Poker Slump

Finally last night I pulled out of a 4-5 month poker slump. Bear in mind, my slump wasn't always losing, it was merely about playing mediocre. I won a few games when I had the best cards...which any adequate player can do. Last night, in a cash game, I finally got back into playing the style of poker I like - smart aggression. The whole game started in a single hand when everyone was feeling aggressive. I had Jack, Nine, and was dealing. First position bet out two bucks (a decent sized bet). I probably would've folded, but every single person went in before the flop. From a pot-odds perspective I wanted in for the chance at two pair or a straight. Six, Seven, Eight came up on the flop and the first position bet out four bucks. Man, could he have made the straight already? I was unsure what I was going to do, but I liked my odds because if he was betting his nine, I was in a position of splitting the pot or winning with a ten (because I had the jack). A bunch of people before me called. Again, I had a pot odds on the straight possibility. So I called. Up came the 10. He bets out six. Now I know he has the straight, but I have the nuts because of the jack. Everyone else folds. I go all in. He has to call. I win a huge pot and become the major chip leader.

From there, I was super aggressive anytime I was in a hand. Basically, if someone was going to go for a pot that I wanted, I made it clear they were going to have to go all in by heavy early betting followed up with heavier betting. This is really tough to play against because unless you have the nuts, it's hard to commit all your chips. I knocked three more people out and I got three people to fold hands where I was working a long shot draw at best.

Later on, I mellowed my strategy as my cards started to cool and lost a few hands where I tried to win it early with big bets and ran into someone with cards. People started folding earlier as well and not chasing pots - which backfired on me once when I tripped up on the flop. I pissed away about 20 bucks, but still walked away with 65 after putting in 10. It was fun.