Horrendous Session

I just finished a horrible 4 hrs session. I'm definitely down a bunch of buyins. I felt like every time I put my stack on the line, I get sucked out or something horrible happens. These are some of the key hands that hurt me this session.


Hand #1

The guy I'm 3betting preflop is decent. I tried to 3bet him preflop pretty frequently but not frequent enough for him to suspect I would do this with 55.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Button ($35.65)
Hero ($29.90)
BB ($25)
UTG ($50.20)
MP ($22.80)
CO ($26.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5c, 5h.
3 folds, Button raises to $1, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, Button calls $2.

Flop: ($6.25) 5d, 6d, Qc (2 players)
Hero bets $3.8, Button raises to $32, Hero calls $23.10 (All-In).

Turn: ($65.15) 9h (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($65.15) 4d (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $65.15

Results below:
Hero has 5c 5h (three of a kind, fives).
Button has 9c 9d (three of a kind, nines).
Outcome: Button wins $65.15.

He said he put me on AK and I've been cbetting every single flop practically so he must have thought I had nothing. I don't know why he shoved, well I tried to make him pay but it didn't happen. He sucked out. Perfect play, but bad timing.



Hand#2:

This is one of the last hands in the session before I called it quits.



PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

MP ($25.50)
CO ($51)
Button ($32.05)
SB ($35.05)
Hero ($27.75)
UTG ($28.20)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Ts, Th.
UTG raises to $1.25, 2 folds, Button calls $1.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.

Flop: ($3.85) Ah, 4d, Td (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $3.5, Button folds, Hero raises to $12, UTG raises to $26.95, Hero calls $14.50 (All-In).

Turn: ($57.30) Ad (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($57.30) 4c (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $57.30

Results below:
Hero has Ts Th (full house, tens full of aces).
UTG has Ac Kh (full house, aces full of fours).
Outcome: UTG wins $57.30.

I hit a set and he had TPTK. For some reason he thought that was good and I guess my image gives me this opportunity. Yet another big suck out that I really couldn't afford.



Hand #3

This one is more interesting..

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Button ($73.40)
SB ($7.85)
BB ($22.70)
Hero ($25.95)
MP ($25)
CO ($36.65)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Ac, Ad.
Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold.

Flop: ($3.25) Tc, 7c, 9h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.25, CO raises to $35.65, SB calls $6.85 (All-In), Hero calls $22.70 (All-In).

Turn: ($70.70) 2d (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($70.70) 9s (3 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $70.70

Results below:
SB has Ah Td (two pair, tens and nines).
Hero has Ac Ad (two pair, aces and nines).
CO has 9c Jc (three of a kind, nines).
Outcome: CO wins $70.70.


I didn't like multiway pot but I wasn't worried about the short stack too much. It really looked like he was on a draw. I hate 50/50 situations. I was hoping maybe he had OP, which would make this call profitable.

* * *

Anyways, these are the hands I basically put my stacks in and came out behind. These are extremely frustrating. I'm surprised at my emotional stability, I did not get upset at all. There was a period during the session I felt "wow this sucks, I'm behind so much now" (probably behind 6 BIs total).

Also for this session, I was playing 6 tables instead of my usual 4. I think this hurt me, but my reasoning was that with 4 tables, I was really doing nothing a lot of the times. And my winrate was relatively slow because I figure if I get more good hands coming, I can make a bit more. Also, it will help my focus and become a little more tighter. It just sucks sometimes during the whole session, I wouldn't catch a good opportunity at all. Only winrate I obtain are stealing blinds and cbetting. Those are pretty brainless. Even if I don't stack anybody, with more tables these small winrate should be still obtainable.

I did notice that my metagame, hand reading abilities went to shit playing more tables. This is a key in my style. Also, I get bluffed probably more often than usual. I won't be able to keep track of individual villians and profit off them. Man, I figure 25NL should be easy. Maybe my table selection was horrid.

Talking about table selection, I found some tables that I would have 3 callers from limpers every time I raise. That is frustrating when I would have a very marginal hand. Of course I tighten up after that. But playing bad players have huge disadvantages, it really does cause variance a lot. Almost every hand I get beat by the river are hands they draw to a gutdraw or they pull a 2 pair w/ flopped mid pair. This is extremely frustrating, no hand reading skills can help ease that.

One thing I think I want to change is my aggression level. I'm afraid to do this though because aggression sometimes means bluffing with air. I don't do this very much, but when I have the best hand I should really bet out harder. Even though sometimes I'm beat, in a long run, I think I make more being more reckless than always worrying about a better hand is out there.

This balance between reckless and careful style is hard to obtain. I wish I have a better grasp of this concept. Also, learning from stronger players don't always help you do better in micro stakes. There are so many factors involved while playing the game that one or two changes probably will not change your short term results. That's pretty scary because a really bad downswing can really put any player out of business. I hope I figure this out and obtain some solid confidence soon.