Tiltabilly

Filed Under: Poker

I was going to answer the questionnaire that's making the rounds but I decided to play poker instead. I would have saved myself a few buyins if I'd just answered the damn questions. If anyone isn't over saturated with answers yet, leave me a comment and I'll answer them too.

I went on what is becoming a more increasingly less frequent bout of tilt last night. What surprised me is what triggered the tilt as I've never experienced it this way before.

Everything began innocently enough but I quickly found myself down two buy-ins. My decision making wasn't flawed (beyond my rudimentary knowledge of the game anyway), things were just going the way of my opponents by the time all 5 cards hit the board.

I dug in for the long haul and had worked my way back to within striking distance of even. That is when a player, seated directly across from me, called me out for sucking out on him in some huge pot. This had presumably happened within the last few days and he just kept hammering away in the chat box. Calling me the usual "donkey", "fish", and "luckbox". I suggested to him that with his hostility level so high, perhaps poker wasn't his game. This didn't deter him though and I finally decided to peruse the Poker Tracker database for proof of his allegations. The only record I had for him were this night, at this table. I decided that he was simply trying to goad me so I'd play back at him since I was one of the two largest stacks at that particular table. He later began in on the chip leader himself so I figure I was correct in my assumptions.

Eventually I was dealt the grandaddy of starting hands in pocket aces. Being horribly out of position (under the gun) I threw out a 5x bet and the only caller was my best friend across the table. The flop came K6J rainbow and being supremely confident I made my standard 3/4 pot continuation bet. A call from him and the turn brings another Jack. I'm a little worried at this point since he would definitely call me with something like QJ in this situation preflop and on the flop.

Again I fired about 3/4 the pot and now he raises about 2.5 times my bet. At this point I make a huge (I did say huge) mistake in the hand and just call. My opponent only has about 1/4 the pot left in his stack and it's obviously going in on the river. My proper play, based on my read, should have just been to fold. Instead I see a second 6 hit the river and I check fold to what he has left.

I feel I really misplayed the hand but then my opponent shows me pocket deuces and asks if the board is good. I know what your thinking... of course you went on tilt. I did not. Not yet anyway. I chalked it up to just being outplayed. He figured he could take the pot away from me and he was right. Granted my confidence was a little shaken but I continued to play relatively well. A few orbits later he leaves the table.

That was the trigger. I'm not entirely sure why. Could be I lost the opportunity to get my money back (I know, once it's in the pot it's no longer yours). Could be that the earlier hand finally got to me. 3o minutes later and 3.5 buyins down from the start I finally forced myself to bed. I still don't know why, but I do know that this morning I was still fuming when I woke up. I'm also not sure if I should play tonight. We have a cub scout fundraiser to go to so I'll decide when we get back.

I'm sure there was something other than my horrible play that I should have learned from this experience. I haven't figured it out yet. If I ever do, I'll let you know.