Running Bad

Over the past few days, I have been running incredibly bad. It's not due to playing marginal hands for raises out of position, or simply playing over my head or on tilt. Rather, the variance of the game is against me right now. I have dropped a number of sit and go's to suckouts and bad beats. I've had Aces cracked three times by smaller pairs and had Kings cracked a couple of times by unsuited connectors and smaller pairs. It can get very frustrating, but you have to understand that bad beats are a part of the game. It's not sexy and can really start to effect your confidence and your approach to the game. The worst thing you can do is play tentative hoping to not take another bad beat. However, if you do this, you are only inviting another one to happen. When you take a beat, you need to step back for a second and think about the hand you just played and if there was a way you could have played it differently. If you can't think of a way you could have, try to get your mind back on track and prepare for the next hand.

Here's a good example of what I'm talking about. I had JJ in the cutoff. The player under the gun raised three times the big blind. Everyone folded to me, and since I would have position throughout the hand, I decided to just call. There's no reason to get in a race with a medium or small pair. This is especially true when you have a stack of more than 30 times the big blind, which I did. I also had the player in early position covered by about 500 so it made simply calling that much stronger. I was either going to catch a flop that was favorable to my hand or get away from it. The flop came down perfect for my hand, J-6-4 with two hearts. He checked to me. My thought process when I flop a set is to not slow play it. You will make more money in the long run if you bet out your sets than if you try to slow play them. So I bet about 2/3 of the pot. I don't know what he was thinking, maybe I was stealing or what. But he decided to check-raise me all in. His check-raise was about 3 times the size of the pot. I knew that if he had an overpair, which I thought he had, he would be a substantial dog drawing to only two outs. If he had an underpair, he's an even bigger dog. If he had a hand like AK of hearts, he's about a 2:1 dog. I knew he was the kind of player that gets frustrated when he thinks people are stealing from him and will try to re-steal, even if he's out of position. Of course I called, and he showed a pair of 10's with the 10 of hearts. Sure enough, he got runner runner to catch the flush. This hand pretty much sums up the way I have been running over the past couple of days.

On a side note, I have started to multi-table sit and go's. One thing I have found is that when I play one table, my results have been mediocre at best. Mainly because of the run I'm on right now. However, all of the multi-table sessions I have played so far, I have cashed in both tournaments. It's probably because there is always a hand to play, and keeps me from playing a lot of marginal hands. It also keeps my mind off of any bad beats I take. When I took a beat, there was already another hand to play so I had to move on. I couldn't seeth over what just happened and had to get my game back on track. In sum, the best advice I can give you is to understand that bad beats are going to happen. Aces against a random hand will win about 76% of the time. That means that they will lose about 24% of the time. No hand is a lock, unless you flop the mortal nuts and can get someone to overcommit to the pot. And that's where bad beats come from. You flop a strong hand, and you get a weak player to overcall or make a move at a pot when they are a substantial dog and they get lucky. Don't fret or get upset about that player being a donkey or a fish. Those are the players you are going to make your money from. Don't teach them that they play poorly or they may start to learn how to play the correct way. I try to reinforce their behavior so they will pay me off in a big way later by thinking they are playing well. Statistically, if you keep getting your money in with the best of it, you will get paid off in a big way.

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving.