The road to my first bracelet

I was suppose to write something every week in that blog, even just a few sentences, just to keep track but in the last two weeks, I could not care less. I was bombarded by the bullshit of life; not much work, low salaries, bills right on time in the mailbox, checks never on time in the mailbox. I even had to cancel my trip to Cuba. That sucked. And then you sit in front of your computer and you play your best poker. One thing about Poker, it makes me forget about all that crap. But the period of two to three weeks I am talking about is the red circle on the graph. It shows that I was not at my best. So many B games. But I also believe that’s where poker players are made. On my last blog entry, I posted a hand where I flopped quads and villain hit his flush Ace high on the river. He lost it all. It was a fun hand but there is no merit in winning this. I could have sat my 15 years old daughter in my seat and Phil Ivey in villain’s seat and sweetheart would have stacked the pro. It’s when things don’t work well that a difference between the good players and the bad players is made. That’s what Tommy Angelo calls “reciprocality”. Although that red circle was a drag for two weeks, it was a victory. To me, reciprocality meant learning to quit. I played my shortest session ever: 36 minutes. Losing your patience? Why don’t you quit. Anger building up? Quit. Quit before you B game turns into a C game.

Another thing that helped a lot were those coaching sessions. I learned to isolate weak players, making me win a little more chips here and there. I learned to steal blinds more often. I learned to recognize good flops to C bet, bad flops not to C bet. That way, I could win a little more money on my few winning hands and lose less on my losing hands. Add to this quitting on time and you get what’s in the red circle, which is better than what happened before, losing it all and ending up at the “zero” mark or even worse.

Enough with the red circle. Now, the blue square. The checks arrived, the bills were paid and the bankroll went up. Coincidence? What do the pros do when they have a bad week? Another thing I promised myself to do and I just did. In one of the first poker book I read, it talked about having the right mind set at the poker table. And to have the right mind set, what better thing than a healthy body. A healthy mind in a healty body. So with the return on my …….Sigh!!!!!!….. plane ticket to Cuba, I bought a home gym and all I need to go jogging. And after two weeks, all I can say is: “wow, this is great”. It’s still too soon to say if this has changed my game but every thing seems easier at the tables.

Beyond the blue square, it looks like a disaster in the making but it’s not. I deposited enough money to have 30 buyins to play 25 NL. The line that looks like a crashing plane is just my first session at 25NL. Although I told myself I would just play my normal game, I was nervous even if most players were clearly bad players. I lost a bit more than 2 buyins. And after reviewing my session, I had to admit to myself that the quality of my play was mediocre. I even made three mistakes that cost me most of my loss. But no way was I going back to 10NL. I kicked myself in the butt and the next sessions were just fine.

A SAD RIVER FOLD*

Hand #1
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em – 4 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

CO: $4.15
Hero (BTN): $12.65
SB: $11.40
BB: $6.35

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 3 3
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BB calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.85) 9 7 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.60, BB calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.05) 7 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.90, BB calls $0.90

River: ($3.85) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $2.90, Hero folds

Final Pot: $3.85
BB wins $3.70
(Rake: $0.15)
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TIME TO QUIT
Hand #2
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $12.40
BB: $2.40
UTG: $5.95
Hero (MP): $10.00
CO: $11.80
BTN: $11.15

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is MP with A K
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 3 folds, BB raises to $2.40 all in, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($4.85) K 3 7 (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: ($4.85) K (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($4.85) Q (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $4.85
BB shows Q Q (a full house, Queens full of Kings)
Hero shows A K (three of a kind, Kings)
BB wins $4.65
(Rake: $0.20)

VILLAIN ON A LUCKY DAY
Hand #3
Poker Stars $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em – 5 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $13.10
Hero (BB): $56.55
UTG: $38.90
CO: $28.55
BTN: $7.80

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with A K
3 folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero raises to $1.25, SB raises to $3.50, Hero raises to $47.75, SB calls $9.60 all in

Flop: ($26.20) 7 A T (2 players – 1 is all in)

Turn: ($26.20) 2 (2 players – 1 is all in)

River: ($26.20) K (2 players – 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $26.20
SB shows K K (three of a kind, Kings)
Hero mucks A K
SB wins $24.90
(Rake: $1.30)

View all 3 hands