Following on from our article about whether or not you should show your cards (you shouldn’t) it make sense to say a few words about what to do when you have been bluffed off of a big pot and then had the cards shown to you.
The most common reaction is to get annoyed, then get seriously annoyed, then to start gunning for that player.
That is the most common reaction and the wrong reaction.
Poker should not include ego. You can’t afford it right now., Maybe when you are a superstar the you can afford to have an ego and have that ego offended. But right now you are not there. You need to not be offended by anything that happens at the poker table.
What you really need to do is readjust what you consider winning and losing. Winning in this situation is not going on tilt. Even if, unlikely though it is, you go on tilt and win back all your loses, it is still not a good thing.
You need to keep cool and keep you emotions in check. This is what winning is in the long run.
The next best thing, if you can’t do that, is to walk away. Yes, get up from that table and walk. That may seem like a crazy thing to do, and that the next time you sit at a table with any of the players from this game they will remember that you got bluffed and walked. But believe me that if you go on tilt and lose your whole stack they will probably remember that even longer.
Don’t play for revenge. And remember that the guy that just showed his bluff has probably annoyed all the other players at the table, so let them take him out for you.
No related posts.
