When the Stacks Get Bigger Late in a Session

[Cody]

Hello Brad… In your latest vlog, you played up at a $ level you were uncomfortable with. This was very inspiring and also very familiar. I can relate to the shaking hands and the overall feeling of scared as I move into different games and stakes that I am unfamiliar with. I hated it for you but things like this are great on the vlog because us viewers can relate to it instead of it seeming like you are immune to poker’s challenges and pain. We all know that there is discomfort in poker.

I wanted to see if you could discuss this topic more in one of your upcoming vlogs. I tend to have the same apprehension in a few different situations that I need to conquer:
1) Moving up in stakes
2) playing at a different venue with different people
3) Most frequently, playing for many hours at the same table amassing a large stack and then players wanting to play a much larger game now that the stacks are big.

In other words, I’m fine playing $300 buy-in $1/$2, but what happens when everyone at the same table (including me) now has $1200+ and certain players are now forcing more of a $2/$5 or $5/$10 game than $1/$2? Instead of a $15 preflop raise, now it’s $40. I could lose everything in one hand that I spent hours building… and I hate it. I know the poker game is the same but this more of a mental hurdle. Its not the money that really bothers me, its the fact that I could go home with a negative on my graph instead of positive, after one bad hand. I frequently find myself ending my night early (as you did) rather than sitting in an uncomfortable spot. Can you talk about this more about how you handle this mentally?

[Trey]

^ agreed

[KitsuNoir]

Whenever you’re feeling uncomfortable — for whatever reason — then it’s time to call it a night.

“In other words, I’m fine playing $300 buy-in $1/$2, but what happens when everyone at the same table (including me) now has $1200+ and certain players are now forcing more of a $2/$5 or $5/$10 game than $1/$2? Instead of a $15 preflop raise, now it’s $40”.

I like to see this myself. Deep stacks and winner’s tilt make for some excellent pay days. Just stay off winner’s tilt yourself by never forgetting how you made that big stack in the first place. One thing that may help is if you bought in for $300, then that’s all you can lose. If you get coolered for a $1200 stack, you didn’t lose $1200. You lost $300. SUX, I know, but them’s the breaks, and that’s Poker. Some yutz is going to crack your pocket aces with (Q,5-o) sometimes. If the fish didn’t win one every now and then, there’d be no fish.

[Author]

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