Played a couple low-dollar SnGs with my buddy, Bret, yesterday. He's been burned so many times lately with bad beats that it's affecting his game. He's had aces cracked a number of times, had Anna let him down over and over, and has gotten sucked out on the river enough times to make a vacuum salesman jealous. As a result, he's starting to be gun-shy with his strong hands, playing passively with pocket cards he should be pushing hard with preflop. For instance, yesterday, he limped under the gun with AQs and then promptly lost the hand. Arghg, that pisses me off.
But I can't be too critical; my own play has been pissing me off lately, too, but for the opposite reason: I've been playing way too aggressively. I moneyed in the two games I played at lunchtime, but then took those wins to mean I was invincible and promptly busted out of three quick SnGs in the evening in record time. The reason? In each case, I tried to bully people off of hands, ramming and jamming way too hard. The opp isn't dumb; they see you pull crap like pushing all-in three times in a row, and suddenly one of them is going to look you up. The problem is that I know that, and yet I do it anyway. Arghgh.
Bret has pointed out in the past that playing poker is lot like juggling balls; drop just one, and you're dead. That's true, but playing the game also feels to me a lot like walking across the top of a narrow dam. Fall off on one side due to passive play, and the sharks in the water will smell your wimpy blood and have a feast on your floating corpse. Fall off the other side due to over aggressive play, and the plunge to the rocks below will be quick and ugly. The trick is staying on the top of the dam, finding the perfect balance between aggression and selectivity... while juggling balls, of course-- flaming balls, that is. Oh, and chainsaws,too, with knives and... ah, never mind.
Moneyed in 2 of 5 SnGs.
Lost a little bit of $1/2 limit 6max.
24-Hour Bankroll Change: -0.8%
All-in for now...
-Bug
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