March 21st and Other Stuff

Start - $459

End - $448

Profit -$11

The picture sums up quite well yesterday's play. I went bust after hitting top pair and villain hit bottom two. I went broke in a hand I shouldnt have. Stupid.

I find that at times I am getting into pissing contests with people at certain tables (including my exit hand with top pair) And when I do, I go broke. But if I just sit down, play well, stay aggressive with good hands, fold the rest, I run up $25-$30 with ease. I know it may not seem like a lot, but 50-60 BB is quite a profit in thirty to forty minutes. I need to leave emotion out of the game and not want to felt some guy by calling raises out of position with bad hands. Simple as that.

However, the -$11 would have been more had I not dusted myself off and won some back at the end of the night and that I am proud off. I did play well afterwards. Although there was one hand in paticular that I have been upset about. I get AA in the cutoff and the player to my right raises to $1.50. I make it $3.50 to play, and the blinds fold. He then re re-raises it to $10. Now obviously I am ahead (unless we both have AA which is unlikely) and I know that I want all the money in the pot as soon as possible. He has about $35 behind after his $10 raise, and me being the donkey that I am (see above picture for incredibly accurate likeness) move all in for $60 something thinking QQ or KK. He folds and says 'JJ'. Damnit, he got away. Now I agree that $10 is great especially as it is riskfree because he folded pre, but the fact I played it wrong upsets me.

I SHOULD have done a few things differently. If my play is to move in, I shouldn't have moved all MY chips in. I should have made it $35. Simply putting one extra chip in the middle (a $25 chip) rather than my stack which was $60 something and included pennies. When I moved in my stack looked enormous and the pennies actually filled up the entire screen. The mere sight of the stack looks imposing. I have read numerous times in books and articles and a few videos off poker X with Bax and Sheets, that it is a good play to put a minimum amount of chips in the middle to make it look less threatening. A $100 chips looks less threatening than nine $10 and ten $1 chips. The same value, but less chips. Silly I know, but as soon as he folded, I kicked myself as I could have given myself a better chance of him calling.

Moving in though, I dont think was the best play. He only has $35 left behind. If I make it another $10 or $14 to go, he will probably call as it is only a min raise, or close to it. On the flop, I move in and he can call for the rest ($20-$25) into a pot of $70-$75, or fold, something I dont think he could do given the amount he has put in (I am not saying he is priced in, but merely many players at that level cannot fold after putting so much money in, especially if the flop is rags and he has an overpair) .

Next time...