I'm Number Four!!!!!

I know, I've been gone for awhile. After Vegas, I decided to take a little poker break. I played in some home games and made one trip to the boat.

The home tournament was good, I won, but I wasn't particularly happy about my play. After that I played in a couple of SNGs on Party, where I promptly bounced out on the second hand in both of them (my pocket kings ran into aces; my big slick with a flopped ace lost to A9 when he turned a 9 -- it happens). Needless to say, some bad luck and it happens, but I still wasn't really happy with my play.

So we hit the boat this weekend; I was catching decent cards, but when I'd flop top or second pair, it wouldn't hold up, or I'd be chased off the pot. Raises had me seeing monsters around the corner and peeking out of the closet, and I clutched my blanket, stuck my thumb in my mouth and ran away crying. In short, I was playing like a wuss.

In any case, I wasn't stuck as badly as Chilly and Marty, but what the hell, it was my birthday celebration.

After a little soul searching, I figured out the big problem -- in the SNGs, I was only playing at L1, not trying to put my opponents on hands; at the boat, I was playing scared L2 -- everyone hit their flush or were slowplaying aces. Had I been a little more aggressive, I probably could have been at least a little profitable for the night.

With a little time to kill, I decided to hit Party for a little SNG action, but I gave myself a few rules:

1. Consider each move before making it; don't insta-call or raise
2. Try putting your opponent on a range of hands and then act accordingly
3. Remember to have fun

Pretty self-explanatory, huh? One would think, but for some reason, I keep slipping back into old, bad habits, and it's killing my game.

In the SNG, I had a huge chip lead by the third hand (pocket aces that hold up against five players is a miraculous, beautiful thing); I found myself playing patient poker. I took notes on opponents, and for once, I used position.

Unfortunately, the poker gods kicked me square in the nuts when, in a battle of the blinds, I flopped top two pair (A8). My opponent caught bottom pair (35o) and pushed after my small bet. I called, figuring he was playing an ace. Nope. However, he turned and rivered a 2 and a 4 to cripple me.

There were six players remaining at that point; rather than tilt off my remaining chips, I held out to bounce on the bubble when my pocket 7s lost to a rivered ace. I even climbed back to second in chips for a few hands.

Normally, I'd be steaming and raging at the bad beats, but I'm not. I'm actually pretty happy. I bought a couple of pots. When I had the best hand, my chips were in the pot. Bad luck happens; not much I can do about it. But for once, I wasn't playing only the cards on the table, and I wasn't jumping at my own shadow. And most importantly, I was enjoying myself more than I have while playing poker in quite some time.

Even though I didn't get paid off in the end, I'm happy about it. But next time? I'm getting paid dammit!