Ahhhh that ... felt .... gooood

Really nice session tonight. Felt like I was in just the right mental state as the session swung wildly back and forth and I kept my cool.

I bought into two 1$ tables short handed for 20$ at each table as has been my M.O. lately. I tend to try to find a LAG to pick on as they seem to have trouble playing short stacks. I am able to play standard poker, attacking pots I should play with aggression, all as normal but I need to be hyper sensitive to re-raises and pushing back. For example early pos I raise AQ 3.5 times blind. Button raises to 8$ I fold. While this may seem extremely tight (and I agree) it is what I feel right now that you need to do to play a short stack. In short you need to be very careful not to get yourself pot committed on a draw or a fairly weak holding. That is certainly a disadvantage of the short stack buy in.

However the advantage is that you can practice building a very aggressive game at higher limits where I Feel I deserve to play, but don't have the bankroll for. If you have chosen a table with the average LAG you can play straight out on your good hands. It really takes an above average skilled player to not look at your last 12$ and put you all in no matter what they have. So play aggressively when you do have a hand or are leading the aggression pre-flop. Be ready to change gears quickly when pushed back.

I Play standard against all other players but modify my play for my LAG. I like to give them the impression that I am intimidated by them by making a couple of small bets that when they smack down the re-raise I easily let the hand go. I avoid trying to draw out against a LAG if at all possible. Generally they will make it too pricy and not give you odds, and often the LAG is a skilled enough player to know you hit your draw and not pay you off another dollar for it. I Use my big pairs and or two pair flops against my LAG, getting all my chips in the middle on the turn if at all possible.

I may have mentioned this before but the short handed game has really allowed me to work on my playing the player rather than the cards. In a full ring game it takes too long for me to see the same move from the same player more than twice. While at short handed very quickly I have some good notes on everyone at the table and pretty much know how I am going to proceed.

So to my session tonight. I am really pleased with my play. I am closing it at $100 up again but that is not what is so pleasing. Three times during the session I was able to claw myself to the 100$ + mark only to loose the table while getting my money in good on a solid play where the cards fell against me. Therefore the third run at it was from 40$ down. (I wasn't set up to post the interesting hands. I will remember to do that next time again.)

I didn't loose my cool, or change my game plan when they hit me hard, I simply wished them a nice hand and got back to work. Had one or both of those bigger hands gone my way I would be up two or three hundred. At all times I felt in control and kept myself out of trouble when it was possible.

So far I am having swings that are to be expected trying out a new game. I am getting more comfortable at short handed every day, and the short stack is a neat game to learn as well. I will try to post a more complete game plan as soon as I can but this is enough for now.

As I am closing this off another sick hand has just biten me in the butt, so I guess I am closing only $80 up. Take a look at this sick mess; this is the same kind of hand that happened now four times tonight to keep me from being a few hundred up.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1117281

All good baby, all good

-- Felter