The Importance of Avoiding Tough Decisions in Cash Games

In cash games we simply want to make more than we lose. This is highly important and all else is not that important. One fact that a lot of people neglect is the importance of avoiding really tough decisions. For instance, let us say that you have JJ and someone raises before you. You make a raise then both blinds call and the initial re-raiser will re-raise. Now based on these raises you might think that you have good odds of calling and you expect the others to do the same. Even if they play you might still want to fold. This is because you just have Jacks preflop and you need to go up against 3 possible opponents. One of them might easily have Kings, Queens or Aces, all hands that you are in a really bad shape to fight against.

Why I Chose Pokerstars Over Full Tilt

It is very tough to choose one poker room to play in. This is mainly because there are tons of options available and you can always profit more from some games when compared to others. I used to play at Full Tilt but then I made the change to Pokerstars for a very simple reason: there are more donkeys to play against at lower stakes. It seems that because of the Full Tilt Poker Academy more people learn how to play and they follow all challenges, thus learning and playing good ABC poker. It is much easier to find bad player where there are a lot more to play against.

Also,

This has Been a good day for cash games

Besides tournaments I also played 4 sessions today. I had one at NL Hold'em 2 which was shy under 1000 hands and brought in a little over $1 but the real interesting ones were at NL 5. I had to stop after one hand, which an opponent played incredibly bad. I guess that always happens at these stakes and that is why I can not wait to move up. I was in the small blind and got 1 4X raise from seat 1 and then a caller in seat 3. Also, the button called. I thought there were too many in the pot and I had AK suited so I went for a move, a big bet and raised to 50 cents. Much to my surprise everyone called. I did play a lot of hands at the table and knew all of them well in what they played. Flop came 2 4 4 with 2 hearts. It was perfect for me with a pot of $2. I raised $1.55. The weakest player at the table went all in. He did that a lot of times before with total bluffs and I had to call. Much to my surprise he had 8 4 and no hearts. Flush came on the turn for me but a second 2 came on the river and I lost to a full house. I was steaming like hell then and simply stopped.

Sometimes Playing Good Poker is NOT ENOUGH

It is so incredible to see stupid/bad players luck out constantly on you. The latest example was a $1 buy-in Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Tournament. I quickly got to chip leader position and stayed there almost till the money. Then in around 10 great hands I lost, half of them on the river and got eliminated. I know I made a huge mistake as I should have at least pull to make it in the money but it is something very weird to get beaten by the same guy hand after hand when you have the best flop and then constantly win. But, hey, that is life. I also got a 2nd place in a shoot-out $2 tournament so I can start playing at higher stakes a little with confidence at NL5 now. I did play a little and got a little profit so it is ok. I covered all the tournament buy-ins and also got a profit so it was a great day but still, that PLO Hi/Lo is totally a shame.

Bad Tilting Moments

I went through some really bad Tilting moments ever since November 3. I was in 2 tournaments and I got out in both of them due to draws. In one I flopped a set of Queens and the turn and river gave the other guy, which went all in with a just a pair of eights, quads. That really sucked and I got really mad. After that in a PL Omaha Hi/Lo I flopped a straight with no real danger of a flush and outers for nuts lo. Unfortunately the turn and river gave the other guy that basically went all in due to other people that kept raising a higher straight and no LO hit. That was a bad moment and because I was tilting bad I kept playing and then basically lost a lot more in NL Holdem 20. Eh, now I feel better so let us see what this day brings.

Poker is Hard

Well, I am back again. I had to cash out and take out all my winnings and I started small again. I plan on playing 6 to 10 hours daily and some tournaments. Let us see how fast I can raise my bankroll of just 20 dollars on PokerStars. This is definitely going to be really hard but I think I can definitely do it. I am much more confident in my skills and much calmer.

Back in Poker

I had to take a break from poker and did not play much in the past months. This happened as I had to deal with some other aspects of my life. In any case. I am back and it looks like my game is going well. Had some bad beats but recovered. Now all I have to do is build up my bankroll. I will post later or tomorrow morning with an update and I am quite sure it will be a good one.

Really Bad Poker Weekend

I really had a bad beat weekend while playing poker. I lost a lot of my profits overall and simply put the lesson that I still need to learn is to just quit in the event that the sessions are not going well. I could have better watched a movie or maybe work on some other sites. The only good part of this weekend was the fact that I got to get back a very close friend of mine but that is about it. As far as poker goes I was a wreck. I lost in Hold'em 10 consecutive hands all with really good cards like suited AK, AA, KK and AQ. I even had a pre-flop all in guy with J2 off suit against my pocket Aces and he flopped a full house. To make manners even worse, after that, the exact following hand I had pocket kings and flopped a set. The other guy completed an 8 high straight thanks to the turn and the River.

As expected, after these things I wanted to quit but my Tilt probably got the best of me. Still, I did take some time off and now I do believe that all is better. My last session was a winning one and I did get my focus back.

April 16th - Second Poker Game

Since I did finish earlier with my regular work I decided to start a new poker session. It was really bad and I had a very bad start, almost losing all that I won in the previous session of the day. The good news came as I managed to take everything back and ended up with a long Rush Poker $0.02 - $0.05 Texas Hold'em session in which I even played 4 tables at a time. Total time played 3.38 hours just to take everything back and make a small profit. Here is how it all went.

Quick Stats:

Sessions: 1
Tables: 1 to 4
Hands: 2,621
Profit: $5.73
Big Bets Won Per 100 Hands: 2.19
Dollars Won Per Hour: $1.69
Biggest Won Hand Profit: $5.5
Biggest Lost Hand Amount: $5.10

Best Won Hand:

April 16th Poker Game

Today was a profitable day of poker. In just 1.85 hours I made $20.01 starting with $30. I played Rush Poker Texas Hold'em $0.02 - $0.05, 6 players at Full Tilt Poker. It was a pretty good session where I did get some very interesting hands. I can say that even luck was a little on my side.

Quick Stats:

Sessions: 1
Tables: 1
Hands: 642
Dollars Won Per 100 Hands: $3.12
Big Bets Won Per 100 Hands: 31.17
Dollars Won Per Hour: $10.82
Biggest Won Hand Profit: $4.45
Biggest Lost Hand Amount: $2.30

Biggest Won Hand: