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I'm quitting poker... (2 Viewers)

Trihonda

Trihonda

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Well, at least, that's what I thought during my drive home from Ho Chunk casino last night...

I've since committed to helping run/playing a local bar tourney tomorrow on Sunday (I know, my quitting lasted a whole day, lol).

This is in part a bad beat 'bitch, moan, and vent', and in part a statement of how a bad beat can't keep me down... Read if you want, or ignore if you don't. You've been warned.

I went up to Ho Chunk on Friday to play the $1,100 MSPT main event, which I secured a seat to via entering a $65 satty, and progressing through several levels of qualifiers. Prior to the ME, I sat down and played 1/2 for 2 hours, and tripled up my $120 buyin. I played very well in the MSPT main event for the first few hours, but ran badly as blinds were increasing, and eventually busted out in the top 40% of the first day. I was glad I entered the event, and had a ton of fun. The event was well run, and the tournament structure was pretty awesome! I then re-entered the 1/2 cash game field, and was seated a table of 'ok' players. I had one of the sickest bad beats in my history of playing cards, that left me feeling like I'd literally been punched in the gut.

I know, it wasn't for life altering money. But I literally had the nutz on the flop, and on the turn, I had the uber-nutz! Just unbelievably get wrenching outcome... On the way home, I was seriously doubting my ability to play this game moving forward... I did come to terms today (after a nice brunch buffet), that I can't control results, just my decisions. I decided to scale back on my recent increase in casino play, and focus on more home games and smaller tourneys. A good meal does wonders for the soul!

I'll "spoiler" it, in case you're not interested in hearing my lame "bad beat" story. Just know that even the sickest of bad beats won't keep me off the felt for long, lol...

Bad Beat

="I'm on the button w/ $200, playing 1/2 NL on a straddled pot, guy across from me in LP raises to $20, I look down at JJ, I flat, guy in EP calls. $50 in the pot. Flop comes 22J. Guy bets $20 again, I raise to $50, EP folds, LP calls (after thinking hard). I'm praying he has a major overpair, as I'm 100% positive the guy didn't raise pre w/ a deuce in his hand. Onto the Turn, board runs 22J2. LP guy checks to me. I think he's got an overpair (probably not KK or AA, but maybe QQ?). Maybe 10's or 9's and thinks they're good? I shove my remaining $130+ into the middle. Guy tanks, then calls (I'm fist pumping inside). The river is a deuce (22J22), and the guy flips over AK to scoop with quads (with an Ace kicker).... Really, he called off $200 with AK and nothing else? Pocket 3's was ahead of him until the river... ~$430 pot. Felt like I was punched in the gut. It wouldn't have felt so dirty had the guy showed AA or KK... Miracle deuce"
 
Last edited:
manamongkids said:
you didnt have the nuts on the flop or the turn. the nuts on the flop would have been pocket 2s. the nuts on the turn would have been holding the case 2.
Click to expand...

While technically correct, there is no scenario where this guy bets $20 with deuces, then calls a raise to $50 with pocket deuces. On the turn, he can only hold a lone deuce (with another card). The only hand worth even mentioning would be A2, and again, there's no realm of poker player hell where someone raises to $20 w/ a single deuce in their hand preflop (that makes any sense). Once the turn hits the third deuce, I'm 100% sure this guy doesn't have a deuce. His excuse (after the hand) was he put me on exactly AK and felt we were chopping.
 
I am not a great player and don't play for the stakes that most PCF-ers do, but it seems to me you lost most of your advantage once the turn was a 2. That's not where I would have shoved. The villain hadnt been scared off by then (curious as to his previous style of play) so i guess he figured you for the 3 Js, and decided it was worth the money to see if he could steal one on the river.

When I started to read this I was thinking that somehow you were going to get beat with four Js. Still a Bum break for you!
 
Trihonda said:
While technically correct, there is no scenario where this guy bets $20 with deuces, then calls a raise to $50 with pocket deuces. On the turn, he can only hold a lone deuce (with another card). The only hand worth even mentioning would be A2, and again, there's no realm of poker player hell where someone raises to $20 w/ a single deuce in their hand preflop (that makes any sense). Once the turn hits the third deuce, I'm 100% sure this guy doesn't have a deuce. His excuse (after the hand) was he put me on exactly AK and felt we were chopping.
Click to expand...

