Quest of a Closet Poker Player

I’ve become a bit of a four-tabling junkie on PokerStars, with the $0.50/1.00 NLH 6-max my new muse.  I’m not quite sure if I have any huge revelations, but here it goes.

This morning was a decent example of what I’ve been doing lately.  Some of the vitals from the session:

• 903 hands, 136 minutes, four-tabling over seven tables
• Net was +$497.55
• Two losing tables (-$62, -$58)
• Two big winners (+$409, +$173)
• VP$IP:  28.24%, PFR:  13.73%
• Big pots:
  • 10s-8s vs AA (on button, called the $4 UTG raise, flop came 5c-9h-Qd called $5 bet, Jc on turn and AA check-raised my $12 bet, which I shoved; +$113)
  • AA vs AJ (J-6-6-3 board, I’d bet out then check-raised turn; guy called after much deliberation; +$100)
  • Ah-Kd vs JJ (he re-raised me pre-flop to $14, then check-raised my $20 bet for another $47.6, which I shrugged and called; +$80)
  • 9h-8s vs Qd-Jd (HU, called $4 pre-flop, 10h-3h-Jc he bet $5 I raised to $14; turn was 7s, he checked, I moved all-in into the $36 pot for another $152.50, he called his $95.05; +$112)
  • 10-10 vs 8-8 (he raised to $4 from CO, I called on button, flop was 10-8-4; +$99)
  • 7s-5d vs Jd-8d (limped from bb, flop came 7d-5s-Qd, sb bet $3, I called, UTG made it $14, I shoved for $69.3 total, UTG folded but sb called after full-time, 10d gave him the flush, 5c filled me up; +$83)
  • Ad-6d vs 8-8 (I raised to $4.10 pre-flop, flop came 8d-Qd-6s I bet $7.25 he called, As on turn I bet $20.25, he moved all-in for another $54.70, Kc on river bricked me; -$86.30)

I’m not playing 26 SNG’s like RaiNKhan or anything, but four-tabling seems to be my current cup of tea.  I’d never played 6-max, but I think I’m figuring it out (famous last words).  A quick brain dump of what I think I’m learning:

• I’m playing position much stronger than I used to
• Playing speculative drawing hands when a tightie raises
• Laying down hands to aggression
• Shrugging off lost pots almost invisibly
• Not playing speculative drawing hands against shortie raises
• Continuation betting unless the flop probably hit them more than me
• Avoiding big races for the heck of it
• Still struggling a bit with my sets; I don’t seem to be getting paid off as much as I think I should. Sometimes it is bad boards where he doesn’t hit.  I’ve tried to bet half of them and slow play half of them, and I get paid off half the time and dumped the other half or so.
• Small stakes isn’t very tricky (minimal floating, minimal pre-flop re-raises, minimal re-steals).
• Table selection is still a bit unknown.  I select at the beginning the higher % seeing flops but rarely adjust unless we get three-handed or less or get filled with shorties.
• There are rat-holers at every level.
• I may be flat calling out of position too much pre-flop with suited aces and A-Q to A-10.  I tend to take down most pots if I hit an ace in 6-max on the flop or can get away from the hand if required.  I feel like I call too much, but I fold to blind steals in the >85% range.

I doubt there is much wisdom in any of this, but feel free to add your two bits or any lessons learned at either multi-tabling or 6-max.  I think I play a looser four-tabling than others might, but I don’t know that either.  Download PokerStars and join me any time as that is where I’m spending almost all my time when I play.

Back to the grind.  Thanks for stopping by.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 26th, 2007 at 7:24 am and is filed under Uncategorized.