<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar/14658917?origin\x3dhttp://jackmamapoker.blogspot.com', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Genesis

I wonder how many poker blogs are started because of a bad run of cards. Some sort of cold deck causation. I could probably check, since one of the miracles of technology is the automatic archiving of personal blogs. Behold the march of progress.

So, yeah. I've been playing for a while, mainly PokerStars Sit 'n Gos, with some success. Some success being that I have more money now than when I started, which puts me in a far better situation than many find themselves. I play lower levels, having recently moved from $5 + .50 to $10 + 1. I guess it doesn't matter which level you play, there's always going to be someone waiting to suck out on you.

A couple nights ago, I spent 4 tourneys staring at every combination of J8o, Q5o, 63 suited, etc. I folded almost all my hands, and then when I'd try to capitalize on my table image with a steal, callers fell over each other to grab my money. Unlucky. That's poker.

Last night, I played a pretty solid $10 + 1 SnG. The deck remains cold, but I saw a couple opportunities and capitalized on them. Down to 4 remaining, and I was one of two in ugly position. We each had about $1500T and the other two were roughly even at about $5000T apiece. I find myself in this position a lot lately, and I can't entirely blame the cards. I play well enough to survive in tournaments, but I rarely build a large stack. I'm hoping to gain some insight in Dan Harrington's books which will help me adjust my early and mid-round strategies.

So, on the short stack, I find AJo. Since I'm so weak, I go all-in hoping to steal the blinds, which are 200/400. The other shortstack calls, and he has me covered. He turns over A4o. The flop pairs his 4, and I do not improve. I had my money in when I was heavily favored, so I can't be too upset about it. I am concerned about my consistently weak position in these late rounds, though. Having to go all-in to stay alive is no way to play.