Someone is wrong. However if he's reading, he's now becoming a better player.

Holy crap. Rake at Elgin, IL's Grand Victoria 2/5 NL game is "10% up to $8." Buy-in $100 to $300.

Well its true that its not a "downswing" if you're a losing player. Its just business as usual.

But this "winrate/variance" thing is so ephemeral, who's to say. I know I've lost and then won back more buyins than most any other sane person, but was I a winning player the whole time? Unlikely.

No offense, but going through what you have and still playing poker might not qualify you as "sane."

I bluffed off my stack last night....and I'm HAPPY about it!

Ok, before you think I've gone completely insane, let me explain a bit. I play in a small room, with lots of regulars. One such regular is V. V is a Supreme Donkey Crusher. This is the type of player who has an endless bankroll, always buys in max and tops off, plays loose preflop and ALWAYS seems to hit the flop. He's a master of deception, of hollywooding, of talking people off the best hand, or into calling with worse.

V is my nemesis. For the past several months, he has been running me over whenever we happen to be at the same table, which is often. I *know* he pushes me off the best hand a lot, based solely on his reputation for being a lucky SOB...and for running particularly good against me. Consequently, I have fallen into this horrible "playing scared" pattern against him, which of course becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, so I lose more. V calls all of my preflop raises with any two cards, because he's been hunting me.

Tonight, I sat down at his table with a plan. A plan for the metagame. I sat immediately to his left. I bought in for 100BB. And then, I waited. I waited for the perfect hand, the perfect timing, the perfect setup. I wanted something strong, in the small blind, so he had position. I had written off this 100BB buy-in the moment I sat down with this plan, because I was going to fire three barrels on this perfect hand, no matter what. If he folded, great. If he called, great.

Let me make one thing clear. this is something I do maybe once every 3 sessions. This is so rare from me, you could almost say I NEVER do it. ESPECIALLY with V.

I won some pots. I lost some pots. my stack was around 120BB.

I'm in the small blind. V straddles on the button. I look down at AKo and call. a couple of limpers, and V raises his straddle. This could be ATC, but it doesn't matter. I call. This is the hand. Right here. folds back around to V and we head to the flop.

96Jr. I fire a PSB. He calls. I am watching the rerun of the baseball game on TV. My team is down 7-0 in the 5th inning. Again.

Turn is something i don't recall. It doesn't matter. I fire another PSB. He calls. Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is playing over the satellite radio feed in the poker room. The thought crosses my mind at the appropriateness of the song.

River is another blank. I have complete air. I fire the third barrel, all-in. V goes into the tank. V NEVER tanks. Especially against me. He tanks for a full minute. Sure, I hope he folds...but then again, I kinda hope he calls.

He calls.

I turn over my Ace high with a smile on my face, and he shows his middle pair with a semi-shocked expression on HIS face. The dealer, who is one of my best friends, mouths "i'm sorry" at me, and I laugh and whisper to him as I tip him my remaining white chips, "don't be, i kind of WANTED air on that board, anyway."

I. Feel. Amazing. Sure, I lost the pot, but I won the hand. I won the night. I sent a message. To V, that i will no longer play scared against him, and that I will play him like I play any other LAG. To the other regs at the table, that I can fire 3 barrels with air.

But the strongest message I sent was to myself. I needed to do this, and the fact that I lost doesn't matter as much as the fact that I DID IT. It seems strange, I know, but losing that stack was one of my most empowering moments in poker.

RAWR!

Its called an ephiany. In this case it makes you feel better and empowered... but its quite possible V may think you are pretty bad and start calling you down light. Just pay attention to how he treats you from here on out. This could be good, or this could be bad. Time will tell.

Skydiver, while I'm glad you feel good about this, TBH you must give off some sort of tell when you're doing this. LAGs don't call down 3 streets with second pair as a rule. They might c/r on the flop or turn, but not just call down.

When looking at the picture you posted above, there's no question that you're frustrated at that point and just looking for a hand to shove with. You may show too much of how you're feeling in your face and body position. That is exploitable. Since we haven't played, I can't tell you for a fact it is an issue, but rather take it as some friendly advice to think about.

Nice!

Hey Venice, meant to ask you... WTF does PAHWM stand for? I just copied and pasted your title assuming that was the 'official' title... no clue what it means tho. lol

idk sounds like he still owns you

Not sure, but

Play A Hand With Me

Yep you have set a new dynamic with him. Let's hope he doesn't need reenforcement on a regular basis.

winnar imo

Glad you found peace at the bottom of your stack. I can't recall ever 3-barrel bluffing at a live 1/2 table, but the situation never really called for it, and I am not really a regular, so metagame impacts are reduced.

Probably shouldn't talk strategy, but why not just shove in his face preflop if you want to deliver some pwnage? The smooth call was a good way to set it up.

I used the trial version of PTw/HUD for a short time. Probably very useful for games with a small player pool, but I found it too time-consuming and at times, contradictory, to be useful in the games I play.

It's probably also true that HUD-off mode will improve your soft-focus reading skills which definitely carry over to live play where you don't see numbers over everyone's head. But using PT/HUD & pokerstove and getting familiar with the numbers is a good way to learn how to quantitatively "define" a player type and assign ranges.

They have times where they lose faster and greater amount then they normally do. They also have times when they win that begin and end them. Similarly, winning players have upswings.

Play A Hand With Me

It is a way of differentiating a standard HH which normally has a single decision point with a HH that will have a lot of decision points. There is also an expectation that there are several lines that could be taken rather than 1.

If you are only using the HUD portion of it, you're utilizing about 10% of the value of having PT or HEM.

man after going on a 2500 run between 2/2 and 3/5 i have 600 loss session today. ugh.

2 pair lose to set on turn, 2 pair lose to flush on river, and last KO blow old loose fish catches 2 pair to take my last 200 A6>AQ.

Gg me, good thing madden came out today.

About the Madden thing, I have found some of the Wii games I bought for our sharehouse to be excellent tilt reducers after a rough live session...

Super Mario Galaxy 2 ftw as well...

[x] 21yo going on 10 ITT...

I go away for two days to play live and the chat thread is on page4?!

Still waiting for the day that I can river over sets, hit gutshots, etc. and win. Only down 1/2 BI for the trip because someone was kind enough to c/r me on the flop when I hit top set, no draws. In other words, standard trip.

Grrrr.... getting burned out on Cisco study. Got yet another test on Cisco scheduled for Monday afternoon, but just keep getting distracted by anything and every thing. I keep telling myself... three more Cisco tests and you can quite this 10+ hours a day study business... Then I remember I will still have 5 Microsoft test to study for...

Life is a bitch, whine and moan...

Anyone ever been delusional from being tired? (stoopid question on a poker forum right?) I got up yesterday morning (8/19) at 6:30 a.m..... I haven't been to sleep yet. Went out and played in two games (a 1/2 and a 2/5) until it was time to go back to work... to boot I have to run my game tonight and it will probably go until 3-4 a.m.... I guess I'll sleep some time tomorrow???

Just thought I'd share some BBV4L with you guys.

^ i hear cocaine is a hell of a drug

Im spinning right now. Feels like Im going to crash hard. This guy keeps talking to me and I have no clue what hes saying. Ugh. Need sleep!!