allin all the time

i recently played a sng at pacific and litterally got wrecked by a guy who could have never beat me, ever. but he had all my chips and i lost 22 dollars so maybe he could beat me.


i went back and looked at the hands i got beat in and almost vomited. raise with ace king get called by 97(not heads up with two ppl behind him, me in position) the flop is queen 3 6 rainbow, he goes all in, and i muster a call. turn is a 9. i had 5x his chips no big no gut drop.

next hand i get pocket 5s and riase larger like 300 to a 30 bb so im expecting to only get called with a big hand right. the guy calls with 53 flop is 2 9 6 again rainbow. hes all in, again i know he doesn't have the 9 and hes trying to drive me. i make the call, turn a 4 and now he has as many chips as i do.

the very next hand i look down at kk and raise 500 to a 50 thinking ill get called because im steaming. the guy calls flop is 8 6 queen he goes all in i of coarse call and the screen reads he has 86off.

now someone tell me that this kind of reckless abondon isn't normal, cause all is fair in chaos and order but damn. the poker bubble is both good and bad for real professional style players.

dead money is dead money but when you should be winning and get called and beaten with crap it drives you crazy

While he was playing recklessly with nothing, you also called with nothing! You called his all in with Ace high the first time, and the second time you had a small pair. If he had a 6 and it hit it would have taken you down. Also, you said you know he didnt have the 9. How? He would have played anything! The third time you had KK. One pair. Knowing his reckless play, you should have at least been wary of the fact that he either a. had two pair, which was a possibility given they were mid range cards on the board, which he seemed to not mind playing or b. a strait draw. Either way, each was a beat, but you didn't have much either time yourself, especially the first time. I, myself, have been guilty of falling in love with AK and KK. However, when that many chips are at stake, you have to have the nuts, or its not worth the call. 9 times out of 10 that guy is out in 5 minutes. In the long haul, if you play smart poker, the odds will take over.

see i missed told the situation completely, he was gun hoe for me. an the reads were not based on general play. you don't need to have the nuts just the ability to feel out if your ahead i knew i was and got screwed. the strait draw didn't beat me the strait did. i probably should not have gotten in the 55 hand but the kk is another story being scared someone calls with that hand is stupid, and will loose you alot of money. agression makes you mney being timid gets you run all over. i caught a string of bad beats and vented but i was ahead evertime. and i was in no way commited to the ace king iknew what he had and my hand was better. ace king is a bad half complete hand but it is the best high card in the game.

i regret steaming into playing hands differently then i would normally but becomeing a chicken? come on every pro tells you to play agressive.


anyway i cooled off and got back on my game and am up $125 today.

thanks for your time

73.6 favorite 81.9 favorite 29.1 underdog. Those are the odds you were facing on the three hands respectively. The first time, he had 6 outs. the second time, he had 3 outs, the third time you had 5 outs. Ok. As I said: "each was a beat". The Kings hand you were pretty well beat yourself. At that point, you were on what we call tilt. I know you know this because you tried to use it to your advantage by raising big with your big hand, trying to represent being on tilt. While there is a time and place for feeling someone out, I prefer to let my opponents take care of the alliners. I am confident enough in my heads up play that I will give them that extra advantage. Especially when the guy was so short stacked as you stated. When you think about it. If he were to run the same streak on your opponent, your quality opponents would have been the one eliminated and you would have been left with the guy who doesn't know what he's doing heads up sooner rather than later. Or, he would at least have left them with smaller stacks. Let him work his magic in your favor, or wait it out. I consider the first 99% of the game as positioning. You are working to get to heads up. You want as big a stack as you can get, but if you are down, even by a lot, you are only a couple blinds here and there, and a double up away from the lead.

Poettic, you didn't really catch "bad beats," you just made a few bad calls, IMO. After the first one when you had a 5:1 chip lead going into it, you were steamed and proceded to make an all-in call with pocket 5's when there were 2 overcards on the board. And the first one you called his all-in with only Ace high. On the last hand, he made a poor call pre-flop when you raised 10xBB, but flopped bottom 2 pair and moved on you because he knew you were on tilt and he was going to try and run you over or get another bad call out of you. I hate to say it, but you just had a melt-down and one person happened to reap the rewards of your situation. However, you say you cooled off, came back and ended your session up 125$, so all was not lost and you did what you had to do to get back on top of your game.

