Steaming at live game

[Sammyv1]

O.K.

I hold a poker night at my house once a month. I started it 5 months ago and we have anywhere from 7-10 players. We play 2 buy in games each night. I have not won a game yet! Thats 10 games. Only 2 guys have not won a game and I am one. I will have to admit that I am not great at this game, but I am by far the best one at the table. (I'm not cocky I just think it is true).

Now I have been absolutely hammered on some hands. I've lost on K,K four times, playing them hard all four times. I've lost on A,A twice. Once early, once heads up. 3 of the K,K hands were rivers 2 of the A,A hands were rivers. I can remember 4 other hands were I was a big favorite and got rivered. All these hands knocked me out or significantly crippled me. That is 9 hands in 10 games that crushed me.

Last night was another bad one and I was steaming more than a pile of dog crap on the boardwalk in the summer. I had 4,000 chips (in lead) and the player I' am heads up with had 3,800. There were 4 players left, Blinds 50/100 I was on button, Caller in front of me, I raise to 400 with Ac,10h. Blinds fold, 1 caller, Pot $950, so now I am heads up against Mr. Agressive. Flop comes 10c,2h,4d. Mr. Agressive checks and i bet $1000 and he calls. The river comes 7d, so I have top pair and the pot is $2,950. I have $2,600 left and with my smooth motion I move all in. Well, he calls, He shows Ah, Js. I look at him and say, "are you gonna suck out on me again". The whole table laughs as they know I have been sucked out on so many times. Riverrrrrrrrrrr...............Jc.

MY Goodness! I got pretty upset, I guess I couldn't take it any more. I did not swear or anything but I certainly vented for a while. I had $200 left. Knocked out on next hand with 7,8 suited. Well, my wife said I was mean and kind of a jerk. I need to work on this. How can I keep cool? The pro's sit for 5 days and are cool when they get ousted. I was just sitting for 5 hours last night and I Steamed hard. I was still steaming at work today thinking about how much money I have lost in my club. I "think" I am outplaying everyone. Analyze my play here and give me some opinions. I'll take some Ideas on how to deal with losing also.

 

[roundcat]

We'll just start calling you Phil.

It's hard to tell how you're playing from the details in your post, but it does sound like you've taken some harsh beats with your AA and KK hands. If you're indeed playing better than most of the other players, then keep going and rest assured you'll come out on top in the long run. Luck can be very cruel, but it always turns eventually. Play your best and when you get that win, it will feel great.

Sympathetic vibes and lots of luck to you!

 

[trentonlf]

That use to be me, the guy who seemed to get upset beyond belief when he got sucked out on time after time, now im one of the most layed back players and enjoy it more.

What i did was realize that if losing a hand in a card game was more important to me than my friends, family, and my own self (that is who was affected when i started steaming) than i should either quit cards or learn that it is only a game that sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Trust me when i say that if you keep playing a solid game of poker your luck will change. It is hard to see that when you are on such a bad run, but lady lucky is funny sometimes like that lol.

g/l

 

[Stick66]

Analyze my play here and give me some opinions. I'll take some Ideas on how to deal with losing also.

Can't argue much with your play on paper. Your opp's play was pretty bad and he just had the luck. Maybe you ought to look at the things surrounding your play. Figure out these questions to yourself:

• Is this guy a donk who makes crazy calls? Should you have known he would call down with just overcards?
• Does this guy really care about losing this hand or the whole game? (maybe it was no big deal to him if he lost, thus worth the risk to him.)
• Do your opps doubt your raises because you get caught bluffing a lot? (If so, this guy may have thought Ace-high was good enough.) What exactly is your "table image"?

As far as handling losing, here's some quick things I try:

• Squeeze a stress ball between hands.
• Drink a beer. Could be calming. (Just one. Don't want to lose your edge.)
• Rip up an old newspaper. (Might make people laugh.)
• Before your game, think of your wins online or even in video games to get your confidence up. (I keep records and look at them just before I start a session online.)
• Remember that luck will always be a part of poker, both good & bad. (This is the one I'm now learning to accept.)

Even though poker can be a source of income for some, ya still gotta have fun doing it or it aint worth it. Good luck!

