Getting better all the time?

I feel as though describing another week as “disappointing” would be thrusting this blog closer to monotony. Some might say it’s already there. That said, I have found it tough going (again) but still managed to scrape out a $642 win in 17 hours of play.

Maybe it’s a sign that I’m improving steadily as a player, that I can look back on a week as tough but yet still record a reasonable win. Looking at the big pots, this week I recorded a $306 loss: not earth-shattering by any means but it looks bad in context of the previous 11-12 weeks ($10,000 profit in total). I feel as though I played well pretty much all week, so I just have to accept it as part of the ups and downs of the game.

I flopped a few sets this week but never managed to win a big pot. Here are some of the losers:

44 from the big blind, flop AJ4: I checked the flop here as I was against an auto-bettor (who checked). He then called my turn bet of $70 with K7 (turn made him a pair of Kings to go with his flopped flush draw, which I would have expected him to bet). The flush came in on the river and for some reason I decided to bet into him and then pay off his raise, which meant that I lost the maximum. A check-call of a pot-sized bet would have saved me $200.

88 in 4-way pot, flop K98 (all diamonds): I checked 3rd to go on the flop and it was checked around. The turn was an offsuit 3 and I bet $100 into the $135 pot, called by the button who had $235 behind. An offsuit 6 fell on the river and I made a defensive bet of $150, hoping to save some money against a non-nut flush. Alas, the button raised me with the nuts and I paid off the $85 extra “just in case”.

44 from the big blind, raised by an unknown short-stack, flop J74: we both checked the flop and then he got all-in for $189 on the blank turn, his JJ leaving me drawing at one out.

33 from late position against the blinds (unraised pot): I raised the big blinds flop bet on an 832 board (with 2 spades) and he called. A third spade (the 6) hit the turn and I checked behind. Then another spade hit the river and the big blind tried to trap-check with A(spades)8 but I checked behind as I had a 3 spades for the flush also.

The one time I flopped a set against a big stack, with QQ in a re-raised pot, I came out firing on the QJx flop and bet again on a blank turn, forcing the solid re-raiser to fold. I guess he either didn’t have an overpair (or didn’t fancy it was ahead, maybe).

The biggest loss of the week occurred when I called a raise from the small blind with AK, playing 3-handed. The small blind called too and the flop came down K85, with a flush draw. I checked and called the $105 flop bet. The board paired the 8 and it looked like a good card to ‘represent’. The raiser might think that I was merely representing this card, and would therefore be more likely to get his money in with a weaker K than mine. Alas, I got a sinking feeling after he quickly re-raised my check-raise all-in. He showed 55 for an almost unbeatable full house.

It wasn’t all gloom and doom, however. There were some hands I played really well, extracting maximum value, but to go into details sounds too much like bragging.

I suppose the positive to come out of this review is the fact that I have spotted so many errors I have made during the week. These errors highlight additional opportunities to profit from better play. This is something I need to keep striving for in the weeks and months to come.

If I get to the point where I can’t spot my own mistakes either the game is too tough, I’ve become too complacent or I’m playing perfect poker (the least likely of the three). In the mean time, I am happy being able to win despite some fairly silly mistakes.