Mookie Money

Well I finally cashed in the Mookie. I had a lot of fun. I did suck out a couple of times, but also took a big hit on this hand: I played QQ all in preflop to 10Jo/s. Flop comes with a Q, but villian gets his straight. I also made a lot of laydowns. I folded 55 to an all in bet when I already had a third of my chips in the pot. Pot odds may have been screaming to call, but I wasn't putting my tournament on the line with 55. Sorry fuel55. I just couldn't do it. At least in this situation, I just felt I was beat or would get sucked out on.

I didn't get many hand histories or screen shots, since I was playing on my wife's HP Laptop. I hate HP (at least compared to my Dell's I have owned), so I try to just do the minimum I can while I am awaiting a new battery for my Dell.

Congratulations to Perticelli55 for taking down 1st, millerd33 for taking 2nd, and kaellinn18 for taking 3rd.

Hope to see you all there next week.

I have been on a roll lately and have doubled my bankroll in the last week. Prior to that, I had taken a 25% downswing. The real key to increasing your bankroll was said best by MiamiDon (I believe it was him): Maximize your winnings, and minimize your losses. We will all get sucked out on, and we will all win a coin flip half the time (or should be half the time). But if you can get the most money into the pot when you have the nuts, and get the least amount in to see your draws, you will come out +EV. I know this is obvious, but I have really been focusing on this and it is paying off. A bad week and I take a 25% downswing and then a good week I take a 100% upswing; now that is +EV.

Really think about that. Are you pushing all in with 2 players ahead of you already all in and the nut flush draw. Hoping to hit your draw and stack 2 donkeys does sound appealing but it is not +EV. Are you pushing all in with TPTK because you are playing a maniac? Learning to check and to control the size of the pot is one of my new focuses and it is really paying off for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't play TAG, and good steals are essential to profiting in ring games, but learning where the fold and the check buttons are has helped me move in a positive direction.

Thanks for tagging me Alan. I'll have to work on that one later....

Stay patient.