Running Bad and Implications
Ive been running pretty poorly so far this week. Its not so much that Ive been getting outdrawn in big allins or getting coolered all the time (Id be much happier if this were the case), but moreso that every one of my semibluffs or bluffs has run into the nuts and I havent been getting my fair share of favorable setups. I find that this is the most frustrating way to run bad, as you cant pick hands and say 'well if I hadnt gotten sucked out on there Id be even.' I think its also the most devastating way to run bad in terms of what it does to your game. Since so much of poker is experience and feel, and since both of those depend heavily on short term results, its really easily to make slight adjustments in an effort to 'fix' your game, either consciously or unconsciously, that can really ruin it.
I think Im going to take a couple of days off from high stakes. Ill still be active on the forums here and might spend the time making a couple of small stakes videos and finishing work on article Ive been writing.
Bad Day
It seems like everyone I know is running bad the last few weeks. Among my closest poker friends, I know at least 5 who are going through pretty large (20 buyin+) downswings. I know ansky has a pretty rough day yesterday too. I, for the most part, have steered clear of this whole running bad business. Until today, that is. I promise I wont use this blog as a forum for me to post bad beat hands and complain, but I just cant resist doing so today.
The day started out fine. I played a few 25/50 HU matches and ended up about half a stack. I recently opened an ipoker account and deposited 5k there and decided to give it a shot. I picked a 25/50 player at random who was sitting by himself at a hu table and was greeted with the most horrendous noise ive ever heard from a poker site when it was alerting me that it was my turn to post my small blind. It was like a fog horn going off in a broom closet. Needless to say, I disabled the sounds first thing.
The guy I was playing seemed to be a pretty average high stakes hu player. He played kinda tight from his button, and didn't really reraise
enough. The software was painfully slow though, and I started to get really impatient and made a really bad float in a reraised pot, turned a pair to go along with my gutshot, and decided that it would be a worthwhile play to shove over the top of his bet (which was less than a minraise). GG me. I don't think i'll be playing at ipoker anymore.
Anyways I took a break for a bit and had lunch with a friend. I came back and most of the hu action was pretty dead so I started playing some 25/50 and 50/100 shorthanded. The 25/50 didn't go very well. Two failed semibluffs, a coinflip, and a big bluff later I was stuck almost 20k. The table filled up to 10 handed and I decided to quit.
The 50/100 game was running 3 handed and it was going better. It was me, another reg who plays pretty straightforward against me, and a soft spot. The soft spot had 20k when I sat down and had built that up to 25k mostly against the other player. I was picking on him, constantly reraising him preflop and taking down pots postflop. I had built up to 15k when this hand went down:
Seat 2: _NormanChad ($13,784 in chips)
Seat 7: reg ($11,644 in chips) (on the button)
Seat 8: villain ($13,142 in chips)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
villain : Post Blind ($50)
_NormanChad : Post Blind ($100)
Dealt to _NormanChad: As
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ks
*** Pre-Flop *** :
reg : Fold
villain: Bet ($250)
_NormanChad : Raise ($1,200)
villain: : Call ($1,000)
*** Flop *** : 3c Kh 10h
villain: : Check
_NormanChad : Bet ($1,900)
villain: : Call ($1,900)
*** Turn *** : [ 3c Kh 10h ] 5s
villain: : Check
_NormanChad : Bet ($5,250)
villain: : Raise ($9,942)
_NormanChad : Call ($4,692)
*** River *** : [ 3c Kh 10h 5s ] 8d
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $26,282 | Rake: $2
Board: [ 3c Kh 10h 5s 8d ]
_NormanChad lost $13,142 Shows [ As Ks ] (a pair of Kings)
reg lost $0
villain bet $13,142, collected $26,282, net $13,140 Shows [ 3h 3d ] (three threes)
Oh well, whatever. Just one of those hands where you're going to go broke. I grind back up to 20k and proceed to successfully make a huge bluff in this hand:
Seat 2: _NormanChad ($19,538 in chips)
Seat 7: reg ($9,850 in chips)
Seat 8: villain ($24,757 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
_NormanChad : Post Blind ($50)
reg : Post Blind ($100)
Dealt to _NormanChad: Js
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ah
*** Pre-Flop *** :
Johny 001 : Bet ($300)
_NormanChad : Raise ($1,250)
reg : Fold
villain : Call ($1,000)
*** Flop *** : 5d 7s 9c
_NormanChad : Check
villain : Check
*** Turn *** : [ 5d 7s 9c ] 5c
_NormanChad : Check
villain : Bet ($1,600)
_NormanChad : Call ($1,600)
*** River *** : [ 5d 7s 9c 5c ] 6h
_NormanChad : Check
villain : Bet ($3,500)
_NormanChad : Raise ($16,638)
_NormanChad : All In ($16,638)
villain : Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $26,036 | Rake: $2
Board: [ 5d 7s 9c 5c 6h ]
_NormanChad bet $19,538, collected $26,036, net $6,498
reg lost $100
villain lost $6,400
Nice, things are looking good and I think I have the villain pretty well set up to call his stack off light. 3 hands later I get aces on his button, reraise him preflop and am getting ready to win a huge pot.
