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.