This is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart, as I am pretty much always on the stupid side of them... in recent memory, I don't even remember the time when I was on the winning side... don't get me wrong, it's not that I have never won a hand coming from behind, but when my money goes in, I am generally aheads... sometimes i might only be slightly ahead, but ahead still... you get the picture...
But most often, I lose only when I am being handed one bad beat after another by the poker gods... and I don't complain that much about em as long as they happen once every 7-8 hands... but when they start happening every other hand or more importantly every key hand, I just blow a gasket... not in a going on tilt kind of way, but just being furious...
So, the question is what do you do when that happens... cuz, the problem is that if you are a half decent poker player, you will always be on the recieveing end and never on the giving end of stupid bad beats... I guess in a sense you can consider that as a compliment to your poker playing ability, but quite frankly I don't give a f**k about compliments when it comes to poker... all I care about is my bank roll and that it continues to grow...
So far in my short poker career, I have not come across any proven strategy to deal with them... some say yoga, or just go walk around for a bit before you start playing again... others say that the only real way to get over a bad beat is to hand it to someone else as well... but I don't think that is something that is actually in your control.... my personal half-baked solution is to just take it in stride and b*tch and curse in private if you must... take some time off from the game till you are mentally ready to start playing again...
Do you have any good technique ? would love to hear from anyone who has anything to offer... please leave a comment or two if you get a chance...
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
Playing the Drunk Maniac on his Lucky Day
Went to AC this weekend, and once again had a very long poker session... playing straight for 24-25 hours is an experience unlike any other, and I am happy to find out that I don't get as tired as you would think... may be I have chance to play in the WSOP some day...
There was a guy at our table that had the luckiest streak I have ever seen so far... (don't ask me why I didn't switch tables, probably should have at some point... but there was easy money on that table also...)
Anyway, this guy was drunk and raised every hand for about 7-8 hours... and I am not kidding... he would raise it pre-flop, bet about 75% of those hands on the flop and the turn, and pretty much move all-in on the river on about 60-70% of the hands he was in... what's surprising you ask... ? the surprising (and while it was happening, very frustrating) part is that he would always have the nuts... or close to that... and I am not talking just flush draws and straight draws coming through... I am talking hands like this...
the guy raises from middle position
flop comes A , K, 8 rainbow
he bets pot
turn comes 4 (making a flush possible)
he bets 50+% of the pot
river comes 6 (no flush)
he bets pot
now the other guy in this hand was a very conservative player and was calling his bets... pretty much everyone on the table knew he had atleast two pair or probably a set on the flop... so he calls... the lucky, drunk guy flips over 5-7 off-suit.... don't ask me how....
and this was just one example...
another hand...
on a board of A-Q-7, he pushes all in... one guy calls with his A-7... the drunk guy has Q-5 in his hand... guess what the turn and the river were... 5 and yes, another 5...
so anyway, this guy keeps making stupid bets and calls all night long, and kept getting lucky pretty much everytime... I called him with some good hands but the flops were just not coming my way... I kept thinking to myself, how long can this possibly go on... after all, how long can one person defy mathematics and laws of statistics...
and so he would raise, I would call with what seemed like a very good hand at the time, A-Q, A-J, A-10 suited, 9-9, J-J.... whatever.... but nothing, I was down almost $500 at one point without losing more than $15-20 in any particular hand against that guy... and for a while I kept on trying playing good poker against him... and was getting baffled as to why I just kept losing against him...
but then, I realized something that is actually obvious and I guess pretty much everyone knows it, but you forget it in the heat of the battle...
poker, has a factor of luck in it, a big factor... and the difference between a good player and a very good player is that the very good one knows when to get out of the way of a falling tree and just lay low for a while... after all, there are always other people on the table who are weak and you can simply play against them and make the night profitable...
so, lesson for the future... if you are up against a lucky, drunk guy... stay out of his way... poker is not a game of going head on against the biggest raging bull you find... it's a game of trampling little sheep that are always around....
There was a guy at our table that had the luckiest streak I have ever seen so far... (don't ask me why I didn't switch tables, probably should have at some point... but there was easy money on that table also...)
Anyway, this guy was drunk and raised every hand for about 7-8 hours... and I am not kidding... he would raise it pre-flop, bet about 75% of those hands on the flop and the turn, and pretty much move all-in on the river on about 60-70% of the hands he was in... what's surprising you ask... ? the surprising (and while it was happening, very frustrating) part is that he would always have the nuts... or close to that... and I am not talking just flush draws and straight draws coming through... I am talking hands like this...
the guy raises from middle position
flop comes A , K, 8 rainbow
he bets pot
turn comes 4 (making a flush possible)
he bets 50+% of the pot
river comes 6 (no flush)
he bets pot
now the other guy in this hand was a very conservative player and was calling his bets... pretty much everyone on the table knew he had atleast two pair or probably a set on the flop... so he calls... the lucky, drunk guy flips over 5-7 off-suit.... don't ask me how....
and this was just one example...
another hand...
on a board of A-Q-7, he pushes all in... one guy calls with his A-7... the drunk guy has Q-5 in his hand... guess what the turn and the river were... 5 and yes, another 5...
so anyway, this guy keeps making stupid bets and calls all night long, and kept getting lucky pretty much everytime... I called him with some good hands but the flops were just not coming my way... I kept thinking to myself, how long can this possibly go on... after all, how long can one person defy mathematics and laws of statistics...
and so he would raise, I would call with what seemed like a very good hand at the time, A-Q, A-J, A-10 suited, 9-9, J-J.... whatever.... but nothing, I was down almost $500 at one point without losing more than $15-20 in any particular hand against that guy... and for a while I kept on trying playing good poker against him... and was getting baffled as to why I just kept losing against him...
but then, I realized something that is actually obvious and I guess pretty much everyone knows it, but you forget it in the heat of the battle...
poker, has a factor of luck in it, a big factor... and the difference between a good player and a very good player is that the very good one knows when to get out of the way of a falling tree and just lay low for a while... after all, there are always other people on the table who are weak and you can simply play against them and make the night profitable...
so, lesson for the future... if you are up against a lucky, drunk guy... stay out of his way... poker is not a game of going head on against the biggest raging bull you find... it's a game of trampling little sheep that are always around....
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