2.0

I swear that I will not continue the windows-esque entitling of my blogs, but it just seems appropos for the now.

It's about 4:17 in the am, and I am still awake.  Sunday night is poker night, and if I am still up at this hour, it usually means I lost big, and I am stuck replaying the evening and trying to figure out what went wrong. (I dare you to diagram that last sentence.  I assure you that it is grammatically correct.)

This evening was not a total disaster.  In fact, no disaster at all. I am down only 1 black chip, but I feel like I played better than that.  My biggest problem with poker right now is accurately putting people on hands after the flop.

When I flop top pair, I bet regardless of position, unless my kicker sucks.  (*Note: if you don't know poker terms, this blog may not be for you.)  If I flop middle or bottom pair, and there is no action, and I am in late position, I bet.

I get called.  A lot. Too often actually.  I have been playing for a little over a year and a half.  When I first started playing, like many fish, I bluffed.  A lot. Too often actually.

So now, even though I have developed as a player, I still get called like I am bluffing.  So often, I end up losing with top pair and top kicker on the flop when my opponents pair their kicker with lesser pairs or make trips.

And I lose.  And it blows.  I am at the point where I feel like I have to have the nuts in order to drag a pot.  Sure, I take stabs at small pots in late postion when I have nothing, and I am happy to win those pots, but I simply cannot get people to fold hands that draw to the nuts when I flop the best hand and bet out.

I have tried to mix things up:  I bet out bigger to ruin the pot odds, and I get called.  All this does is make me lose more when they draw out on me.  I bet out smaller, hoping that it looks like I am betting for value even on the flop, and I get called.

I know that I am supposed to be happy when I get called with the best hand.  However, I am extremely frustrated when I get called and get sucked out on.

I have read a few poker books, and I continue to read poker and game theory.  It has helped, but mostly it has helped me realize when to fold.  I know.  I know.  You can win by folding because you aren't wasting money chasing hands that end up not hitting, but g-dammit, I would like to win but winning, too.

I play a lot online.  However, I play a lot on facebook.  Which is actually bullshit poker. Facebook/Zynga poker is free -- no real money.  So, there is no real losing which means there is no real winning either.  People call with nothing because it costs them nothing.  Also, I have noticed that I hit more straights and flushes on facebook than I do in live poker.  I think that the randomizer on FB poker actually rewards aggressive play.  Since there is no money involved, does it matter if that is true?  I supposed not, but it is all but useless to try to apply FB lessons learned to live poker.

I am a smart guy, I like math, and I like to compete.  All of which should help in my desire to be a better poker player.  Nevertheless, I feel like I have hit a poker wall.  Maybe I need to read new poker books.  Maybe I need to play with new players who don't know my game and whose game I don't know either.  Maybe I should stop playing on FB because the $8 million in fake FB dollars I have accumulated make me think that I am a better player than I am.

Maybe, I just cannot get any better than I have gotten.  There are several reasons why I refuse to believe that.  The main reason is ego.  Another, rational, reason is that with more experience, one usually improves at any endeavor. I know that I will probably get better as I continue to play, but I like the charge I get from winning.  I need to find a way to get that charge more often.