Living the Bipolar Poker Life

Although I have not been blogging much or talking much on social media about my poker play, I have actually had quite a few sessions since moving to Arizona, all but two at the Talking Stick Resort. I had never been close enough to a poker room nor had the time to play on a regular basis, but that all changed since the move.

As much as I would love to say that I have been killing it every session, the truth is that I am streaky in my sessions as I learn what it is like to play regularly in a room. I started out with a great winning streak and expected to win virtually every session. Ha! Unfortunately, that was followed by a nasty losing streak which brought me back to reality. Of course, LOSING is not nearly as much fun as winning, u see. 😃

I got back in a winning cycle, but I seemed to struggle. I had unreal periods of being card dead and missing every flop. I took my share of knees to the nuts on the river when I was ahead.  I was getting quite an education - one I had never gotten before. I was learning which players and tables to avoid and when the best times to play would be. I also tried to keep this all from dominating my life. It has certainly been challenging,  but it was part of the retirement/moving to Arizona package I wanted. The move has worked out really really well.

I spent the first 30 years of my life being continually involved in many sports at many different levels. Poker, for me, has always stoked that competitive fire. I have worked hard at regulating mood swings based on poker results. However, that is still a work in progress.

Three days ago, I was at a table that seemed to be perfect. The players were not afraid to splash chips with obviously second-best hands. I flopped a set of 5s and was anticipating a big payoff. There was a flush draw and possible straight draw on the board after the turn, so I overbet the pot with a $200 raise. I was surprised when it was called. Nut flush draw? One thing I quickly learned at the Stick is that nobody ever folds a nut flush draw. The river appeared to be a harmless Queen. The rest of my stack was headed for the pot. I was shocked to see that my opponent was chasing the nut flush and instead lucked out by hitting a gunshot straight. All of the beautiful pot of about $900 went to him instead of me. I just wasn't in the mood for that and yanked out my charger cord and wished the table luck as I quickly left the room. One of the players came out to get me since we were waiting on a share of a bonus jackpot. I was appreciative of that. After getting my chips, I cashed out and headed toward home, just feeling really discouraged. I stopped off at a favorite drink shop and got myself some milk tea with boba to soothe the pain.

After dinner, I was feeling a little better. Then that night or the next day I read a Doyle Brunson tweet about getting past a bad run in poker. It was helpful in getting me back to normal. I decided to hit the poker room yesterday afternoon.

After a 60-90 minute wait, I was seated at a new $3/$300 table at Talking Stick. A player two to my left was very aggressive, and the player on my immediate right had just won an $800 electronic Keno jackpot and was determined to play like a mad man. Very early on while I was getting used to the table, I passed on calling a $31 raise with my pocket 6s. Of course, a 6 came on the flop. I was cursing in my head until I saw that the mad man had flopped a set of Kings. I would have been felted if I had called his raise. Was this a sign?

A few hands later I called a raise with K-Q on. The flop was Queen high and a big bet won me the pot. I was on my way. 

A few hands later, I flopped a set of 3s. I was in a pot with the aggressive player and the mad man. The turn brought a diamond draw and the mad man suspected I was drawing. He raised, I reraised and got all my money in. He called and asked "Do you have a set?" I told him I did. He was protecting his two pair and doubled me up as I felted him. I was feeling good at that point.

A few hands later, I flopped a set of 7s on a  board of 3-4-7 rainbow. I raised after the flop and the aggressive guy put in a big reraise. Could he have called the preflop raise with something like 6-5 sooted? Since he had been very aggressive, I was guessing that perhaps he had an overpair. I reraised and we got all our money in. After the turn and river he flipped over his cards: pocket 3s or 4s. Set over set. Second time this had happened to him. I now had a big stack and decided that I'd stick around while the mad man was still there. He eventually left and I stayed at the table for a bit. Then I remembered how many times I saw the cards quickly turn on someone and decimate a stack. I decided to cash out with what was my biggest profit since moving to Arizona. I stopped at my favorite drink shop on my way home to celebrate. The milk tea never tasted so good.

So ... I am learning. And, surprisingly, I have gained more respect for Tony Bigcharles and his ability to consistently win at these lower levels of poker. Imagine that.

In less than a week, I am heading to Las Vegas at the same time as my buddy @nickg_96. We hope to meet up with some of our Las Vegas homies for a few sessions of fun poker.

Life is good! Thanks for reading. 👍❤