Pot Limit

I'd always been interested in the argurment of Pot Limit being so much tougher than No Limit, because I choose to play PL on Party. The reason I chose it was because it prevented some hunyuck from reraising my JJ to $50, when the odds are that he's holding trash. I'm sorry, but I'm not willing to play for my whole stack on what is just a pair of jacks. And if someone is continually playing like a maniac, it's tough to even want to play a hand. I know, I know, just switch tables. Yes, I know that. Hear me out, though. I like PL because it prevents the maniacal play preflop(for the most part), and after the flop, it plays pretty much the same, depending on the amount of people in the pot.

Up until this week, I'd always played NL tourneys because that's normally what's offered at Stars. It looks like they've added a few PL tourneys, though, so I decided to enter a $10+1 earlier this week. After getting bounced in 120th/600, I finally understand why PL is so much more difficult, and I have to say, I am much more intrigued by it than NL. The major difference is that I realized is how many different decisions you have to make preflop, especially while shortstacked late in the tournament. Man, oh man, it was confusing.

For example, let's say you're stack is 9x the BB, and you pick up AKs and you're UTG. In NL, that's an easy push, regardles of position, right? If nobody calls, hey, at least you pick up the blinds. In PL, however, it's really, really tough to push people off of a hand, especially when you're UTG. You may have 2, 3, or possibly even 4 callers because you can only raise that certain amount, which completely dilutes your hand. There are other factors that make PL so much more difficult, but that was one kicked me in the groin this week. And then Nelson laughed at me while I was clutching my junk.

I'm not one to go into Poker Theory, because honestly, I know I'm not all that educated in that area. PL is something that really, really interests me. Hell, look how many really good NL players there are out there. A shitload. What are the chances that I'll become one of those good players? Slim to none, and slim just left the bar with my girlfriend. On the other hand, how many PL "specialists" can I name? Off the top of my head, none. I think there's a niche to be found in there.

----
Sometimes, I play like a donkey. There, I said it.

Last night, I'd worked my up 3x my buy-in, all the while a bat was flying around our living room. And yes, I do really mean that there was a honest-to-goodness rat with wings that found it's way into our apartment. Pfffft, and people say that playing in the WSOP is pressure. Try concentrating while something is swooping at your head, and you'll know pressure.

So, back to my story. I'd worked my way 3x my buy in, in little less than an hour, but lost about $25 in 2 hands following that because I went brain dead. In both hands, I was heads up with TPTK, and I knew that I had them beat, but I just called their bet on the turn instead of raising. In both, the river came and I knew they'd made their two pair. Why didn't I raise? Like I said, I play like a donkey.

For the longest time, I was terrible with my aggression level because I had such a miniscule bankroll, that losing just 1 buy-in would hurt. Not that my bankroll is huge by any means, but if I lose a few big hands, it's not going to cripple me. It's so much easier to play this game when you're not playing scared. I've come a long way from becoming a calling station, but there are still times like last night that I know I should've raised, but I chicken out and just call, even though I know that I should be controlling the hand.