The Poker Gods Hate Me

Summer has lost its luster for me. Somehow the end of summer has caused my game to become unglued.

I’m down 3 buy-ins this month. That’s not good. I wish I could say that a lot of those hands were suckouts, and a few of them were, but I really feel that some of the hands I could’ve gotten away from. I’ve been calling way too many hands lately. Maybe it’s laziness or maybe it’s because I think everyone is trying to bluff me out and I’m calling. I have to remember that most players aren’t sophisticated enough at these levels to pull off a big bluff. 95% they will be when they have something.

I’m still having trouble with the super passive players. The players who limp in with big hands or don’t know how to bet when they have a decent hand. These players are the kind that are scared to bet because they might get outdrawn, the ones that are always trying to trap and the ones who play only little pots. They also can’t fold marginal hands out of position. Then again, maybe it’s me and I’m trying to bluff too many pots off of these players. They don’t fold because they don’t know how to fold.

Perhaps it’s variance that’s got me off my game. I’m sure that plays a part of it but after really thinking about it, blaming variance is a cop-out. Sure there probably were a few hands that I lost was because of variance but it’s not the complete story. If I am to become a better player, I can’t just blame variance or luckboxes for those times when I’m running bad. I just need to toughen up and play better poker. Variance hits everyone. I’m not the only vicitim although sometimes I feel like I am. I’ve sucked out plenty of times against other players. It’s part of the game. Sometimes you just can’t help it (such as a hand I was in where my set of 9s were beaten by a set of Jacks) and you lose your roll. I can deal with that. What I’m upset about are those times where I put my money hoping for a 1-3 chance when the situation doesn’t call for it.  For example, I will be aggressive if I’m on a nut flush draw for example but I have to know when to push, check or fold these hands against certain players. If I know a player will call a bet with anything then pushing on a draw might not be the best move. Something like that. The little things are the things that make a really good player and obviously I’ve still got a lot to go before I can consider myself to be a pretty good player. I think I’m decent but I still need to improve if I’m to step in limits or class.

Then once I start to lose money I start to tighten up, perhaps I tighten up too much and that costs me also. I have to remember that I have to treat each hand that I play as a situational thing. Playing poker is always a hand to hand thing or a situational thing. It’s all about being in the zone for that particular hand because every situation is different when it comes to poker.

Things are starting to turn around though, as I’ve won back about a buy-in so maybe I’m on the right track again. Then again maybe it’s just the poker gods teasing me….once again.

Hey I have to blame someone don’t I?