Beachy Poker's blog

So I dropped three tourneys within about 30 seconds with AA on two and KK on the other this morning. My kings flopped a boat full of aces for my opponent to hit a three on the turn to make aces full of threes. My aces went up against J10o only to make it possible for my opponent to hit the four flush. Then, my aces went up against Q10 and you guessed it. Flop of J89.

And it seems I have lost every flip in the last day on the river. I dropped about 6 buy ins straight yesterday and all of them on the river.

AAARRGHHHH!!!! IT IS RIGGED!!!! LOL

Wow, I'm tilting off the chart so I'm shutting down for a while. I've had a good couple of days, but this morning I have just been getting shutout over and over.

I had AA once, KK three times, QQ twice, . . .lost every one to lower two pairs and sets and missed every single 50/50 I wound up in. I'm starting to think 58o is a good hand!

Anyway, better luck tomorrow! Will any of you guys be in the PPA 10K on Saturday?

So as you know, I've been swimming in the swirling waters of the Micro-micro stakes SNGs and have done okay by it. Except for the last 50 or so games. Over the last week I haven't hit anything and when I have, it gets busted. Over and over. . .

Now giusnun posted a great article about not complaining but I just can't help it anymore. I can understand the emotions that are running through the Poker Brat's head when he has his notorious outbursts of anger when someone turns over Q10 and I have to get it out before I break something in my house!

There are a couple of things you can count on in the Micro-micro stakes. The first one is that if you decide to enter a pot, you need to understand that if not preflop, there's a good likelihood that your chips will be put at risk post flop. Its the default action of the micro-micro stakes player. . .if they ever get confused about what to do, its an all in shove. After all, its the easiest way to play poker! Doesn't take any thought, just shove it!

The second thing to know is that a preflop raise will not isolate the players (unless you are very fortunate) but it will merely add value to the pot. A micro-micro stakes player will call anything preflop with Ax, Kx, Qx, anything suited or any pair. They will act the same preflop with AK as they do with A5 except that if you raise them preflop and they are holding AK, they will very likely jerk slightly and hit the all in button like the little zombies that they are.

And a final snippet that will help when playing the micro-micro stakes is that they are flush and straight masters. If they are on a straight draw (gut shot or open ended, doesn't matter) or a flush draw, you can be damned sure they will give up their entire stack to try to catch that card. The great thing is that they will fold nicely on the river to a BB sized bet when they miss after having called down 3/4 of their stack.

So thats a little something that I've learned about the Micro-micro waters but I just had it this morning with the beating I took. I played 3 or 4 games this morning and lost with KK as well as QQ in a couple of them (I know you can't win them all) but the last beat put me over the edge and I decided to quit playing and start writing.

I was playing the $.25/ 45 player SNG on PS and we were down to 20 players left. Imagine my surprise when, after raising and then calling the small blind all in with my Rockets, he shows 23o. And then imagine my anger when he goes on to spike a set of threes.

Of course he cackled evilly in the chat box for a while about how he always busts AA with 23o. Then, about five hands later, being extremely shortstacked, I shove all in from late middle position with AQd and get called with Q10c. Again, I smile, thinking maybe I do have some life left. And then the flop flopped. And my opponent had flopped a straight.

That's when I quit. . .I guess it just wasn't meant to be, but, God, its frustrating!

So, does anybody have any good advice on keeping mentally sound when you are in the middle of a bad run?

For the first time in four or five months, I opened up Pokerstars and stared into my vacant bank account. The place where I had spent so many pleasant hours waiting on good starting hands, bluffing the wrong person, winning a game or two and losing seven or eight, was now covered in cobwebs and a heavy layer of dust and grime.

Pushing the cobwebs aside, I blew at the dust to reveal four copper pennies lying desolate at the bottom of the vault. A little more searching brought to light in another corner the 188 fpps I had accumulated and never used. I stared at them sadly, a slight sense of wistfulness tickling the back of my neck.

I had only ever deposited $25, and with money tight in the household budget, I had not been able to find any extra money to reload my account so I had spent the months since reading articles and watching youtube videos on strategy and bankroll management in preparation for the day I would once again play poker online.

"I wonder if there are any games I could play with these" I wondered as the urge to play swept through my emotions.

Opening up the main lobby, I searched for the button that said 'Micro'. What I was looking for went well beyond Micro! It was the Micro of the Micro. The Micro-Micro Stakes as I like to call them.

To my surprise, I found a tourney with a buy in of only 10 fpp that had a cash payout. I enrolled immediately and began playing my cherished game of NL Holdem once again.

I managed to cash in this fpp tourney and suddenly had a bankroll of about $.60. Wow! I had seen some ten cent sngs in the lobby and I immediately went in search of those. . .
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This is just the beginning of my journey through the donks and bad beats of Micro Stakes poker. I'm almost a winning player again and my bankroll has now reached nearly $22. Come back to read more as I progress (hopefully up) through the micro stakes levels!

Upcoming Topics:
- How to be a Professional Donk
- The Art of Busting Aces (with 35o)
- How to Win by Catching the Four Flush