Up, Down, Up ,Down !

Hi Folks,

Have played seven sessions since my last post and have finished up winning on three of those sessions and losing on four, very frustrating week of play on the micro levels.

One session that stands out to me was my first losing session. I played my usual 4 tables at £0.10/0.20 with $20 buy in at each table. After 70 minutes play I was up on 3 tables and slightly down on the fourth, for total profit of around $63, give or take a few cents. Then on table one I found myself on the BB with Ad Kd. I had $39 at this table having almost doubled up with some solid ABC poker and thought I would play this aggressively if checked to me, but the other big stack at the table in mid position made a large pre flop raise. Unusually all folded round to me and I just flat called. The flop came J73 all diamonds, I had flopped the nuts ! I thought for a while and the made a pot size bet. Villian the came over the top and went all-in, he had me covered so any call would have me all-in too. WTF, I was in the lead, a nice double through, what could he have? two diamonds? didnt matter I had the nuts, nah most likely flopped a set. I had to call, a no brainer really, so all-in I went. Cards on their backs and show my flopped nut flush and as thought the villian show pocket 7's for the set. OK I thought, I'm in the lead but in a race, ok poker Gods let me hold on here. Turn brought a fairly benign 4 of clubs. Nice now dont pair the board on the river please. River comes a 4 of hearts making his boat .......................WTF, runner runner to take me out, the poker Gods are at it again ! $39 down, time to sit out on this table for a few hands and re-group.
Then on table two, two hands later, I play this, 67 hearts in mid position. With $42 at this table I decided (possibly through a bit of tilt) to play it aggressively, so make a large pre flop raise. I get called by the SB & BB. Flop comes 5h, 8d Qh, giving me a flush draw and up & down str8 draw. Time for an aggressive continuation bet, so I make a pot size bet. SB folds and BB calls. Turn card, 3 of spades. Now that can be no help to anybody I think, so decide to continue to be the aggressor and fire out another pot size bet on my semi bluff. Villian thinks and then calls. Hmmmm has he the Queen? This player was another big stack but had won several hands on dubious calls, calling with mid pair etc. I had 15 outs on the river so still in with a chance of taking this down and even if I miss well there is still the bluff option, I had after all been the one betting right through the hand, so representing strength. River brings a 2 of clubs. Dam I had missed the lot, so time for a bluff. I decide to go all-in, after all the board wasnt that bad. Villian almost runs the clock down and calls turning over the Ace & 2 of hearts ...............OMG................. he called with a pair of 2's, how could he call that? OK he had a nut flush draw and gut shot str8 draw going to the river but wtf, he missed and caught bottom pair??????? The muppet then goaded me to reload saying he had a read on me. Bollocks, I had only seen 14% of flops prior to this hand and had only played premium hands and won all my show downs except one where my AQ lost to AK on an Ace high board, so solid play, so no way had he any sort of read on me. I sit out on this table and think about what had just happened at the two tables. I had lost most of my profit and two buy-ins at two tables in a few hands. Time to quit. In the other two tables I was treading water on one, totally card dead, down to $17 for a $3 loss and on my final table I was up to $45 and a $25 profit. So all i all I was down $18 after being up $73 !

Studying this session I came up with 3 points. Firstly the one good point, I had sat out in the two tables where I had just been busted, reassessed my game and decide to call it a day rather than chase my losses, in days gone by I would have chassed those losses and usually gone bust. Secondly and the first of the two bad points, I played the second hand, 67 suited, possibly with a bit of tilt setting in, following the previous table bad beat, and that hand leads me onto the third point, my semi-bluff. One thing I have noticed playing on the micro levels is that people just dont put hands down, they cannot be bluffed. They have an Ace therefore they must win the hand, they have a pair, no matter how many over cards on the board, so they must call ! Before losing my roll late last year, I played mostly at $2/4 and $3/6 multi-tabling on ipoker. At those levels such a bluff with my 67 suited would have worked. I know I have won with such a play on numerous occasions. No player at that level would risk his stack with bottom pair after missing his draws, not when faced by a player who had shown aggression all through the hand and had now placed an all-in on the river, with the pot now at several hundred dollars. But at micro levels the combination of inexperience and the low amounts mean the fish continue to call. I suppose it works both ways, when you play your premium hands you know you will get paid off by some fish calling with his low pair. Well lesson learnt on that session.

So as the week worked out I finished up with an overall loss of $63, not great for a weeks grind but I now know that it is gonna take me a lot longer than anticipated to get out of these micro games. I still cannot financially afford to deposit any amount to my account for several weeks yet and dont know who would give a loan to a compulsive gambler/poker player. Oh poker Gods please get me back to the higher levels asap so I can regain my sanity.
So my roll is now down to $376, still an overall profit of $226 for year so far, so really must not complain too much. Roll on the big times.....lol.

Good luck at the tables.