I know I have at least one reader. No, really. I got email a few weeks ago from someone who said she read the blog, was coming to the Bay Area for business, and wanted an opinion on poker rooms near where she’d be. Dunno if anything in my response helped, but I hope she found what she was looking for and had a fun and profitable time.
I began the year with a goal of writing here more often. Like many of my goals, this fell by the wayside, in part because I fell on hard times and wasn’t feeling up to writing. (And in part because life got a bit busy.) The way January was an express elevator ride to the penthouse, February descended like the cable on that elevator snapped, plummeting me back to reality.
For the life of me, I can pinpoint nothing the led to the fall. I know only that I started having bad session after bad session. Stepping back, I knew, though, that this was only an example of variance, what ever poker player goes through over the course of a lifetime.
The way I handled it is similar to the way that I’ve done before when I’ve hit a rough patch: I slowed down. I put less emphasis on hitting a club when I had some free time and took that time to just relax. In February and March, there are good sports on TV frequently, and relaxing in front on my big screen watching the Warriors win is a pleasant experience.
One benefit of doing this is that the losses over similar time periods slow down. In other words, because I played less in February, I lost less in February than I had won in January. Sure, my bankroll took a hit, but it was not quite to the unhealthy point.
And by forcing myself to practice patience, the game turned itself back around.
It began in March, when I was traveling. On a trip to Portland, I found myself at this teensy “casino” just over the border in Washington. I ended up at a $4/$8 table where there were these 2 very drunk and ebullient young women having quite the good time. There was no such thing as folding to a raise for them. I tried to relax and have a good time too, although I went through my first $100 buy-in. My second, however, lasted, and I was able to just stay relaxed, be patient, and walk away with a small profit.
And it takes only that small profit, even just a few dollars more than you start with, to shake that “losing” feeling.
Over the weekend, I caught the January wave, culminating in an ultra-short Sunday session that turned hugely profitable, thanks to the presence of one player.
This player was goofy aggressive. Instead of folding 80% of his hands, he raised about 80% preflop. And even though that wasn’t really working, he at one point changed seats to the one just to my right. Bingo!
I was able to three-bet on several hands that he raised and I found myself with good hands. One I did with pocket jacks, flopped three rainbow undercards, and he proceeded to five-bet the flop with what turned out to be middle pair. I had no clue what he was betting with until the end, but seeing him always be so aggressive, I was pretty sure I was good, and I was right.
Another hand I cold-called with A-3 of spaces. The flop came king-high with 2 spades. 6 people were still in even when another player check-raised the flop, and I decided to stay because the pot was so huge at that point. An ace came on the turn, and unbelievable, everyone checked to me–and 3 people called my turn bet. The river was another 3. It was checked to me again, and I bet figuring I’d split the huge pot, but I ended up winning it outright.
With all these wild people on my right, I pulled $350 profit off the table in an hour and a half, and when the crazy guy on my right finally gave up and left, I figured it was my time to take the money and run.
This last thing is incredibly important. Sure, I had played for “only” an hour and a half. I usually figure that I’m going to settle in and play for a few hours. But the table suddenly had a few new players, meaning that I’d have to take the time–and risk–of getting to know the styles of the new players. Despite knowing that I probably could have done so, the smart move in this case was to not risk the substantial winnings. I knew I could not play against these new players the same way, which was a high variance, but long-term high profit. I didn’t feel like turning the afternoon into a grind, so I left and enjoyed a lot of a nice, sunny day.