The Swings of 6max

Posted by icemonkey9 on Apr 28, 2009 in 6max | 0 comments

I have a prop bet going with Tygran over at Cardschat that either he or me will hit platinum. The idea was to motivate us to put in the hands to achieve this VIP level. Unfortunately for both of us, poker took a very nasty turn. At one point I was down about -$650 for the month, then things went well and I was +$300 for the month ... then this weekend happened. Saturday went poor, got coolered a bit and didn't get good action. Sunday went okay, broke even in 2k hands despite hitting, get this, one set all day.

Then the bottom fell out today and I hit the rare 5 buy-in stop loss. That's right, -$500. For some of you, that's a drop in the bucket. Yay for you lol ... but for me it's a stop loss and with the swinginess of 6max that's the breaks. The good news is that I don't think my game is horrible, I think there were some spots where I got my money in good and just came out horrible, From today:

• QJ with two pair loses at the river to straight.
• AJ for top pair in 3bet pot when villain had better (made what I think was a good fold, ChuckTs seems to agree from the HA thread.
• AT in bad cbet spot in 3bet pot, made the cbet and gave up when villain stacked.
• 33 for a flopped set to a flush on monotone board. Villain was a 40/5/2 type, I had outs to the boat and didn't hit.
• QJ for top pair + flush draw to TPTK (AQ) with no draw as we both got it in at the flop.
• KK deep all in preflop vs AK and vs 47s and the AK hit 4 to a flush.

Anyways, I think it was WV that asked me why I am learning 6max at 100nl, but I feel with the 25k hands at 25nl, and I think 15-20k of hands at 50nl 6max I have adequate knowledge. I'll leave it to the coach once we get started but even with all this bullcrap I still have 50 buy-ins in the bankroll. If the coach says I'm in over my head, I can live with that.

So the platinum run might end at 6,424 VPPs, almost 1k VPPs short of the goal. So close, yet so far. Obviously when I have such a disastrous weekend I have to examine my mental state and my game to see if anything has sprung loose. I feel terrible asking help from friends since I just asked for help recently, kind of like that miserable friend you have who is constantly down on his luck. It's a very isolating feeling.

Anyways, wish I posted more when things are going well lol ... but part of this blog's purpose is to "get out the emotion via written word" and the good news is that I'm not ready to kill people left and right tilt-wise and recovered well after pretty much being at that point earlier in the day with the KK hand.

So if you've made it this far, thanks a ton for reading, I know these posts aren't a lot of fun. Hopefully as I learn and discuss strategy I can post my thoughts and situations, which should be helpful and constructive for all!