21 replies to this topic

[Private]

Right now i am so angry/sadMe and my brother have been playing with each other seriously for a long time- he taught me. I can say that he is a pretty good player, but i am still better than him.If you read my posts before you'd know that i even give him odds to play, sometimes not. Sometimes i beat him like 10x in a row everyday.We play for every game (until someone is whiped out) wins $2. Im 16, he's 21. This is really embarassing, but over the last 2 days, i lost 14$. really the only time i've ever been down. We had guests over and we were playing in the basement, then he told me he didnt want to play anymore. And i threw a tantrum. I threw the cards all over the room and tossed all the chips all over the room too. I started to punch my walls and kick stuff, i also cried and just basically got really pissed. I know, its only 14$, and i can make that money off someone REAL fast, usually winning like 20$ from someone easily...what makes me REAL pissed is not the fact that i lost 14$ but the fact that i lost. I take the game real serious and dont like to fool around. He started giving me lectures in my play, when HE was making shit decisions. He would have something like Q-3os and id have A-10 he'd go all in and id call and I'd lose.or he'd go all in on KJ and i'd have A-6... i'd call and i'd lose (coinflip i know) but why does it always wokr in his favour 90% of the time!~?!?I know my behaviour was totally inappropriate, its just that i cant stand to lose like this. Its been such a long time since i lost this much... first time i played i lost 20$, it felt shit, then i came back and won it all back from the same guy.....really im still up on my brother, and that's not a problem, he even told me to take my $ back, and i declined. I know i shouldnt advise anyone on what they play, but really im not here to make $ with my brother, i just want to get a LOT better. i mean, i told him i had the advantage, and his theory of poker was this "I think King Jack offsuit is better than A-6.. its not that much of an advantage, and they're both pretty high cards..." his theory is "the favorite always gets screwed... always." and he makes his decisions based on that... he doesnt sound like a very good player, and sometimes he makes REALLY bad plays... so why can't i beat him 1000/1000 times when we play? ok stupid question, but i still dont think i should lose to him. Has anyone else gone through this situation, or been this mad over poker? its silly but im crying really bad right now for some reason. :cry: I mean i've been taking money and beating practically everyone i played.. does this loss mean that im not as good as i thought i was?EDIT: I've noticed i got pissed a lot over poker... like i finally found some people that i could have played $ for in poker (real fast/easy $) and then these other people screw it up for me by playing friendly card games (like crazy 8's) I couldnt stand that, so i just left, and these people were my friends. I know i never used to do this, i dont know why but when it comes down to cards, theres nothing that i can get more angry over.btw my knuckles are bleeding because i started to punch everything lol.-thanks for listening

[NYIsles]

Is this an old Annie Duke post?

[AvoidReality]

NYIsles said:

Is this an old Annie Duke post?

[Dane]

Act like an adult when you loose, say good hand and forget the hand, then say to yourself, thats Poker, if you cant stay focussed on your game, you will continue to loose.

[Private]

yes, what i did reminded me of what i heard of annie, and you're right, i should have focused on the game- i was making the right plays, but i cant believe i'd lose like that. And when he quit (his excuse was that my family was gonna find out we were gambling- they dont allow that) that just made me even more miserable. I mean, when im up its cool and its normal, but when im down.... there's just nothing worse. Its like nobody wants to play me anymore :xAnd when i play with my friends, i have complete composure and i never lose my temper.its just when im with my brother... its a different story, its not about the money or anything, i want to win. Its like i've said i was real good and i didnt meet that standard because i lost, and i now i feel like shit.Imagine Daniel Negreanu losing to a grade schooler... I bet he'd feel pretty bummed. And i didnt even get an opportunity to prove myself because he wont play anymore and it sucks real bad on how i just did. I think i need a break from poker... or i should grind it out more now that im gonna have a 3 day break from school after my last exam!! yeah!!

[Username]

Private said:

...then he told me he didnt want to play anymore. And i threw a tantrum. I threw the cards all over the room and tossed all the chips all over the room too. I started to punch my walls and kick stuff, i also cried and just basically got really censored.  

hahahahahaha.I have nothing to contribute to this thread.

[Ebonwoulfe]

I think a question you should ask yourself is that if you're really such a better player, why call all-in with A-6? You had the better hand, but not by much. If you're in a tourney where everyone is better at making decisions than you, then you probably want to go all-in preflop and let the cards fall. It puts you past the point where you can be outplayed. The skills of the better player are negated when everyone is all-in. Then, it's all about the cards. Your brother has been putting you in this situation. When he goes all-in, it puts him past the point of being outplayed.Let's say that you begin the tourney figuring to be a 75% favorite to win. That means your bro has a 25% chance of winning. Every hand you play, your chances of winning increase, as your skill has amassed chips and put him in a deficit. But if he picks up KJ and knows you have an A on the very first hand, he should get all his chips in and hope you do the same because his odds of winning the tourney increase from 25% to 45% (the odds of winning this single hand)But you stated yourself that you are the better player here.Why risk the game on A-6 (a hand that is remarkably easy to beat) when you can just lay it down and go on to the next hand and try to beat him on THAT one? There is no reason. If he learns that he can push you off many hands by going all-in preflop, let him. Then you can trap him when you get a bigger hand than A-6.I think your sense of superiority is causing you to fail. You feel you CAN'T be beat, so you don't give him the respect he deserves. Sure, he got lucky on a coin flip, but you let yourself get put into that situation by calling him. YOU force him into that situation, not the other way around. Put yourself beyond defeat, then defeat him.

