My own worst enemy

[AtticusFinch]

I consider myself a reasonable player, yet it still seems like once a session I do something incredibly, ridiculously, "why the hell did I do that?" stupid.

Case in point. 50 blinds, 950 chips left, I raise 150 from the CO with AQs. BB, a tight player, pushes (has me covered). It's the first raise he's made all tournament. I call. Why the hell did I do that? He turns over KK. I say, "Yep," and pack my bags to leave. (Then I river an ace, but that's beside the point.)

Ok, it's not the worst blunder ever, but it isn't good. How often do winning players do this sort of thing? (At least I never call UTG with AJo anymore.)

[BillUCF]

I do it all the time. I play mostly small stakes one table tourneys. When I play properly I finish in the money over 80% of the time. Except for the occasional bad beat I always do something stupid to take myself out. That is the major obstacle I must overcome to take it to the next level. It must be a psychological thing.

[willie]

[ QUOTE ]
When I play properly I finish in the money over 80% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

come come now


and yeah, everyone is guilty of overplaying hands at times, just put it in your memory bank and try not to do the same thing again.

[zaphod]

Good post! I was actually thinking of starting a similar tread myself. I think my biggest leak is calling to much, and then seconds later thinking why did i do that.. Really there should be an warning from the software when you call. A windows prompt asking if you really want to call would be nice.

[AtticusFinch]

[ QUOTE ]
Good post! I was actually thinking of starting a similar tread myself. I think my biggest leak is calling to much, and then seconds later thinking why did i do that.. Really there should be an warning from the software when you call. A windows prompt asking if you really want to call would be nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

If I hacked the PP software to do this I'll bet I'd get an immediate 2-3% ROI increase /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[AtticusFinch]

[ QUOTE ]
When I play properly I finish in the money over 80% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

If that's true then there's no need for you to take it to the next level. You're already doing better than anyone I've ever heard of. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

Hint: Even if this is true, don't expect it to last too long.

[skipperbob]

I invented "own worst enemy" (OWE)...I commit more OWE's when I am tired, drunk, arguing w/wifey, or out of my element /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[betgo]

If I raised from CO witrh AQ and the BB pushed, I would generally call.

If you had a read on the player that he was very tight, maybe you could fold.

[realbad101]

I actually suffer from a variant of this, I start telling myself "well I have pot odds". And call.

Ok great, I just called off one third of my stack because i was a 33% favorite to win 120% of my chips.

[AtticusFinch]

[ QUOTE ]
If I raised from CO witrh AQ and the BB pushed, I would generally call.

If you had a read on the player that he was very tight, maybe you could fold.

[/ QUOTE ]

This guy was a total rock.

[ZebraAss]

Come on now fellas, why you got to be bashin' eachother. If the man says he makes the money 80% of the time...take it as it is. You dont have to say anything back to him. He was just trying to say that those bad player you make really hurt your ITM and ROI.

Please leave the Ego's at the door fellas. The man was only trying to help. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[AtticusFinch]

[ QUOTE ]

Please leave the Ego's at the door fellas. The man was only trying to help. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

My post was actually well intended. Many people who have a lot of success early in SNGs develop unrealistic expectations. I know I did. Heck, my first post in this forum made almost the same claim.

You're right, though, I should have ditched the sarcasm.

[Drac]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
When I play properly I finish in the money over 80% of the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

come come now

[/ QUOTE ]

What, he said when he plays properly he's in the money 80% of the time. If he only manages to do this 40% of the games he plays that's a reasonable claim. If he gets better he'll be sad to see this won't hold up.

[Merlyn22]

[ QUOTE ]
.. Really there should be an warning from the software when you call. A windows prompt asking if you really want to call would be nice.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL - How about a little avatar of Phil Ivey that pops up and says, "You sure about that?"
haha

[SuitedSixes]

I'll stick up for Bill here a little bit. Although I won't go as high as 80%, but I think the results would be staggering if we were to put in the same amount of thought to each hand as we do to the hands presented here on the forum.

I'll categorize my OWE's to:
1) My cards look better than they really are (AQo is a great example and for some reason I'm a sucker for Qs8s.)
2) I won't be pushed around, or also MJIBTYJSDTTSMBAH syndrome.
3) The instinct to gamble overwhelming the part of my brain that understands position, stack size, etc.
4) Put your opponent on something that you can beat syndrome.
5) Small stacks never get big hands so I'm going to bully him syndrome.

[Scuba Chuck]

If I hacked the PP software to do this I'll bet I'd get an immediate 2-3% ROI increase

This thread is pretty funny. I agree, but the increase might be more. I generally make the more stupid mistakes when I have more chips, not fewer. I should change my name to LeadChucker.

Mistakes is one of the three reasons i claimed why I am not ITM more in a recent thread. Perhaps I should admit that Mistakes = Stupidity. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[networkman]

Oh yeah, I've been playing SnG's for a profit for a few months now (11's -33's) and up until yesterday have had no problems with disipline.

In a SnG yesterday, level 1, I'm on button with 7 7, everyone limps to CO who mini raises. I call, had briefly thought about a big assed raise but came to my senses, both blinds fold, UTG goes all in. Everyone folds to me and I just knew he had A K (I know it doesnt really matter what hes got, easy fold for me) for some mental reason I called!?!?

I still can't believe I called.

[Jman28]

Good post Atticus.

As far as the 80% ITM claim made in the thread, it may seem this way (that you almost always cash when I play smart) but I highly doubt you could cash 70% at any level. If you ever call an all in with AK and he has, say, 85o and it's before the money, you have less than a 70% chance of cashing.

As to the op, yeah, I do similar things. I think it's a mix of an urge to gamble and some mini-tilt after being mad that I was reraised.

This is definitely a hole in our games that we need to work on. At least we know we're wrong. That's a start.

-Jman28