Im stuck

not sure what to name this post because when I try an talk in poker terms I sound like I know nothing. (lol) I've been making final 2 tables in very small MTT's and in 180 man SnG's, and quite often with a substantial stack.

This is when I find myself calling small stacks all-ins with monsters preflop ( AA, KK, QQ AKs). When the cards flip small stack has small pairs or just absolutely nothing, an this is when the poker gods frown on me.

I end up loosing my chip leads and after 2 or 3 times of loosing these hands i loose patience and tilt. So I guess my question is should I keep calling or should i fold the hands tighten up an wait for final table?

PS anyone else have this problem?

Well, of course you shouldn't fold that premium hands you mentioned above, but when you lose a flip to a shortstack you definitly shouldn't lose your head.

I know what you're talking about, beacuse I was in that spot a great number of times - one lost coinflip, then a few stupid,tilty calls and my whole stack goes away in 2 minutes... and it took over 2 hours to build it

So I believe the key is patience, accept the badbeat as a part of a game and move on

you'll need to work on your tilt and patience man...its a hard enough game when you are playing well, but to to play when you are angry or bored makes it far more difficult...

you will get sucked out on when you play your monsters...just like when you play weaker hands and you suckout on a guy who had a monster...its all swings and roundabouts in the shorterm..anything can happen...but if you keep getting it in good, then you will be profitable in the longterm.

one more thing...to get to final tables, you will need to play a wider range of hands than just the ones you mentioned...as you will get blinded down if you only stick to big hands...but if you are new to the game, then just keep playing and maybe download a starting hand chart from positions/actions and take it slowly...its a gradual thing, the learning process...and the mental side <tilt, is one of the hardest ones to master, even for long term players.

wildyetty said:

not sure what to name this post because when I try an talk in poker terms I sound like I know nothing. (lol) I've been making final 2 tables in very small MTT's and in 180 man SnG's, and quite often with a substantial stack.

This is when I find myself calling small stacks all-ins with monsters preflop ( AA, KK, QQ AKs). When the cards flip small stack has small pairs or just absolutely nothing, an this is when the poker gods frown on me.

I end up loosing my chip leads and after 2 or 3 times of loosing these hands i loose patience and tilt. So I guess my question is should I keep calling or should i fold the hands tighten up an wait for final table? NOTE: Folding aa/kk is not tight, it's surrender!!

PS anyone else have this problem?

Click to expand...

Bad beats are bad beats. That being said, keep this in mind; what, in your mind, exactly is a small stack? Is it 10 bigs or less? Or is it just less than your stack?

It should be 10 bigs. Anything else really is not a short stack. Well, 15-20 is if the average is way more. It depends. With a "substantial" sized stack, this (10 bigs) should be no big deal to you at all. 15 when you only have 30, or 20 when you only have 40, that is not a small stack at all, compared to you; that's 50% of your stack!

AA/KK are about the only 2 hands you just cannot ever fold to a 10 big blind stack; any, really, not preflop. QQ? I could fold that easy to a shove if losing 10/15/20 bigs is going to hurt me, as you know they most likely have at least one overcard to your QQ. Especially if they have folded the last 20 hands! Constant folding is the hallmark of a tight player. You have to be able to make a few big laydowns, just don't make a habit of it.

Now, if you are calling stacks that are 1/2 the size of yours small, that could be your problem! At any rate, ask yourself before you call if losing will cripple you or make getting into the money hard - if that's is your goal. If your goal is to win, the hell with the $, then forge on ahead, and don't worry about suck outs, they will always happen.

You're making the right calls, but when you lose and go on Tilt, that's where you're making your mistake. Remember that poker is all about good decisions, and if you're making the optimal play each time, in the long run you'll win more than you lose.
Keep this in mind next time facing a short stack suck out.