Reverse Tilt

I think I went on reverse tilt last night. Usually someone on tilt will start making horrible raises, or calling bets even though they know they are beat. Often this is caused by a bad beat, or an otherwise tough loss. Yesterday something similar happened to me, although it was caused by a hand that I actually won, and rather than playing too many hands I just folded all the time.

I was playing two SNG’s simultaneously and had just busted out of one of them in seventh place. The blinds were at 50/100 in the other, and I wasn’t getting any cards. I had been dealt a few marginal hands, and tried raising with them, only to have to fold pre-flop to larger reraises. I was starting to get impatient when I was dealt KTs under the gun. I figured that I’d try to take a stab at it, and if I missed the flop, I could still get out, so I raised to T200. It folds around until the small blind who bumps it up to T500. I only have about T1200 left at this point, but I call anyway. I think he thinks that I’m trying to steal the blinds, and that he thinks his raise will scare me off as has happened in a few earlier hands. So I called.

The flop was 9A4 and he checks. I think that ace scares him, or that he really was bluffing, and I bet T500 of my remaining T800. He thinks about it until almost all of his time bank has run out and then raises all-in. I call even though I know I’m beat because what am I going to do with T300? He turns over QQ. At this point I pull out my stat sheet and start marking down the place that I’m about to finish in and get ready to shut down my computer. All of sudden the turn is revealed, and it is king. The river is ten, not that I needed it.

"U CALLED 500 W/ THAT ??? WOW" he types. I admit to myself that I was embarrassed. I had played that hand pretty poorly and yet somehow managed to come out on top. I felt bad. I know I shouldn’t because that’s just what happens some times and I should be thankful that I was on the winning side for once, but it still bothered me.

For the rest of the tournament, I played like crap. I folded just about everything. I couldn’t bring myself to play anything. There were two reasons for this. One is that I was afraid that I would end up in a show down with crap cards and be labeled a fish. The other, and I’d like to think bigger reason, was that I still wasn’t getting great cards. I didn’t think anyone would believe me if I tried to represent any hand that was better than what I held. Knowing that you aren’t going to be able to pull of any sort of bluff can put a significant damper on your game.

I guess if I was a better player I would be happy that the rest of the table thought I was so bad. When I would eventually get a good hand, I could expect to be paid off well. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the patience to wait out and watched as my chips dwindled away. I went all in with A7 on a semi-bluff, even though I had enough chips to last a few more orbits. Fittingly, I got out kicked.

So that was lots of fun. Nothing like winning a hand to lower your confidence.