Win a little, loose a little

Robert Clayton Dean: What the hell is happening?
Brill: I blew up the building.
Robert Clayton Dean: Why?
Brill: Because you made a phone call.

"Enemy of the State"

Well my little streak at UB is over, but all is not lost. In a $5 SNG I finished 5th, playing an early morning game after getting to bed at about 4am the night before, and with many bodies still strewn about the lounge room. I was in first position after a trap early on, but lost some of it when TPTK got done by a very small two pair. I was trying to give hte Poker 101 talk while this was all going on. In the end it was a case of playing marginal hands too much, and all was lost when AK couldn't get over a pocket pair. I did come back and place 3rd in a $10 SNG immediatly after this, so over all the net profit was about $4 or so. When 5 handed, we had 8 hands in a row that did not make it to the flop. Twice in a row on the big blind it was folded to me when I had TT and KK. Eventually when in the money I pushed with 44 and lost to AK. I was happy enough with that though.

Party is still kicking my ass, but I was able to limit my losses there to a few dollars only. I sat down at one table and made a tidy little profit when my Aces over tens beat tens over aces. That guy was not happy. I was ready to leave when the very next hand he goes all in for about $6 and it has been folded to me on the small blind. I had KQc, and I should have folded. But I thought maybe he is bluffing, on tilt and wants to get out. I called, and so did the big blind. The flop came AKx, and I put out a bet, which the big blind smooth called. The turn was another rag, and I thought to myself that I had already lost enough on this hand, he obivously has an ace, lets get out. I checked, he bet another $5 and I folded. My read was good, and his A6o was good enough to beat pocket nines. I may have been able to push him off his ace, but I didn't like my chances. Isn't low limit fun? I was disapointed I went chasing on that hand as it ruined the tiny profit I had for the session, which I would have been happy with given my recent performances on these tables. Just remember people, when you go "slumming" on these $25NL tables, they are some people's homes so show some respect (please?).

I've been looking at my pre-flop play. I try to keep it pretty simple, but I can get lost at times. I don't know how smart or +/-EV these are, but it's working to an extent for me. Premium hands get a raise 99.9% of the time. For me, premium hands are pocket A-T, AK,AQ,AJ, and sometimes KQ,KJ,QJ,JT,AT if suited/late position/feeling lucky. I will limp from the small blind with absolutly anything if it is an unraised pot. I will limp with small pocket pairs about 66% of the time, but not raise or call a raise with them. I will push with them when my stack is small though. One kind of hand I seldom play is suited connectors. I just can't call with 76h from middle or late position, yet I am constantly running into people who do. This is still a gray area for me. What are your general thoughts on suited connectors? I know it all depends on the situation of the game and so on, but lets generalize for a moment. From late position, level 3 of a tournament and you are about average, un-raised pot with 4 runners, what would you do with 89c? Interesting to see what people think. As I have said, I would fold but I can tend to play extremely tight because I am still very green in poker.

One play I do employ on occasion is the automatic bet post-flop from UTG (or any position really). This may not sound very smart (or it may, I wouldn't know) but mainly for tournament play where you can afford to loose an extra $20 of your $1000 stack. The main reason could be seen as to scare people off who missed the flop, but to be honest I do it mostly to get the people who press the "check/fold" button out of the action. I don't know what the results have been for this, and I should start to take notes on this. On occasions I have taken down a pot with 5 runners, so there is some return at times. More research needed on my behalf for definite results though. Again, commetns are encouraged, don't make me beg.