Excessive Variance

It started at the beginning of March…

I was playing 2/5 one normal Thursday and I called a raise with JJ from the small blind, 4 players to the flop which came 422, turn was a J, and I got it all in but ran into quad 2’s.

A week later I raise with AA, flop comes 722, turn was an A, and I lose to quad 2’s again.  Same week, I open with QQ, flop comes TT6, turn is a Q, river J, and I run into quad tens.  That one was real expensive.

Since March first, I’ve ran into quads a total of 12 times.  Seven of which I had top full house on and ended up getting stacked off.  Twice I ran into them by flopping small sets, and someone going runner/runner with just top pair to get there.  In twice I avoided much damage because of scare cards on the board killing the action.  But seriously how often can one person run into quads?  Especially when 11 of the 12 times it was playing live and not online.

In the same time frame, I’ve made quads exactly twice.

The gross part is March was one of my most profitable months ever, despite getting stacked repeatedly with these types of hands.  I’m looking forward to variance evening out.  It’s weird to have a good bottom line for the month and felt like I ran bad for a good portion of time.

So all I have to say is fuck you quads, fuck you in your stupid four asses.

On a lighter note, the benefit of a good month is that I’ve been playing a little less poker this month and instead catching up on some TV shows and relaxing a bit more.   This isn’t one of those cases where I had good results so I can just relax, it’s just a matter of I know this summer I plan on playing a lot, so just slowing down a little before things pick up again.  Also I really like watching the NBA & NHL playoffs so I have several distractions going.

I’ve been watching High Stakes Poker’s new season though there hasn’t been anything worth talking about, but Breaking Bad came back for season three of more meth making escapades of Walt & Jesse.  Unfortunately the story has been a little slow in developing this season, but the characters are still so well done that it’s been worth sticking out a few less dramatic episodes waiting for the good stuff, which seems to be happening on the more recent episodes.  The build up has been pretty good, and hopefully the payoff is worth it.

Speaking of payoffs, last week was the finale of Starz new original series Spartacus: Blood & Sand.  When I first saw the previews it looked like someone was turning the story of Spartacus into a adaptation of 300, which wasn’t the worst idea I had seen hit a television screen.  The first episode was… cheesy for lack of a better word.  However a few episodes in the plot lines started coming together, the characters aside from Spartacus got interesting, and the dialogue was often quite hilarious.  So much so I caught myself saying “by Jupiter’s cock” one day while playing in an online tournament.  I’ve heard the series described as several different things such as a male soap opera or violence porn.  While those are true to some extent it actually over the course of its first season packed more than what the previews or pilot episode promised.  So when it delivered a better storyline, characters, and action than I was expecting it really was a fun season to watch.

It’s odd how drasticly different those shows are yet I still realy enjoyed them both.  Spartacus is like a shot of good teqilla, it goes down smooth, hits you quick, and keeps you on your toes or knocks you on your ass.  Breaking Bad is more like a old red wine.  It needs to aerate a bit before you can understand the depth of it’s subtle flavors.  Different tastes, both excellent.  I’m not sure what type of drink I’d label High Stakes Poker, but my choice would be whatever one gets Gabe Kaplan to shut up and realize he isn’t funny.