Sunday, June 3, 2012

Tilt claims another victim

I mentioned in a previous blog or two that I thought my winning streak would come to a vicious or brutal end.  I thought it would end with some brutal bad beats or several terrible sessions in a row.  It seems like in the past that is the way some of my winning streaks ended, but there is no real science behind my prediction.  On Memorial Day I had the day off from work and took that chance to play some poker and managed to lose a $400+ pot getting it all in as a 96%-4% favorite.  I managed to lose two buys ins ($400) and had my biggest losing session in six weeks.  I took the day off on Tuesday after seeing a movie and then ended up taking Wednesday off as well.  It was unsual for me to not play two days in a row, but I didn't mind the break and was ready to go on Thursday night.  What would happen? Would the winning streak really be over or would I get back on the winning track?

Early on in the session I had 10 4 of clubs in the big blind and flopped a flush.  Of course I was up against the nut flush and the guy played it well and I lost a big pot.  Later I was in the big blind and had 9 6 and the flop came 9 9 2 and I was up against pocket deuces.  Other than those two hands--that I never would have played was I not in the blind--I missed almost every flop and draw I had for hours.  I ended up losing $450 and over two sessions I was down $850.  The hot streak had officically ended.  It ended with a bang.  I lost $850 in two sessions and hardly won a pot. 

I went home on Thursday night kind of depressed but not worried.  It was only a matter of time before I had some rough patches and I have had far worse.  That is why you need to have a proper bankroll and be able to put up with some lulls and bad beats.  The worst downswing in $1-2 No Limit that I ever had was over $2000 so I could easily bounce back from a $850 downswing.

So I took Friday night off and went back to the table on Saturday.  There was one particular player who was at the table Saturday who was on crazy tilt.  He accidently exposed his hand before action was completed on the river and ended up getting bluffed off the pot.  After that he was on tilt for hours and could not get control of himself.  This player normally plays a tight, solid game and more often than not is a winner in the game.  But he has the worst tilt in him that can cause him to lose months of winnings in a single day or weekend. He was also drinking.  I was waiting to get involved in a pot with him.  He has been gunning for me lately as well.  Combined with the tilt I knew that if I put any money in the pot he would be going after me.  One hand I had AQ and raised it up and sure enough he called and we saw a flop heads up.  I made top two pair and won about $200 off of him and his 67 when he made one pair.  A little bit later I saw a flop in an unraised pot with the same player and a few other players with A5 of clubs.  The flop came AK5.  The tilting player bet $12 and it got folded to me and I made it $32.  He proceeded to push all in for about $400.  He was on mad tilt at this point and I knew he wanted to get in a big pot with me.  There were two diamonds on board so he could have a flush draw.  He could have just an Ace and he could have 22 for all I knew.  I knew I was probably going to call but I still took some time to think things over.  Because it was a limped pot I could be pretty darn sure that he did not have AK.  He might have 55 but that was very unlikely with the 5 in my hand.  I decided that his most likely hand was K5 and just did not figure out a way that I could fold.  I won't lie and say I was not thinking about how I had been running lately.  I was up over $200 in the session and if I lost this pot I would be down nearly $200.  But I just could not fold in this spot.  I called and he turned over K3 of diamonds.  He needed a King or a diamond.  Somehow my hand--only a 60-40 favorite--held up.  It was quite a relief after the river bricked. Just like that I was up over $600.

I played one more hand later on with the same player and my 66 beat his 10 5 for $100 in profit.  I played four hands against the guy all night and won them all for over $700 in winnings.

I ended up going home even though he was still on tilt like crazy.  I was tired and I was happy to book a win of over $700 after losing $850 in my prevous two sessions.  At the time I left he was down $2500 in the game.  A friend of mine texted me and said he was down $5000 at 6:30 AM the next morning and still playing.  By noon he was down $7000. It is truly amazing what tilt can do, even to a good player when it gets a hold of him.  He could play well for the next 6 months and not make back what he lost in just one night.  Lack of self management has destroyed anything that his talent has got him in poker.

In the meantime I am very happy to lose $150 in this past week.  I am confident and ready to get back on another winning streak! 

Meanwhile in other gambling I am on a bit of a slump in basketball.  I am down 2.5 units for the year at this point.  I have the rest of the conference finals and the NBA finals to get ahead.  If I can finish ahead even just one unit for the year I will be very happy with my results in my first year of handicapping basketball.

Disciplined Degenerate

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