Steam Points... take advantage

A subject I rarely read about, or hear players talking about enough is your opponents' Steam Points.

Their steam point is the time where they lose control, where they've had enough. They begin throwing their chips into the pot, as if to say, "I'm sick of this... take them, I'm going to keep losing them anyways!"

We should always be keeping an eye out for this very lucrative opportunity. When do they begin steaming their $$ away, why do they begin steaming it away, and how can we take advantage of their lack of discipline?

Too often, we focus solely on our own steam, and how not to (which is important), but it sometimes doesn't allow us to exploit the emotional weakness of our opponent. Looking for, knowing why, and understanding our opponents steam points is a huge part of what fills our pockets in the long-term.

When the steam begins... boiling has to follow!

Thoughts?

-Dayne

I disagree with it not being spoken about much, I think its covered fairly often, but I do agree with being aware of it and taking advantage. I've made this guy lay down a few bluffs lately, and he's bad enough to begin with:

75/12, notes: l/3-bet v's 2 with ATo OTB then calls push from orig raiser for 3xhis 3bet. min-3bet button raise with A2s SB, PSB on A67r flop, calls push.

$0.15/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG daywalkker ($24.75)
UTG 1 NIEDER67 ($18.45)
CO AndreSiToOo ($14.10)
BTN Hero ($21.86)
SB ahmima ($20.20)
BB harrie97 ($59.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.40, 6 players) Hero is BTN :ah: :9h:
daywalkker calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.15, ahmima calls $1, 1 fold, daywalkker calls $0.90

Flop: :4h: :as: :2s: ($3.70, 3 players)
ahmima checks, daywalkker checks, Hero bets $3, ahmima raises to $12.70, daywalkker folds, Hero raises to $20.71, ahmima calls $6.35

Turn: :6c: ($43.46, 2 players)

River: :ts: ($43.46, 2 players)

Final Pot: $43.46
Hero shows: :ah: :9h:
ahmima shows: :2d: :8d:

Hero wins $41.41 ( won $19.55 )
ahmima lost -$20.20
daywalkker lost -$1.15

I've lost a lot of pots to people who I thought were steaming because they had lost 2 big pots in a row, but in fact this time the flopped the nuts...