Despite my better judgment, I played some $1/2 limit poker today. Yes, I quickly lost $25 and swore I wouldn’t ever do it again… but then I went back later and played again. Why? Because I realized that I hadn’t played optimally the first time and, indeed, deserved to lose the money I had. After the loss, I discovered what I thought was a major leak and wanted to test a theory. Guess what? I did have a major leak, and plugging it seems to make a difference.
So how did I come about to this leak realization? The guru, of course.
The guru called to wish me and the family a happy Xmas. As usual, we talked mostly poker, and during the discussion I explained that I have been doing really well at SnG’s lately, but very poorly at limit cash games. For every $20 I would win in single table tourneys, I would give back $15 or so in cash games. I told the guru that I just didn’t think I was cut out for cash games anymore, that I had played so many NL tourneys lately that it felt like my brain had somehow been permanently rewired for tournament chip play, and that I simply couldn’t seem to avoid the tilt I was experiencing in cash games.
Without missing a beat, the guru said he would wager that it wasn’t tilt. He said he was certain that I was just playing too many hands in the cash games, plain and simple.
Hmmmm. That sounded strange, but when we pulled up my PT numbers… he was right. (I shouldn't have been surprised; one thing the guru is great at is spotting holes in the bottom of a player's poker boat, mine included.)
Damn. My VPIP in the last few months has been something like 22% in $1/2 cash games and as high as 28% in $.5/1 games. Back when I was winning regularly at limit, my VPIP was much lower, something like 17% max in 9-handed games, in fact.
Could my poor play really be that simple? I was just playing too many hands? Hmmmm. For some reason, SnG tourneys seem to have “trained” my mouse trigger finger to be loose when I switched over to cash games. I’m a 25% VPIP player in tourneys, and while this works well in the SnG world, it is just way too loose for cash games.
To test the theory after I hung up the phone, I logged back in and played 50 hands of $1/2 limit. Yes, I know, this is a REALLY small sample size, but I didn’t want to go too crazy at first. Anyway, I played much tighter than I had been, tossing Ace-medium in late position, not trying to steal EVERY time I got the button, getting off AJo and KQo from early position, etc. I even slow played aces from the SB when there was one raiser UTG and everyone else folded (this was against a suspected ‘bot named IrinaS who I was sure would continue leading into me with bets, so slow playing is not as crazy as it sounds.)
Anyway, you know what? I ended up in the black after 50 hands. Sure, it wasn’t a lot of money won, but it was nonetheless a positive number, not a negative. Better still, it really felt like I was in control of my game for a change. I wasn’t betting on the river and “hoping” I would win. Instead, the few times I was firing into the pot on the river I was putting my money in for value, certain I had the best hand. What a difference a few percent seem to make.
So, am I going to start playing $1/2 again? Probably not very much. The swings are still too great for my current bank roll (read: emotional pain threshold), but I will be testing the waters occasionally-- with a careful eye on my VPIP stats. Hey, why not? The bilge pumps are running again and the sea isn't coming in over the stern. You gotta love this crazy game...
All-in for now….
-Bug
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