Must be a different breed of $1/2 player up in cheese country. I've seen guys call off well more than that with well worse than A2. And pocket deuces? May as well be aces to the true $1/2 donk around here.
 
jbutler said:
Must be a different breed of $1/2 player up in cheese country. I've seen guys call off well more than that with well worse than A2. And pocket deuces? May as well be aces to the true $1/2 donk around here.
Click to expand...

Same thing happens in our 1/2 donk fest here. I remember a pretty bad beat where I slow played a flopped straight only to lose to a rivered boat. The guy called a large all in bet with an overpair, then turns 2 and rivered the boat. What can you do? :)
 
jbutler said:
Must be a different breed of $1/2 player up in cheese country. I've seen guys call off well more than that with well worse than A2. And pocket deuces? May as well be aces to the true $1/2 donk around here.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I seriously doubt the villains play significantly different in WI.... chances are it's his perspective of how that play should be, vs what it really is.

I firmly believe that players who are totally convinced of finite things in poker like this:
Trihonda said:
there is no scenario where this guy bets $20 with deuces, then calls a raise to $50 with pocket deuces.

On the turn, he can only hold a lone deuce (with another card). The only hand worth even mentioning would be A2, and again, there's no realm of poker player hell where someone raises to $20 w/ a single deuce in their hand preflop
Click to expand...
are merely destined to be felted, and with some regularity. When I hear statements like this, I just shake my head, because I know they are setting themselves up for failure.

Erik, you gotta get it into your head that not everybody plays like you do, or like you think they should. Those players have a bigger edge against you than you think, because you'll never see it coming. So long as it stays that way, you're gonna take some awful beats, and they're gonna intimately bother you. You'll probably still take some beats after a perspective shift too, but at least you won't be as surprised (or as gut-punched) when they happen. The goal is to turn them into 'oh well' shrug situations, and look for ways to learn from them (if any) vs bemoaning your bad luck and letting it affect your mental state.

Shit sometimes happens and will always sometimes happen, but as long as you can shake it off -- and I mean seriously shake it off, not just give it lip service -- the variance will eventually balance out in your favor if your level of play is superior to that of your opponents . Part of your mental block is judging your success in windows of play that are much too small to be of any statistical importance, and considering them to be meaningful in some way. They are not. A winning session means nothing, and a losing session doesn't mean anything, either. Once you switch to big-picture focus and can totally let go of past hands (because they really don't matter, unless there is something to be learned from them), you'll be a much calmer, more confident, and long-term profitable player. How you fare in the short term is meaningless, and is really only a recipe for unhappiness.

Not looking for any feedback/defense/justification/excuses, I'm just trying to help with your mental game -- so take it to heart or ignore it, I don't care either way, and won't be debating it further. But I've been through the same tit-ringer -- my worst losing streak was nearly two years long, with nearly every imaginable bad beat and improbably losing horror story you can imagine, at one point or another -- and now I simply don't worry about it at all. It won't improve my play or make me a better player by doing so, and that's the long-term goal.
 
Once at 2/2 I raised in LP with J7, I was reraised by bb. I called (gotta protect my image ;)) flop 4J2 he raises I call. Turn 7. He shoves I call. He has QQ and complains how bad I am, I laugh because I have his stack.

Obviously I show up with the one hand he thinks I don't have.

My point? None really other than don't trust idiots like me to do what you think they should do.
 
BGinGA said:
And when you are also able to laugh because he has your stack in a similar reversed situation, you will have arrived. :)
Click to expand...

Didn't get a chance. I did it to him at least twice more and he got angry and asked for a table change. :)
 
stocky said:
Once at 2/2 I raised in LP with J7, I was reraised by bb. I called (gotta protect my image ;)) flop 4J2 he raises I call. Turn 7. He shoves I call. He has QQ and complains how bad I am, I laugh because I have his stack.

Obviously I show up with the one hand he thinks I don't have.

My point? None really other than don't trust idiots like me to do what you think they should do.
Click to expand...

Good point. In the right spot I'll play any two cards but I don't think my donkeys in Dhahran know that. Last week a villain was in the tank regarding a bet I made. "There is no way you ever play 46o." You know the rest.
 
