Why I suck as a professional poker player (extremely long)

[Roswell]

If you are used to multitabling online, it's definitely tough to sit down and play one game. Especially when the players are such idiots and the game goes so slow. Mostly you're just sitting around waiting to flop a set against the idiot who will put in $5000 with one pair. But that can take forever, and might not even happen during a 12 hour session.

One thing I have found helps is exercising before you play. It's amazing how much 30 minutes of cardio will help with patience. Suddenly you don't have to play every hand.

[rock1]

great post...everyone goes through it (lots of people over and over)

one thing i've found is that it is very easy to overvalue "how good the game is" or "how much better i am than other players" and undervalue variance...and as awful as it sounds, its easy to think "my ev is so incredibly positive in this game, why shouldnt i sit down with x% of my stack"...bad,bad,bad

and if stupidity makes you feel better here it goes...i feel comfortable playing 10-25 type games and losing 10k playing holdem...recently, however, i was invited to a game that turned out to be a mixed game...not any mixed game, but nl 7 stud and nl omaha hi-lo...sure...no, i havent played those games before but i understand odds, and yes, i am better at holdem than these guys...why shouldnt i sit in this game....30k in an hour later i got my answer.

live and learn my friend.

[aggie]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are used to multitabling online, it's definitely tough to sit down and play one game. Especially when the players are such idiots and the game goes so slow. Mostly you're just sitting around waiting to flop a set against the idiot who will put in $5000 with one pair. But that can take forever, and might not even happen during a 12 hour session.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yea, i agree with most of you who said that i should not have pulled out the final 5k. The logic i used to justify the decision was that i wanted to be deep so i'd have the implied odds to play many more hands. And since i had been playing so long i wasn't quite ready to patiently wait for a set.

Anyway, thank you to all those who had kind words of encouragement in this thread. They mean a lot. To be honest i had 10k in my pocket going into the trip and was fully prepared to lose it so it's not that big a deal (a bad idea, yes)....But i'm mostly dissapointed about how i lost the money and the decisions i made. I should have learned all these lessons from some of my own previous experiences.

[BraveJayhawk]

I didn't. I was just saying (or at least trying to) that his best chance to succeed is to be honest with himself because only the individual in these cases knows what is going on in his head and how he is actually playing. Just because it may look like a blowup from the outside, does not necessarily make the spot an incorrect one. However, the short term variance in these spots can easily lead to poor decisions. Once in this situation a once profitable position can lead to one of possible disastrous outcomes. But hey we all make mistakes and that's what makes the next big run that much more satisfying. But eventually we have to grow up and choose to just keep winning rather than risking too much to make it big in a short period of time. Otherwise, the cycle continues on...

BraveJayhawk

[creedofhubris]

Aggie: great post.

I think the real problem is the questionable decisions that arise when you got tired. The all-in with AKnopair vs. Asian guy was dubious, but you had a read, so it's your call whether to make the move.

The blackjack w/ a cash advance was just a -EV mistake no matter how you look at it.

The moral of this story is to get sleep and make better decisions. Have you read Greenstein's book yet? I think it would have some useful advice for you. I found it refreshing in that it talks a lot more about psychological aspects to playing good poker rather than mathematical ones.

[luckychewy]

[ QUOTE ]
Aggie,

I don't have much to add except that this seems very normal for the most part. You took a shot in a game you are sure was good for you, and you lost. You may have not been playing your A game, but you aren't always going to be playing your A game... Especially live where you are more isolated from the rest of the world (ie. Stuck at FW).

The extra tilt on the end seems pretty silly, but to me it sounds like your approach to it, looking back on it all, is good and healthy. I've done something like that before, more than once. I basically look at myself later and feel ashamed, and then try to figure out what wire is loose in my head. My problem is I like gambling and for me to gamble there has to be money in play that I care about. But I like money more than I like to gamble, so in theory I should be able to convince myself not to gamble and to just [censored] around and get drunk in the pit for little money.

I'm not sold you suck at being a 'prof poker player' by this post.

-Jason

[/ QUOTE ]

All of this seems true to me, as I can relate to most of it.

In regards to the 10/25 game you were in. Playing tired live is the worst thing ever. Especially stuck. I was once playing in a very very good restricted buyin game(with the exception of the biggest fish leaving) with almost double the max buyin which can sometimes take quite some time to get, and since i had been playing for such a long time was forced to leave. I by no means wanted to, but I knew if I played I would end up making some stupid mistake that I wouldn't let myself forget for a long time because I knew it could be avoided. What you did is a small mistake and I can definatly relate because it hurts, but my best advice is to take a week off from playing poker completely, and browse 2+2, post some old hands that you want some insight on, maybe observe games, write some notes, and do poker relate things but not actually play to regroup a little.

[Matt_BB]

Aggie,

Please don't take this the wrong way. I am not a regular high-stakes player but I do play the Foxwoods $5,5 game sometimes. I am pretty sure that I have played against you before. If you are the player who I think, then my read of you is that you are a tough customer, aggressive and tricky. But I suspect that this play (against the Asian kid) might be a leak of yours. You seem to make it too often.

I remember a hand that I think was against you: I had just sat back down after taking a break for dinner and put 2K on the table (a small stack in that game). You opened for $25 OTB, I made it $100 from the BB and you called. The flop came 854 rainbow, I led for $200 and you raised $1500 more. I remember thinking "eventually he must have the hand he represents in these situations" before I called all-in.

I showed my aces, you showed your Q7o and running 7s came on the turn and river. Ok so you won the hand - this is not a bad beat post. I am not trying to moan or say you did anything fishy there. You made a play. Nothing wrong with that. The thing is though, I had seen you make that sort of play several times previously that day. I didn't seriously consider folding for even a second, I just hoped that it wasn't the one time you really had flopped a set.

[ QUOTE ]
...I open UTG for 9bb’s with AKo ..only the bad but not completely horrible asian kid on my immediate left and a total donkey rich guy on the button call my raise.

Pot ($710)
Flop: Jd6d6c (3-handed)

I lead out for $450 and Asian kid on my left makes it $1450 to go. The total donkey folds. What happens next is extremely quick and I certainly don’t take my time. I think to myself “he’s got a hand but surely he’d slow play a real big hand. He doesn’t have an overpair or a 6. Maybe he’s got a medium pair but most likely he’s got a J. Either way, there is no way possible he can call if I push”.... Flame away!

[/ QUOTE ]

[Djay]

For whatever its worth...i see a huge lesson here, so the post isnt in vain.

Though "selfbeat". GL working on your state of mind when it comes to tilting.

[regression]

[ QUOTE ]
One thing I have found helps is exercising before you play. It's amazing how much 30 minutes of cardio will help with patience. Suddenly you don't have to play every hand.

[/ QUOTE ]

This advice is so great. Last time I played in Vegas, I did precisely this -- made a routine out of it. I'd get up, eat breakfast, and hit the gym for a 45 minute run every morning, before sitting down for some truly marathon sessions -- 16-18 hours at one point.

The early exercise really woke up my brain and reduced the amount of 'jitter' I would experience during the day.

For some reason I haven't carried it into usual day-to-day play, but it's a great idea, particularly if you know it is going to be a long session.

And to the extent necessary, I will join in the chorus that propounds "mental toughness" as the primary requirement for professional poker play, and I'd say, any high limit play generally (assuming the limits are high enough that the money matters to you).

-jack-

[Yeti]

[ QUOTE ]

I have been to a casino once, near my school. I brought 100 dollars to lose, and I lost most of it playing blackjack and some roulette. It really is dumb and boring.


[/ QUOTE ]

You should be ashamed of yourself.