Donktastic!

Yesterday was not my proudest day as a poker player. I donked it up pretty bad. I had a headache when I came home, and I don't know if it's the same for anyone else, but playing poker helps get rid of headaches. It relaxes me. So after a quick stop to the market for a surprise gift for the girlfriend (flowers & chocolate, SO typical), I fired up FTP. Since I wanted to be available when she came home, I skipped the SNGs and went for the low stakes cash NL. And proceeded to drop 2 buyins.

Granted, I've still got a lot of work to do with my cash game, and .5\.10 stakes isn't really a good barometer of one's cash game skill. But I blame my losses on mostly just playing like a donk. At these stakes, it's very much ABC poker, so there shouldn't be any reason I'm putting in money without a strong hand. But especially at these stakes, it's almost impossible to tell sometimes if your opponent has a better hand, or is just trying to run off some exciting bluff. Alas, yesterday's table was less donkish than I was being, and when I called off my stack with TPNK against what I thought was a semi-bluff (instead, it was top 2 pair), I switched back to SNGs.

Things didn't get much better poker wise, although the results were much better. The hand of the night was when I limped UTG with A5 sooted. Only the blinds play along, and the flop comes 468, one spade. BB checks and I bet 2\3rds pot. BB min raises. It's still early, so this could be a donk move or a strong move, but with a gutshot & an over, easy call. Turn is a Ts. BB checks again, and I bet out 150. BB then raises to 700. I'm pretty sure I'm beat, but I've got BB covered, and I really don't feel like fighting the rest of the game as a mid stack. With outs for the gutshot & the flush, I push. He calls with 75o for the flopped flush. 2s hits the river and he goes home, not without some choice words for my play. I agreed with the table when someone commented that I played this horribly, and I took no pride in my play. But with the donkiness over with, I used my stack and my newfound loose image to take down the rest of the table.

So what's the point of this post? The point is that I got my donkiness out of my system last night. Good thing too, because I'm taking a break from the Mookie live blog and jumping into the pond with everyone else. That's right...I'm playin the Mookie tonight!
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One more hand to talk about, another $5 SNG hand. Down to 5 players, I'm about 3rd in chips with around 3k. Two stacks are at about 3.5k, one's down to about $1k, and the SS is at about 700. Blinds are 30\60, and UTG, the leader, minraises to 120. I've got JJ, which we all know is the nuts, so I repop to about 480. Button & blinds fold, and UTG re-reraises to 1k. I make the call. Flop comes T9x, two suited. UTG bets 3\4 pot, I push for 2300, and he calls. What does he have?












If you said AA, you're right. The reason I bring this hand up is that, despite all the signs that I was up against an overpair, and most likely AA, I made the call & then inexplicably pushed the flop. In a tournament, or at bigger stakes, I probably fold this preflop. But at these stakes, for some reason, I tend to discard any chance that I may just be in a PP vs overpair situation. Sometimes, I end up chalking it up to a race situation despite the clear warning signals, and that's all because I'm not focused. Not to bask in previous glory, but there's been times where I've layed down KK preflop, and I've been correct in doing so, because I've been focused enough to pick up on my opponent's tendencies. I should have picked up on this, but I just knew that my JJ was OK, and I was wrong. Just another reminder that, as good as I've been running lately, that I've still got room to improve.
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Some more blogroll pimpage. Added a couple of bloggers with Seattle ties, Zeem & MeanHappyGuy. Found out in the last Mookie that Zeem lives on the other side of Lake Washington in Bellevue, and MeanHappy is from the area.

Also, BuddyDank makes the list. The BuddyDank Radio webcasts during the Mookie & Dookie have been the talk of the week. Even over the internets, the final table last week had a party atmosphere to it, and when everyone moved over to the Dookie afterwards, it really felt like back in the day, when a party got crashed or broken up, you just moved to the next one.

Also adding Miami Don & Blinders to the list. I read these two pretty regularly, but I've just forgotten to link them up so far. Done & Done.