Charles Town Sessions 11-13 & Home Game Session 1: A Much Needed Confidence Boost

I was on a Dwyane Wade streak.  I'd but up stinkers in three straight games, and people were starting to doubt me, and more importantly, I was starting to doubt myself.  I had a negative $800 swing on one session, and then lost another $340 in a home game, and then finally had only a positive $60 day after 8 hours during my most recent session.  Not only was my profit rate dropping, my profit was dropping.  It's a good thing then that I made most of the losses back then yesterday.  Anyways, on to the sessions.

Charles Town Session 11 (Apr 15, 2012):
Played 1-2 for 5 hours and ended up down $450.  At one point, I was up around $300-400, but through a combination of loose play and missed draws, there was an $800 swing afterwards (i.e. calling an all-in with 77 on a 986 board with enough odds only if you assume villain can only have a set or worse, which he did but that wasn't a given).

Home Game Session 1 (Apr 27, 2012):
There's a guy who hosts all these games (he doesn't play), and he takes rake, like a casino.  The rake might also be high (I don't know) because he still has money left over to 1) provide food, 2) deal flips worth up to hundreds per night (everyone is dealt a hand face-up and the winner wins the pot), and 3) have a $700+ freeroll every few weeks.  Given that I don't participate in the freeroll, the rake could be hurting me.

Anyways, more loose play.  Didn't really play poorly/make identifiable mistakes as I did in the previous Charles Town session, but definitely didn't play optimally.  I hovered around even to up $100, but lost a big hand.  I had AQ and raised preflop.  Flop was QTx with 2 clubs.  One guy leads out, another guy raises to 45, and I reraise for 100 more.  Another guy cold shoves (for about 50 more), the original better folds, and the first raiser calls.  Turn is a club and I'm obviously dead.  In hindsight, I wasn't in a poor spot (both callers had flush draws), but I basically ended up in the best possible scenario (which was having to dodge buttloads of outs) and I could have easily been up against a set.  The first raiser ends up showing K9 of clubs for the second nut flush, and with the gutshot as well, he was clearly going nowhere.

Charles Town Session 12 (May 12, 2012):
Given that it was a Saturday, the 1-2 lines were ridiculously long, so I took my 2-5 seat instead.  There weren't really any interesting hands (that I remember), although I did finally start winning with KK (it helps when the flop gives you another K).  The table also seemed a lot more 1-2ish than normal (meaning, more loose and more passive).  Either that or I've adjusted to 2-5 and am now able to play there.


Anyways, I ended up around 150 after 4.5 hours, and took a dinner break.  With the losing streak I was on, I didn't want to end the night down 400 so I signed on to 1-2 afterwards.  After more missing and what was probably still loose play from me, I ended the night only up 60.


Charles Town Session 13 (May 20, 2012):
Given my poor performance the past few sessions, I made a committed effort to tighten up my game (which has a tendency to loosen as I win).  Long story short, it was successful (it also never hurts to actually hit), and if not for two hands against a very fishy old lady that I played perfectly but unfortunately just lost, I'd have been up over 1100.  I arrived at 1:00, and after about 30 minutes, they opened a new table and called my name.

I sit down with 210, and quickly win a few pots just from raising preflop and c-betting.  I build my stack to around 250+ before the first notable hand of the night.
-Hand #1-
Villain sits to my right with a stack of around 200-250 and is UTG.  He raises preflop to 8 (there have been a lot less action in my recent Charles Town sessions, including sub-$10 preflop raises).  I call with 57, and a total of 5 players see the flop.
Flop comes 754 with two diamonds.  Villain c-bets 50 into a pot of below 40.  I've noticed recently that a popular move for shitty loose players is the small preflop raise with a pocket pair, and then the big flop bet on a flop of all undercards.  Besides, no player, good or bad, leads out with a bet larger than the pot with the nuts/close to it (so in this case, a straight/set).  Clearly, he has the overpair.  With the flush and straight draw on the board and 3 players behind me, each of whom has between 100 and 200, I decide to just shove (since I figure most shitty players don't play 68/63 so I really only am afraid of 44).  Predictably, villain calls, shows 99, and claims that he has to dodge the flush draw.  Both turn and river miss and I'm quickly at around 450.

