CARDRUNNERS

What's Your Edge

jeff218's Poker Blog

January 13, 2010

2010 has not been super kind to me up to this point. While nothing life threatening has happened, I have hit several speed bumps:

1. It has snowed a fuck ton. I blew my lower back out while moving snow at my aunts place. That was a week ago and I am still feeling it. Sitting at a computer all day has not helped.

2. One of our employees put in his notice. I consider Michael to be a good friend and will miss working with him. He was a machine who could put in a ton of hours and still turn out good work. Plus he has a cool Aussie accent which was always fun to mock in meetings.

3. Poker...ugh.... I've finally got my work situation to be more manageable. I'm putting in much closer to 40 hours than the 50+ I was for the last several months. So on Jan 1 I started grinding pretty hard. I've watched 5 vids this month and spent 22.5 hours at the table (5837 hands). I'm mostly playing 2-3 tables and trying to work on my game. I'm mostly playing pretty well, but have been absolutely fucking miserable in all-in pots. Of the 9 I have lost, 6 of them were bad plays (one was for 240bb's). The other 3 were KK<AA, KK<JJ, and JJ<KK when we both flopped sets. Not good.

Conversely, of the 7 all-in pots I've won, 2 of them I spiked a 2 outer to get there. I'm losing with QQ, JJ, AK, and AKs. Oh, and I am winning 42% of showdowns! Not a good combo of events imo.

I feel like I am just not being disciplined. I keep getting all excited with over pairs and just don't think. I look for reasons to stack off, and usually do. Most of this can probably be attributed to making over my game. Since I've been working with nute, I've gone from a 18/15 fit or fold player to a 23/19. My W$WSF has risen from barely 40% to 45% and my red line is no longer a staircase to hell. I've had a lot growing pains trying to figure out when to battle for a pot and when to give up, but that is part of the deal. I am def bluffing too much as well. Usually the thought process is, "He has 2nd pair at best, he just can't call if I fire this 3rd shot." The issue is, it is 50nl and not only can they call with 2nd pair...they can, and do, call with 4th pair.

The moral of the story is that I need to be more careful and more disciplined. Either that or I'll be at 25nl soon. I've dropped almost 1/3 of my bankroll so far in Jan. Thank god I started with a comfortable amount for the limit. That being said, I can't keep losing.

Hopefully this does not come off as ranting or whining. I actually feel pretty good overall about my game, save for some really glaringly stupid shit I do.

In the good news department, we raised $4000 via the Lou Pinella Memorial Poker Tournament. All that cash goes to our fall friend's son's college fund. Hopefully we've helped Davis and Patrice in some small way with our efforts. I should give a huge thanks to Andrew Wiggins for all his help with the tourney as well as his very generous donation to the pot.

I'll see about blogging more regularly. I am not great at it because, to be honest, it is just not a major priority right now. With so much going on, something has to get cut out. Sadly, it is often the blog. Till next time, whenever that is...

-Jeff

Entry Tags:

Jan 13, 10 02:38:23

1/3 of your bankroll? Why not drop down a level for a few K hands?

verneer

Jan 13, 10 10:11:43

Don't knock 25nl, it's where heroes are made. Sucks about your swing, if you're still confident and have evaluated your game and are convinced it's variance/badbeats and not leaks then stay at your stakes. That being said, nothing wrong with dropping down, or maybe doing half and half.

RodeoBlue

Jan 13, 10 10:12:57

Hey Jeff...I also play 50nl...I only fire a third barrel against a thinking reg when the board looks wicked scary. Everyone else always calls.

Best of luck and skill to you!

NeedleNose

Jan 13, 10 10:37:18

i know how the low priority blogging goes, working to push it higher up on the list. :)

lana

Jan 13, 10 11:27:52

I have 5 buys to lose before I hop down a limit, per my predetermined BR map (don't worry, I am not short rolling myself, I have good bankroll management).

-Jeff

jeff218

Jan 13, 10 22:40:59

Hey Jeff - good luck with the back - i have herniated disks and shoveling is the worst. just some friendly advise - stretch your hamstrigs if you have the time. They sometimes get tight after a back injury like that. I'm no doctor - but it may help.

I play 25NL right now - no haters! LOL Good luck in search of the up-tick though. Jan has sucked for me too! Think mine is overzealous new year optimism! Later!

UncleBiff

Jan 14, 10 18:02:41

Move down regardless of your BR imo... I have had a similar bad start to the month so about a week ago I moved down to 25NL and won 7BIs pretty easily... Helps the confidence for sure...

eyedunno