Black Deuces - Poker Blog

So after I made that last buck to double up I decided to take my chance at the “bigger stakes”. After I was back from my holiday to Venice (which was great btw) I bought myself into a 6-handed $0.10/$0.25c game with 20BBs.

I choose a 6 handed game because I find a low stack has a bigger chance to double up quickly in a shorthanded game then in a full ring. People tend to call quicker with weaker hands, especially if the bet is relatively small compared to their stack.

And I was right. After just 2 rounds I pushed on the button with AK suited and got called by KQ off-suit (lol btw). Doubled up, quit the table and went back in. With only a few more BBs at my disposal I tried to tactic again: pushed again on the button with QQ and got called by 99. Again doubled up and quit the table.

Then it hit me how stupid playing like that really is. I don’t like idiots who throw all their chips in pre-flop (in a cash game), yet I was doing the exact same thing I hate about other donkeys. Pre-flop commitment is so uninspired and uncreative. I don’t do uncreative. Good players have to beaten post-flop and won’t push it all-in unless to have kings or aces. And it’s those players I want to beat.

So I took my 22BBs and went back to a 9-handed game. Grinded it out for a couple of sessions and days and got my bankroll to stabilize at $140.

Huray!

I doubled up! Well actually, I got stuck at $99… but hey, what’s a buck right?

The grinding went smooth the last couple of days, although friday I had my first losing session when I lost 2 buy-ins and dropped from $86 to $80. The good thing is I had the discipline to quit a loser that day and didn’t jeopardize my whole bankroll to win the $6 back. That’s new for me!

Anyway, the graph looks like this:

Nice!

Now that I’m getting very close to $100 I got a decision to make:

- do I continue to play at the 0.05/0.10 stakes with a 50BB buy-in?

- do I move up to the 0.10/0.25 stakes with a 20BB buy-in?

Both options have their advantages: the 0.05/0.10 games are VERY soft and I can make easy money there, but at the bigger stakes I can make more money faster. The skilllevel at the 0.10/0.25 stakes will probably be higher, but nothing I can’t handle. On the other hand, I do prefer playing a 50BB stack over a short one. So…

Hmmm, got to think this through before I make that last buck. Any insights?

(BTW: I’m leaving in a couple of hours on a trip to Italy ’till saturday, so don’t expect any updates ’till then. )

Had a slow session today. After struggling for about an hour I only made $4 (which is still 40BB though). The bankroll is now up to $84.

But what I really wanted to talk about is something I noticed playing the micro-stakes. Many players make the same mistake over and over again, which costs them a lot of money in the long run. I’m talking about betting their medium-weak hands on the river. These bets serve no purpose at all: they’ll only get called when their hand is beat! Why not check it, especially when your last to act?

After some googling I found out that I’m not the only one who noticed this extremely bad play. Guess who wrote an article about it? Right. Jesus himself! An excellent article infact! You can read it at his website, right  here.

To all you micro-stakes players out there: read & learn!