Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Is there an emotional factor tied to performace?

I previously had read what now is affectionately called "the rant" of Hoyoza with guarded interest. (hammerplayer.blogspot.com) He ranted on the donkey draws he saw and people playing post flop with nothing but overs. That in itself is nothing special. We all need to steam once in a while.

As a matter of fact, in one of those Monday night games, I had an exchange go thusly:
Hold'em No Limit - Level II (15/30)

BB (2543 in chips)
Seat 3: (1248 in chips)
Seat 4: (1084 in chips)
Seat 5: (1290 in chips)
Seat 7: (2956 in chips)
Seat 9: Columbo777 (1379 in chips)
Columbo777: posts small blind 15

folded around to me

Dealt to Columbo777 [Ks Tc]
Columbo777: calls 15
BB: checks

could have raised here, but who cares about winning 30 chips?? keep the pot small right now.

*** FLOP *** [Th 5c 7h]
Columbo777: bets 60
BB: calls 60

Pot sized bet with TP, reasonable and "correct"

*** TURN *** [Th 5c 7h] [7c]
Columbo777: bets 180
BB: calls 180

Pot sized bet with two pair probably vs. draws, again "correct".
Pot is now 540

*** RIVER *** [Th 5c 7h 7c] [9d]
Columbo777: checks, assuming this card helped him
BB: bets 240 about 1/2 the pot
Columbo777: calls 240 crying call (3-1)

*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [Jc 8c] (a straight, Seven to Jack)
Columbo777: mucks hand
BB collected 1020 from pot

BB said, "silly rabbits"
BB said, "top pair is gold"

Columbo777 said, "yeah, i should have put you on the donkey draw"

Now, note the exchange at the end where the person raking the pot rubs-in the fact that I made, what he believes, to be a donkey move. which is to say, I rode top pair to the river.

Huh? What I did was BET when I was AHEAD, STOP betting when his hand got there, and decided to make a crying call when he bet less that 1/2 the pot. Can ANYONE explain to me how that can possibly be so bad it justified taunting?

And his comment DID tilt me. Thus my sarcastic response. Oh, maybe not in the "bet off all your chips in the next hand" way (I actually got my money in ahead later and got out-drawn). But certainly it upset me, which is saying a lot. 90%+ of my comments when people start mouthing is to constantly just respond with "?". This, for some undetermined reason, irritates people who use the chat box a lot. But this time, I thought it was just annoying.

Yet, the very next time I played, I finish 5th (squeaked in the money) in a tough field. Heck, I finally lost when my AKs ran into QQ pre-flop and he won the race. And Hoyazo has been on a tear since his rant.

Could it be that there is a benefit to being emotionally invested prior to playing? And if so, why?

oh, and his play was not THAT bad really...
Lets play the hand back from our opponents point of view.
First a Free Flop
A gut shot, pot is still small. mathmatically incorrect, but low investment.
Turn brings a flush draw
Again, calls a pot sized bet without odds, this time for 180 (which is still only 10% of his stack) Not great, as he is drawing to about 11 outs or a 3-1 dog getting only 2-1 to call here. The "donkey draw" as I put it, but really not so awful.
And the home-run. He bets half the pot, which is paid off. and he is pleased with himself. Not so much about his play, but probably getting me to call the value bet. He bet the right amount to be called.

3 comments:

SirFWALGMan said...

I dunno.. I think he has to make more than that to justify calling with a gutshot.. he has to know you wont put him on the straight (which looks like you may not have).. and get more out of it..

I do not mind any of your play.. although if you normally would raise KT HU then you should have there too.. who cares if you only win a blind..

columbo (at eifco dot org) said...

I just cashed in the MOOKIE also, coming in 3rd.

columbo (at eifco dot org) said...

I know I "should" raise, but as everyone plays with me knows, I try to be all over the board in terms of pre-flop raises. I dont like the 3xBB everytime rules. I like to mix it up.

In the hand, I knew he was on the draw, just was not sure which card made his hand. Even though the 9 filled the gutshot, I still knew somehow that it was his 9.