I can only speak for myself, but I know that when I’m in the midst of a particularly bad session, my whole thought-process changes.  I try not to let these mental annoyances affect how I play the actual game, but there certainly is a shift in personal confidence.

Take for instance a hand I played today.  It was in an 8-16 limit hold’em game, and I was running cold.  It seemed to be just one of those days where I couldn’t find traction, no matter what I did.  Raising, calling, check-raising and folding all had the same outcome: a loss.  So, with perhaps an eighth of my stack still intact, I tried again:  I raised pre-flop with Kc-10c.  I got called in four spots.  The flop was Q-J-3 rainbow.  I bet, and got called by two players.

The turn was an Ace, giving me the nuts.  I bet again, and the player behind me raised.  The third player in the hand folded.  Let’s pause here for a moment.  I have the stone-cold nuts.  I have exactly three big bets left in my stack right now.  I’m heads-up against a player who raised me.  This is an almost perfect scenario for any player!  But here’s how the preceding session-events alter my thought-process from that of a confident, winning player:

Running-well guy:

Action:  Re-raise, three-bets

Thought-process:  Hell yes!  Finally, I can build a pot with the nuts!  This guy is donking into me with some two-pair type hand.  See you at the river, buddy, where I’ll get some more of your money…

Running-bad guy:

Action:  Re-raise, three-bets

Thought-process:  Ahh, shit.  Well, I have the nuts; I know I’m ahead right now.  I kinda’ want him to fold here.  I just wanna’ win one pot!  Just once, please god!  Don’t pair the river!!

You see, the play is exactly the same.  Of course you must re-raise; there’s no doubt about that.  But when things are going well, you’re thrilled to see all the money going into the pot with the best hand.  And this is the absolutely correct way to feel.  I should feel the same way when I’m losing!  But I don’t!  When I’m losing, I’m not thinking about the nice pot I’m about to win; I’m thinking about how I could possibly lose this hand, too!  I’d rather just take it down right there, let’s not give this guy a chance to hit whatever crap he needs to hit!  I’m scared, you see?  It’s been happening to me all day long.

The river, of course, paired the board.  It was a Queen.  I bet, and he raised me all-in for my last $16.  He had Q-J.

The outcome doesn’t necessarily justify my total lack of confidence.  But even though you need to play the hand exactly the same way no matter what, sometimes it just isn’t your day, and you know it…

ALSO, FOR ANY READERS WHO ENJOY MY BLOGS, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW, SLIGHTLY ALTERED WEBSITE:

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Short and sweet:

A man at my 8-16 limit hold’em table had been playing for roughly two hours.  He bought-in for $300, shortly after I sat down.  He was now down to about $40.  The man next to him just went broke, and a new player took the available seat.  The new player, trying to be friendly, turns to this man and says, “Hey, you winning?”

Yes, douchebag.  I’m winning.  I bought in for $12.

Really?  Who looks at a man with a stack that small and a scowl on his face and forgoes the inevitable conclusion that he’s clearly losing, and chooses instead to make the stranger verbalize just how terrible he’s done over the last few hours.  You have seen the overwhelming evidence: hardly any chips and an angry demeanor. Use your lethargic brain, and move to step two: evidence interpretation.  It’s really very simple.  He’s losing.  Leave him alone.

ALSO, FOR ANY READERS WHO ENJOY MY BLOGS, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW, SLIGHTLY ALTERED WEBSITE:

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Federated Sports & Gaming announced yesterday that they have acquired the Heartland Poker Tour.  The HPT began operations in Minnesota back in 2005 and up until 2010 hosted several events each year in MN or in the 5-state area.  The HPT has since grown into a national brand.  Here is the Press Release posted on FS&G’s website yesterday.

Los Angeles, CA (June 14, 2011)­– Federated Sports + Gaming (FS+G) announced today that it has acquired Heartland Poker Tour (HPT), the nation’s leading grassroots poker tour and one of the largest independent producers of poker content on television.

“HPT is one of the great success stories in the poker industry,” said Jeffrey Pollack, chairman of Federated Sports + Gaming.  “In a relatively short period of time, the Heartland Poker Tour has firmly established itself as an important national brand with a passionate, loyal player base. We are committed to poker entertainment in the broadest sense and to serving players and fans across the spectrum. The addition of HPT to the FS+G family fits perfectly with our approach.”

Founded in 2005 by entrepreneurs Todd Anderson and Greg Lang, HPT provides poker enthusiasts across the country with a televised tournament experience that prides itself on affordable buy-ins. HPT is currently filming its seventh season and is syndicated to more than 100 million US homes each week, as well as markets throughout Europe, the Middle East and the Caribbean. 

Both Anderson and Lang, along with the rest of the HPT management and production team based in Fargo, North Dakota, will continue to lead the HPT, manage its day-to-day operations, deliver first-class events and television programming, and serve the tour’s mission of “Real People, Unreal Money.”

“I believe our partnership with FS+G goes a long way to round out the American poker market,” said Todd Anderson, president and co-founder of Heartland Poker Tour. “Our tour, combined with the new FS+G professional poker league, creates an offering that serves aspiring enthusiasts of the game, as well as top poker professionals. This alliance will create bigger fields for HPT events, and even greater television coverage and viewership, which will ultimately benefit players, fans and the game.”

HPT has hosted more than 81,500 entrants, awarded more than $28.6 million in prize money, produced more than 170 hours of “high quality poker” television content, and staged nearly 90 events since 2005. 

