3rd and Likely Final Session at Bay 101

I would bet you can guess where this is going from the title.  Pretty rough time for me to go on a "downswing" (I put it in quotes because anything below 3 buyins can't really be qualified as a true downswing, but it feels like a lot to me since I was on a sub 10 buyin bankroll to start with).  I played for just over 4 hours today and again lost $200.  I felt like I ran pretty terribly, but I think there are also some pretty clear flaws in my game.  I play far too tight on a limited roll, and that's not a good strategy for beating the games.

Can't really complain too much, I was at a much improved table compared to yesterday, I just never got anything going.  Not a single time in the last two days have I been even a dollar above my starting stack of $200, I just hardly ever won pots.

Just fold garbage hands repeatedly until I've dropped ~$20 from blinds alone, then see an ok hand, raise over some limps, and check fold the flop when I air-ball the flop.  As a fun example, I had 99 and about $95 in front (after folding a bunch for a few hours), there are a few limpers and I jack it to $30 expecting that I'm shoving most flops against one caller and probably half of flops against two callers.  Instead, I get two callers, the flop is AJT with two clubs, and one of the villains leads into me for 1/2 pot.  I fold and the eventually get it in after the other villain turned a royal.

I did double up after I had dropped all the way to $50 with AcQc against 7h8h.  Though in testament to how I've been running, I did this while not improving one bit throughout the hand.

My last hand of the day, and likely the last hand I'll play in California (unless I magically become better at poker without an online game to practice with, or I somehow come up with a significantly larger bankroll) was an AsKs with just over $100 behind.  A bad player opens to five, another bad player calls, I bump it to $30, get a flat caller on the button, everyone else folds.  Flop comes Q86 rainbow, and I can't c-bet without being committed, and I don't really want to give up after investing so much, so I open shove about 1.2x pot and lose to KQo.  Pretty pleased he called with that preflop, but hey, what can you do.  I play TT+, and AQ the same way, so I think he's losing money on the deal, but in this case luck was on his side.

I thought I was going to get more mileage out of posting after each live session, though now I'm quite sure this will be the last post regarding a live session in at least 12 months.  Until next time.

2nd Session at Bay 101

Played this afternoon for 3 hours and lost $40.  Played ok, never really had any good situations or very man bad situations.  Just a boring session with no major hands played.

The table overall was very tight for a live table.  I may have arrived too early in the morning (~10:30 am), but the table I was seated at had a bunch of nitty middle aged guys.  Weird that middle aged guys were as nitty as they were (typically these are the money guys since they tend to work 9-5 and are just in the game to gamble and get away, but apparently not the ones in my game).  In fact, the table was so tight overall that I don't think anyone at the table could have been a long term winner with that table lineup, meaning I think that the money would mostly just move back and forth and everyone would lose out to the rake.

Without rake, I think I could have beaten the lineup, but with the $5 per hand that sees a flop at the Bay, there's really no way to be a good lag unless you are deep stacked or playing in a 2-3-5 game.  So my game, even at tight tables like the above, is limited to playing tightly so as not to lose out to the rake as much.  With a percentage rake schedule allowed in most other states, I would loosen up considerably at a table like this and take advantage of people folding too much, but that is simply not a good option here, in my opinion.

Anyway, I'm planning on heading back over tomorrow around noon and hope for a better table.