Friday evening: I head up to a local casino to play some cash while the Chicago Poker Classic is taking place. I got on some waiting lists, found an open seat at a 5-10 NL table, where I took a modest $1,400 profit within a few hours. I decided to call it a night and head to a hotel to get some sleep.

Saturday afternoon, 12:00 PM: I sit down at a 10-20 PLO game with $3,600. I'm playing my A game for hours on end.

10:00PM I'm sitting on a stack of $16,600. Very good session. (Should have stood up)

11:00PM: I lose a $3,500 pot and get slightly tilted. I start playing bad. So bad that I called a $2,300 river bet with naked AA only for my opponent to show the nut flush.

2:00AM: Still trying to gun to make my 17K stack back, the table is now 5 handed and I'm sitting on 5-6K. At this point I'm nodding-off tired, have ran through 10 cups of coffee waiting for this game to get better. It never did as we dropped down to 4 handed. I'm losing my mind at this point thinking about the possibility of this game breaking up before I can make my money back.

8:00AM: On a flop of 933, 2 clubs, I'm holding the second nut flush draw which hits on the river, I jam my remaining $3,500 into my opponent, he Instacalls and shows 9s full.

8:30AM: I'm leaving the casino with $0.


When I got home and got some much needed sleep, I woke up disgusted with myself, and this has been a lingering thought in my mind for the whole week.



I should have just stood up when I was up $14,000.
I should have stood up when I lost that big pot and realized it had affected my mindset.
I should have stood up when I had $12,000 and was getting obsessively worried about the possibility of dropping down below 10K.
I should have left when the table started losing players and had no waiting list to replenish it.

Shoulda-woulda-coulda. I ****ed up.

Cool story

Oof, no. I mean yes all of that is true because of your emotional state, but the cause of all this is you were trying to "make back" money that wasn't yours. It's telling that you left that out.

You were chasing losses that you considered to be "yours". That's your leak. All the other items are symptoms of your leak.

Also stop using the term "second nut flush" that way and maybe you won't jam into nines full

You're not a poker player if you never do something stupid like that.

Wow, sounds like you were playing terrible. There's an interesting phenomenom I've noticed with myself. Sometimes playing higher stakes makes me more tilt prone. Might be something to do with the mental state you are already in when you choose to play in a game higher than your normal game.

Winners tilt is also interesting. That tilt you get when your great day just became a good day. I've developed an instinct to leave when this happens so I can still go home with the good day.

There's no logic to saying you should've gone home when you were up 14k. Things were going great. By that same logic you should've not shown up because you were up 1,400 from the previous day.

But if losing a $3500 pot puts you on tilt, that was the time to quit.

How do you get up 14k without losing a 3500 pot once... you must have run so pure. 1700 or w/e is so little in that game how can that tilt you. That said tilt is huge in PLO. If you can't control it you probably won't be a winning player

it's called playing your A game

+1

Everyone should make an effort to degen it up at small stakes so they learn their lesson before they have $16k in front of them.

+1

As a matter of fact, ideally, you leave BEFORE you go on tilt. Because usually by the time you realize you're on tilt, you've already been on tilt for a while.

If losing a $3,500 pot would put you on tilt, you should rack up. Because you're on tilt already. Come back when you're ready to lose the money in front of you. Which honestly for many people is never.

There is no bad beat story that starts with " I was drawing to a King high flush with the board already paired."

There's two powerful drives I have to overcome all the time.

The leave at my peak tilt - that feeling that if I ran my $300 stack up to $550 that I should have $550 when I leave. I'll loose a small pot and then with $530 in front of me insist on trying to get that $20 back before I go. Which typically results in staying later than I want and often in bigger losses.

The leave at an even amount tile - Similar to the above but this is when you run a $300 stack up to $496 and feel like you have to get that next $4 so you can book a tasty $200 win.

This is totally a typical everyday story in PLO..That's what makes the game so great..A live one like the OP can go on major runs for weeks (if not months) at a time and never even realize he's a PLO Tuna...

I absolutely love the game..It's got everything a true poker player could ask for.

It's good to share. Welcome to the forum. There are many, many threads on this site that deal with "When to walk away."

As shown, everyone 'should' have gone through this at least once playing poker. It comes down to:

1) Are you playing well enough to stay?
2) Is the game 'right' for profiting with my style?

I don't really have much experience with extended sessions, but based on your timeline you probably should've walked at 11:00 ... but IMO it's really hard to walk out of a poker room at 11 PM!

Did you consider dropping down or changing games (5-10 NL)? Did you take a dinner break?

It sounds like you are ready to get back on the saddle. GL

LOL THIS.

fwiw this belongs in bbv technically, but the responses would be DRAMATICALLY different since that forum is about trolling and OP is serious so im ok with it being here

The biggest faults in your thinking are "i should have left after I lost that first pot", because that means nothing and you have to lose -- you're never going to win 20k and say "yeah but I still think I should have left", thats a results oriented thought.

The main part when you CLEARLY should have left was after that atrocious naked AA call (w/ no blockers im assuming unless you had the K, still bad tho). The other big flaw in your mindset is when you were at 6k shorthanded very tired and thinking "I need to make my money back", when in reality you started with 3.6k. People get mentally attached to money during the session when you should not. Your perspective should have been "I'm still up 2.5k! That's a good win. I'm extremely tired and playing bad, we should go".

why didn't you just leave when you were up 16K?

lets see...... you start with 3600$ and turn it into 16K...... yes stand up, walk out, have a nice dinner....

and take your 13k profit and pad your bankroll....

I have a reply to last two responses.... Do you even lift (chips), bro?

"I'm up $16K. I'll leave when I get up $20K. Table is so fishy"


((((Get up $20K and it's "I'll leave when I get to $25K)))

Not sure why you set the mark at $16K....? Why shouldn't OP leave earlier when he gets up $10K (as an example).

$16k is obviously the upper limit. Historical data backs this up. Don't argue with science.

And then to suggest that he use the $13k to...pad his bankroll.

lol do you understand the purpose of a bankroll? It's not just for padding.

I was there that night, although not playing in your game. I heard the benefactor of all these hands was down to $1200 at one point, reloaded to $4k and destroyed the entire table for upwards of $30k. Sick story if true.

This happens to me a lot as well, although not to these big levels. The problem comes with self awareness and not really being "present" in your decision making. I still haven't found a solution to be 100% present. However, If I have been playing for a long session, a 30 minute break where you actually physically leave the casino, even if its just to step outside the doors, definitely helps create some separation from the game to allow you to have a mental check in.

None of it is "your money" until you get up from your seat and go to the cage.

If you're not playing at a particular stake with a bankroll, then give yourself a stop loss and stick to it. I would have set my own at $12k right there. It's about 3x my initial buy-in, plus it gives you enough room to absorb a loss or two in one session.

Stop thinking about how much money you HAD. Think about it like this: id rather have more money than less money, id rather have less money than no money.

Whose money is it?

Hell, by that logic it's not even yours until you spend it. Anything could happen!

Chips on the table is different than money in your pocket is what I'm saying.