Emotional rollercoaster today

First off - yesterday I decided to buy into the FTOPS Event #1 ($200+16 tournament) on Full Tilt. I busted a little more than an hour in. While I lost most of my chips in an 8K pot AA vs JJ all-in preflop, I still feel that I wasn't playing my best. I get impatient in tournaments, especially full ring. Like limit hold em, I am going to make myself get better or stay away from tournaments from now on. If I'm not going to enter a tournament with a hunger to try my best to win it, then I'm not going to enter it period.

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Now onto today's session. I started off the day playing 1K hands, and I ran hot as hell. I was up $1200 after the afternoon session, and feeling really good. I did my usual routine of taking a break to eat, stretch and clear my head, and then logged back on. I had a rough session tonight, losing back half of the profit I made earlier in the day. Some rough hands, some stupid bluffs. All in all, I logged 1784 hands for a +$552 day. Looks decent on paper, but really feels disappointing given the way it happened.



I want to do a rundown of several of the large pots I played on the day, to review my play. Gaucho, a guy who plays 25/50 NL online and who I respect a lot as a person, talks about how you should always be questioning your plays... both in pots you lose, and even pots you win. Just because you had a winning session doesn't mean you played well, and certainly doesn't mean there was nothing to learn from.

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Hand 1: Unorthodox play with KQ vs fish

At the time, villain was running something like 40/30 and getting really out of line. He seemed like a really weak player. I normally hate 3 betting preflop with KQ, but my opponent was really out of line, and I had position. With the flop coming Q62, I'm either way ahead or way behind now. Usually never check behind after RRing preflop, but I figured villain was aggressive (and stupid) enough he may think I'm giving up. Once he checks turn, I feel 95% confident I have the best hand, and decide it's time to get some value. He quickly C/Red all-in, which felt weird. I did not feel like he would play AA/KK/AQ in this way. Also, the fact that I checked behind the flop meant I felt I had to make this call vs a LAGtard.

Hand 2: When in doubt, just reraise AK

Villain (running like 25/15 on the session, no read otherwise) 3 bets me as second to act. This looks really strong, and when it folds back around to me w/ AK, I contemplate just calling. When people make small 3 bets, it's often a sign of strength, but I didn't think his range had to be extremely small here. I decided to 4 bet because I hate playing passive poker, and I hate being out of position postflop. Do you guys think this really thin vs an unknown player? I felt that if I just bet out the flop, he will get away from KK-TT too easily. I checked, hoping he do something stupid so I could do an easy C/R all-in. He obliged, immediately bet pot, and I pushed. He thought for 5 seconds and then folded, which seems really odd for me. I assume he had a big pocket pair, so his play on the flop is really bad.

Hand 3: I'm a spewtard sometimes

aka Shooter is a 200NL regular, pretty standard TAG (runs like 21/15). AQo is a very easy 3 bet when he opens on the button. When he calls my reraise, I put him on 77+, AQ+. I contination bet a flop with all babies...I felt it is a bad flop for me to bluff, but his range includes overcards just enough that it is +EV to c-bet. Once he calls, I almost always give up in this spot. At the time, I thought the jack might be a scare card. I really should just give up here and never bet. Shooter is going to like his hand enough here, and the pot is big enough that it is stupid to try to push him off his pocket pair. only 88-TT might fold here, and even those may not fold out if he feels stubborn. Once he pushed, I am getting 4.6-to-1, meaning I need 18% equity to call. Even if I have 6 outs, I'm not getting the right price, so it is a bad call at the end.

Hand 4: Why didn't I just fold?

Villain was unknown at this point, so I think my light 3 bet when he raises UTG is spew. Once he calls, I think the flop is a good flop to c-bet. He calls and unless he is a fish (which I can't know with no read), he probably has a big hand now. The turn gave me an OESD, and instead of just taking a free card, I decided to shove for a little more than pot. Do you ever not take a free card here? Obviously, my biggest mistake is getting involved preflop in the first place. I need to learn to not get aggressive at 200NL when I don't know if my opponent is even capable of folding yet.