K
kygamblr09
Enthusiast
Silver Level
Today i was playing in a tourney. I was playing great poker . Getting in a hand when i felt good about my position and cards. Raising when i should and calling when i was ahead. Fats forward to almost 3 hours later i knew i was close to getting to the point of making the money. Then my mental games started to surface. 1st mistake was looking at lobby for when the ITM started. Now i know there is a place in time where this info becomes important but for me at that point in time it wasn't. Now i knew where i was at that point i was 55 out of 68 and the tourney paid top 50. Here comes the next mistake. I started playing to tight to make money instead of playing my hands that got me to where i was at after almost 3 hours. Which intern put me into a position of just folding to make the money and not just playing my hands and if i got in a position of all in so be it. In other words i tighten up so tight i left me no room to breathe or relax. Now im concentrating on the leaderboard position instead of my cards and position . So i get 88's in a position which i might go all in but i fold. I would have won. Now i get 88's again 2 hands later and now i call and lose. But im still not out . Now im 50 out of 55. I get aj off bb. with a raise infront of me that basically puts me all in if i call and im teling myself if i fold i still have alot of hands that i could limp into the money . But i call because i felt aj off was a good hand to go all in on and maybe the player was just raising because it was close to the bubble. So it was aj off vs jj's. flop comes 987 . turn a ace. river a j. I lost to the only card that could have beat me . Now whether some say i made the right call or the wrong call doesn't matter. I t was the mental game i played with myself going from being relaxed to now being indecisive about what hands im now going to play and how im going to play them. Wheter im going to make the money 1st before i start taking risk or if im going to fold 88's or play 88's. I lost control. none the less i fell short and finished 53 .I played for almost 3 hours with control and decisiveness. But in less than 5 minutes of looking at my position on the leader board i lost it. I know come to the realization that sometimes we are not mentally ready to play this game we call poker. Even after playing almost 3 hours it took all of a 5 minute stretch and all was lost. Stay focused , stay decisive , and win or lose you don't have to have the feelings of let down. Now i dont know what the % of me was ahead or what % of chance he had to win but it doesn't matter. I feel i lost control and i now am aware of that so i will strengthen my mental game so i can not only just make the money but win it all.