Playing Low

BR: $45,453

Despite the apparent continued financial success since my last post, things have been very bumpy over the last few days. I dropped a few stacks to fall way down to 41k.

I spent all day travelling Thursday to get down to LA, but on Friday I managed to pick it all back up and more, to reach almost 44k. Later that night I took a spill, dropped a grand ... and then another stack at the 600's to fall to the mid 42's.

Began Saturday by tanking another stack, and becoming a little frustrated, I decided to play a slew of Tournaments for a change of pace. Did not do very well, but entered a Step 4 500$ and placed to qualify for a Step 5 1000$. After getting back from dinner, almost ready to pass out, I decide to play the Step 5.

I end up folding for several levels. The one hand I decide to play I manage to get disconnected from. Uncool. I fall to a 650 chip count at 6 handed with 50/100 blinds. With QQ in the small blind, I call a short stack's push from under the gun -- surprisingly BB smooth calls. But with a 1200 chip pot and only 300 behind, I shove the rest in on the J83 flop, and BB calls quickly with 99. The turn and river turn out to be favorable, and I almost triple up. With a few steals (both times with AT) I survive into the money. I then proceed to bad beat QQ with A-something to make it 3 handed holding 5000 chips, leaving both my opponents with 2500 chips each.

Shortly in, button pushes, SB calls and I sit with ATo in the BB contemplating. Personally I think it's close and want to call, but taking the advice of someone who is both an old friend and great teacher, I fold. 99 survives a race with KQ and we go heads up. A few all in battles later, I survive to clinch a 4.5k purse.

So why the lengthy detail? I'm trying to engrain into my own mind this tumultuous time so that I remember the truth of the matter -- poker is bumpy. Variance baby. When you are on a run, it's easy to believe that that's the way it goes forever. But no matter how great you are or how bad your opponents play, variations are a necessary part of the game. When I sit down and clean up for a 2k take on the day, sometimes I believe I can do that whenever I want through sheer force of will. Now thinking with that confidence is psychosomatic and makes you a better player, but to be realistic one needs to understand that that simply isn't true. I humbly accept that winning that tournament required some measure of "luck".

It's not as if I haven't known this much for a while. But this is a lesson that is learnt further and further in gradations, to deeper levels, and impressed upon me during shakey rides like the one I've taken over the last 3 days. As I look over my posts there are moments when I seem to hover at certain levels, and I racked it up to bad play. And I tried to learn from those mistakes. That's certainly a good perspective, since its a way of forcing oneself to learn. However, I don't feel that my play over the last 3 days has ever really been at fault. It was just the nature of the cards. I didn't play perfectly, and there were lessons to be learnt, but sometimes that's just how the cards came.

So, kids, today's lesson is: sometimes that's just how the cards come.