[citanul]

jman,

i think that ideally, there's one situation where you should be upset by your opponent's actions, and that is when you have in some way forced them, tricked them, or enticed them in to "outplaying" you.

i here want to definte what i mean by "outplaying." i don't mean the normal "he played better than you," i mean to convey that you've done something yourself that in some way compelled your opponent to put you in a spot that you are uncomfortable with, that you could have avoided.

in all other spots, when we're thinking "oh come on check behind" it's because, basically, we don't want to have to face the decision of what to do if they bet, we just want to see the showdown (or frequently we feel that if they check we win the vast majority). this is basically to me just a version of pot control. you don't want to have to face big bets on the end with 3rd pair because well, you have 3rd pair. though the big bet gives you an opportunity to make a good call or throw away the worst hand, or raise him, or whatever, hard decisions are hard, and so you sometimes play in order to keep the decisions hard.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that when you have chosen a line against a particular opponent (and this must be more extreme in heads up games) that causes your opponent to make a play that switches your decision from easy to hard (bad bet sizes that then get raised on the turn or river does this a lot), then i get upset, but with myself, not with my opponent.

my opponents are "allowed" to play decently, and i don't get upset when they make me make decisions. i just try to choose not to play against the ones who consistently find ways to make me make very hard decisions, even on smallish pots.

/end rambly semi-nonsensical post.

c