Hero plays and not tilting - a suprise correlation!

Over my poker playing career I've seen a lot of shitty play - we all have. We all hate losing obviously but there are definitely different levels of losing, and losing to shitty play may be the worst.

Sure getting it all in with KK vs AA preflop hurts a bit but really, who cares? Its just a setup that you can't avoid going broke in - easily shrugged off. Even when a fish sucks out on you after calling bet after bet to hit his gutshot to crack your set of aces, you can take solace in the fact that you will make money vs him and his kind in the long run. But the third type of loss for me is the worst.

Its closely related to tilting, but doesn't necessarily require tilt as a prerequisite. Tilt is merely a catalyst for this type of loss, and usually a result of it as well. When a fish makes a strange play, like overbetting the river or just open pushing the flop, without the nuts you always have to take a moment to try to figure out their puzzle. You go through all the hands he could have and all the hands he may think you have. You run the possibilities through your mind over and over and do super awesome poker player calculations to come up with the right answer - call! You are a hero! Clearly this fish is just overbetting the river with a missed flush draw, ace high must be good! Then the truth sets in - hes got you beat. This fish just "outplayed" you for your whole stack.

Depression...
Anxiety...
Anger...
Regret...
Monkey tilt...

They set in. Your hero call failed. You lose. Good day sir.

Its the worst feeling in poker because you've expended every amount of poker brain energy to make this call, and you were way off. And not only that, you lost to the worst player at the table who made a level 1 - "I can only consider my own cards" play.

For me, doing a play like this, even if its not for my entire stack, really sets the tilt train in motion. Even if my reasoning was sound, and I was being offered sufficient pot odds, it doesn't matter because my chips are in XxPOKERPROxX's stack. It's also applicable when a decent player does it because they've probably gone one level above you and tricked you into calling.

But its all part of the learning process of poker. Its important to not let these types of plays bother you. Use the information you've gained from your terrible call and adjust appropriately. The fish who took your stack has no clue how hard you thought to make that call. Hes basically a button pushing monkey on a typewriter, and we know what they can accomplish given enough time. I'm probably the worst person on earth to be even saying this type of advice as I tend to take poker losses personally, but I can occasionally rise above my ego and recognize what I'm doing. Before making a hero play, always take a second to consider the likely hood of you being right in regards to the odds that you are being offered. Poker 101.

And as I say this, there is still money to be made from hero calls, so don't ignore them.

Seat 1: DBOBBARKER ( $282.08 USD )
Seat 2: Canuckguy88 ( $374.56 USD )
Seat 6: CuteGirly18 ( $204.30 USD )
Seat 4: tokenblak ( $338.35 USD )
Seat 3: tk1505 ( $202 USD )
Seat 5: Gan777 ( $100 USD )
tk1505 posts small blind [$1 USD].
tokenblak posts big blind [$2 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ Ks Ad ]
CuteGirly18 folds.
DBOBBARKER folds.
Canuckguy88 raises [$9 USD]
tk1505 folds.
tokenblak raises [$29 USD]
Canuckguy88 calls [$22 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4s, 4h, Qd ]
tokenblak checks.
Canuckguy88 bets [$20 USD]
tokenblak calls [$20 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6h ]
tokenblak checks.
Canuckguy88 bets [$50 USD]
tokenblak calls [$50 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ Qc ]
tokenblak checks.
Canuckguy88 is all-In.
tokenblak is all-In.
tokenblak shows [ Ks, Ad ]two pairs, Queens and Fours.
Canuckguy88 shows [ 8s, Ts ]two pairs, Queens and Fours.
tokenblak wins $675.70 USD from the main pot with two pairs, Queens and Fours with Ace kicker.

Seat 1: Th4niR ( $1,702.60 USD )
Seat 2: Emmico55 ( $972.41 USD )
Seat 3: tokenblak ( $1,269.73 USD )
Seat 4: RystyRyan ( $394 USD )
Seat 5: x_Megatron_x ( $394 USD )
Seat 6: celusi ( $121.40 USD )
Th4niR posts small blind [$2 USD].
Emmico55 posts big blind [$4 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to tokenblak [ Kd As ]
tokenblak raises [$16 USD]
RystyRyan folds.
x_Megatron_x folds.
celusi folds.
Th4niR folds.
Emmico55 calls [$12 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Kc, 2c, Qs ]
Emmico55 bets [$8 USD]
tokenblak raises [$32 USD]
Emmico55 raises [$48 USD]
tokenblak calls [$24 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7s ]
Emmico55 bets [$132 USD]
tokenblak calls [$132 USD]
** Dealing River ** [ 2s ]
Emmico55 is all-In.
tokenblak calls [$768.41 USD]
Emmico55 shows [ Qc, 8c ]two pairs, Queens and Twos.
tokenblak shows [ Kd, As ]two pairs, Kings and Twos.
tokenblak wins $1,943.32 USD from the main pot with two pairs, Kings and Twos.

Seat 1: TwistedEcho ($332.05 in chips)
Seat 2: djj6835 ($398 in chips)
Seat 3: dest- ($348.60 in chips)
Seat 4: billyzzz ($547.70 in chips)
Seat 5: RikkiDee ($196 in chips)
Seat 6: TheLife ($422.70 in chips)
TheLife: posts small blind $1
TwistedEcho: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RikkiDee [Ac Kc]
djj6835: folds
dest-: folds
billyzzz: calls $2
RikkiDee: raises $8 to $10
TheLife: folds
TwistedEcho: folds
billyzzz: calls $8
*** FLOP *** [Qh Jd Qd]
billyzzz: checks
RikkiDee: checks
*** TURN *** [Qh Jd Qd] [8c]
billyzzz: bets $14
RikkiDee: calls $14
*** RIVER *** [Qh Jd Qd 8c] [2c]
billyzzz: bets $246
RikkiDee: calls $172 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
billyzzz: shows [Kd 4c] (a pair of Queens)
RikkiDee: shows [Ac Kc] (a pair of Queens - Ace kicker)
RikkiDee collected $392 from pot