Over the next hour or so, I collect a few more pots just from c-betting/value-betting made hands on the river.  That puts me at around 500 before the following hand.
-Hand #2-
This is the first of two hands against the fishy old lady that I lost.  She has about 300 before the hand.  I'm dealt AQ in middle position.  I raise preflop to 16, and two players call (including the old lady).
Flop comes Q75 with two clubs and a heart.  I c-bet 25, and only the old lady calls.
Turn comes a 4 of hearts.  I'd already realized by then that the old lady loves her draws (although not to the extent that I realized later), so I decided to "punish" her on the turn with the blank.  I bet 55 and she calls.
River is a non-heart, non-club 9.  I value bet 55 (while I was very confident I was good, the 55 also served as a blocker bet, since had I checked OOP, I'd have to call a river bet anyways).  She calls and flips over 94 of clubs.  That was totally unexpected, but she also didn't really play this particular hand incorrectly (while she did on the next hand against me and numerous other hands throughout the night), outside of the loose preflop range since flush draws have much lower implied odds than straight draws in 1-2, but I'm definitely not in the position to criticize someone's range.  The flop call of the c-bet in position with the flush draw is standard, and even though my turn bet was large, she also picked up 2-pair and trips outs.  She also can't really raise the river given our chip stacks (anything other than a min-raise would pretty much leave her pot-committed to a shove by me).

That pot leave me completely rattled, but I continue to string together a number of small pots.
-Hand #3-
The first villain in the hand is a young talkative guy who seemed to be a good player.  He'd actually thought a while about calling an all-in raise on the turn with KK (including the K of clubs) on a board of Kxxx with 3 clubs.  He ended up spiking a fourth club on the river and scooping the pot.  However, after this hand (and with a large stack), he'd started loosening up dramatically, and he then lost a hand when a guy called both the flop and turn to spike the flush on the river.  Afterwards, he even said he was on tilt and started playing horribly.  This contributes to the following hand (although it doesn't really affect my decision making whatsoever).  Anyways, he has about 300 before the hand.  The second villain is a relative short stack (around 100 before the hand).
I wake up with K5 of spades in the small blind.  Villain #1 raises to 8 and about 5 of us see the flop.
Flop comes Axx with 3 spades.  I check blind.  Villain #1 bets 15.  Villain #2 calls.  In 1-2, I strongly advocate not slow playing strong hands.  At these lower levels, it's not as imperative to disguise one's hand (mainly because people are just dumb), so playing strong hands fast increases the sizes of the pots you win.  As a result, I repop to 45 and both players call.  At this point, I figure I'm against a flush (from Villain #1) and a set/2 pair (from Villain #2).
Turn is a blank.  I bet 75, which is slightly less than 1/3 of Villain #1's remaining stack and puts Villain #2 all-in.  Both players call.
River is a blank.  I decide to value-bet relatively small (to entice smaller flushes to call), and put out 85.  Villain #1 asks for my chip count (which is more than his stack) and shoves the remaining 100 or so of his stack in.  I insta-call and show my nut flush.  After Villain #1 leaves to go to the ATM, Villain #2 claims that Villain #1 had just an ace.  Somehow.  That makes no sense, but I'm not complaining.

About an hour later comes the final interesting hand of the night.
-Hand #4-
Old Fishy lady at this point has a stack of around 400-500 after hitting a number of draws and getting paid off.  I'm dealt TT in middle position and raise to 14.  There are two calls (including the fishy old lady) and a short stack shoves for 7 more.  I unfortunately can't reraise and 4 of us see the flop with the short stack all-in.
Flop comes T86 rainbow.  I bet 25 into the sidepot (with the main pot at around 80).  Old fishy lady calls.
Turn is a 9 that puts a flush draw out there.  I now bet 45 (which should give me a much clearer picture of what I'm up against).  Fishy lady raises to 100.  At this point, I'm totally befuddled, because nothing reasonable has me beat.  Anyways, given that I have 10 outs even in the worst case scenario (and with huge implied stacks), I call.
River is a blank.  I check, fishy lady bets another 100, and I fold face up.  She shows 72! for the straight.  Now, not only did she play 72 (she played way too many hands preflop all night), she called the flop with a gutshot (and without any reason to expect to be paid off if the gut shot hits, because there would be four to a straight on the board).  Furthermore, she raised way too small on the turn.  Given that a raise of any size basically reveals her hand, she needs to raise larger to make sure I don't have odds to chase a boat.  I ask her after the hand whether I'd have been able to win her entire stack had the board paired and she says she doesn't know what she'll do until it actually happens.  I think I would have, and I'd have been up 1400 at the end of the night had it happened.

-Summary-
Time at 1-2 cash tables: 18.5 hours
1-2 Cash: -$140
Time at 2-5 cash tables: ~4.5 hours
2-5 Cash: +$150
Poker total: +$10
Gas and food: -$60
Net:-$50


-On record career to date-
Time at 1-2 cash tables: 89.5 hours
1-2 Cash: +$3205
Time at 2-5 cash tables: 13.5 hours
2-5 Cash: +$710
Total time at cash tables: 103 hours
Cash games: +$3915
Time at tournies: 12 hours
Tournies: -$570
Poker total: +$3345
Net: +$2760

Brags: I've still got it.
Beats: In addition to tightening up in general, I need to stop calling all-ins with draws and questionable odds.
Variance: It's amazing what a positive $740 session can do for one's confidence.