Managing Tilt: Stay or Leave

[Aerenel]

I am going to describe a playing situation where I am 50/50 on whether I made the right decision. My question is, would you have handled this by simply taking your licks and leaving, or doing what I did and stick it out?

The Situation: A $25 NL table, 9-handed. Myself, 2 TAGs, 1 average, 4 total fish, and 1 maniac. I am sitting directly left of the maniac. Very profitable.

My Assessment: The maniac is going all-in preflop ~ 40% of hands. He's re-raising ~ 75% of hands. I decide to wait it out and let him walk into his own death trap.

The Tilt Factor: I get my chance. I flop a set of 6's on a board of J26, rainbow. Like clockwork, he goes all-in. I know I have him beat. I quickly call. He flips over J7o. I feel good. The turn comes a 7. I feel slight alarm, but re-assure myself there is no way he will hit runner runner for a boat on me. Not after an hour of patiently watching him steal blinds. The river comes a J. He calls me a shmuck in the chatbox that I never spoke to him before in. This does not make me happy.

What I Did: I admit, I was furious. I had doubled up in my time at the table, and instead I was busted. But I tried to think straight. If I could just maintain discipline, I could take my money back and more. I bought back in and went back to waiting.

What Happened: I got one chance to call his all-in preflop again, with 77, but I thought I was at best 67/33 and more likely 55/45. Someone did call him, and I would have tripled up, but I still feel it was safer to not call when there so many people to act behind me. Shortly afterward, he left the table and it was no longer profitable.

Side Note: A few hands after he busted me, he went allin with pocket tens on the flop against another deep stack who had flopped a set of jacks. He hit runner runner for quad tens. What are the odds of both of these freak occurences happening in the span of a single table rotation?

- Aerenel

[Aerenel]

I'd like to apologize for such an obtuse message. This was posted in heat of tilt, and I shouldn't be posting those types of messages on this forum. Maybe next time I'll send it to the bad beats forum, though.

I am still curious about your opinions on sticking it through when you know the table is profitable, or leaving to cut your losses.

[garveya1]

The best thing to do in that situation is to just tell yourself that you got it in with the best of it and that is all you can do. You can't control the cards you can only get your money in when it is most profitable.

The guy got very lucky and I'm not sure what the exact odds of this happening are but it is safe to assume it is very slim. Ask yourself: "Would I have done anything differently if I could have seen his cards?" If you answer No then don't sweat it. If Yes, then figure out what you will do differently next time.

When I am on tilt but I know the situation is profitable I simply tighten up my game for awhile while I cool down(pretty much only playing pocket pairs, I'll even fold AK to a raise so I don't put myself in a postion to lose money with a reraise -> failed c-bet). You don't want to have to make any big decisions while you are in that state of mind. Once you regain your composure then get ready to go back to war.

[badape]

I'd like to apologize for such an obtuse message. This was posted in heat of tilt, and I shouldn't be posting those types of messages on this forum. Maybe next time I'll send it to the bad beats forum, though.

I am still curious about your opinions on sticking it through when you know the table is profitable, or leaving to cut your losses.

If everyone knows how to play poker would not be profitable. These maniacs are what makes poker profitable. Just go take a smoke break/drink/walk and play ur best poker after the little break. If you go on tilt then you'll do one of two things: Keep losing and blame all your problems to luck or play like a maniac urself and get lucky on someone else(which kinda contradict ur reasons for being on tilt in the first place). Its all a part of poker

[Lukie]

post the hand history of the running perfect to quad somebody's nut set pleeeeeeease. These kinds of things make me laugh uncontrollably.

[Ash256]

Put his screenname in the player search, follow him to every table until he turns his poker client off.

[Beck]

what I do on these bad beats is type in the chat bax "nh" and then continue to play as I have. I love complimenting their hand because it encourages them to make the same mistake in the future.

-beck

[jyms]

post the hand history of the running perfect to quad somebody's nut set pleeeeeeease. These kinds of things make me laugh uncontrollably.

Please do, I may have been the smuck with the set of Jacks. If not I'll post one for ya Lukie. Do you play at Crypto?

what I do on these bad beats is type in the chat bax "nh" and then continue to play as I have. I love complimenting their hand because it encourages them to make the same mistake in the future.

haha, what I do is type "nice catch' when they replie with the TY, I usually type "It wasn't a compliment"

[kingnat]

I prefer the "i was afraid of that..." implies you thought there was a very good chance of him hitting his boat.

or the classic "it was a coinflip" (there was a classic post in teh SNG forum a while back about a guy who thought that AA vs. QQ was a coinflip... ah good times).

My single greatest complaint about NL games in general is the rampant glass tapping that goes on. If someobody plays badly.. you want them at your table.. plain and simple. Why would you ever go out of your way to that they might play badly? Of course maybe the villian in this case realizes he was lucky as hell and threw in the "moron" jab to try to tilt you. (I think prodding solid players when you happen to suck out on them is fun and very acceptable.. there are always more TAGs...)

Never comment about a player's VP$P.. or his PFR stats, or how much money they've lost according to your HUD... that's just stupid. Sorry to go off on a tangent... i'm grouchy today.