Trihonda said:
While technically correct, there is no scenario where this guy bets $20 with deuces, then calls a raise to $50 with pocket deuces. On the turn, he can only hold a lone deuce (with another card). The only hand worth even mentioning would be A2, and again, there's no realm of poker player hell where someone raises to $20 w/ a single deuce in their hand preflop (that makes any sense). Once the turn hits the third deuce, I'm 100% sure this guy doesn't have a deuce. His excuse (after the hand) was he put me on exactly AK and felt we were chopping.
Click to expand...

Sounds like Every. Single. Hand. on Pokerstars.
 
stocky said:
Once at 2/2 I raised in LP with J7, I was reraised by bb. I called (gotta protect my image ;)) flop 4J2 he raises I call. Turn 7. He shoves I call. He has QQ and complains how bad I am, I laugh because I have his stack.

Obviously I show up with the one hand he thinks I don't have.

My point? None really other than don't trust idiots like me to do what you think they should do.
Click to expand...

This is the one thing I used to hate about the casino. Those 'I know it all' types who'll call you all names under the sun when they lose a hand because I should have known how to play properly: translate, I should have done what he expected me to do when he raised.

Trouble is, the casino will always have good players and bad. After about 10 years out I'm about to head back for my first tourney, let's hope the people there have calmed a little from when I used to play. Because one things for sure, I'm no better!
 
BGinGA said:
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I seriously doubt the villains play significantly different in WI.... chances are it's his perspective of how that play should be, vs what it really is.

I firmly believe that players who are totally convinced of finite things in poker like this:

are merely destined to be felted, and with some regularity. When I hear statements like this, I just shake my head, because I know they are setting themselves up for failure.

Erik, you gotta get it into your head that not everybody plays like you do, or like you think they should. Those players have a bigger edge against you than you think, because you'll never see it coming. So long as it stays that way, you're gonna take some awful beats, and they're gonna intimately bother you. You'll probably still take some beats after a perspective shift too, but at least you won't be as surprised (or as gut-punched) when they happen. The goal is to turn them into 'oh well' shrug situations, and look for ways to learn from them (if any) vs bemoaning your bad luck and letting it affect your mental state.

Shit sometimes happens and will always sometimes happen, but as long as you can shake it off -- and I mean seriously shake it off, not just give it lip service -- the variance will eventually balance out in your favor if your level of play is superior to that of your opponents . Part of your mental block is judging your success in windows of play that are much too small to be of any statistical importance, and considering them to be meaningful in some way. They are not. A winning session means nothing, and a losing session doesn't mean anything, either. Once you switch to big-picture focus and can totally let go of past hands (because they really don't matter, unless there is something to be learned from them), you'll be a much calmer, more confident, and long-term profitable player. How you fare in the short term is meaningless, and is really only a recipe for unhappiness.

Not looking for any feedback/defense/justification/excuses, I'm just trying to help with your mental game -- so take it to heart or ignore it, I don't care either way, and won't be debating it further. But I've been through the same tit-ringer -- my worst losing streak was nearly two years long, with nearly every imaginable bad beat and improbably losing horror story you can imagine, at one point or another -- and now I simply don't worry about it at all. It won't improve my play or make me a better player by doing so, and that's the long-term goal.
Click to expand...

Dave, let me address some of this.

I don't expect people to play like me (I hope they won't). I trust me read on things a lot, and it's normally profitable. My read on THIS player was that he's never opening for $20 with deuces or A2. He's more of a tighter player, who will only open like this with medium to premium hands (10's+ but maybe 8's+). I'm fairly confident he's not holding a deuce (and I was right on this). He was a tight player, had a premium hand (AK), but I underestimated his holding onto AK after it was clearly dominated. Being a tight player, I expected him to have much stronger holdings with the line of betting/calling he was taking. The whole story just doesn't make sense, he's tight, but then sticks around with nothing, then gets crazy lucky to have the board go running quads? After 12 hours of play (2am), I was tired and the hand did irk me.

I'm not the type who normally ever gets tilted by a bad beat or getting unlucky. I didn't get mad at this guy, it's not HIS fault. I had the losing hand. Some examples of my NOT getting tilty.

