Flushed away

Down $108 last night.I was trying very hard to play my best game.Can't complain about the cards although it was one of those nights where when I raised with AA and KK the table folded but when I raised the same amount with QQ I get a caller holding A6 who hits his two pair on the flop.Just got to keep remembering that its players like that who've helped get my bankroll where it is.

I almost always rebuy to the max if I lose over 20% of it.If you're going to play a patient tight game waiting for decent hands then you want paid off in full if they win.It also helps project a strong table image as nobody ever sees you with a shortstack and reloading after a loss shows you have confidence in your game too.

So I lost about $35 on the QQ hand and rebuy only to pick up 9d9s a couple of hands later.It had been raised $3 but only cost me $2 to call from the BB. Flop comes 3c Jc 9h. Theres $15 in the pot and I decide that theres no point being greedy and taking chances by checking so I bet the pot.The original pf raiser folded and I get a caller who I put on a flush draw.Turn is 6s and its decision time. I have $74 left and bet out $50.He thinks,calls and makes his flush when the Ac falls on the river.He acted first and put me all in for my last $24.

Now at this point I could easily have folded as it was the flush draw I put him on but the pot was $170 and at $24 to call I was getting 7-1 to call and if he'd suddenly raised because he had made his pair on the river then my hand was still good.He had Kc 10c which was quite ironic because I had called a similar $3 raise myself with Ks10s when I first joined the table then mentally slapped myself for still being a bit loose and possibly tilty.

I think I played the hand well apart from possibly not going all in on the turn.To be honest my reasoning at the time was that if the flush hit I would get out but with the odds I got for the call I was never going to fold and I should have realised that.

The other thing that went through my mind was that if he called my flop bet without getting the right pot odds then he would call an all in bet anyway and I'd save $24 by folding if the flush hit.I'm not usually a fan of making crying river calls just because of pot odds afterall if you're beaten you're beaten but 7-1 was just too tempting.
I didn't like his call on the flop and even with 2 extra outs over the flush I still didn't give him the odds to call on the turn.He had to call a $50 bet into a $95 pot.

I wasn't to know he had a gutshot aswell as the flush draw giving him 11 outs but it was still a loose call.8 Clubs to the flush and 3 Queens ( Qc already counted and 9c would have given me quads).

That might have been a good time to go to bed but I didn't actually feel too bad after the hand.That in itself worried me because indifference is the road to tilt.I'm always trying to gauge my mood to make sure I'm feeling as neutral as possible.I read Felicia's comment in http://pokerboss.blogspot.com about how emotion shouldn't come into poker and I couldn't agree more.Much easier said than done.

I tested the theory and jumped straight back into another $1nl game and won a few smallish pots and left $30 up which ( after I'd flicked my poker emotion switch on) felt good.

I'm enjoying $1nl and don't feel out of my depth at all but wether its my game/bad luck or a bit of both if my Bankroll goes below $900 then I'm going to bite the bullet and head back down to
.25nl or .50nl. It would probably be .25nl because I'm sure the best of the .25nl players have moved to .50nl and if I'm careful enough to select the right table the .25nl tables are far easier to make money on.

http://www.financialcharting.com/poker/blog/ ( The Edge) mentioned it being easier to step down if you've played at a higher level because of psychological factors and I think thats a good point.Whilst being careful it doesn't lead to complacency its easier to run over the table if you know that the most you can lose is a $25 buy in.Its even easier to make bets that take other players out of their comfort zone.No point in raising to $1 ( 4 * bb) at .25nl with AA. May aswell make it $2 or $3 as its so loose you'll get callers anyway.And if not then move to a better table.

Reading the above made me wonder what the heck I'm doing at $1nl with my bankroll but playing a bit scared at first when I moved up actually helped me tighten up my game.There are fish at $1nl but its easier to just camp and be patient and in the end if you're playing better starting hands than your opponents then you should win overall.

Not much else going on.Watched the Gers beat Ipswich 2-0 last night and this morning Step A's 13 foot trampoline arrived.She seems happy with it but I've got to blame the USA ( hey everyone else does) for her making her hands into a W shape then an M then back to W and telling me "Whatever Mcdonalds Worker" about 10 times a day.
I don't have the heart to admit that her making an L shape with her finger and thumb and shouting LOSER is really hurting after the last few nights at the tables.Has she been reading this blog?lol.

Anyway all that hand stuff is just so last year....