This is something I wrote in the Cardrunners forums last November. I stumbled across it in search of an old post.

" After reading some posts, this thought came into my head. So many times I see posts on here where someone asks if their play was spewy, if they played the hand right, if people liked the line they took, etc. The vast majority of hands posted are ones where the poster lost the hand. This leads me to believe that people are not reviewing the hands they won enough.

Since poker is so situational and since one small bet, or one miniscule check can have a huge effect on the outcome of the hand, I do not think it is enough to look over the hands that you lost.

Subconciously, people often feel that if they lost a big hand where there play was questionable that they had to have done something wrong. It is easy to overlook hands that you won that might have been played bad. At the same time, it is very easy to dwell over a hand just because you lost it.

I am not suggesting that we need to see more winning hands on the forums. I only want to emphasize the importance of not being results-oriented, which we hear about time and again in videos, articles, and on the forums. When reviewing sessions, take some time to analyze your big hands and ask yourself, "Just because I won this hand, did I play it well," or "Just because I lost this hand, does that mean my play was bad and that it might not have worked in a similar situation a majority of the time?"

I know that the results of hands are often omitted in posts, but a lot of the time I read a post and I can tell that the poster lost the hand. So, they are still being somewhat results-oriented in that because they lost the hand, they feel they did something wrong. By reviewing winning hands as well, and asking yourself, "If i had checked here instead of betting or vice-versa, would the outcome of the hand be affected?"

Just something I thought everyone could think about and maybe incorporate into the forums."

It garnered some good responses:

Of all people, Josh "Bust this motherf@#$%er Arieh thinks I get out of line. LOL. Nah, I am sure Josh is a great guy. Just thought it was kind of funny. Let me tell you the story behind it.

I was playing in a $200 +$20 tournament yesterday. We started with thirty players and when we got down to ten, an interesting hand came up. The blinds were 400/800 with a 50 ante and I had about 25k. The short stack, with about 2600, shoved all in on the button. I looked at the small blind, Rob, and jokingly said, "Please call so I don't have to." He called and then I looked down at AQs and said raise 4k more. Then, to my surprise, Brad, the dealer, said that I could not raise. He said that since I asked Rob to call and then I raised it looked as though I might be colluding or inducing a play in order to pick up extra chips. Everybody went apeshit because we all disagreed on what action should be taken. Finally, someone said to call Josh Arieh. I don't know Josh personally, but he lives in the area and many people that played in the tournament are friends with him. It did not take long for Josh to say, "The raise should stand, but warn that player that he has terrible etiquette!" Fortunately Josh ruled in my favor and I went heads up against the short stack to bust him.

Other than that hand, the tournament was not particularly interesting. There was one hand early on between me and Aaron. Blinds were 25/50 and we both had about 5k. Aaron made it 200 utg 7 handed and I decided to flat with KK to mix it up. The bb called as well and the flop came T66r. They both checked to me and I bet 450. Aaron called after the bb folded and the turn came a J. He bet 650 into me and I called. The river was a King and Aaron bet 1450. I thought for a bit and shoved. Fortunately for me Aaron floated OOP with AQ, backed into broadway, and was committed by the time I shoved. I ran very well the rest of the tournament constantly hitting big hands when my opponent would hit a really good 2nd best hand. Mostly two pair vs my straight. I got all the way to the final table with 9 people left, five spots paid, and 2.5k for first. Things were lookin good for me most of the way. After the bubble broke, we played five handed for literally 1.5 hours or 3 levels, which is a LONG time. I got very lucky a few times before we got down to four handed and I pretty quickly got my last 10 bbs in with 88 vs AJo and lost. Meh.

Over the past 3 months, I have played 4 big buyin tournies ($100+ is big buyin to me right now even though it is nothing to some of you wackos) and I have made 4 final tables. I have finished 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th with two cashes totaling 1k. I think I have played pretty well for the most part, with the exception of a few close spots where I made -EV pushes or folds. Even with these errors, I still feel like I have run below expectation and am probably - 2-3k in long term equity. Other than that, I am pretty happy. I think I have done the best I could and that I have made mostly smart decisions, which is all I can do. Hopefully I will look back on this in the not to distant future and laugh that I thought these were big tournies.

Oh, I almost forgot. I saw what was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen at a poker table. with the exception of Jeremy telling someone that he was surprised she could still talk with the amount of dick that had been in her mouth in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice, this takes the cake. At like 300/600 blinds, Dieter shoved his stack of about 10 bb in utg. It got folded to Shaun in MP and he thought for about 15 seconds before shoving. Everyone folded and Dieter turned over QJss (I was kind of surprised). Then, I was even more surprised when Shaun tabled red 22. The flop came QT4hhh, but the turn was a heart and Shaun won. Dieter was incredulous! Everybody at the table was laughing hysterically including me. All Dieter could say was, "That is probably the most -EV call I have even seen in poker." I am not going to say anything about either persons play, but will say once again that this was just awesome :)

Good Luck Guys,

DC