You must remain professional, if you want to be a professional poker player

Last night I had one of the most mentally draining sessions of poker in a long time.  Since I made the transition to playing poker full time for a living last week I have been playing eight hour sessions.  In No Limit Hold em a lot can happen in eight hours.  Especially in my club where the average stacks are much bigger than most $1-2 games and the action is crazier than 90% of poker rooms I have ever played in.  You have to be ready for big swings, even when you play a conservative, low variance style like I do.

Last night I was in for $300 and had about $270 in front of me a few hours into the game.  A fairly loose and aggressive player made it $6 to go and several people including me saw a flop.  I had 44.  The flop was 4 5 7.  I checked and the pre flop raiser bet $20 and he got a caller and a late position player made it $65 to go.  The raiser is someone that I have played with many times and he would have a wide open range at this point.  He would very easily make this raise as light as A7.  I felt confident that I had the best hand.  Including his $65 there was already over $120 in the middle.  There were two diamonds on the straightening board and although I felt confident I had the best hand I wanted to get it in at that point.  So I went all in for about $260.  The preflop raiser thought it over for a few seconds and shoved his $300 into the middle.  The player who made it $65 also put his whole stack in the middle.  They both had me covered.  The preflop raiser turned over A6 of diamonds for the nut flush draw and open end straight draw.  The other player turned over 75 for top two pair.  At this point I had the best hand but was fairly vulnerable.  The A6 was 41% to win, I was 38% to win, and the two pair was about 20% to win.  I was getting over 2 to 1 on my money so from a pure numbers standpoint I was in a good spot.  But alas the queen of diamonds hit the turn leaving me with very few outs to win (only the remaining 4 or two remaining queens).  The flush held and I was down $300.  Normally I am very cool and calm about beats like this but this particular hand really frustrated me.  I went outside and went for a walk around the block to cool down.  Ten minutes later I returned and bought in $200 more.

Within a couple hours after rebuying I had built my stack up to $400.  I was only down $100 and feeling good again with the tough beat behind me.  I picked up A6 in the small blind and called $1 in an unraised pot.  The flop came A62 with two spades.  I bet $4 as first to act (there was only $6 in the pot as it was just three handed).  A player behind me raised it to $20.  This player is a fairly aggressive player.  Behind him, yet another aggressive player, almost to the point of maniacal, raised it to $75.  Both players had about $300 in front of them and I found my self with another big decision to face.  I decided to ship it all in and raised to $400 over the top.  Both players called fairly quickly and I cringed.  The board ran out a 4 and a Queen with no spades.  The $20 raiser on the flop turned over 24 of spades for a busted flush and two pair.  I tabled my better two pair and the other player turned over 22 for a set.  I had lost another giant pot on a three way all in. This one I second guessed myself on for quite a while but the more I thought about it the player who bet $75 is a player that I have seen make moves like that before with really thin holdings.  So after some thought I don't dislike my play.  I just was unfortunate to get coolered.  But it did not stop the extreme frustration that comes with these kind of beats.  That was twice now that I had been in a big all in pot with a very good hand and came out with nothing.  Now I was down $400 on the night.

This was the most important moment of the session for me.  I could either go on tilt and lose hundreds more or I could remain calm, think of the long term and stay focused.  Self management has always been my strongest trait and I remained calm and cool.  I didn't rebuy but I built my $100 up to $220 over the next hour and then shortly after I flopped a set of deuces myself and for the third time in one night got all in against two players.  One had a pair and flush draw and the other had a straight and flush draw and my deuces filled up on the river and after everything I had been through--seven hours into the session--I was up over $100.  After eight hours I ended up cashing out up $86.  When you add the prop money I made on the night it ended up being a decent, profitable night.

I believe that sessions like this are the exact reason that so many people fail at poker.  It is incredibly hard to keep your cool when you take a beating like I did.  It is very difficult to not tilt and call a raise the next hand with J8 when you just lost $300.  But this is a job and you have to protect your mind and your bankroll.  These hands are a part of the game and if you can't deal with them professionally, you certainly cannot be a professional.

Disciplined Degenerate