Flip Flop On-line/Live

Well last week I wrote about how I had been shut down in live play, but was running well in on-line play. That seems to have switched for me of late.

Not to say that I have not been running pretty card dead in general but at least I left up. I bought in for $140, brought it up to about 275 on a flush and 2 pair against a particularly aggressive player and then the cards started to abandon me. I was getting some good cards, but nothing was hitting as usual, so I just tried to tighten up. I lost the rest of the stack when I had A-Ksuited and pushed a bluff on a few streets against someone with pocket 6s. I re-bought for 200 and that too went up and down for awhile and I ended up getting chopped away when I look down and and I have about $105 of the $340 left. I also am meeting some folks in about 40 minutes so I decide that if I am going to play, might as well get aggressive.

I straddle for $5 at one point and get 3 callers and look down on A-7off. I raise to $20, all go out except one player. a 7 comes on the flop and I pop it $50 and she goes out. A few hands later I look down on a pair of nines. I raise to $20, the same player calls. She is generally a somewhat tight player and when an A hits the board, I think I am done. I test the waters and throw another $20, she calls. a K comes on the turn, we both check, making me think that either I am good or she is trapping. A nine comes on the river to give me a set. I throw $50, get a call and win the pot. It is about time for me to leave. I am taking the last few hands and I see AA. There are a few players in and I raise to $20 to keep consistent. The same player calls again. Flop comes 7-6-3. I throw another $20 and she calls. Turn comes a Jack, I throw another $20 and she calls. The river comes a 2 and I bet $60, she folds, I show her the hand as I am leaving and as a courtesy, I pay her 'time' (the $5 per half hour that we pay to rent the seat) and leave with $370. So all in all, I only won $30 (not including the $40 in time i have payed over the course of the day) but it felt good to leave up rather than down.

On the on-line front it has been the opposite. After playing well last week, I have lost about 6 sit-n-go's and also gotten hit at the cash games. Now the stakes are not the same but still, I am down about $160 in the last few days. Additionally, my percentages usually run about %40 for cashing in the sit-n-go's so it is just off. In 2 of them I got run over by sets. In another, I took a big blow to my stack when my two-pair got beaten by a flush. I am not playing crazy, in fact, I have been playing tighter, but it just seems like everyone I play is hitting their cards. I guess it happens, but damn if it is not frustrating.

Live - $30
On-line - $160

Why I like this game.

Poker is such a mind fuck. You try and manipulate skill and luck together into something that resembles consistency and success yet we all fall to the constant bad beats and misplayed hands. It is a metaphor for life, are we aggressive? Deceptive? Strategic? Obvious? and we can be up and down at any point and either it can be devastating or no big deal. I try and be very Zen about poker. What will be will be, when i make mistakes, I try and learn from it and never let it get me too riled up or down. This does not always work.

Regardless, we love it.

Here is a good story though.

My buddy who plays at my club is an 30 year old high school teacher. Asian kid. A little wild, but generally solid. Despite his tats and funky style, he is also seems to be just a good all around guy. One of those guys you like playing with.

So I saw him the other night at the club. He comes up and tells me about the bad beat jackpot at the other place we play. He was playing 2-5 and limps in with 4-5d. Basic betting goes on and at the end of the hand, he is looking at at a straight flush. The other guy in the hand bets into him and he comes over the top all-in. At this point there is 3K in the pot. Of course he calls and the other guy shows the top end of the straight flush to beat his low end.

In the end, he lost $1500 on the hand BUT made over $14,000 on the bad beat jackpot. The winner of the hand got an extra $6k and everyone at the table got close to $2k. Now that is the best way to lost a made hand that I have ever heard and it could not have happened to a better guy (except me of course :-).