Quest, Day 9

Played for about 90 minutes tonight. I caught a couple big hands, in at least one case entirely due to an opponent laying a trap and getting snared in it himself, but mostly I got crap cards that were just slightly better than everyone else in the hand. Tonight was the karmic payback for all those nights when PokerStars seems to be dealing nothing but coolers. I couldn't count how many hands there were where five people stayed until the end and ALL missed the entire board. And nobody even took a stab at the pot. (I would have, but I discovered early that some of these guys would never fold.)

Finished the night up $1.03, bringing the bankroll to $17.11. The play tonight was a bit more like what I've always expected at the very lowest rung of the NL ladder.

I recently started watching some Ed Miller videos on limit Hold'em. In one of the sessions he brings up what should be an obvious point but is often overlooked, especially by me -- don't expect your opponents to play the same way you do. There are many ways to be successful at Hold'em (and many more ways not to), so even if you and Phil Hellmuth are peas in a pod, it is still possible for someone to play almost exactly opposite and make a profit.

Tonight I sat with a number of people who played not remotely like I do. A couple were seeing close to 90% of the flops. Some refused to fold if they caught even the tiniest piece of the board or had a little pocket pair, regardless of there being obvious straights, flushes, and far higher pairs quite likely. People with hands I would have recognized as highly likely to be in the lead all the way would check it all the way down. It was very confusing and more than a little unsettling.

I'm a bit concerned this may be teaching me some bad habits. OTOH, each table seems different and I've been adjusting my play to fit the situation. Tonight, for instance, I quickly realized I needed a winning hand to go up against one of the other players because he refused to fold. It didn't always take much, but I knew I couldn't bluff my way to victory with him. So I could either come out of this a far more flexible player, or I could almost completely ruin my game.