Two Table Experiment Continued

Last night my wife and I rented a bunch of movies to watch new years eve. That whole going out and drinking the new years thing has gotten kind of old, and we usually just chill at home. We were going to watch one last night since we had more than we would be able to watch tonight. So we're waiting for a pizza to show up before we start start the movie, and I start reading Iggy's latest post. (Side note, for the love of god man, you have got to break those things up into smaller posts, or I'll never get anything done.) The pizza arrives halfway through the post, and after eating, I go back upstairs to finish it. By the time I'm done, my wife has started watching some girly movie on TV, and wants to finish watching that. So now I have about an hour and a half to kill, or watch a girly movie that I have no interest in. Poker it is.

I go back to my new testing grounds, Poker Champs, and fire up two tables. I have a total of $5.40 in that account that I earned on the $0.02/$0.04 NL tables. My plan try two $0.02/$0.04 limit tables at once. I don't expect to win much if at all playing two tables, I'm really just trying to practice and get a feel for it. Playing such low limits, I figure I can gradually let my chips dwindle and not hurt my overall bank roll. I chose limit over no limit because I figure if I make a mistake it will only cost me a few bets, not my whole stack.

So I fire up two tables and drop a buck on each. I'm doing a little better on the top table, hovering around even, than on the bottom table where I'm down about twenty cents. People start dropping from the top table though, and pretty soon I'm heads up against this one guy. I think “this is stupid” and leave for another table.

What I didn't realize at first is that the new table I picked was a no limit table. I'm a little concerned about this, but I had already posted my blind and didn't feel like switching so I stayed there. It turned out to be a great move, as I turned that dollar into over $6.

It started out slow, losing some small pots, and then getting back to even when I flopped trips, and overplayed my hand forcing everyone to fold before I could extract more chips from them. The turning point on the top game came when I was in the big blind, and had 82o. I think everyone at the table limped. The flop was the big blind special, 8A2 with two clubs. This is why when you limp in NL you are asking for trouble. I now had two pair, and chances are someone has an Ace and thinks they are winning. This is also where I get myself into trouble, because I don't think anyone will have A8 or A2 which is fairly reasonable for this game. Lucky for me they don't. The pot is like $0.24 and I bet $.10. I get one caller and then someone raises it to $0.64. I put him on an Ace or maybe a flush draw. I go all in (I started the hand with $1.10). The previous caller folds, and the raiser calls. I don't know what he had, because Poker Champs software still needs some work, and they don't show you the cards on an all in, but whatever it was, it was less than my bottom two pair.

My second huge hand came when I had pocket cowboys under the gun. I raised one BB and got a bunch of callers. The flop was 972 rainbow. I bet, and got raised. I reraised and he went all in. Did he have the hammer? I didn't think so, so I called. The turn and river were some of the best cards ever, K and then 9 to give me the full house. After the hand he made a comment/joke about how great the turn was and that he had his first, shouldn't we split the pot? I assumed that he had a full house that I beat, but I don't see what he could have had that would have given him a boat before me, as the board didn't pair until the river. Maybe he only thought I had two pair, or trips. I wish Poker Champs would show the opponents cards when you are all in, or at least hand histories. That's kind of annoying.

My bottom game wasn't going as well. I was fluctuating between $0.60 and $0.90 for most of the night, finishing at $0.64. I think I play way too many hands in limit poker. I don't know why. Probably because I know that it will only cost me one bet to see the flop. I also wasn't paying nearly as much attention to bottom game as the top. The other players were probably pissed at me for taking so long to make a move since I was concentrating on the top game so much.

I did take one bad beat on the lower table, but that's fine. I flopped a Ace high flush with 9Jd. The flop was xD, Qs, Ad. I was afraid of another diamond hitting giving someone with the Q or K a better flush. The turn was a rag so I was encouraged. I bet but then got raised. Maybe I was already beaten. The river was in hindsight the worst card possible. It was Qd. Now, I'm thinking that its possible that the other guy just made his flush with his Kd, but it also eliminated one of the hands that could beat me as I know he doesn't have the queen. He bets and I just call, stilll fearful of the Kd. He turns over AQ for a full house. Doh. Fell into the “I made my hand trap”, where I don't look for possible better made hands for my opponent. Even if I saw that full house possibility, I probably would have called at that point. That's not the worst beat I've taken, and wasn't the worst play on his part either.

Overall, I was up to a little under $6 for the night. Not too bad since I only started with about $2. I really have to work on my limit game though, or else try two no limit games.