Limit

Been playing a lot of limit these last 2 months. NL was just bleeding me and I think it's because I haven't been playing often enough and I'm getting rusty - then I go to the casino, get cleaned out, get discouraged, don't want to play, get even rustier, etc., etc., etc. Anyway, the switch to limit was rather serendipitous, but it has worked well for me.

I was in Vegas for a 6-day training seminar last month, and got to play all six nights I was there - but the casino only spread their 3/6 limit table with any regularity, so that's what I played. Also, since I wanted to have a beer or 2 while I was playing, I stuck with limit - I won't play NL while I drink.

Anyway, I won 5 of the 6 nights I played there (+220, +25, +30, +90, +210) on my first 5 nights, then lost 6 on the last night for a +570 to the poker drawer - yay!

I don't remember much of the hands from the winning days, but I do remember 1 (losing) hand from the last night...

I was in seat 7 in the cutoff and picked up pocket 5's. Now the table had recently changed when 3 maniacs sat down and opened the game way up. This also (unfortunately) coincided with the demise of my chip stack - I went from 300 to 94 in the space of 45 minutes, and this hand was during that span. Seat 3 (maniac) raises from UTG, super maniac in seat 5 reraises, 6 calls, I call, 8 calls, 2 calls, 3 raises, 5 caps it and we all call. Flop is 78J rainbow giving me nuttin'. It gets bet and raised to me and (in my typical donkey ways) I call. It gets capped again and there's still 6 of us in. Turn is a 6 giving me a single card to the dumb end of the straight, and we all do the same song and dance - now there's like 300 in the pot and I'm hoping for a 4... River is a J and I bail out. The quiet woman in seat 6 ended up taking it with 6's full (3 had JT, and 5 had kings).

I also played a session of 3/6 at the Chu last month, came out +120. Yay!

Went to Pechanga this past weekend while visiting my mom-in-law, and played a 4/8 there. Didn't get many hands and ended up down 25 for my 3-4 hour visit. Only 1 donkey hand sticks out...

In seat 4 and pick up 4h, 4c from late position and limp in - it gets raised by the Call-With-Any-2-Cards-guy in seat 10 (BB) and 5 of us see the flop. Flop is Ah, Kh, 7c. 10 bets and we all call. Turn is the 8h, and I notice that no one really likes that card - so I figure it's time to bluff. 10 still bets out and seats 1 and 2 fold, I raise, 5 folds and 10 calls. River is the 5h, 10 checks and I see that he's holding his chips above the table ready to call my bet - which I've seen players do to try to scare someone from betting... Now I figure that my baby flush is probably good and I bet it - he calls and shows a set of Kings and I scoop it with my lucky 4h.

So, poker drawer is ~1450-1500 (I don't remember exactly - it took some hits over the summer, but the Vegas trip really helped).

I've changed my game a bit while playing limit (more drawing hands, only pursue draws when there are at least 3 others in the pot, push with big hands but be more willing to lay them down when in doubt, etc).

Long Time - Little Pokering

Yeah, yeah - I know... I've been delinquent in my blatherings about my exploits. But the truth is that I've had very few exploits to discuss - and those that I have had haven't been that great. I've been playing so infrequently that I'm making dumb mistakes and losing $$ from my poker drawer; which makes me want to play even less; which means that I fall even further 'out of practice', etc...

Anyway, since last I posted, I've played $60 NL at the Chu, 1/2 NL and 2/4-3/6 Limit in Vegas and at the Chu, and some 4/8 Limit on the Avenue here in Ventura. All of which have generally been losing sessions. Yeah, I'll win some, but the trend in the poker drawer is mirroring the economy => crappy. I haven't counted it recently, but I think it's in the $1,500 to $1,700 neighborhood.

Like the pain of childbirth, I've forgotten many of the hands I've played, but a couple from recent ventures stand out:

1) My buddy Darryl and I went to the Chu and got seated at the same table (me in seat 2, him in seat 5) and we'd been there a for while. I was up a bit (~$90) and a youngish guy moved to seat 1 from a busted $60 NL table nearby - he had about $130 and was fairly agressive. He'd been there for about 15 minutes when I picked up 2c2h in the SB and called the $6 of his $7 raise - along with 2 other limpers. Flop is a lovely 2s, 8d, Td - to which I check (hey, he's the aggressive one, I'll let him bet it). He does as hoped and puts out $10. I raise it to $30 cuz I don't like flush draws - the limpers fold and he ponders, "huh, you raised that pretty quickly... I call." Turn is the Qc and he moves all-in - I'm pretty sure I'm ahead (unless he's got queens or slowplaying a set on the flop) and I call. He flips over the QhTh, and the river is the Js, and I'm happy.

2) From a recent outing at the Chu... last hand of the evening, I'm short stacked, and I've got 99 from UTG - this is the best hand I've seen in 2 hours so I raise it to $7 in seat 3. Seat 4 calls, seat 6 calls, seat 7 calls and the BB calls. Well, so much for respecting the UTG raise. Flop is 2h, 6s, Td - BB checks and I bet $12 of my $25 stack (which was dumb, the pot had $35 in it and I should have just moved in). Seat 4 calls and everyone else folds. Turn is the 8h, and I push my last $13 in - and seat 4 calls. I say, "If you've got a ten, you're good." and flip the nines over. River is the Qh and he flips over the Jh6h for the flush. I just stare, I can't believe that someone would call an UTG raise with J6 suited in early position, and then called the flop bet with bottom pair and a back door flush draw - wow! I just get up and leave - I was sorely tempted to say, "I should buy back in, cuz those chips aren't going to be yours for very long." - but I didn't...

I've been trying to stay away from drawing hands when I'm heads-up. Most people get out of the way when the 3rd straight card hits or the 3rd diamond lands - and it's tough to get your draws paid off in these situations when you do actually make your hand...

Anyway - the wife is taking me (or, actually, she's allowing me to take her) to Vegas for my B-day in 2 weeks. I'll report back after that.