Haven't posted on the blog in a while so I'll just give a quick recap since I'm playing right now.
As noted with a couple of the more recent posts, a week went by where I was having some hiccups making a few bad calls. I re-watched a few great video series on Cardrunners about the difference between good and great players and it helped me re-set my head. Since then I've only played a few times, but I took down a 90 man for over $1k and had another final table.
My goal tonight is to make my read, decide on an action based on my read and then pull the trigger confidently without second guessing. That decision may be to fold a big hand or it may be to raise on a bluff. But whatever it is, I'm going to make an ego-free, unemotional decision and act on it. I'm not going to force results. I'm just going to play good poker.
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First break....hit a set and was fortunate to have 2 people give me their stacks with top pair in the $150. Down to 1/2 my stack in the $24. I don't think I'm playing bad...was able to make a pretty easy laydown with 2 pair when both possible straight cards hit so lost a few chips there. So far so good. Lots of soft spots, so should be able to chip up in the $24. No big names at my tables in the $150 so far. One guy I've heard of "SaulGood", but other than that only a few guys who have had decent results.
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Lost a few chips in a pot when I raised on a draw and got 4bet all-in. Need to separate emotion and not second guess my decision to raise. I can analyze the hand later.
A few orbits later and I have this nagging feeling to get involved in a pot and "prove" that I can outplay people. I'm writing about this in order to recognize that this is a form of tilt so I can control it and prevent it. After this next break I am going to get myself into more of a soft focus and just concentrate on the table dynamics and not worry so much about myself.
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I just realized that the feelings I had before were also a form of jealousy. There is an aggro player on my right who has had great results based on OPR. He's the player that I lost the earlier hand to. I need to focus on playing my game based on my reads and not try to play like someone else. Smart decisions and not FPS for the sake of FPS. Like always, narrow the range and make the decision from all the hands in the range not the need to outplay someone. I'm also not going to force results for the win. I feel a little like I'm thinking about the results of cashing deep and winning instead of postive expectation.
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Was top 10 in chips in the $150 and was playing really well and then misplayed my hand. I 3bet a lose player and flopped the nut straight with 2 hearts on board. I checked instead of leading, even though my gut said to lead. I got a little greedy and another heart hit the turn. I bet into it to see his reaction and then he insta-shoved. I still called for some reason when I still had about 25bb left drawing dead to his 5h6h. The problem is that I didn't stop long enough to put him on a hand. I got caught up the emotion of flopping a straight that I couldn't let go of it once he shoved. I wanted to put him on a draw or some sort of 2 pair or something as opposed to just stopping for a second and thinking about his hand range. Pre-flop I put him on a smallish pair or a weaker Ace, so him shoving with the Ah and a straight draw is certainly possible but I don't think he insta-shoves...I don't know really. He was the chip leader and I hadn't played enough hands with him to know what he was capabale of. Overall I'm a little disappointed that I didn't go deeper, but mostly because I made an emotional decision vs. a logical one. I had been making emotionless decisions most of the night, but I guess because we were getting deeper into the money and I was starting to taste a big cash I slipped a little. Good lesson learned.
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