Dealing with tournaments
Marcus Bateman
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Marcus Bateman /
04 December 2008 /
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Tournament poker is one of the most savage ways to play poker, particularly when playing live. You can easily play for days on end, only to find that all your time was wasted, as some cruel beat, when a few players from the money, sends you sloping off towards the rail. The career lows of most poker players are usually to do with that illusive tournament they missed out on, or that time they ran kings into aces for a huge pot right on the bubble.
How you deal with these particularly agonising moments is extremely important in keeping control of both yourself and your bankroll. The first - and most important - point is that you should probably steer clear of poker for a decent period afterwards. Going and jumping straight into a cash game is not a good idea when you have just gone through something extremely traumatic.
Note that this is different if you just bust early in a tournament, where getting in cash games can often be a good idea (to try and pick up some of the tilting players who subsequently bust), due to the fact that it feels much better because you have invested much less time and effort into it.
One of the great things about playing online is that this effect is reduced (notice that I say 'reduced' not eliminated - going deep in any tournament and missing out is always heart breaking), as you can: a) play lots of tournaments at once, thus reducing the variance and letting you stay more objective and less attached to just one tourney; and b) the action is always much quicker, so you feel that much less of your time has been wasted if you just pull up short.
Remember that how you cope with the severe trauma of loss is arguably more important than how well you play in anything. The most money lost in poker probably comes at the expense of traumas such as bubbling tournaments or receiving a very bad beat. The best way to recover from any severe loss (and I think this probably applies to most losses in life - not just poker) is through taking a break and allowing your mind to recover. Take a break, get yourself back together and don't lose anymore money than you absolutely have to.
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