Hella Hold'em

How to Lose 3 Buy-in's in 6 Hours at Majestic Star:

1. Call a raised pot from the big blind with AK. Flop a king, get all in, and watch your opponent turn a 9 for two pair, Kings and Nines.

2. See a cheap flop from the small blind with 4-6 of hearts. Flop the nut straight on a board of 2-3-5. Bet big. Get called. Watch your opponent raise big over your turn bet when an 8 hits. Push the rest of your stack all in. Get called by two pair, 8's and 5's. Watch your opponent catch his 4-outer full house on the river.

3. See a 5-way unraised flop with pocket 2's. Flop a set. Bet the pot UTG. Get raised by a power of 4. Push all in for what little more you have. Hear your opponent call, saying, "I've got a set..." Of nines.

Then hear your opponent say, "Ha ha, we were both slow playing our sets!" Look at him like he's out of his mind and reply, "I'm not sure that betting the pot under the gun and then pushing all in is 'slow playing'..." Leave before you punch somebody.

It was an absolute blood bath for me at Majestic tonight. Did make one good laydown. Another top pair incident. Folded after betting out on the flop and watching a stiff raise and a call in front of me. Turns out I was up against a flopped set. Top pair no good. (I think I only played 2 hands other than the 3 described above... only slightly exaggerating).

Learned one lesson that could have saved me that last buy-in:

The story goes: It was shortly after buying in for a 3rd time. I saw a cheap flop from the big blind in a straddled pot with 34 of hearts. Flopped the ass end of an open ended straight draw, 5-6 on the flop. Checked. Guy after me bet just over the size of the pot, $25. One caller. I had about $80 in my stack. The pot had around $75 in it. I was getting the right odds to call my open ender (also had a backdoor flush draw, fwiw). I looked at my stack. The call was about 1/3 of it. Since I knew that was my last buy in, I folded because I didn't want to miss my draw and have only $50 in front of me. The turn hit my straight and I would have won the pot, but that's not even the point.

The point is, the moment you start making decisions for the wrong reasons, LEAVE. Get up and walk away. Either play your game or don't play at all, and my game revolves around the math. That's how I play. And I made that decision to fold DESPITE the math. I made that decision to fold out of fear. Fear of losing chips. Fear of missing the draw. Despite the fact that if I were on my game, I would have called.

I should have walked away the moment I made that laydown for the wrong reasons.

I may be tilting this evening, but I'm considering going back into live poker hibernation. I just can't seem to gain any traction. One step forward, two steps back. It was the same situation back in February, when I tried to get back into the game after spending my bankroll on the new house last summer. I'm not willing to make "losing" a habit, and if I'm not winning, I'd rather not play. I can't afford to sink my personal money into poker, and if these attempts at seeding my bankroll don't work, I'm just going to have to wait for the next seed to come along. I've got about one shot left in me, and right now I am not feeling the love.