All the books say that fatique does interfere with our ability to play. It certainly did at my buddy Slink's house last Friday. I have these new meds that exhaust me the day after I take them. I take them once a week, now on thursday, but I am going to roll them back a day because any Friday poker game will just be too much. So quitting after four hours sounds good to me.
Another thing I did was just tighten way up when I got tired. If you just play a few top hands, you can't make too many mistakes. In Vegas if I feel like a table is paying me, I might get in a conversation and just tighten up. I used to drink and tighten up but can't drink now. I liked that feeling of being drunk and often it changed my table image enough so people loosened while I tightened. That worked.
At Foxwoods I don't have that flexibility. I have to go when the bus goes. But there have been times when I quit early and walked around.
Also, that Tao of Poker by Phillips helped me a lot to control my patience and to accept those second best hands.
Well, Happy Easter. We will have a quiet day. Our guests have petty much cancelled out for one reason or another. I'm cooking leg of lamb with garlic.
Enjoy!!
Michael Everson
Hi, Dewey. Yeah, that long ride home. I remember when the nearest casino
was at the river an hour away from here, and the long rides home I had after
getting my ass handed to me at the craps table more times than I can
remember, always remembering the rolls when the guy was hitting consecutive
different numbers after making the point and me playing the come line, and
before I know it, I have every number covered with double odds-come bets and
the guy sevens out before I collect on one of them. It had to be even worse
when you had to listen to awful music and having nowhere to go.
I had a bad night last night, too. I'm glad you wrote because I don't have
anyone to talk to about this and I'm desparately trying to improve. The
first thing I've noticed is that I don't play winning hands well. I'm
thinking that I need to learn to bet better to get more out of the last few
rounds. I do stupid stuff like check with the best hand so that I can be in
a position to check raise and, of course, everyone else checks. Maybe I
just get good hands out of position, I don't know.
The second thing I've learned is that I can't play more than 4 hours. I
think the fatigue and the non-action just makes me play looser and I always
end up losing, and losing quickly. I tend to chase hands that I have no
business even being in, let alone chasing. It was a classic one last night.
I played very disciplined poker, and for the first 3 or 4 hours, I was up
at one point about $30, with very little variation. That was the most I was
up all night. Then I went to about $65 down, then won three hands in a row
and was about $30 up again. That's when I should have quit. But I stuck
around and then went into deep freeze and our end of the table didn't win a
pot literally for hours. It was awful.
Then some new guy comes to the table and I'm dealt J-10 suited in diamonds.
I don't raise, just call, and the flop comes K and 2 of diamonds and
something else. The turn is junk, so I raise someone's bet, and the new guy
calls. The river is the A of diamonds. I bet and the new guy raises. So I
tell the new guy, "You know what sucks is that we both have diamonds, and
the only card that can beat me is the Q cause I've got the Jack, and I know
you've got it, but I'm going to look you up anyways," as I threw in the bet.
Of course, that's what he had, the Q and something else. I got a lot of
sympathy at the table but I was just really mad. Then we had a change of
dealer and the dealer talked a mile a minute to all the sportsjunkies at the
table who wanted to relive the Final-4, and he really held up the game, and
I just wanted to tell him to shut up and friggin' deal. Soon, I get big
slick and raise, and the flop is all low cards, so I decide to take it to
the river. To make a long story short, I get everyone out of the game
except new guy who again raises me after the river card, and I just fold
because I haven't been even able to make a pair--he shows me the straight
which he was able to fill on the inside with the river card. It was just
too much. Anyways, I ended up losing $160. So anyways, my new strategy is
to see if I can win by playing for shorter periods of time. I'll let you
know how that goes. I'm going to have a poker extravaganza when my wife
leaves for a trip and I'm planning on playing poker everynight for a coupld
of weeks. I'll keep a spreadsheet and send it to you when I'm done.
More later,
Mike
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