Back To The Trap House

Since I will be playing much more live now I will document my mistakes to keep from getting too lazy. Its been difficult to find a live PLO game anywhere so I will be playing 1/2 hold em and shot take 2/5 hold em.

I was feeling super lonely and depressed on Saturday night after work. I don't know why, I just get like that sometimes. I spoke with my friend Russ just a night before and he said he would pay for a ticket to the Phillipines for me. This would be a big jump and I decided to do it but everytime I tried to run his CC it wouldn't go through because of Verification or something. I tried 6-7 times and finally gave up. I was planning on booking it for mid July so I can tie up any loose ends I have in CO. At this point those plans are on hold. I will either need to have a good month at work to buy it myself or solve the verification problem.

Now this is where I made my first mistake. I had a lot on my mind between considering going to the Phillipines suddenly and having a stressful day at work I really shouldn't of gone up. Too much stress on my mind to be playing any poker. On top of that I had drank a tad the night before and didn't feel very good. I didn't want to go out and I didn't want to stay home. I guess I should've just driven around to clear my mind or taken a long walk.

I was also hungry and had about an hour drive ahead of me. All of these things are what we all should take into consideration before playing. I did and ignored them reasoning that the games were so soft I could overcome this. Well, thats half way correct because they are very soft but too many factors to overcome. I was trying to escape into the game......

Anyways, I got up there and had to wait for a table. The first table they sat me at was terrible. I was to the left of 3 nitty old guys. Now nitty old guys come in a few different varieties but mostly its self explanatory. They only play premium hands, can't read board texture, raise too big with the hands and will take them to the grave if they have a big pocket pair. I immediately requested a table change.

The next table I sat at was much better. There were several guys splashing around and plenty who were just weak passive. Unfortunately I wouldn't pick up many hands to take advantage of this situation. I was forced to sit back and watch chips continuously change hands.

The first hand I got dealt was pocket KK in the C/O. Since I requested a table change I was forced to post $2. This weakish/pissive fish who made erratic plays at pots with small bets raised to $10 over 2 limpers. I popped it up to $30 and he called without thinking too much. The flop came ATx two tone and he checked within about 10 seconds. I didn't like betting here because I feel like a good chunk of his range here is A rag that he probably doesn't feel to confident about betting seeing that he is somewhat passive. Thinking back on the hand though I think it is a C-Bet. He should be calling here with small PP's that will insta fold to an A as well as some suited connectors sometimes or broadways. I guess I did make a mistake not betting this. OOP.

Anyways he fired $10 on the turn which I think was a harmless 4 and I called. He then fired $30 on the river. Live players display so many tells its scary sometimes. The one this guy was displaying was the playful stareback. Its the only way I could describe it in that everytime I would look over at him he would mirror me and then kind of look back like "It's only $30". Usually when bluffing players avoid eye contact and this guy wasn't really. Sometimes when they over stare at you like a "Do something, bitch" type stare it means their bluffing but that tell isn't quite as useful. In general if they are willing to make eye contact they have a piece of the board in someway or another and the more intense the look back the more likely they have it. I decided to fold here although I was getting a decent price.

Next interesting hand is when I got dealt 54 of clubs in the C/O about an hour later. It got raised to 6 in MP with 2 callers. I flatted and the SB came along. The flop was gorgeous! It came 346 with 2 clubs. There were 2 checks and this splashy talkative guy bet $20. I think he did show up with a bluff and would make aggro moves at the pot when checked to.  He was willing to gamble. Anyways, I popped it to $60 and he flatted. The turn was I don't quit remember. I decided to check here because on the river given that he was getting splashy he could definitely try and bluff if he missed his hand. He made a few interesting calls in large pots with A high as well. I should be well ahead of his turn checking range here and if I hit my hand I will be able to extract max value being in position.

The river came A high no club and I was sitting there with a pair of 4's and he without much thought fired in $100 at the pot which didn't make much sense. Theres another mistake. At the time I was thinking that the A was a scared card but at the same time hits his flop calling range and turn checking range. I'd seen this move before where someone makes an erratic play at the pot then calls a raise with 2 overs only to hit their card on the river and bet big because their so surprised. I've also seen it play out as a complete airball as well as someone bluffing with the best hand, such as a pair of 6's. Anyways, I wasn't fresh enough to really make any type of distinction AND I was leaning towards avoiding making any hero calls give how the table was playing. I just needed to make hands and value bet them so this spot was very foldable in my mind so I folded and he flipped up K5s for a missed open ended straight draw.

The final mistake I made was staying too long. The games were slowing down, I busted an action player to get my stack to 150bbs and everyone just seemed all around tired. I was tired and had a long drive home it was time to get up and I didn't I began ignoring position and started raising marginal hands. I dropped down to $140 and decided to get out of there. I couldn't think too straight at that point.

The drive home was long. I wasn't upset just disapointed. I made a ton of mistakes but at the tail end of the session. Talk about not lopping off your C-Game. I probably played my C Game for a good 35 minutes and lost almost 2/3's of my stack in that time while in the other 2.5 hours I played my B game which was good enough to make money by not losing any money.

That is a very important concept I have been thinking about a lot lately, the confidence of NOT losing money is probably the most valuable thing you could have. That part of your game alone is basically the seed that you can grow a tree out of. Out of that tree forms branches and fruit but you need that solid foundation to get to that point. I've worked really hard in the past year to just not spew and I haven't been that much. The good thing I can take out of this is that in the past I probably would've ran my whole stack into the ground in frustration but I didn't.

In the micros you lose so much money to the rake that I think this is where it becomes the strongest. You can't afford to give anything away EVER.

Anyways, last night I went to this place called Shag lounge with my best friend. He had just got a raise at work and wanted to celebrate. There weren't many people there. I started talking to this lady in her 40's about life and moving to the Phillipines. She bought me a few shots then asked if I wanted to go back to her room at the Hyatt. I obliged and left my friend behind. She was with her nephew (LOL?) and left him at the bar. She wasted no time and got completely butt naked immediately. Things got weird after we finished because as I was in the bathroom her nephew came in. I was completely ass naked. I grabbed my boxers threw my clothes on as fast as I could and got the fuck out of there. I didn't even get her name.............