I have always moaned bout players hitting their runner Online Casino Malaysia outer, and been quite critical of play that seems to rely on that sort of luck. I guess that is because, at least as far as I can remember, I have always been the one on the wrong end of those bad beats.
Until last week.
In three consecutive tournaments – one at Albert’s tavern, and two APL games, I just could not lose a hand.
In all three I was short stacked at the final table, and still short stacked after the bubble. In two cases I had less than three big blinds left, and in one case could not even make the big blind.
No choice but to push on any hand where I think I might have two live card right?
Right.
I push with something like 9 3 or 7 4, only to find I am dominated by A 9 or K 7. And yet, the low card hits, my opponent doesn’t improve, and I double up.
And then the same thing happens again.
And then again.
And what do you know, I am now the chip leader.
In one head to head showdown, after four all-ins with improbable hands, I am slightly ahead of my opponent. I actually felt quite embarrassed by my phenomenal luck – it is not the way I am used to winning, and I have to say, I don’t really like winning that way.
I take down a pot and my opponent now only has ab out 4 BB’s left. He pushes on the next hand with A J and I call with 2 3. (why did I call? it was late, I wanted to go home, and I was shell shocked by my own good luck). The flop comes 2 3 3. I think my opponent hit his ace on the turn, albeit small consolation.
I mean, what can you do when total rubbish hands win all the time? Not just once, but I won three tournaments like that. And though I never entertained any thought about splitting the prize money, it just was not a pleasant way to win. Not just because of the luck, but because I also wasn’t even playing my A game – it was luck and luck alone that made me win. No contribution of skill on my part.
I could see the frustration in the other players, exactly as I have felt in the past. It is a feeling of contempt that someone with such a lack of skill can still win on luck alone.
So now I take back all those not-so-nice things I have thought, and criticisms I have made in the past. I understand that, just as a bad beat can put you tilt, so can phenomenal luck put you on anti-tilt.
Anti-tilt is where not only do you play bad, the run of luck you are having makes it impossible to play well, and you are forced to win by luck alone.
Fortunately, I can report my luck ran out, and I bubbled at the Thursday night comp at the Mosman club. Passing that horseshoe was like saying goodbye to a kidney stone – and good riddance.
CAN’T GET A READ?
I was thinking about getting reads on people after my last trip to the Adelaide casino. The time where I noticed the dealer also seemed to have the same read on my another player as me.
So it occurred to me, that if there is one person at the table who sees more hands than even a hardened pro, t is going to be the dealer. He/she certainly has no stake in the pot, but now that I think about it, Adelaide is not the first time I have seen a dealer react to the way a hand is being played. In the past however, I have only noticed this after the final decision has been made.
Well, how about this; you can’t get a read on a player yourself, so why not also take a moment to look at the dealer and see if you can get any read from him? Sure, it may be a long shot, but any information is better than nothing.
Some dealers may be totally impassive to any action a play takes, but after all they are only human, and must an enormous number of hands and playing styles. Who better to judge which way the pot may go? I doubt even the most po faced and professional of dealers in not going to occasionally react in some way it an action that will result in a certain loss or win for one of the players, particularly if the pot is very large.
