I made someone very happy

I lost $5800 to one guy yesterday at 3/6 NL heads up. I was actually stuck 12 buy-ins at the peak of the match. This seems unfathomable because I have never been stuck more than 5 buy-ins versus one opponent. Most fish do not give the opportunity to lose more than a few buy-ins. They are notorious for playing short matches, especially when they are up.

He (who will go unnamed in case I can ever get my money back) was clearly a fish that had exploitable tendencies. I misplayed a couple hands early in the match that doubled him up a few times. It is common to lose some money to even the worst players early in the match. Styles of opponents can be miscalculated early on. Unfortunately, as he got a larger stack and more confidence, he started becoming LAG. He was still taking a lot of poor lines and I had a good read on him, but his aggressive style created a very high-variance environment. I lost a lot of coolers, and had some of the sickest deep spots. Regardless of these incredibly frustrating elements, I felt that I was at least playing well enough to still have an edge.

The match overall lasted 5 hours and 750 hands, my longest single match to this date. By halfway through, I decided that it would be best if I had a poker friend sweating me. This would keep me more level-headed, and reassure me that I am making good decisions. My friends Ryan and John watched and discussed the match with me for about an hour each. This was a great experience, and is something I should do more often. Being able to talk out hands really helped me solidify my read, and make excellent decisions. It's also more difficult to tilt when you have the peer pressure of not wanting to make tilty plays in front of friends.

The ironic thing is, I am actually more confident about my poker game right now than I was 24 hours ago. I also have more of an enthusiasm to play poker, which I was really afraid I had lost over the past month or two. I really want to prove I am as good of a player as I think I am now.