How to Survive Idiots

[saxman1963]

This may be more of a rant than a question, but I have read all 3 of Dan Harrington's Excellent books....more than once...and consider myself at least an average NL Hold 'em player. I play mostly online at single or 2-table tourneys. On average, I about break-even (up $100, down $100 with $10 buy-ins). I can't seem to get any better results than this because I tend to get crappy cards in general, and I keep running into Fish who are having their one lucky day against me. Today was a case in point and I share this if for no other reason because I'm sure everyone here will nod their heads and go "I've been there...".

It was a single table tourney, and--as I usually do--I got to the bubble (4th place) and was the shortstack. This resulted from insane attrition of the other 5 players who all seemed committed to forking over their chips with all-in moves. In fact, I had only played one hand by the time there were 4 players left (35 was one of my BETTER initial holdings). Anyway, long story made slightly shorter, I got to a point where I had about $1,400 and I was up against the 2nd biggest stack who had around $2,900 I believe. I had A9 unsuited and, it turns out, he had A2 suited. I raised from first position to 3xs the BB (had to make a move at some point) and was called by Mr. A2. The flop came down A68 (in other suits). I made a small bet of $100 and Mr. A2 goes all in. I knew from his previous plays and bluffs that I had him dominated, so I called. Sure enough, I had him dominated (my reads are usually correct), and he pulled a 2 on the river to knock me out. When I asked him why he made the play, he initially said "I had an ace" when I pointed out the stupidity of that reply, and after checking on sharkscope that he had lost $2,800 so far and had an ROI of negative 38%, he gave me the real answer: He earns more than that in one day, so he doesn't really care whether he loses by making stupid plays.

Well, how the heck do you argue with that? I wouldn't be complaining except that this is happening a good 50% of the time in the tournaments I've played (which are now over 500). And it's more frustrating because I look up others' stats and some people have really good profits and ROIs and I yearn to learn their secrets [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Anyway, sorry for the rant. No responses necessary unless you feel like it. I had to get this off my chest. I have learned a lot from this forum and from the books I mentioned. I just wish it actually translated into success more often.