Tilt Guilt

Played at a friend's house game (1-2NL, mostly 7-8 handed) last night. Here's an overly long-winded recap:

Early on, AK, a hand that is usually causes more disappointment than celebration, was really good to me. In the first instance, I picked it up in the SB, and after 3-4 limpers, I raised it to $10. Got 2 callers, and the flop came A-10-x. I led out for $20 and was raised all-in by David, who was on a short stack and had another $20 or so behind. He turned over A8 and said he was putting me on JJ. The board bricked out and I went up early.

The second AK hand was a bit interesting. I picked it up UTG and limped for $2, planning on re-raising if any of a number of loose PF raisers tried to make their standard raises. Well, 2 or 3 people limped and I was resigned to taking a multiway flop before it got to the button, who had just taken a big beat and dropped from a big stack down to about $50. He pushed all-in for $50, and I suddenly had a decision to make. Now the issue here wasn't hand strength...I knew I had a strong enough hand to call. The issue was that I had only $2 invested, and there was a pretty good chance that I would be racing for $50 if I called. That made it pretty much a pure gamble in my mind...do I want to flip a coin for $50 here? Well, the more I thought about it, the more I reasoned that there was a good chance he had a non-pair, or even a dominated A-x hand. So I called. Everyone else bailed. The flop came A high, and when I turned up my AK, he sighed, waited for the board to brick out, then mucked and left for the evening. I have no idea what he had, but I'm guessing it had to be quite a bit weaker than I originally expected.

So at this point I was sitting around $225, up from $100. We started playing round for round NL and Omaha PL, which is a game that I am coming to despise. It isn't anything inherent in it, it's just that it's soooo slow - the dealing takes twice as long, every hand seems to go to showdown, and I swear that a rotation of Omaha takes at least 3 times as long as one of regular NLHE. Anyways, we played maybe 4 rounds of Omaha, probably 25 hands, and I won none of em. None.

I drifted back down to $160 or so during the Omaha rounds, and then I pick up AQ, raise and end up heads-up with Ben, the loosest at the table by far. The flop comes A-K-x, and Ben pushes into me on the flop, for $50 or so. I can't fold here, so I call pretty quickly, and he turns over A-4. The turn brings the 4, the river bricks, and I start my meltdown.

The next hand I get QcJc, raise in MP to $10, and get called by Ben and David. Flop comes Q-8-x rainbow. It's checked to me and I fire $20 into $35 or so; Ben folds and David calls. The turn is an 8, and David checks to me; I check behind. River is a blank and David fires $35. I honestly thought it seemed like an oversized bet, not one really wanting a call. So I figured him for something like Q-10, Q-9, maybe a missed gut-shot? I just couldn't see how he would call a big C-bet with a naked 8. So I called, he showed the 8, and I fell further into despair.

I was really steaming at this point, down to $45, and I think I recall making some nasty comments about making that play with the 8.

I flailed my way down to $21, then re-raised a PF raiser from $7, all-in. 4 callers and when the flop comes A-9-x, I go ahead an pull out my next Benjamin buy-in. The turn brought a J, and two of the players start firing at the pot, so I'm really expecting to be sunk here. But the river is a miraculous Q, and I get the immense joy of experiencing a suckout of my own. Seriously, playing from behind is so much more fun than being ahead and bracing yourself for jarring defeat.

Very shortly thereafter, I get handed a real gift....AA in MP, I raise to $10 and get one caller, David. I make some comment to the dealer about keeping the flop free of 8s, and what's the door card - an 8. But it's followed by a beautiful A, then a rag. I lead for $12, since I don't like making an obvious check here. David calls. And just like the last big hand we played, an 8 comes on the turn. We both check. On a blank river, David fires $40, and I push for $24 behind. He calls out my Aces but says he has to call, holding the 8 again.

So I'm flying high again, but David's gone on a pretty bad run, so I start to feel like an ass for having gotten so bitter and steamy earlier. Just a small lesson when you're losing your head during a bad run - your luck will turn around at some point, and you'll end up looking much more dignified if you can take the winning and the losing streaks with some grace. Otherwise, you end up like me - feel crappy for having made a scene during a brief dive, and then turning it around quickly at the expense of someone else. Maybe against some obnoxious dude at a casino it feels doubly good, but in a friendly game, you look like an idiot and find yourself apologizing for your earlier behavior.

Before I called it a night, I went on a nice run, hitting flops and dodging draws, and ended up +$260. Up to $225, down to my last $20, then up to $360. So long as it ends on an upswing.