I am a victim....

... of my own improvement.

Weird sorta post today.

I haven't made many posts of late coz, well, it's been quiet on the poker front. Aside from the last mates game, it's been either a) a heads up shuffle with the Deerhunter (twice) or stuffing around at the 300/600 level on Full Tilt. I'm currently at 900+k in freebie money, so I'm doing okay. But it's the heads up game with my great mate Deerhunter that has taken a weird turn.

A bit over a week ago, we played and had a great night. We played for maybe four or five hours and partied hard as well. The Deerhunter was getting pretty much nothing in the way of cards, and I was getting better, but not great cards ... and I ended up beating him convincingly. Just making good reads and changing up my style from time to time. It's very important to remember that we play together A LOT. A hell of a lot, and we know each others games 'intimately'. So I 'won' that night, altho I definitely had the better of the cards.

But the last time we did it (Thursday last week?) has created a dilemma.

The Deerhunter basically said I was too good and it wasn't fun anymore.

Now .....

The first point that I want to make is that the title of my blog, The Poker Sponge, wasn't just for the hell of it. My whole reason for starting it was to improve my play, but I don't just want to be a solid player, or a good player. I want to be a fucking DEMON hold'em player. I want to be able to sit down at any table anywhere on the fucking planet and mix it up with whoever happens to be there. That's the aim. I've read Harrington I and II, as well as Doyle's books. I read other blogs almost daily. I sit on my fat arse at work watching Pokertube clips. I am a sponge, and if I wasn't I wouldn't improve.

But ... I didn't want it to come to this.

Here's (sorta) how it panned out. It boiled down to this, but it's hard to describe. I just sorta play. Smart and hard. I make plays for pots. With cards and without. I'm happy to lose chips to find out where I'm at in a hand. I'm happy to lay down 2nd pair or bottom pair if I feel I'm behind. (I feel) I pick my spots really well nowadays. The Deerhunters reaction kind of reinforces it. He was just flabbergasted by the time he said 'enough'.

A few times I laid down 'halfa' hand when he had a better hand. These hands he was banking on winning some chips off me. He admitted as much. I seemed to be raking lots of small to decent pots thru my shrewd play, whereas the ones he'd win didn't eat into my stack. He commented that 'six months ago' I'd go along for the ride in those hands and potentially spew chips. But not anymore.

Another example. A few times he'd limp in with not much. J6 off and hands like that. I'd be holding J8 off, sense weakness, and raise. He'd fold. In fact I can't remember how often it happened, but happened a fair bit and almost every time my read was right. It didn't matter what he had or what I had, almost every time I was in front. My 'kicker sense' is spot on at the moment. And it really got to the poor bastard.

Now in one respect I'm really proud of the fact that someone else whose 'game' I admire has said "You're too good for me". I mean it's one thing to feel you've improved based on your own assessment, but another thing entirely when someone else gives you that exact same feedback. But I'm kinda crushed that the one guy who I love playing with, and he's the only fella that I can play with regularly, doesn't feel that keen anymore!

I'm sure (well, I HOPE) he'll 'get over it' and we'll play sometime down the track again. The fact that I have improved means a hell of a lot to me, but I don't want it to 'ruin' a good thing.