I am an idiot..but a lucky one

So i was playing some poker last night. Started out decent, getting 3rd place in a $5 sng, but then i lost two in a row. It became apparant that i wasn't in my zone. I then played two $10 sng's and lost them as well. I was on tilt (especially going out on the bubble a couple of times). I totally ignored bankroll management and sat down at a $50 sng 9 man tourney (idiot). I had prolly around $280 at this point (down from $325-$330). The past couple days i think i have been experiencing variance and poker fatigue. Got a little too cocky, tried being fancy at the wrong times etc.

Let me say, $50 sng is no joke. The players are tight and rarely do people limp in the pot without any significant pre-flop raises. I doubled up in about 15 hands with a set of jacks (limped with pocket j's and slow played the lag) against a guy who went all in with top pair of aces and a 10 kicker! This tourney was my hardest fought. It got down to 5 people and i had the second most chips and was a slight chip leader shortly thereafter after. The blinds were approaching ridiculous at $100-$200 level and the tough poker competition were stealing blinds and abusing the small stacks. We were all trying to get ITM. I decided not to be aggressive, even though i was chip leader because i knew if i picked a wrong spot, I could be severly damaged and be on my way out. I wanted to guarantee atleast 3rd spot with $50 on the line. It was tough to get the tourney down to four people.

The small stacks were stubborn and seem to hit big flops when their backs were against the wall. I survived and watched a guy knock out the fourth player.I did it. I achieved my goal and was ITM. I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Soon thereafter, I knocked out the 3rd place guy with a river flush against his kings. Now i was head to head with about a $1,000-$1,500 chip lead over second place. The blinds were now at $300-$600 so i aggressively raised from sb position with any hand and stole some blinds. The chip stacks were now $8,500 or so to $,5000. Then the card racking happened at the right time.Pocket queens back to friggin back. The first pocket queens I just made the blinds and about $1,000 extra. Opponent was reeling but still in it. The second pocket queens, he was all in pre-flop, I called. The enemy had k7 o, the flop was good- no king in sight, then the river, another card dodged. Then he made a pair of kings on the river and i typed "ooooh what a suck out, bs!" Then to my surprise the tourney stated it was finished. The king made me a backdoor flush. I won the tourney and $225. Now my bankroll is around $445. Fantastic for only playing poker casually for a little over two weeks. I originally deposited $10.

Even though, i got lucky last night, i plan not to play above my BR like this again. I totally abused my system and ignored the patience and discipline i had instilled in my game. The $50 tourney was tough. I made some good lay downs, only bluffed a few times and got away with them (especially when the blinds were ridiculous and it was rich blind stealing) and played a patient, tight, aggressive game. I can't imagine playing at $50 regularly. I am not at that level and i was fortunate to pull out the victory. Back to $5 and $10 tables i go. With a new found respect for the game. Winning the $50 tourney has helped put my ego in check surprisingly so. I can't waver from my goals. I have to follow proper BRM or i'll be just another loser who went on a heater and then was cooled off with nothing to show for it.

i would have thought winning a 50$ sng would put ur ego to a new high
1 thing tho, what if u lost? what would u have done? u probably would have gone broke tilting away the remainder of ur roll so be happy u got this outcome and dont do it again plz

pantin007 said:

i would have thought winning a 50$ sng would put ur ego to a new high
1 thing tho, what if u lost? what would u have done? u probably would have gone broke tilting away the remainder of ur roll so be happy u got this outcome and dont do it again plz

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If i failed to get ITM then I possibly was going to cash out the remainder of my BR which would of been around $230 and call it quits for awhile. Or take a long vacation from the game and maybe come back and play $5 sng's and grind away after some book reading, learning etc. It did not increase my ego because the past 2-3 days I have been playing like crap and one 1st place tourny finish, even at high stakes, was not going to erase the mistakes of the past 2-3 days. Time for some reflection and to get back to basics. I will go back to what works and stop trying to play too cute. Cut down on the bluffs, tighten my game back up, and show more patience like I use to exercise. Back to the $5 sng grinds.

I've done the same thing as you chainfire, only not a 50$ sng. I typically play 1-2$ games and There have been a few jumps to 6 and sometimes 11$ games. I got lucky on those and won them, but I still should not have played them.

SnGTurbo said:

I've done the same thing as you chainfire, only not a 50$ sng. I typically play 1-2$ games and There have been a few jumps to 6 and sometimes 11$ games. I got lucky on those and won them, but I still should not have played them.

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I know that blatant disregard for proper BRM is not conducive to being a long-term winning player. This was just a bad tilt for a relative online poker newbie. Hopefully, i will have learned form this experience. I have much to learn.

Yea, I hope to learn each time and I rarely do.

To be honest, I used to lose, and then just rush into the next game without thinking twice.

Now, I still jump in the next game, but I stop to think 'What will be left of my bankroll if I do this?'

Now my girlfriend closely monitors me lol. She makes sure I don't play expensive games. Sometimes she watches my games and makes fun of my plays but usually understands why I do them after I explain. Shes pretty new to poker.

Took it easy tonight and just played two $10 sng tourneys. Came in second for both. One of the tourneys i was robbed for first place during hu with some incredibly bad beats at the end, the other tourney i deserved to come in second (1st place winner had a huge chip advantage, the blinds were relatively small, and he was tight as fck). In one of the games i was down to around $150 with a full table and made a great comeback for second place. I was proud of myself and the way i played and i feel the downswing is finished for now. Confident again with my game, showing great patience, and solid poker instincts.