Q&A #24: Tilt and the Curse of Absent-Minded Mistakes
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Tom asks,
I was playing 2/4 at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City yesterday, and I made 2 mistakes on the river: On one hand I didn’t notice that the river card made a flush, and I raised and lost. On another, I mucked a hand that would have split the pot–2 pair with a king kicker on the board. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to stop making these kind of mistakes. Did you ever make these kind of mistakes? Do you ever still? I know I need to slow down and stay alert, but are there any other strategies that you have employed to help you keep from making mistakes reading the board?
Sure, I used to make those mistakes all the time. When I first started playing, I remember a hand where I had ace-jack on a jack-high board. The river paired the board low. I bet, my opponent raised, and I called. My opponent said, “Two pair,” and turned over his hand. I nodded, realized my one pair wasn’t up to snuff, and mucked my hand.
Then I looked at his hand. Damned if he didn’t have king-jack. I just mucked the winner! The wheels started turning, “Oh ya, he had two pair because he had a pair of jacks and then the board paired low. I had two pair too.” A wash of dread filled over me. It was only $50 or so, but I felt like I’d just stuck my hand in the garbage disposal and flipped the switch. “How could I be so damn stupid!” was all I thought about for the rest of the session.
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Tags: atlantic-city, crushing-microlimit-games, playing-on-autopilot, poker, poker-psychology, taj-mahal, tilt
hey, ed… thanks a million for a) answering my question on the site, and b)being man enough to admit a few of your own bad moves. it helps a lot to know that it never goes away totally–maybe there is hope for me after all! ha ha! happy holidays, brother!!!