#Game No : 1106368317
***** 888poker Hand History for Game 1106368317 *****
7,000/14,000 Blinds No Limit Holdem - ***
Tournament #140462781 Free 10 Max (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 8
Seat 1: OccItalian ( 190,460 )
Seat 2: 1MilionEUR ( 451,843 )
Seat 3: ChypakabiK ( 203,967 )
Seat 4: wynner88888 ( 552,772 )
Seat 5: p000cket000 ( 867,809 )
Seat 6: HellChicKKen ( 1,047,365 )
Seat 9: Huima88 ( 454,131 )
Seat 10: mne_d0edet1 ( 253,142 )
wynner88888 posts ante [1,750]
Huima88 posts ante [1,750]
p000cket000 posts ante [1,750]
1MilionEUR posts ante [1,750]
HellChicKKen posts ante [1,750]
mne_d0edet1 posts ante [1,750]
OccItalian posts ante [1,750]
ChypakabiK posts ante [1,750]
1MilionEUR posts small blind [7,000]
ChypakabiK posts big blind [14,000]
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to wynner88888 [ Kc, As ]
wynner88888 raises [35,000]
p000cket000 calls [35,000]
HellChicKKen folds
Huima88 folds
mne_d0edet1 folds
OccItalian folds
1MilionEUR folds
ChypakabiK folds
** Dealing flop ** [ 6s, 5s, 4c ]
wynner88888 checks
p000cket000 bets [56,775]
wynner88888 raises [516,022]
p000cket000 calls [459,247]
** Dealing turn ** [ 7c ]
** Dealing river ** [ Td ]
** Summary **
wynner88888 shows [ Kc, As ]
p000cket000 shows [ 7s, 7h ]
p000cket000 collected [ 1,137,044 ]


The biggest disappointment of my poker life to date - 109 left out of about 1000, 99 paid. I think I'm about 40th in chips. I'm playing tight and only shown down top prems. Pocket00 is a top mtt player.


Why on gods earth am I not folding here or at the very most calling. Villains range is really wide here but there are so many hands that call us. A moment of madness just before the bubble after 7 hours play, and after getting prems in the right spots.


Psychologically, I was really really struggling by this point after a tiring day. I wasn't thinking clearly at all, as reflected by the check/shove. V was always betting after I checked back and shoving would fold out so much if his range, but so so unnecessary. Especially before the bubble. Im not even bothered about the min cash but about how far I could have run potentially if my game stayed solid.

Please help. Tendlers books haven't done it. It has to be a tiredness related issue, but to be this irrational? Has anybody else made similar mistakes so deep after playing more or less solidly all the way previously?

Turn off your computer and go outside for a walk. Seriously.

If you have the ability to walk outside in a safe environment and actually see the sun shining, the rain falling, or at least the moon above, then life isn't nearly as bad as you feel sitting inside staring at thousands of LEDs.

Perspective matters greatly for a positive mental outlook.

Chalk it up to experience and move on. Unless your goal was to min-cash, you didnt make that grave of an error especially if you shove with all over pairs in the same situation. If you would have played JJ there differently, then yeah, go for a walk and get your mind right.

I shove all overpairs and possibly sets. I know that shoving a set looks bad but I would on such a board. I really expected the fold - I guess it was a good call by him after tanking.
Still, I only have 6 outs when shoving. AsKs would have been more reasonable.

The play almost seems irrelevant though, it’s my mental game that is the issue here and not strategy. With a clear mind I’m folding flop here.

Very good advice, thanks.

I have 1435 tracked tourneys with a + 11.4% roi across all game types over the past few years of semi serious play. Between games (200) and (1400) is a long breakeven stretch. During that stretch I started to feel like my previous sucesses(most of which came between games (1) and (200)) were just a flash in the pan as my roi fell slightly over time. My psychological game suffered as a result and I was questioning almost every aspect of my strategy. I studied hard and continued to play. What I found was that I had leaks in my game, and my opponents had improved their games to the effect of reducing my roi.

Then bink, 2nd place in a $50 tourney with 100 entrants.

Then 6th place in a $100 tourney with 100x gtd that wasn't hit.

The point is that depending on your roi and the steepness of the payouts, you can go on long downswings even with a positive roi. This one tourney is only a drop in the bucket; don't sweat it.

