After a few weeks away from what is for me the “big game,” I hit Artichoke Joe’s Saturday night full of confidence. I left badly beaten. I cannot say if one bad decision affected the rest of my night, but because I’m still thinking about it on Monday morning, it can’t be inconsequential.
I had played tournaments Wednesday night, Thursday morning, and Friday morning, and I had been pleased with my performance, even though I never made the money or the final table. I was making good decisions, went card dead at critical times, and made moves at the right times, when I knew I had the best of it.
It was with that mood, that I was making good decisions, that I entered play. I tend to play a little tighter at the higher limit, a strategy that has been overall successful. And I was up a bit early when I found myself with aces in middle position.
I rarely slowplay aces, and this time was no exception, with a passive-loose table. There were already one or two limpers, and I got a cold caller or two as well. Five or six players saw a flop of J-J-x.
It was checked to me and I thought for a moment, deciding whether to check, thinking that someone could already be slowplaying trips, or bet out to see where I was at the time, considering that with two jacks already out, the odds were a bit longer that someone had a third jack. So I bet out, and got a couple of callers, including one of the blinds.
A blank came on the turn, and again it was checked to me. I was beginning to think that no one had trips, because no one made a move on the flop bet. So I bet out again and got called only by the blind player.
A blank hit the river as well and the blind player checked. Here is where I made my big mistake. I thought seriously about what the blind player might have, since he had just check-called both the flop and the river. It did occur to me that he might be slowplaying trips, but also that he might have had another pair.
Still, the double check-calls nagged at me, and I should have listened to that little voice. Instead, I bet out, thinking I was betting for value–and got raised.
Now I hadn’t seen this player before, but in the short time I was at the table, I had seen that he could be a big aggressive and a bit tricky. So I managed to convince myself that there was a small chance that he could have been holding a medium to high pair and was trying to steal, or perhaps he was thinking I was betting AK and was raising for value.
But I was wrong. I called the raise to see him flip over not one, but two jacks.
My best play on the turn would have been to just check it down. Instead, I convinced myself of an unlikely lie, and it cost me not one, but two big bets, or a tidy $60 more.
I proceeded to go card dead for the rest of the night, picking up just one small pot when I raised preflop and no one called, and ended the evening on a losing note. It didn’t help that I got a bit impatient, trying to push by raising in middle position with hands such as KQ (and being forced to fold when (a) the hand didn’t hit on the flop, and (b) it was at least a bet and a call when the action got back to me).
One mistake. Can it affect an entire night? I don’t know for sure. But I know that–I hope that–I will learn from this one.