Tuesday, October 20, 2009

the mountain ain't getting any smaller

Last two nights I have lost one tourney and took third in a second, for a net loss of half a buy-in or so. Sucks. I played really well in the second one tonight - had a read on both the players left while three-handed - one guy just bet/bet/bet every single time it came to him. I reraised over him, to put him to a decision for all his chips, with Ace-Seven offsuit. This is an extremely light threebet shove for me, but he just couldn't have a big hand every time.

I was right this time too - he didn't have it, but he decided to call my shove even lighter, with jack-ten offsuit, and then managed to outflop me. Great call for all your chips, sparky. I had him covered, though, so I was still alive.

Same guy got low again, and shoved all his chips into the big blind. The big waited until time was almost out, and then called - with pocket aces. The slowrolling bastard! In a fit of poker justice, Aggro guy hit a runner-runner straight with jack-eight to double up and crack the aces. Slowroller called him a douche for sucking out, and I couldn't let it go. I replied "you're the one who slowrolled with aces", which gave him license to call me lots of names and berate me, even though it was clear that he didn't know what slowrolling was.

Slowroller knocked me out by limping with jacks, I had 7 BB and pocket sevens - so no way I'm just checking the big blind. I knew he was capable and ready to limp with a big hand, too - too bad he didn't do it with something I could more easily crack like AK. Oh well. He got in a final "later, douche" after knocking me out. I gave him one more lesson by saying "try slowrolling aces in a casino and you'll get punched in the mouth". Maybe I'll save some of his teeth, or maybe he'll ignore the advice and try to get dramatic in a live card room.

This tourney was not without at least a small measure of revenge, against someone. When we were four handed, the guy to my right took 3 small pots from me in a row, and I was slowly losing my stack to him. Very frustrating to have position on someone and have them take pot after pot from you. I got a free look at a flop with him and one other limper with 89s. The board came 6TQ rainbow - the old double-gutter, where a jack or seven gives me a straight. The turn hits the jack - a good but not great card for me as I've got the idiot end of the straight now. Furthermore, the villain bets into me on the now-scary board. I take one more look and realize that he would have had to limp with ace-king in order to have the high end, and I just couldn't see that. Plus, I figure that he has "rush equity" in beating me over and over in the past hands, so there are lots of reasons for him to bluff. I shove my chips in, figuring I'll see a pair with an ace or something similar, or a fold. He calls with two pair, queen-ten, and I only have to avoid 4 outs. Whew.

So I got to nail one guy and double up through him, and I got my money in good against Mr. BetEveryCard (but lost), and slowroller douchey-caller-man got the better of me at the end. And I lost $8. Hard to call the night (or the night before) a success, but the 3rd place finishes keep my bankroll and monthly ROI in a near-hover, at least.


2 comments:

Forrest Gump said...

Popular belief is that SNG's are solved for the most part Matt and there's not a whole lot of value there. I still get a steady return playing NL cash but I find PLO is often super juicy. You get the usual 1 or 2 donks, but you also find many at the table are no limit guys learning the game (like me) and they have all the bad leaks. Esp. stacking off with AA on the flop.

bastinptc said...

FG has a point, Matt. You have a good grasp of NLHE, and there are enough soft spots to make it interesting, yet the lower fruit may be elsewhere.

Also, it is clear that a certain level of frustration is setting in. Learning a new game, and doing so at a faster rate than others is a way to bring back some (what Mojo likes to refer to as) fun in the game.

Dig out your old "Super System II" and find a new game. Splash around in the micro rings for several hundred hands, and then hit those tourneys. But just to warn you, bad beats are everywhere.