GENERAL ACTION PLAN FOR 2012
1. Avoid playing freezeouts at The Fox Poker Club.
2. Aim to just play cash game poker - preferably at The Empire on Friday and/or Saturday night.
3. Avoid heavy drinking while playing poker.
4. No more cash game poker online.
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Of course, this is only the rudimentary action plan for 2012 and it will need things added and a bit of tinkering but those rules are pretty good as a start. I think that I probably won't avoid the odd MTT at The Fox completely, for example, so will probably allow myself to play maybe one every 2 or 3 months. I'll probably play cash games elsewhere as well besides just at The Empire - and I'm pretty sure I won't be able to resist making an online deposit (but I intend only to play satellites into bigger events).
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Anyway, enough of all that. Let's rewind back to last night...
So after that £58 bust-out, at about 7PM, I decide to visit my usual Chinese restaurant for my usual dish; crispy pork with bean curd on rice - yum! After this, it's off to The Empire. I've only had 2 pints through the day and actually feel refreshed and ready to take on my foes. I'm NOT feeling sleepy or tired - essential! I register at about 7:40PM and there are only 5 tables in action. My name rises to the top soon enough but I reject the table that's available as the players seem far too serious and their stacks are far too big for my liking - essential table selection. I patiently wait for the next available seat and I'm then asked if I'd like a seat on the central table. There are zero regulars and the stacks are small to medium which usually tells me the players are on the cautious side so I grab the seat and ask for £240 in chips which is just about enough to make me the big stack.
Key Hand #1
Things start off badly. I am sitting there in the small blind with AK and about 6 or 7 players limp in round to me. There's no way I'm limping into this pot which has about £14 in it so I throw in a £21 bet. A short-stack, who has about £20 left, throws the rest of his chips in and a guy in mid-position also makes the call. The flop comes A x x so I throw in another £35 into the middle. Mid-position guy folds and the dealer deals out the rest of the cards to the board. A nine comes on the river to match the villain's pocket nines and I see the £75 pot go the wrong way. Thankfully, he did have a fairly small stack so it's a very small "ouch". I give off the image that the loss is like water off a duck's back to me but it still would have been nice to start off with a small win.
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Key Hand #2
I chug along for a bit and find myself down to about £200. I make a good call against a weak player who tries to take the pot away from me on the river with a £15 bet. I had second pair and just went with my read which proved good - and showed the players at the table that I ain't THAT easy to push off a hand.
Key Hand #3
A young kid of South-East Asian origin sits to my immediate right and he's in a cocky mood. He mentions a few times how soft he thinks the table is (a few times after I make a few folds) and I get the impression that he is trying to tilt a few other weak players at the table as well with his table talk. He also comments, with provocative laughter, at the poor play of an obvious weak player.
I am in late position and I look down at A Q of clubs and I make a £10 raise which gets 3 callers, including from Mr Cocky. The flop comes two clubs giving me the flush draw. It's checked round to me and I sense I'd get re-raised if I bet so I just elect to check to see the turn. The turn brings the sought after club but pairs the board. It's checked round to Mr Cocky who throws in £10 which I just smooth call. The other two fold. The river brings a blank but, through his talk and behaviour, I'm 95% sure he doesn't have the full-house (he's talking far too much for that). Nevertheless he throws in £20 and I duly raise by throwing in £100. He deliberates for a fair amount of time and I know I have him beat. I feel he will put the money in if only I say nothing and avoid eye-contact. (He's too smart to fall for the "talk to them if you think they're gonna fold" trick and I'm sure he'll see through this.) I manage to stare ahead, avoid eye-contact and keep my mouth shut and I'm eventually rewarded with the call. I show him the bad news and he's very annoyed with himself.
Key Hand #4
The final key hand was against the same villain. I look down at K Q of diamonds in mid-position and elect to raise £12. Mr Cocky comes along for the ride. The flop comes 9 8 J with one diamond and Mr Cocky immediately fires out £15. I have overcards with back-door flush possibilities and a gutshot so I call with a wry smile on my face. The turn brings a brick which is checked by our friendly villain. I choose not to disturb the waters and so check behind for the free card. The river brings the dream card, a ten. The villain checks again but I sense he's still interested in the hand as he's looking at me intently and I reckon I could extract a fair whack. I reckon £50 to be about right and throw this in. Again he makes the call and shows 9 10 for the two pair but again I show the winning hand (the nuts in this case) and scoop in a fair bundle of chips. He goes back to muttering about how he should have raised the turn and how annoyed he is for letting me get there, but I'm not too concerned about that.
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With the time at about 11:45PM, after about 4 hours of play, I get up from my seat with a £400 stack and a £160 profit. Due to my stupidity at insisting on playing the freezeout, I only made a £100 profit on the night. Nevertheless, I was pleased with the way I played and, as mentioned, left the place with nothing short of a revelation going on in my head. It all goes back to those 4 rules that I wrote at the top. However, I still feel that it's the attending of the freezeouts that's doing the main damage and it's that lottery ticket "it could be me" mentality that I should now eradicate from my thinking when I go out to play my live poker sessions. Besides, even getting to the final table in these MTTs and cashing just outside the top two or three gets the same amount as an ok cash game session - so there.
I know I've rambled for ages over this and I know, dear reader, that you're probably finding this tedious and are getting sick of it but part of this blog is written for therapeutic reasons - and I've got to ram this idea home for the good of all that is right and not wrong about my poker game.
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