Confidence at an all time low so playing badly and clueless.

[smashedagain]

This probably aint gonna be your usual pha but  please spend the time and effort because i want some opinions ty.

Last night I dropped down to play a £150 at Dtd. The last few weeks I have had some great fun in these comps as people tend to be a lot more relaxed and up for the craic. Having said that we have had a couple of slow rolls and some definate angle shooting going on by people who on investigation have zero hendonmob flags so I have issued a couple of yellow cards and bollockings. I am sat in seat 9 and never even noticed PeeJay sit down as I have been talking bollocks and laughing at Amjad getting a young valet to pack in half way through who first shift just because after 3 attempts she could not manage to make a hot cup of tea. Tbf she did say she was gonna pack in at the end of the shift anyway because it was not the job for her.

I get involved in a hand and being results driven hate my fold but sort of thought it might be good poker at the time but am probably being too nitty as I am playing with scared money.

The villans in the hand are:

PeeJay. An excellent player but seems to be lacking live experience and confidence. I tell the table not to under estimate him as he is easily the 2nd best player on the table and will be dangerous if he gets chips. He has late reg'd having just arrived from Blackpool and has lost 11k of his 30k. He is looking ready to blow and I have alerted the table to the fact that he is gonna blow soon. Just as an aside I loved his exit hand were he was accused of angel shooting having appeared to check his 2nd nut flush on the turn and roger chexks behind. floor is called and then it gets a bit messy culminating in peejay jamming the river when the 4th club comes and his opponent has the bare  . I saw exactly what went on. To the dealers eye and the other players at the table PeeJay was tanking for about 30 seconds on the turn when he makes the K hi flush then taps the table twice. What actually happened was he was riffling his chips and as his hand slides down to start the riffle again he did not actually get his finger under the bottom chip so moves his hand down almost instantly. It looked like the double tap of a check but obv was not. Floor is called Pam rules with PeeJay and lets him bet the turn which Roger spite calls and obv rivers the nuts.

Roger. Old boy steady away player quite easy to put on a hand bets if he has it folds if he does not sort of thing. Loves to limp call and has already limp called A 10 when I 3 bet with QQ, then checked down an ace hi flop after I cbet. He is decent straight up n down chap did gloat a bit after taking PeeJay out in the above hand and then went on to final.

Myself. Low in confidence, never getting above starting stack  not playing my A game as a consequence thinking I ain't won a race in 18 months and forgetting about all the times I get there as a 25% chance when jamming a short stack etc.

PeeJay BB seat 1 19k
Me SB seat 2  28k
Roger utg.  45k

Roger limps utg for 800 and picks up 3 callers before it gets round to me in the SB with    .  I decide that if I just make up the small blind hoping that PeeJay might see that getting a jam through would add 5k to his stack and would only get called by a premium hand which would be unlikely as we had all limped.

I limp and PeeJay jams as expected and I already have the chips mentally over the line to call PeeJay but Roger starts tanking. After a while he calls the 19k (does not move all in for his 45k) and it folds round to me.

So I have under repped my hand and am left with this spot. I let PeeJay know I had set this up to snap call him to try and gauge some reaction from Roger. All the time I am looking at Roger who ain't in the best of health but he definatly is trying to force himself to look calm but he definatly ain't comfortable. I have seen plenty of old wizards limp with aces and kings expecting some young lad to raise it up and then they move all in but its a shitty play and telling roger that he's too nice a gent to do that I pretty much know he ain't got AA or KK when he tells me he could be doing that.

So I am not worried about PeeJay and pretty sure Roger would have raised with QQ utg too but still elected to fold thinking I could easily be up against 3 over cards despite getting the awesome price to call. I hate being out of confidence and so in certain about my game.

I ain't a big fan of the murder mystery in pha so I will tell you straight up what they had.

PeeJay had A8
Roger  had  AQ

Board runs out xx8xJ giving PeeJay the pot and me a headache.

Thx for reading a bit tldr and unusual

[tight4better]

I think you answered you're own questions in this thread mate.

My 2p worth is that you've played the hand this way to get a shove, and whilst another guy HAS called you've got to be thinking he could be doing the same as you, while AQ isn't as strong as JJ I'd take it vs a guy who I think is ready to implode.

You read roger for NOT AA/KK/QQ so even with 3 overcards I think this is still a spot to get your chips in and HOLD especially when Peej could be holding some of Roger's outs. Also it looks like you've got just over 20 big blinds left?

Nothing wrong with a good moan once in a while, feel like going off on one sometimes myself as I'm really not having a good run at the moment, just do anything you can to keep yourself motivated

TL:DR. Don't let running bad make you do things differently than normal.~

Chin up mate, see you soon at DTD again hopefully

[smashedagain]

Ty. Tbh it never even entered my head that they could both be holding Ax.

[tight4better]

Ty. Tbh it never even entered my head that they could both be holding Ax.

It's probably why roger was hesitant because of the whole "Shit I only have ace high" thoughts people have when moving all-in/calling big bets

[Tal]

AK/AQ is Roger's most likely holding here for a limp UTG and call (but not jam) by a long distance. Premium pair seems so unlikely.

