Bad Beats and Variance - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Huzzah!! Christmas is over at last (thank God) and now we can look forward to the New Year. Hopefully during 2009 my opponents will not hit every flush, inside straight and ridiculous two pair/three of a kind redraw draw that they have been getting against me these last couple of days. I'm not a naturally violent person but I swear to God the next time Broker tells me its just variance I'll stick a cheesegrater up his jacksy and twist!! In fact it amazes me that you see so few bust ups in live game poker (what some call 'Bricks and Mortar' poker). I suppose that is because 95% of internet poker players will never ever play live poker in a casino or card club. I've played in quite a few live tournaments and have never had any real tilt issues, but in internet poker I turn into Mr Angry at a moments notice. Today I had my Kings crushed by, wait for it, K5 off suit, and my opponents have hit nearly every flush and straight draw going. For instance I four-bet a half stack with AK suited making it $2.50. My opponent has $6 behind him and flat calls. The flop comes down A, K, 4. I think to myself, he probably hasn't got aces or kings here, as I have one of each and there's one of each on the board, and I don't consider for a minute that he has pocket 4s cos what dumbass retard would call nearly half their stack pre-flop with a pair of fours? So I stack him off and he shows, guess what, a shiny set of fours!! My toys went out the pram and I refused to play any more internet poker today. In another hand I get three quarters of an opponents stack in on the turn, and on the river a third heart rolls off and he ships it in. Its a dollar fifty to call for a $7 pot and I have top top (top pair and top kicker). I know he's got it but can you ever fold in that scenario? Anyway despite all this I have managed to break even these last two days after hitting over $300 on Christmas Eve. My target was to get my bankroll up to $500 before I go back to work on 5th January but that isn't looking very achievable at the moment. Especially if my opponents keep hitting every god damn draw!!!!

Having said this I have had my fair share of suck outs in the past, it seems that whenever I have pockets Kings and my opponent has pocket Aces I almost always hit a set. I once went all in with Queens on a J, 9, 7 board. My opponent called with 10 8 for the Jack high straight, but running 7s on the turn and river gave me the full house, winning me the pot. Plus I should be due a good run after all the bad beats that I've had so maybe that $500 isn't so far away after all (I might make it by March).

So how should one deal with tilt? I tend to moan and winge, then drink some strong alcoholic beverage. Sometimes I'll lie on my bed and put the pillow in my mouth and punch the mattress while screaming obscenities. But the best thing to do if you feel that you might be on tilt is to stop playing. It sounds like simple advice but I've learnt the hard way its the best way to save money. Another thing I used to do after a bad session was to not play for a week or so, and I've only recently stopped doing this. Its best to take some time out and when your feeling calm and relaxed start playing again, but waiting a week is a bit much. Maybe just an hour or so is best, maybe even a day if you're on the edge of sanity and feel like you're heading firmly towards psycho-ville. Tilt is really pent up emotional anger so if you have a punch bag (or in Broker's case a door, vase or laptop) then you can release that energy by punching and kicking the bejesus out of it. Also repeatedly banging your head against a brick wall can help too, but for legal reasons I can't advise that.

Well I feel a lot better now, these words have been like punching the mattress (with the pillow in my mouth). I could go and play some more poker now but I've got a box of wine to drink and there's some half decent films to watch on TV, and anyway, I wouldn't want to go on tilt again...