The 2013 Diary of a Semi-LAG Tilt Monkey

Before today, the past week had been a bit slow in terms of ~10k hands of breakeven, but I’m actually really pleased and relaxed with that for probably the first time ever. Breakeven and losing stretches previously didn’t sit well with me, which is undoubtedly my ego talking and the classic poker sense of entitlement. After all, when you constantly see other players doing stupid things, it can be very difficult to remain level-headed and disciplined after a number of sessions totalling breakeven (well, for me at least!).

Not spewing in these periods by trying to force the issue or calling too many raises is absolutely vital though, so that when those couple of sessions like today come along where I pick up 10 buy-ins, those winnings simply aren’t covering my previous spew. It really is obvious but worth thinking about at all times – clearly every ten sessions we should always prefer:

3 winning sessions totalling 12 buy ins
7 losing sessions of one buy in each, totalling -7BI
i.e 5BI profit

rather than:

10 winning sessions of 0.4BI each, totalling 4BI profit

Considering I’ve got a stats and Economics academic background and count beans for a living, it’s surprising that I’ve taken this long to truly come round to this way of thinking. Talk is always cheap around “you can’t always run good”, but I genuinely think hardly any recreational players truly understand this. One session or even ten sessions really do not define your ability as a poker player or your ability to beat the game you play easily (but you do need the resilience and confidence that those big winning sessions will come).

Anyway, now for a few of hh’s where some of today’s win rate came from (suffice to say the villain's in 1 and 2 are tards, 3 is a reg who must have levelled himself):

Hand 1:

MP ($25)
Hero (Button) ($46.19)
SB ($49.88)
BB ($70.52)
UTG ($10.35)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
1 fold, MP bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, SB calls $0.65, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.50) 6, 10, 8 (3 players)
SB bets $0.25, MP calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2, SB raises to $3.75, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.75

Turn: ($10.25) Q (2 players)
SB bets $4.75, Hero calls $4.75

River: ($19.75) 9 (2 players)
SB bets $40.63 (All-In), Hero calls $36.94 (All-In)

Total pot: $93.63 | Rake: $2

Results below:

Spoiler: Show

Hero had J, J (straight, Queen high).
SB had A, 9 (one pair, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $91.63

Hand 2

Button ($23.83)
SB ($37.26)
BB ($25)
UTG ($49.44)
MP ($95.77)
Hero (CO) ($44.68)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, K
1 fold, MP bets $1, Hero raises to $3.50, 3 folds, MP calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.35) 10, 7, 6 (2 players)
MP bets $14.50, Hero raises to $41.18 (All-In), MP calls $26.68

Turn: ($89.71) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($89.71) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $89.71 | Rake: $2

Results below:

Spoiler: Show

MP had K, 7 (two pair, sevens and sixes).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and sixes).
Outcome: Hero won $87.71

Hand 3

CO ($25.26)
Button ($27.37)
SB ($29.69)
BB ($26.64)
UTG ($12.63)
Hero (MP) ($25)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 9, 9
1 fold, Hero bets $0.75, 2 folds, SB raises to $2.10, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.35

Flop: ($4.45) 7, 4, 9 (2 players)
SB bets $2.50, Hero raises to $8, SB raises to $27.59 (All-In), Hero calls $14.90 (All-In)

Turn: ($50.25) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($50.25) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $50.25 | Rake: $2

Results below:

Spoiler: Show

SB had A, K (one pair, twos).
Hero had 9, 9 (full house, nines over twos).
Outcome: Hero won $48.25