[AceSpades11]

It sounds like you really need to grow up and realize at the stakes your playing it's just a game. It's not worth going as far as shedding tears over. If you can't take losing don't play.

[Private]

Thanks Ebon, great advice, and yes i thought about all of this even before you posted. During the game i was thinking about the EXACT same thing, but basically, the only reason i played that was because i DID have the better hand, and i KNEW i had the better hand. I didnt want the decision to be based upon a coinflip preflop since that's not real poker. it reminds me of playmoney partypoker. but what made me do it was that according to the statistics i should have a better chance at winning the hand, and to me, it would be stupid if you are laying down the hands you have an advantage in...I always thoughtwhat makes a poker player good is that he wins the hands he's supposed to win, and minimizes his losses when he's supposed to lose.If you have the better cards in a 1v1 situation, doesnt it makes sense taht you should play the cards?

[Ebonwoulfe]

No, good poker players aren't defined by their better hands holding up. ANYONE can have a better hand hold up. The better poker player makes better decisions than his opponent. Sklansky talks about such a concept in tournament poker for advanced players.Let's say today you're offered $120 vs your $100 that a coin flip will come up heads. In other words, you're getting 1.2-1 odds on a 1-1 proposition. It is a play that will show a profit.You know that tomorrow someone will offer you $200 to your $100 that a coin flip will come up heads. You're getting 2-1 on an even money proposition. Obviously you should take both wagers, because both will show a profit.But let us introduce a caveat. You only have $100 to wager! Now you don't want to take the first wager, EVEN THOUGH it will show a profit, because that means there will only be a 50% chance that you will have the money to take the second wager.That's what happened in your situation against your bro. You put everything you had on the line when you had a slight edge. If you weren't to take that wager, a situation would no doubt come up later where your edge was significantly better. That's the decision a better poker player would make.

[KDawgCometh]

i hope he didn't throw the cards all over the place after the older bro beat him

[Private]

thx for the replies everyone.I guess that i take poker really seriously. I have a lot more to learn that i thought and have learned a valuable lesson from this experience. From now on im gonna play good poker. no more clown poker,

[GTOnizuka]

Private,You gotta relax and breathe. I have also been in situations where Im playing against my friends and I get beat with a Q 3 os. where I'd have AK and I played the hand right. You just gotta roll with the punches. In the long run the more experienced player who plays correctly wins. And yes sometimes the winner of the bad hand will chime in their two cents and I just wait patiently for a monster hand and try to trap that person. When it works there is feeling of satisfaction. You just gotta play one hand at a time.. that's my opinion.

[Suited_Up]

Man, I wish smash was back from vegas, lol... That's all.

[MilesZS]

HAHA! First things first: See? Smash's harsh sarcasm is a needed aspect of this forum! Second... damn dude. I don't have a little brother, but if my little sisters acted like this every time I beat them at something, I wouldn't play with them anymore either. If he's a worse player, than that is more reason to NOT be upset. You should think to yourself, "That's fine, he's on a hot streak, eventually I'm gonna take all his money." Now you're ruined, because he's not going to play with you again (and I don't think ANYONE blames him). Incidentally, what the hell did the cards and chips ever do to you? Miles ZS, President of People for the Ethical Treatment of Chips and Cards.... PETCC

[Private]

i went back and played him again. I lost another 20$. rofl.

[StackOSociety]

Isn't Private the dude who wants to be a poker pro but thought you have to come from a gambling family and be criminally connected and/or cheat to make it to the top...Anyhoo's....Dude, your missing one important fact in this convo.... His your freakin' brother!! He knows you very well, and it sounds like he's exploiting every little thing he can about you... Anecdotally, when I play heads up with my friend who've I've played countless heads up matches with, it usually comes down to who's getting the hotter cards or wins the crucial hand, we both know each other so well we know who's hit on their hand, when to get out and when to draw. It usually comes down to when we both have a good hand and one is slightly better, or just card luck. Relax, we all have a nemisis.

[Private]

lol i realized why i was losing so much, i was being very impatient and just going all in more than half the games- even if i had a better hand.I stopped doing that and i already won most of my money back, and im going for more!! yeeehah. I just kept playing like i used to, now a little more focused and everything's good. Im gonna go play some more poker!!