However, I would fold the flop without a read that he checks the turn very often.

V may assume that with overpairs and sets I c/r around 3x. So if he puts me on a draw and he blocks flushes and straights, it’s a call. Dangerous though, because I’m definitely playing 88 this way. I think V is raising 99+ preflop and I’ve seen him bet every flop so far. So it was a really ballsy call.

I think I largely put it down to ‘f*** it’ moments. Seems to be how I bust a lot of tournaments - I lose concentration and composure and have a ‘f*** it’ moment where I take a big, unnecessary risk, discounting all relevant factors that would usually help me make a mor rational decision and rather just hoping for the best of it.

don't beat yourself up over this, we've all done this and often times much worse

what's important is you realize what happened, aren't just yelling variance and can learn from this

I've done far, far worse at final tables where I could have folded my way into life changing money but instead challenged the one guy with more chips thinking "he can't possibly call here without the nuts" #famouslastwords

better learn this lesson now when you're in a favorable spot near the bubble where your EV is probably only a little more than a min cash than to make this mistake where the pay jumps truly become astronomical

take a break, do some non poker related stuff. Don't play again until you can view this episode positively... err... you know what I mean

There's a scene in the band of brothers TV show where there's a soldier who's shell shocked and he's lying on the ground scared out of his wits. The platoon leader grabs him by the collar and says "YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD! DO YOU WANNA DIE HERE SCARED OR DO YOU WANNA DIE KILLING THOSE MOTHER****ERS?"

I treat poker the same way. The money I put on the table isn't mine. I consider myself already busted so I am unattached to the result. I just treat every move with the same mathematical logic as the others and if I bust I gave it my best and will register for the next one. I was just at the wsop and every day I busted a level or two before bagging up for the next day... this happened every day... 15 hours of poker every day and no cigar... despite the result not being what I had hoped I still had a great time and I was grateful that I got to be there and take part in that tourney. Poker is a priviledge. Give it your best and good things will happen.

Lack of fundamentals and discipline.
His range isnt very wide on the flop and you shouldnt crai your OPs esp against someone good, however I dont like his call pre either even if its pocketOO.

Thanks for all of the responses.

Upon reflection, it seems that when I focus on the final result, e.g. what place I’m going to finish, etc (things out of my control) it really damages my mindset. I lose the ability to think objectively and make good decisions. It seems that I need to enjoy the process a bit more and focus on the quality of my play rather than on the outcome.

I heard Ben Sulsky say that if he couldn’t play poker for money then he would still play all the time for fun because he just loves the game. As nonsimplesimon said, poker is a privilege.

I’ll try to focus on enjoying my poker and playing it the best I possibly can. The results will be what the results will be.

Thanks again.

It’s all well and good saying the above but in reality my game has absolutely gone to bits. It’s as though I’m trying to make up for my mistake and force my way back into a profitable situation. I think the only way to get over this may be to take a break from playing until it’s out of my memory and feel like playing again not try to make up for mistakes but because I want to play poker.

There is a story about Brad Faxon, retired PGA pro and winner of several events on tour. He was known to be an outstanding putter, one of the very best with the flatstick to ever play the game.

One day a fellow pro found him out on the practice green, hitting balls in different directions all over the green. The pro went about his own practice session, but found himself distracted by the seemingly random nature of what Faxon was doing. So eventually he asked - "Brad, what the heck are you up to?"

"I'm practicing not caring where the ball goes," came the reply.

This story is no doubt apocryphal, but it makes a good point nonetheless, at least as pertains to poker: you have to work at not caring about results. You have to remain positive about how you are approaching the game. If you are not feeling positive, then take some time to work on your game away from the tables. There is nothing wrong with taking a break to refocus and renew your desire to play.

Also maybe don't check-raise bluff all-in on the bubble against good or unknown players. I might make that a rule of thumb to always follow.

It definitely is to with my attitude approaching the game. Until this happened I was consistently final tabling and playing what I felt was my A game. I was approaching every tournament with the feeling that I’m the favourite. True or not, I was getting results.
Since this happened my confidence has been knocked, I feel like past results were down to running well and now I can’t even remember how to play the game well.

It makes me think that once fundamentals are known, poker is primarily a mental game. It seems to be about getting into that mindset or state of mind that brings out your A game, and maintaining it.