Picking Your Battles

Didn't play very much yesterday, only one $2 SnG (won it early in the morning) and then 50 hands or so of $1/2 limit 6max ring game that afternoon. The only real noteworthy item to mention was the fact that I bailed out of one $1/2 game after 12 hands or so after I realized the competition was incredibly tough there.

The guru's second commandment is Thou Shall Maximize Edge. This first game was filled with very tight, hyper aggressive players, all who seemed to be playing at a high skill level. The two times I tried to steal, I got re-raised back, and I saw this happening to other players too. The only hands being shown down were monsters, but most of the time the hand was settled on the flop. I had some PT numbers on a couple of the players, and they had VPIPs of 16-18% and sky-high aggression factors. I clearly had no edge in this game and, after dropping a quick $8, jumped out of it and into another softer game, where I quickly recouped the loss. I then quit for the day. Edge matters... a lot. Pick your games and don't be afraid to quit a bad situation, even if you're stuck for a sizable chunk of change. As Alex likes to say, choosing to leave a tough game often has positive EV.

Oh, the MPT was online last night, but I didn't play. Wife/family stuff going on instead, but I did manage to log in later and see that the guru had busted out early. They had 21 players this time. Don't know who won, but I do know that Seth (HPT final table finisher) was still in it when they were down to 10 players. (I have to admit, I feel better after beating him in a live SnG last week in the private game.) Anyway, I think I'll probably play in the game next week or the following, but I can't afford to play every week at $33 a pop. Maybe just once a month. My bankroll just isn't big enough to handle those swings on a weekly basis. I'm sure it can/will be a fun tourney (if I don't mentally melt down again), but I clearly don't have any edge in that game, so I have to just figure I'll be writing off the $33 as a preordained loss. Sometimes the battles we choose aren't for intended to be won...

All-in for now...
-Bug