My Poker Epihany!

Hi All,

Had to post this. Last night I had a poker epiphany!

It was late in the game, second from last hand of the night. 2/3 NLHE local live cash game. 5-handed.

I played this one hand so badly that I think I made every mistake in the book.

Starting stacks
Button - $ 180
SB - $ 110
BB - $ 140
Hero - $ 270
Villain - $ 340

SB posts $2
BB posts $3
Hero looks at J 7o and thinks, oh well, its only $3, why not. Posts $ 3
Villain- Raises to $13
Button calls
SB calls
BB calls
Hero thinks, oh well, Im valued in now, why not and calls.

Flop J J 4 rainbow.

SB checks
BB checks
Hero thinks, great, ive hit big, i'll slowplay this one....and checks.
Villain raises to $20
Fold, fold fold
Hero calls $20

Now $105 in pot.

Turn card a 2. A nothing card.

Hero continues his brilliant slow play move and checks.
Villain goes all in.
Hero calls.
River card 10
Hero has JJJ 10 7
Villain hs JJJ 10 A

Villain takes down the pot.

On the way home, everything I have learned and read about poker came flooding back.

Bad starting hand selection.
No positional awareness.
No awareness of others ranges.
No proper bet-sizing.
No plan for the hand.
Slow playing.
Etc etc etc.

All of a sudden everything made sense! I had no one to blame but myself for that situation. I lost the lot and deserved to lose every cent.

I had always thought the main reason for not playing less than average starting hands out of position was that it was a way to waste your chips of you didnt hit. I now realise it can be even worse when you do hit!

This was without doubt the best $270 I have ever spent.

One hand and I know a lot of things have now clicked.

I'm a happy man

Cuttle Fish.

the mighty cuttle fish has now conquered poker and will never lose a pot again, congrats

I'm sure I'll lose loads, but this time, at least for the right reasons!

You know it sucks when youre UL, but it even sucks worse when you go back and think about it and realize you have beat yourself. I keep finding myself doing stuff like this, I really kick myself when Im running decent and one hand compounded with a few bad decisions in that one hand can ruin everything you built and its for all the reasons you listed.

Poker epiphanies are really cool, I have to say.

Good to hear.

Go and reread all of the threads where people give you advice which you didnt understand at the time. You may find that some other things click too.

Yeah they are

Glad to hear that you are embracing learning oppurtunities! There is so much study material available, just keep at, and remember Study>Play.
Think about why you make every move, understand why its right or wrong in a given situation. The more comfortable i become w/ pragmatic application of key concepts, the better my game is. and the more fun it becomes too.

Sometimes when you lose you win. Can't tell you how many times I lost a big hand and was steaming, only to realize after I broke it down that it was my own fault.

Isn't it amazing how such an arbitrary hand/situation can lead to a breakthrough in thought process? I've had a few of those, it feels good.

Glad to see you had one!

Good that you learned what you did wrong.
Calling UTG with J7o is kind of a weak play, but let's say you're ok with doing that because you are loose.
The problem is that you played weak on the flop. You want to bet to see where you are in the hand. You decided to slow play, which gives you 0 information on the other opponent.
You probably would've seen a reraise on the flop if you had bet, and then you could either 4bet or fold. 4 betting of course would mean he would 5 bet, and then you would have an easy fold. Or you could've reraised when he bet 20 and achieved the same thing.
In this situation, you should have either:
A) Taken down a small pot on the flop.
or
B) been able to have gotten out of the hand, based on your information, and lose less.

Absolutely! Even when I check those hands in the big blind I think, "Oh God, please don't let me hit this!" After a while you learn to just leave those ones alone. Sounds like you just learned! Welcome to the club. I think we've all pulled that one a time or two. Or fifty.

Excellent news Cuttle, knowing you have plenty to work on is an important step! The hard work starts now. Good luck with it, I'm sure everyone at cardschat will make it a bit easier

Epiphanies can be expensive. :-)

This one could be cheap in the long run

This one was cheap at twice the price..... I think it has fundamentally shifted the way I look at the game.

I have a lot to learn in 2012 for sure. Appreciate having people like you all around to learn from.

CuttleFish

i think you gotta get away from that on the pre-flop raise ... after that it's not so cut and dry ... i woulda check raised, but it is tough to get away from top set ... i'd probably put him on AA or a set of 4s ... hard to put him on another J and even then the board could pair for a split or u could get extremely lucky and hit your kicker, so i would say, IMO, the mistake was calling the raise pre

but yeah if he kept raising, then you'd have to go ... oh man, does he have the nuts and save some $$$

Hopefully I can save you some time (and money) for your future next epiphany -
These will become a recurring theme:
Bad starting hand selection.
No positional awareness.
No awareness of others ranges.
No proper bet-sizing.
No plan for the hand.
Slow playing.
Etc etc etc.
Until you lock in something that gets you thinking through these before you act.
If I play too long (14+ hours) I will sometimes find myself losing my stack and saying to myself, as I take the long walk to the car, !$@$@%^ IDIOT!!! You didn't even put him on a range before sticking it all in.
Discipline to exercise what you know is highly under rated!