I think the poker gods are giving me a mid-term test. First, they let me have a great run in December to make me think I know what I’m doing. Then they proceed to lay the smackdown on me in January to show that I hadn’t learned as much as I though. February was up and down, but with a renewed focus. A short time off with more focused reading and thinking led me to last week’s good run, both online and for the first time, live.
Last night, however, they decided I needed to be tested.
Ninety minutes at 50/1 on Party: -30BB
Ouch.
So how did this happen and why do I look at it as a “test”? You looking for bad beat stories? Go somewhere else as I don’t intend the following to be bad beat stories. I look at this as a learning session in the sense that I was beat when I was given good cards. Ax suited, high suited connectors, high pocket pairs, etc. I would play the four flush hard only to get sucked out by a made straight or full house on the river. Did I let it get to me? More than I would have liked. I know I went on tilt a bit. I think I played most (I know not all) the hands correctly, but I’ll have to go through and check to make sure. I bet for value with A high four to the flush. Played pocket pairs tough, but got out if the flop didn’t help. I probably stayed in too long a couple of times, but the pots were so big that I had to stay in for the one more bet. Typical Party LLHE, lots of callers and more than the normal share of raisers last night.
I’m not happy with my session last night, but I know that it can happen to everybody. I’m looking at this as a way to test my ability to handle a down (and a bad down at that) session after I thought I had a decent part of my game figured out. I have no allusions of winning all the time, I am just hoping to make the losing sessions not be so bad and have the winning sessions be better.
The way I’m looking at this is that the poker gods are making sure my game is solid before I go to CA (which I finally booked yesterday, it’s now official, I’ve got lots of non-refundable items so I’m heading to hdouble-land on the 20th) and Vegas. I’m not worried and am not going to get bent out of shape about this.
It still sucks though 