Poker Bankroll Building - A Temporary Setback

Lately I've been really focused on poker again. That's not a bad thing at all, I really love the game. I've been playing long enough to see a few ups and downs, and I used to tilt after about 3 buy-ins of downs.

So, I'm trying to find a few hours here and there to play the game during the week. This is insane with my busy schedule but I'm making an effort. Recently my poker bankroll has been going up up up as I moved from 50NL to 100NL with no slowdown in a rather strong winrate. I'm playing well, reading hands well, being very aggressive and picking my spots.

The bankroll is on the up and up, well... it was. Tonight I caught a little hunk of variance. It happens, just a rough night of luck. No tilt here, just sort of depressing that all the progress I've made since moving up again to 100NL has been destroyed in one bad evening.

Here's the session highlights:

Came home from work, loaded up two tables of 100NL and off we go. My goal was to play for one hour and that's it.

Hand 1:

I raise 9-7 spades in the cutoff to $3, the button calls with a full stack.
Board comes 5-A-8 all my suit (flopped a flush).
I bet $5 into $7.50, he calls.
Turn is another 5 (A-8-5-5)
I bet $14, he raises to $28 and I tank for a second then push. He calls with Q5 no spade.
Q on the river... sigh.

Hand 2:

I have Aces in Big Blind with $160, Button (tight/weak and covers my stack) raises to $4 and I flat-call.
Flop is 8 5 7 with two clubs
I check, he bets $8 into $8.50, I raise to $22 (trying to build the pot), he calls
Turn is K diamonds
I lead for $35 and he min-raises to $70. I push for $63 on top of that and he calls.
Flips KK... sigh. $321 pot ships to him.

So I'm down $240 and quit on my hour, bummer run of luck but there's no getting away from those two badboys.

I do my work for the night, and decide I'm playing well, not on tilt, feeling good... lets play again...

Hand 3:
I raise KT spades to $3.50 from the button with $100 stack, Big Blind calls
Flop is 7 9 J with two spades
Big Blind donk-bets $7 into $7.50 pot and I raise to $25 with my huge hand, he pushes and I call
He flips JJ.
Turn makes my flush, river makes his boat. Sigh...

No chance I get away from this hand. Could have peeled one on the flop but I had a huge hand and the flush card would kill my action. I'm ahead of anything but this hand, and in this case I was a 3:2 dog. Otherwise I'm 50% + fold equity against JJ+,77,99 as a range for him.

Hand 4:
Folded to me I raise AKs ($100 stacks) to $3 from Small Blind, big calls.
Flop is A 8 7 rainbow, I bet $4 into $6 he raises to $12 (he was aggressive). I call planning to checkraise the turn.
Turn is another Ace. I check, he checks behind. This I find suspicious.
River is a 6. I go with my gut and check to him, he bets full pot $30 and I call. He shows A7 and I'm Toast. Lost the minimum though.

Hand 5:
Folded to a new player (seems aggressive) with $75, he raises to $3, I call in position with 89 of clubs.
Flop is 567 with two diamonds. He bets, I flat-call with the nuts hoping a scary card doesn't roll off the turn to kill the action because clearly i'm trying to get the money in no matter what comes off.
Turn is a Queen of clubs. he bets $10, I raise small to $25 trying to leave him with too few chips to fold if he calls. He makes it $50 and I push.
He calls with 55.
Yep, board pairs the 7 on the river and the pot ships to him.

Hmm, not so good huh? I mean, how can I complain about those hands really? That's poker I guess, just a bad run at a bad time in my bankroll building. I did suck out once for a $45 profit as a 3:1 dog.

-$430 for the night... there goes the padding on the bankroll... sigh.

Later,
T

Comments

Matt said…
Ouch.

Only hand I would have played slower would have been the aces hand. He ended up with Kings but that was an awful board no matter how you look at it.

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