A Rough Night At The Tables

By Wesley R. Young

I recently started participating in a regular ring game every Wednesday evening, and last week I got killed at the tables. We play different games, and this time we were playing $50 buy in no limit Texas holdem. Within 30 minutes I had lost $150, most of it to one player. Without being arrogant, I am a rather good no limit player and usually make most of the money that I take out of my bankroll at no limit, so this was an exceptionally bad evening.

I don’t know if it is sad or not, but the fact is that I didn’t receive what I consider a bad beat, nor did I play any hands poorly in my opinion. It was just one of those nights when my good hands were second best. If I remember correctly, I had pocket Jacks beaten by pocket Aces, a full house beaten by a higher full house, a flush beat by a higher flush and a straight beat by a full house (this one may have filled up on the river). By now you may be asking why I am putting you through this miserable time. My hope is that you can use this experience to improve your play.

Afterwards, one of the regular players and I were chatting and he commented on my play, stating that I didn’t appear to tilt at all and letting me know he had been there before also. In the past I had the tendency to tilt a little in these situations. I have now played enough to realize that short stints like this have very little to do with my long-term profitability and in the near future, it will be me with the best hand and my opponent with the second best hand. I also realized that it was time for me to walk away from this particular game for the night. This is also something I wouldn’t have done in the past, I would have stuck it out and tried to recover some of my losses.

The other thing that I have recently done is completely separate my poker bankroll from my living expenses. This may not seem like much to you, but in the past I would consider other things to do with money at the table at times instead of concentrating on the task at hand. Now the money I win or lose really doesn’t have anything to do with my life outside of poker, except when I have a strong run I have some extra money.

The point is that I was mentally prepared for a bad night before it happened, so it didn’t change anything. I realized when to walk away and I didn’t spend two days brooding over the outcome, as I would have in the past. As poker is a game of mental toughness and mental preparation, anything you can do to help yourself in these areas will pay off in the future. Consider how you would react in the above situation and prepare for a day like this now. Until next week, good luck at the tables!