Results of the dress test...

Well, to be honest, I'm not sure that dressing differently had any impact, but then again, I didn't exactly get any cards to make an impact with. I finished 9th out of 20 people, but I did managed to pull off a nice bluff early on. Making my opponent fold AK with a flop of K-4-2, I held 43 from the BB.

I thought I was ahead, and bet out on the flop. He re-raised, but it felt like he was just trying to steal the pot from me, hoping his Ace high was still good, so I re-re-raised. Not sure my clothing had any impact, as less than 30 minutes earlier, I told that particular player how I was going to play very tight and aggressive. He figured me for trips or 2-pair, but either way, I got very lucky there.

Overall, I'm not sure this one tournament was enough of an experiment to say if the clothes affect the play, so I'll give it another try next time, maybe even get a few decent cards to work with so I can have more in-depth analysis. I really was card-dead all night, it's pretty amazing I finished 9th.

Image is everything... or is it?

I'm playing in my normal monthly live tournament tonight, and I'm going a slightly different route to see if it has an effect. As much as I try to play a more standard, basic style of poker, I usually let myself get carried away and start to play too many pots and take too many chances. As much as I'm trying to improve, I have to accept that in all likely hood, it will happen again, so I might as well embrace it, right?

So what am I going to do differently? The answer, change my clothes.

I'm not talking about finding a new lucky T-shirt, or a hoodie to hide behind, I'm talking about a complete style change. You see, normally, I wear jeans and a t-shirt, maybe a ball cap, but always very casual attire. Combined with my style of play and extreme familiarity with most of the players in these tournaments, and I've been quite accurately pigeon-holed into a specific type of poker player.

I'm the type of player that every time I make a bold move, everyone else at the table yells "BLUFF, BLUFF, CALL HIM!". I love it, because I get paid off more often than most on my big hands, but it also means I get busted on bluffs because of my reputation. They know against most people they should fold, but because I am who I am, and nobody likes to get bluffed, they make the call anyways.

My hope is that by changing my appearance, by wearing a nice pair of dockers and a button-up black dress-shirt (a fine Xmas present from my Aunt, btw), is that perhaps subconsciously my opponents may give me more respect than I would normally get, which is very little. Only time will tell, but I know the way a person dresses can have a great impact on the subconscious, we're all very shallow by nature, but will it be enough to overcome a table image I've spent years to build?

unbefawqinglevieble!

Might be time, already, to take a break from playing online poker. It's been a while since I've had a good ole fashioned bitch-fest, but I think this is deserving of it.

I've played in 3 tournaments in the past 24 hours, and have taken some pretty ridonkulous bad beats. The first 2 both happened on hand #2 of the tournament.

Bad beat #1: I have QQ, get all-in preflop against JJ, the river brings a Jack, and I'm done.

Bad beat #2: I have AA, get all-in on the flop vs QQ and JJ, with a board of 4-6-8, the turn brings a Jack. Amazingly, because the other 2 players played the first hand and both lost, I got credit for the kill and collected the knockout bounty, and was eliminated a few hands later.

Bad beat #3: I'm getting somewhat short-stacked and need to make a move, so UTG I push all-in, and get one caller, from the player beside me. Amazingly, he called almost 50% of his stack with 10-J, and my A-J is looking pretty good... until the flop. The flop is 10-J-6, and his 2 pair are ahead... until the turn. An Ace on the turn makes me a HUGE favorite now...until the river. A miracle 2-outer hist, a 10 on the river, he makes a full-house to beat my 2 pair.

Stupid poker.