Take your lumps or skip town?

[Dave5511]

I assume since this happens to me from time to time it happens to everyone. I'd like to know how some of you guys manage this type of situation.

You're at a table w/a guy who is just about as loose as they get...and I'm talking seeing every flop...well, rather than an abstract, I'll give you an example from two nights ago. There will be no bad beat stories in the example.

I'm at Party 2/4, running fairly well, getting enough respect at the table where I can make some plays but not so much that I'm not getting any action. Basically, exactly the way I like it. Enter a guy, for simplicity sake, we'll call VPIP90. I don't need GT+ to figure out pretty quickly that this guy is going to every flop. While he does go to every flop, he plays fairly soundly after the flop. He dumps when he misses and drives hard when he hits. I really do develop a pretty good read on the guy. Here's the problem.

He was just hitting everything against me. I mean, this guy was a total chip sieve, except against me. He was just cracking everything with runner runner whatever. He was destroying me and then distributing my chips among the other players. This guy was LP, but I've also run into this problem w/LAGs.

My question is...what do you do? I like this table, and of course, this is the type of player I just love, but everything is just falling wrong at this particular time. Do you stay, because, after all, this is the guy you're looking for? Do you leave, afraid of the psychological effect he can have on your game? Not to mention that when the rest of the table sees your losing, that softens their image of you.

Do you just wait for it to turn around? Abandon the session, add him to your buddy list and look him up next time? What's you take on a situation where one guy just keeps eating your fruit loops again and again?

Thanks, Dave

[invictus33]

When that is happening to me I just nut peddle against that player and try to isolate other players at the table and get my money back that way. If it doesn't improve within a few orbits I'll just leave at that point. When someone has your number it's best to get out of town for a bit.

[Nick C]

You can stay. Variance is a part of poker.

There was a time, when I began playing 3/6, when a couple of one-session wonders were bigger $$$ winners than I was in my 3/6 database. (And I'm not talking about BB/100, where they had me crushed.) That didn't mean they were better than I was, but they did run well, in their session at the table with me.

I searched for one of them, and he had moved up to 5/10 after his big session, so I left him alone. (I wasn't playing 5/10, at the time.) When he returned to 3/6, I joined a table with him again, where once again he ran well, though he seemed intimidated by me, for some reason (maybe he just didn't have the cards in the pots he folded to me). But he ran well again overall.

I next saw him at 5/10, where I again left him alone (not that I could do anything else -- there was a huge waiting list at his table).

After that, he was at 2/4. And now he seems to have disappeared.

Anyway, the other players are probably paying more attention to your buddy than they are to you. I doubt your table image has been ruined or anything.

[shant]

Keep playing exactly the way you nromally would. I would continue isolating until I had all my money back plus his or when the table breaks. It's variance, it can work in your favor too.

[ QUOTE ]
My question is...what do you do? I like this table, and of course, this is the type of player I just love, but everything is just falling wrong at this particular time. Do you stay, because, after all, this is the guy you're looking for? Do you leave, afraid of the psychological effect he can have on your game? Not to mention that when the rest of the table sees your losing, that softens their image of you.

Do you just wait for it to turn around? Abandon the session, add him to your buddy list and look him up next time? What's you take on a situation where one guy just keeps eating your fruit loops again and again?

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is really bothering you, and it seems to me it is, since you took the time to post this, then I don't see any problem with taking a break. Click sit-out for an orbit or two. If you come back with a clear head, then continue playing, but if you find yourself not sure of your play, or know you're not playing well, then I don't see any problem with leaving and playing another day.

John Feeney talks about subtle forms of tilt for winning poker players, and it often isn't the complete spewage of chips that we see fish & donks perform. For a lot of players, it's not making correct plays due to lack of confidence or making slightly incorrect plays that compound. The self awareness to realize when you're in this state of mind combined with the discipline to take a proper course of action will probably do you good in the long run.

I should follow my own advice.

[oreogod]

Just because they keep catching doesnt mean they are going to keep catching their outs against u. Variance sucks...but the cards are not out against u, its just pure luck that it is happening. He still going to get dealt cards when you come back and play him...so u might as well keep playing him. It happens.

[peterchi]

[ QUOTE ]

My question is...what do you do? I like this table, and of course, this is the type of player I just love, but everything is just falling wrong at this particular time.


[/ QUOTE ]
And this won't be the only time it happens. It'll happen often enough that the best thing to do would be to get sort of used to it, so that it doesn't bother you anymore. Because, as you say yourself,

[ QUOTE ]
after all, this is the guy you're looking for

[/ QUOTE ]
So clearly this is a very profitable situation for you, if you can keep yourself under control.

Let's suppose that every time your moneybags was repeatedly hitting cards on you, you get too bothered and decide you have to stop playing. You would have to stop playing a good percentage of the time, and you'd thus be sacrificing a very +EV situation each time that you did.

[brettbrettr]

This chit happens all the time. If he's tilting you, leave. If not, stay. Guys like him are bound to have huge nights. That's what keeps them in action. Sucks when its you, of course, but it happens.

[BigBrother]

We have all 'run bad' at a 'good' table...sometimes for hours. I make a habit of reminding myself that this table IS exactly where I want to be.

Just keep tabs on the table makeup and make sure it is still staying good.

I used to get frustrated and start whining after about the 15th smelly suckout ... now I stick to my cheerful mantra. I know I'm a winning player, I know this table is where I want to be, these chips are all coming back to me eventually.

Chances are others at the table may notice the 'unfair' beating you are taking. If you stay positive, add a little pleasant chat to the table, compliment the other players on their nice hands, etc... you may gain MORE respect from the table than you could ever lose by taking a few beats.

I try to resist the urge to get too weak-tight. If I tighten up too much even the fishy players seem to take note and I lose action on a good hand where I would otherwise get paid.

In the right spots (against players who are not too aggressive postflop) I'll loosen up and gamble a bit (A VERY little bit...just a few hands, don't overdo it!!). I might cost myself a couple BB's but it pays off bigtime if I get a cheap showdown that I played a questionable hand, or if I get lucky, hit, and drag a nice pot. I also think it has some 'training value' by putting myself in some more uncommon post-flop situations. (Granted, playing short-handed at a lower limit is probably the better way to pursue this type of training).

It is soooo satisfying to be sitting down 30BB or so at a good table...only to win it all back and more in the space of about 10 minutes when your hands start hitting all at once.

The real benefit you can get by sitting with this guy and losing, is you can work on your psychological game (dealing with taking a beating and getting your confidence shattered) while you are in a situation where you will NOT lose the maximum. The experience you gain will help you later on when the tougher players (potentially at higher limits) are hitting everything against you, and you have learned how to lose less.


My short answer ... only you know best. If you know the table is good and you know you can still play your A-game you should always stay.

My worst problem is when I sit at a 'good' table, get stuck...and the table changes to a 'bad' table (fish stand up and are replaced by TAG's) but I still stay cuz I want to 'get it back'. Guess what...once the table has gone 'bad' I rarely (if ever) get it back!! There is some value to staying if I have some good reads on how the others are playing, but chances are it's +EV to find a better table and start over.