Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Still scratching my head

Ok well last week was a week of decent results and by Friday afternoon I have earned a steady 4k with not too much fuss. Confidence back, the bad run of late behind me, now to move forwards and progress to bigger and better things.

Right?

Wrong?

Yep wrong, Saturday to Monday has been a nightmare run of bad luck and dismal cards that turned my 4k into about £18 quid. Now losing money in poker is part of the game it’s minimizing the losses where the skill becomes involved. Can’t really blame myself for this loss or can I?

To start here’s a few examples of play, I flop the nut straight (twice against the same player) holding (AQ no hearts) with a flop Jh Kh 10h and twice I see rags coming off on the turn and river only to find that my opponent had flopped the flush, they cost me a few quid and put the fear of flushes into near phobic proportions. Then I flop my first set of the night but the flop is all the same suit didnt cost me too much but yep he hit the flush on the flop.

Last night I got K 10 after 1 raise and 3 x callers I call and see a flop of 2 J Q with 2 x spades I make a semi bluff raise to find my feet and get 1 caller everyone else folds. The turn is an Ac and now there is £250 in the pot I have £470 left now here I think shall I move in and try take the pot down(or hopefully get him in), or bet the pot and tempt the player if he’s flushing to come with me. I bet the pot giving him 2/1 on a 4/1 shot and he called – yes the river was a spade. Now here is the sad part, I now believe 99% he’s hit his hand and what once was a monster is now worth sweet FA. I check he raises £240 and I’ve left myself thinking I should have gone all in save this 2nd guessing and call with my £221 to confirm my suspicions.

Just realized something here… I’m on tilt…

I have pokertracker and I’m spending some time looking through it to see what happened where. Obviously they are a couple of examples, a few pots I remember were I hit a set only to be beaten by another set (twice) that’s life, que sera sera. And another hand was against Roboflop (love the name). I get dealt KK and raise to £50 2 x callers flop comes rainbow 3 7 8 I make a continuation bet of £150 Roboflop re-raises to £310 I think draw/overpair/set etc. No info on player, all in – he has pocket 7’s another 1k down the swanee.

Just realized something here… I’m on tilt… AGAIN

Am I though?

You know I watch players who are earning top money online being put all-in on the river for £1500 and they call with AQ and have top pair top kicker on the board... I must admit I’m confused again, should I have folded here or is that play too passive...

I really do understand how players like DPommo get fed up with playing because if you are constantly dealing with this type of day to day shite I can definitely see where they are coming from when they say it’s not all a bed of roses.

I am more determined than ever to improve now and need to adjust my discipline, if I think I’m beat I should fold not pay to see if I’m correct. And If I have pocket deuces on the river and I think they are good I shall call cos I think they are good and if they aren’t tough cheddar Grrr ATVB.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

toshi -

bad luck mate i have gone through the same thing this last 9 months i was winning big but losing bigger, i put it down to tilting (not very clever). currently on a sabbatical as the stress of the cash game got to much, partly because i was playing with money i could not afford to lose. this is where the likes of Dpommo etc have a major advantage - no fear factor.

keep the chin up you seem to be a pretty level headed guy and can no doubt turn it around.

Good luck
PJC

2:11 pm  
Blogger MrDigital said...

Thanks PJC I am comfortable at the stakes I play but I am very competitive when I play. If i'm beat as long as a learn from it then no probs. It's when I make the same mistake leading to what i define as tilt = Incorrect decision making, that is pissing me off.

6:20 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Toshi.

Doesn't sound to me like your tilting as your analysing your hands, with what seems like a clear untilted mind.

Sometimes you have a big hand and run into a bigger one, thats just poker mate, but you seem to know when your beat but just have to see it. Well it seems like your first instincts are usually correct so all you need to do now is go with them.
You will sometimes lay down the best hand after getting the read wrong, but if your instincts are good, (which they seem to be,) then the money you save will far outway the money you lose on the occassions that you have passed the winner.

Stay lucky mate.


JPJ

5:54 am  
Blogger Dpommo said...

Agree with what JPJ says mate (as I usually do!), you have to trust your first instincts, if you always go with them then the money saved will outweight the money lost. You should also remember not a lot of people actually bluff online, especially not for big pots like the one where you were holding KK. That's where the notes are important, you have to know who is capable of check-raising you with nothing there and who is actually capable of pulling a big bluff.

Take a break for a few days and come back, like you say, you have to minimize the losses until it turns, thats the key.

Good luck

Dave

3:44 pm  

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