Fear factor

If there's one thing I've proven to myself after nearly five years of playing online poker, it's that I don't play scared. I'm not afraid to put all my chips in the middle. That's why how I played a particular hand last night came as a real shock to me. I played scared on that hand. I'd been dealt a pair of sevens, and hit trip sevens on the flop. They were the top set, since the other two cards were lower than a seven. I bet the flop pretty big, about $6,000. One of my opponents went all in for over $40,000 after I acted. That scared me enough to fold, without even stopping to think. It was a knee-jerk reaction, and was stupid. If I'd thought about it at all, I would have realized I was still best. I got to see the holding of the all-in player at the showdown; all he had was an ace seven offsuit, which gave him aces up. The only possible saving grace for me was that the board may have supported a straight, but I honestly don't remember. Let me check the archives...

As it turns out, the board did support a straight, but I can't let myself off the hook. I remember being afraid of a bigger set, which was completely nonsensical! In fact, my memory was that my opponent had gone all in on the turn; that's what I originally wrote in the first version of this post. The only reason for me to fear a bigger set, as my self-esteem demanded, was if the all in had come after the turn card, which was an ace, was revealed. Memory is a notoriously tricky thing! I didn't remember what had actually happened, but what I would like to have happened. I didn't want to admit to myself that sometimes the fear factor kicks in and influences my play.

Thankfully, no real damage was done, and I didn't play scared on any other hands. Still, it was a good lesson; I need to be wary of knee-jerk reactions.

During current Hold'em session you were dealt 52 hands and saw flop:
 - 6 out of 7 times while in big blind (85%)
 - 4 out of 6 times while in small blind (66%)
 - 27 out of 39 times in other positions (69%)
 - a total of 37 out of 52 (71%)
 Pots won at showdown - 4 of 6 (66%)
 Pots won without showdown - 7

delta: $35,341
cash game no limit hold'em balance: $4,855,971
balance: $7,212,924