A quiet escalation, and Sham’s game
The recent heater has allowed me to quietly creep up in levels, to NL$2/3 on Bodog and some stabs at NL$2/4 on Full Tilt.
It’s pretty exciting to me, since I’ve tripled my bankroll since the summer when I had a lot of kitty chemo bills.
NL$2/4 also is/will be a rite of passage for me, since I blew a huge chunk of my previous bankroll when I first moved up to that level in October 2006, just about the time of the UIGEA and my break-up with Kelley.
Of course, that was pre-CR offense and I can safely say that I really had no idea what I was doing at the time.
In the most recent CardPlayer, pro Kenny Tran talks about how you should move up in limits only when you’ve become bored with the current level.
I remember when I limped my ‘roll into Bodog’s NL$200 last summer and would run away, licking my paws when I would get spanked for $24. lol. Now it feels as natural to me as NL$100 or NL$50, which I still play on Bodog if the tables are good.
Having lots of buy-ins really helps when it comes time to make a decision. I feel like I am growing accustomed to NL$2/3 (although I really feel compelled to pay the extra dollar all the time in the $2 SB way too much) but I’ll need more hands to feel good about $2/4.
I mean, I don’t have any qualms about sacrificing a $300 stack, but I felt like I did playing NL$2/4’s $400 stack, which is something that only a lot of hands — and winning and losing stacks — can numb.
Despite having all that fun, I went over to Sham’s to play poker with the crew — especially after having $4 blinds make my head spin, I thought it would be very relaxing to play in a $.05/.10 $5 max game.
So I put on some tennis shoes and ambled down the street, the warm evening packing Virginia-Highland with lots of bargoers, it was so nice to see all the activity.
Sham kept on 3-betting me light or raising light pf so I would just call and then call down whatever I flopped, if it was a J-high board, or even, in one instance 3rd pair (fours).
I raised and bet aggressively with primo draws in 2-7 TD and baducey and I also just donk called Brigid most of the time in Razz.
Those plays might have helped me in my biggest pot of the night against her, when we were playing NL Omaha and I turned my straight with T,9,8,6. It’s so hard to see a straight and especially shorthanded.
Ended up cashing 3-1/2 buy-ins (SPAM 2-3), so it was a worthy evening.
Source: A quiet escalation, and Sham’s game
Posted in Main