The theory of evolution - poker and otherwise

lol Sucks man, keep your chin up and grind it out. Shit will come your way just gotta put in the hands.

Still getting WTFowned but what can you do. I am back to my initial deposit amount after getting up to 92 and falling to 59 already this week. SWONGY IMO.

My once pretty redline has just gone to shit but I'm not sure I can do much about that since I'm just missing every flop so badly. Probably making some bad laydowns too. Oh well. Here are a my two biggest winning hands and also my 3 biggest losers from today.


Hand 1. Finally nutted up and made a big call. Dude was like 25/18 or so.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP) ($11.63)
CO ($6.86)
Button ($7.20)
SB ($11.35)
BB ($7.70)
UTG ($6.50)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, Q
1 fold, Hero bets $0.20, CO calls $0.20, 1 fold, SB calls $0.18, BB calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.80) 5, 6, 6 (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.65, 2 folds, BB calls $0.65

Turn: ($2.10) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.25, BB raises to $6.85 (All-In), Hero calls $5.60

River: ($15.80) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $15.80 | Rake: $0.75
Showed 87ss

Hand 2. Flop bet could probably be a bit bigger.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) ($5.75)
MP ($7.33)
CO ($7.52)
Button ($11.60)
SB ($7.94)
BB ($5.80)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, K
Hero bets $0.20, MP calls $0.20, CO calls $0.20, Button calls $0.20, SB calls $0.18, BB calls $0.15

Flop: ($1.20) A, 3, 8 (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.85, 4 folds, BB raises to $5.60 (All-In), Hero calls $4.70 (All-In)

Turn: ($12.30) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($12.30) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $12.30 | Rake: $0.60
Showed 23hh

Hand 3. Could be a fold Pre but I wasn't in the mood and had position on a super nitty guy who almost certainly has AA, KK, or AK here. Shove was just cause I figure'd he calls with all these hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP ($2)
Button ($6.88)
Hero (SB) ($6.68)
BB ($3.29)
UTG ($8.30)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, J
UTG bets $0.15, 1 fold, Button raises to $0.25, Hero calls $0.23, BB calls $0.20, UTG raises to $1.10, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.85, 1 fold

Flop: ($2.70) Q, 3, J (2 players)
Hero bets $5.58 (All-In), UTG calls $5.58

Turn: ($13.86) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($13.86) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $13.86 | Rake: $0.65
Showed AsAc

Hand 4. vill was 37/0 =\

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($6.32)
Hero (SB) ($5.70)
BB ($5.20)
UTG ($5.12)
MP ($5.01)
CO ($10.05)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
1 fold, MP calls $0.05, 1 fold, Button calls $0.05, Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, MP calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25

Flop: ($0.95) 3, 4, 2 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.65, MP raises to $4.71 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls $4.06

Turn: ($10.37) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($10.37) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10.37 | Rake: $0.50
Showed A5o naturally

Hand 5. Haha even when I suck out hard I still lose.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($3.52)
UTG ($9.96)
MP ($6.25)
Hero (Button) ($5)
SB ($20.80)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
UTG calls $0.05, MP bets $0.20, Hero raises to $0.60, 2 folds, UTG raises to $1.70, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5 (All-In), UTG calls $3.30

Flop: ($10.27) J, K, 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($10.27) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($10.27) A (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10.27 | Rake: $0.50
AA

I feel like the post I am about to write might be one of the most important things that I do for a while.

After my move from FullTilt to Stars I withdrew money as previously stated. As a result I have been playing lower limits than I was on Tilt and almost having to relearn to play. Things haven't gone well and I honestly had never been as frustrated with poker as I was last night. I considered quitting for good. I was simply just done, I completely forgot everything I knew and I was just tilted out of my mind.

This morning after having slept on the tilt I was thinking about a few things and I remember a post about poker Drift that I read a while back and has been linked on here before. This morning it hit me just how far I had drifted without noticing it. I initially drifted when I moved my roll since subconsciously I always had an aversion to PokerStars since the very first time I played on the site. This was due to the fact that I didn't understand the long-term concept of poker at the time. When I first played on Stars over a year ago I got sucked out on a few times and decided to only play on FTP because I happened to run better there the first time I played which in my non-poker educated mind was an indication that FTP > Stars.

Coming back to Stars I remember feeling slight trepidation despite knowing that their RNG probably isn't going to have any more weird hands than FTP's will. Despite this I think I came in as scared money. True to my subconscious expectations I didn't run so hot but I still managed to bang out a solid 7-8ptBB/100 winrate at 2NL. At this point I drifted farther. I said F**K it and jumped to 5NL, under rolled since I had beat it in the past. I won at first and then took a couple bad beats as is always the case in poker. The only problem this time, is not only was I having to play tighter than normal due to the players seemingly being much looser on PS than at 5NL on FTP but each BI I dropped due to a rivered flush hurt much more than it should have. I continued to drift at this point and began to play a timid style. "Sigh... Why do I always run into the top of their range?" I have to roll my eyes at this statement now just because of how ridiculous it is. The fact is. Yes I am running poorly, but I have also COMPLETELY forgotten the strength of putting people on ranges that allowed to me win in the past. My scared money become extra scared due to the fact that I simply wasn't showing down with the right hands often enough. I was back to the bluffer's fallacy of never giving anyone credit despite what all telltale signs might be pointing to. Additionally, once I had money in the pot, because my bankroll was once again so small I was so unwilling to give up that money and fought for pots I had no business playing in.

Anyway, the whole point of this post is to remind myself, and others that regardless of what level you play at, and how badly you've crushed the game in the past, it is vitally important to check on yourself once in a while. Let me say that again. It is vitally important that you take the time to review your game. I stopped reviewing. I drifted. I almost quit. Lesson learned.

Originally Posted by Donachello

I was back to the bluffer's fallacy of never giving anyone credit despite what all telltale signs might be pointing to.

DING...QFT, this is how I get myself in trouble way too often and for far too long.