Cash is QUEEN! Prim´s little CG corner (and BR-challenge)

When the board pairs .......

..you either hate it (and hope it goes well) ...

..or you just love it!

Yeah, that´s right! Could get to a PLO table today! And that was where my today´s results mainly came from. Played also 3 tables NL Holdem (Yes, I can 4-table again!), but not too much action there, just got some small pots, no big hand. Played about 1,5 hours CG today and was neither too lucky nor too unlucky. Stole a lot in Holdem but got some good hands in Omaha (as you can see) and that was enough to be +2 € up, which is a little bit more than 1 stack up!

BR: 87,12 €

There are just perfect moments in poker ....

...like this one

The perfect flop for my set of kings - no dangerous draws, nicely dry, so, we can easily get it in without any worries! It´s always nice to get such a dry flop in PLO! We got it in on flop and my set kings held. Stack for me!

...when you get incredibly lucky on turn (Holdem)

I was the initial raiser pre, Villain donked flop and I called with the intention of floating (the ace hits my range better than theirs and I was planning to push Villain out of the pot on turn). Well, got my lucky 2-outer and we got it in on turn.

Had indeed some lucky hands today, the rest I got by collecting small pots, in both, PLO and Holdem. The result after 1,5 hours of CG was very nice: +5€ up, which is more than 3 stacks up (in $)!

BR: 92,35 € (around 104 $)

Trollette on vacation!

Yes, that´s right. We´re heading to the North Sea shore tomorrow! Time to relax, time for a well-deserved vacation.

We´ll stay 2 and a half weeks and return on Saturday June 14th.

I hope you are going to have a wonderful time. Great poker results lately too.

Who knows, maybe you will still be able to play a few games, but the important thing is that you can relax and have fun - and kick butt on the tennis court, I suppose.

First things first ..!!!

Thank you, Harrier! Now, let´s take care of the REALLY important things:

Cash game will continue soon ..........

Next week! Tomorrow, we´re heading home after a wonderful vacation full of tennis (what else?), sauna (what else?), bicycle tours and swimming. Yes, we spent VERY sporty vacations, but hey, it´s summer! The season is on! There are two more competitions to play in tennis before our sports schedule (finally!) gets a bit easier but anyway, who wants to play tennis in mid summer at 30°C or more? I don´t!

Sooo, soon this blog continues with being on topic! Let´s see how my CG will develop....

A very "generous" start ... :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly:

But today it was me, who was a bit "generous" with AA < Q5s and QQ < AJs in Holdem. Could only play like 30 minutes PLO, first I couldn´t get to a table and then, I was 30 minutes card-dead until the table died. So had to resort to Holdem, where not much happened except for loosing a stack with AA and about 50 ct. with QQ (gladly, Villain was short stacked, so gave me great pot-odds to call their all-in). The rest was keeping losses at a minimum, which I successfully managed. The highlight of my today´s session was a nice squeeze play from the BB, followed by a big barrel on the flop (BTN raised, SB called, I 3-bet, BTN folded, but SB called). Another highlight was a good call with TPTK on a "dangerous" board. It is nice to see when things work out and when you see your own progresses. I´m getting into it, I just need experience, experience, experience. Got plenty of time for that, because according to BRM I will stay quite a while on the micros.... Today was not a particularly "lucky" day: about 1,5 stacks down, which was simply variance.

BR: 89,75 €

Stack versus bust-out

So, here we go: THIS is why I´m NO tournament player!

MTT: Loosing my chips AA vs. Q5s and busting out: Whoah, dissapointment, cursing, "this moron called with Q5s and won, and poor poor me lost with my AA, even though I´m the better player". I would be sooo dissapointed because I didn´t get that nice prize-money there .... instead: I´m sitting here, frustrated, no money for me, all because of this .... (insert curse-word here!)!!!

CG: Well, ... and now? Reload (automatically) and continue! Poo happens, right? I´m not out, it´s still absolutely open end what will happen (and what not)... So, let´s see what happens next...

Anybody who understands?

Originally posted by Primrose6789
MTT: Loosing my chips AA vs. Q5s and busting out: Whoah, dissapointment, cursing, "this moron called with Q5s and won, and poor poor me lost with my AA, even though I´m the better player". I would be sooo dissapointed because I didn´t get that nice prize-money there .... instead: I´m sitting here, frustrated, no money for me, all because of this .... (insert curse-word here!)!!!

CG: Well, ... and now? Reload (automatically) and continue! Poo happens, right? I´m not out, it´s still absolutely open end what will happen (and what not)... So, let´s see what happens next...

Anybody who understands?

Complete opposite for me, actually.

I can understand both sides here. For some cash game is very frustrating and for others it's multi table tournaments. To each their own.

