Negative Attitude = Positive EFffect?

So can a negative attitude to poker actually result in a positive effect on your play?

It sounds a rather unusual question and you may be thinking that the answer is pretty obviously a resounding "No!". I`m not so sure though.

Now obviously I wouldn`t have asked this question if I didn`t think it related to my play. You see for the last couple of weeks I`ve hardly been playing. I went through a very bad patch losing so many hands as an 80%+ favourite on the turn or river that it became extremely annoying. Eventually that annoyance turned into resignation and I thought I`d take a few days off and only play again when the desire struck me again.

Well although I`ve hardly played since that decision, when I have played I`ve played extremely well. I won the Charity Ball and I`ve cashed in 7 of the 8 games I`ve played this week. None of them big wins, two of them just small free-roll cashes. Nonetheless I`ve played some very good poker in them.

So I`ve gone from being unable to cash to a very high success rate. Now there are several factors I can attribute this to. It could be that I`ve been luckier, hit a few more flops, sucked out more. But I don`t think that`s a big part of it.

It could be that I`ve made a significant advance in my play. Well I did read part of a book I was very impressed with that dealt with aggressive style play in NLHE tournaments. I do think that some of what I read sank in and helped my game. However, whilst I`d consider it a contributing factor I don`t think it`s the main reason.

I`ve also given HORSE a break and been playing mainly NLHE which is refreshing but whilst again it might be part of the reason I don`t consider it a huge factor.

So the main reason I think I`ve been playing well is this. I`ve played more aggressively and been much more willing to gamble than I usually am. As you can see that ties in with the book I read but I attribute it more to an uncaring attitude. I really haven`t cared wether I was going to win, or cash. As a result I`ve bet bigger, bluffed bigger, gambled a little more and as a result had a few more suckouts.They say a great high stakes player has to have a complete disregard for money and I truly understand what they mean. Not that I`m claiming to be a high stakes player. I just mean that not caring about the result grants you a level of mental freedom in your play. I haven`t been playing crazy loose just more aggressive. In situations I would normally call or fold in I`ve been far more likely to raise and for the most part it`s worked. All of this has given me an excellent set of results. The funny thing is I still feel rather disinterested in the game despite the fact I`m playing some very good poker. So has a negative attitude had a positive effect?

I think it has and hopefully as my enthusiasm for the game returns (as I`m sure it will) I`ll be able to take what I`ve learned and continue to employ it as a very effective weapon.

YES! YES! YES!

No I`m not recreating that famous scence from "When Harry Met Sally" I am however extremely pleased with myself at the moment. Two wins in two days and this time it isn`t a little sng. In fact it`s a tournament I`ve wanted to win for absolutely ages. It`s not a tournament that has a huge payout because half of the buy-in goes to charity. Instead the winner is gifted with a rather nice shield accolade on their avatar. Run every month this is one of the best spirited games you`re ever likely to play. I guess the kind of people that get off bad mouthing players and generally annoying people aren`t the kind of people that are going to donate money to a charity. Go figure . . .

Anyway it means I`ve finally managed to pick up an accolade after about two years of trying. I`ve been close on numerous occasions but I`ve always fallen just short. But not tonight! What makes it even better is that I played what might well have been the best game of my life in winning it. I ran in 2nd and 3rd place for the major part of the game, only taking the lead when at the final table. It slipped away for a while when we got down to four players but after I eliminated 3rd place I had a 2-1 chip lead and was in no mood to let it slip away from me. I can`t recall a time I`ve played so aggressively throughout an entire tournament. There`s no doubt I had some very good cards but I took more than a few blinds betting out with mediocre hands against a pretty tight table. I had a couple of lucky breaks on the way too but that`s to be expected in a tournament.

If anyone wants to play this fun tourney it`s held on the first Saturday of every month on the Merge network. It`s called The 5th Street Charity Ball. It`s a $4+40 buy-in and $2 goes to the prize pool, the other $2 goes to The Make A Wish Foundation. It`s a great cause and I know you`d have a great time playing.

Finally A Win!

Ok so it wasn`t exactly a massive cash. Actually it was just a bounty sng. But given that I`ve barely been able to win a hand, much less a tourney it was pretty pleasing.
The more so because I waited over 35 hands before I won one. I was getting terrible cards and the one time I actually had a hand I had to lay it down. That laydown was actually a mistake but I wasn`t to know that at the time and AJ isn`t exactly my favourite hand anyway.

I finally manged to pick up a couple of hands in a row and was getting back into the game when this hand played out.

Starting Hand #12789702-42
sharksbluffer is the Dealer
Shuffling Cards
Huxepa Posted Small Blind 100
DangerMouse420 Posted Big Blind 200
Dealing Cards
You Were Dealt (7s, 9s)
Bilko68 Folds
iceoptimist Folds
McPack Folds
sharksbluffer Calls 200
Huxepa Folds
DangerMouse420 Checks
Dealing Flop (2c,As,2s)
DangerMouse420 Checks
sharksbluffer Bets 200
DangerMouse420 All In
sharksbluffer Calls 1,375
sharksbluffer Shows (6s, Ah)
DangerMouse420 Shows (7s, 9s)
Dealing Turn (2d)
Dealing River (2h)
DangerMouse420 Wins 1,825 from Pot 1 with : Four of a Kind Twos
sharksbluffer Wins 1,825 from Pot 1 with : Four of a Kind Twos

Now I really wasn`t expecting a call. I thought the other guy was just trying a steal and so I pushed my draw. The turn was a killer and after the river card fell it took me a few seconds to realise I was still in the game.

After that narrow escape I started to feel confident and built my stack up very nicely eliminating a couple of players whilst doing so. We were down to three I think and I was stealing very nicely and finally a guy calls my bet. I really didn`t have much, K7o if I remember correctly, I think he had 88. I hit a 7 on the flop and turned a king. The river was a blank and I type in ul gg. The guy immediatley responds by calling me a donk and my only answer was "lol whatever".

I really found it quite amusing. The guy obviously had very little grasp of sng tactics. With blinds very high and a decent chipstack I was in a very aggressive frame of mind and I was willing to gamble against a shorter stack. Add in the bounty he was worth and this kind of aggressive play is definitely +EV. Plus I wasn`t calling with the hand I was betting it. In saying that I hope he continues to play in the same style and that I run into him a few more times.

Anyway I ended up HU versus a player who had been very aggressive since there were 5 players left. I was expecting more of the same but he became surprisingly passive and I quickly built up a 2-1 advantage. I had him on the ropes at around 1,500 chips and put him all-in with Kx. He had JJ and they held up and over the next few hands he clawed his way back to even. His lack of aggression finally killed him though. I whittled him down and finally won something for the first time in a while.

It was a good win though. I was patient throughout the early stages, dropping to around 700 chips at one point. When I did gather a few chips I was hugely aggressive and I kept that momentum going till the end. It`s been a while since I played a sng and I really should play them more often because I do well at them.