That was until a week ago when I thought it had all changed. I had moved into my new house with two fellow poker players, I started to get the 'buzz' back from playing online and putting in some nice long concentrated sessions. Poker was 'easy'!
It must be nice for poker to be easy!
Then as seems to be the case with me at the moment, my good runs cannot seem to last more than a few hours/sessions and soon enough I hit one of my biggest downswings at $2/$4NL to $5/$10NL. In the space of three days I dropped almost $20k (a few Sunday major tournament buy-ins also with that). This swing for a 3-day period was pretty rough at those 'far from high' stakes! After busting numerous smaller bankrolls on different sites as I attempted to spin up a roll, I realized that losing a few thousand dollars on this site, and a few thousand on that site isn't really noticeable until you work out quite how much you've lost... (You're in another world james!!! ED.)
Various smashed mice and items of small furnishings later, I decided to load up Holdem Manager, and check my stats, which I had completely forgotten to do before moving house. Unsurprisingly I was semi shocked at my stats, no wonder i was losing! My VIPP (money voluntarily put in the pot measured as a percentage of total hands) was nearing the 35-40 mark, which is nearing on the verge of impossibility to play poker profitably. I also studied my stats, and have worked out that despite my informative comments I pass on to others involving strategy, positional play etc... I have not been practicing what I preach in my own game.
Luton and the GUKPT
To get over my online defeats of late, I took a trip to play the £500 GUKPT side event at Luton, and although I busted in unspectacular fashion after about 5 levels, I joined in on one of what should have been the best cash game of my life. It was a £1-£3 NLHE game, that evolved into a £1/£3/£6, then a £5/£5/£10/£20 game. The line up looked fairly solid, with many great pro's already sitting at the table when I joined. The game soon got lively, and with a £1.5k max buy in, there was no shortage of chips on the table. Seeing £3k pots flying left, right and centre between the whales at the table, each pro sat and awaited a moment to pick their spot to take chips.
Unfortunately one gentleman decided he was going to be 'baby Jesus' and hit straight flushes for fun.... People getting it in with T6 off-suit on a 3467 flop vs his nut straight helped him to build a stack, until he decided he could easily 4-bet pre-flop with 93 off suit as he would hit a monster every flop. After building his stack to £9k through the various big time cash game pro's at the table, stacking each one progressively, he proceeded to bluff off £1.5k to me where I check-called every street with 88 on a 56TJT board. He insta-mucked then called me a fish!
Anyway, here's the last hand of the night. You can see how good he runs, when not only does he make a terrible call, but his call is actually good...
£5/£5/£10/£20/£40/£80 around for the straddles...
By now it's just four of us playing, and 3 of us are very competent cash gamers, and know the rules of live cash games. At this game two straddles are live, and any future straddles are dead (which means you do not get the option to raise if everyone just calls into your straddle).
I make up the £80, Hero B makes up the straddle, as does Player C. Then as the dealer is collecting in the chips, the Villain goes to raise blind without looking at his cards. I hold J9. The flop comes AK9 two hearts and Villain leads out £150 after looking at his cards. I call with the intention of calling a bet on every street whatever comes, but player B ruins it by raising to £375.
Now there are very few hands I could put Player B on, as he knew that if he just limped then the Villain could not raise the straddle. Thus he would have raised any premium hand as he knew he would get the Villain to call any two cards pre-flop in the last hand. My thinking was that he had a flush draw, but it was also possible he limped a rag Ace to conceal his hand should an Ace flop and get Villain to bluff a stack off. Anyway, Villain called, and I peeled a turn card.
The turn bought the 5c, no help to any of us, but Villain decided to bet £1175 out of position! I had £1850 and dwelled for a super long time, trying to work out what they both had. I was pretty sure Player B had air, or a flush draw/gutshot draw-style hand. Looking back, I realized I did the wrong thing by folding, but at the time, the last thing I wanted to do was donate even more money to the Villain 'baby Jesus' by making a sick all-in with 3rd pair for an 800 BB pot!
Anyway, Player B dwelled and pushed all-in, correctly reading that the Villain was very weak, but unfortunately, Villain talked himself into calling with his 93 offsuit for 3rd pair 2nd worst kicker! Player B flipped JQ for Q high (with gutshot and pair draws) but unfortunately Villain took down the £5k pot with 3rd pair... Must be nice eh?
No juicy rematch
Anyway, that was the standard of play by this guy and quite a few other guys at the table. Fortunately I wasn't steaming that I made no money in the juicest cash game I've ever played, as I was shot away on Jaegermeister (what's new?!)...
The 'baby Jesus' told me he wanted to play again today, but did not show up so I returned to London to write this blog! I guess the 'baby Jesus' had (as a named pro who I don't get on with told one of my good poker friends recently), delusions of grandeur! He must have realized he was out of his depth and run to the hills with his winnings!
Be good!
James666