Rollercoaster Ride

Having a fun time on the Tribeca NLHE tables this month so far.

From seven sessions, I'm looking at:

- three really good
- two good
- one break-even
- one terrible

Which is a more than acceptable ratio!

Even the terrible session didn't feel so bad, though the spreadsheet numbers suggest it was! Just one of those nights where big pairs got out-flopped, and every draw missed.

It even included what I'd term a 'good beat'. Called a raise on the button with 55, flopped middle set on a 9-high board. Raised the turn. Got called(good).

Checked behind on a scary river, only for my opponent to turn over 99 for the flopped top set!! He reraises the turn and I'm all-in and busted.

As I called the raise, I actually said out loud something along the lines, 'This could be the hand that turns this night around.'

In a way, it was. Just not quite in the manner I'd hoped.

I've won a couple of very big pots in similar circumstances this week, by going slightly against accepted logic and making very small lead-out bets when I flop a straight draw on a flushing board.

For example I get in from the SB with:

Then lead out for 2BB on a flop of:

At these levels this is almost shorthand for 'I have a heart flush draw and want to see a cheap turn', so when the turn happens to be a welcome 8c, the action really starts.

No one is likely to give you credit for the nuts - they might even have drawn to hit the idiot gutshot - and suddenly all the cash is in the middle. This happened twice this week, once to someone drawing dead, and once to someone trying to backdoor another flush.

The power of deception, and a good illustration of why adding a little 'incorrect' play to your game can be beneficial in the right circumstances.