Back to the Grind

I finally put in a good session. Albeit and very spewy session, but I put in a session. I played a little over 1000 hands, and was down a little over 2 buyins at one point. I have taken so much time off from poker, that I was spewing chips left and right. I was pushing with some great draws, but didn't take the time to read through the hands the right way. I pushed with AK suited with two overs and a flush draw, only to be up against a set for a buyin. I need to get back to playing small ball.

I got into the groove later on and ended up only down about 1/3 of a buyin total. So once I take rakeback into account, my session was a little below even. However, I was getting into the groove later in the session. There were quite a few hands in which my position and my aggression were getting me paid off. For instance, there was one hand in particular where I get AA in the BB. The button min raises, and the SB just calls. I repop it to 6 times his raise and the SB flat calls and the button folds. Right then and there I put him on 77-JJ. The flop came 3-7-9 and he checked it to me. I CBET the flop and he check raised the pot. I was thinking he might have flopped a set of 7's or 9's, but thought that if he had, he would have just called and then made a move on the turn. That's what most players do. When they flop a set, they slowplay the flop then lead the turn. So the check raise meant 10-QQ to me. So I shove to his check raise and he calls to show JJ. He bricked out and I was up quite a bit.

There were so many pots in which I was a good favorite when the money went in, but I just couldn't get it to hold. My All-in EV equity was about 3 buyins in the positive, but I ended the session down just a bit. I chalked up most of the losses to it being Saturday night and people were just either really bad and getting lucky or just tilting off and getting paid. So I am proud of the way I played, just couldn't get any traction to stick. I would get up a buyin then lose it back to a suckout a few hands later. Overall, my table image was pretty solid and I don't think the others really knew where I was coming from. They were playing very passive on flops and calling down with second and third pairs. I probably bluffed too much, but with the hands I was facing, I'm surprised they called me to the river with a lot of their hands.

So, some things to think about for the next session:
1. I need to focus on playing position strong and knowing who I can get to fold both before the flop and with a CBET.
2. I need to pull back the preflop aggression and look to get more value for my strong hands and not bluff as much as I did this session.
3. Play more small ball and control the pot more often.
4. Most of all, don't overvalue very marginal hands or marginal situations.

So those are some of the things I need to focus on for the next session. Hopefully I can get the train rolling again and get to the next level. I need to win about 15-16 buyins before I take a shot at the next level. When I do get to the next level, and I get to a specific amount I will drop down to the previous level. So time to get back to the grind and focus on making the right decisions.