Same old stuff?
Well, despite telling myself I was going to stop doing it for a while, I skipped out of work early again last night and went to play poker instead. :) I don't know...I just felt like gambling instead of working. Turns out this would not be the smartest decision I would make, but hey, what is. :) As befits my seemingly recurring pattern lately, I hit an early, crushing rush, eventually took a beat, and then spiraled down. I was keeping fairly careful watch this time, I felt, and I really don't think there's much to this...it's just how things are happening to shake out lately. As the night went on, I did become aware that I was playing a little more loosely and crazily, but not to the tune of huge losses, and it was just that kind of table that encourages a bit more pre-flop looseness (passive play early, with the potential of payoffs if I hit). What this table was not was a table where I could bluff my way to victory, so...I didn't. This was much more the kind of thing where I just had to wait for the cards to come. Sadly, after my initial rush, they didn't, so I did basically a slow bleed and then ended up walking away booking a loss. Sometimes, it just goes like that.

The early rush was amazing. The star hand of the night was my KK vs. Villain's AK with a K on the flop. Cha-ching! Astoundingly, all the money went in on the flop (he jammed, not me!), and I stacked the guy to the tune of $200 and change. Sad, too, it was only like his second or third hand. A bit later, I held KK again and flopped a monstrous K55 (with several pre-flop callers), but got no action post-flop. More on that later. I won a couple of smaller or medium pots here and there, and I found myself doing pretty nicely. Then followed a couple hours of zip. :) Then, probably about halfway through the session, I was all-in on the flop with a weak combo draw (medium flush plus gutshot) vs. top-pair/medium kicker plus gutshut. No help for me, and I lose a big chunk. Villain had a smaller stack than me, but he still took a big chunk out...maybe $250 or so? But anyway...after that and another few misses here and there, I was about back to even.

The latter half of the session was just dull, dull, dull. I caught nothing for hours, and even found myself in a couple nasty spots. One was flopping bottom two against a made flush. Thankfully I jetted out of that one (being three-bet all-in over my check-raise gave me a good indication that I shouldn't be in that hand ;) ). Also I ran one bluff at a really bad time, it turns out. That one was basically just on a read, it wasn't a semi-bluff or anything. It just turned out I had totally pegged the guy wrong on that one. Eh, it happens. Everything else was just standard missed flops or missed draws, and I pretty much just pissed away chips until I was tired and hungry and I decided to go. Ho hum.

So, the afterthought. In this hand, I was somewhere in MP with KK. I raised after two limpers, got a couple callers behind me, and we ended up going I think five-way to the flop. The flop came K55 with two diamonds. It checked to me, and I bet out, it folded around to one guy who thought about it for a little while, and he eventually folded. One thing I think about from time to time is that I rarely slowplay any more. Apparently this has somehow become me not slowplaying at all. :) I mean...that seems like a great place to slowplay. What could I possibly be afraid of? AA catching an A? Some 5 catching a 5? I mean, that's crazy talk. There's definitely an argument to be made that I don't want a diamond to show up, as it may kill any putative action I might have gotten without it, but I feel it's just as likely that a diamond could give someone second-best, not to mention that if someone stays in to catch a diamond and give me action, surely they'll call a flop bet to chase it, too. But what I really want is to check and let some underpair catch their set, know what I mean?

Anyway. I'm not agonizing over it. Generally speaking, and especially true at that particular table, I feel there's better reasoning to bet there rather than check. That is to say, I don't think I'm particularly losing money by not slowplaying. One of the big factors in that thought process, though, is that I play a fairly aggressive game, and I expect people to know that. And in most cases, they do. Like...I don't think it takes long for my opponents to suss out that I play on the aggressive side and am more than likely to be c-betting on any flop once I've raised pre-flop. With that in mind, I'm likely to be betting both my bad flops and my good flops, even if my good flops are monsters. The theory is that my habitual c-betting generates action on the hands where I flop good. What I failed to take into account on this hand, though, was that it was pretty early in my session, relatively speaking. I had probably only been at the table an hour or so when this hand took place, and the only big hand anyone had seen me play was when I called all-in on the flop with top set. I mean...nothing tricky about that. :) So it's just possible that this would have been a good time to slowplay, since theoretically, nobody there had me pegged as a habitual c-better. Because they all folded to my flop bet, if I had checked and elicited action on the turn, anything there would have been more money than what I ended up getting. This is a hugely results-oriented thought, though, and so I don't know if it holds across the board, but...it's definitely something to keep in mind for the future -- to not only base my moves on a strategy that (hopefully) takes into account my overall image, but also to be aware of what my image might be right then. In that case, checking would not have been necessarily seen as way out of character, and therefore a trick. :) It may have actually have been seen as what it was supposed to look like: weakness.

Anyway, I'm probably overthinking that one hand. It just stuck in my mind. Villain didn't show his cards, but he later said he had pocket jacks. (I had showed my hand already.) So checking that flop may well have gotten a little more money out of him on the turn. Plus I stood to stack him if he catches his J. But in the broad sense...I don't know. I'm still more likely to bet that flop than not. Just in the future I should remember to keep in mind what the tables knows about me so far, and not just how I play in general.

Also one random thought I had. One of the dealers, who knows me a bit, said after his down: "You play way too tight, man!" I'm sure this was true from his point of view, as this was during my slow phase, and I basically spent the whole time folding pre-flop. I just thought that was funny he would say that, as I know there are other dealers who think I play ridiculously loose and crazy, mostly because they happen to be around when I'm on a mad bluffing spree. ;) At any rate, I just thought it was interesting that the dealers at the Trop, who I'm sure have observed more of my play than anyone except me, have these wildly varying views of me. I generally take that as a good thing; I think it almost always behooves a poker player to keep his play unpredictable. ;) It also, though, highlights the idea that my play may be somewhat...inconsistent. I realize I'm just splitting hairs, and that "inconsistent" is probably just the same thing as "unpredictable," just with different connotations. But still...I wonder if my style is swinging more wildly from session to session than I'm really intending. Might be something to keep an eye on.

Until next time, poker people. Peace!