Felicia Lee Dyer (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} felicialee1) wrote,@ 2007-06-16 09:56:00 |
|
A Runaway Train Wreck
We decided to head back up to Binion's on Tuesday afternoon after all. Really bad decision. Glenn was feeling better, true, but the temps were well above 100 and the "new" car (a 1994) couldn't keep up with the heat. I guess we need to get the a/c serviced. The coolant just can't take the extremes. So we were very hot and miserable by the time we got downtown. On the up side, the BMW is getting over 30 mpg, whereas our gas guzzling SUV was only getting about 18 mpg on the highway.
So the $500 NLHE was already in progress. The stacks were deep, and it took a long time for the field to really thin. Great turnout. Glenn was too late to enter, but I was happy to see them getting good business.
I figured I'd play the PLO event if I made my buy-in. I didn't. I guess it was time for my good run to end, but I never expected it to end in such an explosion. I didn't win all evening on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning I figured I'd sit down and maybe things would turn around. On my first hand, I had AA and bet and raised into a guy who was a calling station. In a shorthanded game, heads-up, I still couldn't beat Q3. Yes, he came the whole way with me, with Q3. Maybe he thought I was coming to the table and trying to bully the players. Maybe he thought I was bluffing. But truly, what kind of hand can Q3 beat? Obviously, if one stays to the river, it can beat aces, lol ;)
I should have just called it a wash and quit for the day. Instead, I played on, in a myriad of games: 4/8 LHE, 1/2 NLHE, 4/8 O8, 4/8 HORSE, etc. And I lost in every one. I lost five buy-in's on Wednesday, almost always going in with the best of it. I think five buy-in's is my personal best. I couldn't beat anyone. Not the passive granny calling stations, not the hyper aggressive asians, not the methed out abusive all-inner, not the every hand $25 to-go blind raiser, not the first-time-playing-poker-because-I-saw-i
Things turned around somewhat on Thursday, but by then I'd just had enough. Enough of the smelly crackheads downtown, enough of the hookers trying to make a buy-in, enough of the woman with open, oozing and bleeding sores all over her arms but still wearing a wife-beater, enough of everyone.
Glenn couldn't make a hand in the Thursday event, and was licking his wounds. We retired early and just laid in bed together, watching TV (since we don't have it at home, every show is fresh and something different).
We decided to go home early on Friday (yesterday), and haven't left the house since.
Tournament poker isn't for me, blah. I keep telling myself this, I keep telling the world this, and yet, I keep playing, like a junkie. I don't have the stamina and feel beat up whenever we come home. It takes me days to recover, and I don't feel any satisfaction from it, even when I play well. The thing is, I like playing Stud games, and don't get the chance to play them very often, so the tournament arena is perfect for that. Plus the camaraderie among the circuit players. Those two incidentals keep me playing something where I have proven to myself I am dead money. What a moron.
In another discovery, I found that Glenn is not suited for the tournament circuit, either. I had hopes that he had matured in the past year, to the extent that he could handle the swings, the beats, the long hours. Well, hours he can handle, but the other two are impossible for him. He simply takes things personally. Like that guy with the 93o really had it out for him when he called all-in against Glenn's jacks. He can't seem to get past the reality that bad players don't always know that they are making huge mistakes. To him, it is hurtful and they are doing it out of spite or malice. Ah, well. For now he can continue to function like a machine at Riverside, getting into the money about 50% of the time or more (I know, it sound impossible, but that man is like a robot). Big tourneys aren't suited for Glenn's personality. He is a small timer, and that is fine with me. I am, too.
Yet a third revelation was cemented in my brick-like brain while we were at Binion's. We both would succeed better at poker were we not attached at the hip. This is a problem for many couples, I am sure.
It's not that Glenn hurts my playing, nor vice versa, it's just that I will stick around longer when I should leave, because Glenn is running good. Or I will leave early when I'm running well because Glenn is not. It's a bad situation. I think probably all couples go through this if both of them are into poker.
When Glenn was gone to NC, I had no problem running up $1500 in three days. I also had no problem getting out of the room when I was running bad one day and dumped $250 in little time. But when Glenn is there, well, my good runs aren't nearly as good, and my bad runs are double. The same goes for him. It's a no-win situation.
This is something that isn't going to change.
Oddly, some poker players can see their glaring mistakes and leaks when they are running badly. I certainly do. I am not fooling myself into thinking I'm a world-class player. I have never been, even if I was perhaps on the road in that direction five years ago. I am a low roller and a rock. I'm a break even grinder in live play, and a slight winner online. I have never had a winning year live, due to tourney buy-ins. I have always won online, cashing out small amounts here and there, and never busting once in five years (weird, but that is what rocks do best).
For now, I'm sick of the trip up to Vegas again (no surprise there, I've never liked Vegas). I won't play the Razz event today, I won't play any events next week, most likely. I might not even go back once during the rest of the series. I'm burnt out.