Without sounding like one of the kids, you're some distance ahead of PeeJay's range in this spot IMO and you know that because you tried to set this situation up.

You decided to induce the shove so that you could call off and win a race (or slightly better). When Roger calls, you now have possibly a third overcard but a third set of chips.

Your plan was to call (and fade like a hero). So follow your heart.

Yours sincerely, an ice cream.

[smashedagain]

Lol. Yeah went fishing and caught more than I expected

[paulhouk03]

Playing when ur confidence is low is pretty hard going


gl with it jase

[MC]

If their hands were face up and they had AKs and KQs, it's still profitable for you to get it in, and this is the worst case scenario aside from pj having QQ+, based on your read of Roger. I know when you're running bad it can seem like you'll never win in these spots, but I've always found I do better when I embrace variance than when I try to avoid it.

Funking for you to get some run good soon mate.

[JK]

Its very very hard to play poker when your confidence is low. The most important thing to remember is that no matter how bad you're running, if you make +EV decisions, you'll win.

This isn't a nice spot for someone with a lot of confidence lol. Old guy limp calls an all in utg is never a fun scenario to be faced with. However, I think we can call pretty happily here purely due to the fact he's tanked.

You say here you're not worried about PJ, but I don't think peej is ever a million miles out of line here. However, we have a 9k overlay vs UTG who, IMO, probably has a better range for our hand. Im expecting him to play 99/TT and AJ-AK this way, maybe QQ+, but you said you didnt think he had KK/AA so maybe just QQ.

Iv typed this on my phone so probably havent put it how i wanted it to. Basically i think we should call and be happy about it, however, gut instinct is a bitch and 50% of the time we'll regret our decision whatever we do (call and lose, fold and win).

Dont dwell too much on these hands mate. Theyre ugly spots and the best thing to do is go with what your telling yourself deep down. Obviously get opinions, but dont be too results orientated and lose sleep

[Yian]

I think even with very little information it's a call and with everything you've said it's more of a call but i think you already know that. As for morale, even though it sucks to lose, I try to base my satisfaction/disappointment on how I've played. I think most would agree we are more frustrated when we make a mistake as opposed to getting coolered.

You make a good plan in this hand which when you follow through with it, even if the guy ends up having a better hand it doesn't make it a bad call with the info you had to go on. Certainly wouldn't be banging my head on the steering wheel over it.

[bobAlike]

If their hands were face up and they had AKs and KQs, it's still profitable for you to get it in, and this is the worst case scenario aside from pj having QQ+, based on your read of Roger. I know when you're running bad it can seem like you'll never win in these spots, but I've always found I do better when I embrace variance than when I try to avoid it.

Funking for you to get some run good soon mate.

This whole post is +Ev especially the bolded bit. How can you beat variance if you don't tackle it head on.

[MANTIS01]

If you want to live you cannot be afraid to die

FWIW my advice is to try playing a comp without opening your mouth, lol. Is that possible? While concentrating on having banter with the table you miss a player sitting down. When you realise the player is there you furnish your oppos with free info about his abilities. You then tell the table about his state of mind and that he is about to blow. So when UTG makes his move who knows if your words have tipped the balance. You set up the trap, but because you announce it to the table UTG gets to execute the plan first. If your perception tells you what somebody is thinking why are you passing that info onto everybody else? Adding additional information to the game is only making it harder to piece back together when making a decision. You even announce the plan you limped to snap thereby furnishing oppos with free info about how ur playing. All these words are influencing the game and I don't really see how it's being influenced in your favour. You shudda announced bb was a rock.

Having a laugh is all well and good, when you are running normal having fun at the table makes for a great night. However, I don't see the fun in running bad. So I would strip it back to poker and focus just on that. This issuing yellow cards and policing the table, taking the piss, playing the clown and having jokes with everybody is winning you money how? Use your skills for your benefit alone.

Playing this comp because it's relaxed and up for the craic is a shit attitude when you are in a rut. These people are taking the food outta your kids mouth. Yo Jason, you need to get the eye of the tiger back.

[cambridgealex]

Great post Mantis. Agree with every word.

Yikes.

[TightEnd]

I quote

"PeeJay. An excellent player but seems to be lacking live experience and confidence. I tell the table not to under estimate him as he is easily the 2nd best player on the table and will be dangerous if he gets chips."


Jason, and I mean this in the best possible way, STFU telling the table what you know about other players

It's a game of incomplete information. You have a piece of information, namely detailed knowledge of a dangerous player, that others on the table might not have. Why give them this information?

Just keep quiet and use what you now for your benefit not for helping anyone else


and I agree with Mantis. Shock.

[cambridgealex]

Also, I'm sure you're just levelling with your remarks about PJ, but lacking in confidence is definitely a bad read from you. He'll be sat in that seat knowing he's the best player at the table and very likely to be one of the top 5 in the tournament. Which he is.

Experience? Of course, he's like 14 years old. He's still probably played more hands than you

Hate to say nice things about him too, trust me, he's one of the last people I wanna arse kiss!