Playing Beginners
Now I'm no where near an "experienced" player mind you I have held my own at a Casino table here and there and have walked away a winner more than 80% of the time from any particular home game.... not always a huge winner but not a loser more importantly.
Here's my concern. I recently constructed a poker table and play with the Mrs. and a couple of our neighbors just for fun, and to play on the new table. So here's my gripe... I LOSE! and I'm not upset about it cause there's next to no money involved. $1 tournament buy ins etc. But the losing gets to me. I would have top two pair and bet big.... even have some bluffing "fun" just to keep the spirit up. But they stick around with 7-2 offsuit and land a straight on the board demolishing my top two. I can't call it.... I think they "matched" a card just simply seeing the same sybols or numbers but if the cards speak I can't lie... they beat me
Anyone ever have this? It's still fun but I start questioning my judgement every time it happens.
What have you guys done in this situation.... playing tight is not an option cause I would have to fold nearly everytime and I would be the poker grinch if I did. More importantly all the fun practise should be able to do my game some good... I'm really only scared it will go in the other direction if I keep playing under these conditions.
Here's my concern. I recently constructed a poker table and play with the Mrs. and a couple of our neighbors just for fun, and to play on the new table. So here's my gripe... I LOSE! and I'm not upset about it cause there's next to no money involved. $1 tournament buy ins etc. But the losing gets to me. I would have top two pair and bet big.... even have some bluffing "fun" just to keep the spirit up. But they stick around with 7-2 offsuit and land a straight on the board demolishing my top two. I can't call it.... I think they "matched" a card just simply seeing the same sybols or numbers but if the cards speak I can't lie... they beat me
Anyone ever have this? It's still fun but I start questioning my judgement every time it happens.
What have you guys done in this situation.... playing tight is not an option cause I would have to fold nearly everytime and I would be the poker grinch if I did. More importantly all the fun practise should be able to do my game some good... I'm really only scared it will go in the other direction if I keep playing under these conditions.
Comments
That's not the best line of thinking if you want to avoid losing...
Going by this particular quote, it's a little scary how much these so called "beginners" seem to completely *own* you psychologically.
I wouldn't worry too much about this, as long as you can keep your poker game in perspective. More exactly, the game you are describing is *not* a poker game. In a poker game, the outcome of the game must matter to you in terms of the magnitude of the monetary (or other) reward for winning, or monetary (or other) penalty for losing. Notice that the outcome doesn't necessarily have to matter *to your opponents*. However, if they don't care about the stakes, it may very well be that they turn out to be big fish. 8)
If you are genuinely concerned about developing bad habits, then the simplest remedy is to just try to play a solid game yourself even if you (and your opponents) don't really care about the stakes. Unfortunately, doing this requires simulating a situation where you genuinely care about the stakes when you really don't. This is almost impossible.
This reminds me about a funny story about a game I was playing with my own family. One time I flopped a set of tens 4 handed and everyone goes all-in on the flop. We turn the hole cards up, and nobody else has anything and they groan. The turn & river make all three of the other players as runner runner staright, but nobody seems to notice (it was a fun game, so I'd expect a little "yahoo!" or something if someone did). So, I quietly started chopping the main pot and side pots to split it 3 ways. It was complicated (with all the side pots) and there was a stunned silence since no-one really knew what was going on. When I had the pots ready to push, I mucked my hand with some emphasis and left everyone elses cards alone. Somebody piped up (correctly so, but joking) and said something like, "What are you doing? You can't win the hand if you mucked your cards."
Then I simply announced "Straight to the eight" and started pushing the pots. After another few seconds of stunned silence and examining the hands & board, we all (including me) started laughing our asses off. 8)
ScottyZ
If you're just playing for fun, let it be that: fun. I wouldn't worry too much about the losing, just keep telling yourself that you're in it to have a good time.
As long as you keep winning in the "real" games, it should be enough to keep you happy (I know it is for me!).