O-Poker

After a few weeks of running REALLY bad, things have turned around and my Stars account is respectable (in my own mind) once again.

Since the beginning of August, I've been trying to avoid MTT's while focusing on low limit Sit & Go's in order to build a decent and steady online bankroll. I generally play single table $20+2 and $30+3's with the occasional $50+5, but it got so bad I was "slumming" it at the $10+1 tables. Over a period of 4 weeks (Aug. 9 - Sept. 8) I went 7 for 30 (cashes) in Sit & Go's and three of the cashes were 3rd place with only 2 wins... It was UGLY!

Cmitch and I were talking about the mental aspect of poker and how important it is to have a positive outlook during play. When things were in the basement it got to where I expected superior hands not to hold up. Mainly because THEY WEREN'T, but it's not good when you can "feel" your KK about to get cracked by KQ in a showdown. Flopped sets were getting beaten by higher sets coming on the river, River flushes against my flopped "nut" straight, and of course a few runner runner hands to hammer the nail in that much deeper.

However, since Sept. 8 I have gone 7 for 9 with 3 first place finishes. It's amazing how things can turn around so quickly. Even though it's a very small amount of play, I've noticed that my game has adjusted to a new found sense of confidence. The most apparent change is with continuation bets as they are now much easier to make against an open-check. Where as the week before I probably would have checked a missed flop, I've gotten back on track and am putting the pressure on opponents.

One hand I have to share that helped to get things back on track:

PokerStars Game #2543912556: Tournament #12392094, Hold'em No Limit - Level IV (50/100) - 2005/09/10 - 15:29:26 (ET)
Table '12392094 1' Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: U_Delta (680 in chips)
Seat 2: loopy07 (2615 in chips)
Seat 3: vicdemeo (2885 in chips)
Seat 4: TheSh0w (1705 in chips)
Seat 6: Nait Dawg (1365 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: puggys39 (1965 in chips)
Seat 8: Lumpkin (2285 in chips)
loopy07: posts small blind 50
vicdemeo: posts big blind 100

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to loopy07 [Jd Ah]
TheSh0w: folds
Nait Dawg: folds
puggys39: folds
Lumpkin: folds
U_Delta: raises 580 to 680 and is all-in
loopy07: raises 1935 to 2615 and is all-in
vicdemeo: folds

*** FLOP *** [Qs Td Qd]*** TURN *** [Qs Td Qd] [8d]
*** RIVER *** [Qs Td Qd 8d] [9d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
loopy07: shows [Jd Ah] (a straight flush, Eight to Queen)
U_Delta: shows [5d Ad] (a flush, Ace high)
loopy07 collected 1460 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 1460 Rake 0
Board [Qs Td Qd 8d 9d]
Seat 1: U_Delta (button) showed [5d Ad] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: loopy07 (small blind) showed [Jd Ah] and won (1460) with a straight flush, Eight to Queen
Seat 3: vicdemeo (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: TheSh0w folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Nait Dawg folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: puggys39 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Lumpkin folded before Flop (didn't bet)