Taking a Microscope to Micro-Cash Games

I was going to type most of what badgers said... that 17% ATS is really low. If it's folded to you on the button and you have two napkins, Raise that shit up!! There are tiimes when this is 100% true if the blinds are tight enough... but your range should be huge crazy big, even if the blinds are rather loose.

I'm guessing if you maintain your current hand ranges.. but start stealing 30% from the button and cutoff, it will go a long ways towards badger's recommended closure between your VP$P and PFR.

Thanks all for the advice about ATT to steal... I struggle with this one, often thinking tables are too tight to make it work... so I will work to up that percentage and see how it affects things overall. I'm sure it is a big leak.

Was just opening up tables and getting started last night, had two tables open, had just sat at each, gotten organized and folded a hand or two on one table, then hit a good run on both tables, got hit with a bad beat against my two pair, with higher two pair (he made it on the river with a Q) and was grinding away, ok so I was playing my 8th hand and even after losing the bad beat was still up $8 at 5/10 and the phone rings... work... sit out... leave table... put on coat... drive hour to work... work for two hours... drive home... get speeding ticket... go sleep 4 hours then go back to work.

Sometimes... life sucks.

Hi there folks, there are only a few of you who are reading this journey but here is where I stand. This week I have hardly touched poker, am on vacation and playing in a national golf tournament.

I am a member of the Golf Channel Amateur Tour and am at the national championships. I know some of you golf and can potentially understand how it is pressure wise and tension wise at a big event and how that affects your swing.

We arrived in Florida on Sunday and I started the tournament on Wednesday. My wife and daughter came with me, making this a family vacation. We went to Sea World on Monday but got rained out in the afternoon. I played a practice round of golf on Tuesday and got ready for the tournament. Wednesday morning dawned bright and hot... played a great first round (I'm a 16 handicap and shot an 87). This put me in the first 20 spots, a good place to be. We went to dinner and played a round of minature golf in Orlando, my daughter got her first hole in one!

On the way back to the rental condo, we were rear-ended at a stop light by some jackass from Michigan. He hit us hard enough that my daughter and wife were transported to the hospital on backboards with neck braces. I refused treatment though i was hurting myself. After an hour and a half with the Florida State Highway patrol, I finished the police report and went to the hospital.

Thursday morning dawned very early... having gotten home from the hospital at 1am, I had to be at the course at 6:30am... so I was running on 3 hours sleep. I was hurting badly and exhausted. BUT... I fought through it, I think through the training i have had with emotional control and willpower here and through poker. I shot an 84 and moved up to 15th place.

Today is the big day... today is the cut. If I can make it into the top 13 players i make the chanpionship round on Saturday, playing for the trophy and national championship. There is also the potential for televised coverage, the golf channel is on site and taping. They did televise some of the team championship earlier this week...

So if any of you care... wish me luck and skill out there today. If you would like to take a look at what I'm talking about... go here:

http://theaagt.com/champweek2008/2008_nc.html

I'm in it to win it, going to try to play my ass off today. I'll be back to poker early next week when I get home, hopefully with a new avatar showing me holding a very large trophy Wink

I'll be back to poker soon dear readers...

Well guys, I'm back.

I placed 8th in Nationals, didn't play well the last day as I struggled with my irons to find greens. Got it together some on the back but still not enough to advance.

All in all a good trip except for the accident... so I'm back and will be hitting the tables probably tonight. Today I have the yard full of leaves to tackle.

Good job with the golf tourney.

I am a 2 handicap and definately understand the pressure situations!

You'll get 'em next year. My advice never work on your long swing again until you can shoot 75 or better after missing every green. Smile

I hope you and your family feel better from the accident soon. I'll make sure I rearend the next guy with a Michigan tag I see.

O

Thanks Outlaw, he got the worst of it, imagine the pointy nose on a Monty Carlo impacting a trailer hitch, right in the center... his front end is trashed.

And he got cited... thank god.

Anyway, we'll be ok, wife is the only one still sore, she'll be ok in a few days. Thanks for the well wishes.

8th place is great man! Congrats!

That sucks about the accident, but I'm glad that it wasn't any worse than it was! Shocked

Welcome back to real life! (WTF, you have an hour commute to work? Ouch...)

Yeah, I drive an hour each way to work. I don't mind it, mostly back country highway and I am going the opposite of traffic. I put 78 miles a day on my car... crazy.

Gas kills me when it is high, I'm driving my wifes car because I can't afford to drive my own.

ANyway, I played a few hands today, found a super fish at a table and pumped him for $6 and then got a lucky straight on a flop to take another $5 from a seemingly regular...

So I'm up a bit for today, will get back to actually putting in decent time tonight I hope.

So I was tired last night and didn't play much, but got about 100 hands in before I started losing focus and looking for the exit.

I played one hand though that I was pretty shocked at. I am BB with .10 in the pot (.05/.01 9-handed NLHE) and there were 6 players in ahead of me... so I check it since I'm holding crap... like 5-9 off suited. Flop comes down with random stuff... including a 5. I think high card on the board was a Queen. So I check it, figuring bottom pair isn't any good here... it checks around to player in CO... he raises the .65 pot by throwing in .20... now I figure he has a pair, and it isn't a great pair... there is a chance I have the same pair, and being tired I called. 4 others called as well, now 5 players in this pot, and I have bottom pair.

So I'm ready to throw the hand away, next card was junk, I think a 2. now there are no flush or straights possible on the board so far... nothing obviously staring at us, I check and everyone else checks as well... table has been fairly weak-tight, so this I find odd. Could they all be sitting there without a pair? River comes and is a 5. So now I have trips... but if that guy has low pair, or had a set he has a full house... being cautious and wanting to see his action I bet 1.00 into the 1.65 pot... everyone folds but CO who hesitates a long time... almost let the 30 second timer run out, then raises me to $4.00... now I know I am probably beat, but this guy has been weird this hand. I am seriously doubting the set. But he has been betting high pair like it is the nuts everytime... but he only plays when he has something. So I'm concerned, but of course tired and curious... and I call. Result: I win with trip 5s... he is holding a pair of jacks.

All in all, I was down about $1 or $2 last night after 100 hands, mostly blinded that away, lost a couple of contentious pots but won the one above... the challenges were often two pair being beaten by a set... had flopped a straight and was betting it out when villian hit the full house on the river, ruining that hand for around $5.

So Anyway, an average night, nothing big to report... except it could be that the driver in the other vehicle who hit me is both without insurance AND the son of a state senator... so this could get interesting!

Sadly last night I took a pretty big downswing in my bankroll on PS.... played in a few tables and made really bad decisions to end up losing $35 of my $200 bankroll... so this is pretty much my biggest single day downswing.

I can attribute 2/3 of that amount to bad play... calling and raising when I shouldn't. For some reason I had this can't be beat attitude, and kept chasing...

One third of the amount though I can attribute to a bad beat... I got into a pre-flop raise fest with two others, putting one on AA and the other on a good hand also... after we got to about 2.50 pre-flop each, the flop came out KT6 or similar... giving me a set of Kings... no way I'm getting away from the hand... the guy in front shoves, I call, the guy behind calls too, three players all in for max buy in... me with a set of kings... of course I got sucked out on with the straight, but the first player who I put on Aces had pocket 9s... I really don't understand his play... but anyway, he is the one who sucked out on us... the guy behind had rockets.

So tonight I think I'm taking a night off from poker... maybe two nights.

I have had a lot going on in the real world, thinking of a break for a while. At least a day.

I somehow missed your update last week.

Your trip 5's hand is fine. Yea villian played it odd, but I don't think there is another way for YOU to play it. Trust me, that is not the weirdest play you will ever see!

Jeez, you're accident prone lately?! WTF? And the son of a senator? How's that going?

Did you lose the $35 at $10NL or $5NL? What were your "really bad decisions"? Care to share with us?

GL man, and just go deep in a tourney like me, it's a nice way to boost the BR! Smile

Well the senator's son is a deadbeat apparently, imagine that... he doesn't have insurance IMO but he keeps giving our company the run around, "No, I have this insurance... wait, maybe this insurance". My wife is suffering from a cervical sprain in her neck/upper back... so she is in pain and going through physical therapy. But it will all work out in the end.

As towards the downswing. It was at 10NL. One hand that sticks out was I had K3 of clubs on the button. One limper ahead with a 65/15 type stat over 20 hands... I put in 5xBB and get called by BB and limper. Flop pairs my King and shows two clubs... so I have a King high flush draw and top pair with crappy kicker. He bets small, maybe 1/4 pot, I call, BB raises to pot... limper calls and I call. BB is an average appearing 10NL player... Honestly I'm hoping for the flush... turn comes out as a spade, no help, nothing impressive, but they keep firing, and I keep calling. In the end the river didn't appear to help anyone and I keep calling, knowing I'm beat but unable to let it go... ends up costing me about $7.

Other dumb moves are calling obvious flush draws with middle pair, trying to bluff the straight, and in general just stupid unfocused aggressive play. I couldn't get away from the guy on my left... he was an aggro maniac who would jump into any raised pot with ATC then start getting hyper aggressive after the flop. He was getting killed by everyone at the table but me, when I shook him down he had the goods.

So just stupid play... instead of clearing out and changing tables I kept grinding in a losing fashion...

All righty then.

Sorry that your wife is having back/neck-pain, and good luck with the deadbeat, sounds like a shitty situation.

-3.5 BI's is not a lot. It's not fun, but that should be considered a normal variance of this game IMO. My personal stop-loss for a session is 4-5 BI's normally, and many times I've gone down 3-4 BI's, only to rocket back and show a profit for the session. Don't let the numbers discourage you.

About the K3s hand. Answer these:
1) What were you trying to accomplish with your pre-flop raise? Surely you didn't think that the limper was going to fold did you?
2) Why no C-bet on the flop? YOU should've been the one to raise it to POT on the flop, not the BB. The flop double call is not good. Keep the initiative that you started with the PFR. You might be able to buy a free river card! Without knowing the amount of the turn bet, I can't say whether or not it was a good call... but a river fold should be VERY easy with all that action... Being a sheriff is not a good thing in this game!!

As far as the aggro maniac, I hate it when it happens like that, he has junk all the time except when he's up against me, then he just freakin happens to have the nuts, and I have a hand I can't let go. Ugh... Thems the breaks some times.

In summary, just be patient! Don't try to force a hand to become more than what it is. At this limit, if you play solid hands, and bluff ONLY once in a while, it will work out easily.

It has come down to this. I've gotten to the point where even though my swing is not that bad, I have to turn the corner.

I'm down about 5+ buy ins now at .05/.10 and have lost all of the funds I orignally deposited into Poker Stars. All I have left is the money I won on the FTR 300 a few months back. My graphs look like shit and I've somehow lost the ability to stay mediocre.

So this weekend is it. It is turn the corner time.

Tonight my plan is to get setup, get in the right frame of mind, hold my nose to the mirror for a ten count and then setup to run 6 tables of .05/.10 and play tight and strong. No more trying to hit my runners, no more limping crap on the button hoping to hit. Steals and 19 hands only is the plan when multi-tabling. When single tabling I will work hard to develop notes and reads.

I don't necessarily understand the theory behind VP$IP vs PFR and how it affects range, because that hasn't worked the way I thought I understood it. So I'm having to shit can that and re-learn it. I may go so far as to start a new thread. This one is too long now and hasn't really helped anyone. So I'm at that crossroads... can go to 'epic fail' or turn the corner and head down profitable street. It's all up to me.

Ok, I've been thinking about this all morning. I am revamping my image and my game, making those changes that will make it ultimately profitable (IMO)... my new thread will be called "Turning the Corner" and is located here:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/turning-the-corner-t77969.html#779938

I'm on my way, going to make it count this time.

AAAHH! You're changing your thread again? Hmmm, I wonder what's going on here? Too much fancy play? I know that I have been doing that a lot lately (tournament win besides...) I guess we'll see!!

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