Poker Lessons Are Expensive

This happened to me twice tonight. On two seperate occasions I was playing on cash tables and noticed that one of the players on each of these tables was playing extremly loose. Raising and calling everything in sight. I was patient and waited for an opportunity. I knew bluffing was useless so I had to wait for a really strong hand. On both occasions I knew I had them beat and shoved all in waiting for my call. Since I knew hey would call I wouldn't even be mad if I suffered a bad beat. I actually wish I had suffered a bad beat from them because then I would at least know I made the right move. On both occasions there was a 3rd player who I didn't even notice because they played so few hands. You can probably guess where this is going. On both occasions 3 way allin. I beat the guy I wanted to and lost to the rocks. What makes it worse is that the players I was targeting had much smaller stacks than the rocks and if I had been paying attention I could have bet half or all of their stacks and saved myself a lot of money. Lesson learned. Pay attention to everyone at the table not just the guy you think is a fish. In this case I was clearly the fish.