Life in the low limits

I really don’t mind having a losing session as long as I play well, but it really bothers me when I realize that I am starting to play poorly and do not quit the game.

I was playing a live 1/2 no limit game at a local card club which i frequent and left stuck a cool $600. Losing two buy-ins isn’t the end of the world, but this particular session left a bitter taste in my mouth. I had been playing very tight aggressive, which is my standard game plan for that particular lineup, until I began physically becoming tired. I was pretty card dead all night, which didn’t help the cause, but when began to become fatigued, I lost my patience, and eventually my money.

After a few failed bluffs, I began habitually preflop 3betting the maniac at the table who never folded, as well as floating many flops on him. For some reason, I kept reasoning that he would fold since he never had much of a hand. To give an example of how little he folded, he limped in late position after 3 limpers in front of him. I limp the button for two with the 8s9s and we take a 7 handed flop. The flop comes 2 7 7 rainbow and it checks to the maniac who bets 10. I decide to float him and maybe take it away on the turn since I felt his range is super wide to bet this flop with just one player behind him. I also thought my flat call on the flop would force the other players to play pretty honest, so I know a check raise is going to mean extreme strength as I feel that the only players capable of pulling a check raise bluff are also going to realize that I could be trapping the maniac.

The turn is a 3 and he instantly checks. Hooray for me, he had nothing just like I had suspected and now the pot is mine. I decide to make the bet look like it is for value and I only bet 15, which is only about half the pot. To my surprise, he calls the 15. At this point I knew he didn’t have a 7 as his standard play would have been to check raise the turn and I narrowed his range to basically a 2 or maybe a pocket pair, but I felt his range was more heavily weighted to an A 2 suited type of hand since he had been raising any pair all night long.

The river was a complete brick and he checks again. And here is where in hindsight I should have checked and given up. Knowing pretty much what his range is, I know there is not much fold equity against this player. But after being up all day at work and playing cards late into the night I went against my instincts and fired out 55 on the river with nothing but 9 high. I get snap called by 10 3 off suit and the pair of 3s, which he turned by the way, takes in approximately a $150 pot.

This should have been my warning to slow down, but I’ve never taken warnings to seriously and proceeded to bluff off about another $400 to him throughout the rest of the night. The end of the night for me came around 3 a.m. when I decided to 3bet his early position raise with the 10h6h to $55. Of course he called and the flop came 6 high with all spades and I stack off after he check raised all in. I did actually have the right read, as he had the KsQc but he’s a slight favorite with two cards to come and I was dead on the turn.

Aside from the rant about how insanely poorly I played, the point is is that I didn’t realize when it was time to quit. There are many who will tell you that you should get up and quit because you are winning, or even if you are losing, but you have to take into account how you are playing, and realizing if the game is going to be profitable for you to stay. In my instance I should have quit as soon as I began to feel tired and impatient. If I was feeling awake and on my game, it would have been the complete opposite since the maniac was calling preflop 3bets with the KsQc and check raising all in when he flopped a draw. When I am on my game and playing well, KQ is going to be well behind my 3betting range and will be a very profitable spot.

Knowing when to quit is one of the key components of being a successful cash game player, and being honest with how you are playing at the time is going to go a long way in your own personal development as a player.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS