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!
4 replies on “Oy veh”
Hey call me crazy, but if you have more fun playing tournaments, and you have more success when playing tournaments, then why play live games at all?
Alternatively, perhaps NL live games would be better for you, since that’s presumably what most of your tournaments are?
2,000 hands is nothing. Less than nothing. Can’t base anything on those results. The best player in the world could dump 150 big bets with no sweat over such a short period.
Thats a pretty bad beat. At the point the A hit and you knew you were probably beat I would have called too. Sometimes you just gotta see it.
There are many reasons that I play NL tournies and limit live games. Most of them have to do with bankroll management. The swings in NL live action are the main element that keeps me from playing NL live except for every once in a while. In a NL tourney, where I’ve already paid my entry and can’t lose more money than that, I’m free to play my game without stressing about losing more than I’m comfortable losing. I am also much more familiar with NL tourney strategy than NL live strategy.