sink or swim

Sure, it's a short down swing. It just sucks. I lost a couple buy-ins at $10NL last night. Again, I don't feel like I'm playing poorly, I just...well... I'm bleeding money. I think perhaps I tightened up too much: at $10NL I had good success when I was seeing 35% of the flops; I tightened up a bit at $25NL and see 25-30%, and thought if I carried that trend at the lower level that my win rate would go up.

Two things I both love and hate at $10NL: 1. If someone holds 63o on a 3KQJ9r board, there's a good chance they won't be able to fold (how do you call half-pot and 3/4 pot bets with a 3 on that board?!); AND2. Shoving $6 (read: 60 bb's) or more preflop 10 times in a row.

The first one is usually +EV, as when you have A10 or J10 or such you get paid off. I make plays for pots on occasion too, and boards like that are often perfect for it. The times you bluff at it with say 67s and get called by the monsterous 63o is laughably annoying.

The second one is, for me, just a little annoying and an exercise in patience. When I'm not getting a good price I typically won't call here without KK or AA. Last night a shove-monkey took a bad beat and shoved 13 hands in a row. He's in MP, I'm immediately to his left with QQ. After 13 shoves I figured there's a good chance QQ is good here. Well, he tables KK, and flops a K to boot.

Awesome.

I know one thing I should have done, but did not: shortly after this beat, I noticed my emotions were on a roller coaster. At that point, I should have shut down FTP and watched one of the Lost Season 3 DVD special features (when my emotions are riled it affects my play - yes, even at $10NL). Instead, I tried to play through, and tightened up too much I think. While some people spew when they tilt, I clamp down. Both are -EV.

To end the night, I decided to really torture myself and played some RAZZ. I actually made up some of my losses (which is why I was down only 2, and not 3, buy ins). So tonight if I play I'll either be at Razz or possibly even the teeny SNG's - it's been months since I was in one of those.

Though if I stick to my best game (NLHE) I've got a better chance to curtail the downswing. Yea, I'm down over $120 since Friday. Now I see why playing $25NL too light is dangerous; though an even worse decision was to wait too long to move down.