South Florida Sunstroke

Am I a pussy?

Is it better to take a decent profit away from a table without making the play, the one play, that could potentially double or triple that profit or is it better to make that play, even though it could cost you all your winnings and then some?

Here's how it went: I was at the Hard Rock casino in Ft. Lauderdale. Nice enough facility, competent dealers, got in a game right away on a Sunday at noon. I sat at a 1,2 NL table, bought in for $200 and quickly realized that the table was tight as a drum preflop but more than willing to pay off winning hands and make calls when they should pitch. No better example than watching a young guy fire at a pot post-flop, turn and river, incrementally increasing his bets, and get called by a guy who had third-best pair on board. Third best. And he won, as the guy firing was on a stone bluff and busted. Have to love seeing those kind of backdoor wins that are completely undeserving. Let the meat feel good about those chips and wait for a hand with him, I tell myself.

I got rags for a few hands and watched the limp-fest. Luckily, the guys in the one and three seats mixed it up a little and I got to see a couple showdowns as well as a couple nice face-up laydowns by the one seat and the winner showing his hand as well. So finally, onto my rush. A half hour in, I hit top pair, fire three times, get called down and win a decent pot. This is followed by a chop, hitting trips three out of four hands (deuces twice, treys the other) and mixing up my action nicely to disguise my strength, a boat a few hands after that when I was wired with 10s and another guy went all in with A,7 off preflop and a second boat when my wired 5s hit on the turn in a nice three-way pot and boated on the river. The deck was steamrolling me and these guys refused to accept that any of my raises were legit, pre or post flop. Just a great combo of events. I even took advantage of the rush to play a suited 3,9 (preflop raiser raised to $5!) and hit two pair on a flop to take down another pot. As another player sat to my left (I was in the 8 seat) the Israeli guy in the 10 seat told him not to get into any pots with me because no matter what I had, I hit it. Finally, the table started avoiding me and I began to use that respect to my advantage, raising limped pots and watching the dominoes fold, acting as if their hands were radioactive. Mind you, this was all in roughly an hour and I had taken this table over. I had notched up to over six hundred and was the table's big stack.

And then, I faltered.

Family pot scenario, someone made a miniscule raise, perhaps to $6 and there were six or seven callers. I have offsuit red 5,10 in late position and make the call as well. Flop brings J, 10, 3 with two clubs. The one seat bets $12. One caller and I make the call as well. Turn brings the 5 of clubs. One seat bets $15, other guy folds, I immediately raise to $50 (for this table, a significant raise. Most raises higher than $20 have been insta-folded.). One seat doesn't like it, immediately goes in the tank, talking at me, talking to the dealer, trying to get a read on me. He shows his cards to the dealer as he watches me, seeing if I react to his phony laydown. I know he's not on the flush. If he is, he's a great actor. I'm positive he's going to lay it down, that he has top pair and he's posturing for effect. My two pair is ahead and I've raised him out of the pot. I'm berating myself on the inside. This table is tightly wound drum, of course he'll fold to any raise.

Then he calls.

And I have fifteen seconds of confusion. On the inside, I'm trying to figure his hands. A,J with a club? That would be an insta-call for an extra $35, plus he would have re-raised preflop. Was his posturing masking something like trip 3s? Did he make a low flush and he's giving me credit for a higher one? As all this flashes through my mind, the river brings a blank. One seat checks to me.

And I freeze. I know that in that second I should fire but I haven't played NL in four months and by all standards, I'm still a novice, particularly when it comes to managing a stack. If I fire $100, is that enough? The pot is maybe $180. He is second stack at the table, perhaps $150 less than me. If I push all in, he's only calling me with hands that beat me. My hour long rush would be for naught and I'd be in the hole an additional fifty.

If I push, top pair goes away. A low flush likely does as well. I should push.

But I don't.

I check. He turns over J,10. Top two. I muck.

My table mystique is broken. The kid in the three seat says "That's the first pot he's lost." The one seat rakes in the pot and I kick myself. A couple hours later, I cash out, up about $250 profit. Not bad for my first session in four months but I can't get that pot out of my head. I win that, and I add to my big stack, keep control of the table and keeping my rush going. Instead, now the one seat has a comparable stack and my bullying time cools down quickly.

Alternately, his crying call after the turn might indicate that he would have called the rest of his stack. So I walk away with a profit. It could have been larger. It could have been nonexistent. I am on vacation. I am happy with the money. I tell myself this.

But I still feel like a pussy.

The Mental Exam

It's early August and pro football teams have begun their training camps. Each year there are a handful or more of big name veterans who make the rounds of the teams with specific needs, looking to be that one final piece of the puzzle that can elevate the team to playoff or title contention, or perhaps just looking for one final payday before fading off into obscurity. As you read about these guys, inevitably each article written about them visiting team X mentions how he came in for a physical. The team of course wants to ensure its potential investment by confirming the player's physical readiness and make sure he's up to the rigors of the game. Which left me wondering about the other side of it, the mental side. How many of these guys are mentally up for joining another team, mentally committed to the grind of the season with new teammates, how many are just looking for a chance to pad their statistics in the hope of extending their career beyond that one? Some, of course, are hard-wired to compete at their fullest level regardless of situation. Some, obviously not. Each has their own motivations and results vary.

What the hell does this have to do with poker? Well, I have recently been thinking a lot about the mental aspect of poker, about imposing your will upon other players when needed, about sitting down at a table with a plan of attack and implementing it. About really focusing on playing the opponent, playing the table and letting the cards support your actions, rather than the reverse. A self-given mental exam, before sitting down at the table if you will. Figuring out what you plan to do, taking stock of yourself before pulling back that chair. Even as little as planning one play per session, one scenario where you have the plan of how you're going to play it, sticking with it when the scenario happens, then testing it over and over and seeing the results. The pot sizes, stack sizes, ablility and makeup of your opponents will vary each time so keeping mental notes (or even physical ones) of these variables and the results can yield helpful information. The mental ability to stick with your plan, even in the face of adversity and knowing that over the long haul, that this play will make you better in that you know its results, you've tested it, is not just limited to that play but to the ability and commitment to improving your game. Each session might not yield a winner but if your game improves, so will your winning sessions. Next time you play, do yourself a favor and give yourself a quick mental exam, have a plan ready to go, so that you aren't that lost player wandering from table to table, looking for the elusive payday before fading into the poker obscurity, also known as a 1-2 limit game.