So I've been in a slow period since I had two papers due in a row which have sucked up all my spare time. They're both in now though, and I'm officially on a vacation this week, which means more poker. Except my tutoring job, which is still going strong, and making it difficult to get time in at the tables.
Saturday afternoon I had a little under two hours to play and I was only a few blocks from GC, so I was ready to play. Except when I got there, the lists for 6/12 and 3/6 were each over 30 players long. Oddly enough, there was a 4/8 7 Stud H/L game going so I figured I'd spend an hour at that. How bad can I really be at 7 card stud, right (don't answer that, it definitely isn't my best game)...
Well, the good news was that I didn't feel outplayed, although I did play one hand horribly and put in three extra big bets while drawing nearly dead (didn't see the 3-flush on his board on 5th after bricking my last two cards with As2s7s x Ax). Other than that, I felt like I was reading players pretty well and getting out of hands when I needed to, also making value bets on early streets. I also hit quad 4s late in the session. There was one really bad player, and most of the others were playing too loosely and calling down too much or chasing bad odds.
Sadly, I lost more hands than I won and ended up down $84 after about an hour. Even worse, the 4/8 Stud game has a $2 ante, $2 bring-in, and a $7 drop. Which means you are pretty much donating $1 every hand, which gets expensive even when you only play 15-20 hands an hour. I don't think it is possible to consistently turn a profit in the game, although I won't hesitate to sit again if I need to get in action while waiting for another game, simply because it was really fun! 7-stud really exercises different muscles than omaha/texas hold'em and it is a lot less boring because you have to pay attention to everyone's board.
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UB has switched their bonus/rewards structure out of my favor (since I like to play at most once a week to kill time at the low limits). The bonuses are about twice as hard to earn (I've still got almost $500 in bonus money saved up) and they now have a tiered structure. At least you can exchange points for cash if you earn 500 points a month. Sadly, at my stakes, that means almost 20 hours of play, which really isn't worth it to me. Oh well.
I'll still probably play at UB when I want to screw around because I still have a bonus there.
I played some 6-max .25/.5 LHE last night though and I felt really comfortable, my game has definitely chance since I got serious about playing at GC.
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I'm going to hit GC tonight after my tutoring session and I plan to play 6/12. So, I need some goals. How about:
- Count the pot to the river. (been a goal for a while, getting better at it though, especially on the flop and turn)
- Look for a few situations to attack weakness and bluff. This includes steal-raises in position at tight tables (unlikely to happen). Always bluff with outs though, and plan the bluff on all streets before I act (i.e. I fire once at the flop and then I'm done, or I fire at the flop, then fire again if a diamond doesn't come, etc).
- Be thinking aggressive. The key is to avoid playing on autopilot (pretty easy when I've had a lot of time off like I have). Think through every move no matter how obvious.
- Have fun!
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