**edit**
I mixed the first and second hands up in my post. Obviously the first one was a call with only Ace high and the second was a call with pocket 5's when two overcards were on the board. Sorry, I didn't feel like actually editing it so I just added.

Just now read the rest of your post. There is a difference between being a "chicken" and picking your spots. All in before the flop with your kings would have been better than letting him control the action, if you are going for the "aggressive style". However, I would advise neither. Also, I'm not saying play passive, but by doubling him up 3 times, he should give you, and the dealer, a christmas card for the next 10 years. If you play passively you will lose, but when faced with an all in situation, where there is no getting them to fold, you must be smart. You HAVE to beat them, or you will lose the hand. If you control the action, you have the chance to get them to fold the better hand, as he would have gotten you to do had you folded. But you would have lived to see another deal, and he would remain short stacked. Wait until you know you have them beat, not untlil you are leading after the flop. I'm sorry if I am coming off as a ***** or anything, but I wish someone had told me the same information when I started out. I used to fall in love with AK KK AA, etc. No matter if it was obvious that they just hit their flush on the turn, I wouldn't lay them down. And I lost a lot of money that way. Keep in mind the 3 p's which are the most important things in poker IMO: Percentage, Perception, Patience. Know the %'s, have a good read on your opponents and put the fear of God into them, and be patient. You need one big hand an hour to make money at poker, if you are patient. Otherwise you will put it right back in the pot.

i dont expect you guys to be able to make those calls but they were right on every one of those hands i was ahead and knew it, he check raises with a good hand and i had him on bad ones and he had bad hands i was leadiong in these and happy to call in these situations, i dont get married, ill admit the fives was my fault low pair played wrong when i rasied pre flop, and then i get away easily.

the ace king tho come on you cant call it bad when you make a read and gget beat on the draw i had the guy not the hand read i knew his plays not i played wrong due to the fact you couldn't make the calls.

i have to play by my reads it is the only way i have a one up one the internet. ill agree that these plays were iffy(the five really bad) but my reads were on. dont storm me for making reads on the net its how i make money. but if i played like you not i wouldn't loose these. in that maybe i should have folded these but ef that i knew what he had and had him beat. HE GOT LUCKY

**edit the edit**
LMFAO, its late and I have had a couple of pints. I re-re-read my post and I had it right the first damn time. Ok, I'm off for the night after this debachle.

no its cool you play your way i just put a down payment on a house playing mine and ive never put a dime into poker. i played the fives horribly but my reads were on. you didn't say anything about reads. can you read in online poker? i have to man ish helps me live i was ahead everytime sorry you couldn't do it. guess i got more guts, i'll trust my guts on any hand. im more doyle where your more helmuth. helmuth is great in these situations but even he will put his money in the pot here.

i KNEW he didn't have it and thats why i did it. its like those couple of times when you see you have pocket 2's and it checks down to the riverwitch just pairs the board no draw on the board and a guy tries to steal, you call and say to pair, you just know what you know.


these were all horible calls if i had no gut instinks and i respect your opinion but noone is take it in context.
just to keep you guys informed im up 175 for the day(best in a month) so this isn't even relevent any more.

Dude, If you knew what he had on the Kings, 2 pair to your one, you wouldn't have called it. He hit, its part of poker, it happens to the best of us. Your going to take wins and losses. You just have to sit back and think, what could I have done strategically that would have enabled me to win this sng. After all, if you don't finish in the top 2 in most of them you don't cash. IMO, the best way to play a sng is to just get yourself into position for heads up. I at least cash in most of the sngs I play. I hardly ever don't. I recently went on a 5 game winning streak and then finished 2nd in the next one. I would say SnGs are my forte. I'm not a great poker player by any means, but I make money the majority of the time because I pick my spots. No one that has played with me would say that I am overly conservative. In fact, this last cardschat buy-in, I was over aggressive and finished 2 out of the money. I was pissed because I got away from my style. I am not knocking your style of play by any means. I just know that when I start calling all in after all in I start to lose money. Take for example xdman. This guy named white tiger I believe had more chips than the rest of the ft combined. Dman came back and took him out in 4th. By picking your spots you will be a lot more successfull. When you know you have them beat, don't let go of their *ahem*, but there is a chance factor in poker. That's why it is considered gambling. You put yourself in position and you will win the majority of the time. Were you ahead in the hands? Absolutely, however, you didn't have him beat. There is a reason they are called outs, if they have one out, it can hit, and you will be beat. Did your calls make sense from your viewpoint? Maybe, but they didn't make sense by a strategic view. All you need is to be in position heads up. Don't risk it if you don't have them beat! Did he get lucky? Yes again. But luck is a part of poker. How much? I don't know, but if it weren't Phil Hellmuth would win everytime, as he says.