It's back to the RS and their great summer promo, for this grinder.
Felicia :)
We decided to head back up to Binion's on Tuesday afternoon after all. Really bad decision. Glenn was feeling better, true, but the temps were well above 100 and the "new" car (a 1994) couldn't keep up with the heat. I guess we need to get the a/c serviced. The coolant just can't take the extremes. So we were very hot and miserable by the time we got downtown. On the up side, the BMW is getting over 30 mpg, whereas our gas guzzling SUV was only getting about 18 mpg on the highway.
So the $500 NLHE was already in progress. The stacks were deep, and it took a long time for the field to really thin. Great turnout. Glenn was too late to enter, but I was happy to see them getting good business.
I figured I'd play the PLO event if I made my buy-in. I didn't. I guess it was time for my good run to end, but I never expected it to end in such an explosion. I didn't win all evening on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning I figured I'd sit down and maybe things would turn around. On my first hand, I had AA and bet and raised into a guy who was a calling station. In a shorthanded game, heads-up, I still couldn't beat Q3. Yes, he came the whole way with me, with Q3. Maybe he thought I was coming to the table and trying to bully the players. Maybe he thought I was bluffing. But truly, what kind of hand can Q3 beat? Obviously, if one stays to the river, it can beat aces, lol ;)
I should have just called it a wash and quit for the day. Instead, I played on, in a myriad of games: 4/8 LHE, 1/2 NLHE, 4/8 O8, 4/8 HORSE, etc. And I lost in every one. I lost five buy-in's on Wednesday, almost always going in with the best of it. I think five buy-in's is my personal best. I couldn't beat anyone. Not the passive granny calling stations, not the hyper aggressive asians, not the methed out abusive all-inner, not the every hand $25 to-go blind raiser, not the first-time-playing-poker-because-I-saw-i
Things turned around somewhat on Thursday, but by then I'd just had enough. Enough of the smelly crackheads downtown, enough of the hookers trying to make a buy-in, enough of the woman with open, oozing and bleeding sores all over her arms but still wearing a wife-beater, enough of everyone.
Glenn couldn't make a hand in the Thursday event, and was licking his wounds. We retired early and just laid in bed together, watching TV (since we don't have it at home, every show is fresh and something different).
We decided to go home early on Friday (yesterday), and haven't left the house since.
Tournament poker isn't for me, blah. I keep telling myself this, I keep telling the world this, and yet, I keep playing, like a junkie. I don't have the stamina and feel beat up whenever we come home. It takes me days to recover, and I don't feel any satisfaction from it, even when I play well. The thing is, I like playing Stud games, and don't get the chance to play them very often, so the tournament arena is perfect for that. Plus the camaraderie among the circuit players. Those two incidentals keep me playing something where I have proven to myself I am dead money. What a moron.
In another discovery, I found that Glenn is not suited for the tournament circuit, either. I had hopes that he had matured in the past year, to the extent that he could handle the swings, the beats, the long hours. Well, hours he can handle, but the other two are impossible for him. He simply takes things personally. Like that guy with the 93o really had it out for him when he called all-in against Glenn's jacks. He can't seem to get past the reality that bad players don't always know that they are making huge mistakes. To him, it is hurtful and they are doing it out of spite or malice. Ah, well. For now he can continue to function like a machine at Riverside, getting into the money about 50% of the time or more (I know, it sound impossible, but that man is like a robot). Big tourneys aren't suited for Glenn's personality. He is a small timer, and that is fine with me. I am, too.
Yet a third revelation was cemented in my brick-like brain while we were at Binion's. We both would succeed better at poker were we not attached at the hip. This is a problem for many couples, I am sure.
It's not that Glenn hurts my playing, nor vice versa, it's just that I will stick around longer when I should leave, because Glenn is running good. Or I will leave early when I'm running well because Glenn is not. It's a bad situation. I think probably all couples go through this if both of them are into poker.
When Glenn was gone to NC, I had no problem running up $1500 in three days. I also had no problem getting out of the room when I was running bad one day and dumped $250 in little time. But when Glenn is there, well, my good runs aren't nearly as good, and my bad runs are double. The same goes for him. It's a no-win situation.
This is something that isn't going to change.
Oddly, some poker players can see their glaring mistakes and leaks when they are running badly. I certainly do. I am not fooling myself into thinking I'm a world-class player. I have never been, even if I was perhaps on the road in that direction five years ago. I am a low roller and a rock. I'm a break even grinder in live play, and a slight winner online. I have never had a winning year live, due to tourney buy-ins. I have always won online, cashing out small amounts here and there, and never busting once in five years (weird, but that is what rocks do best).
For now, I'm sick of the trip up to Vegas again (no surprise there, I've never liked Vegas). I won't play the Razz event today, I won't play any events next week, most likely. I might not even go back once during the rest of the series. I'm burnt out.
It's back to the RS and their great summer promo, for this grinder.
Felicia :)
