Days 20-25: Making Peace with the Game

Something has changed.  I’m not sure how it happened, but I think I’m making peace with the game.  I think I’ve come to terms with the odds and the inevitability of being outdrawn.  If I put myself in an 80-20 situation 10 times, like playing pocket aces against any other good hand, I’m going to lose 2 of them and this isn’t injustice.  It’s odds.  It should happen.

In the past 5 days I’ve seen the river flush out my opponents a few times when that’s all they were drawing to.  I’ve seen the river give opponents one of their 2 outs.  But, admittedly, I’ve had the river save me a few times.  I’ve had it give me the full house when my trips weren’t good.  I’ve gotten the flush when my two pair wasn’t quite as good as the other guys.  The river saved me in positions where I had a straight-flush draw, when I had 16 outs.  Or another time when I was in with pocket aces and him with pocket queens, when the flop gave him a queen, but the river gave me an ace, that seemed right.  But still, the river doesn’t save me very often and I’m glad.

After some thought I’ve come to the point where I hope I’m seldom in the position where I’m counting on the river for any help.  I shouldn’t be in that place very often.  David Sklansky says (and I paraphrase) that it is a good thing to take bad beats because it means that you were in with the best hand and the best odds.  If you do that consistently, you will win.

Still, have I been frustrated when my aces fell to jacks or when my queens full were beaten by quads?  Ummm.  Yes!

Even more frustrating is sitting at a final table in a tournament and watching everyone get dealt pocket aces.  I mean everyone.  Each of them raking in a good number of chips.  I sit thinking “when’s my turn?”  When my turn comes I’m in the BB.  The action folds around to the SB who completes the bet.  After the flop I make a bet of 1/3 the pot.  He folds.

Or worse, when I beat myself.  I get dealt AQs in the BB, 2 limpers.  I raise 2.5 times.  Both complete.  The flop comes Q 7 4 rainbow.  Both limpers check.  I bet half the pot.  First limper folds.  Second limper, a loose aggressive player raises me.  I had notes written on him, “loose, aggressive, makes continuation bets with nothing, will generally fold to a re-raise unless he has something”.  I ignore these good notes and re-raise.  He goes all in a and I complete.  He has a set of 7s.  I have no money left in front of me and 2 outs.  So much for “don’t overplay top pair”.

The more I come to terms with the bad beats and the tighter and smarter I play, the less interesting things get.  “Bad” beats seem normal and even comfortable.  Now my losing seems more like the product of my mistakes than of luck.  Time for me to make a lot less mistakes.