Saturday, December 20, 2008

friday poker, give back some of Thursday's winnings, and some online

no luck in the Friday night "social" game - CS got the best of me once again, and I ended up down $30. He is impossible for me to crack - and there's absolutely no explanation of why this is so. He literally plays every hand, and over half of them to showdown. If it is checked to him preflop, he will put .50 into the pot with any two cards. Post flop, he will open bet with any pair, any draw, and any overcard to the board. If it is bet before him, then he will call with the same range.

An example hand (one of the few I can remember). - I raise it up on the button with A8. He calls. Flop hits an Ace. I bet, he calls. Turn comes another ace. I bet, he calls again. River comes a 5. I bet, he raises, I call (it's a limit game, I'm calling $1 to win $9). He's got 55 and 2-outed me.

It seems that if I'm in the game with CS, then he will go home ahead, or even (when I pay him and he pays everyone else).

I have moved beyond being irritated about it now - the amount of money is not important. Caro's new book (mentioned in a prior post and highly recommended, BTW) says that the best way to make money at the table is to be friendly and have people like you. I am pretty much this way anyway, but last night I made sure to keep my mood light and laugh and smile even as CS raked my money over to his pile. I will continue to work on this.

Tonight I played 3 SNGs - bombed out of the first by getting money in with a set, villain had flush draw and called - it got there. In the second tourney, I got my money in ahead again, only slightly ahead this time with KQ against 67, but this didn't hold up - but I was in second and took home some loot.

The third was a 6-man, $10 matrix tourney in which I placed 2nd in 3 of the 4 tourneys, but no overall points winnings b/c I didn't knock one person out. In the one tourney I bombed out of (in last place) - I raised up AA and got a call, the flop came AKQ and we all got our money in the middle, with only one hand that could beat me - TJ. That's exactly what he had called my 4x raise with. I had lots of outs to boat up but it didn't happen.

So in each loss tonight, I had my money in as a favorite. I ended up winning $6.40 on the night and kept my overall December ROI above 18% - a number I'll take gladly. If I could turn one or two of these second place always-a-bridesmade finishes into first placers, I'd be having a very fine month.

Tomorrow is a family trip to Tiffin for a Christmas get-together. I've known my wife's oldest sister for over 20 years now and this will be the first time I've ever been to her house.