The Worst Kind of Tilt

Do you ever make a play against better judgement? Tempted by a big score, or the desire to bluff your way out of a loss, you shove those chips into the middle. A good example is 'semibluffing' with the Ace-high flush draw when your opponent just made a big checkraise screaming 'set'.

But this time he doesn't have the set, he has the open-ended straight flush draw. And he wins by pairing his six on the river. Or...

5-handed 10/20 PL. Folded to Villain (2600) in CO who raises to 60. I (3600) call with AK. I have been playing very aggressively, Villain seems fed up, and I don't want to have to play guessing games. I'll reraise with a connector or nothing and represent a big pair, but not AK. My game plan is to catch and scoop a decent but not huge pot, or miss and bluff Villain out of a somewhat smaller pot.

Flop: AKT r.
Pot ~150

Villain bets 80 I think (PT broken), I raise to 160. He pots it, 470 more to me. I reraise, he thinks for a while and moves in, I feel a little sick as I call the rest of his stack.

He had AT and beat me. I wanted to smash something. Now I've been dealt worse beats, and these things aren't supposed to bother me this much. I quit playing, something I haven't had to do for a few weeks.

Then I realized why I was so mad. I wasn't mad at the cards, I was mad at myself:

Probability that Villain is [censored] arouund is negligible, based on earlier reads. From Pokerstove:

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Board: As Kh Td
Dead:

equity (%) win (%) tie (%)
Hand 1: 55.8832 % 49.90% 05.99% { KK+, TT, AKs, ATs, KTs, QJs, AKo, ATo, KTo, QJo }
Hand 2: 44.1168 % 38.13% 05.99% { AdKc }
</pre><hr />

And that's the optimistic version. He probably wouldn't make the reraise, much less the call, with KT. Without that hand, Villain has about 65%.

Intuitively, I knew I was behind if he played. But I chose to ignore this, and fired away, feeling all smug about showing my tired-of-my-LAG-play opponent a hand.

When he put his chips in I felt a little awkward. When that second ten came on the turn I knew I was done. But seeing his hand made me furious - I could have tricked myself into believing I made the right play, thinking I deserved to win that pot. But the poker gods showed no mercy. I realized this as I counted the combinations a few minutes later. That is what put me on tilt, not doubling up my opponent. I believe that fully understanding these things is a big step towards eliminating, or at least reducing, the adverse effects of tilt on my play.

I feel much better now.

[Allinlife]

I think he figured there's no way you have a set due to your pfr limp and played his hand accordingly. Why you reraised his raise to 470 more boggles my mind however.

What then? Fold? Considering that I believed (erroneously) that I was ahead, what was the better game plan? If he's betting the turn, he's calling my reraise. If a Q or J comes on the turn, I might lose out on further action or even the entire pot.

[radioheadfan]

I'd be on complete monkey tilt after this hand.

You played it perfectly and got 2-outed. Sh*t happens.

[ripdog]

[ QUOTE ]
What then? Fold? Considering that I believed (erroneously) that I was ahead, what was the better game plan? If he's betting the turn, he's calling my reraise. If a Q or J comes on the turn, I might lose out on further action or even the entire pot.

[/ QUOTE ]

What am I missing here? You are better than a 9 to 1 favorite on the flop. I love getting all of his money in on the flop. I hope that when you speak of the worst kind of tilt, you mean not getting all of his money in on the flop when the same situation comes up because of one bad beat.
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