aka Playing Not to Lose
Playing tonight I noticed something about my play: I’m playing very weak. I’m not exactly sure why. I’ve resolved to myself that I’m going to be more aggressive, and I seem to do so for a while, but then something will happen and I’ll get scared. Somebody will suddenly come alive and pop a raise and that will put me in check/call mode. It happened over and over again tonight. Granted, some of my hands appeared to be marginal, but I got in cheap and caught a decent part of the flop. I won 2 or 3 Q high flushes tonight, but I was put in check/call mode by a raise on the turn only to see the other guy turn over utter crap and not even making the flush.
Why did this happen? I’m not exactly sure. I think it came about because I had a run of cold cards. OK, that’s not totally true, there were some cold cards, but there was also plenty of questionable plays at times. Times when I would push middle pair. Times chasing flushes/straights too far. Etc. Because of this, I think I have become a bit more timid and am playing not to lose as much, even if I am favored.
This is definitely not a good thing. I need to get back to playing stronger. I was taking down my fair share of pots and ended up very good for the night, but I definitely wussed out a couple of times and most definitely did not extract full value out of some other pots. Anyway, things are going well. Up on both tables tonight despite not playing as well as I probably should have.
Then again, my Kings full of Aces got cracked by Aces full of Kings on the river…
No fear, Chris, no fear. You have to play without fear or other players will sense your weakness and attack.
If you get spooked by a bad beat, you have to take the Zen approach and focus on being in the moment, focusing on the hand in front of you. The bad beat that had been lingering for a few hands (or the entire session) is in the past and the past no longer exists. Clear the mind and play each hand as if they are the only one you are playing that day.
I hear ya. I have to say that I don’t let bad beats haunt me too much. There are so many bad beats at the low limits that you cannot let them bother you too much. On the other hand, I do sometimes let a stretch of bad sessions haunt me.
Of course, the average Party LLHE player probably doesn’t take much notice to weak play. The problem is that if they do, they will pounce. I tend to get more cautious after a couple of bad sessions, even when I know I shouldn’t. It’s a leak and I need to get around it.
Thanks for the encouragement and hints.
I don’t look at it quite the way Pauly does, but I do approach it with the same net result. On reflection I generally find that I got bad beat because I let the winner limp in and make his crap. The amusing thing about the low limit holdem for me, is putting my thinking cap on and trying to put them on hands. Fortunetly, this isn’t too hard because it’s pretty obvious when most of these folks make their hand, they switch from passive call mode to bet/raise. That just makes it easier to get away from the once good hand. The only thing I do is try to make it as expensive as possible to draw against me when I have a hand. Or anyone else for that matter. When I sit down at a table and see people playing any two cards, they learn pretty quick that it hurts to stay in the pots I’m in. Even if I don’t win, then winner usually isn’t the any-two cards guy and it cost them a lot to play. This has been the most significant change in my game from play SnGs to playing limit. If I have a hand, there will be a pre-flop raise (and once in awhile when I don’t) and re-raise if neccessary, this usually gets rid of most of the crap hands that seem to come out of nowhere. Oddly, this does not get rid of the big-little suited guys but that’s ok, they’re on the losing end of a hand 60% of the time, or better, pre flop.
I totally agree that you must play strong, play in the moment, and punish limpers. But also keep in mind this quip from Tommy Angelo: “I’d rather be weak-tight than strong-broke.”
If it makes you feel any better, Malmuth says that weak-tight players are the most likely to become WCP, in time.
Yeah, what Angelo said