We Used To Vacation

Near the end of last month, after having a really rough go to the start of the year, I decided to sit and play some Full Ring. I was doing so mostly to clear a bonus on stars that I wanted to have cleared sooner.

I obviously figured that since I hadn’t really played full ring before that I should sit in at my normal HUHU stakes.

I ran good.

I believe this was partially because I was an unknown, aggressive entity to the games. The regulars didn’t know what to make of me. I was putting in a lot of action with a lot of hands, doing a lot of raising in what were probably marginal spots, and running good to boot. People folded a lot to me the first 5 or 6 days I played.

I thought to myself… wow, this is a great game, i’m doing alright at it, and there seems to be a lot of money to be made as most of the regulars seem to be breakeven/losing SNE pros.

Then I stopped running like a champ. People learned that I semibluff a lot, barrel a lot, and raise a lot. I believe that people started playing back at me. At the same time, i started to run poorly and make adjustments to my game by showing down less and folding to aggression. I’m not sure if this combination may have hastened my decline.

When that happened I stopped playing well. I started trying to figure out what was going on, and trying to make adjustments in spots that I felt like i was probably losing money.
I’m not really sure what the problem was – bad play or running poorly, but as you can see, I shipped back almost all the money I won at the end of january.

My graph tops out on Jan 31 and then finds a steady decline for the first 10 days of February.

Sigh.

I think that full ring is almost certainly a beatable game, but what disheartened me at the end of yesterday was that the games were as good as I had seen them. Multiple players with 40%+VPIP (and one guy playing 94/45) and I still couldnt walk away with a win.

I’m a little defeated at having tried, unsuccessfully, to play a new game. I’ve tried this before with PLO to similar results. I understand how swingy games are, but I struggle with the downswings inherent in the games. With HUHU I’ve proven to myself that I’m a long term winner, so the daily or weekly swings don’t affect me as much.

With new games they do.

I am confident I will be trying out another new game as some point in hopes of diversifying my poker game. With the state of HUHU being what it is, I worry that there will continue to be longer waits and less games for me to play. The game is obviously gaining popularity with DC members (which is, in some small part, my doing), and you are all talented poker players.

I always joke about how johnnyrocket on 2+2 bemoans the games dying constantly… but I really think there is some truth to it. I’ll continue to play and likely be looking to get on even more sites in the somewhat near future as my bankroll will allow.

Time to Grind. Another new game will catch my attention soon.

Of That I Have No Doubt.

LQ

Currently Reading: James Fenimore Cooper – The Last of the Mohicans
Currently Listening: Mirah – The Garden