Costly lapses

For the third session in a row, I went up a small amount early, and decided to keep playing. This time, I was up $400 on my starting amount of $2,000 after about five hands. I should have quit right then. I ended up hitting the felt after almost three hours of play.

What I'm starting to notice on the nights I lose is that sprinkled into a plurality of good decisions are a minority of decisions that display major lapses in judgment. I know this because I cut and paste the big hands (wins or losses) to study later. My biggest lapse tonight was paying an inordinate amount to see a flop that my hand didn't merit me paying that much to see. On that one hand, I lost about $550, or more than a quarter of my starting stack. That's just crazy!

My last hand of the night was very dramatic. Three players (including me) ended up going all in, only to lose to quad sixes. I was going for a straight draw (an open-ended one, for a change). It wouldn't have helped if I'd made it, of course. One of the other all-in players had a full house; that had to have hurt. My losing didn't hurt as much, since my stack was crippled at that point and I was in the throes of another poker death spiral; I had to bankroll any halfway decent hand.

I'm adding another self-imposed rule to my collection -- when I realize I'm in a death spiral, I should just end my night right then. Might as well save a couple hundred! I know this rule will be hard to follow, but formulating it is the first step.

delta: -$2,000
balance: $277,698