“Poker, poker, it’s all skill….” (not)

So all last week I was crushing both the $3-6 and $5-10 short-handed games on UB. The whole time I was playing I felt like I was getting maximum value from my good hands and losing the minimum with weak hands. I value-bet the river in several spots where I might not have in 2005. But this is 2006, year of crushing limit hold ’em ring games, and I am not messing around anymore!

Whenever I have a run like that, I always wonder how much of it is due to my superb playing and how much is due to “running goot.” I especially have these thoughts when I have a day when I can’t win a hand (like today, for example!). Today I felt like a couple of the players in the game were forcing me to play in a manner different from the one I played last week. For example, today I was up against some very aggressive players who charged to the hilt for all my draws (few came in) and forced me to make several difficult calls. I felt uncomfortable the whole time I was playing, not about the money I was losing but about how I felt like I wasn’t able to play my game.

Should I have switched tables? Maybe. Was I playing worse than last week? Could be. But I also just wasn’t getting the cards I did last week, and the swings in these short-handed games are part of the deal. I don’t think I’ll play a full table game again for a while – the short-handed games seem much more profitable – and despite today’s results, they’re much more fun!