How do you beat your own mind?

[Pesty]

I haven't posted on here before and I haven't been playing as much as I used to but I still make a couple trips a month to the boats and play. I have a little bit of system and it usually works for me, (btw I don't this has anything to do with what's been going on), but I usually get there late at night and get in on the 1/3 at Argosy or 1/2 at Wheeling and grind it out for a few hours until the 2/5 games start to break and most of those players come into the short tables. This is in no way meant to degrade anyone who is a normal 2/5 player because I too play a lot of 2/5, but it seems that most of the players who live local to the casino and who are extreme regs. or low limit pros think they are just too unlucky to live near Vegas or L.A. or A.C. and belong on the tour and can roll over the 1/2 or 1/3 players. This usually pays off for me, the pots get bigger, they like to throw a lot of straddles on and can get overly aggressive and quite frankly their egos usually cost them money. for about 2 years now I've been avg. close to $75 per hour of play, but that is going down fast. example: 4 Saturdays ago I sit down at the 1/3 at Argosy at 11:30 pm with my normal buy-in of $250, I grind it out fairly tight aggressive play and build my stack to about $650 by 4:00 am. I make of couple of bad moves on pots and totally misread the situation and donk my stack back sown to $150, I realize mentally I'm not in it and take a break for about 30 min. and just try to gather myself. I come back , put my music on and take a couple of pots here and there and small ball it back up to $525. The last of the 2/5 tables break and we get 3 players, I go into tight mode and start to just work on reading the new players and really don't get involved without premium starting cards. A couple of hours go by and I really haven't moved much in my stack but it's about $575 now, the 3 new players have there stacks up over $500 and pushing most of the table around, I look down at AsQc from the small blind, UTG raise to 20 with 3 callers and then to me, I re-raise to $80 and 3 call me. Flop is 8cTsJs, I bet $60, it's a small bet for the pot but I want to see if can get a fold or 2 and where I'm at, fold, fold and 7 seat raises me $100, I call, even I don't hit I'm ready to make a play if a spade falls. The turn is the Kc, payday, I've hit broadway and I check, the 7 seat bets $100, I move all in for about another $335. With barely a thought he calls, I figure he has the lower straight made and maybe a flush draw, nope he turns over 2 pair, K's & J's with no flush draw, I love it, I'm over a 90% fav. The river brings a K, he has 4 freaking outs and catches, I congratulate him and leave.

Thursday 7/3, at Argosy 1/3 game I have AhQh in the small blind and most of the table is trying to limp I raise to $20 with about$15 in the pot, BB calls and the rest fold. Flop is A4Q, I check and BB bets $25, I raise to $75, and BB calls, turn is a K, I don't like it but I'm not rally concerned because I wasn't re-raised by the BB pre-flop, which I'm figuring they would have done thinking I might be trying to steal the limp money from the SB position. River a K and it doesn't faze me, I bet $80 and BB come over the top for $64 all-in I call, and they turn over big slick for the boat. I'm still in and go completely card dead, get back up to buy-in and leave.

Is it my play, bad luck or what? If the play is OK, how do get your mind from questioning yourself and dwelling on your plays when this run of events occurs?

[wreaks]

In the first hand where you flopped the royal draw, I would have liked to see you re-re-raise on the flop, and probably push all-in (since there's not really a raise you can size that if he calls he won't have odds to call on the turn). You're a favorite against most hands and a coin flip against the ones you really don't want to see.

Second hand is just a cooler, nothing you can do. You outflopped him, he outturned you, and you can't really put him on AK with the way he played the hand.

[Chipless Wonder]

If the play is OK, how do get your mind from questioning yourself and dwelling on your plays when this run of events occurs?

Other than bankroll management, I'm learning that this is the most difficult aspect of poker by far. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing the right thing to do but failing to do it, for any number of reasons...

[SemiEsq]

Just me - but i got really tired of these situations and found that at higher limits you can move players off some (not all) of these hands/situations. More money - more control ... and sometimes larger beats - lol.

[wreaks]

Ben, that's why I like a re-raise on the flop. With both of them being pretty deep, I think the fold equity in a move like that is huge. The only hands the villain can put you on in a situation like that are QQ, KK, and AA, or maybe an aggressively played set or the hand he has. In any of those sitations, the villain is a huge underdog, and he would HAVE to fold. If for some reason he makes a terrible call, you're still in great shape.

[SemiEsq]

Agreed - Still - I hate a situation like described because bad and/or loose calls are so much more likely when players are moving down - forget the hand/pot odds - I am talking about % of bankroll - these guys probably don't care about losing a couple hundred after playing 2-5 all night. I am just saying that when you are talking about money - it is all relative. Sometimes playing 1-2 or 1-3 is a nice break for them where the can make any call they want without worrying about odds - most times it will work well for the lower limit tight agressive player - but the beats will be worse and more often. Especially if half the table is playing well below their bankroll. That aside - I agree with your approach 100%.

[wreaks]

Good points, and I know what you mean.

[bursell]

If you're going to reraise in the first hand, you have to make it more than $80. That's just inviting everyone to call, and the last thing you want to do is play AQo out of position in a 4-way pot.

The second hand is a bad beat, but I'm not sure how much value there is in betting on the river. You'll never get a better hand to fold, every ace except AK is a chop, and he's not likely to call with just a queen.