Live Session #69: Crucial Decisions

Well, last night was a £1/£2 cash game session at The Empire that, once again, didn't quite go according to plan. In the very first hand I got dealt the cursed KK - which got cracked once again as per. This time the villain turned a flush. The table proved to be extremely loose; not a good time to have my card-dead run revisit me for the entire 4 hour session. I only really needed to wait for a good hand to get involved with the maniac to my immediate right who was raising a hell of a lot about 75% of the time.

Unfortunately, after a great deal of patience, when the opportunity finally arose I messed up. While holding top pair/good kicker on the dry flop, I stupidly folded to his £100 raise when I should have just gone with my read and raised him all-in (for about £250). I discovered that, indeed, my read was correct and that an all-in move would have been the right decision. Not good. I really have to start bringing much more gamble to my game.

So with another painful losing session behind me, I'm kicking myself right now for making that terrible fold. It seems that I'm just not making the correct crucial decisions when they really count - and am still not having the balls to go with my god damn read. It's probably not a good idea for me to go and play some live poker this weekend but as it's my first full day off work of the Christmas break, and it's pretty sunny outside, this temptation will be hard to resist. 

---------------

I have now put aside a very nice bankroll for next year which is locked away in a safe place. This means that rather than having a bankroll to play with for the rest of this year, I'm working with a budget - a budget that amounts to just £200. This, at least, will allow me to play the £1/£1 tables from now until the end of the year. Yep, the £200 is effectively a stop-loss amount - but, as I say, as my decision-making process is still a little blunt at the moment, I'm happy with this little set up and it's probably just as well. If I lose the lot, I'm done with live poker until the end of the month and I can start preparing for my 2012 campaign.

 ---------------

Well, it does seem that the home straight is going to be a slow crawl to the finish line after all rather than the sprightly sprint that I'd hoped for. Never mind, it's probably all fate and is happening for a reason - let's just hope it's a good one eh?