Learning a lesson in humility

Last night I was playing in a tournament - I refuse to share the details because they were too embarassing. The upshot is that I got knocked out early by a complete rook because I was overconfident. I believe that my superior knowledge would carry me through the game - and that overconfidence led to cockiness that resulted in me making a truly awful play. I thought I could intimidate him, but he was literally too poor a player to be intimidated.

I believe that this is part of what makes poker such a glorious game. No matter how good you are, you must always retain a certain degree of humility - you must always keep in the back of your mind that on any given day, anyone can beat you - that you can play a hand perfectly and still get your ass kicked.

For me, this was probably the 3rd such hand. The first occurred on my 2nd trip to a live game at Commerce Casino in LA. I had been playing for about 3 hours, barely treading water - really having no idea what I was doing - but I was managing to do ok.

Many of the details of the hand are lost to me now - I know I started with AKs and raised pre-flop - several people called. On the flop, I hit an ace and 2 spades - so I bet - got raised and I re-raised. I then hit my nut flush on the turn -I bet - most people folded, but one call - I was ecstatic - in my mind, I was already raking in the chips. Then came the river and I bet - and was raised - then I re-raised - and he re-raised - and since we were heads-up, there was no cap, so we went all the way till all my chips were in the pot. I flipped over my nut flush, assuming I had the win.

The problem was that I hadn't noticed that the river card paired the board - and had given my opponent a full house. I looked at the hand, smiled weakly, stood up and walked out of the casino. I was so completely embarassed. I was sure that they were laughing at me - saying all the stuff that I now say whenever someone makes a truly horrid play like that - which is rare.


So what are your stories of humility? How did you learn these lessons as you were learning the game?

Does any specific game or experience or hand stand out for you as one that really changed your fundamental understanding of the game?

[tek]

The thing I have to keep remembering in tournaments is that I can't assume that a player I believe is a "good" player are actually is one.

I have made some raises where the player I am targeting "should" put me on a certain hand and fold. But he calls...

This has happened a couple of times this year.

[Wake up CALL]

[ QUOTE ]
The thing I have to keep remembering in tournaments is that I can't assume that a player I believe is a "good" player are actually is one.

I have made some raises where the player I am targeting "should" put me on a certain hand and fold. But he calls...

This has happened a couple of times this year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps the player is just much better than you think rather than a poor player. Why would a good player fall for your bluff? You may have obvious tells. You should first blame yourself before feeling superior to others.

BTW, I love these posts that disguise bad beat stories by saying they can't beat an inferior player. Brings a smile to my face and reinforces something I learned long ago. Most poker players think they play much better than they really do and prefer to find a way to blame external forces rather than to improve their own game. This is why poker continues to be profitable! You just have to love the ego.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The thing I have to keep remembering in tournaments is that I can't assume that a player I believe is a "good" player are actually is one.

I have made some raises where the player I am targeting "should" put me on a certain hand and fold. But he calls...

This has happened a couple of times this year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perhaps the player is just much better than you think rather than a poor player. Why would a good player fall for your bluff? You may have obvious tells. You should first blame yourself before feeling superior to others.

BTW, I love these posts that disguise bad beat stories by saying they can't beat an inferior player. Brings a smile to my face and reinforces something I learned long ago. Most poker players think they play much better than they really do and prefer to find a way to blame external forces rather than to improve their own game. This is why poker continues to be profitable! You just have to love the ego.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is exactly what I was trying to get at.

I fell into this trap last night and it cost me.

But I am truly interested to hear from other people who have gone through similar situations and to hear how they moved on and learned from it.

[tek]

Perhaps you should work on your reading skills. I did say that I am making mistakes in reading some players.

Some may have been worse than I estimated, or as you suggest, some better.

To answer your question: "Why would a good player fall for your bluff?" I refer you to any 2+2 book. It has been stated that "better" players will fall for a bluff rather than "lesser" players.

Anyway, in tournaments there are times when a move has to be made in order to elevate the ol' chip stack. Sometimes the moves work and sometimes they don't. Reading players is the key in NL and as I indicated in my previous post, is something I am working on.

[Vex]

[ QUOTE ]

So what are your stories of humility? How did you learn these lessons as you were learning the game?


[/ QUOTE ]

Once in a live limit game, I stopped reraising the stone cold mortal un-choppable nuts at six bets. My opponent was reraising me on the river with such confidence, I decided I simply must not be reading the board correctly and my nut flush was beat by a straight flush I just couldn't see. So, I called, took down the pot, and drew some funny looks from the guy to my right and a couple railbirds standing behind me.

It's wasn't exactly a humiliating experience. But, it did teach me a very important lesson about the value of intimidation at the poker table.

[Dave H.]

Just last night I'm on a flush draw playing limit. I have A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and I raise preflop from EP. Get 2 cold callers and the BB calls.

Up comes 2 of my Ace suit plus an A [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]
BB bets, I raise, everyone calls.

Turn comes another of my Ace suit. Same betting pattern except now I have a four flush (with an Ace kicker) and two Aces.

Final round completes my flush with my Ace kicker. Nothing on the board pairs and no str8 possibilities. BB bets, I raise, 1 fold, 1 cold call, BB reraises, I cap, 1 fold, and BB calls.

I happily turn over my Ace high nut flush and it dawns on me that the four flush on the board was SPADES. I had the K [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] and my nut flush turned into 2nd nut as the BB had the A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]

I had turned my A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] into an A [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] on the turn and that's how I saw it until the showdown. UNf*** believable!

There was absolutely no alcohol involved and I don't recall any distractions whatsoever!

"Discretion is the better part of valour."

[9cao]

Lost with my kings all-in preflop against AQ the 3rd hand of a live tournament and walked out of the casino in disgust at my opponent since the blinds were 25-25 and stacks were 2500. I didn't remember that I had won a nice little pot on the first hand and had my opponent out chipped by at least 500 until I was driving out of the parking lot.

[Hass]

Was playing in a live game one night had been gettin a little bored, one of those nights that you just dont get much to play.
Finally get KsKc on the small blind. I had been folding so much the whole table woke up when I raised. (hate when that happends).
So I bet all the way down to the river guy turns over Qh4h for 2 pair, I show my kings and chuckle that I lost to Q4. Dealer mucks my cards and starts to shuffel when the 9 seat says...wasnt there a pair on the board, I think the board was Q 4 7 5 7.
Then I thought about it and said ya know I think it was. I was too buisy cursing out the guy in my head that had Q4 that I didnt even realize I made Ks up on the river. well they ended up making the guy put the whole pot (bout $275) in a rack and called to floor to go look at the cameras.
I was so embarrased that I miss read my hand that I just sat there and almost felt bad for even taking the pot if the 9 seat was right. The floor came back bout 10 min later and said that the river WAS a 7 and I had won the pot.
Sure glad I showed the KK, and the dealer found me after her shift and appologized for missing it herself and mucking my cards before anyone noticed.....needless to say I try to pay more attention now.