Good Discipline

Had a good night discipline wise. I lost about $50 and was able to walk away. Did not try and win it all back on 5/10. I think this is a good step. Just could not catch a break until the last table. I had my trips beaten by larger trips. After that a guy had his boat beaten by a higher boat. I did not feel so bad after that. Kind of a bummer that I have fallen a little below 1K but I am happy with my game. I think I tend to go on a tilt at key points, I.E. I made 1K, but then fell below! My “marker” of 1K was gone. I need to get back there. Start tilting to do it!!! Stupid. I am glad I was able to avoid it this time. Hopefully I have it under control.

The final table I was on was AEWSOME. Basically there was one maniac at the table. He would call a pre-flop raise on almost anything. Any two cards suited. Any potential straight. His strategy worked at times, but the variance was huge, and he kept busting out. He also refused to see when he was beaten. I had A2d and the flop was something like 4d5cJd. He had raised initially so the pot was a decent size. He bets. I call. Kd was the next hand making my flush. He bets. I raise. He raised. We top out the betting at 8 bucks each. Next card was some rag. He again tops it off. So now there is over $40 in a ½ pot with me holding the nut high flush. We turn over. He has two pair and I have the flush. The guy did this several times before slowing down and saying “Man, my wife is going to kill me, can you guys let me win one.”. Now I do not mind giving money away (ok, maybe I do), but why would anyone give money to a clown that is playing as badly as this guy. He went through $40, re-bought, and went through another $40 while I was at the table.

I have been playing more tourneys. I finished 3rd, 4th, and 4th last night. Just could not get the cards when I needed them. I think my strategy for the week is going to be to play a single $10/1 tourney and $40 at ½ each night. Play a few hours. Get some sleep. I will see where this leaves me at the end of the week. I am also going to see if I am enrolled in the Thursday Night $2500 free roll again. I have been playing enough raked hands that I think I should be. It would be VERY nice to place 3rd or higher again. I am going to take it easy thought, at least until we get to the money hands, and see what happens. Hopefully I will get the advantage of an empty table to being with again. It really helps starting with 10K!! You can basically cruise into the 60th spot with 600 people starting. It only pays $10 or something, but it is free money.

Talking about Tourneys – I think the proper strategy for me is to put it on AWAY for the first 3 levels, and let the poor players fight it out. Playing ring games has made me like flush draws too much. In a ring game, you make a lot of money when you make your draws. In a tourney, it costs too much to make those draw, unless the person has nothing, in which case it is not worth winning the draw. I read a strategy in my NL Hold em book that I like. It basically says to not play anything before the 4th level when the blinds become worthwhile, except JJ and higher pairs and AK, AQ, AJ. So basically you will not be playing much before level 4. Now this gives you two advantages. First, it makes you seem like a VERY tight player. The first few hands you play on level 4 you will get a lot of respect on. A bluff might not be out of the question. Second, it probably gives you above average stack. Usually in these single table tourneys by level 4 I see: 1-3 seats out, 1-3 seats with $500 or less, and 1-3 seats with 1K or more. So you are right there in the mix. I will let you know how this strategy works out.