My Matusow blowups

AshtrayBroom · #1 05-23-2007, 03:34 PM

I don't know what the [censored] is wrong with me. I just played a ~8-9 hr session home-game with my friends who can actually play poker. In one of the first hands, I already had a spot on read and mucked AQo to some guy who had KK pf, I just knew he had it even though his raise wasn't so huge. You know, a sick moment where you can see through the cards. So I played ok mostly, and later in the session I came across 99. Suddenly my brain went crazy, and I was acting in the hand way earlier than I was thinking. Somebody pf raises 3xbb, I repop to 10bb, and villain re-re-pops to 25bb. I call way way too fast. He bets out pretty hard on a Qx5 flop, and I call. 5 comes on the turn, he bets out a fair amount, and I shove before I even think about his range here. What the [censored] is this behaviour. Its like my brain went crazy. I should meditate or take pills of some sort. I just played that hand horribly, I'm clearly not ahead of anything here, I'm just gagging thinking about the money I donked off.

HSB · #2 05-23-2007, 04:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I don't know what the [censored] is wrong with me. I just played a ~8-9 hr session home-game with my friends who can actually play poker. In one of the first hands, I already had a spot on read and mucked AQo to some guy who had KK pf, I just knew he had it even though his raise wasn't so huge. You know, a sick moment where you can see through the cards. So I played ok mostly, and later in the session I came across 99. Suddenly my brain went crazy, and I was acting in the hand way earlier than I was thinking. Somebody pf raises 3xbb, I repop to 10bb, and villain re-re-pops to 25bb. I call way way too fast. He bets out pretty hard on a Qx5 flop, and I call. 5 comes on the turn, he bets out a fair amount, and I shove before I even think about his range here. What the [censored] is this behaviour. Its like my brain went crazy. I should meditate or take pills of some sort. I just played that hand horribly, I'm clearly not ahead of anything here, I'm just gagging thinking about the money I donked off.

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Been there, done that, only thing I can suggest is to slow down your thought process so you can notice that you're about to do something incredibly stupid.

SuperPokerJedi · #3 05-23-2007, 05:59 PM

Tilt no?

Fels krone · #4 05-23-2007, 06:04 PM

Maybe thats why you see top notch players "over think" insta-fold/call/push hands. I think you should train to clearly think through every hand, even if it seems standard.

Sometimes I donk like that, I think I just get too anxious; which turns into mistimed aggression.

Hoi Polloi · #5 05-24-2007, 07:25 AM

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Maybe thats why you see top notch players "over think" insta-fold/call/push hands. I think you should train to clearly think through every hand, even if it seems standard.

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That's good advice. They probably have memories like OP's that after the fact they are profiting from. OP: you can recoup that loss if you learn to use it as a set of brakes. Keep your hands off the chips until you know why you are acting.

Hope2play · #6 05-24-2007, 01:15 PM

Been there and done that which probably every one has done. My cure: I learned from watching ESPN US Poker Championship. John Jacobs, (who I believe won last year) is one of the most deliberate players I 've even seen. This does not mean he doesn't bluff or at times play aggressive. He thinks through what he believes he should do and even slowly puts in his chips. This cuts down on playing without thinking and the old Matusow Blowups.
Also, sometimes we think moving in fast will scare people off. Many players know that is 'fake' and reraise or go all in. You quickly reraise/GAI and get killed. SLOW DOWN!

SuperPokerJedi · #7 05-24-2007, 05:55 PM

Harrington says to sit on your hands on whenever you have a decision as this should give you enough time (3 Seconds) to at least process any dangers that might be out there on the Table!

Uglyowl · #8 05-24-2007, 06:31 PM

Did you get married to your 9's before the action started? I will find that if I haven't gotten a hand in a long time, I have a hard time folding that type of hand no matter what.

sweeng8 · #9 05-25-2007, 08:40 AM

seems like a simple answer, but just slow down. Ive done it, and probably every player has done it at some point, but im not nearly as bad as i used to be. though you dont want to slow the game down to annoying extents, take your time when you have big decisions to make. As a side note, aim to take the same time when playing on the flop and turn, as it may stop you giving information to your opponent. The time people take to call you often gives a good indication of their strength or weakness. By counting to 10 before every move, you give yourself time to think and you also give less away about what youre thinking about.

AshtrayBroom · #10 05-27-2007, 11:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Did you get married to your 9's before the action started? I will find that if I haven't gotten a hand in a long time, I have a hard time folding that type of hand no matter what.

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Friends at the table had been heckling me a fair bit about my tight play. Absolute crap because there were two tighter players on the table, and I was simply playing position and playing hands as I saw fit. Then I find 99 after having barely a playable hand for about 30-40 minutes. I got married to the hand indeed.

Thanks for the responses, guys. It seems I'm not alone in making these ridiculous actions. I'll work on giving myself at least 3 seconds to think about each street of betting... unless of course I'm calling a guy's shove with the stone cold nuts.

Cheers.