Back home to my regular game, still slightly jet lagged but had an energy drink and arrived just after the start at a new table.

I played well and was involved in plenty of pots, but in Aspers QJ is King and you should rarely bluff only value bet and I lost a few chips bluffing undoing all my early work.

A great double up before the break gave me double chip average going into level 5. Cards were a  little dead and I  re-raised two short stacks who had min bet with Ad4d the flop was K96 two diamonds and I bet 15K 3/4 pot to get a call, the ace came on the turn and when checked to I put my opponent all in to be called by A9 for two pair. The river bricked and I was down to 40K. I should have perhaps shoved the flop with my nut flush draw or bet full pot.

I moved to another table and opened A40 from MP to 6,000 with blinds at 3,000/1,500 and 400 antes off a stack of 55K , I got a raise to 16,000 from a big stack and a call from the big blind on a short stack. This is a clear fold, there were 60 left out of about 200. I thought the re-raise had taken my min-bet to be weak and was exploiting me. I stacked my chips as if to shove he seemed to look uncomfortable, so I moved all in. He insta called  with As6s as did the BB with pocket sevens and he won the pot with trips 6s.

My play was awful and I went home in a foul mood, it was a clear fold and I was beyond frustrated at how I can still make such basic errors. I had over 15BB, I could have found better spots and waited for my luck with the deck to change. Instead I chalked up another too familiar loss.

I think I’ll take a break and review my game, when you are low it is time to study harder and become better, noticeably better.

Here’s the plan

  1. Review shove tables up to 15BB and playing short stack poker
  2. Review bubble play
  3. Review why I get to the bubble short stacked too often
  4. Study Mixed Game
  5. Use the tools for review PioSolver , Flopzilla, Holdem Manager, Sit n Go Wizard
  6. Deconstruct my game fully and remove the weaknesses
  7. Define my ranges for full ring and six max and any adjustments for player type
  8. Review Small Blind and Big Blind play defending range
  9. Review bet sizing strategy and what is optimal for various stages of tournaments. Currently I am 3BB UTG and 2.5BB MP and BUTTON with a shift to 2.2BB near bubble
  10. Listen to my mental game Audio books Little and Tendler again and again. Last night was a mental problem that needs to be addressed.

That’s quite a list I don’t think I’ll play again until I have done the work on most of these.

Back to the books.