Results Oriented

In my own experience, the pitfalls of being overly results-oriented derive from running into a cooler, a genuinely tough spot, or even a suckout; winding up on the losing end of it; and then deciding that a wholesale strategy shift is needed to prevent similar situations in the future. A bad overcompensation based on a non-representative small sample space.

On the flip side are hands like the following one. These hands occur less frequently, which happens to be the point.

Note: We're at 25NL these days, licking our wounds and trying to muster up the courage to return to higher stakes. The aggressiveness is considerably lower at these stakes, and the play is considerably weaker.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.10/$0.25 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter
BTN: $22.25
SB: $26.25
Hero (BB): $30.40
UTG: $27.25
CO: $23.85
Pre-Flop: A K dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, CO calls $0.25, BTN folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero raises to $1, CO calls $0.75, SB folds

Flop: ($2.25) A 2 6 (2 Players)
Hero bets $2, CO calls $2

Villain's range is any non-2pair A, any 2 clubs, possibly a 6, possibly floating with air.

Turn: ($6.25) K (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $6.25, Hero calls $6.25

I turn 2-pair but decide to check. I should be firing here to extract value from the wide range of hands that I beat. But I check-call a PSB, without any real plan for playing the river.

River: ($18.75) 3 (2 Players)
Hero checks, CO bets $14.60 and is All-In,
Hero?

Now I'm facing a push on the river. But I have top two pair - The Nuts! Alas, the only hand I can really beat is a bluff, since any A would either check back or bet small for value. So my villain has either a set, a flush, or air. I have little information and no reads. Obvious fold, right?

Hero calls $14.60

Results: $47.95 Pot ($2.35 Rake)
Hero showed A K (two pair, Aces and Kings) and WON $45.60 (+$21.75 NET)
CO showed 8 6 (a pair of Sixes) and LOST (-$23.85 NET)

The point, of course, is that my villain is holding air a pretty small percentage of the time. This is a good aggressive move by the villain, and I'm just the donkey who looked him up. So, in order to avoid being results oriented, let's be honest and clear - this was a bad play, a bad call, and I stumbled onto one of the very few times I'm facing air from an unknown villain in this spot. Just because the results are good doesn't mean the play was...I'd fold it if I could do it over again.