Party Poker saves me

Lately I have been having a bad run in the card rooms. I have stopped playing the $130 buy in tournaments at Casino AZ because I feel like it's just a crap shoot because the blinds go up so fast.

When I play 4-8 it just seems that I am not playing my best game. I think I am playing a little too loose with my starting hands and I may be chasing too many hands when the pots get big. I still need to get better at thinking more about what my opponet has and then figuring out my outs to get better. In other words, play the opponet and not the cards. It's not as big a deal in limit hold'em but it's everything in no limit.

Last Friday I played for about 6 hours at Casino Arizona and lost around $150. I was down about $260 before I clawed back. There was only one good play I made that I was proud of. I had Ace Jack and I had paired the Jack buy there was a King on the board and two clubs. My table image was pretty tight. When the third club hit on the turn it was checked to me. There were two guys left in a fairly large pot. I kind of felt like I had a decent chance at the best hand but I felt I couldn't give away another chance at someone drawing out on me with a flush so I bet. The first player folded obviously thinking I hit the flush. The guy on my right just called. Well the turn was a blank and the guy on my right checked to me again. Now I think to myself that if he's still here he probably has a decent hand but not the flush. If I check it through I have to show down and I had the feeling I was behind. If I bet he may fold. Plus I was probably going to call one bet on the river anyway because the pot was giving me something like 10-1. Anyway the guy on my right folded his pair of Kings because I sold him on the fact that I had the flush. For once I played the man, although I did it almost without really thinking about it. It was almost a subconscious move.

So after these recent beats, my cash gambling bankroll is down to around $600. I am kind of strapped right now in my bank accounts on account of trying to join Phoenix Country Club and trying to come up with the money I am going to owe my Dad at the end of the year from work. However I had over $400 in my Party Poker account and I was running decent there. From here I have decided to play more 2-4 online and work on the concepts from Small Stakes Hold'em and occasionally play the sit n go's. Last night I sat down on the 2-4 bad beat jackpot table.

From the get go I was getting good cards and there were horrible players. Right away I got reads on 3 or 4 players because they were all going to show down on the river. I love it when I get to see their cards on the end. One guy was playing every hand, one had pretty weak starting standards, and one guy only bet first if he had the nuts. I was lucky enough to be involved in hands with each of these guys repeatedly in just the kind of spots that I could take advantage of my reads. Plus I hit a two pair on the river once to win a big pot, I had 4 aces once, and 4 threes another time. I couldn't lose and ended up winning $172 in a little over an hour. That's 43 big bets! Finally a good run of cards.