Cooler or bad play?

  • Thread starter Thread starter hoachec
  • Start date Start date
hoachec

hoachec

Rock Star
Platinum Level
VN
Poker Chips
71
Casino Coins
0
I often struggle to decide whether a losing hand was actually a cooler or whether I made a mistake somewhere earlier.
For example, imagine I have top set and get all-in against a straight or flush draw.
If the draw gets there, it feels like a cooler.
But sometimes I wonder if my bet sizing gave my opponent too good a price to chase.
Where do you draw the line between a genuine cooler and a hand that could have been played better?
Do you review the result of the hand, or do you focus more on whether your decision was correct at the time?
 
Always focus on your decisions being correct and play for the long run. If you play for strictly results it will just drive you nuts.
So just bet big. Let them make the mistake of paying too big of a price to try and hit their draw no matter what it is, straight or flush draw. We profit from their mistakes so let them make it. They will make their draw a certain percentage of the time, that’s just math. Nothing we can do about that. Charge them!
It’s not a “cooler” if they hit, it’s just poker, it’s part of the game. Don’t feel entitled because you had the best hand on the flop. Don’t be all titled when they hit. Just get on to the next hand and keep looking for ways to exploit mistakes.
A “cooler” isn’t them getting there, it’s when you flop mid set to their top set, or you have KK and they have AA. It happens. But it also happens for us so don’t forget that. It all comes around and goes around and the longer you play the more weird things you will see. So soak it all up and have fun with it!
 
Losing with a strong hand often involves bad luck but poor play is bad decisions. Before we can judge whether or not we made a bad decision we have to know which decisions in a given spot are good, acceptable or bad. This is why we can't tell if we played well or not. This is totally okay. It just means that this is a spot that we need to learn.

If googling articles and reading up feels overwhelming then try posting some hands in the hand analysis here. There are several people who can dissect it street by street with you and help see where things may have gone sideways.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: fundiver199
The loss occurred due to your incorrect assessment of the situation.A cooler situation arises in rare instances and does not involve either opponent folding their cards. From a mathematical standpoint, both players hold strong hands, reasonably expect to win, and have no desire to fold.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
It the depends about the sitation and every different hand that you're playing at the time , it will be time as cooler and others a very hard luck, the most important is to not get fustrated when it happens . Always clear your mind and refresh it as much you need it.Also take a time off if is necessary.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
I try to separate the result from the decision, if the money went in when I was comfortably ahead I'm usually glad to call it a cooler, but I'll still go back and check the previous streets to make sure I didn't get suckered in by my bet sizing or give the draw a good price.
The most important thing to me is to ask myself "Knowing what I knew at the time, was this a profitable decision?" and if it was I can live with a bad runout. 🃏
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
To use your example, as Doyle Brunson said, "If you flop a set and lose the hand and don't lose your whole stack, you played it wrong.". There are exceptions of course, but generally that is true. As far as their straight or flush draw getting there, your chance of the board pairing is almost as high as those draws hitting.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
I take screenshots and, after the game ends, analyze particularly interesting situations—especially those where I made a suboptimal decision. Unfortunately, I lack the time for a full analysis, so I only review two or three situations per tournament. In this way, I try to improve my game.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
I think we should never underestimate how powerful poker variance can be. Sometimes we spend too much time looking for a mistake simply because we lost the hand, when the reality is that we can make the right decision and still lose. If I have top set and get all-in against a straight or flush draw, I will obviously look back at the hand and check if my bet sizing made sense. But if I put my chips in while I was clearly ahead, I'm not going to automatically blame myself just because the draw got there. Poker can be brutal. A hand that is 80% to win can still lose, and that can happen several times in a row. The fact that something is unlikely doesn't mean it can't happen. That's why I think we have to be very careful when judging our own play based only on the result. Of course, there are situations where we really did make a mistake, maybe by giving a draw too good a price or putting too many chips in when the board became dangerous. Those hands are worth studying. But sometimes there is simply nothing to fix. You played the hand correctly, your opponent got there, and that's poker. For me, the biggest lesson is that we should never underestimate variance. If we expect every good decision to produce a good result, poker will drive us crazy. Sometimes the best play still loses, and we have to be able to accept that without changing our strategy because of one bad result.
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
hoachec said:
I often struggle to decide whether a losing hand was actually a cooler or whether I made a mistake somewhere earlier.
For example, imagine I have top set and get all-in against a straight or flush draw.
If the draw gets there, it feels like a cooler.
But sometimes I wonder if my bet sizing gave my opponent too good a price to chase.
Where do you draw the line between a genuine cooler and a hand that could have been played better?
Do you review the result of the hand, or do you focus more on whether your decision was correct at the time?
Click to expand...
It is never a cooler if a draw hits
A simple way to know if you sized incorrectly is to do math. If the V has 33% equity your sizing should be such that they are paying more than that to call.
Simple example Pot is 6bb on flop (vs a draw only) u bet 4bb- pot is 10- 4 to call -villain needs 40% to make the correct call they have 33% equity.

You will need to study that idea more deeply because of implied odds and full range value targeting etc.


🤔🤓
 
Reply
  • Like
Reactions: hoachec
Back
Top