Rethinking My Game

What is it that is so appealing about tournament play? The suck outs and other donkey play kick you in the junk repeatedly until you are numb from the waste down. How can players continue to be successful calling with 54 off suit to open raises? This is the quandary I’m suffering from.

I guess I should be happy that people are willing to go to battle with inferior holdings but my frustration boils over. Can you say tilt?

The $20,000 guaranteed on Poker Stars was the first to kill me. After the break I was above average and had a good feel for my table. As we moved closer to the money I continued to chip up and felt I had a good chance to make a run. I had a few marks and when the opportunity presented its self I was ready. I get pocket queens on the button. It’s fold to the cutoff who raise 3x. This player is loose and more then willing to give his chips away I have him out chipped 2500 so I raise it to half his stack. This act would pot commit him if he makes the call so I figured push or fold on his part. I was wrong because he called. The flop is T73 rainbow so I know I’m gold. I push over his min bet and he makes the call. He has QJ of clubs. I won’t go into the boring details of the incredulous result but suffice to say I didn’t cash.

My SNGs didn’t fair any better. Tournament tilt will do this sometimes. I should have been aware of my situation and gotten away.

The cash games were a different mater all together. I was hot on the NL tables and had made back everything I had given away earlier in the evening. That is until I tilted again.

It started off slow with a fear of giving back my winnings and cascaded into an avalanche of stupid calls and passive play. At least I didn’t go past my stop loss but I was willing to continue. I think the guy hitting trip 2’s with two 2’s on the board knocked me over the edge. He called me to the river with bottom pair and hit his 2 outer to win an $85 pot. That’s $85 playing .10/. 25 NL. Maybe I am a fish! I can hold my breath for a long time but have trouble breathing under water.

After this point I was the mark as I gave away pot after pot trying to make gold out of lead. I even re-re-raised a tight player with my TPTK. I called his all-in like an idiot and saw his trips take the money.

I need to make an adjustment to my game. There is no reason that I should have dropped the money I did last night. Some hands are un avoidable but I made mistakes that I haven’t made for a long time. I need to be more willing to give up on a hand regardless of how strong it is. I need to pay more attention to the players and not the cards.