Time to Play

I had a request to update my blog. Admittedly, it has been a while. I've been waiting for inspiration to strike. It may be on strike instead. So I'll forge on with some uninspired poker-related stuff.

Things haven't been going great for me. I still manage to play solid and make good decisions. I also recognize my mistakes...about a second after I make them. So I am doing my best. At least I can say that.

For the last few weeks, the main topic on my mind has been game selection. I realized I don't fare too well against maniacs. And there are tons of them at Commerce. So I have to tread softly. I started scouting the $400 games before electing to get on the board. This led me to choose the $200 tables more and more often. It seemed like a wise choice. I found reason to doubt that on Monday.

I arrived at 2:30pm as I normally do and took a seat in a brand new $200 game. The collection of players were very good for me. I could play my tight-aggressive game and bluff on occasion as long as I picked my spots well. That is just what I did for the better part of 6 1/2. I only missed one bet and only made one move that didn't work. I left stuck only $70. But the real bug was that my high point was +$250. That's really not bad for a $200 buy-in table but it is an insignificant amount to me. It was a lot of work getting there and it still wasn't enough.

An upswing of 125%...at a $400 table, that would be +$500. And I could book that as a good win. So I've decided I have to play higher. I need to be in the $400 game. But how do I manage playing with the nut balls? It hit me out of the blue on Tuesday. I can play at a different time. Starting in the middle of the day, most of the players in action are "players." Either that or they don't need (and therefore don't care about) money.

I used to go home after work and wait for traffic to settle around 8pm. The theory is that there are more and different players later in the night. People with day jobs only show up in the evening. Those are my prey. They don't have as much experience and still know the value of a buck. So I would now leave around 8:30 and be in action by 9pm. And I would play for as short or as long as I wanted. One of the problems with the 2pm start is that I didn't want to leave before 8ish because I would just be sitting in traffic for an hour or so. If I had a good rush within the first few hours and wanted to cut and run, I couldn't...or didn't want to. Since there is no traffic at all after my 9pm start, I can leave early if I happen to win early.

I also like the fact that I wouldn't be stuck in a casino when its nice and sunny outside. My new plan is to enjoy the daylight before hitting the road at night. Wednesday was my first go at this. In fact, I just got back. The field was exactly what I hoped for. Unfortunately, I was completely card dead but managed to come away stuck only $202. I would have kept playing but my table broke and I didn't feel like trying to learn a new table on a short stack. And maybe it just wasn't going to be my night.

He who fights and runs away...

SEEYa