Is cash the way to go for me?

Hello all...

First off, a recap of my weekend. Let's use simple words... Small win, small win, small win, small win, BIG LOSS! Small win, small win, small win, small win, BIG LOSS!Small win, small win, small win, small win, BIG LOSS! *&$^%*(^%!@#$&(^!@

All right, now that you have the summary version, here is what really happened...

I actually got some solid continuous hours to play poker this weekend, with my wife sick and in bed at 7 on Saturday night, and the kids in bed from a tiring day at the beach, the whole house is quiet and I still have a lot of hours to play! YAH BABY!!

I played some cash for about 45 minutes or so, with nothing to exciting to report, and at 8 (10 EST) I decided to play the $24 28k guaranteed on FT and the $15 NLH on Stars. Was very interesting to see how the 2 play very differently. On Stars, you get your standard 1500 in chips, but on FT, you get 3000. Obviously, the play is slower on FT.

FT Recap: My whole tournament came down to 1 hand I decided not to play. I still have around 3000 chips in the 2nd hour of play, the 2nd chip leader is directly to my left, and another huge stack to my right 2 spots. I call a raise on the button with JcTc, and I find myself in a hand with 3 other people, including the 2 huge stacks. Flop comes Ah9c3h. Ick. Nothing for me. Gets checked to me and I take a stab at the pot for 500ish, and get called my both of the big stacks after a lot of though by both. Right away, I put them both on huge hands, as I thought they were reverse-telling with all the time they were taking.

Turn comes 8c. Wow, now I have an OESFD. I still have about 2200 chips left. After thinking about it for his whole time bank, Big stach to my left goes all-in and the other big stack insta-calls. At this point, I am thinking, I don't know what I was thinking, but I put one of them on a bigger flush draw, and the other on a big ace, or maybe a set. By thinking that way, I reduced my number of outs in a big way, the clubs wouldn't do it for me anymore, so I had to make a straight with a non-club. I spent a lot of time thinking and eventually folded. HOW FKN NITTY! Of course, the SB shows AA for a set of Aces and the other guy shows a set of 3s. So in reality, I had a lot more outs than I thought. I guess my ROT-mind was just pissed when the river was a non-board pairing club and I would have been up to 9k+ chips. Instead, I became short-stacked and ended up getting my money in very bad about 10 minutes later and not sucking out.

PS recap: The PS tourney went much better. I got Aces about 15 hands in, and managed to get all-in Pre-flop against 2 other opponents, one with KK and the other with 66. I held and almost tripled up to about 4200 chips. I became the big stack at my table, though the blinds weren't big enough to start stealing. I got caught re-stealing 20 minutes later with K6 in the BB, the button insta-calls with KK. Somehow, I manage to go runner-runner straight to take him out. I decided to tighten up a little for the next while.

Later on, with about 7000 chips, blinds are 100/200, I raise to 550 with AQsuited in the cut-off and get called by the BB. Flop comes AQ7r. Bingo! The BB has about 4000 left and insta-goes-all-in. I actually thought about what he could have for a while, took a little time, but I could not fold top 2. BB shows AK, and I hold to scoop the pot.

After chipping up to about 18k in chips, I am in the top 5 in chips with about 60 people left (out of 850ish) We are past the money bubble. Then, disaster strikes. First, I get all-in with AA against a short-stack and he flops a straight (-2500 chips). Then, I raise with JJ on the button, called by the BB for 1/3 of his stack. Flop is Q87, he checks, I put him in for his last 1500, he calls with 87 and holds. Ick.

I blind down to about 10k and then on 2 successive hands, I get in with 99 vs. KT and he hits a K on the river, and then JJ vs. AQ and they hit a Q on the river and I am out in 45th-ish. Damn. Was nice to make a run, but I felt with a little luck, I could have been chipleader with 45 left. As it was, I was out.

Because I had some continuous time available to me, I decided to play some sit-n-gos on Stars and FT. When I made my first run in online poker, ($100 on PS run up to $550ish before I go busto) I only played sit-n-gos. Mostly $5 9-man and some 18- and 27- mixed in. The occasional $10 sit-n-go as well. I thought I would try my hand at it again as I had some time. Here are the results:

1) $12 6-man Result: WIN
2) $12 6-man Result: WIN
3) $3 6-man Result: WIN
4) $6 6-man Result: WIN
5) $22 9-man Result: 3rd place (Cash)

Total Profit: $108.55

I'd say, it worked out ok. :D

Was a good thing too, because it offset some of my losses playing cash. Again, running into monsters with my monsters.

KK < JJ all-in on a J72 flop (-$40ish) (made quads on turn :D)
QQ < AJ all-in on a 863 flop (-30ish) (A on the river...) :(

I guess my dilemma is whether I should go the sit-n-go route instead of cash. After debating with myself, Cash got me to where I am, so obviously I am doing something right. I guess I need to go back and analyze my leaks. Should I buy Poker Tracker or Manager, or something? Who knows. All I know is that I am too inconsistant to really make a huge positive run at cash games. We will see....

Even after all of this good play, I was about even for the weekend until early this morning, I hopped on for about 30 minutes, 6-tabling 50NL cash on FT. Just before I logged out, I called a raise with KQ to see a flop of KK6, I bet, get called. Turn is an 8, I bet, get called. I figure by this time that he has a K, I just hope it's not AK. I figure what the hell and push all-in on the river, which was a 4, and get called by KJ. Yay me!

The last hand I played, I raise with 99 from the cut-off and get called by the big blind. Flop comes 987r. He checks, I bet, he raises (ick) I am just praying for a lower set, figure it's a coooooooler if he flopped a straight, I push all-in, he calls, obviously has 56sooooted for the straight. Lucky for me, I hit a 7 on the river to fill up for a nice $48 profit on the hand.

I have been discussing with fellow CP members about whether I should move to 100NL now that I have 20+ buy-ins. My debate essentially lies within myself, as I have mentionned to others, I don't mind losing $50 on a hand, but $100 stings just a little more. I have decided temporarily to play 100NL on Stars and 50NL of FT, just for now. I will re-assess in a couple of weeks, or if I lose a few buy-ins at 100NL, I will back down to 50NL.

Current Bankroll: $2,355 (Still have $3k as my goal for January. I will keep you posted)

Thanks all for reading, good luck at the tables, I will update again very soon.

Ryan