CC Gets Banned!

OK, I’m a horrible person, I understand.  I’m a disruptive force in the world of poker.  But did I really have to be banned from posting at a popular poker site?

Here’s how it happened.  I was playing at PokerStars, really getting started playing, when I started browsing the big $25/50 NLHE tables.  I’ll often do this just to see who’s playing, to see if I knew anyone.  Well, I saw EmpireMaker2, who I recognized from the tuff_fish videos as well as I think I’d read about him, when I saw this hand almost immediately develop:

PokerStars Game #6791839803:  Hold’em No Limit ($25/$50) – 2006/10/27 – 17:37:05 (ET)

Table ‘West’ 9-max Seat #1 is the button

Seat 1: EmpireMaker2 ($1103 in chips)
Seat 2: big_tommyt ($7934 in chips)
Seat 3: Vaga_Lion ($5348 in chips)
Seat 4: WhinnePie ($6852 in chips)
Seat 9: meatcity ($15963 in chips)
big_tommyt: posts small blind $25
Vaga_Lion: posts big blind $50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
WhinnePie: folds
meatcity: raises $150 to $200
EmpireMaker2: raises $903 to $1103 and is all-in
big_tommyt: folds
Vaga_Lion: calls $1053
meatcity: folds

*** FLOP *** [3c 3h Js]
*** TURN *** [3c 3h Js] [8s]
*** RIVER *** [3c 3h Js 8s] [6c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Vaga_Lion: shows [Ac Ah] (two pair, Aces and Threes)
EmpireMaker2: shows [4s 3s] (three of a kind, Threes)
EmpireMaker2 collected $2429 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $2431 | Rake $2
Board [3c 3h Js 8s 6c]
Seat 1: EmpireMaker2 (button) showed [4s 3s] and won ($2429) with three of a kind, Threes
Seat 2: big_tommyt (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: Vaga_Lion (big blind) showed [Ac Ah] and lost with two pair, Aces and Threes
Seat 4: WhinnePie folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: meatcity folded before Flop

So I posted the hand then got almost immediately flamed by a couple of folks then banned for a couple days.  The biggest complication in the matter is that I need to get in touch with Jason Strasser regarding our dinner meeting for tonight.  My meeting in Durham has been postponed, so I’ll have to get in touch with him to hopefully meet later this week.  2+2 is a great resource, so I can’t fault how they run things too much as it provides a wealth of information and interaction regarding play, but I’d much rather they give a neophyte a bit of a break.

I got to play some poker Saturday and Sunday evening.  Overall, I was up a couple hundred for the weekend but made a few major errors to lose big pots.  I’ve gotten pretty gunshy playing NLHE if the stakes are too high, more on the calling with my TPTK to big reraises.  I shoved with top pair and a second nut flush draw on a three-way pot on the turn only to find the nut flush to my right.  I’m finding it easier to play aggressive with a shorter stack, so that is a major leak I need to fix.

I hate that I continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.  When someone says they didn’t make any mistakes during a session or a tourney, it is a marvel to me.  There are a couple of big situations in online cash games that are breeding grounds for mistakes for me, and I just don’t know the best way to address it.

• Stealing blinds  I don’t do it enough, then I tend to lose more often when I continuation bet and get picked off by one of the blinds.  I probably need to do more of it on the button and cutoff to get more discipline in my game overall.
• Losing big pots that I shouldn’t be in  We’ve all done it before, you raise or call with Q-10s, either catch a flush draw or top pair on the flop, only to see someone have a bigger flush draw or an overpair or a better kicker.  I think I play rags harder as there are so many more times I catch air that if I actually do pick up something, it just looks so much sweeter.
• TPTK  I’m finding at higher stakes I am poor at playing it.  I’m such a bad reader of players that I shudder to any flop raise, with my set farmer sensors pinging wildly.  Maybe it’s because I’ve lost so many big pots to flopped sets, I don’t know.
• Not paying attention to the other player in the pot  Here I’m not talking about the villain/raiser but the guy to my right who also has called the flop betting.  I’m often so focused on the raiser that I don’t realize the tight guy also in the pot must have a huge hand.

These aren’t leaks like how do I play A-Jo from the bb when there is a raise and a caller in front of me.  These are more systemic problems that seem to be chronic.  Anyone with these or others or have overcome these, please chime in.  Off to shower and coffee now.  And if you comment here, if you can actually do it, I promise I won’t ban you!