Cold-decked and keeping things in perspective

Check out this hand for a cold deck:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2952616

OUCH, I got totally owned by the deck there, deepstacked too   lol

 

I haven’t been plaing much poker at all recently due to some real-life things going on. 

 

I’m not a big fan of relating my personal life on the interweb, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. – Basically my girlfriend and I split up a couple of weeks ago. It was me that broke it off – We got on fine, she was great looking, but there was just no spark there and  there never really was from the start if I am really honest.

What made me really realise this was me recently meeting someone else with whom I get on really with, that I am totally attracted to.  And no, before you ask, I didn’t cheat on my now ex gf to be with this person! Meeting this new person simply made me realise what was missing from my relationship with my now ex and therefore helped speed up my decision to break up with her.

So I am now slowly getting things together with this new person…. and life is good… really good

This brings me on to the title of this post – Poker is good, it’s fun, it’s a challenge, it can also be very profitable for winning players who put the work and hours in. BUT, poker is just a game and a very time-consuming one at that, whereas life is short, very short. Life is NOT a dress rehearsal, we only get one go at it. You can’t run it twice like you can the flop in some casinos !  It’s all about balance, I guess. I love poker, I’m not giving it up, but life is good too and I only want poker to take up a small part of it…..

GL at the tables… and in life

Played ok, but down 2 buy-ins

 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835465

 

This has to be one of the worst plays I’ve seen in ages by a villain. A few hands before this I had playing very aggro (because I had been catching some cards) which may possibly explain me getting action here. But, come on, I am 4 betting him here…. lol  Oh well, I’m obviously delighted he made the call, just a shame to lose my stack so deep

 

 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835491

 

Ok, I am really pleased with how I played this hand on all streets except the river. I kinda misread the board I think and hadn’t noticed the river paired the board. I was basically calling on the flop and turn, pretty sure he had a set and hoping to hit my flush, because no way he was going to fold. I was so focused on the spade on the river that I didn’t really think about it properly. Bad play by me.

 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835522

 

 

Wow, I can’t believe how tight some villains’ 3 betting ranges are at these levels. No way I was folding AK to a min-raise, and then when I hit my flop, no way I could fold it, otherwise why call preflop …..

 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835533

 

Hmm, not sure I could get away from this vs shorty.

 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835538

 

Standard, but pretty amazed he called me on the river.

 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2835542

 

 

Serves villain right for slowplaying his AK lol.

 

 

Overall, I felt I played ok in this session. I overplayed 1 hand and suffered a bad beat for a huge pot, which unfortunately means I lost 2 buyins this session. It’s pretty frustrating, as I’m working really hard at my game atm, but my bankroll just seems to be treading water….

 

Anyway, GL at the tables

Small session

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2830899

 

Hmm. My preflop call in position is fine here, and I am looking to flop  a big hand like a straight draw or 2 pair, ie not necessarily for Top pair value (with a hand which is easily dominated) I really should have given up on the turn here.

 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2830920

 

Standard play here. I like making my preflop raise a bit bigger than usual here so I can try and get shorty to commit on any flop.

 
http://www.pokerhand.org/?2830938

 

I love how this hand played out and it just shows the importance of position.  My preflop raise was to isolate with a hand that can flop well if called. Villain was a rock, but a passive one, so I knew he had a hand here. When he called my flop bet and the Jack came on the turn, I was pretty sure my pair of Jacks wasn’t good enough, so took the free card. Villain really tanked before calling my river bet, so I don’t think I could have bet any more and got called.

 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2830960

 

JJ in the blinds with 2 limpers ahead of me, including 1 shorty. I like raising strongly to make them pay more than usual to have the privilege of playing the hand in position. Obviously great flop and when I saw it I just decided to check raise all-in any bet from villain.

 

http://www.pokerhand.org/?2830980

 

Villain was really passive, so I had to do the betting for him otherwise he would have just checked behind or minbet it.  I think I got close to maximum value here
GL at the tables