Folding Pocket Aces

Over the past two days I was fortunate enough to notice my A game had progressed to a new level. My reads in various situations were correct more often then not. I was getting paid off with my good hands, and I was finding good folds base on my reads. It felt fantastic. I had started working on a couple of key points in my game which I thought were weak for which i thought I could reap great benefits if I even improved the slightest.

Those two key points were developping reads and stop roboting. So I went down from playing 6 to 8 tables of 6 max, to playing only 4 and I was focused in the hands I was playing, but even more focused in the hands I wasn't. I think this last part is a very key concept that a lot of micro stakes, maybe even small stake players could improve on. Lots of players will try to build reads while they're in a hand versus someone and I think it's probably the worst time to do that. You should build your reads on someone while he's in a hand against someone else and then use those reads while you are in a hand against them. Another thing that's important to note is that you can build reads on two maybe three players at once if you pay more attention to the hands you aren't playing! That's definitely +++EV. +EV cause you're building reads, +EV cause you're building reads on more then one player and +EV cause it's not your money that's in the pot!

But unfortunately, with my new found A game, I discovered my TILT. I have a very specific kind of TILT. I don't get mad, I don't start screaming at the screen or start bashing my mouse. When I TILT, I simply just stop carring. I say "eff it" and then I just start playing poorly. I try and make my opponents fold what I know are better hands instead of simply folding my own hand. I try and trap players with good hands, which I think they actually notice since it's a big difference from my usual style of play. One good thing about this TILT situation is that I also discovered when I TILT. I rarely TILT when I get sucked out on, unless I've been sucked out on multiple hands in a short period of time. My main TILT situation which flips the A game switch off and the C game switch on is when I feel I played a hand horribly. I have such high standards when it comes to my game play that as soon as I do anything which I feel is a C game type play, I lose it. The worst thing about it, is that I know I lose it! But since I stopped carring I keep playing. That might actually be considered an F game. Knowing I'm playing my C game and not carring = F game.

Here's an example of what happens when I play a horrible hand and I TILT:

The hand in question was played vs a player that seemed good. I say "seemed good" simply because I hadn't seen him do anything out of line yet, but there were some moments where his lines didn't really make sense but since he didn't get to showdown I wasn't about to get a good solid read. He was playing 30/14 with 7% 3B but was only 3B from the blinds. Most of his aggression would come on the turn and he seemed to play most flops passively. I should have realised that his 3B on the flop was a sign of strenght and should have folded my hand.


Hand #1
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814816
The
Official DeucesCracked.com
Hand History Converter

BB:
$11.47
UTG: $10.51
MP: $9.04
CO: $6.44
Hero
(BTN): $23.60
SB: $6.56

Pre Flop:
($0.15) Hero is BTN with Q A
3 folds,
Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, BB calls $0.30

Flop:
($0.85) 4 T 7 (2 players)
BB bets $0.70, Hero raises to $2.10, BB raises to $4.30, Hero raises to $23.20 all in, BB calls $6.77 all in

Turn: ($22.99) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)

River:
($22.99) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final
Pot: $22.99
BB shows T T
(a full house, Tens full of Sevens)
Hero shows Q A (two pair, Queens and Sevens)
BB wins $21.85
(Rake: $1.14)

After that hand was over I started getting upset with myself. I basically turned my draw into a bluff and lost a stack because of it. There's no reason to play a hand this way at the micros. Most players will still pay you off when you hit your draw on later streets. I should have simply flatted his lead out flop bet and played the hand in position instead. C game move.

Soon after is when I started playing horrible. These 4 next hands litterally happened withing about 10 minutes of eachother.

Hand #1
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814815
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $20.13
MP: $13.30
CO: $10.00
Hero (BTN): $11.93
SB: $4.25
BB: $12.54

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BTN with 3 3
1 fold, MP raises to $0.30, CO calls $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.50) 6 3 4 (5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets $1, CO calls $1, Hero raises to $3, SB folds, BB calls $3, MP folds, CO folds

Turn: ($9.50) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $8.63 all in, BB calls $8.63

River: ($26.76) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $26.76
Hero shows 3 3 (a straight, Three to Seven)
BB shows K Q (a flush, King high)
BB wins $25.45
(Rake: $1.31)

Hand #2
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 814817
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

BTN: $11.61
Hero (SB): $10.35
BB: $10.34
UTG: $11.13
CO: $11.75

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with J K
UTG raises to $0.30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.90, BB calls $0.80, UTG calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.70) J 5 5 (3 players)
Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50, UTG folds

Turn: ($5.70) K (2 players)
Hero bets $3, BB calls $3

River: ($11.70) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $4.95 all in, BB calls $4.94 all in

Final Pot: $21.58
Hero shows J K (two pair, Kings and Jacks)
BB shows A A (two pair, Aces and Fives)
BB wins $20.53
(Rake: $1.05)

Hand #3
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 814818
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $21.65
BB: $10.00
UTG: $12.16
MP: $4.35
Hero (CO): $11.80
BTN: $10.00

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is CO with T T
UTG calls $0.10, MP raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.60) 9 2 J (5 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70, BTN raises to $3.50, SB folds, UTG folds, MP folds, Hero calls $2.80

Turn: ($9.30) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $8 all in, BTN calls $6.20 all in

River: ($21.70) 8 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $21.70
Hero shows T T (two pair, Tens and Nines)
BTN shows Q J (two pair, Jacks and Nines)
BTN wins $20.64
(Rake: $1.06)

Hand #4
Poker Stars $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players - View hand 814819
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

SB: $10.81
BB: $10.05
Hero (UTG): $10.30
CO: $10.00
BTN: $17.88

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is UTG with A Q
Hero raises to $0.40, CO calls $0.40, 3 folds

Flop: ($0.95) J 2 A (2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, CO calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.15) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.30, CO raises to $3.40, Hero calls $2.10

River: ($8.95) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.90 all in, CO calls $5.60 all in

Final Pot: $20.15
Hero shows A Q (a pair of Aces)
CO shows A J (two pair, Aces and Jacks)
CO wins $19.17
(Rake: $0.98)

View all 5 hands

Fortunately for me I had been having a good day so I finished the day about down only 1.5 BI. But oddly enough, I still felt great about it for two reasons. I found my new A game and I found my source of TILT. Now all I need to do is be disciplined enough to do some right quitting.

EDIT: Read this blog post from FenderJaguar. He touches a lot on the importance of getting reads.