Temper and Patience

I have a bit of a temper at the tables, especially live when I'm at the casino. Someone snaps me off on the river, it takes a lot of willpower not to go off on them because of their bad play. I'll bitch and moan about my luck to the floor, the dealers, anyone who will listen. I'll go all Phil Hellmuth, talking about being the best player at the table, when most of the time I'm not. I'm more laid back online, mainly because I'm playing amongst friends. Recently though, I've been working on my temper and how it affects my game.

When I get sucked out on, I get mad. When I'm mad, I play more aggressively, trying to force the issue and get my chips back. When that happens, I either make more mistakes playing too many hands or I notice a lot more that my 86o that I folded would have made a straight and won the hand. And finally when I play too many hands, I get sucked out on more. It's a vicious circle.

So I need to take a walk, take a break. Even at the online tables, when I get sucked out on, I disappear for 5 minutes or so, just to give myself time to cool down. I reset, I refocus, and I get back to playing my best game.

Temper and patience go hand in hand. I cool down, I can sit down and fold away, playing that tight aggressive game I've been working on. I pick my spots a lot more carefully, and my raises get a lot more respect. When I'm mad, I can't bring myself to do that. I want action, go go go, and I won't stop until I've got all or nothing. My ego pops up and I'm the best player in the whole world (in my head).

When I got 3rd in the Mookie a couple weeks ago, I played 9% to the flop. My preflop raises earned me some respect folds, my continuation bets worked more often and I even got away with check-raising the flop when I missed my hand. It worked because I stayed patient and calm. I was too nervous to try any funny business, it's been a while since I've been in that situation.

So that's the basic gameplan, at least for now. I'm going to put some fun stuff in the gameplan as it evolves. Let's call this a rebirth of my game. It might work, it might not. But everyone will get to see the journey.

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Oh yeah one more thing. This one's for Pirate Lawyer. He didn't believe me last night when in the Skillz Game, I bet at him on the river on a board of 22T85. He thought and thought and then asked me if I had quads. He folded and I told him I flopped a boat. He immediately called BS. What is it, am I not an honest guy? For some reason he just didn't trust me. So here's the proof.


I was in the BB. I so love Omaha. Maybe you'll believe me next time sir. Have a good day. :)