Ran bad, but with new learning... so I am ok with that

I haven't done the math yet, but it was not a pretty week. I must have cut my +$1500.00 run down by a third this week. I will check and post the damage but there is something interesting to go over first (ugh as I type this I had another guy (a total fish) hit a set to my over pair... I hate those kicks in the gut!).... sigh



Anyway, as I said I certainly ran bad this week, lots of hands I just could not get away from. Over sets, two pair to my top top, over flushed, coolered you name it, I hit it this week. But there is more to it than that. This was also a week that I Added a new element to my ....



HOLD ON I have the fish heads up... ok made a few more bucks before the table filled up again.



As I was saying this is also a week that I added a new element to my game. Through discussion with poker partner Slurpee Dude on some reading he was doing recently we decided that the biggest difference between ourselves and the players that have the ROI trajectory that we are trying to get to is money left on the table in the hands that are somewhat marginal wins. This may sound like some pretty basic stuff but knowing it is one thing, put it into practice is entirely another.



The change I was trying to implement was to call less and be the last bet into the pot more often. For example it was a while ago that I realized that AK should be a raising hand not a call when the pot is already opened kind of hand... but that is the easiest one to do.



So I took the advice to raise more, or fold, not call and tried to work it into my game (Keep in mind that last set of changes I made made a huge impact on my profitability giving me the best stats and profit run I have experienced). But how to implement it...



If AK is a hand I want to be the last raise in pre flop with more often, does that apply to AQ? If not why not. While it did not feel good, I was trying to move out of my comfort zone so I pushed myself to do it, more because I could not see why not really. So imagine the leak in your game when someone opens the pot with AK and you go to the flop as the final raiser with AQ.



The other part of the changes I wanted to implement was to sharpen my reads to be able to value bet more, and allow my opponent to make drawing calls with slightly bad pot odds, but not always bet them out of the pot.



Two problems with these changes this week.... 1) They were hitting their draws every time, and 2) I was getting frustrated with the hitting and lost the ability to fold when I needed to. Next since the poker Gods seemed content to let every opponent hit a set on me, the very week I was increasing my aggression or value betting hands like large over pairs more... this also created a leak or gaping hole in my game. Obviously if you allowing your opponents to draw more often to add some to your pot 3/4 times, then you need to know a) what they are drawing to and b) be able to freakin fold when they hit and over bet their hit!!


One hand comes to mind where this hurt, I have KK against 55, an overaggressive player at 2$ hits his set on me in a rag flop, he bets into me and I raise. Then his bet on river pretty much commits me, and boom another big loss.

So all in all I don't think that it is the wrong thing to add more value to the hands I am going to win, but overall it is a mistake to go into a session adding in two more aggressive layers into your game at the same time, and thinking, ok I am going to increase the aggression to max out my profit... nothing wrong with the sentiment but if the table texture and action requires a less aggressive position you are leaving yourself very exposed... So a bad time to run bad for sure

Here is a hand where I did max out the value on:

I am Phase II with (9h9c)

Texas Hold'em $0.50-$0.50 NL (Real Money), #528,069,099
Table Mogadischu, 30 Jun 2007 12:20 PM ET
Seat 1: Phase II ($88.70 in chips)
Seat 4: Seraph235 ($96.80 in chips)
Seat 5: flundra10 ($12.45 in chips)
Seat 6: CMETAHA ($56.10 in chips)
Seat 10: DonLC14 ($53.80 in chips)
ANTES/BLINDSSeraph235 posts blind ($0.25), flundra10 posts blind ($0.50).

PRE-FLOP:
CMETAHA folds, DonLC14 folds,
Phase II bets $1.50, (9h9c)
Seraph235 calls $1.25,
flundra10 calls $1.

FLOP:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C ]
Seraph235 bets $3
flundra10 calls $3,
Phase II bets $10,
Seraph235 calls $7,
flundra10 calls $7.

TURN:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S ]
Seraph235 checks, flundra10 checks, Phase II checks.

RIVER:
[board cards 6H,2H,8C,5S,9D ]
Seraph235 checks,
flundra10 checks,
Phase II bets $5,

- I thought about this bet for a long time. The had to be coming with something, and it would only take a 7 to beat me... I normally would check here, but decided from the actions of my opponents that I was a likely to get a call and that no one was open ended on the turn. I did not think I was leading the whole way I will admit.

Seraph235 calls $5,
flundra10 calls $0.95 and is all-in.

SHOWDOWN:
Phase II shows [ 9H,9C ]
Seraph235 mucks cards [ KH,8H ]
flundra10 mucks cards [ AS,6S ]

Phase II wins $8.10, Phase II wins $35.85.

So the idea is this is the extra few bucks I need to be taking down when I am far from the nuts, but likely in the lead. This big fat middle area is where I believe the profit to be that will make the difference for me.