poettic1 said:

no its cool you play your way i just put a down payment on a house playing mine and ive never put a dime into poker. i played the fives horribly but my reads were on. you didn't say anything about reads. can you read in online poker? i have to man ish helps me live i was ahead everytime sorry you couldn't do it. guess i git more guts chump.

Click to expand...

Your welcome mon ami. All I did was offer you a little advice, and you come back calling me a chump? Are you serious? You talk about reads. If I remember correctly, you had him on what exactly with your KK? There comes a time when you have to ask if calling makes absolute sense. Is my 4k in chips worth the shot that my 5s hold up. Or my KK holds up. Or my Ace high holds up. There were 6 cards in the deck that would save him. He hit one of them. That is a 1 in 8 chance they didn't hold up. Sure, the odds make sense, but did the chip value? Your argument could be made in a ring game, sure. BUT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A SNG! Why in the hell would you risk your position, and chance at the money when you could have your opponents taken out or do the dirty work. Plain and simple: YOU GOT GREEDY. You go on and make your house payments or whatever. I hope you do succede. That's why I was trying to help you out. But you have to come back with personal remarks and try to build yourself up, stating that you put down a deposit. Do I look like I give a shit? Go on, be successfull, I wish you the best. But when you come back at me when I'm just giving you advice, trying to help you out in your future payments on that new house.... Well I've wasted enough time on you and your "beats"

i only play sng goes and i just reveiwed the hand on pacific(the kings) and i can't see how to play it differently, everyone would have called there. but what you are saying is to wait get blinded away? i don't understand. ok ill admit that maybe i shouldn't have called the ace king being that 1/2 hands nets apair. but i was70 percent(thats the stuff of dreams), i already admitted that the fives were an atrocity. but this hand everyone would have played without hinesight.

sngs i play more than i should but i am making like 50-100 dollars a day right now. i play about 100 a week and take my losses and wins the same but this one just erked me for some reason because i had him, whats worse is i now have someone telling me i dont know how to play sngs. not to say your saying your better than me but why would you fold hands your gut says your ahead in?
to duck and cover for a heads up spot nah i can't do that. i don't need the nuts to call a bet on a hand, just the understanding that i could loose a buck.


oh wow my bad i just got what you were saying about leting thae hand go.
why call 1000 into a pot that will only win me 1600 they were bad calls by that aspect. oh my god i always play pot odds and look what happens when i dont, i loose 22 bucks.

IM SORRY guys here i am being all beligerant when you actually know what your talking about.

again i feel like an ass but i like to argue so what are you gonna do and i tried to edit the chump thig out

Its cool. If nothing else, I got a few hours of "entertainment" out of it. lol. I enjoy a good argument as much as the next guy too, so... No harm no foul. And btw, there is no way I would say I'm a better player than anyone on here. I don't think anyone here is a Phil Helmuth or Doyle Brunson or Phil Ivey. If they were, why would they need to come here? The way I look at it, I'm here to learn from those more experienced than me, and share my little experience with them. Why learn from your own beats when you can learn from someone else's, right? Good luck with the house and all. Hope it works out for you.

Yep, josh said he was better than me once and we played heads-up freezeouts for 3 straight hours to crown a champion. The matches were for unspecified terms (not made public on the forum), but lets just say I now have me what they like to call in the pennitentiary "a bitch".

Speaking of bitches...josh, are you done starching and ironing mt tighty-whiteys? You know how I like them.

I told you woman, get in the kitchen and bake me something!!! And where do you get off calling me the bitch?

*My apologies to every woman in here who takes offense to this

Hurry it up! I'm hungry damn it