Yo-yo sessions

Pud's Poker Progress / Matthew Pitt / 14 April 2008 / 1

I ended my last post hoping for a nice score in a tournament (writes Yorkshire Pud) but unfortunately it never materialised and I ended up dropping around $70 in MTTs ranging from $1 to $4. A mixture of running bad then making poor plays ultimately cost me and put me on serious life tilt.

I was sat playing, expecting to lose, calling out the cards that would beat me as they hit and screaming and shouting at my screen like some lunatic and it was driving me and Mrs P mad. I just wasn't enjoying the game as I should, I'd become fixated on winning money, chasing that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow instead of playing solid poker, enjoying the game and counting the money I could make as a bonus. Changes were needed.

I spoke over MSN to an old poker buddy of mine, Cadmunkey, posted on the forum that I help run and also spoke to a couple of players who play for a living and they all suggested try something different for a little while until I got my head back together. Almost everyone said to go back to the cash games and rebuild my bankroll and confidence. I've always been a winner at the cash tables, in fact it's where I feel most comfortable and where most of my poker knowledge is from. I used to play fixed limit Hold'em and took $300 up to $900 and then $500 up to $1300 before switching to the "Cadillac of Poker" - No-Limit Texas Hold'em.

With cash games if you make a mistake or one of your opponents sucks out on you, you can just reload your chips and you have the chance to get them back often with interest. In tournament poker every mistake is punished and once your chips are gone you are out of the game. I suppose the last statement is why people love tournaments, they create a buzz knowing one slip and you're gone and another reason why sometimes cash games can feel boring in comparison but it is easier, and less stressful, to earn a crust from cash games compared to MTT's.

Things started well, in fact very well at the 6max NL10 tables. I opted to play 4 tables at once, which is the most I can fit on my screen without them overlapping badly and also 4 tables seems to be my optimal number of tables for making reads and players against players. The players seemed weak and when you add that to hitting hands like their going out of fashion no-limit can be a very profitable game indeed. I turned a full house against someone who believed their Jack-high flush draw would be the best hand , flopped the nut straight against a set, and had Kings all-in preflop against a pair of Jacks, it seemed like I could do no wrong and I ended my two sessions $75 to the good from around 2400 hands played! But there is always the flip side of the coin when you run badly and you can't do anything right!

I played this afternoon and dropped 5 buy-ins. $50! Not good at all! Running Queens into a weak player's Aces didn't help things at all and when you flop a set but lose to a straight you know it's just not your day at all! Once I'd dropped the five buy-ins I decided to call it a day as I have a bad habit of chasing my money which often results in greater loses! I've spent some of the remainder of the afternoon reviewing my hand histories to see where I went wrong and I should come out a better player at the end of it. On a positive note I did manage 3050 hands in three days which is the most I've played for a long time and although my $25 profit doesn't sound as good as $75 it is still profit at the end of the day.

Well that's all for now. I'll give you an update on the job and life situation before Saturday, which incidentally is my 27th birthday! I hope all your pots are monsters!

Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables!

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CADmunkey | 16 April 2008

Welcome back to the cash tables fish! Good to hear you're no longer trying to be the next Moneymaker LOL!
Keep grinding and I'm sure your bankroll will be all the better for it.
GL at the tables!