Biggest pot of the week resulted in a $1240 loss.
A loose aggressive player (LAG), with a big stack, min-raised UTG and was called by a weak-tightie (WT). I called on the button with J8, and was pretty pleased to see the LAG bet out $20 on the QT9 flop. He was called by the WT and because this was an action board, including a possible flush-draw, and because the LAG could easily have QQQ, AA or KK in this spot I decided to raise to $140. They both called, which surprised me a little. I thought it was likely that at least one of them must have a flush-draw, so when they both checked the turn (an 8, counterfeiting part of my hand) I was confused as to how much to bet. To be honest, as the time ran down, I panicked a bit and decided to bet all-in for $1080, which the LAG quickly called. The river changed nothing and it was the worst case scenario as he turned over KJ for the bigger straight.
My all-in bet on the turn made no sense at all, as I was only likely to get called by (1) the same hand ie. a naked J, (2) the nuts KJ or (3) the same straight as me with a re-draw to a higher straight and/or flush.
I would have been quite happy to get all-in on the flop, turn or river if the board had blanked off, so the result would have been the same in these scenarios, but I should have managed to lose less as the hand actually did play out, so for this I am a bit annoyed at my play.
On a happier note, I was able to win many small- and medium-sized pots due to, I think, good solid play. This is something that I feel I have improved on during the last few weeks and my September results bear this out. Here is a brief summary:
Hours played: 31.8
Hands played: 2,583
Big pots played: 27
Big pot EV: +1,190 (8%)
Small pot profit: +3,869
Bonuses etc: +72
Total won: $5,131
Obviously, this is a great result on the back of a fantastic break-through month in August. I was able to improve my hourly rate and now feel really comfortable playing at this level.
During the month I think I have improved my control, and have done really well in recognising when to attack and when to back-off a little. For long periods I have felt as though I haven't done anything special at all. Looking back, I realise that what I have managed to do is play my 'A-game', or close to it, for a much higher proportion of total playing time. This is most likely the biggest contributing factor to my success this month.
Having said that, there have still been times when I have caught myself getting a bit agitated. I have been able to recognise these times and rein in the desire to get overly-involved. These situations generally occur when there are some really bad players at the table. It can be so frustrating sitting and watching them lose their money to someone else, whilst I constantly fold my rags, or see my low pocket pairs fail to connect with the flop. Its really important to not fritter away chips here, as this really reduces your earnings.
One noticeable number that pops out of my stats is the number of big pots played. In August this was 69/4879 (1.41%), compared with 27/2583 (only 1.04%) in September. This may or may not be significant. Possible causes include:
- less big hands received in Sept compared to Aug
- general tightening up of opponents.
As my edge in these big pots was only 8% in Sept (compared with 13% in Aug) its likely to be a combination of both of these factors. Its definitely something I need to keep my eye on in the future, although if I continue to show such good results in the smaller pots, its going to be less of a concern.
It remains to be seen whether I can cope with a sustained period of bad cards/situations/beats. This is the true test of the poker player. This siituation hasn't come up yet, but it will do at some stage.Wish me luck.
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