POKER HELL = Making it to 3rd base but can't reach home

[WannaB_aPRO]

So picture this -

$40 buy in - Get $1,000 in chips. NL Tourney style. Blinds double every 15 minutes capping off @ $320 SM / $ 640 BB. Top player wins $200 & runner up $120.

I play moderate to extreme agressive depending on my card catch. In a table of 8 players we get down to 3 of us left. I have a slamming chip lead (approx. 20 to 1). The other two players are neck & neck. All of a sudden I'm getting called by 1 player on my agressiveness. I'm only catching decent cards by this time (the great hands are gone). The other player folds 10 hands in a row (Can we say EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE HERE). Little by little the 1 player nickles & dimes me down to a 5 to 1 chip lead (probably b/c I should have folded more than I played). The other player who keeps folding everything is making me madder-than-hadies. Finally, I took a bad beat - that I did to myself. I became too pushy & too agressive. Then I slipped down to 2nd highest chip rank and played myself right out of the game.

Also, many other times after a snotty remark (antagonizing table talk) by a player or taking a bad fall (2nd to a better hand) - I don't like the term Bad beat, I lose all momentum - my sails fall and I never recover during that particular game.

How do I get over this? Is something wrong with me? I can't understand folding hand after hand - All of her cards couldn't possibly have been that bad.


HELP

[Pelion]

If people start to call you all the time then you cant keep "stealing".
If the blinds are still reasonable small compared to your stack size then you need to get more patient when you start getting calls. Recognise your loose image and use it. Wait for that 1 good hand that someone will call down because they think you are still stealing and you will double up.

If the blinds are too big to wait for a premium hand, and your image is too loose to steal effectivly then youre a little screwed. Basically its going to come down to picking a pretty good hand when people look weak and just pushing preflop. Hopefully youll take the blinds down but youll probably find yourself getting allin with someone else in a 50:50 and just crossing your fingers. There isnt much you can do about it except get lucky.

The only thing you could try is to play tighter early on when the blinds are small, so that by the time they are big enough to be worth stealing you have a tight enough image to actually make people want to fold.
Even then youll probably just find that the other players are either so unobservant that they dont notice your tightness, or they are observent enough to notice you shift gears.

You probably just need a bit more gambool in you.

[jyms]

fold, fold, fold and let them fight it out, If the small stack can do this so can you. If your agression is getting called slow down and make them come to you. Wait for the premium hands and make them pay to see a flop. You can't be blinded out with that kind of chip lead if another small stack is as tight as you say.

[Muzzard]

I'm in agreement with Trainer_jyms, just let the samll stacks battle it out with each other. If the last player can afford to keep folding so can you. Only play premium hands till one of them gets knocked out then go back to being agressive![/quote]

[WannaB_aPRO]

Thank you all for your advice. I used it this weekend and was able to double my money ($10 / $20 Limit Game) and make some great folds - YAHOO! I was agressive when I could be and passive-agressive when I had a weaker hand. I was able to buy some pots without pushing too hard and getting called down too much. The tighter play image really helped.