Black Deuces - Poker Blog

Haven’t been building my online bankroll the last days, but did play some live cash games. Made over $400. Huray!

While playing this week I noticed how much money some players loose by simply not thinking! Poker is a game about skill, it’s a “thinking sport”. You can’t make the right play without thinking it over for a second. Don’t just call ‘caus you feel you have the best hand, call ‘caus you think your is probably good.

A good example about a player just playing and not thinking is Bob Safai in the following hand. Watch it first:

Bob clearly doesn’t have a clue where he’s at in this hand. And it looks like he doesn’t even want to make an effort to figure it out. Check, instant call. Check. Check, instant call. Think man! Why would a player like Harman check that turn, but then bet the river? Maybe if he took more then half a nanosecond to make a decision he would have figured it out… But hey, at least Bob knows he played bad, I’ve seen players who would call themselfsunlucky in that spot.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is: if you don’t feel like thinking about the game, don’t play the game.

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. )