Can’t seem to book a win playing ring games lately. Truth be told, I’m only a tiny winner for the year so far in ring games. Now granted, I play mostly SnG’s and tournies (very successful year in those since January). I’ve logged only 2,000 hands of live action, while I’ve played in 175 tourneys of various sizes. So my sample size is not large, as I said. But with all the studying I’ve done, including hand evaluations with Chris and alone time with my Poker Tracker, I should be winning a la Bellagio 4/8 game on a more consistent basis. Long story short, I’m bummed, folks! I want to be crushing these games.

Is this a fair number of hands on which to judge myself?

Here is a hand from tonight which is not unusual for the sessions I have been playing lately. I should be glad this guy is at my table, except that he gets up and leaves before I can get my money back from him:

** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ As, Ah ]
Brecht calls (3)
Hero raises (6) to
mokkis raises (8) to 9
Brecht calls (6)
Hero raises (6) to 12
mokkis calls (3)
Brecht calls (3)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 2h, Js, 5c ]
mokkis bets (3)
Brecht calls (3)
Hero raises (6) to 6
mokkis calls (3)
Brecht calls (3)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4s ]
mokkis checks.
Brecht checks.
Hero bets (6)
mokkis calls (6)
Brecht calls (6)
** Dealing River ** : [ Ac ]
mokkis bets (6)
Brecht raises (12) to 12
Hero calls (12)
mokkis folds.
** Summary **
Main Pot: $102 Rake: $3
Board: [ 2h Js 5c 4s Ac ]
Brecht balance $248.5, bet $36, collected $102, net +$66 [ Kc 3s ] [ a straight, ace to five -- Ac,5c,4s,3s,2h ]
Hero balance $28.5, lost $36 [ As Ah ] [ three of a kind, aces -- As,Ah,Ac,Js,5c ]

I love how when the river is an ace, I instantly know I’ve lost the hand with my three aces. I guess I’m supposed to check and call here?

I’m thinking about cutting back on tournaments to log more hands in live games and gather data about my game. I tend to have more fun playing tournies, and since I play as a hobbie and not a job my first inclination during my limited playing time is to play a SnG. I guess I have to decide how important this study of my live game is to me. Is it worth sacrificing my tourney time, where I’m a proven winner?

I need more data!