If it aint broke....

Don't fix it so they say.A lesson this Acorn will try and heed from now on as I'll get to later.

Mark never came up last night as he is moving house which was quite funny because I didn't even know he'd sold up.Shows up the difference between men and woman.He comes over to my place once a week almost every week and we talk football,games,bit of poker,cars,work stuff and other important topics but trivial stuff like selling up and moving..forget it. I said to Mrs A that if that was her she'd know the colour of the shower curtain in the new place and how well it goes with the new bathroom tiles. He's going to pop up on Wednesday.I checked and him and the Mrs are still together and they've not had any more children since I was last over....

Hit the tables and found Juice ( and Mr Edge observing) at a .50-1 limit table.I was a bit unsure about sitting down as I felt my lack of limit knowledge could cost me dear.I really need to learn the basic maths stuff as most of the time I've no idea if the odds are on my side or not and I'm just guessing at the best decision.Anyway the chat was good and I left just after Juice $3 up.

Went upstairs and talked to the wee one for a while and then hit the $.50-1 nl 6 max tables.I picked my usual loose table with high average pot sizes and decided to mix up my play a bit.I led out with a flush draw on the flop and turn hoping to disguise my hand and make the villan pay if it hit.Lost the showdown and the table got to see my evil plan.

I'd loosened up though and raised with k8 and took down the pot on a k high flop then I made my main mistake for the night.I've mentioned before that playing like a rock means more steals and bluffs and usually I wait until I've established my table image before starting down that route.

A favourite move of mine is to call a postflop raise and if the villan slows down on the turn and river and any scare cards come I bet aprox the pot and half and they fold. eg flop of 2 5 9 and villan bets out with top pair.I call with anything and when a Q,K or A comes on the turn the villan bets the same or less than his post flop amount and I call pretending to trap and then spring my "trap" on the river.Even better to wait until it looks like I've made my flush or straight.

I tried it last night and got called by someone with a middle pair which beat my rags and I pondered where I had gone wrong then it hit me.They'd seen me bet my failed flush draw and I'd raised pf more than usual so instead of appearing like the tight old lady who only plays the nuts I must have looked like your average loose goose so its not surprising I was called down and lost.

Its not a move I make often even at 6 max because most of the time especially at a loose table bluffs get called down and only with the right table image can they be carried off.

Lesson learned.If I'm going to mix up my style and try new ideas remember it will affect the way the rest of the table views me.

My game has really changed over the last few months.I used to seek out passive tables with high flop seen and low pot averages and enjoyed trying to take control and pushing players around.Many times at .25nl my my play and bet sizes would make others uncomfortable and I'd be left on my own at what was once a full ring game.Great for the confidence but perhaps not the best way to win the most in the long term.

Now at 6 max I feel like I play like a rock.I wait and wait and wait and then strike.If I lose when I strike I tend not to tilt as staying tight means more time to recover from a bad beat mentally before I'm next in a pot.Maybe thats why being a true tight/aggressive seems to be where my game is headed.

When I say a rock thats probably only in terms of 6 max at the low levels I play at where anyone seeing less than 30% of flops would probably be considered tight!

Mr Edge sent me a screenshot of what Poker office can do and it looked impressive.Checked the website though and I don't think it supports Interpoker however if I end up playing 6 max nl at Ladbrokes on a regular basis I may just give it a go.Its got a 300 free trial option so I may give that a go first.

Ok so I lost $28 at the $.50-1 nl tabe and decided that as my bankroll is so low at Ladbrokes that I'd be more sensible moving to .25-.50nl 6 max. Pulled back $12 for 1/2 hours play and ended down only $15 for the night.I could move money from Interpoker to balance things up but I think I'll try and be disciplined enough to stay at .50nl and build it from there.Ladbrokes software is ok and while I had a good 2 weeks to get me to where I am I need to take a bit longer in deciding if the players are as fishy as Interpokers.

Either that or I'll take inspiration from Sir Waffle and take it to the highest stakes nl table I can buy in for and take a shot.
I like watching players do that and always feel slightly envious when they buy in for $500 flop a monster and treble up after 3 hands.Just got to remember thats the exception and not the rule and that the old adage about playing with fire and getting burned still applies.

Nice to see Garyc back even if its only been a few days! Hope you get your broadband fixed soon G.

Big thanks to Tripjax for the hint on how to do links.Easy when you know how!