Some thoughts on tilt, and the two hands I played in the blogger tourney today:
Hand No. 1: raise it up with the Hammer to 3xBB, one caller. Flop is 9-high with two hearts and misses me completely. I check, opponent bets 75% pot, I call. Turn is Th, I bet 350 and take it down.
Hand No. 2: KK in the SB. UTG raises to 90, CO slot to 200. Obviously, I put the CO on a big hand, but hard to know exactly what he has here. I probably did not reraise enough when I put in the third raise to 500. This raise should have been more in the range of 600-700, especially since I was out of position. Anyway, UTG folds, the CO calls(?), and the flop is J-high garbage. I only have 1200 left, pot is 1100, so I push. Luckbox calls with JJ. I suppose he could have had aces here too, but I'm not really sure how I can get away. If I bet 600, and he raises, I have to call because he could easily have QQ or be making a move with AK. I think I only get away from the hand if he smooth calls the flop. Anyway, this was the thinking that led me to push (might as well get my chips in first).
In the end, this one is probably my fault for not reraising enough pre-flop, but silly me thought that reraising to 500, in Level 1 of a tight blogger tourney, from the small blind, as the third raise in, would be enough to fold a marginal hand like jacks. After all, what else could I possibly have slot online but KK/AA? I can console myself with the fact that, due to stack sizes, he made a slightly -EV call (called 300 to win 800 + my remaining 1200) and got lucky. Also points up why I should have reraised to 600-700.
Moving on --
Otis recently discussed various forms of tilt. It started me thinking, not about the ways in which I personally tilt, but about tilting other people.
Mama and Papa F-Train didn't tolerate any shit from Young F-Train or his siblings. They tried to instill in us some good Catholic values (probably failed) and beat the living crap out of us any time any one of us strayed too far from a morally acceptable path. Lying was a big no-no in my household growing up. My dad kept a paddle -- about two inches wide and twelve inches long -- that he used to "discipline" us when necessary, and if he caught us lying we were guaranteed to get hit at least as many times as our age with that thing. Believe you me, you learned at a fairly young age that lying was not good for your health or, at the least, for your ability to remain comfortably seated after being caught. Acting in a jerky manner was also grounds for a decent thrashing at my father's hand.
As a result of these beatings, it perhaps comes as no surprise that I believe in more direct forms of honesty than most people, and that generally I try not to act like an asshole. (For some of you who know me better than others, you may find that hard to believe. To you I say, "So's your face.") The honesty thing has never been much of an issue for me at the poker table, because bluffing is an accepted, even necessary, part of the game.
¿But what about purposefully trying to tilt someone?
Generally, for me, this type of behavior falls into the "jerky" category. Yet, all's fair in the war at the poker table, and putting someone into a such a tizzy that he steams off all of his chips is a perfectly acceptable tactic. The question is: ¿How scummy is it to do? It's not my natural inclination to attempt to tilt someone unless they really, really piss me off, but in the end I don't think I really care if strangers that I'm sitting at a table with, in a casino, have a negative impression of my personality. (If I were sitting with friends, that would be something else entirely.)
I may have to put this plan into action during my next trip to AC, hopefully before the blogger get-together in Vegas in three weeks.
https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/w88mobileee/blog/got-slot-tilt/264942/
