feel is needed. This time, I was battling conflicting mindsets: (1) I wanted to get some time in to make up for the night before and (2) I wanted to go home. I couldn’t do both, so my body stayed while my mind had one foot out the door.

The end result was a lack of patience. Patience is another strength of my game. So, without it, anything could happen. I tried to talk myself into the proper state of mind and, for a while, it seemed to work. But I finally gave in to whatever demons were haunting me that morning and began to loosen up…loosen way up. I decided to try to bully a few select players at the table. So I raised pre-flop from early position with hands that I normally wouldn’t play from there (like A-x suited and small pairs). Then I would make continuation bets at the flop regardless of what hit. It worked for a little while but I was only taking down small pots and these guys were going to push back eventually.

My bully strategy was actually born from the way the table had been playing. There were way too many limped pots followed by a bluff by the button that would take it down on the flop. I folded top pair/weak kicker a couple of times from early position in that situation and decided not to let it happen so much anymore. But I was not making plays with absolute rags…at first.

Things were going my way for a while. In the hand that marked the turn, I raised in middle position with A-Qo after one player had limped. The big blind (a pretty tight player) and the limper both called. The flop came 10 high with two diamonds and the BB led out for $20 into a $50 pot. I had seen him lead out like that before in this game when he was on a flush draw. But I really didn’t have enough reason to think he was on a draw this time. I convinced myself that he might just have over cards (A-J) and decided to raise and find out. I thought I might be able to take it away right there with a raise to $60. He thought only long enough to look down at his chips and then pushed them all in. He had a ton of chips, so it was quite an over bet. But it told me exactly what I was trying to find out…he had the best hand. I quickly mucked and he kindly showed me pocket 10s for top set. He seemed a little embarrassed at his all-in as he said, “That was probably a bit much, huh?” I assured him that I wasn’t going to call even a min raise.

I still felt like I could control the table so, on the very next hand, I looked down at 3-2o and…raised! Now I’m in earlier position than the last hand and I’m raising with rags. That’s bad. But I should note that I had been aggressive with the same hand just 3 deals prior and taken the pot. So it wasn’t really about the cards at that point. This time, I was only called by the big blind who had played very passively so far. The flop was J-7-x and he checked. I had no reason to do anything but bet here, especially since my opponent only had $40 behind. I bet $40 and he called all-in…oops. I had failed to acknowledge that this guy was the kind of passive that will check-call with any pair. I hoped for a luck-out river after the turn brought me a flush draw, but nothing came of it. He showed his A-7 for the nut second pair. I decided to show my rags for a laugh (however pathetic) and to ruin my image so I could get paid off with my next big hand.

I did tighten up from there but only stuck around for another half hour while looking at more cold cards. I decided that 4 ½ hours of play was more than I should have put in and cut my losses. I left, down $49 for the session. Somehow, I managed to contain the bleeding during the butchering or my game that morning.

I log my results in a journal after every session but, this time, I was hesitant. I guess I didn’t want to commit my faulty play to ink. But after writing it in the book, I immediately felt better. I realized that I knew exactly what my leaks were that weekend and I wasn’t afraid to address them. I still feel confident with my game and look forward to getting back to executing it the right way.

SEEYa