Why do I keep making donk moves, when I know better?

[chopchoi]

Blinds 75/150. i have a little less than 4,000 chips. I have I just got moved to a new table. Last hand I was BB. It folded to SB, who completed, I raised to 600 with Q7o, and BB folded.

Now, I'm SB with K /images/graemlins/diamond.gif8 /images/graemlins/diamond.gif. It folds to me and I raise to 450, and BB makes it 1250 to go. He has about a few more chips than I do. I tell myself he's just screwing with me since he saw me steal last hand, and that putting him all-in will teach him not to pull that stuff with me. So I push, he gladly calls whif JJ, and takes me out.

I knew better, but did it anyway. Why do I keep doing things like that, and how do I stop?

[HeroInBlack]

Man, I totally feel you. I do this crap, too.

The best way I have found to avoid it is to make sure you take enough time before shoving the little slider bar all the way to the right. I am much more likely to make a stupid move if I do it on an impulse than if I slow down and think it through.

I find that when I make mistakes it's largely because I "decide" that I can win a hand. I succeed when I step back and analyze the situation at hand. The most important question I can ask myself is where I will stand in an SnG, MTT, etc. after the hand plays out.

What's the likelihood of your opponent messing with you and folding to a re-raise and what's the likelihood of losing your whole stack after going all in? After each of those potential outcomes, where are you at in the tournament?

And when I don't ask those questions...I lose.

[durron597]

When this happens to me, I just think about the times I will make a "steal raise" with a real hand and stack someboday, and then fold.

[beetyjoose]

Don't raise in the SB with that hand to begin with. You're getting involved in these bad situations and then are too stubborn to cut your losses. This is usually pretty common of inexperienced/bad players. However, you're probably just in a funk lately and overcompensating by trying to win every hand.

Just as a rule of thumb you should always treat players as if they are strong players unless you have a very very good read on them that tells you otherwise. This will save you a lot of heartache and money in the long run.

[AACardPlayer]

I occasionally make moves like this too and most of the time I end up staring at the window on Party that pops up and says “You finished 328 place in MTT tourney #24254579..because you’re an idiot and moved all-in with Q-10 offsuit as a re-steal move against KK. Well-played!”

What I try to do to stop myself is that unless I got a good read on my opponent, I will respect his raises. I think weaker players (and there are plenty of them on Party) do not steal as often as one would think, because they don’t realize the necessity of stealing blinds when they get high. Stronger players do this though, so be more vary of their raises from steal positions.

[Ixnert]

[ QUOTE ]
I occasionally make moves like this too and most of the time I end up staring at the window on Party that pops up and says “You finished 328 place in MTT tourney #24254579..because you’re an idiot and moved all-in with Q-10 offsuit as a re-steal move against KK. Well-played!”


[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know why you'd want to be watching over my shoulder, but stop it.

(Seriously, last night, QTs, attempted resteal from KK. Ok, it was like 180th, but close enough.)

[AACardPlayer]

Haha it just seemed like a good hand to use as an example. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[intheflatfield]

It sucksto play great poker over thre period of a particular session only to sabotage myself, either due to a a knee-jerk (I'll show him RR, or a crying call.)

[MagicMan08]

I did that and ended up finishing third to a prick in 2nd with 6,000 in chips when I pushed with 40,000 with a-j and got drawn out by a lady making bad calls calling with k-q.