Saturday Night Live

...well, not really live: the same "whatever" that pushed me to head to the Tulalip last weekend decidedly kept me at home tonight. At 8pm I had my jacket on, CDs in my pack, Flexcar reservation set up - just had to click "reserve." I got my cash from its 'spot,' and all the sudden had the same feeling that prompted me to leave the game last week: I can't call it 'nervous,' but... just something that told me I wasn't going to be playing at 100%. No matter, the Tulalip will be there next weekend too. I work on Saturday, so perhaps after work I'll head up there.... heck, I'm going to the symphony tomorrow afternoon, so better to be in bed early and well-rested so I don't doze off during one of the Rachmaninoff's.

Instead I dove into a $10+1 STT. I used to wile away many-an-hour at the $10+1 tables last spring and summer.... for some reason since moving out here, I've been playing teeny stakes instead. The odd thing is my bankroll is fatter now than it was a year ago when I was working retail, yet I still find myself playing $2.25 STT's.

Anyway, the results were good:


I played super-squeaky tight for most of it, changing gears to steal some blinds. Got more aggressive as we got shorter -- you know, the usual.

Two hands stick out for me: first one I just earned the damn pot. 3 handed, the button folds, and I have 43o. Powerhouse, I know. But this was the first time 3-handed the button folded, so my first "test" of how the dude plays in the BB. I raise 3x's bb, he calls. FLOP: Qd8d6s. I fired about 2/3 pot bet, he folds. Standard, I know, but it's nice to remind myself sometimes that I do know how to play aggressively while holding squadoosh.

2nd hand that stands out: I have AA in the SB. Button limps, I pop it to 4x's; BB folds, button calls. FLOP: A66 rainbow. Now, I flopped the nuts (well, 2nd nuts), and I wished I were in position on this one. The dude on the button LOVES to check-raise... LOVES it...matter of fact, I even got him to slow down on his check-raising by talking about it when I burned him on a hand. But I'm first to act, so I figure - if he likes to check-raise, I'll put in a small bet and hope he can raise me. I bet 1/4 pot. He folds. I was caught here -- I was trying to use his aggression against him by making a pitiful looking stab at the pot. Maybe therein lies my problem: maybe the pitifully small bet sounded alarm bells to him. Still, though, I guess I could've checked and hoped he caught up a bit on the turn. There are no cards that would scare me off on the turn or the river, so perhaps I should have slowed down.

There's another part of my game I need to work on: I rarely ever slow-play. Rarely. So rare in fact that when I do in a live game it's probably obvious due to physical manerisms. Not being used to slow-playing I'm sure I move and hold myself a little differently than normal. But online, too - I just don't have much practice trapping. I rarely ever do. And I think because of that I'm not as effective as I could be. It's a tool I just don't readily have at my disposal. I always think if I've got the strongest hand that I should get chips in there. Or maybe that's just my style. But in the hand I mentioned above, if he had caught up even a little on the turn, I know I could have gotten him to commit some chips.

Part of my decision to play the $10+1 tonight was inspired by this post by Katitude. Specifically, the part where she writes "stop treating it like a video game." I'm good at this poker-thing. Not great yet, but I'm pretty darn good most of the time; yet it's so easy for me to treat it like - well, like a video game I dumped a couple quarters into. I mean - the bigger tournaments I can focus in on well; however my sit n go playing is often unfocused and undisciplined. Tonight, I cleared off my desktop of all stray icons, turned off the music, closed the browsers, and focused. And it's amazing the little tendencies I noticed that I've been missing out on playing online.

Focus is good. Focus is +EV. +EV=better play; better play=$$; $$=$$$$.

I've read at least a couple blogs lately (including Katitude's, mentioned above) of people trying the Chris Ferguson challenge; and while I'm not formally following that particular challenge, I decided to mostly follow Chris's bankroll management suggestions. I'll be sticking to $10+1's until I can either "afford" $20+2 or unless I have to drop down to $5.50 again. Here's the gist of the bankroll management stuff:
- can buy into a cash game or sit n go for up to 5% of my bankroll (exception: can buy into any game $2.50 or less)
- if at any time during NL or PL cash game, the money on the table is more than 10% of my bankroll I have to leave when the blinds reach me
- can't buy into a MTT for more than 2% of my bankroll

My own tweak to this:
- I can buy into a MTT of any size by either earning the buy-in at a cash game or by a satellite. Satellite buy-in rules will follow the same rules as sit n go. At most, I will only attempt one $24+2 MTT per week, and will only give myself one shot to earn a token
- I can buy into a "special" MTT (blogger event, Riverchaser's event) by earning my buy-in through either a sit n go or cash game (my own "satellite" system)