Keeping at it

I've dropped down for the time being to 200nl. I find it much more relaxing to play than I found 400, and I'm happy to just grind away there for now. My lifetime graph for 200nl is below and I'm quite happy with it. I was just very unlucky to run into so many coolers during my brief stay at 400. Very flippin expensive!! There are a lot of the same players as I saw at 400nl and they are similarly aggressive, but the fact that I'm more comfortable with the monetary amounts at 200nl means I'm much more willing to take them on and play back at them.

My recent bad run has again succeeded in helping me to see the big picture and I'm better at forgetting about the result and not setting goals than I used to be. I just play now and only if I'm in the mood, and only if the games were good.

There was a while were I was a bit obsessed by the whole thing, so it's nice to ne enjoying it more again, and if the money comes, then grand. Though thats not to say that I won't still work hard, watch videos, review hands etc.







I played a hand today which I thought was interesting, but I'm not sure if I should be happy with it or if I just got the right result.




***** Hand History for Game 3587528006 *****
$200.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Friday, August 15, 02:23:47 ET 2008
Table Suva9 (Real Money)
Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: Villain ( $942.10 USD )
Seat 2: ChrisNL1 ( $197.00 USD )
Seat 3: dufcco ( $199.00 USD )
Seat 4: Hero ( $264.00 USD )
Seat 5: peps03 ( $393.30 USD )
Seat 6: marotta4ever ( $1045.78 USD )
peps03 posts small blind [$1.00 USD].
marotta4ever posts big blind [$2.00 USD].
Dealt to Hero [ Js Ah ]
** Dealing down cards **
Villain raises [$7.00 USD]
ChrisNL1 foldsdufcco folds
Hero calls [$7.00 USD]
peps03 folds
marotta4ever calls [$5.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 9s, 4s ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain checks
Hero checks
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ac ]
marotta4ever checks
Villain bets [$16.00 USD]
Hero calls [$16.00 USD]
marotta4ever folds
** Dealing River ** [ Ts ]
Villain bets [$30.00 USD]
Hero raises [$95.00 USD]
Villain folds




I think my AJ doesn't beat a whole lot on the river as every other realistic Ace beats me now. I guess calling here pre-flop is actually a bad after an UTG raise but anyway. My thinking on the river was that calling would be pretty bad, but really all he (19/16/3 and definitely solid player) can have is a one pair type hand (AK, AQ most of the time imo) that can't stand much heat, and that its very possible for me to have a flush the way the hand was played. I figured that turning my hand into a bluff was the best play here. Maybe I would have bet a FD when checked to me on the flop but I think I could conceivably check it behind as the other guy in the hand was an idiot.

I'd like to hear some comments on it. Maybe its not rocket science but I'm happy that I managed to work in something of a decent thought process while the hand was being played. I really want to become better at assigning ranges and playing accordingly, instead of just taking standard lines.