Posted on Mon Oct 08, 2007 12:06:34 PM
Filed under Adjusting Your Play, Articles, Limit Hold 'em, No Limit Hold 'em, Premium Articles, Psychology

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Yesterday I benefited from a serious case of what I call adjustment tilt. I was in a live $2-$5 no-limit game. Most of the players in the game, including me, had helped to start the game a few hours earlier, so we were familiar with each others’ play.

Many of the players had some modestly weak-tight tendencies, so I made my usual adjustments: I played (and raised) looser preflop in position, and I challenged for more pots on the flop and turn. My strategy was working ok, except that I got caught a few times in some of my bigger bluffs, so I was about even. I never showed down a bluff, but twice I made sizable bets and then folded to a raise.

Most of these conspicuous plays had occurred within the first two hours of play. After that, two relatively uneventful hours passed. Then this hand arose.

Three players, two loose ones and then one with weak-tight tendencies, limped in. I limped on the button with K 6 . The small blind raised to $10, the big blind folded, and all the limpers called. There was $55 in the pot, and I was about $500 behind.

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Tags: 2-5-no-limit, adjustment-tilt, live-games, no-limit-holdem, poker, Poker Tells, tilt

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14 Responses to “Avoid Adjustment Tilt”

threads13

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 01:11:52 PM

Ed,

Out of curiosity, what hands wouldn’t you limp behind with on the button given this scenario?

Ed Miller

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 01:18:37 PM

Really depends on the players/game. Sometimes I’d fold K6o in this situation, and I suppose sometimes I’d raise with it. Limped with it this time because I thought I had a fairly high “good things happening” chance with position against these players. Didn’t raise it due to stack sizes and the stickiness of a couple of the players.

One of the major “good things” scenarios in this situation was flopping a king and getting to bet it for value (and getting called by weaker hands) with a fairly clear idea of where I stood.

I’d probably toss the really janky stuff like T3o or 84o or whatever. I liked this hand well enough because of the king+position.

Todd

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 01:53:38 PM

Nice article. You couldn’t have played that hand last weekend and posted it Friday afternoon? I played the bad side of this hand Friday night (much smaller game, though). Son of a …..

It wasn’t quite so bad. It was a smaller game, I had more of a hand, there were two broken draws on the board, and he was truly “buckle your chin strap we’re going for a ride” wild. Still, there was no one else at the table that could have gotten me to pay off the river bet (and probably not the turn bet). Ah the many flavors of tilt. I think that was who’s-trapping-who-tilt. Full, rich body, smoky finish. Delicious.

Bad Lobster

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 03:43:56 PM

A couple of marginally relevant comments:

1. What were you doing playing K-6 offsuit? I wouldn’t play those cards under any circumstances short of a freeroll.

2. I think it’s an exaggeration to use the word “tilt” here. To me, “tilt” means a pinball machine with all lights flashing–not a weak-tight player looking up a bluff in a weak-tight way. I don’t want to jmump on you in particular, Ed, but the word “tilt” is way overused in poker discussion forums these days, and it devalues the meaning of the word.

Todd

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 04:03:11 PM

I think Ed goes by the Tommy Angelo definition of tilt. Any time you are playing less than your A game you are tilted in some form. Whomever tilts least, wins most.

…snip…
1. What were you doing playing K-6 offsuit? I wouldn’t play those cards under any circumstances short of a freeroll.
…snip…

…snip…
I played (and raised) looser preflop in position, and I challenged for more pots on the flop and turn.
…snip…

I think he was playing his position, not his cards.

threads13

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 04:09:03 PM

Todd,

I thought this is the John Freeney definition of tilt? I could be wrong about who came up with it first, or who printed it first, or whatever.

Ed Miller

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 04:31:10 PM

Bad Lobster,

1. Obvious K6o isn’t a great hand. But when you have position and the preflop bet is only a small percentage of your stack, preflop hand values become a bit more fluid. In particular, if you read hands significantly better than your opponents do, you can make some weakish hands profitable. It really comes down to hand reading. If you can read your opponents’ hands, and they have trouble reading yours, then you have a big advantage, and it’s not such a big deal if you start with something a bit junky.

2. Perhaps “tilt” is devalued. But to me it’s a lot more important to discuss the subtle forms of “tilt” or “being off” if you prefer than the lights-flashing variety. It’s fairly obvious if you or your opponents’ heads are about to explode. It’s not so obvious if you just have some negative thought patterns that haven’t hurt you yet but might cause you to screw up a hand in the future. I personally never get to lights-flashing level basically ever, but sometimes I do catch myself focusing too much and in an unproductive way on one particular player.

If you’d like to call it something other than tilt, that’s fine.

Todd

@ Mon Oct 08, 2007 06:24:05 PM

Threads,

I’m not sure who John Freeney is, so he may well have said it first. I’m aware of it from Tommy Angelo’s reciprocality treatise:

http://www.tommyangelo.com/articles/reciprocality.htm

Wherever it comes from, Tommy’s piece is terrific. I believe he has a book coming out soon that builds off that essay. I’m really looking forward to it.

Anonymous

@ Tue Oct 09, 2007 06:27:39 PM

the small blind raised to $10? I had to reread this to see what the stakes were. What a jopke. After limping K6o which seems ok on the button, how can hero not call the minraise!?
As a question to NL players: What sized raise will make folding a junky hand correct in this situation? i.e. what is the maximum X such that stacks are 100BB’s, SB raises to X, 3 limpers call, and hero should call?

Brian Morin

@ Tue Oct 09, 2007 10:04:55 PM

Why didn’t you go all-in on the river? Why does $125 figure to be a more profitable bet than all-in?

Shrike

@ Wed Oct 10, 2007 01:24:29 AM

… because it’s more likely to be called than an all-in?

threads13

@ Wed Oct 10, 2007 09:06:40 AM

Todd,

John Freeney wrote “Inside the Poker Mind.” You should check it out. I think you would enjoy it.

threads13

@ Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:31:50 PM

Todd,

Thanks for the link. That article is very interesting!

Todd

@ Wed Oct 10, 2007 02:34:54 PM

Thanks Threads. I’ll take a look at that book.

Tommy’s article is really good. It’s one of of those articles that really got me thinking about poker in a different way. As always credit goes to Ed for posting about Tommy and tiltless.com 6 months ago or so.

Avoid Adjustment Tilt

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