Stumptown Poker

by Rich Flaminio

We’ve all been there. Some donk has just cracked your aces after check-raising you on a bluff and then hitting runner runner for his straight. Now what? How you react to the natural ebbs and flows of this game will either make or lose you large sums of money long term. If you’re not careful, one bad beat can lead to you busting out of the tourney you’re in and possibly setting you up for disaster in future action. If you find yourself steaming, what can you do to get off tilt?

First, recognize what’s happening. If you’ve suffered a terrible beat, your heart is racing, you’re flushed, and you’re maybe a little emotional, I know I usually am. I generally try not to play the next hand after a tough loss, unless you’re just compelled by the situation. Marginal hands head for the muck without a second thought if I’ve just taken one on the chin. Why try to speculate with some drawing hand when you might not be in the correct mental state to make the right play? Of course, there’s nothing like waking up with a real monster after a bad loss, since people might assume you’re steaming, but even something as strong as 10s or Js can get you busted if you overplay and someone calls with a coin flip against you. In extreme situations, I definitely recommend standing up, taking a walk, get some fresh air, take a hand or two off, anything to get your mind back to where it should be. If you find yourself berating another player for his “terrible call”, you’re steaming. If he drew out on you so horrifically, when the money went in you must have done something right, and he must have made a pretty grave error. Isn’t that what we all want? The worst thing you can now do is think, “Oh I’m gonna bust that fishcake”. If you’re thinking anything other than “I need to play solid poker and take advantage of the situations that arise”, you’ve set yourself up for more beats, and this time, it will probably be YOU making the error. Sit back, take a deep cleansing breath, and keep trying to get your money in good, and the numbers will take care of themselves. Not as prevalent, but still something to watch for in your game is what I call ‘reverse tilt”, just as dangerous, but resulting from you putting a bad beat on someone else. You get a little giddy, think you’re bulletproof, and suddenly figure 9J off to be a good re-raising hand. Remember, everyone at the table just watched you get your money in way behind and suckout, so how much respect are you really anticipating for your raise right now? Watch out for anything that might allow your emotions unwanted access to your game.

Online players especially need to be cautious of continous tilt that spans more than one game since you can buy in to another game with just a mouse click. You suffer a bad loss, then immediately enter another game, bust quick, and repeat the process. I’ve taken hits to my account with this behavior, and now I make sure if I’ve taken a couple of rough beats, or felted early repeatedly, I take a break, get something to eat, again, anything to return your mindset to its proper state. You’re going to have to figure out what works for you, since only you can control what goes on in your head. I recommend setting some sort of routine so that when something unlucky inevitably happens, you have a process prepared to reset your brain to where you want it. Take a bad beat, lose fast? Walk around the block, smell the flowers, remember how lucky you are to be able to play this game and occasionally make money doing so. Make sure you don’t play tired, hungry or drunk (well, maybe a little drunk after a couple button shots, but that’s FREE poker!).

I can’t stress enough how important it is to analyze your play after a beat, as opposed to just writing it off as unlucky. Did you give your opponent a free card to beat you in an attempt to trap? Did you not raise enough preflop and gave someone the right odds to call you with a weak holding? I don’t necessarily endorse knee-jerk tightening up after a hard luck session, but it certainly can’t hurt. Start with better cards and you’ll finish with better hands. You can’t create good luck, but you can certainly encourage bad luck by not protecting your hand or allowing draws to catch up with you.

Lastly, recognize that ALL players, even the top pros, go thru stretches where it seems like they just can’t win for losing. Perhaps you need to take a break. Take a week away from the game without watching, playing, or thinking about it. Reduce the buy-ins you play for when you’re slumping, no need to hemorrage money. Try not to think “I’m running so cold”, or “I’m in a huge slump”, as these negative thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies. Don’t tell other players how bad you’ve been doing lately, unless you want to watch them drool every time you enter a pot. If you’re in one of these bad patches, it seems like they’ll never end, but solid play and good hand values will eventually catch up to you, and you’ll be back at the final table.