Degenerate Diaries: The Chronicles Pt. 2

[Sulphur man]

sounds like a fold

Yes agreed, last hand is pretty clear cut. Read it as standard cooler not coolers.

[Sulphur man]

Noticed a few months back these kind of hands showed up frequently in my cold calling
range from the button on HEM. Since then i have made an effort not to play
such hands as often, im still tempted at times especially when player has really loose
hud stats.

Pretty sure they are not profitable to play in the long run even
with position and the perception of having a skill edge.
Due mainly to being dominated post flop.

But yes as played with regards to the first hand i prefer
Fold/Raise/call in that order.

Really enjoying the diary mett be sure to keep busy posting thanks.

[zerofive]

Right then. Won £100 in last night's 50/1 game, so I think I can move up to £2/5 and if I win another buyin, I guess I'll be off to Macau.

Looks like a fun lineup, in which I'm hoping since the last time I ventured into the realms of 2 and 5 blinds, I'm way less of a dog whale.

TR to follow. Alex's will probably be more interesting and will contain more hands as he is not going to be busto within the first hour.

[titaniumbean]

try 3betting air and flopping full houses!

[cambridgealex]

try 3betting air and flopping full houses!

Dem pesky kids 3betting air!

[titaniumbean]

try 3betting air and flopping full houses!

Dem pesky kids 3betting air!

lol if I had you're flop hitting ability i'd 3b constantly. mbn

[zerofive]

[X] won at least a buyin
[X] was a whale
[  ] was busto within the hour

The lineup was interesting, but Alex checkmated me by grabbing seat 2. I didn't fancy getting re-isolated by him all night, and when peejay and I got into 7bet levelling wars with ten high gappers I at least wanted position. Plus seat 5 is my lucky seat, and I always piss in the same urinal every time I go to the bathroom. So seat 5 it was.

We got play-by-play analysis from the incomparable Ian Gascoigne, who boasted no less than "40 years experience," when I caught the back end of his conversation with one of the valets, and had his sights firmly set on Peejay's mom. Which is excusable. Simon didn't really bring much to the table apart from the flattest pint of lager I've ever seen, which is a shame because he can bring some bizarre and unique banter to the table when he's switched on. Pete sat down and asked a fully grown man if he was a waitress, before affixing his admiral's hat and a cutlass and ordering HMS Twofive to set sail over some rocky waters and away we went.

It wasn't long before I was dropping a couple of medium pots off to Ian, who I'm pretty sure was just making a bunch of good hands against me, but it felt at the time like I was just being owned. Maybe I was. I've played with Ian a lot before and I thought I had his number, but he brought something a bit different to the table yesterday and I just kept folding pairs to him. I had a pot against Pat early on as well where I raised pre, cbet flop, and then woopa-Goulder-style I turned broadway. As I was loading the clip, Pat immediately goes "straight's good" and mucks. I'm for sure full of tells.

It was a while before anything started happening. I was losing about £400 when I got Pete in a flip. Keys opened to £30 under the straddle, I called the cutoff with , then Pete kicked it up from the big blind to £135. Keys folds and I made it £290 out of £850 or so. Pete jammed pretty quickly with what I think was two queens, I called and pinged an aceball in the window. Scooped the £1700 pot and got the motor running.

The closest PeeJay and I got to a war was when he meant to open £15 but didn't notice the straddle so was forced to min to £20. I made it £55 with , he makes it £130 and I call. Flop was and we check check. Turn is the and we check check. River was the and PeeJay bets in the region of £180, although I can't remember exactly. I called immediately, although I probably should have given it some thought and raised to induce, but I'm an idiot and people are really good at making flushes against me.

Lost a pretty boring hand versus Alex which we've already talked to death and I think I'm fine with it. PeeJay opens £15 utg, I make it £45 with . I've been 3betting Peejay quite a lot so I'm hoping we can take off this time. Alex had a different plan though and called on the button. Peejay makes it up and we go to a flop. I make it £85, Alex calls and Peejay folds. The turn was the . I had a ton of different plans for the hand now, but I decided to check call £205. The hits the river and I check snap £525 before Alex declares "flush." I look back at the board to make sure that the river wasn't in fact a club. Nope. Nice hand.

