Did i have any chance of winning, or was it just "one of those nights"

[BillFranklin]

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Because we have all heard about a million bad beat stories and they are all annoying as hell. So when people trick us into reading a bad beat post people tend to get a little pissed. And BTW, you are complaining.

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Ok. Here is my last post on this. I just like to clarify a few things. This is not a bad beat post. There was not a single Bad beat mentioned in my post. I really was asking a question and not complaining. Maybe my original post was a little long but i did that on purpose to explain everything in detail and avoid replies like "how many players" "what were the stack sizes" etc.

So here are Cliff Notes to my original post:

Can you win if your not getting cards and you have a maniac sitting behind you?



I know how to win or place high when i not catching cards (not easy but doable) and i know how to play against a maniac. My question was what to do when you have a maniac at the table and your not catching anything. Maybe this wasn't clear in my original post and i'm sorry for that.

[Lottery Larry]

This, from the King of the Whiners

[Bulldog]

I am the King of the Poker!

Also, you didn't hear any whining when you hit your one-outer last night and got five bets out of me. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Lottery Larry]

I'd have gotten far more (stupid straight flush board) if your Kings-full wasn't just one of the endless waves of huge hands and rivers that you were getting... and then Vangsta did a fair imitation of you at 3 a.m.

Besides, I'm STILL hearing about catching that 9, aren't I?

[Slacker]

Interesting. Doesn't sound like whining to me because I have basically the same question. I've been consistently winning at our regular home game (won the last three, got 2nd and third the two before that, with 8-9 players each time).

This last weekend I got third, but the cards were not there (similar to Bill's experience).

Having only played since last winter, I'm curious: are there nights were you simply cannot win...the cards are such that it's virtually impossible? The guy that won last week had more good hands in the last 8 hands (seven of which were TPTK, 2 pair, 2 pair, trips, straight, flush, rockets - in that order), than I had all night (even counting the crap hands I folded that would have connected).

He was almost out at one point, then started getting hands like crazy. I don't know how he could have been beat...he was a calling station, so bluffing was out of the question, and he was getting cards like crazy.

No I'm not whining - just curious if there's a way to win in that situation or do you have to just shrug your shoulders and say "that's poker" (my initial reaction). For those of you who've heard it a gazillion times, remember there are some of us who are experiencing it for the first time.

[archcity]

I'll take this one seriously too.

I had a similar night a few weeks ago. Getting no cards I played very tight, I think I played one hand, that was QJo and folded after the flop.

One friend played very similar to the player you describe and easily had over 50% of the chips at an 8 person table. Winning without showing most times but also beating a full house with a 4 of a kind on a raised pot that he should have folded.

Once the blinds were higher I would pick some spots, where a couple of people limped and he actually stayed out of the pot. And went all-in with anything. Since I was hardly playing, my stack could still hurt the other players and my all-in still meant something.

Eventually he lost a couple of all-ins from some of the other players with small stacks and truly quality hands. Finally the game changed. He finished out of the money. I didn't money, but since bad beat stories aren't allowed I will leave it at that. I played my best with the cards I had and was one card from being in contention, so I felt pretty good.

Bottom line from my perspective:

Stay tight as long as possible.

As blinds get significant, take advantage of any hands the bully isn't playing and push, your very tight image and meaningful stack should do the rest, if it doesn't... Oh well.

Let others do the dirty work and take him on with good hands. If he keeps playing that way he will eventually be knocked down to size.

I think that is the best you can hope for.

[AliasMrJones]

Over the short term there is a great deal of luck in poker. The short term for some players will be about year in length. Get used to it. You don't see the same players at every WPT event final table and there is a reason. Sometimes the deck hits you upside the head and sometimes the deck punches you in the gut.

[Lottery Larry]

"Having only played since last winter, I'm curious: are there nights were you simply cannot win...the cards are such that it's virtually impossible"

Yes, some nights the cards don't give you much of a chance. It only takes ONE bad hand to kill your tourney- a whole series of crappy cards and second-best hands can insure that you don't claim the brass ring.

Remember, technically you only have a 1/x chance of winning a tournament... along with everyone else. Once you've won one, you have to expect to lose at least one sometime.

Look at the long term- if you're winning 3-5x more tournaments than you "should" (ignoring skill levels) then you're doing well. You might lose 10 in a row- concentrate on playing the best that you can and the cards will sort themselves out. NO ONE wins 100% of their tournaments and if they hit 30%, they are doing very very VERY well (or playing against extremely weak fields)

"For those of you who've heard it a gazillion times, remember there are some of us who are experiencing it for the first time"
Shut up, ya loser! :P

[Lottery Larry]

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and sometimes the deck rips off your balls, smashes them to jelly and sets them on fire, along with your bankroll.

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FYP

[Rduke55]

What, did you only play a dozen hands or so?