Go with your gut

If you play enough poker, you'll develop a natural instinct for the game. This is why many people say that you should always trust your initial reaction to a situation instead of over thinking it. This is one of the hardest things to become disciplined at. Sometimes you know you're beat, but you pay off your opponent anyway. At the poker table, money saved is just as good as money won. While I constantly work on going with my gut, I still pay off opponents from time to time. I just hope that not all of my payoffs were as costly as this one.

I was playing some more $1/$2 no limit and was in the big blind with Ah-7h. There were 5 players in pre-flop. The flop came Q-4-4 with two hearts. Feeling pretty confident about my heart draw, I made a small stab at the pot. I bet $7 which was about half of the pot. The player to my right raised me to $14. This was a sneaky raise (or perhaps a raise for information) but another player behind him called the $14 and was all in. I was priced in on this pot to make my flush--the only hands I feared were full houses which were unlikely. I knew I didn't have the best hand at the time. I figured that one of my two opponents had a 4. The turn brought a 10 and there was no action. The river put the heart I wanted out on the board. I bet $20 into a dry side pot. This was a value bet. I figured anyone holding a 4 would have to pay off the $20 as there was still the main pot to win.

I got raised. It wasn't a small raise either. The player to my left went all in for over $200 and had me covered. I had to re-evaluate the situation. Was he trying to steal the pot? Why was he betting so much? My logic was that if he had a big hand like a full house that he would raise a smaller amount hoping that I would call. I made a wrong read and thought this player was making a move. I was wrong. I called off my chips and saw the Q-4 for a flopped full house. I was angry with myself for making the wrong decision. My gut reaction was that I was beat and that I should lay down the hand--I should have went with it. Ironically, the all in player had 10-4 and turned a full house of his own. After the hand another player at the table commented how there was no way he could ever lay down a flush. I wasn't going to and try and educate this player--I like having fish at the table.

The first mistake I made with this hand was not raising pre-flop with the suited ace. Sure, that hand can easily be dominated, but a raise would have certainly gotten a limp from early position with Q-4 to fold along with a limp with 10-4. In an unraised pot, your opponents could have anything. I knew I was behind on the flop after getting raised, but I had the odds to draw to what I thought would be the winning hand. I was drawing dead to running 7-7 or A-A. In hindsight, my opponent played the hand quite well. He raised on the flop and I just called behind him. He probably put me on the hearts right there. I got my free card after we both checked the turn and when I hit the heart and led out, he made a huge raise, knowing that it would be hard to lay down a flush.

I was on tilt after that hand. It doesn't happen to me often, but it did on that day. I usually approach the $1/$2 game with a stop loss strategy. If I lose my buy in of $200, I'll quit for the day. In keeping track of my records, I know that I don't play as well after losing a buy in. I reloaded for another $100 and had built it up to about $150 after a few small pots I won. I saw a cheap flop with 10-7. The flop came J-10-7. I bet and got raised. Again, my gut told me that I was beat, but I reraised all in and was quickly called by the 8-9. I went home after that hand but learned that I should trust my reads a bit more and not play after tilting.