Make your mistakes work for you

Playing poker, mistakes are going to happen. You can't play perfect all the time, blah blah blah.

But I don't always think of mistakes as a bad thing. Especially when I'm HU, they can be very useful. These three hands show what I mean. I had been playing with this guy long enough to know he was pretty tight HU. I could take a lot of pots from him.

But then I tried to get to good for myself, and gave him a big advantage. Oops. But, as you'll see, my screw up really changes the dynamic of this game, to my advantage.

*********** # 8 **************
PokerStars Game #1172080056: Tournament #5109663, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2005/02/05 - 04:35:28 (ET)
Table '5109663 1' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (9150 in chips)
Seat 7: playboi469 (4350 in chips)
BurntOrnge: posts small blind 100
playboi469: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [4c 2c]
BurntOrnge: raises 400 to 600
playboi469: calls 400
*** FLOP *** [4h 9h 8c]
playboi469: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 800
playboi469: calls 800
*** TURN *** [4h 9h 8c] [Jd]
playboi469: checks
BurntOrnge: bets 2950 not so smart, but that's me
playboi469: calls 2950 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [4h 9h 8c Jd] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
playboi469: shows [9s 8s] (two pair, Nines and Eights)
BurntOrnge: shows [4c 2c] (a pair of Fours)
playboi469 collected 8700 from pot
BurntOrnge said, "vnh"
playboi469 said, "ty"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 8700 | Rake 0
Board [4h 9h 8c Jd Kh]
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (button) (small blind) showed [4c 2c] and lost with a pair of Fours
Seat 7: playboi469 (big blind) showed [9s 8s] and won (8700) with two pair, Nines and Eights


Ok, well he just learned a lot about me, right? File that away, from here on, it'll only hurt him.

*********** # 6 **************
two hands later
PokerStars Game #1172081457: Tournament #5109663, Hold'em No Limit - Level VI (100/200) - 2005/02/05 - 04:36:18 (ET)
Table '5109663 1' Seat #2 is the button
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (4600 in chips)
Seat 7: playboi469 (8900 in chips)
BurntOrnge: posts small blind 100
playboi469: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [7s 9s]
BurntOrnge: calls 100
playboi469: checks
*** FLOP *** [2d 9c 3c]
playboi469: bets 400
BurntOrnge: raises 4000 to 4400 and is all-in only because I'm crazy
playboi469: calls 4000
*** TURN *** [2d 9c 3c] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [2d 9c 3c Qs] [6h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
playboi469: shows [Td 3h] (a pair of Threes) three hands ago, this guy was playing tight, now look what he did
BurntOrnge: shows [7s 9s] (a pair of Nines)
BurntOrnge collected 9200 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9200 | Rake 0
Board [2d 9c 3c Qs 6h]
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (button) (small blind) showed [7s 9s] and won (9200) with a pair of Nines
Seat 7: playboi469 (big blind) showed [Td 3h] and lost with a pair of Threes

So I take back the CL. I was bound and determined to win this SnG.

*********** # 1 **************
PokerStars Game #1172084834: Tournament #5109663, Hold'em No Limit - Level VII (100/200) - 2005/02/05 - 04:38:16 (ET)
Table '5109663 1' Seat #7 is the button
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (9850 in chips)
Seat 7: playboi469 (3650 in chips)
BurntOrnge: posts the ante 25
playboi469: posts the ante 25
playboi469: posts small blind 100
BurntOrnge: posts big blind 200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to BurntOrnge [Kd 4s]
playboi469: raises 200 to 400
BurntOrnge: calls 200 min. raise? Ok, I need to flop two-pair if I'm going to get involved in big pot
*** FLOP *** [4d Kc Ad] well that'll have to do... AA would suck
BurntOrnge: checks
playboi469: checks
*** TURN *** [4d Kc Ad] [5d]
BurntOrnge: bets 9425 and is all-in I can't explain it, I just felt it
playboi469: calls 3225 and is all-in
*** RIVER *** [4d Kc Ad 5d] [4c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BurntOrnge: shows [Kd 4s] (a full house, Fours full of Kings)
playboi469: shows [Jh Ks] (two pair, Kings and Fours)
BurntOrnge collected 7300 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 7300 | Rake 0
Board [4d Kc Ad 5d 4c]
Seat 2: BurntOrnge (big blind) showed [Kd 4s] and won (7300) with a full house, Fours full of Kings
Seat 7: playboi469 (button) (small blind) showed [Jh Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Fours

So even though my first hand was horrible it gave him an idea of the kind of a WADB I was, and he became unable to lay downs pairs. I knew the instant he saw my cards how that would effect him, and I got lucky, and was able to outflop him and use it.


Anyway, how is my push for Spring Break going?
Well.
Quite well actually. I don't know if I'm geting lucky, or I'l super-focused, but since I've started this, I've played 9 sessions (inclduing 4 SnGs) and they've all been winners.
Streak: $298.27 W9 - I am on a 9 session winning streak for a total of $298.27 over 6 days.
(pokercharts.com)

I've withdrawn $170 of the winnings, and already wrote the check to cover the deposit for this trip.

My current on-line BR is $840.83