Stop Losing Big Hands Part 2

Today I'd like to share with your part TWO of how to prevent
big losses, and that is:

DON'T GET GREEDY.

Successful poker players all have one thing in common:

They understand the PSYCHOLOGY of greed, and how powerful it
really is.

Let me share a story with you how *I* fell victim to greed
the other night at my local $1-2 no limit game... and how it
emptied my pockets.

Here's how it went down...

I get dealt pocket 6's and am sixth to act.

Josh is first to act and makes it $5 to play. Don and Brett
are next in line and call Josh's pre-flop raise.

The action is to me, with the pot size at $18.

There's no doubt I'll play this one and hope to spike one of
my sixes.

One other guy behind me calls the bet.

Okay... flop comes out:

Ah, 9d, 6s

Perfect.

I've just spiked my 6's and there's an Ace on the board,
which I'm sure someone is holding.

It looks like I'm going to rake a HUGE pot at this point.

Josh comes out firing, as I expect. I immediately put him on
AK or AQ.

Brett folds and Don calls Josh's $20 bet.

Who knows what Don has... I can never put him on a hand
because he's the manic at the table. He'll play just about
anything. He's probably sitting on 10-J, looking for a
runner-runner straight draw for all I know.

Needless to say, he's not the guy I'm worried about.
Actually, I'm not really worried about ANYONE at this point.
I just flopped trips... and all I'm thinking about is how to
milk these guys for all their money.

I decide to not slow-play the hand. I want to find out where
I'm at... so I re-raise Josh's bet. I'm confident I'll get a
call. I know Josh won't fold if he has the Ace, like I
think.

"Make it $50", I say, as I push in my red chips.

The guy behind me folds and the action is back to Josh. He
thinks for awhile as he shuffles his chips.

"I call", he says.

Don, however, doesn't hesitate one bit. He throws in his
chips with some frustration and splashes the pot.

I've done everything right so far... I'm very
well-positioned to rake in a huge pot.

The turn card comes... 4 of diamonds.

Now the board reads:

Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d

So the 4 doesn't scare me at all.

Josh and Don both check this time because I'm in control.

"Seventy five" I say... in a rather DEMANDING voice that
makes it sound like I'm trying to buy the pot.

Josh mucks his hands... which he later told me was an AJ. So
he made a good lay down.

Don, on the other hand, thinks for a moment before calling
my $75 bet. Now I'm feeling GREAT about this hand...

Josh was the guy I was really worried about, not Don. Don's
probably got pocket 2's, or something crazy like that. Who
knows?

The river card is a 2 of diamonds.

Now I hope Don DOES have ducks! If he does, I'm going to
take the rest of his stack.

The board now reads:

Ah, 9d, 6s, 4d, 2d

Don checks to me.

I see the backdoor flush on the board, but I throw out
another large bet anyway.

AND THAT'S WHERE I SCREWED UP.

I SHOULD have checked right behind Don when I saw the flush
on the board. Instead, I got GREEDY and made a stupid bet
because I figured there was NO WAY he chased the flush all
the way down.

Don raises my large bet by going all in, and he seems
confident.

I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath. Then I
call... with the remainder of my stack.

He turns over a 7-8 of diamonds.

He's got the flush, which beats my trip sixes.

So he had flopped an open-ended straight draw... and ended
up catching the flush instead.

I had played the hand perfectly right until the backdoor
flush hit. THAT is when I let greed take over.

I had made another bet when Don checked to me... but I
SHOULD have just checked back.

If I hadn't let greed take over, I would have saved a lot of
chips, and stayed in the game.

Greed is a powerful emotion that can empty your pockets...
just like it emptied mine.

But of course, you can use greed to your ADVANTAGE...

Because once you have your OWN greed under control, you can
learn to make positioning moves and bets based on the greed
of OTHER players.