Why the hell do I play online?

Welcome, thanks for stopping. Title of this post is an easy answer in some respects. The closest card room is 30 mins away and I still don't have a membership. Closest casino is 45 mins or so over in Lawrenceburg, IN. I can play online within 2-3 mins of deciding and get up and move around at will. So it's a convenience thing, no doubt about it. But it is costing me money.

I'm still not sure why. I think I play the same game live and online. I just seem to pick up more in betting patterns and other tells live. So far this year, live I'm up big. Not gonna say how much with big brother out there :) Online, -$700.

I have talked in the past about why I think I've been running badly online. I think that lately I just am not staying focused. I have been killing the SnGs and MTTs. (actually have a +ROI in both) but have been losing my shirt in cash. Live, I'm up in both tourney and cash.

Today was a good example. I decided to play the $100+15 tourney over at Argosy. $20 goes to bounties, so you can make some decent cash taking people out. I didn't get ONE. Had quite a few pots where people had me covered by 500 or less and I put a huge hurt on them, but every time I was up for a bounty I lost the pot. Once to runner runner flush when I had the guy dominated with AJ vs J8 on a J 7 4 board with 2 hearts (his 8 was the heart).

This post isn't about bad beats, although I took a few myself. Top 7 spots paid and guess who finished 8th? That's right. Good ol' Illinifan. Sigh.

But every cloud has a silver lining. I went to get on the list for the 1/3 NLHE game and the 3/6 LHE games. Guy says, we have an open seat at Table 9. I look over, and it's seat #9. Guy that is dealing it was just dealing the FT of the tourney about 20 mins before and dealt me 9-x (ranging from 10 to 2) about 10 hands in a row and blinded me down quite a ways. Hmmm...9s. Lots of 9s. Maybe I should try this out. I hit the window, and sit with $200.

I sit down mid-hand. Pot looks to be about 50ish bucks and as I sit the guy to my immediate right bets 15 into it. One caller. Ah 7s 8s on board. Back to the UTG player. He pushes for $127 into the pot. Guy to my right insta-calls. Third player thinks and thinks. Finally mucks. Pusher shows AKo. Caller has AsTs. Js on the turn and I start to think I might like this game.

I go a few orbits without much action. Then in the BB I find KQo. Limped to me. I check it. Flop is A Q 4, 2 clubs. I check. The guy that got felted with the AK is back with more chips to donate...er....play with. He bets 15 into a pot of about that size. I decide to see what develops when 2 call coming back to me. Turn is another Q. I check. Now he bets out 30. Muck muck. I think and just call it. River is an 8, no flush. I decide to see what kind of play this dude has and bet out $50. He looks confused and I know he has a Q with a smaller kicker. Don't know why. Just a feeling. He hums and haws and finally pushes all in. I call and say "I have you outkicked" even before the cards get on their backs. And I'm right. He shows QT off. I rake a nice $360ish pot.

So no 9s, but I'm feeling better. I've made back my tourney buy in and then some in about 30 mins. I decide to stick around for a bit longer. Play a few small pots, picking some up and losing some. Finally around to me in the CO and I find the red Js. Mr Flush to my right makes it 10 to go and I pop it to 30. QTo has returned with more chips, again. He flat calls as does Mr Flush. Flop is 7s 6s 6c. AK/QT bets out 20 into the 100ish pot. Mr. Flush smooth calls. I pop to 60 to see if I'm any good. Call call. Uh oh. Not good. Turn is a beautiful thing. The Js. I hope Mr Flush has his Asxs again. AK/QT checks. Mr Flush checks. I think about this one for a minute or two. I've seen Mr Flush call overbets with some questionable cards. I've seen AK/QT make some horrible plays. I finally decide to push. "I'm all in". AK/QT mucks. Mr Flush says "You're in big trouble. I call." Uh oh, he has AA or KK and decided to slowplay it. I show my JJ and he's PISSED OFF. He's a big dude. He gives me the evil eye. His buddy says "How can you call without at least a 6? That's your own fault dude". We count up the chips. I have 266 when I pushed. He has 260. He gets up and leaves. I rake in a $780ish pot. My biggest live (or online) pot to date. Feels nice, but I know I got lucky and he made a mistake. But that's poker.

Played two more orbits and lost one 2s full of Js boat to quad 2s to AK/QT guy and he doubles up his $60 stack through me. He is very proud of himself, but it just makes a little dent in me. I finally leave with $753. Not a bad day of live poker. I've only been at the boat playing for a little over 3 hours, a little over 2 of which were in the tourney.

Not bad for a live game day. Now if I can just get my online game to pick up a bit, I'll be happy. In the meantime, I'll cya at the tables.