Seat 2: _NormanChad ($26,136 in chips)
Seat 7: reg ($10,198 in chips)
Seat 8: villain ($17,807 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
_NormanChad : Post Blind ($50)
reg : Post Blind ($100)
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ad
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ah
*** Pre-Flop *** :
villain : Bet ($300)
_NormanChad : Raise ($1,250)
reg : Fold
Johny 001 : Call ($1,000)
*** Flop *** : 9d 6c 2h
_NormanChad : Bet ($2,100)
villain : Call ($2,100)
*** Turn *** : [ 9d 6c 2h ] 8s
_NormanChad : Bet ($6,500)
villain : Raise ($14,407)
villain : All In ($14,407)
_NormanChad : Call ($7,907)
*** River *** : [ 9d 6c 2h 8s ] Qs
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ad
Dealt to _NormanChad: Ah
Dealt to villain: 6s
Dealt to villain: 2s
Johny 001 : Show Cards
_NormanChad : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $35,712 | Rake: $2
Board: [ 9d 6c 2h 8s Qs ]
_NormanChad lost $17,807 Shows [ Ad Ah ] (a pair of Aces)
reg lost $100
villain bet $17,807, collected $35,712, net $17,905 Shows [ 6s 2s ] (two pairs, sixes and twos)
Damn. I was way, way ahead of his hand range there. Oh well. The reg doubles through the other guy and then quits. Its hu now, sweet! I reraise him a couple times preflop and take down pots and am back up to 13.5k. I get jacks in the bb, reraise preflop, and flop top set. He raises the flop allin, sweet! Crap.
Seat 2: _NormanChad ($13,496 in chips)
Seat 8: villain ($24,133 in chips) (on the button)
*** Blind Bet Round *** :
villain : Post Blind ($50)
_NormanChad : Post Blind ($100)
Dealt to _NormanChad: Jd
Dealt to _NormanChad: Js
*** Pre-Flop *** :
villain : Bet ($250)
_NormanChad : Raise ($1,200)
villain : Call ($1,000)
*** Flop *** : Jh 7h 9c
_NormanChad : Bet ($1,900)
villain : Raise ($5,000)
_NormanChad : Raise ($10,296)
_NormanChad : All In ($12,196)
villain : Call ($7,196)
*** Turn *** : [ Jh 7h 9c ] 3h
*** River *** : [ Jh 7h 9c 3h ] 8d
Dealt to _NormanChad: Jd
Dealt to _NormanChad: Js
Dealt to villain: Qd
Dealt to villain: 10s
_NormanChad : Show Cards
Johny 001 : Show Cards
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: $26,991 | Rake: $1
Board: [ Jh 7h 9c 3h 8d ]
_NormanChad lost $13,496 Shows [ Jd Js ] (three Jacks)
villain bet $13,496, collected $26,991, net $13,495 Shows [ Qd 10s ] (a straight, Queen high)
Blech. I called it a day after that one.