It hit me...

the other day like a ton of bricks. I'll never be a poker professional or be anything more than a slightly better than average player. I'm missing the most important thing: patience.

I was playing the other day, December 23rd to be exact, and I had a couple of sessions where I made $5 total. They were very, very well played. I probably only made one mistake between both sessions. The only real hand I got was QQ, but I made due with suited connectors and bluffs. There were some weakish players that I was able to push off hands and grind it out. I decided that I would multitable the next day, so that I could speed up the hands I was seeing. I just wanted to get some good, big hands in.

The next day, I do, in fact multi table. Things were going pretty mediocre. I still hadn't gotten any hands, but I was down only $5 between the two tables. Feeling bad because I wanted to win some money, I tilted and pushed one hand too far.

I had 36s, flop is 268 off, and I bet. He calls. Next off is an Ace. I checked, and he bets. Despite having a weak hand with no outs, I decide to reraise bluff all in. He insta-calls me with AK. I was representing trips or at least two pair, but I was stupid for thinking AT ALL. I should've folded my freaking hand and stopped playing loose aggressive.

Upon reflection, it hit me. There were 8 tight aggressive players at my .10/.25 table. I thought about leaving, but I thought I could outplay them. That's the dumbest thought I'd ever had, and I'm a pretty stupid mother f-er. What I was doing was throwing money away. I wasn't going to get paid for AA or KK, and I would have to enter the pot with a weaker hand than they would likely have and hope to get lucky with a big flop. Knowing things hadn't been going my way, I should've just left and got lunch.

Secondly, it hit me that the players at many of the Ironman players at FTP have the very same strategy.

1. Play AA, KK to the max
2. Play AK raising PF, fold flop unless unlikely to hit single opponent, Fold turn unless TPTK
3. Play QQ-22 for trips, higher pairs for value
4. Play as many tables at possible.

Playing 10 tables, they are seeing over 100 hands per 10 minutes. That means, they will see AA or KK every 10 minutes!

They aren't trying to outwit other players. They are simply pumping out volume. Knowing this, you can take a few blinds off of them, but generally, they will have the best hand when they enter a pot. It'll also be difficult to pick them off or blind them to death, because the hand groupings above represent 7% of all hands. They can mix in a few more hands like AQ and KQs from late position and appear to be active but tight.

These players are always on, and they are always at every table. I think it's the reason why it seems like the competition online is tougher than the competition in live action. In live action, you have to play what you are dealt, and only the most patient rock on earth would play that strategy.

Either way, I've got $30 left. I'm dropping down to the .05/.10 level, and I'm going to just play for entertainment. I've tried for years and been successful to an extent, but I guess it was always a matter of time before I failed at this. I fail at everything in life, so it shouldn't be a suprise.

I think I'm going to blog a series of my lessons learned in life so far over the next few weeks/months. Look out for that.