"Don't play like a pussy."

"Wise words from a man who knows how to ski..."

I don't know why this phrase has stuck in my head, but it has. Thinking about the Charlie Tuttle tourney has made me think I have been playing too passively. Limping in to see the flop, and if I raise and them am reraised, being unable to re-re-raise. Even calling in that situation is difficult for me in NL. Limit is easier. It's much less of a dilemma if you don't have to worry about your opponent seeing your weakness and putting you in for all your chips at the next opportunity.

So tonight I came home from work and fired up a couple of $25 NL tabled on Empire to see if I was really playing that passively. (I normally play for about an hour right when I get home from work - since I work early shift I get home about 1.5 hours before my GF, so I can have some poker time without widowing her for my computer room.)

I played all right tonight, I think, but the tendency is still there. I broke about even in an hour of play, despite having several players that Poker Tracker flagged as fish as my tables.

On the one hand that I really recall, I was in the big blind with 5-2o, and about three limp to me. I check to see the flop, which comes 3-5-5 rainbow. I bet $2, and two call. Turn comes a Qs. I bet another $2, and the first caller raises to $6. He was seeing a lot of flops, so I figured it was possible he had the other 5, with a better kicker than me. I couldn't bring myself to reraise or call, so I folded. So did the other player, so I didn't get to see what he was holding.

Could he have had A-5 or K-5, enough to limp in, call to see if I felt I had the best hand, then raise aggressively when I didn't seem to? Or was he doing a slowplay with QQ and then put me on the spot when he got trips? Or could he have had A-K or A-Q and figure his overcards were good?

I don't know and won't know now, but it seems like a pussy play to me.