Thursday, October 19, 2006

I am poker champ?

Part of me says yes.

A much louder, more annoying and more insistent part of me is saying no today.
Exhibit A, presents the louder Prosecutor (Mr. High on Poker, perhaps?), says that I went all in with 7,7 when I still had 950 of my original 1,500 in chips in the Mookie last night.
"He limped in, your honor, and then pushed to a re-raise, which screams small pocket pair!!!"
Said Jordan, an aggressive Jordan, mind you, also raised me off K,Q and A,J twice with 7,2.

But I digress. My opponent called with Q,J, which is not a good call, except in those cases, when he read me like War and Peace, or perhaps Jayden's current favorite, "Duck on Holiday." (I can't give myself credit for War and Peace).
He got his J and that was that. So much for my Final Table/money performance last week. That's older news than Brad and Jennifer's break up.

Exhibit B, Mr. Prosecutor (Jordan) says, is the fact that I stacked off at Bodog at a $10 NL table (.5/.10 for those of you counting at home) when I flopped a straight with A,5, the only slight problem, of course, is that there were three clubs out there, and not only did one of the opponents have the other two, both did.

Exhibit C? I can't beat Full Tilt. Sure, I can crush Bodog's little puny limits, and crack the hell out of the $8 Beginner Tournaments and make $250 in two weeks playing those tables. But throw some decent players my way, the Prosecutor says, and you leak chips like little blood vessels escaping your injured, helpless bankroll.

OK, so my defense jumps to my rescue. So you didn't win a race in the Mookie. Is anyone good enough to win a tough tournament like that without winning a race? Maybe. But I doubt it.
And OK, so you stacked off that $10. You wound up WINNING $25 ahead after you settled down and played good, aggressive poker. Who cares if it's against weaker opposition? Money is money. Most casinos are filled with bad players, players much worse than the Internet, and you don't mind stacking them.
Full Tilt is a bit of a concern, sure, but you've won on every other site, and you've only lost $50 on that site. Just play well and the money will come. You even folded Q,Q last night to a raise and a re-raise after being painfully card dead, and sure enough, one guy had A,A and the other guy had K,K. Yes, a Q came on the flop, and you would have won a $150 pot, but you wanna call off $50 for 20 percent every time? I didn't think so.

The defense, however, just gets shouted down too often.

Poker is a tough hobby. I don't mind being tough on myself. That's how I'll improve.

But far too often, I attach my play to my self-worth and call myself an idiot when perhaps I should just realize that, hey, that's poker.

And let the Prosecution rest.

5 comments:

SirFWALGMan said...

Calling with QJ is far more "Amature Hour" than pushing with 77. I am ok with your move.. if the blinds are smaller though and your playing an aggressive player, I.E. I cant eva fold cause I might look like yo bitch, your bound to get a better chance to stack his ass than 50/50.

You can not always phear the floosh. You probably could have played the hand better but its a nice strong hand so no shame in that. Did you insta-push? If you had bet out and were re-raised, and re-re-raised would it have said something? It is good to look at hands like this to try and get better but do not be so hard on yourself.

Good luck.. you seem to be well on your way to becoming a thinking player.. keep analyzing your play.

Unknown said...

Just don't suck at poker and you'll be fine. :)

Jordan said...

I remember the hand with the 77 v QJ, and while I was chatting with GCox and Trip, I announced how stupid the QJ play was. I feel for ya brother.

The prosecution rests.

Unknown said...

I appreciate the comments, especially Jordan's, but I honestly didn't think the Q,J call was a terrible play, given that I basically "told" him I had 7,7 or a small pocket pair and that even 10,10 would give him two overcards. I honestly wondered if my play was a little rash there.

Thanks guys.

Joanada said...

"Poker is a tough hobby"

I love that line, so very true. Imagine what it is like when it isn't a hobby, but a way of life.

We all must be insane.