Hand #1: Perservance in Small Stakes Games

Small stakes games are characterized by players that play too many hands and go too far with them. Because of that, you’re guaranteed to get “sucked out on” a much higher percent of the time. That’s ok; without their mistakes you would never make a profit. But, they can drive you crazy.

Pre-flop:

Our hero is in late position with AK, and an early position player raises. Our hero re-raises, the big blind calls, and the original raiser also calls.

Flop:

The flop comes KT2 rainbow. Our hero really has this pot nailed. The pre-flop raiser bets after the blind checks, and our hero re-raises. The blind calls, and the pre-flop raiser 3-bets it. Hero just calls (the other player could have pocket tens).

Turn:

The turn brings another ten. It is very unlikely the pre-flop raiser has pocket tens now (looks like he has KQ), and he bets again. Hero raises, blind cold-calls, and the pre-flop raiser calls.

River:

The river brings an innocent looking 2. Both players check to our hero, who bets. It seems the pre-floper raiser has KQ (and the blind was probably on a draw). What’s this? The blind raises, the pre-flop raiser calls. The hero makes a crying call.

Result:

The blind wins with 52 off-suit. For some reason the pre-flop raiser decided to do all that raising with a QJ off-suit.

It’s hands like these that have the potential to devastate your bankroll. Not because you lost money on that hand (remember, these obvious mistakes actually increase your long-run earnings). No, they have the potential to drive you crazy, causing you to play carelessly to make up the deficit. Yes, this is “tilt”.

After some time and work, you’ll be able to shrug off these lost big pots and continue your normal solid play. For those times that you can’t, you must have the discipline to stand up and walk a way (or close the window, for you online players).

Or, you can distract yourself and write up the hand in WordPress ;-) .

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