Mamma said there’d be days like this…

Except my Mom doesn’t play poker.  :)

Well, I could just as easily have made the title of this post “Theresa’s Tilt!”

I played for 6 hours, 44 minutes today, and just couldn’t get ahead to save my life.  Twice I flopped a full house and lost to four-of-a-kind.  Those two cost me a big portion of my bankroll, unfortunately.

So in all, I lost $396.50 today, and my (online) hourly rate is down to a profit of $3.85/hour.  Ouch.  That needs to be at least $10/hour, if not $15/hour.

So psychologically, I know of at least one thing I did wrong; I became hopeful.  This happens to me after I’ve been on a losing streak; I think to myself that I can’t possibly be this unlucky, and hope for the best outcome!  During one hand I had pocket Jacks, and the flop came Ace, 9, 3 – it was down to two of us, and my opponent checked.  I bet, and he raised me.  A check-raise!  This is a sure sign he has an Ace, and possibly a set – but at any rate I would normally have dumped that hand in a hurry.  But, I hoped to hit my set (3-of-a-kind) on either the turn or the river.  Never mind I’m drawing to only 2 outs, and it isn’t unheard of for my opponent to have pocket Aces anyway.  I certainly do not have pot odds; I didn’t play the hand mathematically; I hoped.  Hope is a terrible strategy when playing poker, and there are two circumstances that, for whatever reason, cause me to be more hopeful than analytical:  when I’m tired, and when I’m on a losing streak.

Here’s the thing, losing streaks happen to everybody – even the professionals.  Becoming hopeful (or frustrated) in response to a losing streak is, well, let’s just call it what it is:  going on tilt.

So I spent most of the 6 hours I played today, on tilt.

I knew that $35/hr was not a true reflection of my abilities; however, $3.85 is not, either.  That’s what one bad day at the tables can do to you.  I’m not back to where I started, but I did lose half my (online) bankroll.  I’ll come back when I’m refreshed and ready.

Incidentally, another side-effect of being on tilt was that I played some of my lesser hands pre-flop a little less aggressive, and I think that may have actually cost me money in the long run.  Previously I would raise pre-flop with any pair, as long as I was first into the pot (e.g. if everybody folded around to me).  This gives me a lot of ways I can win.  Let’s say I have pocket deuces (2s), and I completely miss the flop; I still have a chance to bluff, depending on the size of the pot and the number of people still involved, by betting and raising on the flop like I hit it perfectly.  I’ve won more than a few pots that way.  But today I limped in with smaller pocket pairs (22 – 77) instead of raising.  So when the flop came and I missed, I didn’t have the ability to bluff.  I had to either hit my set or dump it.  Talk about limiting myself!  Here’s the thing:  in addition to being hopeful I also had the expectation of losing.  I didn’t believe that I would hit my set; after all, even if I did, I had been dominated twice today when hitting my set, making a full-house, and losing to quads.  I was feeling a little beat up, which made it easy to play less aggressive than I normally do.  In short, I expected to lose, and well, guess what – that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.  :)

I’m still a little bit too aggressive post-flop, which I think could easily be from that hope factor again.  And, as has been the case, I’m only winning 53% of my showdowns.  I need to work on my post-flop play.  A lot.

As I expected, my stats for 3-of-a-kind and full-house hands has taken a hit.  That’s really difficult because it’s almost impossible to put somebody on a 4-of-a-kind.  More than half the time when I have a full-house I’ll win – especially if it’s the best full-house on the board, so I have to ram & jam a hand like that.  To have that happen twice in one session is a little frustrating, but I’m not sure I could have played those hands any differently.

I actually made one 4-of-a-kind today!  I hit quad 6s early in my session.  That was pretty neat, but I only made $36.50 on the hand.  Go figure; when I have quads, nobody else has made their full-house!  :)

So it’s really important to me that I learn from days like this, rather than internalize the loss and let it affect my game negatively.  It’s worth $400 to me if I can learn at least one really good lesson.

So when I try to really think about today, there are a couple of things I can really take away:

• Respect the check/raise!  If I have a medium pair and somebody check/raises, tend to believe, and for the love of God don’t hope to improve, unless pot odds are significant.  For that matter, if I don’t have at least an overpair or top pair on the board on the flop, at least slow down.  I can find many reasons to dump my hand at that point.
• Pay attention to pot odds!  Poker Office gives me the exact pot odds; usually I know roughly what my pot odds are without looking, but when I’m hopeful I don’t even pay attention.  I really need to use that as a reality check.  Especially if/when I’m on tilt.
• Probably more important than any of the math, I can save myself a lot of money by making sure I’m on my “A” game – in other words, don’t play when tired or frustrated from a losing streak.  I knew the very instant I had gone on tilt today – when I called all the way down to the river with my pocket Jacks, while there was an Ace on the board.  I was about 95% sure my opponent had an Ace, and I paid dearly to confirm that suspicion.  That’s being on tilt.  I should have quit right then and there.  I probably would have limited my losses to about $200 at that point.

So I really need to work on my post-flop game.  I’m going to spend some time this weekend with Poker Academy, setting up scenarios for myself that will help me to play a better post-flop game.