A truly nasty session

Wow, I just finished a session that is a good signal for a day off of poker.

I played just terrible. TERRIBLE! Every rule I go buy when playing at low limit Internet poker I broke, time and again. Let’s go down the checklist:

1) Stay patient.
I became frustrated early and instead of taking a break a just tried to bull my way through. Really bad!

2) Play good cards in position:
I was mostly playing good cards but often out of position. Meaning that I’d be leading at a hand with people behind me with limited ways to define my hand post-flop.

3) Chuck drawing hands if you don’t hit something strong on the flop.
Here was maybe my worst mistake. I’d play something like 7c9c cheap preflop, great, but I’d hit second pair, bet, get called, then instead of putting on the breaks I’d bet through to the river and lose to some tinkle breath slow playing KK. Idiot (that’s me AND him are the Idiots, by the way).

4) Never, ever pull a naked bluff. Only try a semi-bluff under the right circumstances.
In low limits you are going to get called even if the person SHOULDN’T call your bet. So you better have something you can hit if you bluff. Not this time. I tried to pull a naked bluff three times. THREE! Stupid.

5) Don’t get into Fancy Play Syndrome.
Low limit players generally have no idea about texture of flop. They play their own hands, period, and have only the fuzziest of notions of considering about what the board might portend or the other hands players might have. Fancy plays are an expensive waste of time at this level. And yes, I was trying some subtle plays that I’d expect to get paid off on in 20/40 LHE. Unfortunately, I was playing $.25-.50 NLHE at the time. Doh!

6) Listen to your inner voice. If it says you are beat, you are. Fold. If it says you have the winner, you do, call or bet.
Twice the voice said I was beat, crushed and mutilated, and I called a big bet anyway. More of my chips headed to other piles.

It wasn’t a complete waste. I made some good plays and had enough other Donkeys contribute to my stack so it wasn’t like I was a total freak-out. But what should have been a good win ended up being a $50 net loss on the night. It is so frustrating when you just flat out play bad.

I’m a person that, I think, has the right mindset for playing poker. I know bad beats are a part of the game. It doesn’t bother me if there is a maniac or idiot at the table. And it sure doesn’t bother me if someone pulls a Donkey play but does a major suckout to river me when I had my chips in against him as a major favorite.

So if the deck is against me I don’t worry. I know that’s a part of the game and I’ll just play tight and ride the bad cards out.

What bothers me is when I play bad. When I bet in bad situations and donate to others when I know it’s a bad situation. I loathe myself when I push it in a bad situation and reward a clown, because I treat the guy like a clown even when I know he has a good hand.

You have to give all players respect. Even Donkeys sometimes have hands.

So I’ll try to learn from this session, and apply the lessons to my next session.
Here’s to a hot deck and a good table!