 

[Jesus Lederer]

Well, you said that every time you got rivered you played hard the hand and your opponent hit on the river so they were just bad beats. The key is that you thought you played the hands right pushing hard with the odds in your favour, and that´s the most important thing. Everybody know that in those situations you´re going to lose sometimes, but in the long run you´re going to have a profit. The problem is that in the moment you have a bad beat it´s hard to stay cool and think about it. It´s hard, but you have to learn how to do it. Every poker player is going to have bad beats, so is an important part of the game to accept them and don´t let them affect your mind, making you committe some mistakes you wouldn´t do under normal circumstances (and making you lose more money) or just make you think for hours after the game about it and ruin your day.
In relation to the hand you mentioned, i think that you played it right. In my opinion short handed and in the button, AT is a must raise. Then you did right protecting your top pair by betting hard. Your opponent kept calling and you went all in with the best hand with 1 card to come. Your opponent had 3 outs, so it was obviously a bad beat. You played it right.
Now, what´s the solution? In relation to your game, keep playing like that because in the long run you´re going to win. In relation to the the post-bad beats, staying cool needs practice. After the bad beat, don´t think about that hand and focus on the moment. If you made the right move or not, is a matter you should consider and analyze AFTER the game. To clear your mind, focus in playing the best poker you can at the moment and let the past go away, it may be difficult, but if you concentrate on doing it and with some time you´ll learn.
Remember that analyzing the hand is something you must do after the game, the only thing you have to do after a bad beat is nothing. Yes, don´t think in anything related with that hand (just the information you got about your opponent), just focus on your game and you´ll have no problems.
The best way to learn how to do that in my opinion is reading the book "Zen in the Art of Archery". If you want it send me a PM with your email (hopefully a gmail. If you don´t have a gmail account tell me and i´ll give you an invite) and i´ll send you the book. 60 pages worth reading. It doesn´t talk about poker itself, but remember that poker is an art.

 

[trentonlf]

FYI to your comment about Zen and the art of archery, there is a book out called Zen and the art of poker

g/l

Amazon.com: zen and the art of poker: Books

 

[Jesus Lederer]

lmao, i never thought it could exist a book like that. It must be a very good book to read if you have problems to manage your emotions at a poker table.
Anyway i still suggest to read Zen in the Art of Archery, because it will help you in lots of common life situations and it has better rating than Zen and the art of poker at Amazon.com

p.s: What does FYI means?

 

[Stick66]

p.s: What does FYI means?

"For Your Information" means "just so you know"

 

[trentonlf]

LOL i know, just thought it was interesting that there was one in poker also


g/l

 

[KidHavok]

there is a story about this problem (I had the same problem as you), there was a young bull and a old bull, with some cows at the bottom of the hill....
you know the rest....
Your problem is that you know your the favorite in the game. Instead of hammering your opponets, you should try to "accumulate more chips". That is my mental thought when i play poker and that is really the ideal goal in poker. Don't play your hands so HARD. Just accumulate chips, don't play weak, but go ahead and bet. make meduim sized bets instead of ALL INS. This might help you opponents back down, because they will not feel you as a threat to their stack. You dont want to bust them, you want to accumulate their chips.

 

[Xandit]

I use to have the same problem myself. I would lose to a suck out or just bad beat and steam at the table. But after a while i just learned that it is part of the game. It took some time to realise that. Once i came to that realization i was able to take bad beats. Now with a bad beat, even one that comes from someone who KNOWS better, ie not right odds to call ect. Now I just knock the table and say "nice hand". later that night i will go over the hand in my head and see if i could have done anything diffrently.
I also say to myself. "That's Poker"
Hope that helps some. Good luck

 

[JaeC012]

i rub my ears and say woosah~~~ hehe not really but after a bad beat i'll say nicee hand get up go smoke a cig shake my head and go back to the table calm

 

[titans4ever]

How long have you been playing poker? My temper went down the longer and longer I played poker and the more beats I took. I think I have seen it come about every way now.

I think you should check the ego at the door. I know you feel you should win every week and that you are the best player. What happens if you go and win or get in the money in the next 5-10 in a row. Now you are up to making money about 50% of the time and that is good.

10 games is not enough to make a judgement on. I look at my poker sessions on if I made the right calls or plays. If I do that, the money will come eventually. I think you are half on tilt when you enter just becuase you consider anything other than domination as a loss.

Kidhavoc has it. Don't get into major battles with the table where the suckouts could kill you. Just accumulate chips slow and steady. You played it out right by putting all the money in the middle when you had the best hand but with a table of crazy callers another way may be to just bet out 1000 agian. You were going against the only other player at the table that could cripple you. I never suggest those types of battles until you are already in the money.