Writing about my hubristic (and costly) demand to see the "losing" hand the other night got me thinking about other leaks in my game. I've worked hard to plug a lot of them, like betting into the nuts on the river, calling before the flop with marginal hands or chasing with second pair or weak draws. Those improvements have saved a lot of money.But I still leak chips in certain situations, and I realize a lot of them share something with that bad play the other night: over-confidence or too much ego. Hubris.
Yesterday, for example, I stopped by the Roxy for a couple of hours in the afternoon. There was one $3/6 game going and a waiting list for a second, so we decided to start a short game, six-handed. Already this is bad for me, mostly because I think it's good for me. I generally like my chances in a short-handed game, even more so at a donkfest like the Roxy, where many players are bad and I believe my superior play will allow me to roll over everyone. It's odd, though, how the other players don't automatically share my high opinion of my own abilities, especially when a game's just starting and I haven't done anything yet to earn a rep.
So it's the first hand, and I raise from middle position with A-6. This is a hand I normally wouldn't even play for one bet, but hey, there are only six players and an ace might be good, plus I can probably outplay these doofs after the flop. Bingo, the flop brings an ace. They check to me and I'm off and running. A couple guys call along on the unthreatening turn, and then on the river I get check-raised. Wha? OK, maybe I'm beat, but I make the crying call ... only to run into pocket aces in the big blind! Holy crap, I was drawing dead.
Slow learner that I am, I made similar overplays in several of the next dozen hands, and 20 minutes into the session I needed to rebuy. So long $100.
Here I caught a break. More players joined the game, making it a full table, and that combined with the shame of my speedy rebuy led me to lock down and play right. An hour or so later I had somehow rebuilt my sorry stack and managed to cash out an $8 winner. But I vowed to remember the lesson I've been taught so many times. We'll see about that.
Poker players out there, does any of this sound familiar? What leaks are you working on?
