I didn’t get to play as much today as I wanted to. I’ve not been running so well in a sense. I mean, when I’m getting the money in ahead I’m winning fairly often, so I’m not speaking of that. More or less my problem has come from the fact that I’ve been unlucky enough that in many bubble situations I just seem to shove reasonable hands (such as 4 broadway cards when I have 4bb and nobody else is likely to die off and it’s blind vs blind) only for the big blind to turn over AA74, at which point the dealer systematically removes all the cards above 8 from the deck.
I did quite a bit of swinging every which way as a result, but finally stopped because my personal life got in the way, and I finished my game and closed the software. I only made 36 cents today, but at least I can say I successfully avoided tilt!
Aside from making confirmation bias based jokes, I don’t have much to say about the actual poker, so I think I’ll take this opportunity to discuss “Avatar Psychology*.”
At Full Tilt Poker, players select from a variety of avatars to represent them at the table. For example, mine is a penguin! What’s interesting is that you’ll notice that by someone’s avatar you can usually make certain safe assumptions about them. For example:
The Fish- Players with the fish avatar are players who are either good or think they are good and they are using the fish avatar ironically. Most fish avatars fall into the latter of course, and proceed to be way too nitty, and act in ways that feel like they’re trying to play a conservative style when really they’re just being transparent.
The Cowboy- The hugest nit in the entire universe for raising, but can be quite the calling station. If you bet, they will probably call. If they bet, you probably should be mucking your cards. Also, even when pot committed, they may randomly decide to stop calling and just fold, because why would YOU ever bet multiple times without the nuts?
The Vampire- The vampire avatar is sort of your berserker type player. Their hand range seems to be “I was dealt into the hand,” but they make up for this by always running hotter than the sun.
The Guy With the FTOPS avatar- You should probably take this as a sign that you should stand up from the table. If you’re in the middle of a tournament, just uncheck auto-post blinds until you get moved.
The Penguin- Everyone with a penguin avatar doesn’t know how to play poker. Everyone.
Current bankroll: $18.48
*I seriously do not believe any of this. For entertainment only. No cash value.
