Suckitude

I won a decent amount of money last night at a live game hosted by the venerable Frank the Tank.  The sad part is, I don’t think I played very well.

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It’s one of poker’s age old questions, would you rather win the most money or be the best player?  Obviously being the best means you would be a winning player, but you’d certainly be laying down hands that offered suck out potential because you knew the odds were against you.

Last night, I wasn’t laying down those hands.  And the river was kind.

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Drawing out is part of the game, and I’ve had my share of hands where I was the victim.  One thing I hope I manage to do is not berate the other player who caught his card to beat me.  Most times, I think I’m successful.  But during the times when I’m not, when I’m not able to suppress the post-hand analysis of the “proper” play, I at least offer my opponent a smile and a “nice hand.”  And then I move on.  Because that’s poker.

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Last night, half the players were from the Game That Shall Not Be Named.  You know the one, the one with…..wait…..here it comes…..THE RAKE.  Of the five players, four were rather straightforward players.  If they had a hand they’d bet it.  Only one would be what I’d consider “crafty,” and I managed to stay out of many big pots with him.

During one hand with a straightforward player, I called a small raise out of position with J9o.  That was mistake number one.  The flop came QJx and I check call a bet.  Mistake number two.  The turn is a rag and again, I check call a bet.  Three for three.  The river comes and TripJax’s me up.

Then I get to ask my favorite question:  “How much do you have left?”

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Granted, I played the hand horribly.  I know that.  But when nearly the entire crew from the GTSNBN gets on my shit for sucking out, then I have a problem.  It was almost like I ran over their puppy.  Everyone had to remind me what a horrible suckout it was.  I didn’t bring up the fact that had the guy pushed on the turn, I would have folded.  I didn’t bring up the fact that nearly everyone who came, bought into the game short and had next to zero folding equity against my stack at the time.  I simply told them I was a horrible player and that they should be able to win their money back relatively soon.

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Last night taught me what it was like to be on the other end of the verbal barbs.  I guess I expected better from people that run their own weekly game (*cough* with RAKE *cough*) to handle losing a little bit better.  But the suckouts were OK with me – I’ll think of it as getting some of my rake back.