Poker Troupe

Just One More Hand in Poker

What's Wrong With Peeking at One Last Hand Before You Cash Out? Plenty!

According to a wellknown poker adage, it's not how much you win over the long run but how much you don't lose. Obviously, too much caution can hurt your game. But you save a bundle over a lifetime of poker by mucking three flushed cards in seven-stud high-low when one is a nine or above; or tossing away K-J offsuit in early position in a tight no-limit hold'em game.

It's also generally acknowledged that losses can be minimized by avoiding a table that's wrong for you, one with better players, or people who seriously get under your skin, and by not playing when you're tired, depressed, under the influence of booze or drugs, down with the flu, angry, etc.

However, there's another avoidable cause of chronic bankroll hemorrhage: it's the "one more hand" you decide to look at just as you're about to leave the table. Here are three common circumtances in which a player can be lured into seeing that potentially troublesome "one more hand."

Situation 1: After five hours of $10-$20 limit hold'em play, you're up $400. Your cards are cooling down. You're tired but happy, so it's time to call it a night. Then, just as you get up, you think: "The poker gods have been pretty good to me, I've got a few chips to burn." So, what the hey, you take one more hand. Now you hold 3-3 under the gun, a hand you would rarely if every play in early position except to "change gears." You call the blind, and lucky for you, no one raises, but the flop fails to give you a set or other outs. You leave, feeling good. But think about it: the $10 chips you just tossed in amounts to 2.5 percent of your $400 profit. You've just imposed an excise tax on yourself, and that's after the rake!

Situation 2: The game is $10-$20 Omaha/8 (high-low). You took three crushing beats in the first hour of play. After more than four hours of solid, tight-aggressive play, you're up $40. You're delighted. But the battle to get back in the black has left you wrung out. That inner voice (which is rarely wrong) advises you to exit before your "A" game turns "B"-ish. But just as you get up, you think: "My cards have turned pretty good in the last half hour. Coming home a little more in the black would be fine." So, tah-dah!, one more hand!

So, you now hold As-3h-9-d-Qd in last position, the dreaded A-3 with no back-up, a nine of trouble, and unthrilling straight and flush outs. Just enough to get involved. When youu dock at the river, you lose with the second-best low and third-best flush. All your grueling work has gone for naught. You depart a $50 loser, exhausted and ashamed.

How To Head Off Temptation?

The doctor recommends a strong dose of self-knowledge and reality testing. For instance, don't kid yourself into believing you tossed in a few chips on the verge of leaving to establish a liberal table image the next time around. Admit you already know something about one-last-hand temptations somewhere in your cranium. But you have chosen to disregard your inner voice because of elation, fatigue, anger, desperation or whatever.

Here's a simple behavioral technique. At a quiet time and place, focus your attention on your own bad "last hand" experiences. Fix memories of them firmly in your mind. Remember the details, the more the better, where you were, what you did, how you felt, especially if you went on a terrible tile. Now write your recollections down, and record them if possible on audio and videotape. Read, listen and watch until your "program" is well and truly installed.