Alright, one last time!
In cash, you pay more than you win. And that is if you are good enough to win.
In tournaments, at least on micros, the fees are negligible.
STTs are a whole new beast. There's collision. The fees are bigger than MTTs. And players tend to be a bit better than your average dumb fish in MTTs.
Spins - pokerstars changed their spins to start win 15bb for holdem and 30bb for PLO making them on par with every other site. PLO spins were the only thing that you can beat with a good winrate other than MTTs.
Also, on stars, cash games rake is increased to 5% for regular tables. The first cent is taken off of 15 cent pot though... not 20. That doesn't seem like 5%. It didn't look like 3.9% back then too.

And about the game I prefer... there's collision there too! Recently I played an 8-game MTT. 12 left, 11 players cash. From top 7 stacks, 6 were Canadians. All of them played weak and very strange. With the player-pool getting smaller, thus the site having less money coming in, I can see how they stopped policing the games.

And if I haven't discouraged you guys yet:
https://www.youtube.com/live/xMb7jvySnoA?si=78cq6O1cex-FxINH&t=5109

I just quit poker altogether. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. Maybe if GG enters our market again I can give it a shot but I don't see it happening soon... Good luck!

Sometimes break-evenish is just right .... :f_biggrin::f_ugly:

Keep cool! That´s our motto not only for CG, but also for the current weather. Quite hot here, what I do not particularly like. Gladly we got air conditioner and so, whenever it´s possible, I just ignore the (almost) 30°C outside. Anyway, during mid-summer I avoid the midday-sun, so lunch break was just perfect for a little CG session. And I had to keep cool after loosing a stack early in my session in PLO with top set KKK vs naked str8 draw. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: Could only get to one PLO table, so opened two other tables NLHE - where bit by bit I got that lost stack back. It was not even my intention, I just focussed on the game and on Villains but got pretty good hands - and a Villain on tilt helps a lot!

The rest of my session went quietly, no more action, lots of junk and after 1,5 hours, I was ready to call it a day.

My today´s session shows again the importance to keep cool! This way, I ended up break-evenish which is perfectly fine. I saw a couple of Villains tilting away several stacks, sometimes I can say "thank you", but I can observe how cruel and destructive tilt can be. I know that very well: from tournament poker (as mentioned above) :f_ugly:. Speaking of tournament poker: Oh boy, I should continue my freeroll challenges, they are not over yet, I´m just so happy that I finally have the BR for CASH, so I was totally focussed on cash play.

...

Originally posted by Untiltable
Did you notice you won $50 in the blogger raffle? And I think you can withdraw it to CoinPoker these days, since the regular withdraw methods may still be unavailable.

Yaaaaay, that´s cool! Awesome!!

That´s great after-work-news!!!

A little late session ....

...with almost a "Primrose-straight" (this is an imaginary straight, once a couple of years ago, I jammed like 20 $ in the pot in PLO 20 because I thought I had a str8 - but infact didn´t: It was a gutshot). This time, I noticed that "Primrose" str8 and decided to call it a day. It´s 36°C here, the heat wave is going on until tomorrow and I´m really tired. Nevertheless, I decided to play a little PLO2 session on PartyPoker.

When you´re already tired, being card-dead doesn´t help. I almost fell asleep at the tables Good that nothing "serious" (BR damaging) happened.

A swimming session would have been better that a poker session but I wanted to play at least a little PLO. Gladly, the heat wave ends tomorrow evening and gladly, I only have tennis practice on Thursday this week.

Honestly, that was not my A-poker today :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly: Ended up break-evenish which is a great result under THOSE circumstances.

Keep going and be patient ....

That´s all I could do today. Every poker player knows those days, when fun-players and gamblers hit their lucky miracle cards, their 2-outers, 1-outers and such. Well, today was one of those days and I had to keep in mind that such occasions are in fact (statistically) rare. First, in PLO, my acies got cracked, well not exactly, we were not all-in, but turned sour on the river. Same went with a top set, could keep the loss at a minimum. Well, and there are those days when the poker god seems to totally forget you and you very rarely hit anything, you get tons of junk, AK, AQ, AJ and such don´t hit, you´re happy to finally get a decent starting-hand, the flop comes and you notice that your good-looking hand is totally worthless here (goes especially for PLO!).

Or either turn or river turns your (finally!) flopped solid hand sour or eventually, it´s just the second best hand. I´m not a great poker player but I know when to fold - at least at the micros. :f_biggrin::f_ugly:

After I had to fold hand after hand, couldn´t win a single pot, I just kept in mind that all I have to do is WAIT! Wait for the right situation, the right hand, the right Villain, the right moment. Until then, just watched Villains, how they played, what they did (was kind of funny!) and especially, who went on tilt?

