I've been riding the sea-sick inducing waves of variance recently and today was like crossing the ocean in a raft during a hurricane. I managed to reach shore, though, relatively dry and with a few more chips than I started with, believe it or not.
I went back and forth from Empire to Poker Stars this morning. I was having difficulty building any momentum. I'd get up a bit and then it'd piddle away. I took a break for awhile this afternoon and caught up on some of my TV shows (I am loving my DVR).
When I returned to the tables, I followed some advice recently received from Mr. Wasserman and stepped up to the $3/$6 tables. Stepping up has never failed to get me back on track. The only problem is, I really do not have the proper bankroll for doing this. When the variance hits, I suffer greatly. But this time, I aimed to head that off at the pass, so to speak.
I experienced a nice little rush and nearly doubled my buy-in. That dwindled a bit when the cards began to run cold, as they inevitably do. At that point, I stepped down - to the $1/$2 tables - which are more suitable for my bankroll. But, I came back to them with a clearer head and renewed attitude.
I did okay at the $1/$2 table - thoroughly punishing weak players. I was winding down and looking to see who else might be out and about. BadBlood was over at a $25 NL table and so I got in line to join that table. About that time, our favorite reprobate tapped me on the shoulder and said howdy. We both ended up joining BB and (another) new blogger (at least new to me) Mr. Ryan at Pokeratta. It wasn't long before the table was infested blossoming with fellow poker bloggers - the Film Geek, Mr. Pauly, and Mr. Otis also joined us.
It's always dangerous when I play with other bloggers. It's usually a -EV proposition, but it's balanced by the banter and the knowledge that, for the most part, I'm not folding to crap hands across the table from me (don't burst my bubble, guys). I had lost some chips by the time I left the table. But it was fun.
I closed the day with a Sit-n-Go. Normally, I would just jump into a $10 table, wanting to conserve my bankroll. But, I'm lately coming to the realization that I am too concerned with the bankroll - it's caused me to be overly cautious, I believe. So, I went to a $20 Sit-n-Go
I'm going to have to plug that baby into Poker Tracker because I have never played a Sit-n-go like that one before. Incidentally, we were on about the third hand when I noticed Mr. Halverson across the table from me. At any rate, I lost my patience. People were limping in and underbetting the pot. I've seen this a thousand times before in Sit-n-Gos - even been guilty of it myself. But, this time, something snapped. It was annoying me. So, I became table bitch, I dare say. I raised when I had a hand and left cold-calling behind. If the pot was underbet - I raised, and several times when I had nothing at all!
I was amazed in one hand where I was in the small blind with A-6 suited. Two guys limped in and I called - one of the very few times I didn't raise with an Ace in my hand. The flop came Ac, 8d, Ks. I checked, the first guy made a weak minimum bet and the other guy called. Well, I raised it up and I got one caller. The turn came 6s and I wondered if I could get away with another check-raise. Feeling frisky, I gave it a shot, I checked and he came in with almost a pot sized bet. I doubled it. He comes over the top of me. I'm a little perplexed by this.
I was confused as to what he had - I actually thought he was holding an Ace, but I felt confident my two-pair had him beat. Never-the-less, I was concerned he might've had A-8. I raised again - clumsily, I didn't quite get him all-in as I thought I had. But he obliged by getting the rest in on his own, and I called of course. The river was 9d, he turned over 8-2 clubs.
I hope that was his very first Sit-n-Go because that is the only explanation I have for how badly he played that hand. Anyway, I did not look back. I managed to amass an enormous chip-lead so that by level 3, when I looked around the table, I had a stack of about 2500 and the only other player who had more than the starting stack was Mr. Halverson. And it went up from there. I never lost the lead.
Sadly, I took Chris out when my 9-9 held up against his A-K. I felt bad - I was pulling for him and had visions of us hitting the money together. I won the Sit-n-Go and I believe it was because I went on the offensive and played very aggressively against mostly passive opponents. I wasn't getting spectacular cards and so I took advantage of any weakness I could to virtually steal more than my fair share of pots. And the good cards I got held up for the most part. This was one where all cylinders were clicking. I'll be analysing this one for a while. Time will tell whether this marks a turning point in my tourney play or not. But something different definitely happened, and it paid off.
