Avalanche

First, let's start with some good news.. unfortunately, not for me though. I want to give my upmost congratulations to fellow Show-Me Stater Rizen for taking down yet another big tourney. This one being the Stars Million for a over 150K. Also scoring 8K in the UB150K. This guy is a machine and it is awesome watching him post win after win. Go check out his blog and sit in awe.

Now, for the bad news. Although, it is the same old story. Another weekend has past and another 1K has vanished from my bankroll. This makes the tally almost 60% of the bankroll. It is just so sad to build back the bankroll over a 3 month stretch only to watch it disappear over 2 months. As you will do when going badk, I changed things up on Sunday and tightened up a bit seeing only bout 29% of the flops and raising preflop only 9.5% of the time. My agression was still there as I played my good hands and good draws hard; but unfortunatley, the same results ensued. I will have around $600 coming from rakeback which will help. It is sad to see that money as the only gains that I am making playing poker. Is it bad when you cringe when your flop a straight or 2 pair? Because that is what I do now because I know I am going to sling a slew of chips in the middle and the results might not be what I was hoping for. I cringe when I see 99-KK. same thing.

So, where do I go from here? Well, for sure, I am going to complete the Iron Man Challenge playing limit poker at Full Tilt. Other than that, I just don't know. I played a $20 HU match and won that last night and played in an SNG for a 2nd place finish. Truth be told, pretty much all of my success has come from the tourney tables. Why on earth do I continue to play ring play? Even more so, why do I continue to play limit ring play? Even my recent try at NL Ring play didn't work. Obviously, tournies take up a bunch more of your time (not counting SNGs) and usually don't pay off unless you make the final table or you are Rizen.

So we will see; but I believe I see more tournaments in my future. I also see more training in my future. I will try out (finally) Poker Academy and I will also check out sites like Cardrunners or PokerMentors or something similar. I've raised the poker alert to DefCon3 and now am asking for re-enforcments (which is the training sites). Does anybody have any reccomendations here? There is plenty out there on NL and tourney play; but has anybody seen anything on mid level limit play?

When playing 3 or 4 tables, I think you truly rely on your crutches. Those crutches being Poker Tracer and PokerAce HUD. You still do see enough to be able to base your moves; but the force that actually makes you follow through on your reads are your PT stats. The good news is that my reads have been spot on after the flop; but have been paying off the other streets when I can simply cannot believe that somebody drew out again on me. Mostly, I'm talking about when my 2nd pair is good. It's obviously easier to play top pair; but there are sometimes difficult decisions to make when you don't have the nuts. I have also been hesitant to fire that last bullet on the river when I am drawing only to find out that the other guy was drawing as well and wins with his Ace high or something.

Sometimes, though, the reads aren't so good. I'm in the SB with QdQs. 2 or 3 limpers including button who is 72%er. I of course raise and hate to see 5 of 6 players seeing a flop. Good news, flop comes AdQc4d. I bet out and only a couple stay. Turn comes a scare card.. another diamond. Obviously, I'm losing to the flush; but I am drawing to the second nuts. I again bet out. Everybody is out except for button who raises me. Now, I have seen many, many flushes made on me during my downturn so I could simply fold. I think there are probably arguments for every option, calling, raising, folding. Can you guess which option I took? If you guess Raise, you are right. I have 2nd nut flush options not to mention full house possibilities. Button reraises and I have to call now hoping for another diamond or pairing the board, preferably the K of diamonds. River brings that diamond and I bet out and get raised again. No way!!! Raise.. Cap... Button had K8s and takes down a pretty big pot.

I don't know who Mr Murphy is; but I sure have subscribed to his rules. I would rather punch him in the nose. At this point, I am not giving up; but I think I know what the passengers felt like on the Titanic a few hours after they hit the iceberg. Wish me luck..