Lesson Given

Poker Tracker has shown me a lesson.

I had a horrible night of cards last night. In an effort to win a spot in the $100,000 freeroll happening in December at Royal Vegas Poker I needed to play 100 raked hands by this Sunday. I deposited some money two or three days ago and managed a modest win on the first night. Then came last night.

I managed to lose 45BB between two tables of .50/1. With my current bankroll woes that is significant damage. I wanted to delve into the issue of the loss before posting so I fired up Poker Tracker and looked at the table I lost the most at first. I expected to see glaring holes in my play but I honestly did not find anything of significance. I truly had a bad run of cards. The only pair I received during my play was 4's, they didn't flop trips and with overcards I folded. My biggest pocket cards that were not a pair was ATo. Even when I had my bad run last month I don't think I ever received such a large amount of bad cards in a single session. I did not win a single hand at the table during my 74 played there. Aside from two hands I never lost more than 1.5BB's in a single pot. My VP$IP% was 14.86% so I was playing way fewer hands than I normally do, I just wasn't getting any to play.

On the second table I was getting a bit better cards. I not only received pocket 4's once but pocket 10's as well one time. Instead of having ATo being my best hand other than pairs I got AJs once. My VP$IP% was 22.22% which is still tight but I was seeing more action. I had a few hands hold up at this table and even managed to win a few pots. Although I didn't lose as much money at this table I played this table much more poorly. Looking through my post flop play I was giving away far too many Big Bets. It looks as though I was trying to overcompensate for the loses from the first table by winning bigger pots on the second. This worked a few times but as I lost more than I won I was overvaluing my hands and giving money away.

There is no way, given the cards, I was going to win last night. I compounded the problem by giving away more than I needed to at one of the tables. I broke the rule of minimizing your loses.

Lesson given, but was it learned. I for one, hope so.