A mad rush

[Billy LTL]

I had an amazing run of cards during a 30-60 session last week.

-I posted in the cutoff, re-raised with QhQc and called the cap. Folded to a two-bet when AsKsx showed up on the flop.

-Next hand I'm dealt AA and open-raise. Both blinds likely saw this as a pathetic steal attempt. They called. The flop, turn and river missed me but gave sb two little pairs.

-The very next hand I'm dealt AA again. The button played back at my raise. I capped. I can't remember the exact flop but there was an 8 in it. Nice set sir.

-I'm now sitting utg+1 (yes, the next hand). UTG folds, I find AsQs. I hate to admit it but I was feeling slightly fragile and would have been happier, just at that moment, to find myself holding foldable trash. But it wasn't to be. I open-raised, next guy three-bet, the big blind called. (Have I mentioned that I haven't shown any cards yet?) I called. The flop came AQ5, the big blind took it down with a boat, he had pocket QQ and a 5 rivered, not that he needed it. Good thing I didn't value bet on the end, the temptation to show my two pair was overwhelming but I kept up the discipline and mucked.

-Next hand. I look at it with a great deal of apprehension...please God, if you've given me trash I promise I'll quit drinking for a week. Well friends, suffice it to say Billy's not on the wagon at the moment. AA again. Open-raise.

By now I'm kind of the table mascot, the butt of half-hidden smirks. I swear I could here a snort from the little old evil looking woman on the button.

My raised is called around by the whole damn family. The flop, there was a flush and a straight draw in there, was capped. The turn brought a possible straight. Capped. The river was a dud. Two bets each from four players. My AA stood up.

It's a funny old game we're all so hooked on, isn't it?

Even stranger was that while I had no more monster pre-flop hands for the rest of the session I earned a lot of big bets hitting sets, flushes and straights. And getting paid off when AKs couldn't beat my top pair.

Billy

[Ulysses]

...from last night. In a long session, I had a six hour period where I didn't win a single pot. That sucked. Then we hit a period where two maniacs raised every hand pre-flop. Period. So, most hands were 5 or 6-way action, capped preflop. I managed to get back to even during that period. But then I ended with a nightmarish hour or two where three sets ran into turned flushes and 3 AK w/ A or K high flop ran into flopped little sets. And two overpairs ran into rivered trips. My most memorable hand? I raise QQ and get called by Qs5s in the SB. Flop is rags w/ one spade. I bet, he calls. Turn is a 5. I bet, he calls. River is a 5, I get checkraised and pay off.

Anyway, when the games are as good as mine have been lately, I expect some droughts and runs like that. No biggie. They still sure do suck though, don't they?!

[Billy LTL]

No biggie. They still sure do suck though, don't they?!

Agreed, no biggie. Frankly I don't believe bad beats exist. Bad gambles, yes, bad beats, no.

But yes, it does suck when something like that happens. Because for me, when my good cards get crushed several hands in a row, I find it difficult to continue playing properly. I feel the weak-tight bug starting to bite.

Imagine being disheartened and nauseous finding AA utg? That is a bad state of mind to allow yourself to get into. If that final AA hand hadn't won, I would have been incapable of playing in that otherwise decent game and would have had to go home.

I think the truly great players really can shrug off upsets like that and keep playing their A games. I can't though, not yet, not even after decades of cash play.

Billy

[Coilean]

I know exactly what you mean about being able to shrug it off. Most of the time I can't either, but there are some nights where I just get pounded repeatedly and it doesn't bother me a bit. More than a few of those nights I wound up getting even, or even winning. I don't know if I'll ever figure out how to capture that state of mind at will, but if I do I'm thinking of moving to Tibet and becoming a monk. [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Diplomat]

Hey Billy,

I always will remember my two best sessions, both at 20-40 -- the second best, I won a 1300 pot on the first hand with 5 [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] 2 [img]/forums/images/icons/diamond.gif[/img] when I posted in the cutoff and turned two pair.

And my best session was when I lost AKs, then AA, then TT, then KK, back to back, in that order, in the first four hands of a session. I was suck 860 in five minutes, and cashed out up 3700, seven hours later.

It most certainly is a funny game. I've since toyed with the idea with blind open-raising the first four or five hands I play and see what it does for my image. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

-Diplomat