The Bat Cave

Maybe Black Friday was the best thing that could happen to me. For the second straight month, I killed the live small stakes games and turned a profit of $1500+. I certainly wasn’t turning that kind of profit online.

It’s been an interesting month for me. My cover is blown. I’m no longer a decent player that ventures into the casino a couple times a month. I play several times a week for many hours and when you crush a game consistently over a couple months people take notice. I think I’ve been a somewhat respected player for a long time, but this past month things elevated to a new level. Here are some of the things people have said about me:

“You’re the last person I wanted to see walk in right now.”

Opponent: “I have to raise.”
Other Player: “Yeah, but you’re raising the wrong guy.”

“Normally, I would call, but I’m not playing against you.”

“As far as I can see, this kid is the chalk. If I had to put my money on anyone, it’d be him.”

“Best player in the county.”

Ok… I can admit, it’s nice to hear things like that and quite an ego-boost, but there’s also a downside. I definitely don’t want to hear people saying, “normally I would call.” If people are adjusting when I’m in the game that’s never a good thing for my bottom line. I want them to gamble with me, not tighten up.

Also, as good as my results have been the past two months, I still have some severe leaks in my game. I don’t play a ton of $3-$6, but I’m starting to think I shouldn’t play it at all. I’m -1.65 BB/HR over 55 hours the past 3+ months in that game. I mostly play that game on Wednesdays to kill time between tournaments. Aside from the harsher affect of the rake and tipping on my win rate, the day game seems to play much tighter and passive than the night games… which means if I get stuck it’s much harder to get even and I can play a lot less hands profitably. It’s just not my kind of game.

Playing tons of hours over the past couple months has helped my steam factor quite a bit. In the past, I could start to tilt if I was down $50-$60 to start a session… but now, I understand the concept of a “it’s all one long session.” Many nights over the past two months, I’ve been stuck $200-$300 at some point only to show a profit by the end of the night. If the game is good, the variance is going to be a lot greater, but so is your chances of turning things around. If you’re stuck in a tight game with little action, you might as well go home. I’ve learned to take my beats in stride because the money comes back eventually.

Even so, I haven’t completely freed myself of the Tilt Monster. For the second straight month I had a 85+ big bet downswing in the final week, turning a spectacular month into a merely good one. I use the word downswing loosely, however, because I can’t blame it all on bad luck. During my past four sessions, I was mostly playing poorly. I’ve gotten used to my aces being cracked, losing to flushes and straights on the rivers, but when you’re continually losing to 2-5 outers on the turn and river, while missing your big combo draws all in the same session, it can be incredibly frustrating… and when I’m frustrated, I don’t play good poker. Frustration probably cost me about $400 over the past four days. It’s a leak that needs to be addressed, because like it can turn a great month into a good one, it can turn a winning month into a losing one.

Future Plans

With a decent bankroll built up, I’m looking at playing some bigger events. I’ll be playing the $300 NL event at Muckleshoot on Friday, September 9th, and I’m planning on going to The Fall Poker Round-Up in Pendleton, Oregon at the Wildhorse Casino in November. At the moment, I’ll be playing the first six events, but that’s subject to change based on how well I do the next three months and how much backing I can get.

July Results:

Overall Gambling: +$1791
Overall Poker: +$1875
Live: +$1568
House Games: +$307
Pit: -$84
$3-$6: -$40 over 22.66 hours
$4-$8: +$834 over 103.08 hours
NL: +$465 over 6.83 hours
Tournaments: +$418 (13 tournaments, 6 cashes, 2 1sts)

YTD Overall: +$4756.80