Maigrey's lost her groove

I should have listened when Pauly told me that maintaining two blogs was a pretty difficult thing to do. I'm having trouble updating either, for plenty of reasons. The reasons I'm having trouble updating here:

• I'm on a losing streak, and I hate losing
• I'm getting so, so tired of Hold'em
• Who really wants to hear about losing streaks and hand histories anyway? I certainly don't.

However, I am actually in the office today, so I can't piddle away pennies playing .04/.08 Stud 8/b (yes, I really do play this game at this limit, thanks), which means I either need to a) work or b) write in this here blog. So of course, here I am!

I've moved back to the boat formerly known as Trump, or now MSII. The game is a lot better now that a) they have enough dealers since they've hired a few back on staff and b) all the sharks have moved to Resorts. Sadly, I am either posting losses or eeking out miniscule wins. It makes me wonder if I have a leak in my game or if I'm just running bad, or both.

Actually, I had a brief discussion with a poker buddy of mine on this topic last time I played, and one of the things he said was that I tended to play tournament hands. I don't need to play such hands because the blinds never escalate so there's often no reason to play marginal hands. This is, of course, coming from the person who's favorite hand is "the sauce" (first person to figure that out wins a gold star).

Thinking about things otherwise, I've also discovered that lately I'm terribly afraid of getting my hand caught in the cookie jar, which has cost me more than it's saved me. For example:

$2 / $5 blinds, I have probably around $240 in chips on the cutoff. There are 3 limpers in front of me and I look down and see the Jh 7h, I raise to $20 to a) build a pot and b) represent a hand to take it down on the flop, which comes down Ax Qx Xx. It's checked to me, and what do I do?

Represent an Ace? No.
Represent Kings? No.
Chicken out to the Monsters Under the Bed? Yep. I check. I guess I could be all 10th level thinking and be representing a set of Aces or Kings, but no, I am a big CHICKEN.

What the hell was I raising to take a pot down on the flop if I couldn't put in a damn continuation bet? Oh, but it gets better...

Turn comes down another blank, and it's checked around to me AGAIN. Do I: a) bet my "set of aces" now, and take down the pot? b) bet because obviously everyone else has given up on this pot and it's mine for the taking? or c) chicken out to the damn monsters under the bed and check a $100 pot that's mine for the taking?

... well since we're going to see a river, you've probably figured out by now that the correct answer is (c).

The river comes down yet another blank, and it's checked to me yet again, and yet again I do not put in a bet at all because for some reason I'm afraid I'm going to get called and I let King-high take it down. That's just poor poker play - monsters are not always under the bed, and if you've raised preflop, you just cannot give up on a hand because you missed a flop, especially when the rest of the players have basically put up little red flags saying "I have given up on this pot, you just need to bet to take it".

It's times like this that make me think I'm a much better poker coach than a poker player, which is a little odd. I really DO know what to do, and I have good instincts for the game but lately my timing seems all off. Maybe I should take my own advice from The CRUSHERER, and find someone to sweat my hands and give me that kick out of the rut and back into the groove of things.