Thanks, Rick

I've been losing. Four sessions in a row in my regular game. The usual assortment of disasters, you know the drill: runner-runner flush to beat a flopped set, a two-outer on the river to beat pocket aces, etc. etc. After a great run since February of this year, the cards had turned sour.


It started out the same today. I was down a rack in 30-60 and found myself wondering, well, wondering about things I shouldn't be wondering about. Focus on the game, dammit, the hand, the cards, the opponents.


So there are 3 limpers, small blind calls, and I check with 7-6s. Flop comes K-8-5 rainbow with one of my suit. I bet. First limper raises, everyone else folds and I call. I put my opponent on a weak king, K-J or K-T. He plays worse than I do and is borderline weak-tight.


Turn was a 2 of my suit. I checked, he bet, and I raised. He thought briefly and then called.


Now I found myself, for a moment, regretting his call and hoping for a straight or a flush. And then I thought of what Rick Nebiolo had posted a while back. Why waste time, energy, and brain power hoping for something you have no control over? Better to think about what you'll do if you miss. Any cards that can come that, even though you miss, can win the pot for you with a bet?


And in the brief moment before the dealer turned over the river card, I knew an Ace, of any suit, would win the pot for me. My opponent was weak-tight and wouldn't have called my raise with A-8 or A-5; he couldn't have A-K. If he called my turn raise one of the hands he probably put me on was an A-xs flush draw. If he had doubts his king was good, and he did, surely an Ace would beat him. Of course I knew this from the beginning, sort of subconsciously, but I had allowed the wrong thoughts to cover this up.


And, sure enough, an off-suit Ace came down. I bet, he showed his King (K9s) and mucked (yikes, an Angelo no-no) and I took down the pot. Two hours later I cashed out a $925 winner.


The important point to me wasn't the exact nature of my thinking about the hand, but rather that I was thinking about the proper thing:not I'm headed for yet another losing hand in yet another losing session, oh please poker Gods, complete my draw; but rather, what does my opponent think I have and what cards that miss my hand will be good for me?


I still butchered two hands today, but not because I wasn't focusing, rather because my analyses (in one case of the opponent, in another of his hand) were faulty. And I can live with those mistakes, those losses. It's the errors of omission that gnaw at me, not those of commission.


Thanks, Rick.

thanks rick, and thank-you andy for reminding us all what top notch POKER players are thinking at the tables!

Hi, Andy. I've been reading your posts. I wouldn't categorize that opponent as "weak tight" though. The fact he limped in with K9s and the way he played. I would have checked the turn if I were him, and call the bet on river (if you bet), then you are beat with no chance. So he actually made two mistakes this hand, and gave you the chance of making a play.


Again, love your and Tommy's post.


SOON

You would routinely check top-pair weak kicker against heads-up against the blind who checked-and-called the flop? That MAY make sense for weak-tight players who are very unlikely to have an 8 and even less likely to bet 2nd pair on the flop, or even some sort of draw.


Your hand in this spot is a clear favorite. If the blind is SO aggressive that you fear a "move", then go ahead and call him down even if he DOES make a move on you.


- Louie

"I've been losing."


At least you're writing well. :-)


"And, sure enough, an off-suit Ace came down. I bet, he showed his King (K9s) and mucked ..."


When someone I'm chummy with lays down and shows a good hand, they look for some kind of reaction, and sometimes I'll say, "Good laydown," and it's kinda funny because we both interpret this to mean either, "good laydown for you because I had you beat," or, "good laydown for me because you had me beat."


No information is exchanged. And we enjoy a silent chuckle.


"and I took down the pot. Two hours later I cashed out a $925 winner."


We await the sequal: "I've been winning."


"It's the errors of omission that gnaw at me, not those of commission. Thanks, Rick."


Same.


Tommy

Andy,


The problem for many of us is that we know what we should be doing (e.g., focusing, thinking ahead), but have trouble actually doing it at the table on a consistant basis. Despite my advice to my friend in that post, I probably have more problems with focus and concentration at the table then most and it is major weakness I must overcome.


Regards,


Rick

Yeah, that's the point I was trying to make, rather than the exact details of the hand. I think these things are there for many of us from the beginning of the hand (if he's got a king, it's a weak king, he can't have an ace), but then, for me anyway, especially when losing, we fail to follow through or get scared. Bluffing when an ace hits is not a brilliant, advanced play, but thinking ahead is. I completely missed one of Mason's reasons for betting the flop in his last hand to discuss; when he said this would allow him to bet the river if he missed, this also hit home as an example of advanced thinking beyond what I would have done in the hand.


Regards, Andy

"At least you're writing well." Thanks, but I'd rather win. RUA player who writes or RUA a writer who plays? I R neither (and have now disproved your point that I are writing well).


"I cashed out a $925 winner." If there are poker gods, I believe they turned my day around because they saw I was playing better than I had when I was losing, or rather that I continued to strive to play my A game despite losing.

Rick,


I suspect you are being too hard on yourself above but I know what you mean. It's easy to sit in the comfort of our homes and analyze hands and devise all sort of logical and or clever ways to take the chips of our opponents, but at the table under pressure it's quite another ballgame. Of course doing our work away from the table is vital to improving our game. (we all know that or we would'nt be here)


hillbilly- guess i'll keep burning the midnight oil

Thanks Andy.