A lot has happened since I last updated this blog. The last 2 weeks I got my ass whopped in 50NL (and to some extent 25NL) and lost $600+ (1800 --> 1200) in the process. I was so down and decided to abandon the blog for a while. But I inevitably came back to it. Now I am trying to rebuild my bankroll with a combination of $16 Sit-N-Gos and 25NL, and I have recovered about half of the losses.

During the slide I had some really cold cards, but just because I had bad cards doesn't alway mean my opponents were bluffing. I still need to learn to keep my composure when goings are rough. Don't go on tilt and make bad plays just because I'm not getting anything to play.

I still saved a handful of interesting hands. Most of them ended positively. I reviewed them in order to cheer my spirit up during this rough stretch:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747807
My stretch of bad play started with some bad luck on Jan 17. This one is AA Pre-flop all-in, only to lose the main pot to a tight shortie and win a meagre side pot.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747808
An epic version of AA preflop all-in, and this time I lost a full buy-in to KK

http://www.pokerhand.org/?747809
NL50, All-in on flop with a BB-special 2-pair hand, against some short donk who limped with AK and went ape-shit with TPTK, but running 4s counterfeited my 2 pairs.

Some hands during the massacre. I only picked a couple of bad hands -- there were many more of them:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748314
I took advantage of opponent's feeble check-raise, chased my flush and hit it. Opponent had top set + flush redraw, but couldn't hit any of his gazillion (actually only 12 outs -- I held two of the hearts, and 8h or 3h gives me straight flush).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748316
For a while I reverted to the bad habit of raising suited crap. But it worked out perfectly against some passive retard.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748319
I turned Quad 8s and opponent pushed. Obviously he didn't believe in me.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748320
Inducing a bluff from a missed flush draw, I myself holding a weak TP and the same missed draw -- thank God the flush card didn't come.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748321
I swear I won't slow-play a set on any kind of draw board, ever again. Brutal river card, obviously.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?748323
It's difficult to win by never believing your opponent.

A Jan 23rd session was pretty much the turning point. Things went very well. I went from the recent rock bottom of $1195 to ~$1320. Here are some hands worth reliving:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761013
Sure I won the hand, but I called a big bet on the flop without knowing that I was behind, and then I sucked out a Jack on the turn, opponent overplaying his QQ. Did I play the hand correctly?

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761014
Flopped straight in a reraised pot. I was glad my passive opponent couldn't lay down JJ on that board.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761015
I ran into some serious fish on this night. I can't possibly win such a big pot with this one-card nut flush against a half-decent opponent.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761016
I don't know why my opponent made this play. Maybe he's looking for revenge after the AQ vs AK hand (see next hand). He certainly didn't give me credit for a 9, probably because of my preflop raise.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761017
My read was good in this hand, and it allowed me to make a confident value bet (despite 3 hearts on the board) before showdown. In retrospect my turn raise was certainly not substantial enough (He had 12 outs and only needed to call $4 into a $14 pot -- an easy call for him).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761018
A2s, preflop raise, great flop, EP check-raised me. Turns out he had a flush draw, I put him all-in, he called, and my hand held up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761019
Some new player took his TPwK hand too far and fully paid off my set.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?761020
A rare bad-beat against me on this night. Diamond-heart is usually an auspicious AA suit combination for me, but not here.

Hands, Jan 25:
http://www.pokerhand.org/?765985
I hit 2 sets with 33 on this day, and both of them got paid off huge. This time I was against someone who couldn't lay down his QQ overpair against my betting.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765987
Here I got creative preflop with KK, flopped a set against SB who had a smaller set, and the original raiser who pushed his flush draw after getting creative himself with 96s. My hand held up and I tripled up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765988
Another set with 33. PUNIO was tight yet very easy to read. He would have raised KK or JJ hard preflop, so it was obvious that he had KJ here. Rivering quads for me was simply overkill. It was unfortunate for me that I gave him back his money a few days later when I had 99, he had KK and we each flopped a set (that hand wasn't saved).

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765989
A SB special bottom 2 pairs, turned full-house, some LP had bottom pair + flush draw, didn't improve yet still pushed river.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765990
A really good way to play against passive mice is to draw cheap against their big pairs, and then destack them when I hit. Perfect example here.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?765993
I knew I was probably against trip 8s when my continue-bet was called, but I received the best turn card possible. I was given a free card, took it, and completed my miracle straight flush. Perfect river card, giving opponent full house. I wish my opponent had more money.

2 hands from Jan 26:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?770673
I think my opponent was trying to represent the flush himself. Good thinking for him -- it would have worked if I only had AQ of a different suit or some other TP/overpair hands.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?770675
Opponent was a donk, and here he tried to bluff me off my flopped house. Was he also trying to represent a flush?