Had a big pot to close the session with though, where I open to £15 just as Ian was putting £15 in himself, so I think he thought he was raising. Earlier in the night this might have brought an interesting dynamic to the hand, but it felt like Ian was tired and a little tilted and just wanted to gamble a bit. Can't blame him; he'd had a rough run of form against Alex and Pete all night. A couple of other callers and we go five ways to a flop of . I lead out for £50, Ian immediately makes it £200. Alex makes it £450 and I'm a little bit of a quandary here. Whatever I do looks massive to Alex, and Ian might be less inclined to gamble with all this action in front of him. It was close between a call and a jam, but when I looked at Ian he clearly had no intention of folding so I stuck it in. In went Ian's chips behind it and Alex folded KT pretty quickly. Would be sick if I could do this here with aces because I know Alex has to have a super strong hand because Ian isn't folding, but unfortunately Alex knows I'm not a complete idiot but I'm also not a decent enough thinker to do something as adventurous as that. We held against and scooped a £2300 pot. Rock and roll.

Really happy with the way I played and the game was pretty fun, except for Peejay who took the role of myself last night being absolutely carddead and a little bit frustrated and dejected. Hopefully we'll do it all again next week. Think I'm probably going to go out for sushi tonight and grind online tomorrow and forget what winning ever felt like.

Peace.

[kinboshi]

Nice post.

[cambridgealex]

Poker_truth just pmed me to say that he was too afraid to post again, but he'd like to point out you had QJo not QJs vs PJ and that the board was 952 not 932 vs me, I at least had a pair when I called the flop

Wp again last night btw, may the heater continue.

[zerofive]

Poker_truth just pmed me to say that he was too afraid to post again, but he'd like to point out you had QJo not QJs vs PJ and that the board was 952 not 932 vs me, I at least had a pair when I called the flop

Wp again last night btw, may the heater continue.

Oh yeah haha. You could have peeled with a gutshot. Way more heroic.

[cambridgealex]

Poker_truth just pmed me to say that he was too afraid to post again, but he'd like to point out you had QJo not QJs vs PJ and that the board was 952 not 932 vs me, I at least had a pair when I called the flop

Wp again last night btw, may the heater continue.

Oh yeah haha. You could have peeled with a gutshot. Way more heroic.

I would've done tbf

[Sulphur man]

Enjoyed the TR nicework. Sounds like it was a fun game at any rate.  What a life/when will it end.

[zerofive]

Going to be fighting over plug space at the stable today. I'm on a bit of a mini-heater at the moment, so I'm hoping I can convert online this afternoon. Got 30 comps lined up, not sure whether I'll end up playing them all; could be multi-tabling some FTs by 10pm you never know

Got a piece of the Goulder in the hi-roller as well and he wins everything.

#funnnnday

[SuuPRlim]

gl Sean, getttt the lotttt

[iangascoigne]

Sean I enjoyed reading your review of the Friday 2/5 game and for the very first time I thought I would post my own reflections on the evening,learning points,observations etc from my perspective.I feel a little apprehensive about this and will no doubt open up myself to much ridicule etc.Let's see how it goes.I didn't make any notes regarding the specifics of various hands so it's more a review of 'the session' and personal learning points.For all the experts out there don't waste your time reading this as I am sure it's all BLOODY OBVIOUS.

Pre.Game.
I would never dream of going into a serious 5 hour business meeting having spent the previous 12 hours playing high stakes poker,and yet I do the reverse every Friday.Kidding myself that a little nap on Friday evening will suffice I arrive at the table refreshed but you don't need to be Sherlock to suspect that the quality of your decision making will become sub optimum as the night progresses.This was actually exactly the case.I was really pleased with my play in the first hour and a half,making the correct decisions regarding starting hands,position,bet sizing and concentrating on how the other guy was playing and making the necessary adjustments.

