Brutal

Two very bad days of poker. Took my biggest loss of the year (and last year for that matter) as I lost 50 Big Bets Sunday. Then, to top it off, I suffered a BRUTAL suckout last night in the Hoy just as I was about to sit atop the board. I min raised with AA, only the BB called. When the flop was 67Q and he bet pot, I KNEW he hit the Queen. I raised it up to 2/3rds his stack. I did NOT want to wait for the turn where he might smell danger. No, I wanted him to think I had something like A7s or JJ. He makes a comment about thinking he is behind and yet, shoves his chips in. Turns out he was worried about being out-kicked, as he flipped over Q8. Then he turned the 8 and I was decimated.

But enough of that. That happens. My major concern was how I lost all those big bets. Well, as I look through the hands, it turns out that TWICE I flopped TPTK vs. a SET where I had the SET covered and thus had a hard time getting away. Here is a case of my own psychology working against me. I have always said that its harder to fold against a short stack, even after the flop. And its true. I am very worried that because of my obsession with tournament play, my cash game sucks donkeys. I need to play some more.

In other news, I have decided that the $1500 game for my at the WSOP is NLHE6. When you play NLHE and the field is 2500 players, you get the "donkey affect". This is where the donkey's clash and build up chips for other donkeys. At the end of level 1, you have added say 20% to you chip stack. But some donkeys have doubled up 3 times and you are suddenly WAY behind. It just doesn't play to my strengths. I thought about the "shoot-out" format, which would be better for me, but you have to take first (in your 1 table SnG) to advance. I am particularly good at getting first-third. But second happens much more often than first for me.

NLHE 6 handed, however, is a post flop game. Almost every hand is played post flop. Despite the similar fluctuations of suckouts as with NLHE, there are much fewer pre-flop race type hands where people shove with AK pre-flop. You spend more hands truly thinking about the action, again something I feel plays to my strengths.