Big hand - I have AQ. Three players - me, Seat 1 and Seat 6. Flop is Axx, two diamonds. Seat 6 bets 2600, I call, and Seat 1 calls. Turn is another blank. Seat 6 bets 4000, I call, Seat 1 bets 24,000. Seat 6 folds. I call. River is a diamond. I bet 20,000. The pro tries to engage, but I have the sunglasses and headphones and 1000 yard stare. He folds. 144,900.
88 in the small blind. Everyone folds around to me, including the button. I raise to 2400. Big blind calls. Flop is J67. I bet 6000. Big blind (the 4 bracelet guy) calls. Turn is 7, so I bet 12,000. He instafolds. I’ve now taken pots from the two super-pros.
Who says this game is hard?
_____________________________
A note about my playing style today. I’m still wearing the black suit, white shirt, with Texas cuff links. But today, I’m also wearing sunglasses and headphones with the noise cancelling function turned on.
 |
| The Sphinx |
This has turned out to be a boon. I am in my own bubble, barely any noise, giving away nothing. And the guys at the table understand that I am being antisocial for strategic reasons. They’ve pretty much stopped trying to talk to me at all.
In my bubble, the time feels like it’s flying by. The other thing that is happening is that I am listening to my own advice. Don’t fall in love with this hand, I tell myself. Don’t overbet this ace.
When I was at dinner with Anar the other night, I asked him if he had ever thought one thing, but physically did something completely different. Because that happened to me all the time. I would be thinking No, no, no, don’t call that bet - you’re beat but my hands would involuntarily reach for chips to either call or, worse, raise.
Almost inevitably, my inner voice would be right and I would be filled with regrets and recriminations. Being in the bubble has mitigated that, not completely, but pretty well.
The only time today I’ve ignored my inner voice was when I had A8c on the button with one raiser - Seat 4. My inner voice was telling me Call or fold, but I raised to 8000. When Seat 4 re-raised me all-in for 60,000 chips, my IV said Told you, and I heard it loud and clear.
____________________________
We’ve lost two players. Seat 2, as expected with his small starting stack, and Seat 6, who was playing too many hands. The new Seat 2 has about 70,000 and plays like an aggressive pro. The new Seat 6 has about my stack, but seems to be pretty tight.
The problem with new players at the table is that they have no history with me, so I have to play tight with them until I can reestablish my table image for their benefit. This turns out to be a good thing, because I should be playing tight anyway, especially now that I have built up a nice stack.
____________________
End of the seventh level, and I’m at 133,500. Taking my time.
✌️😎👍
ReplyDelete