From STUD to DUD....

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The good Sir Al was nice enough to host a special game just for me last night so I wanted to let him know how much I appreciated it, by taking the damn thing down. I practically begged brudder Carson to get into the game but to no avail. His response was kind of funny. "What would be the point? I know there'll be at least one player there that's better at STUD than me." LMAO ! Most times, he's so damn good for this kid's ego.

STUD. Oh how I love thee!

When I get a chance to play some of the better NLHE players in a game of STUD on-line, I almost feel ‘dirty’ as I play the game. I wonder if that’s how they feel, as they continually take from my stack in hold’em? LOL. Probably not! Easy chips are just that, easy. In the game of poker, get ‘em while the getting’s good.

To say I cruised through the game might sound a bit arrogant or cocky. But it is a fair statement. Someone paid me on every monster hand I hit. I could ‘complete’ at will with my starting hands and someone almost always came along. I even got paid with this hand, and that just ain’t easy to do with what I had showing!

Through the halfway point and as the field slowly dwindled down to 14 or 15, I changed gears and went a little too hard at a few pots. This move created a backlash that I wasn’t expecting. I was figuring that the NLHE aggression pattern would now start to come out of the players at my table, I went really strong with some great starting hands. The weird thing was, it would get folded to my complete. This happened several times and like I said, I certainly didn’t expect it. I showed about 80% of my starting hands once they went on the folding spree. I showed A-A-K… Ac-Kc-Qc….10-10-10 and K-K-K.
My thoughts on showing were simple, let’em know I’m not just stealing. Get it into my opponent’s head that when I complete, I have a hand. Basic and solid strategy for any variation of poker, of course. If you stop by here once in a while, you’ll also know that I’ve been running a little ‘card-dead’ lately too. I also wanted to show a few of these hands, because it’s been a bit since I’d seen so many pretty starting cards on my computer screen. I just wanted to share the good times with my friends!

It was final table time and from the play I watched for the majority of the game, I’d say the right players made it and deserved to be there. In particular, the play I observed by both Drizz and NightRanger was solid and fundamental STUD. No offence to the others! It’s just I saw more of the play from these two and often saw the hands they were showing down. From what I saw when they were playing, both have quite solid games.

I simply got too confident and complacent as the game went along. I made several mistakes that I normally never would and it cost me the game. One hand I totally miss-read and another, that I just couldn’t put my opponent on a hand. Both key mistakes that brought me down to the short stack at the table. Then as with all things pokery, the pretty card well dried up on me. That created some desperation in my game and I made an un-characteristic decision to push and race. With reckless abandon, I threw chips in bad and kept on doing it, over and over again. I was on tilt with myself and there was no stopping it. After 2 ½ hours of solid play in a game I love so dearly, I was being the guy I love to play against. What a Donkey !

Thus a 7th. place finish when deep down inside, I know I should have won. I don't get too many opportunities to shine with the on-line crowd. I'm awfully disappointed in myself for wasting another chance to do so last night, to say the very least.

The only good news that came out of this disaster was, I know what the problem was. Now I just need to cure myself..... of myself!

My sincerest thanks for dropping by…