Tuesday, January 17, 2006

And over the cliff!

On Sunday afternoon, it dawn on me that I was in the poker zone. My tournament play was feeling spot on. I had made 3 final tables in a row, getting cash in 1 and an entry to a bigger buy-in in another. I had won 2 other SnGs. I felt I was playing great.

Even a suckout in a Sunday morning SnG that sent me out in 9th couldn't dampen my spirits. I came right back to win a buy-in into a $200k guaranteed tourney on PokerRoom.

But at the end of the first hour, it came crashing down. I chased a flush (had 6 to 1 odds) that didn't hit. It hurt. But on the next hand I chased again with Q 10 suited, another hand I despise, and gave up more chips. From there I was blinded off.

At that moment, I felt like I fell over a cliff. The rush was gone.

Last night I felt the sting a bit more. A tremendous kick to the jewels was delivered when I flopped a full house. All bets were in on the river and I lost to the higher fullhouse.

I then made my decision to not play ring games at Full Tilt. For whatever reason, I just cannot win. The beats come again and again for me there. Now, I know that it just seems that way as we always remember the beats more than the big pots we drag in, but my PokerTracker stats back it up.

I love the tournaments no matter what others say about the structure being atrocious. The play is pretty damn soft and winning tokens to play the nightly guarantees is easy. I wish they would introduce higher token games than the $69+6. Having just one of those late night doesn't work for an early morning working guy like me.

I did hear a funny comment from a friend of mine that also plays on Full Tilt. From along the lines of "online poker is rigged", he swears up and down that if you buy into a tournament with a token you will not win. No matter what. The site doesn't want tokens winners to win the tourneys because they don't make any money that way. Though I tried to point out they made their money on the token paying SnGs, he wasn't hearing it. Nothing you can say to change their minds.

Noble gave me $20 to lure me back. I have started to play some low blinds NL there to strengthen that portion of my game. I have been donking a bit taking it up to $55 but back down to $26. I am hoping to go on a nice rush like BadBlood did and cash something decent out. Or I will just toss it into a guaranteed tourney there though they are rather weak.

Any which way, I need to find my way out of the short funk I fell into. I feel one of the FTP tournies calling my name tonight.

2 comments:

Joaquin "The Rooster" Ochoa said...

Take a day off to relax and enjoy the wins. Think all your past wins over and over again...the rush will continue.

StB said...

Thanks for the encouragement Rooster. I am doing just that. Developing a plan to get back in the swing of things.