the El Tigre Oddesey (a cautionary tale)

[El Tigre]

Okay for those who dont know me, and I presume most of you do not as I dont post a whole bunch, I am El Tigre. This is my story of ups and downs.

I started playing poker for serious about 1 year ago. Took a 50 dollar instant bankroll at party started playing 1-2 6max. This was also the first time I had ever played limit. I went on a heater and won 1500. cashed out 500 and lost the rest playing way out of my bankroll.

Stopped playing for awhile. Then I was at borders and found small stakes holdem. Devoured it in a couple days. Put some money in during the winter, and lost lost lost, until I had a semi breakthrough. I turned 300 into about 4700 over about 2 months starting at .25/.50 and eventually 2-4. It wasnt an especially hot string of cards or anything. I think i was at 1.7BB/100. I also won a couple tourneys which netted me about 1500. Then school was in full swing and i needed money so I pulled the money out and stopped.

This brings us to about may. I decided summer was coming up and I needed something to entertain me while I wasnt working or playing golf. I put 600 into pokerstars and started at .50/1 to get my feet wet. Played a couple thousand hands to clear a 50 bonus, then I moved up to 1/2. Went on a mini heater working it up to about 1400. I decided to start playing 2/4. Got worked over nice. Lost a lot very quickly and learned my real nemesis was tilt. I was playing over my head trying to win it back too quickly and ended up with just 500 dollars left. I decided that a bonus was in order and I took my money to absolute because of their 100% bonus. I cleared that and had about 1600.

I moved back over to stars and quickly worked it up to 1900. Then the whole world came crashing down. I would log on open my normal 4-5 tables and drop 200 withing 20 minutes. I learned that I have a form of fancy play syndrome. I bluff WAY TOOOO much. I get way too involved in blind steals and bluff 3bet the turn when its obvious that the guy isnt going anywhere. I took 2+2 agression to a stupid level. I think I deleted the check button, and made it bet or fold. I bet blank boards with hands like AK into 5 people where there was no way I was winning the hand. Combine this with numerous bad beats, and tilt, and this is a horrible combination. And not just tilt, a form of it, which I have coined, as, "move up win it back quickly playing trash hands and raising K8o from MP tilt"

Needless to say this didnt go well. I was back down to 900$ and ready to quit this stupid game. As I was in the cashier window ready to cashout I remembered how much I LOVE this game. Not just playing, but 2+2 and fanatically refreshing cardplayer WSOP updates. I love reading about it. I love the challenge of improving and trying to move up levels. I realized that I shouldnt care about how much money I lose in a given session because Im not withdrawing money anyway, because I just want to move up as many levels as I can.

There was no way I could quit now. I took the 900 and put it on absolute with a 25% bonus, which I have yet to clear. So here I am with 1121 on absolute ready to revamp my game. Time to get that 2.3 aggression factor down a bit. Back to ABC poker for a while. Im going to reread SSHE again and stop raising AJo UTG. My plan is to play 3 tables of 1-2 with 1 of 2-4 to clear the absolute bonus and see where I am when I'm done.

I think my biggest hurdle is contolling tilt, not my game because tilt causes my ridiculous agression. Im convinced that Im a winning player, as over 50k hands im still a .4BB/100 winner even with thousands down the drain due to tilt. So a word to the wise DONT TILT EVER.

There it is the El Tigre Oddesey, and I have a feeling that my journey in poker is just beginning. Be ready to see me posting a lot more hands and responses to others. Hopefully I get my game in control and learn to beat this damn game that we hate and love at the same time

EL TIGRE

[IdealFugacity]

No raise AJo UTG? : (

[XmasXmas]

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No raise AJo UTG? : (

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i don't know why, but i found this to be a very funny first response to a really long, semi-tragic post.

[BogusRogus]

>>I bet blank boards with hands like AK into 5 people where there was no way I was winning the hand.<<

If you count your outs as 1/2's and if there is some back door stght or back door flush draws you can get up to almost an open end draw odds (8 outs). For example - A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and the board is Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5 [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] you actually have about 6 outs (6 A/K divided by two - count them as partials and then add 1.5 for each backdoor straight and flush makes 6 outs). Certainly worth firing into 5 hands but not 3....


I would assume the more you play, the more in control of your emotions, the more you read, the better you'll do. If you enjoy it, keep at it.

[freedom18]

thats rly weird cuz i play the same way on tilt or before and u shoulda seen my variance out the window [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] its rly hard to calm down and play such a standard weak style IMO ur not THAT aggressive if u play how ur supposed to [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[HoneyBadger]

You mean you play your hands like this:
Party Poker 2.00/4.00 Hold'em <font color="#0000FF">(9 handed)</font> link

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="#666666">1 folds</font>, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 3-bets</font>, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>, Hero calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks, <font color="#CC3333">MP2 bets</font>, <font color="#CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP2 calls.

Turn: (5.75 BB) K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets</font>, MP2 folds.

Final Pot: 6.75 BB.

... I hear you, I suffer from the same syndrome :P

[Gazzbut]

[ QUOTE ]
A [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] and the board is Q [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 2[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] you actually have about 6 outs

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Against 5 opponents I would give myself 4 outs with this hand and 5 outs against 3 or less opponents.

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Certainly worth firing into 5 hands but not 3....

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Id never bet into 5 players with this hand.

[HoneyBadger]

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Id never bet into 5 players with this hand.

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Me neither. You're bound to get raised by someone protecting his queen (eg. KQ) or simply by AQ. This is listed as a common mistake somewhere: "betting into a sure raise"