Dry

So, the "running bad" is still running, but may be easing up a bit.

(This blog should be subtitled "PhantomMut's Chronicle of Bad Beats". At least as of post number 2.)

So here's a partial list:

1. Big slick under the gun bet hard pre-flop (4K, 20X big blind, which wasn't ridiculous for that table) gets three caller. Flop is KKT (if I recall correctly) with two diamonds. I check, guy to my left folds (wtf?), gargantuan stack checks, small stack (less than half mine) checks. An otherwise blank diamond hits on the turn. "Danger Will Robinson!" I try to take the pot down there (barn door, anyone?) by firing another 16K into the 16K pot. G-stack and S-stack both call, and I'm bumming. Fourth diamond hits on the river, G-stack bets the pot, S-stack goes all-in, and I fold. G-stack flips over the Ace-high flush (had nothing else going), S-stack thought his Kings and Tens would be good (ha!), and I'm a hang-dog dog. I immediately announce "No more slow-play!"
2. I lose 24K when my Queens full of Jacks (AJ to a board of QQJQx) is taken down by someone slow playing quad Queens. (He was happy with his play, and I was happy with my play. If I'd been on tilt it would have been hard not to go all-in on the river when he made a 4K bet into a 16K pot. I just called and think I lost the minimum I could lose there.)
3. I force the same player all in while I'm holding pocket Jacks and he's holding pocket Fives. He hits a set on the flop, I don't improve, and I double him up.
4. Begging Donkey (BD) at the table sitting between G-stack, recently seated Creative Aggressive (CA), and me. I've got in the small blind and have AQ. G-stack calls the blind, CA raises to 3.6K (his standard bet) and ND calls, which eats half his stack. I call. Flop is Q87, if I recall correctly. I fire out 20K, again figuring to take it down. Fold, fold to BD, who says, "I have KJ" and I say "call it" AND HE DOES. Turn is a King. River is a blank. I've just doubled the donkey.

The observant reader will realize that I've just described churning a lot of PSD. But the critical thing is that I didn't re-buy once at that table. I lost a lot, but I played aggressively, took down quite a few decent pots without a showdown, played good percentage poker out of position, pushed when I was sure I had the best hand, and folded when I was sure I didn't and pretty sure I couldn't just buy it. I pushed the small stacks around and got out fast against the big stacks (and there were two monsters at the table, both well over 200K by the time I left) when necessary.

In other words, I was happy with how I played; I dealt with some adversity, didn't tilt, and ended the session up 20K from my initial 40K buy-in.

Trouble is, that wasn't the first table I played at.

First table I got busted out fast by some total donkeys doing the all-in tango.

And I realized that part of my problems recently have been because I've given up drinking.

Pleasantly buzzed, I'll be loose enough to take risks, mellow enough to bail on situations that aren't to my advantage. At the first table I was getting irritated and trying to push irrationally. And given the way my luck has been running, that's a recipe for disaster even against (or maybe especially against) banzai idiots.

Unfortunately, playing pleasantly buzzed is no longer an option because:

1. PhantomWife is working on becoming a PhantomMom (wish us luck) and while she's dry I've promised I'll be dry, and....
2. A recent physical resulted in the doc informing me that my liver is an Unhappy Organ.

Surprisingly, as much as I enjoy drinking, giving it up hasn't been a problem so far. Except....

I don't know how to play poker sober!

Actually, that's not true. But what is true is that the emotional posture to play poker well isn't trained into my sober mind. So in a way, I am relearning skills honed while previously stoned.

Bankroll status: 2.4M PSD.