My patience payed at least a little, when - with 67o in BB - I indeed made a full house on turn and Villain jammed their stack all-in with 88. In PLO, I could get a nice pot with top set 888 (Villain folded flop) and eventually everything was not so bad as it seemed. Just focussed on staying patent, not going for some unprofitable draws, not playing more hands (cause won´t make anything better, but worse!) - and then the 2 hours were over.

Nevertheless, I had to take a loss: one stack down! But in this case I have to say: ONLY one stack down! With patience and not loosing focus, I kept my losses at a minimum. Today, there was not more I could do. More luck next time!

How to learn patience from tennis ....

Sometimes, tennis is a great teacher! At the moment, it´s competiton season and sometimes I compete in both: women´s singles and women´s doubles - on the same day. And sometimes you have Villainesses, who just bring everything back! No matter what! And yesterday, in team practice, I encountered just one of those team mates! We call those "bringer" (those who just bring, but don´t do tricky or powerful plays). Sometimes, I just want to finally (!!!) hit a winner against them and what happens??? The ball goes either into the net or OUT! :rage::facepalm:

I learned to be patient: Even those "bringers" make mistakes every now and then. And I got endurance! Mostly, more than them! Even after a hard singles-match! Especially yesterday I found out, that it´s worth to be patient. It´s worth to keep up a good mental game of tennis. Team mate started to make mistakes after a while. And that´s what brings me back to poker! It´s not worth, always trying to get the pot, to "hit the winner", when you don´t get a decent hand! Wait and be patient! Because otherwise - like in tennis - it´s YOU who is gonna make the mistakes!! It´s YOU who is gonna be the "sucker".

So don´t play more hands, don´t try to push them through at all costs, but wait for the right situation, if it doesn´t come today, then maybe tomorrow or next week. In tennis there´s no tomorrow, but maybe the next point or the one after that....

I don´t mind loosing in tennis if Villainesse plays better than me: Well then, so be it! But I HATE loosing, because it´s me who makes the mistakes!!! Same goes for poker!

Mind the kicker!

I got two examples why QK, OJ and AJ may look great, but are not THAT great in a pre-flop raised pot.

And I´m glad that fun-players love any two face cards.

Couldn´t get to a decent PLO table today, just briefly joined a 3-handed one but decided to leave it: hyper-aggro fun-players and bad cards just don´t make a good match. So mostly I picked up two cards. In the first hour, my session looked poorly. No stack lost, but no decent hand either ... Those hands above came during the second hour, which had more action in it: good bluff catching (because Villains betting made no sense) and a lucky river, after a 3-bet pre from me. Just wanted to punish a notorious thief! Well, I did:

Thank to the hands above, some good bluffs and a hero call (bluff catch), I ended up with + 2 €, which is a bit more than one stack up!

When it´s just not the right time ....

Well, nothing spectacular today. As "Trollette Open" (tennis women´s 50 plus team competitions) is over, this is my first FREE Saturday after .... phew, quite a while. Saturday is usually my MTT (freeroll)-day, but as I have some time left until the next freeroll, I decided to play a little CG. Quickly, I realized that after 2 hours of MTTs, my brain is not quite in the best condition for CG. In a freeroll it´s not a big deal to make mistakes, in CG it is!

While on weekdays Villains are much tighter in CG and fold more, I found a bunch of no-fold-button fun players. This of course required a strategy change to the simplest strategy ever: wait for a good hand, value bet! I was waiting ... and waiting ... and while I was waiting patiently, I noticed that I get more and more tired and even a bit impatient (which normally does not happen to me). I was sooo tempted to play hands (which are not profitable!), because I was a bit bored. Could get some small pots, lost one on a "river star" cheaply, caught myself thinking "idiot" and that was the point, when it was time to pull the "emergency break"! Time to get out!

Got out break-even. Not the right time for CG! CASH is QUEEN - but not today!

Why CASH is QUEEN!!!

Yesterday, was MTT-day (more here) and I tried to qualify for the Big Quarter (11 $ PKO). Made it successfully through the first phase (freeroll) and found myself in the second and final phase, where the first 100 players get a 11 $ ticket. Was card-dead until I had a 10 BB stack while a fun-player pushed almost every hand all in at my table. Glad to find AJo in the BB, of course I called the all-in! I was glad that they showed QTo (had jammed it from MP1 with a 16 BB stack, we don´t have to comment on this) - until I saw the flop! Of course they got their lucky lucky miracle flop (flopped a straight, right away) - no help for me and out I was. Without a ticket. And of course I ranted again, that bad play gets rewarded by luck - AGAIN! :rage::facepalm:

THIS is why CASH is QUEEN! Because when bad play gets rewarded, I just loose a stack - still can get it back anytime. But now, I can put in all the effort again to qualify for the final round in the satty - and may get a ticket or not!

Hope to see that Villain in CG :coolface::f_ugly: