HOTD: Guess I'm just paying this one off

Three way limped pot to a 6c7cQd flop. I check from the SB, BB bets pot of .06, MP calls and I call with AcKcxx. Turn is 5c giving me the nut flush and I want to milk it a bit so I make it 1/2 pot and get called in twice. River leaves the board unpaired and I want to extract value from a presumed set in the BB so I only bet .08 into a .60 pot. Get a call from the BB then a shove from MP. I have half a stack left behind and his bet would put me all in. Ironically, there's really not a lot that I'm beating here. Villain's line is completely consistent with a straight flush and since I have Ac and Kc it makes it even more likely that I'm beat here since even the worst donks wouldn't raise with the third nut flush, they'd just call behind. Plus the flat call on the turn and shove on the river smells exactly like the nutter butters. Although I'm fairly sure I'm beat here I commit the rest of my stack anyway. BB folds and villain shows 8c9c for the straight flush as expected and the nut straight flush at that. I'm not sure how I feel about the call. I did consider that villain thought I may have been betting a set of 5s then slowed down on the river when the board didn't pair and he wanted to get paid for his flush but that still doesn't really fit the line for a 3rd nut flush or worse. It is possible that I called off half a stack because it is "only" 33 cents or that I did not give villain full credit because of the microstakes but I also think there is something to be said for folding when you are pretty sure you are behind.  The pot was giving me about 4.5:1 and I don't think that I'm right often enough in that exact spot for a call to be profitable long term.

Number watch - 8.91

Thankfully back down in double digits again. I would summarize my play of late as being pure nit, pure value. I'm basically playing a few kinds of hands:

* AAxx - If I can get enough all in pre-flop to be pot committed then I'm going with it.

* High pocket pairs for sets as in jacks or better. Looking only for huge ROI here by limping in and folding if raised more than a min pre-flop and folding on the flop if I miss.

* Nut flush draws with some helpful side cards.

* Perfect rundowns.

I'm folding anything else and I want to see as cheap a flop as possible so I'm only willing to pay the minimum. Since I'm short stacking I think it is a mistake to call a raise at the short buy in tables because I'm not getting enough implied when I do hit.

The results speak for themselves. In the last session I was up $2.08 and only lost one hand over 10 cents and that was a crying call on my part hoping that my aces were good on an ugly board. Other than that I won all contested showdowns, being 2:1 or better in five of the six and a little shy of neutral equity in a three way all in. Think I'm going to ride this train until I can get my number down to zero.

Number watch - 11.28

I am back to full nit mode and have been getting my money in way good. I've cut out going aggro with thin holdings and the bankroll has adjusted accordingly. I question whether I possibly did not fully maximize value on a couple of hands. As soon as I got there I slammed the door shut instead of trying to get string villain along but the pots were already pretty big and I'd rather just take it down right there even at the expense of long term EV. Overall, good steady progress. Have to remember to nit up pre-flop since that has been part of my formula when I am EV+.

HOTD: Flopping the universe

I limp with JJ77ds, SB pots it and I call. Speculative but I was just getting tired of getting run all session. Flop is 77J giving me nut low quads and top boat. Villain fires a half pot sized bet and I have nothing more original to do than slow play even though there is a potential GSSFD lurking. I'm pretty sure villain is committed to pushing his hand through anyway but flat call it is. Turn is a T and he bets enough to put me in and I elect not to slow roll him so I present my hand to show him drawing dead. Unfortunately I cannot catch the case jack to give myself quads over quads. Maybe next time.

Going backwards

Now is not the time to be trying out new things. I should just stick with ABC Omaha instead. I started off so well and I have had a terrible few sessions of lacking discipline. I did have a couple of costly hands where villain was chasing a flush draw then backed into a straight of better two pair but I accept responsibility for most of it. The number is back down to 16.67 which is a major change of course from being down to single digits. I have a direction I want to go in as far as my pre-flop hand selection goes but for now I'm not going to mess with the formula and just get back to some disciplined, focused grinding.

Big hit to the number - 15.62

Another one of those sessions. Just couldn't seem to get anything right, getting out-flopped, drawn out, out-boarded, etc. Took a look over my hands and I didn't see anything super drastically wrong. I could have chosen not to pursue a top and bottom on the flop but I was basically pot committed. I'm now backed down to about the 1/4 milestone. Disappointing.

Lost focus

Can't tell if it was the competition or having too many things on my plate while trying to play poker at the same time but the results were disastrous. Really just was trying too hard to make things happen that weren't there. Putting my money in way light and not surprisingly losing those hands. My head just was not in the right place and I knew it. Maybe villains were actually super aggro, maybe it was just my perception. Sure seemed like I would either miss or when I hit then villain would hit harder. Either way, doesn't matter. If things aren't going well I should pull over and let the engine cool. Also, I started watching the points counter instead of the cashier total and when that happens I semi-subconsciously start focusing on making big pots to drive those numbers. Partly ridiculous since it was so early in the day and I plenty of time to get the points cleared by EOD but in my head I felt the need to push the action. Bad, bad, bad. At one point I was heavily flirting with going back down to the 1/3 of the milestone mark. I did get a better session in where I tacked on a solid two bucks but I am still south of halfway at -$12.72.