Confidence Mirrors Results

A week or so ago I realized something. I'd been playing for the previous month or so with very little confidence in my game. Of course I did have a good reason to be hesitant.. every move I seemed to make at the tables seemed to blow up in my face.

Forgetting the two years of positive results that was a result of grinding it out and playing solid poker I went into what i've come to call my poker depression. I am over that dissapointing phase of my life by the way..

The question then became how to get my confidence back. There were two parts to this that I will try and explain as briefly as possible.

1. My friends Mike and Chad came to Vegas for a week long vacation from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin. They stayed at the house for a couple of those days and one of the nights we decided to play drunk 5 dollar sit and go's. It's hard for me to comprehend how a 5 dollar tournament helped me to get my confidence back in much higher stakes games... yet it did.

I was able to take down seven of the ten tournaments we played and two of the three I lost I was all-in as an 80%+ favorite but was outdrawn. No offense to these guys if they happen to read my blog.... but they were just bad. I had a great read on both of them and I was able to call out their hole cards on several occasions. It felt good to helplessly beat down the weaker players... which brings me to part two.

2. I decided to step down a couple levels and try and have a couple winning sessions before sitting back at my bigger games. You would be amazed what pulling multiple buyin wins at the 1/2 and 2/4 no limit levels can do to you at the bigger games. Especially when your confidence at poker is at an all time low.

The players at these levels are alot more timid and thus can be ran over much easier. I assume the main reason is that the money mean alot more to players at these levels than at bigger games. An $80 bet at 5/10 or 10/20 is nothing yet at the 2/4 level it can be pretty intimidating.

In a search for inspiration one day I stumbled across this classic quote from the Texas Dolly himself that is now written on the dry-erase board on my wall. "Try to decide how good your hand is at a given moment. Nothing else matters. Nothing!"

Anyways.. I've been playing pretty solid the last few days. I've been running well in the pot limit omaha games on bodog. I consider this game to be more of my specialty than no limit holdem. The 3/6 game has been a solid choice lately. I really believe that players in this game are much easier to play against. My style in this game is simply either I have it or I don't. I won't draw at less than the nuts and I won't draw without the right odds. So many people get caught with the 2nd nuts or bottom set and can't let it go in this game that if you play solid and don't stray from a winning strategy it can be very profitable.

I did have one hand today that cut into my early profits I will tell you about.. then it's time to sleep for me. I played this hand like a complete chump.

Playing 5/10 no-limit I was two from the button with a raise to $35 by the second to act and 3 callers in front I made the call with As 9s.

Flop was 3h Js 8s.

It checks to the player on my immediate right who bets $75... a little less than half the pot. I make the call with the nut flush draw and player on the button thinks for awhile before calling also. Everyone else folds.

Turn 3s

This time player on my right bets out $110. I think for a moment before calling. I'm getting skeptical at this point and I figure the best thing here would be to see what this guy does on the river. The player on the button thinks forever before calling.

River 4d

Again he fires. This time $330. Everything in me is screaming fold. There are two reasons a fold is a no brainer here.

1. I have played with this guy before and I have notes on him. I know that he is able to give up on a hand and probably won't fire here without the goods. Absolute best case scenario for me besides a bluff is he has a hand like Ks Qs but would he really fire here with that hand and two people calling him on the turn?

2. Hello? Did you forget about the guy on the button smooth calling the whole way. He could be sitting on Jd Jh and laughing his ass off at both of us. The odds are against it since he could of and should of raised that hand on the flop. Yet the possibility is there and should be weighed in. If #1 isn't enough the combination of both these reasons is an EASY fold.

Instead... I make the call. The button thinks forever again and makes the call with god knows what but it doesn't matter because the guy on my right shows 3d 3c for quads and rakes in a nice pot.

Enough is enough... I'm off to bed. Hope my aimless ranting made some sense to you guys.

Until next time

Monday session results +1200