Swingy Saturday

I decided to gamble with a chunk of money from my roll this weekend on some cheap tourneys and 6 max cash games at the next level up. I consistently get spanked when I play cash at the next level and this weekend was no exception. I went into my tired and stubborn call station mode when clearly beaten in some fairly tough spots, that are probably routine for cash regulars at 4nl and dumped nearly 3 stacks worth. Initially I decided to gamble with $14 and move back down to 2nl if I lost the lot, but I quickly lost around $11 before I decided to pull the plug and lick my wounds.

I am having great difficulty adjusting to 6 max as a game which is part of the problem, since I am used to playing uber-tight in full ring games. If I sit down at a 6 max table  I enjoy raising more hands and quickly get stuck into the action. I tend win or lose around 10-20bb or so and then suddenly dump the lot with pair vs set, or keep betting into draws that get there and then check call off my stack when they bomb the river.  In full ring I have a good sense of when to release a lost cause of a hand on the river, but for some reason (maybe adrenaline?) my calling reflex is more itchy in the fast and furious 6 max games.

I had more success in the cheap tourneys and just finished cashing in 68/762 runners in one event. I am once again speechless at some of the plays I have seen such as suited connectors calling off half their stack preflop with around 25-30bb left, or fancy players calling an ace turn card (a so called 'scare card') and then bluffing small on the river with nearly all their remaining chips only to fold to a river raise.

In the end I lost around $8.50 since I offset my 4nl losses with some 2nl cash wins and the one small tourney result. I will not return to 4nl until I have regained my mojo, and gone over some hand reviews and stuff. I think being slightly under-rolled is part of the reason for my bad play, combined with a lack of reasoning out from street to street whilst hands are in play. I like the fact that I set out to gamble and achieved this, since you learn more about your game under pressure and the next time I man up and double the stakes I will be better prepared for it. The graph below shows the downwards spike of this weekend's excesses  just before the tiny upswing of some 2nl recovery! (My hem lost a load of data which is why the amounts only read up to the last peak of $67 ish. Current roll is actually $126.40.