i am soooooo lost at the hands that have been happening to me lately.. [Archive]

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PITTM

08-10-2004, 04:27 AM

Last night, playing in a tournament, 30 started, we;re down to 5, top 3 get paid, im 3rd in chips, i get 44, chip leader calls my bb, i check, flop comes A 4 7, chip leader bets half my stack, i push, he shows A5, damn am i in good shape or what?? turn 6, river 8. i go outside and wish i was dead for a few minutes, then come back in and watch a heads up match where the blinds were 1000/2000 and there were about 80,000 chips in play, one of the players goes all in with even stacks and the one who loses gets a grand total of one 1000 dollar chip back! needless to say, he won 5 hands in a row, got back to about even and won, the most miraculous victory ive ever seen, so i didnt end up feeling that bad about my bad beat cause a good friend of mine made a miracle win for about 500 bucks.

But then this morning i wake up and go to bay 101, first hand...

QQ in Button-2 or so, i raise, 2 callers, flop is A Q 3, check, i check, button bets, call, i raise, call, call. turn 4, i bet, river raises, other guy folds, i reraise, other guy 4 bets, i call...river is 10, i bet, he raises, i call. he shows KJo, awesome, 50% of my chips gone on one hand...i end my day down around 100 dollars at bay 101.

tonight i decide to play a little party poker, i sit down at a table which seems to be SUPER aggressive and irrational, hence excitment from me, until...

My 5th hand of the evening...

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 max, 6 handed)

UTG ($18.75)
MP ($23.80)
CO ($30.72)
Hero ($14.25)
SB ($198.51)
BB ($134.45)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
UTG calls $0.50, MP folds, CO calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, SB completes, BB checks.

Flop: ($2.50) 3/images/graemlins/spade.gif, Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO bets $2, Hero raises to $4, SB raises to $48, BB folds, UTG folds, CO calls $28.22 (All-In), Hero calls $9.75 (All-In).

Turn: ($94.47) J/images/graemlins/club.gif (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($94.47) 2/images/graemlins/club.gif (3 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $94.47

ok, that was really lame, but i would have done the same repeatedly...so next hand after i buy back in...

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 max, 5 handed)

UTG ($17.92)
MP ($28.75)
Hero ($14.65)
SB ($238.98)
BB ($132.63)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A/images/graemlins/spade.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
UTG calls $0.50, MP folds, Hero raises to $2, SB calls $1.75, BB folds, UTG calls $1.50.

Flop: ($6.50) Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, 7/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/heart.gif (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $3, SB folds, UTG raises to $15.92 (All-In), Hero calls $9.65 (All-In).

Turn: ($35.07) T/images/graemlins/heart.gif (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($35.07) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif (2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: $35.07

sweet! can i keep the streak alive?

this isnt supposed to be a bad beat story so much as a "my confidence is shattered because everytime i feel i am making a +ev play i get killed by what was a -ev play". this making my confidence close to rock bottom even though i am still maintaining a solid win rate. it seems like anytime i bust out of a tournament on a bad beat it stays with me for a few days and is followed by a few more big ones. help me get my confidence back and play solid poker!

rj

Sponger15SB

08-10-2004, 04:35 AM

POST OF THE YEAR?

MicroBob

08-10-2004, 04:48 AM

your last two hands did not include the results.

you should hit the psych-forum regarding controlling your frustration and tilt.

[ QUOTE ]
"my confidence is shattered because everytime i feel i am making a +ev play i get killed by what was a -ev play".

[/ QUOTE ]

i suspect that not all of your plays are +EV. some of these are just bad-beats and you played them right...but if you are NOT beating the games for a ton and you ARE thinking 'geez...i can't play better than this' you are probably kidding yourself. you probably CAN play better than you are currently playing.

[ QUOTE ]
i go outside and wish i was dead for a few minutes,

[/ QUOTE ]

i don't care if you are exaggerating or not. this is just ridiculous.

i don't think the bad-beats you took are that amazing or extraordinary.
it would behoove you to learn how to deal with them. most players who don't learn how to do this hurt their win-rate significantly (frequently turning it into negative territory).

if you think you have anger-management issues then figure out what you need to do.

FWIW, when i take a tough-beat or multiple tough-beats i usually think something like 'Wow' 'Golly' or 'Geez'....but i guess i'm just G-rated that way. it is also a product of not playing outside my monetary or psych/emotional bankroll.

Rah

08-10-2004, 04:57 AM

Every player has days like this. Not so long ago, I lost with quads against a straight flush. It didn't even hurt. Why? Similiar beats happen all the time, and each time it happens, I know the odds were on my side and that I'll win next time. As long as you have a bankroll to handle a swing, why bother? Eventually you'll learn that poker is a game where sometimes the opponent get better cards.

PITTM

08-10-2004, 05:00 AM

of course i was exaggerating, they all came within a pretty tight time window, and i was frustrated about it, thats all. the results of the 2 hands were, my flopped set of 8s lost to a flopped set of queens and my AA lost to K10 when his king was on the flop and he caught the 10 on the turn after i pushed.

rj
rj

MicroBob

08-10-2004, 05:02 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Eventually you'll learn that poker is a game where sometimes the opponent get better cards.

[/ QUOTE ]

actually, there are many many players who never seem to figure this out.
i feel fortunate that i am like you and am able to (almost always) take my losses in stride.

MicroBob

08-10-2004, 05:07 AM

if you play enough you should be suffering beats similar to these on an almost daily basis.

you can say that you are 'just getting frustrated' but i honestly believe bad-beats are tilting you more than you might think.

i'm not watching your games so i really don't know for sure though.
call it a hunch.

PITTM

08-10-2004, 05:12 AM

no, youre completely correct, after i made this post i logged off and just went off and played some video games to try to calm myself down before bed. for a month or so i started feeling used to the bad beats and they didnt effect me and it was mostly a laughing matter when stuff like this happened. but lately it has been bothering me again, maybe its time for a break.

rj

MicroBob

08-10-2004, 05:25 AM

definitely.

breaking away to do something else was absolutely your +EV move of the night.

perhaps take a vow to step-away from the tables for 2 days, 1 week, or whatever.

or, maybe after a 2-day break you can come back and hit the nano-NL games (the $2 buy-in or whatever it is) at stars.

if and when you feel so inclined...just read through some of the threads in the psych-forum regarding frustration, tilt, etc (there are a ton of them).
also read through a bunch of posts in the NL forum and brush-up on your game.

you don't even need to get involved in the discussion.
just page through what some people smarter than both you and me have to say about how to play certain hands, handle certain situations, etc etc.

i always try to use my bad-streaks as incentive to improve my game and study more.
trying to turn a negative into a positive for lack of a better cliche.