A major mistake that I see players make is "going after" another player after a bad beat or if that player made a remark that the other player didn't like. Folks, this is a mistake that can only HARM your bankroll, not help it. I found myself in this exact situation not long ago after a player called me down to the river only to hit his gutshot straight draw against my top two pair (AK). I lost a considerable sum in the exchange and began to focus on this "bad" player in an effort to show him just how bad his play was. I wanted to prove that I could outplay him and at least win my money back. An interesting development then took place...
You see I was mult-tabling at the time with four 1/2 NL tables on Full Tilt Poker and before I knew it I was tangling with another player at a different table. With the board paired and three hearts showing, he called my all in reraise on the river with only one pair. Folks, I hope I don't need to tell you that if your opponent reraises you all in on the river and the board has paired AND there are three of the same suit showing, you'd better fold if you're only holding one pair! I had the big hand with the nut full house and took down a $231.00 pot (breaking him in the process). After a few minutes, he reloaded and the circus was back in town! This guy proceeded to lose over $600.00 over the course of three re-buys and about 1.5 hours. I was the benficiary of almost half taking him for just north of $275.00 in short order.
Who did I forget during this exchange? The original "bad player" who I thought was sooo bad and would certainly lose more money to me. What happened after the original bad beat I mentioned at the start of this article? He tightened up BIG TIME and by the end of my session when I left the table he was down exactly $14.00 from his rebuy of $200.00. Meanwhile on the other table we had a live one who dropped $800.00. Here's the moral to the story, had it not been for the big pot he lost to me I may have not noticed his multiple re-buys, I may have remained focused on the "bad player" who was going to lose so much money to me and the other players ( I was convinced of this!).
The moral to this story is that you may be looking at the wrong player for the wrong reasons to make your session a profitable. You have to be aware of what each player is doing at a table and make the right reads over the long term vs. the short term to be a profitable player and truly build your poker bankroll.
