Rant ... Ignore

[CrisBrown]

Hi All,

Okay, it's official. I am fed up with running into THE nut hand time after time. I am feeling as if I have to fold to every raise, because EVERY time I get raised, someone has THE nut hand. I have AK on an A-T-4 flop ... opponent has AT. I have AJ on a A-3-A-6-5 board ... opponent has called pot-sized raises all the way to the river with 42o. I have A9 on A-J-9 flop ... opponent has J9. I have KT with 3 left on the BB and reraise a blind steal, he calls, flop is T-6-7, I bet, he reraises, I push ... oh yeah, he called with 98o. I raise UTG with JJ ... total fish on the button reraises (and he's been reraising every hand with hands like Q6o) I push ... he calls ... and of course this time he has AA....

I'm at the point of thinking I need to just fold anything less than a full house.

*sigh*

End of rant....

Cris

[xtravistx]

"I have A9 on A-J-9 flop ... opponent has J9 "

What's the problem there?
Anyways, I know how you feel, after having this happen to you enough times, you start to get timid and not push for those extra bets because you "know" someone has it. So then they get to see their draw cheaply and hit. It's a vicious cycle.

-xtravistx

[TheGrifter]

Sounds like you've found som juicy games. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Really though, every now and then the suckouts/second best hands get bunched together and it can get incredibly frustrating (I finished out of the money in 16 of 17 SnG's at one point) but then you go on one of those runs where your card is always there, which it should be a good portion of the time since you are the favorite going into the flop, and you realize why poker is fun again.

The only other thing I can say is that if all your money goes in on the flop w/top pair you are going to lose more often than you win.

[Stagemusic]

I don't usually reply to "bad beat" posts but I have to make an exception here just because I was so mad.

I was playing in a $50 1 table SNG on Stars yesterday afternoon. It was a great game. The early game went quickly and we were down to 4 in a little over half an hour. #4 hung around for quite awhile as we traded blinds, swapped all ins, etc. After the 4th person finally exited we settled in for some hard fought poker. We traded hands for quite awhile. At one point I was down to 800 dollars and had built back up to 5500 to lead by a hair. The 2nd chip position had just a bit less with third trailing by quite a bit. I am on the button and look down to find KK. Blinds are at 200/400 and I make it 1200 to go. SB raises me to 2400. I reraise all in and he calls, leaving me with about 400. Our cards turn over and it's KK vs JJ. I am happy with that for about 2 secs when the flop comes J59. Turn and river no help and I am crippled. Two hands later, I bow out in 3rd after 1 hour and 23 minutes of play in which almost 50 minutes of which was 3 handed. Sigh. I feel for you Cris. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[Prickly Pete]

Just keep getting your money in with the best of it - that's all you can hope to do.

And don't feel too bad, most of the hands you ran into weren't actually THE nut hand.

[SossMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I have A9 on A-J-9 flop ... opponent has J9.

[/ QUOTE ]
Turn 9, river J? /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[CrisBrown]

Hiya Pete,

[ QUOTE ]
Just keep getting your money in with the best of it - that's all you can hope to do.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, Pete. Alas, I'm not doing that. Most of these were times when I got my money in one betting round too late ... and what had been the best hand is a tempting but lethal second-best hand.

So to me it doesn't feel like I'm getting outdrawn. It feels like I'm just making stupid mistakes -- or the same stupid mistake, again and again and again. The fish are fishing, and I'm rewarding them. *sigh*

Cris

[AleoMagus]

Here, I'll relate a bad beat story just to put this in perspective a bit...

Jan 22. 2+2sng on stars. Early in the tourney but I am taking a beating. My stack is 1/2 what I started with. I am dealt AJ on the button. I open raise 3xBB. Big blind calls (same player got pocket aces first hand of the tourney to hurt me. Luckily I got away from top pair when raised on the flop). Flop comes 78J no flush draw. I move in. BB calls and shows me T8s. Turn is blank. River brings T. Such is life I guess.

Can you guess who the Big Blind was? /images/graemlins/smirk.gif Answer in white below:

<font color="white">... yeah, it was you Chris... </font>

I'm not criticizing. I might play the same way with a huge stack against a short stack who looks like he's trying to steal from me. I'm just saying don't worry about it. They will get their breaks, and you will get yours. And when the breaks even out, the best players will take home the money.

Regards,
Brad S

[CrisBrown]

Hiya Brad,

Thanks. /images/graemlins/smile.gif I know it all comes out in the wash. I'm just feeling a little washed out.

Cris

[Prickly Pete]

Ah, what I should have said was, keep getting your money in when you figure to be the best. They won't keep turning over the cards you fear forever.

[CrisBrown]

Hi Pete,

[ QUOTE ]
Ah, what I should have said was, keep getting your money in when you figure to be the best. They won't keep turning over the cards you fear forever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah yes ... and that's the biggie, isn't it? I'm starting to fear monsters under the bed every hand, because I've run into so many of them lately. It feels like ... if there's a hand that could beat me, my opponent has that hand, every time.

That's why I say these aren't really bad beat stories. If I push all-in pre-flop on A9s and I'm called by J9o and he hits a J ... that's a bad beat. But if I raise pre-flop on AJs, and he calls with J9o, and the flop is J-9-4 ... I can't call it a bad beat if I call his all-in and lose. I called my money off on the second-best hand. That's not a bad beat; it's a bad play.

But by the same token, a lot of times I'd be ahead there, and especially vs. the kind of player who'd call a raise on J9o. He'd call the same raise on KJ, QJ, JT, and make the same all-in bet when he hit top pair. It's just that, over the past week or so, that hasn't been happening. It seems like every time, there IS a monster under the bed.

I've seen a ton of bad beats lately, but most of them were not mine. Most of the beats I've taken lately have been calling my money off when I've already been outdrawn ... monsters that were indeed under the bed.

And I just don't know what to do about it, except to fold to any bet, check-raise, or reraise if all I have is TPTK. And that's a lousy way to play poker....

Cris

[Ulysses]

I think you're losing perspective due to a string of bad luck. It's not as complicated as you make it out to be.

He'd call the same raise on KJ, QJ, JT, and make the same all-in bet when he hit top pair.

In this case, you have an easy call much of the time.

However, you'll face other opponents who won't push w/ top-pair/mediocre kicker. That's when you get to lay down.

So, lay down a little more vs. more loose-passive opponents and keep making the calls against the loose cannons.

[jedi]

Me too.

7th hand at a Party Poker Satellite to the PPMIII Super.

I've got 875 and AA UTG. Open raise to 75. Next player Raises to 900 (only has 100 left). Button raises to cover the re-raiser. Of course I go in. Re-raiser calls.

Button had 77 and hit a set on the flop. Raiser had KK and I don't fault his play. Both of us are out.