Jekyll and Hyde Poker Continues

Poker is weird.

Got in a goodly bit of poker last night, mostly breaking even at 15/30. I had $500 or left in my account on one of the prop sites and instead of doing the smart thing and just withdrawing it, I thought I'd play some 10/20, despite the fact that this meant playing 3 handed, something I'd sworn off for March.

I guess it was technically still February, so all of my vows are intact. Too bad my cash isn't, as I managed to blow through the $500 in about 20 minutes, second best hands raining down from the sky, busted draws littering the highway.

So then I hop on Prima to play a little more, this time 10/20 full ring. No love. Lose two big pots, each time to a one-outer on the river. To be fair, I sucked out originally in both hands to get ahead, but a one-outer is still a one-outer. Even when it's two one-outers.

What do I do? Quit for the night? Read a good book?

Nope. I played with Resurrection Rat until he wore me out and came back and sat at $10/$20 NL on Doyle's with $1,500, ready to take many grandusands of American dollars from EuroLemurTrash.

But wait, ScurvyDog, aren't you mainly a limit player? And aren't you chasing losses, again, jumping up to higher limits?

Yes. And, umm, yes.

(One nice thing about working in Cubelandia, bored out of my skull for hours every day, is that I have much time to ruminate. After posting about February results yesterday and what-not, I pondered that a bit, as far as struggling so much lately with 5/10 and 10/20, but doing well at higher limits. I also managed to connect a few dots as far as looking at my bankroll on various sites, and corresponding results.

This sounds a bit dumb, but I think a large part of my lackluster results of late in 5/10 and 10/20 is that I'm playing, for lack of a better word, bored. Obviously I care about my results, and I don't sit there, playing a few tables half-heartedly while watching American Idol and downloading April Summers clips on Kazaa.

But I'd be lying if I said I was as dialed-in as when I play 20/40 or higher. I'm just not. I've also typically been buying in a little short on sites where i've been grinding out 5/10 and 10/20 hands, buying in for $1,000 each time, reloading when I need to, but never pushing the balance up that high. Part of me is aware of that fact, even though it's should be a non-factor, since I have funds in Neteller to reload with whenever.

I still have more than a few grandusands at Doyle's, though, which is why most of my shots and higher limit play has been there. Not surprisingly, that's where 90% of my profits have come of late.

So I'm making much money on the site where I'm well bankrolled, sit down, and pay close attention, bringing my best possible game. I'm losing much money on sites where I buy-in short, play only because I'm propping or getting rakeback, and play at much lower limits, when my attention and concentration is not 100%.

Gee, I wonder where I should be playing in March?)

So not much happens after I sit at the $10/20 NL table, I steal a few blinds, limp and fold a few speculative hands, until I get AKo in MP, with about $1,500 behind. Folds to me, I raise to $60 and get one caller, the button, who has about $900 behind.

Flop is something like Ks 9s 4h. I bet $150 and button just calls. Hmm. Pot is about $450 at this point.

Turn is 8d. I consider betting enough to put him all in (and probably should have, as we're both basically committed anyway if I bet the pot and he calls) but instead I bet $500 and button just calls again.

River is the evil, evil Qs, putting Ks 9s 4h Qs on the board. I pre-emptively grab my junk, as I'm thinking his flush draw got there, as I can't conjure up many hands he might play this way that I'm ahead of, other than KJ or maybe JJ/1010, and those are a stretch. He's only got $300 or so left, though, so I go ahead and bet enough to put him all-in, as I'm committed to calling regardless.

Button insta-calls and rolls over K10o, and nearly a grandusand is shipped my way. Umm, okay...

Ten mintues or so later I raise to $75 preflop with 1010 and button calls with AKs, as well as a call from the SB with 33. Dreamy rainbow flop of A 10 3 leads to more grandusands being sent my way.

Donked around a bit more until ScurvyWife got home from art school and then shut it down for the night.

(Lest it sound like all these mini-shots of mine are always successful, that ain't true. At all. Two different times when I jumped up to 20/40 short in the past I donated my entire $800 buy-in, once in about 15 minutes. So, you know, bad things can also happen when taking shots, yo, and eventually will happen to me, again, as in the past.)