Just this week (on Wed), I was at a tourney final table as the overall chip leader. I have AQdd and flop the NUT flush with 3 diamonds on the flop. I get it in against top set, who hits a paired board, and I go from a very deep run, to finishing with a min cash. That one hand probably cost me $700 in prize pool differential, but I smiled a wry grimace and fist bumped the hand's winner and said to the guy "hate losing that hand, but god, that's good poker".

At the WCB main event final 3. Me and lnlvr get it in after I flop broadway on a rainbow board. Bob's flopped 2pr boats up on the river, and I'm taking pics of the hand, saying, "damn, that's good poker". No tiltiness. :)

You can't control the cards, you can't control other people's action, you just make the best decisions you can based on the info you're given. :) But we're human ...sometimes

And bluegopher, attend the WCB or MTTD and you're more than welcome to use the card protector the entire time :)
 
BGinGA said:
Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. I seriously doubt the villains play significantly different in WI.... chances are it's his perspective of how that play should be, vs what it really is.

I firmly believe that players who are totally convinced of finite things in poker like this:

are merely destined to be felted, and with some regularity. When I hear statements like this, I just shake my head, because I know they are setting themselves up for failure.

Erik, you gotta get it into your head that not everybody plays like you do, or like you think they should. Those players have a bigger edge against you than you think, because you'll never see it coming. So long as it stays that way, you're gonna take some awful beats, and they're gonna intimately bother you. You'll probably still take some beats after a perspective shift too, but at least you won't be as surprised (or as gut-punched) when they happen. The goal is to turn them into 'oh well' shrug situations, and look for ways to learn from them (if any) vs bemoaning your bad luck and letting it affect your mental state.

Shit sometimes happens and will always sometimes happen, but as long as you can shake it off -- and I mean seriously shake it off, not just give it lip service -- the variance will eventually balance out in your favor if your level of play is superior to that of your opponents . Part of your mental block is judging your success in windows of play that are much too small to be of any statistical importance, and considering them to be meaningful in some way. They are not. A winning session means nothing, and a losing session doesn't mean anything, either. Once you switch to big-picture focus and can totally let go of past hands (because they really don't matter, unless there is something to be learned from them), you'll be a much calmer, more confident, and long-term profitable player. How you fare in the short term is meaningless, and is really only a recipe for unhappiness.

Not looking for any feedback/defense/justification/excuses, I'm just trying to help with your mental game -- so take it to heart or ignore it, I don't care either way, and won't be debating it further. But I've been through the same tit-ringer -- my worst losing streak was nearly two years long, with nearly every imaginable bad beat and improbably losing horror story you can imagine, at one point or another -- and now I simply don't worry about it at all. It won't improve my play or make me a better player by doing so, and that's the long-term goal.
Click to expand...

I've been this angry player. It has taken me ten years to learn how to get through it. Even then sometimes I get "loose" with my emotional responses to a bad beat. Erik, I don't pretend to know you or how you feel. All I can say is Dave is right on the money and it applies to more than just a few card players.
 
MaxB said:
There's a casino called Ho Chunk? :ROFL: :ROFLMAO:
I need one of those chips if they say that (y) :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Edited: sorry for the blurry photo. THought it'd show the face better.

4-21-15 Ho Chunk Live Stack.jpg
 
BNM said:
but it seems to me you lost most of your advantage once the turn was a 2. That's not where I would have shoved. The villain hadnt been scared off by then (curious as to his previous style of play)
Click to expand...

In discussing the hand, I'm curious what you mean? Not to beat you up, but once the turn hits the 3rd deuce, my hand improves, because if the villain has QQ, AJ, or even the unlikely KK/AA, at this point I'm still dominating them, while at the same time allowing them to believe they're way ahead. It's exactly what I want. Them to improve, me still dominating them, and the monies go in the middle.

I will have JJJ22, and they'll just have 222AA, etc...

Oh well, hand is over. :) Ya, bad beat, I vented, and now moving onto another game today.
 
I'd like to add to the encouragement but I have to say your opponent hitting a ONE OUTER on the river SUCKS! I don't care who you are, it SUCKS! I will say it's happened to me (losing side) a few times but never on the winning side. I mean the odds, my God. So yeah, the card dropping on the river would irk me as well. This doesn't mean one should stop playing, but man at least recognize that SUCKED!
 

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