Born Under A Bad Sign

That was absolutely sick.

Imagine sitting in one of the juiciest games you have ever seen in your life, overrolled, running good, and feeling great about your session. Then imagine sitting in that session for the next 9 hours and 45 minutes, and not getting action on a made hand a single time, making the second best hand seemingly every time you do get action, and taking a cooler of epic proportions for a very large pot.

That's what yesterday was like.

Lol it was pretty disgusting. I sat in the 15/30 O8 on Stars again, as it had been absolutely appetizing the day before and was looking like it had the same stable of people sitting. I also sat in a 10/20 and 5/10. It started pretty tame, nothing big happened for awhile and I pretty much posted blinds for about two hours, which was enough to knock me down a hundred or so. I didn't pick up a single hand the entire hand, and hadn't stolen a pot or even chopped one up with someone.

The game was absolutely crazy, I don't think anyone got a free card post-flop the entire time I sat, and the guys on my right had been betting and raising almost every street for an average of 90% of the hands. I was UTG and this hand came up...

I was dealt and called. Usually I would lay this down preflop, as it has no scoop ability and I was out of position, but the way this game had been playing, I knew there were lots of flops that could hit me hard (any combination of Boats, Sets, Straights, Wraps, and Flushes), and I knew if one came, that it would be unlikely that a low would go out on the hand, and I would have a great shot at scooping in a three- or four-handed pot. I called, as did five others. The BB, who was one of the maniacs, raised it up as he always did and I called, as did the five others.

The flop came giving me the nut flush with a gut shot royal draw. This was exactly the flop I was looking for, no low cards meant no low would go out at the end of the hand, and I flopped a monster. The maniacs in the SB and BB checked, and I bet. I knew that while I had a monster, I was still vulnerable to a set filling up and I wasn't looking to slow-play anything. I had found that it definitely was correct to play all of your hands fast at this table, as people were going all the way to the river almost every hand regardless of the action and their own strength. I bet and got one called, then folds to the SB who raised. The BB folded and I three-bet it. Looking to block out the caller if he had a set of nines or something and would lay it down, which would make it easier for me to scoop. If the board paired I knew I would be in trouble, and the way the SB was playing he definitely could have had a smaller flush or a set, and blocking out the caller would just be one less person that I have to worry about. I raised and the called cold-called two more bets, the SB capped it and we both called.

At this point I was still sure I had the best hand, but the cap on the flop caught my attention. I couldn't really believe that the SB had the 10-8h and had flopped the straight flush, so I figured that if he had a smaller flush he probably wouldn't have capped and that meant that I was pretty sure they both had sets. It was obvious that the caller on my left had a set.

The turn came which I loved, as it didn't pair the board, which is the only thing I was afraid of. The betting got capped again as the SB bet, I raised, other guy called two cold, SB three-bet, I capped, other guy cold-called again, and SB called. At this point I was a little confused. I still had to believe that they both had sets, I just couldn't give the SB credit for the straight flush, although I was a little more concerned now lol.

The river came down which crushed me. The SB bet out and I decided to just call one bet even though I knew I was beat, I obviously should have laid that down but I guess it was a "crying" call kind of thing. I called and the other guy now raised. Now it's obvious that he had the set, and the SB now three-bet it, which to me confirmed that he had the QQ and the other guy had the JJ. I folded to this and the other guy capped it. I was blown away at this, figuring for sure that the SB had the nut boat, but it just confirmed my read that the players here were absolutely horrible, as it looked like the other guy was capping with the jacks full when they can't possibly be good. The SB called the cap and the showdown looked like this.

SB:

Other Guy:

The SB showed the 10-8 for the flopped straight flush, and the other guy showed the JJ for the Jacks full boat. I knew he sucked.

Obviously this hand set me back quite a few bucks, and it was even more sick that the SB coolered me like that. I guess it's good that the board paired on the end, because I would have capped the river again most likely if it didn't.

That hand sent me on absolute life-tilt. It was still early in the session, but that hand was a metaphor for my entire day. Every time I made a hand from then on, it was second best in every direction. The nut-lows were getting quartered and the highs were getting boated and flushed all day. I could not pick up a single hand for awhile and the ones I did didn't get action. Just one of those days, but still sick nonetheless.

I sat at that table for the entire session, as it was never any less juicy, even when it got three-handed and eventually heads-up. I never got anything going, though, and put up a hell of a losing session.

All-in-all, that game set me back $1500 in 9 hours and 45 mintutes. Add that to my other sessions and I played a total of a hell of a lot and lost a total of also a hell of a lot, for an hourly of around -$184. A pretty sick day has led me to re-evaluate some things...

I've decided, after seeing my reaction to the way I ran last night, that maybe I need to step down one level. The 15/30 is very hard to pass up, as you can see from the play above, and I know that running good I could retire on that shit, but running bad can get expensive and frustrating. It doesn't help that I have never played that high before, so I might be a little out of my comfort zone, if not out of my bankroll. I have plenty of cash to play the 15/30, as in O8 you really only need around 250 bets (the swings aren't as big), but it's possible that a losing session could put me back as much as 7 or $800 on a normal day (not a disgusting super-shit day like yesterday), and I don't know if I really want to do that right now.

I've decided to step down my game at all levels, and reduce my bankroll a little bit. I've gotten a little preoccupied with making bigger scores lately and forgotten how to grind out profit like I used to. I think I played the 15/30 out of more ego than I should have, and maybe the 10/20 is where I should set up shop for awhile, only occasionally sitting in the 15/30 when it looks especially juicy (which seems to be often, but I'll keep track to make sure).

That session, along with bubbling in the Nightly 100k guarantee after making a total donk play with A4 in the BB running into AQ in the SB, made for a pretty disappointing day. Hopefully today will go better, as I'm getting ready to sit right now (about noon) and play probably all day.

My momma always said I'd be the chosen one, she said I'm one in a million, I got to burn to shine, but I was born under a bad sign with a blue moon in my eyes,
Jesse