The "U"-shaped Session
That's where if you take and graph the results, it would look like a "U".
I was intending to carve out some of the Party bonus last night, but after depositing, there was no bonus crediting by Party. I e-mailed them , but got tired of waiting for an answer, so I moved on to Poker Stars. 3 X $1/2 FRLH tables. Within 20 minutes I was down 20 BB and really starting to get steamed. I seriously considered pushing the "I'm not having fun" button and wrapping it up for the night. Not sure why I stuck around. I guess being stubborn is fun, too.
I had also noted that there were some really bad players at the tables I was at. One was so bad that it reminded me I hadn't seen anyone this bad in a while. She kept hitting enough hands to keep in a +/- $20 range, though, so it was amusing to watch. She got me for one small pot, but more on her later. Finally some things began to fall into place. I hit a couple of my draws on pots with a lot of action, and made a rapid climb back to 'down-just-a-few'. I hit QQ twice for small pots, and shortly thereafter my pre-flop raises started getting enough respect that I could pick off a few blinds. I got up a whopping $2, and decided I would quit for the evening while I was feeling contented with the comeback. I dropped a few bets on my last orbit, and finished down $3.50. I ground off about 100 FPPs for the bonus.
Back to the bad player; she was the calling station type of bad. Sees 80% of the flops, for any cost, calls anything to the river. What she made me remember is that these type players used to be everywhere. It used to be very easy to find them. Now, I can't remember when the last time I saw one was. And where are the maniacs? I haven't seen a player raise and re-raise every hand pre-flop since I don't know when. We used to get long threads all the time about how to play against a maniac. Not anymore. They seem to have died out.
I think this is part of my current down turn. I think online poker has just become more difficult to beat. Not impossible, mind you, just harder. The easy-picking Donkatopia days may be past us. Or maybe I should spend more time at sites with poorer bonuses. Perhaps that's the key. Who knows? It is something to think about, though.