Tommy Angelo
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Butchering 72o
tags: tommy angelo elements of poker
Have you ever played a hand so bad that you just can’t let it go? During the session you keep thinking about it. The next day you keep thinking about it. It’s like a festering infection. It’s like the first time somebody put those trick candles in your birthday cake. You blow out the flames, but then they just keep popping back up. At first it’s freaky, and annoying, and everyone is laughing, but I’m not having fun. Playing a hand bad and having it keep coming back in my mind is just like that, except it’s the entire universe laughing at me, and it’s definitely not fun. It’s like I’m drugged up on dammitol. That’s why, ever since my fifth birthday, I have dedicated my life to gaining the ability to stop the taunting, and I’m pretty far along, but I’m not all the way cured. There are times, like when I totally butcher 72o, a hand that I have misplayed many times, when the coming back comes back.
Like this one time, in Vegas. I was playing in a full $5-10 blinds no-limit hold’em game at The Venetian. Two players folded, and the next player opened for $30. This guy was as reliable as a coin flip. Heads he folds, tails he plays. Yes, he liked to see lots of flops, and yes, his hand range here was very wide, but he was by no means what I would call a donator. He did not get strung out for big money before the flop, or after it, without good cause. Even though he gave himself plenty of rope, he almost never hung himself with it.
Two players called behind him, and the small blind folded. I was in the big blind, and despite having 7-2 offsuit, I folded.
Do I suck or what? My image at the time was very tight, very disciplined, very much like the kind of guy who, if he were to raise from the big blind in this spot, to say, $150, the chances that anyone would call would be dang near zero. That was me. That was who I was at that moment. I was a guy who was looking at one hundred and five dollars sitting in the middle of the table as if it was just sitting there on a sidewalk, and neglected to pick it up.
Okay, thanks for listening to my bad play story. I think I can let that hand go now.
[This post is still growing, and it will very likely appear in BLUFF Magazine after it matures.]
published Sep 21, 2008 11:30pm by Tommy Angelo, Tommy Angelo
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- uhjustmint
- Deuce High
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7 posts
Joined 07/08
This has to be sarcasm...there are far worse plays than a missed steal spot. Definitely not something to lose sleep over. Now if you 3bet/get 4bet/then 5bet jam the 72o vs. this player then you have an issue.
- AAmucked
- Deuce High
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16 posts
Joined 06/08
I like this, because we so often ignore the plays that we don't make in poker and only focus on the EV of the ones that we do. Definitely something to think about, and analyze a session beyond the hands that we did play, and also look at the ones that we *didn't.*
- LuckyDevil
- Deuce High
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3 posts
Joined 01/08
[This post is still growing, and it will very likely appear in BLUFF Magazine after it matures.]
The 72o hand example reminds me of a movie that tries so hard to have an ending with a twist, it ends up being so obvious that you figure it out what that twist will be even before the opening credits are finished rolling. Not to mention that even though we should be looking for spots like this to improve our game, this type of spot is rarely, if ever, the kind that churn around and around in our head all session long, distracting us from playing our A game.
P.S. Loved your book.
- Borissenko
- Deuce High
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2 posts
Joined 08/08
Guess you hit the auto-fold button there, didn't you?^^
- ANGRY BORIS
- Pair of Deuces
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104 posts
Joined 07/08
Best articles in poker!!!! very cool.
cam
- jcl
- Deuce High
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15 posts
Joined 05/08
blah blah ur so cool cos u no how to squeeze with air blah blah. ive heard such great things about u as a mental coach and im sure u r for that, i dont doubt that at all. but seriously these articles suck no offence 
- TCfreedom
- Deuce High
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1 post
Joined 09/08
but seriously these articles suck no offence
If you have to add "no offence" to the end of a statement, it's probably offensive.
- BML
- Deuce High
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4 posts
Joined 09/08
"blah blah ur so cool cos u no how to squeeze with air blah blah. ive heard such great things about u as a mental coach and im sure u r for that, i dont doubt that at all. but seriously these articles suck no offence"
Seriously, your communication language, typing, and social skills suck no offense.
- Entity
- Founder
- Quad Deuces
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2795 posts
Joined 11/06
If you have to add "no offence" to the end of a statement, it's probably offensive.
It's almost as bad as prefacing a statement with "I don't mean to be rude, but..."
When was the last time that used in a non-rude fashion?
"I don't mean to be rude, but your friend is a real asshole."
IMOIMO.
Tommy's articles are what they always have been, a fun and brief glimpse into other ways to think about poker -- you're not going to get EV analysis or ways to play hands in better ways, but if you pay attention you'll usually get something out of it. I still remember the first time I read his article on folding AA preflop. It has made me a better player, despite the fact that it wasn't meant to advice me on how to play.
It may not be what you're looking for, but it's probably something that you could benefit from.
Rob
- Melville
- Deuce High
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62 posts
Joined 02/08
nh, tommy. I am really glad there's somebody out there.
- Sander
- Deuce High
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4 posts
Joined 05/08
Nice article. Although I agree with LuckyDevil that the final 'twist' is obvious from the moment you read the title, which detracts from the story albeit not from the lesson.
The people who are saying that this post sucks because folding 72o is never a big mistake have missed the point entirely.
- djcollin
- Deuce High
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76 posts
Joined 01/08
The misdirection of the story and the metaphor it provides hits so to me.
If I get to the point where the only bad plays I am making are not playing hands, I will have reached the mt everest. Of course, there's always the Himalayans left to conquer.
- ama0330
- Deuce High
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1 post
Joined 01/08
blah blah ur so cool cos u no how to squeeze with air blah blah. ive heard such great things about u as a mental coach and im sure u r for that, i dont doubt that at all. but seriously these articles suck no offence
We all get it, and you don't. Your loss.