“Uniting with Federated Sports + Gaming is a natural fit because we share the common goal of innovating and growing the poker market,” said Greg Lang, executive producer and co-founder of Heartland Poker Tour. “As entrepreneurs with an established history of forging an independent path, we look forward to breaking new ground in poker by leveraging the talents of the accomplished team that FS+G has assembled.  As poker players, we are fired up about taking HPT to a new level of excitement and fun for our players and fans.”

Earlier this year, FS+G, in conjunction with the Palms Casino Resort, announced the launch of a revolutionary new professional poker league to serve more than 200 of the world’s top live tournament players. The first of four inaugural tournaments kicks off this August. A complete roster for players that have qualified for Season 1 of the league can be found on the FS+G website at: http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/season-one-roster.  The professional league’s detailed player qualifying criteria can be found at: http://www.federatedinc.com/poker-league/qualification-criteria. 

The four professional league main events will feature different formats of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, including six-handed play, a heads-up tournament with an innovative seeding structure and a special multi-format tournament to round out the season.  Each event week will include a Pro-Am event, a charity tournament, and a $20,000 buy-in rake-free main event (http://www.federatedinc.com/our-companies/poker-league/event-schedules).

The following hand came up recently in an 8-16 limit hold’em game.

I was in middle-position with 10-10 and open-raised.  Two players behind me called, as did the big-blind.  We saw the flop four-handed.

The flop was Jh-9c-2s.  The big-blind checked to me, and I bet.  Both players behind me called, and the big-blind folded.  The turn was the 4c.  I bet again.  Again, both players behind me called.  The river was the 10s, giving me a set.  I bet once again.  The player directly behind me folded, and the button now raised me.  I thought for a moment and just called.  I turned over my set, and he rolled over Kc-Qc for the nuts.  I quietly turned my cards over and tossed them into the muck.

Immediately, however, the man who won got incredibly defensive:

“I had two over-cards on the flop!”

“I had a straight draw!”

“I turned a flush-draw!”

Yes, I know that.  I can read the board.  But more importantly, I didn’t say a single word.  Why did he get so defensive against the verbal inquisition of… nobody?

I’ve seen this happen with some regularity.  After a player wins, he will immediately begin defending his play, despite being the only one who seems to care.  The reason this happens, I believe, is two-fold.  One, players often are tongue-lashed for their play by a tilting opponent.  So even when nobody says a single word to them, their immediate reaction is to defend themselves against a perceived attack on their poker-playing ability.  They have been berated before, and they’re going to nip this in the butt before anybody else even gets a chance to open their mouth.  But this also seems to occur specifically when the winning player feels as though he may have done something wrong, or gotten particularly lucky.  My opponent knows he got there on the river, having had nothing but King-high before catching the 10, and he feels mildly bad about that.  (Or maybe he doesn’t feel bad… but he does know that this is exactly the type of hand that gets him into trouble, socially).  You wouldn’t hear the same immediate personal justification if a man had K-K and flopped top-set.  He doesn’t feel he needs to validate himself in that scenario.

Either way, I don’t think people need to justify the way they played a hand.  The way you play your cards may infuriate me, but hey, they’re your cards…

ALSO, FOR ANY READERS WHO ENJOY MY BLOGS, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW, SLIGHTLY ALTERED WEBSITE, WHERE I NUMERICALLY RANK ALL MY MUNDANE OBSERVATIONS:

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It has been a great battle all year thus far at the top of the leaderboard.  Kye Longtin continues to chip away with 13 POY cashes and passed Rob WazWaz for 2nd place this week.  Jason Seitz[photo] still holds the top spot.  Melander has been making a strong push as well in recent weeks.

The next major tournement isn’t until August so these players will have to continue grinding the weekly tournaments if they want to stay on top!

The under-the-gun player in an 8-16 game raises.  One player calls and another player three-bets.  The rest of the players behind him, including the goof-ball on the button, fold.

Three players see the 7-7-3 flop.  The turn is a Jack, and the river is another 7.  Action completed, the three-bet player with Q-Q scoops the pot with his full-house.  At this moment, the goof-ball on the button says to him, with complete seriousness: “Nice three-bet.  I had 7-2.”

Sure, goof-ball folded quads.  That always stings.  But viewing through the hindsight lens, every hand looks great!  What he seems to be suggesting is that, had the player with Q-Q not three-bet pre-flop, he would’ve called two bets cold with 7-2.  Wow!  Nice three-bet?! Really?!

Either he really is a bad enough player to call two-bets cold with the worst hand in poker, or is embarrassingly applying revisionist history, as if he knew his pile of garbage would turn into the nuts.  Sure, he knew there was a chance he could get quads with his hand, but ahhhhhhh, three-bets is too much.  GOOD RAISE, SIR!  Nice protection.

I would love to have heard this same conversation take place pre-flop, just as the goof-ball begrudgingly mucks his hand:  ”Nice three-bet.  I had 7-2.”

“Uhhh, okay.  Good fold?”

ALSO, FOR ANY READERS WHO ENJOY MY BLOGS, PLEASE CHECK OUT MY NEW WEBSITE, A PERSONAL BLOG SITE:

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Running Aces Harness park will be hosting a $100+$15+10 NLHE tournament on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 19th.

The Running Aces Summit Father’s Day Tournament Flyer is available for download.