By the book

Had another poor night at the tables last night.Started by going out a $5 mtt when 1010 cracked my Nolan sisters on the river and finished by getting the money in with AK on an A 9 9 flop only for Mr Fish to spike an 8 on the turn to go with the 88 he held and take me for another buy in.
Lost $25 at Ladbrokes and $15 at Interpoker before shaking my head and calling it a night.

I was starting to think my streak of bad luck was over but it would seem not despite my small net gains over the last couple of weeks.

Finally bought "The Theory of Poker" today and even reading the first chapter has given me renewed inspiration and made me feel better about my game.I've skimmed through it in book shops before but its nice to have my own copy to read at my leisure and refer back to especially as I've only one more Carl Hiassen book to go.Started another book too but I'm so used to Mr Hiassens genius it seems pretty crap in comparison.

Still no plans to take the break from poker I probably need to freshen up my game and attitude.
Bringing a negative expectation to the table cannot be helping me play well.I'm still being too passive on occasions though I hope I'm recovering from my dog with a bone problem of not being able to lay down a big but obviously beaten hand.Being on the other side of that dog bone problem where I've called a min raise in a multiway ( still 6 max) pot, hit 2 pair or trips and taken out JJ or QQ has helped.

In many ways I can see why people complain about the very low stakes games as its often hard to judge the standard of the oppostion and can be very frustrating when you lose a pot through giving them too much or too little credit.For example last night I folded AQ in a multi-way pot post flop to a raise and an all in only to see the villan with the same AQ hand as me win a decent sized pot with his Ace high.Its sometimes easy after seeing crap like that goes down to start assuming all players at that level are just as bad and the next time a similar situation arises I'll play my unimproved AQ to the river because I've "learned my lesson from last time" and then wonder what happened when it didn't win.

In many respects judging the standard of player at the table is the most crucial aspect of the game at the lowest limits.I've seen players go all in preflop with AJ,KQ or even KJ and while that still goes on at $1nl when 2 or 3 players go all in they are more likely to have top 5 hands.Only more likely not a sure thing because standards can vary greatly.I've found tough ( for me anyway!) 25c games and very soft $2-$5 games in the past.

That brings me back to game selection which until recently has always been a big part of my poker game.In some respects its been good to play in "normal" games instead of the very high average pot size games I used to seek out.Its helped me take a more balanced approach and vary my style a bit.Its also been easier on my poor burned out poker brain but it aint as profitable as my old trick of growing some balls and sitting down with the crazies and playing so tightly I squeak but ( and here's the crucial bit) not being afraid to put my stack on the line if I feel I'm sufficently ahead.

I may be moving up in stakes sooner rather than later after buying a ticket for the Euro lottery rollover with a £100 million prize.( how many bb at .25-.50 is that?).The draw is shortly and if I win I promise to pay all the bloggers ( and Andy the reader!) linked on the right into the main event of the WSOP.Its only a 1/127 million chance so don't book your flight...


Ok thats enough of a ramble for today.Before I go GaryC suggested a ROW v US tourney this Sunday.I can make it but wonder if maybe next weekend ( Sun 29th) would be better as it would give us more time to get the word out.Thoughts?