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).