Pre.Game.

Playing to win or playing for recreation? If recreational I should have played the comp.For a hundred quid I could have had an enjoyable evening,table banter as well as having the fun of playing the game.Where was my head pre.game.I was on the list for the cash,phoned in advance to say I was going to play the comp and then on arrival decided to play the 2/5. Indecisive motives pre.game surely must have a negative impact on mind set.(obv).

In Game.

Like I said I felt I was making the right decisions for the first hour and a half.My take on Poker is that it is nothing other than a test of the quality of your decision making with the factor X of the cards.There is also the psychological challenge of coping with a) the sense of entitlement when you look down at a huge hand and still lose. b) coping with playing a hand with perfect decision making and seeing a player making awful decisions still win.c) retaining an analytical approach to the decision making and not letting your ego get in the way of making the correct decision. This is a challenge when you feel you are being targeted and owned when actually it's your own decision making that has led to these spots.

Where is your head?

In a business meeting I would never dream of tweeting,having a couple of pints of beer or chatting about last nights football,watching the football results on the TV during the meeting.And yet during this 'business' I did it all night.Basically I was playing at playing and was not 'in the game'. Casual decision making,continually opening pots for £15 out of position with Pete Linton always raising the button to £65.Ego making me call and then playing a reasonable pot with a marginal hand out of position to Pete who I rate as one of the very best players.I know he finds Holdem boring but when he has his game face on he is almost unplayable.On Friday he took a few knocks early,he reloaded and from then on the ran over the table.A couple of times I played back with a check raise only for him to immediately put me all in.This happened a couple of times about 3 hours into the session and contributed to the slow collapse of 'feel good' coupled with fatigue.

Oi Oi

Wiiiii  KK under the gun,this should help. Make it £20 knowing that someone will call,Pete will raise and I have a hand to raise and call the all in. Obviously Pete folds,Kurt flats the button with AK and hits an ace on the flop.A small pot,lost the least but that was not the issue.Like a beginner I felt this was another blow.The sense of entitlement,the anticipation of a 'victory' a boost  to morale  all stolen with the ace on the flop.Fatigued and demoralised this hand had a ridiculous impact on how I felt about the evening.I was now making bad calls 'in the hope of hitting' ( wrong odds etc) and when I made the correct decision ( fold) ping there's the card on the turn/ river whatever.The cards where playing games with me.Fold Ian and I will ping one out,call and it's a brick and I am laughing at you.

Cigar break

Have a chat with Kurt.Explain how I am running,playing poor making bad decisions.He gives some good advice.If it's just not happening the go home or you will just tilt it all.Correct,wise advice.So what do I do? Return to the table and spew £900 when its obvious I am behind to two hands ( see Seans HH). The call in to the all in was me saying ' I want out of this' 'I want to go home'. There are cheaper ways of doing this,like walking up to the table,picking up you chips saying a polite goodnight and going to the cash desk.This is not retreating but advancing in a different direction.


Money/Ego.

Guys know I am lucky enough that the money is not material to me.That's not a shallow brag but a fact.What is important is my own sense of self,my own desire to make the right decisions,to become better at the game and to be able to control myself 'in game'.Something that I do with ease at work but struggle with in these little theatres of war.

So there you are,a self obsessed feelings based review of a Friday night 2/5 game.No hand histories,no +EV calculations,no assessment of 'I am putting him on QJ here' kind of stuff.
On reflection it's less of a post than a desire to expunge and be cathartic.Cannot even believe I am posting this but I have grown to like Blonde and the openess of the membership so thought it was time for me to join in.Any piss taking or trolling will feel the full force of my check raise the next time we play. :-) Out of interest does anyone ever feel like this or is it all EV calculations and stuff like that? Sean I hope this isn't hijacking your diary etc.