[w-thompson]

Had a big turnout for my regular game, 19 players. We get down to the last table and I am basically treading water right around my starting stack when I get some momentum going. I knock out a short stack, a few more bite the dust and we are 6 handed and I have 25.5K in chips with blinds at 1k-2k. I am UTG+1, UTG limps in and I have AK. I am going to raise but I am having a little trouble deciding how much. Standard raises are getting multiple callers, especially by the villian in this hand, I want 1 caller at most, in fact I would be happy to take down the limps and blinds. So I make it 10K to go. It folds around to the villain, who has been calling off his chips to draw to inside straights and hitting them. He has been all in 3 times at the final table dead to 2 or 3 outs and hitting them. He starts counting chips out, more than my bet, and since he has me covered by a little I count down the rest of my chips to let him know how much I have behind. He hems and haws for a while and while I hate the idea of being up against him I feel that my AK is the best right now. He finally says "What the heck I raise you all in." I hate it when they say that but after everyone else folds I call and flip my cards. He seems crestfallen and sheepishly turns over A7. Long story short, he rivers a 7 and my tourney is done.

How does someone raise 85% of their stack with A7? Can he possibly think that hand is good? He ended up winning the tournament with more 2 & 3 outers and drawing to gutshots and even hitting runner runner full house to beat a flopped nut flush (called an all in after the flop with K5 and top pair on a suited board). I know in the long run that playing like that will bust someone, and he has lost quite a bit of cash in the past but I have never survived going up against him. It just It is so frustrating.

-Wayne

[jamby]

I think it's mainly because bad players play so many more hands than they should and thus win more pots than they should based on sheer percentages. In the short run it might seem like they've got the luck of the Irish. Over the long run though they're still bound to be losers.

[hod]

Originally Posted by jamby

I think it's mainly because bad players play so many more hands than they should and thus win more pots than they should based on sheer percentages. In the short run it might seem like they've got the luck of the Irish. Over the long run though they're still bound to be losers.

Yip, there you go. If you play waaay more crud hands you will hit more 2 outers. But also you will lose way more too in the long run.

Hard to think it just now probably, but be glad he's in your game - you called his bet at the end for a reason, didn't you?!

[Vince]

I ask myself that question several times a day. But jamby is right. Expecially in cash games, those are the players that push your bankroll in the long run.

[jldecarlo]

You need to embrace this fact. This is what makes poker a great game to bet money on. Nobody (or almost nobody) bets money on chess because the better player nearly always wins. The good thing about poker is that even really, really bad players win, and win pretty often. Not as much as they loose, however. And that is the great thing about poker.

L

[Sea Vulture]

The other thing I've noticed is that there are SO MANY bad players, that when when you're in a multi-way pot with several bad players, one of them caught something and you're doomed.

It's the double edged sword. On one hand, you're glad there are so many of them because you get paid off regularly. On the other hand, you're going to take more bad beats.

[dad604]

If not for the fact that they hit once in awhile, they would quite the game.

[WalkFar]

Just got to ask yourself if you would take that AK v A7 bet again. Tough when your tournament life is on the line.

[john]

The beauty of home games is you can have home game rules. In our tournaments we allow players to run hands more then once when all the chips are in. In a situation like yours i would offer to run the board 2 or 3 times. This adds more fun to the game, and also keeps the donks on smaller stacks as they cant steal a whole pot on the river.

[Jonah 99]

One thing I try to keep in mind is that poker is a game where you need to stick with the odds no matter how it works out.

Don't let results steer you away from proper play.

If your opponet hits a three outer on the river after you get your money in good, don't let that keep you from doing it again, and contrarily when you suckout hitting a gut shot after calling a pot sized bet on the turn, don't let that reinforce your bad play.

The cards can run bad, and you're sure to remember the one bad beat layed down on you and not the dozen or so other times your hand held up.