When the world coolers, cooler it right back

Well, a couple of day recap. Before starting my session two days ago, I had been listening to an Ed Miller series on Stox about light 3/4/5 betting. I have a blog dedicated to this, as it's opened my eyes a bit about the subject, and in fact while only about 1 in 10 players I play against probably have any idea about this stuff in the slightest, I now realise what some of them have done in the past, like 3 betting, then check raising the flop all in.

So the first couple of days I couldn't get anything going, and Tuesday was no different. Every time I'd start to run over the table, I'd get coolered and be back to zero. It was a miracle, and even some luck that kept me even.

I call upon degenerate gambler at that point, and he correctly pointed me at the HU cash games, as I really needed to flesh out this light 3/4/5 betting stuff a bit more and the 6 max games were too damn boring with everyone folding to 3 bets or even folding to your raises too often. HU was mostly fun and yet frustrating, with two stacks going to absolute stone cold suckouts/coolers, and the rest being a mix of me playing well at points, bad at others. I also paid off the same guy for a total of 120BB's when he rivered me twice.

So a quick recap of my year up until this point. Day 1 I got nothing going at Absolute for -$20, so started my first session at Pokerstars, got coolered with KK vs set and a couple of other hands, played a bit meh due to new site and different playing styles. Day 2 saw me running over 2 Absolute tables when I ran QQ into AA for 120BB's. In retrospect it was close, but I think I could fold. I squeezed a TAG, and he 4 bet. I can't call, and didn't think I could fold, so shoved, expecting some folds, and the occasional AK with the KK/AA, but he flipped AA. Later I realised I don't think this guy can 4 bet light, so QQ is actually terrible against his value 4 bet range. Pokerstars continued to cooler/suckout, and I salvaged my bankroll by playing a couple of HU SNG's, but still ended up negative. Day 3 ran QQ into AA again, this time no regrets. Player was very light 3 bettor, and I 4 bet for value, which means I can never fold to a shove, but he had it of course. I also got monster coolered in two big pots (one was 87% PF, 93% flop, 40% after he hit his 2 outer turn, river dead other hand I flopped nut straight, he hit flush after the money was in). At the point I quit, I was down another $140 at Pokerstars for the day, and generally feeling rubbish about poker.

I will say I was happy with how I was thinking about poker though. I may not be playing well, but I know my mind is growing, and I know I will laugh at feeling like the first step of 2009 actually seemed like a cliff face. All up, I estimate I started 2009 down about $320 in a mix of games and sites. All played sober and reasonably untilted mind you.

Day 4 started off different. I was running over a tight table, and getting dealt rubbish on the other. However, my very first raise, which was about 3 orbits in was a 3 bet with AA from SB, to which BB cold calls (usually scary), and original raiser calls too. Typical low flop saw me cbet with the intention of getting it in, even if someone called with 55 or 99 and flopped a set. BB obliges and shoves, but his range includes TT+, with JJ/QQ being very likely, and sure enough it's QQ, and I cooler someone back. I don't like his play 100%, as I hadn't raised in 3 orbits, but oh well. The rest of the time saw me going up and down a bit (I was up $80 already by that point) and finishing up the $80 bonus from months ago, so quit and watched a movie up around $170. I will point out there was a fair bit of 3 betting going on, and since paying full attention to the Ed Miller series, I felt very comfortable in these conditions.

The movie ended giving me about an hour or so to grind, so I consulted degen who informed me Absolute NL100 6 max is probably quite weak, and looking at the PF %'s, he was right. I'm not rolled for NL100, but it's only money right degen? Damn straight!!! (I love degen, I really do) I was happily running over the tables when I hit a cooler versus a short stack, which brought me back to even. I was making a note on a player when I looked up at $21 of chips being bet PF, by me??? Something I typed in the notes made it to the betting, and I'd just 3 bet a $3.50 raise to $21 with 85o and got called. I considered cbetting, but decided not to and my opponent bets almost pot, knowing of course what happened. Not happy. I then made the same mistake for much less money 2 minutes later, and decided I had to be very careful with note taking from now on. I got in a couple of coolers, then hit a set vs AA and doubled up on one table. The other I got coolered in small pots, and finished up around $125 before quitting. So all up a nice little $300 night, or all up a -$20 month so far. It does show that when the world coolers you, you will eventually cooler it back, so the most important thing is to be doing everything else right outside of the cooler hands.

I'll be honest, I'm feeling super comfortable at all sites right now for NL50. I feel the 3/4/5 betting series moved my poker brain to a new level, and while it's not applicable much to my games, it is very interesting stuff. So I don't feel like I "have" to quit pokerstars, but still probably will just for the ultra softness of the other sites. I should finish up my Absolute bonus ($90) before maybe checking out OnGame again. I do like the idea of grinding pokerstars and going for Supernova, but realistically the site is tight, supernova is hard to get, and in the mean time I get better bonuses and rakeback from other sites. It's nice to know that in December I beat 6 max at OnGame for quite a lot, have so far beaten Absolute 6 max, and have now beaten Pokerstars 6 max even with some variance and over a very small sample. I also felt like I had reads on most of my players, and a little bored at times last night waiting for action, and definitely need to try out 3 tabling from now on. I think I will make this the aim for the rest of the month, to be comfortable 3 tabling NL50 at whichever site I continue to play. Sorry for the horribly long and pointless blog.