Back from Niagra Falls

I am back in town. Niagra Falls was amazing, it was a lot of fun and for me, very educational. i lost about 15 or 16 thousand dollars, but i learned soo much from talking to other players and playing on the world poker tour. ive also learned, that i can beat the cash games, fairly easily, i know i ran pretty well, but its still pretty soft.

in 9 handed games, ive learned i need to give up on some pots sometimes. for some reason i always feel like i have to protect my investment with a bluff, or i have to protect my hand with a large portion of my stack. Ive learned its ok to get moved off my hand once in a while, and i don't need to outplay everyone everyhand. Phil Hellmuth always talks about how he has the heart to fire another barrell, its good to have heart, but you can't just bluff wrecklessly because you want to protect your investment.

Heres how i lost my stack (a little embarassed in hindsight)


someone playing a lotofhands on my right raised to 4000 with a stack of 60,000

blinds were 500/1000 with a 200 ante. i have 60,000 in chips also.


i had pocket 10's and i called


everyone folded

flop

2s9sJs


i had the 10s


he bet 8000

heres my thinking

the only way im in bad shape, is if he has a higher spade and a higher pair.

heres what i didnt think about, if i raise, hes only playing back atme if he has that higher spade and higher pair. so im turning my hand into a bluff, and thats a huge mistake in poker.




i raised enough to commit myself and we eventually got all in and he had AdAs

i was super short stacked and allen cunningham finished me off a few hands later with aces as well.



looking back there are 2 better plays

i could of peeled one, and see how he reacted on the turn

or i can just fold.




folding seems terrible to me at first, but really i am only beating 33-88 and bluffs


AsKd is a good drawing hand against me, and thats close to the bottom ofhis range.





One last thing i learned about live play.

the guy on my right smelled terrible, he snorted a lot and was really obnoxious to play with. I can't let this affect my game. I need to devise up a plan for when im sitting with someone who bothers me.