Thought I'd post a quick update in case anyone is still following this thread.
I've had an insanely busy personal and work life this year. Poker hasn't just taken a back seat, it's been locked in the trunk.
With that said, I did get to take another Card Player Cruises cruise last week. It was wonderful. I could talk about it all day. Here's a particular story that I posted on another subforum:
"Hello forumites.
Anyone ever dabbled in FLO8?
I dabbled in it a few years ago, lost a lot of money because I didn't know what I was doing, and never went back.
Last week I was on a poker cruise (and for the record, I could talk about cruising, ESPECIALLY poker cruising, all day, so if you have any questions, ask away) and there were 9 ladies who would consistently sprint down to the poker room the second the dinner hour was over, GLUE their butts to the seats at the 3/6LHE and NOT MOVE! I kid you not, one night I was the 10th person to go down, I put my name on the waitlist, left to take my mom to the ice skating show, and when I came back I was STILL first on the list!
Anyway, one particular night the only table in the room that had an open seat was the 4/8 FLO8 table and I thought, "Bleep it, I'm on vacation" and sat.
I could not believe the horrible, devastating mistakes everyone was making. I mean LHE players know to look for tables where 4 to 6 people are seeing every flop because it's like people are walking by and just tossing extra chips into the pot, but at this particular FLO8 table it was even WORSE! Many hands were going 4 to 6 to the flop even if there was a raise, and even AFTER the flop people were chasing a draw to the third-nut low or tenth-nut high in a huge pot - I couldn't BELIEVE what people were showing down!
To make a long story short, I ended the week down about $140. Was it bad luck or bad skill? I'm sure it was a combination of the two - there were several hands that I clearly played wrong and lost, but there were also a couple hands I clearly played wrong and WON, so... y'all get the idea. I basically just always adopted a mindset of "always think scoop", "bloat the pot when I have a clear equity advantage", and "be aware of exceptions to the always think scoop rule" - I mean when there are 6 people in the pot, you have A2 and there's a low on the board there's a pretty good chance that even if you only win half the pot you still triple your money or at worst only multiply it by 1.5.
The next time I go to Winstar I may walk by the FLO8 game that seems to be running a lot there and see if they're not making worse mistakes than the players at the LHE game (which is usually juicy).
Thoughts?"
Another story from the cruise that I'll share: One of the ladies I play a lot of 3/6LHE with (and was on a cruise with last year as well), finally came up to me said, "Joe - I'm sorry to have to say this, but you have a tell! It's the way you throw your chips into the pot. I wasn't going to say anything because you just play 3/6, but I've seen you playing no-limit and other bigger games and you're getting killed up there!" Another lady who also plays at our table overheard the conversation and said she totally agreed and couldn't believe the other people at the table hadn't also picked it up.
The lady seemed like she truly felt bad about telling me that - that she felt like she was insulting me or belittling me, but I was like, hey, you're HELPING me and I appreciate it.
Something you might find ironic - I decided to return the favor by helping her with some glaring holes in HER game. She doesn't raise before the flop nearly often enough (NOBODY at that table does), and doesn't play aggressively enough after the flop. I talked her through some examples and she just said, "Oh, I'm too chicken to try those moves" to a couple and, "Oh, I'm just there to play, I don't take it that seriously" to others. I just found it interesting that I was willing to listen to constructive criticism and apply it to my game, and she wasn't. Whatever that's worth.
Anyway, there was a hand where I raised KK on the button after 3 limpers and the lady called me from the BB. I bet a Qxx flop and only the lady called. When a blank hit the turn and she checked I gave her an evil look, gathered the chips in my hand and kind of flipped the chips up in the air so they landed on the table. She gave me an equally evil look and then gave me the finger
(we're all friends at that table, it was all in good fun). Anyway, she check-called me on the turn and a Q river, I flipped over my KK and she flipped over KQ
.
One other thing that I think is interesting - I'm so mathematical when I play that it's actually difficult for me make myself aware of when I'm about to put chips in the pot and make sure I do it the same way every time. But I appreciated the tip.
In a little over a week I have another business trip to the casino in Canada that allows a $50 buyin to their $1/$2NL game so hopefully I'll have a few more chances to get shortstack practice.
I think that's enough for now - poker is still locked in the trunk but hasn't been completely thrown out of the car - hopefully once I get through this busy patch I'll be able to start playing regularly again!