The Hiatus

BR: $30,726

A few days after my last post in April I took a nose dive in poker, dropping several significant thousands of dollars in less than two days of play, and in probably less than 2 hours of play. It started with an attempt to play at the 5$/10$ NL tables, and after tanking between two and three stacks, playing hyper LAG at the $3/$6 NL to tank to nothingness. I allowed variance to compound by letting bad beats engender bad play. It was pretty clearly bad when I decided to place $500 with my friends $800 to make a sum $1,300 bet on Red on the roulette tables. No I did not win.

So I took a break and played WarCraft for an entire month; then I partied with my class mates and finally graduation happened. So I've been occupied. But I think when you reflect on the inadequecies of your play, rest and reflection for the (relatively) inexperienced like myself is probably the only sane way to continue to play poker. I'd been doing so well before the tank that I was starting to feel super human. A return to earth has regrounded some fundamentals.

I've played a little over the last couple of days, sneaking in a couple dozen hands while I do other things, and managed to recover a significant proportion of the losses.

The process of recovery was expedited by a Memorial Day drunk, who accounted for about a grand of my recent earnings. He began accruing some several thousands of dollars by dishing out rather disgusting beats. After romp stomping, his suicidal tendencies began to do as they should; the following was the culmination of his Hari-Kari.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $6 BB (6 max, 5 handed) converter
SB ($1564.4)
BB ($1852.21)
UTG ($170.78)
Hero ($2048.3)
Button ($319.2)
Preflop: Hero is MP with 7c, Kh.
2 folds, Button calls $6, SB raises to $15, BB raises to $24, Button calls $18, SB raises to $1564.4 (All-In), BB calls $1540.40, Button folds.
Flop: ($3152.80) 4c, 9s, Tc (2 players, 1 all-in)
Turn: ($3152.80) 6h (2 players, 1 all-in)
River: ($3152.80) 5d (2 players, 1 all-in)
Final Pot: $3152.80

SB has Kd Ks (one pair, kings).
BB has 5s 8s (one pair, fives).
Outcome: SB wins $3152.80.

Note that the player in question called the 1.5k cold. I intend on getting some game time in before I head on my tour of Asia on (hopefully) June 15th -- but first I must accompany my parents for a few days of travel. Oddly, I have a life outside of poker.