The money you should win...

Usually, we are happy when we win pot or have a winning session, however, looking into it closely, I just realise how much money I was loosing by not winning more. Before you joke about this statement, let me explain.

I basically was satisfy when I was leaving a game up and unhappy leaving a game down.

However, in most case, I wouldn t consider being unhappy because I was up 10bb while I should have been up 20 or 30. In fact I wasn t winning 10, I was loosing 10 or 20... Folow me?

Same thing for a loss. Never happy with a loss but what if I managed to be down 10bb whil I ran into runner runner, second nut against first nut etc etc?

In few words, I just realized how you can loose money on a winning session and actually win money on a loosing session.

If you think about it, how could you be happy of a small gain if you are running like a god and how can you be upset at a loss when you get exactly the wrong cards?

I was reading that all the money you should have win and that you didn t is monay that you ve lost. This is very true.

understanding this make me a better player I beleive and on top of that, there is way less frustration during loosing session if I played ok.

sadly in tournaments, it's usually one way or the other. that said, I can feel pretty bad of myself if I could have made more on a hand.

In tournament the "survival" factor is also important, in a cash game, if you get stacked, you can reload, in tourney, you go to the rail.

Same thing in tournaments. If I min-cash a major tourney, played great but lost 4/5 flips, along with the standard AK vs AQ, I'm sure as hell not gonna be happy about that cash.

Not sure how that is supposed to make me a better player though. Maybe I missed your point.

basically that you shouldnt look at result alone, but look at the max result given the way you run.

That if you get satisfy being a 10bb winner while you should be a 30bb you loose 20bb. If you realise that the "break-even point" for that session should not be 0 in absolute but 30 in relative you focus more on making the right decision including this extra bet here and there or this extra fold to perform to your best.

eg, if I am 20BB up in this specific game I won t start to make calls I shouldnt just because I am still going to be in a winning session if I loose the pot.

Frenchie,
I agree with you 100%. This is always how I view my cash game. Like last night, I lost 160bb playing some .05/.10 NLHE. While this is a lot (in bb terms, not $$$), I had made double this over the past two days and was playing a different style which I was quite succesful at. Despite the big downswing, I felt I played pretty good poker. I ran into 2 sets of quads, a royal flush, and a higher FH, both of us holding PP. While I was a little irritated from losing, I realized it was just one of those nights when the stars alligned. I managed to keep my emotions in check and did really well on some of the SNG steps I am playing.

So, I understand where you are coming from and I think this is very important for anyone who truly wants to work on their game to realize. It has to do more with a long term strategy than a short term results orriented mind frame.

are u joking. 160BB is not a downswing. 400-500BB is a minor downer and 800-1000BB is standard

yep..

he's never saying it's a downswing

mrdick2u wrote:

Frenchie, I lost 160bb playing some .05/.10 NLHE. While this is a lot (in bb terms, not $$$), I had made double this over the past two days and was playing a different style which I was quite succesful at. Despite the big downswing.

yes he did

lol, actually reread his post twice to make sure he didn't... guess I'm starting to go blind.

all this rain does that to you

fun101rockets wrote:

are u joking. 160BB is not a downswing. 400-500BB is a minor downer and 800-1000BB is standard

Downswing is relative I guess. For me 160bb is a big downswing. Of course, I am the same nit who had to tape his cleats in the championship game of the recent softball tournament because the soles were falling off! LOL

i guess i am used to 16 tabling so my downers are very severe

LOL...I used to 4 table, that was the most on average. Now I do two serious and maybe one micro of something I don't really play just for fun to pass time when I am not getting cards. So yeah, if you play 5 times the table, that would be about the same! I hate losing, so even a 1bb loss pisses me off in cash games

lol 160bb with 4 tables isnt a downswing, just unlucky

if you knew how big of a nit I was you would say a downswing. I mean, I fold AA preflop if I am OOP!

I agree that thinking that way will definitely help make you a better player. Though when you are losing simply because you have been dealt bad cards it doesn't make it hurt your bank account any less!

if your really fold AA oop. you should seriously re-evaluate your game :P especially if you are considering the money you dont make as money you've lost. But I have to agree to what your saying. You should always try to get most value out of your hands. But sometimes its easy to try to squeeze out a bit much value out of marginal hands.