Pre-game Warm Up...

I'm back-dating this post for Friday because that is when I wrote it.  The next post will detail my results Friday night...

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Played last Friday in the .10/.20 game and lost $19.50.  Considering the loss, I wasn't that disappointed in my play.  I lost a $40 pot to a two outer (actually, the back door straight draw) so that obviously makes a winning night hard.  I did make two larger mistakes though:

I had 62s on the button and somehow got into a hand with the small/big blind.  I believe I limped from the button (probably a mistake), and bet the A x 2 flop to represent the ace.  I got one caller in the SB, so I fired again on the turn on the off chance he had middle pair and he might drop it.  When he called, I was done with the hand unless I hit a 5.  Well, a five came on the river, I value bet, he called, and I was surprised when I flipped over the 6.  I should have checked my hand before betting, or at least on the turn...  Other than the value bet on the end, I don't think I would have played the hand very differently.

Mistakes: probably too loose in the first place (62s?), might have held back on the turn bet since he has a weak ace there a decent amount of the time, or I need to at least make a bigger bet to get him off the hand (it was about 1/3-1/2 the pot on the turn, and a bad bet).  On the river, that's just a brain fart...

Second hand: 96s in MP and a limped pot.  The flop came 643 rainbow and a tightish player in the big blind leads for .50.  I raise to $1.70, and he made it $5.70. I called (mistake!), got a flush draw on the river and called $5 or so, then called $5 on the river because the pot was huge.  He had two pair

Mistake: That flop 3-bet was the decision point, and I should have just folded.  After that, the play was pretty standard because he does have three barrel bluffs in his range...

Tonight, I'm playing an alternate $20-$50 buy-in game (either .25/.25 or .25/.50) and I'm going to keep my goals simple:

1. Be active and aggressive with the first act of aggression.  Especially in opening and in position.
2. Focus on ranging hands, going back to the pre-flop action (something that I keep forgetting to do, but am getting better at)
3. Be a little more conservative when it is likely I'm beat.  I.e. take the second or third act of aggression seriously, and in fringe spots (like the 96s hand) just fold it.

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In other news, the .5/1 game didn't go this week, but I wasn't planning to play it anyway since I hadn't practiced online.  Mostly, I was just not feeling like I wanted to play, and I learned a while ago that I should hold off on playing if I'm not really wanting to play.

I want to play this Tuesday though, so I'll get some practice in this weekend.