The Final Hour

• 30.06.2025 12:28 pm
• headhunter
• 0 Comments

I know the title must sound kind of alarming. The idea is to get your attention and I'm quite sure I did.

Granted, the end of a poker game is not as dramatic as would be the ending of a sci-fi movie or novel. Nevertheless, it is important to realize that the final hour can be dangerous.

Mistakes and Grief Galore

Throughout my time as a poker player, I have watched countless players make unnecessary mistakes that cause a lot of grief during the last sixty minutes of the game.

This is all down to psychological reasons and can therefore be avoided if we understand them better.

The "we" in the preceding statement is intentional as I have also had my fair share of screw ups at these crucial times.

If you follow the advice herein, it will be of great benefit to you in the future

How is the Final Hour Different?

At the final hour in a poker game, we usually begin to earnestly think about our bank rolls. This is what makes it so different from all others.

We suddenly realize how far ahead or behind we are.

While we may be paying attention to the stack sizes all through the game, at the final hour we usually start contemplating. "I'm up/down X coconuts and I have very little time do anything about it."

If it so happens that we are down, we more often than not think of how we can get out on the night. Alternatively, if we are up, we seek to hold on and book a "W" or else take down a monster and have a "session to remember".

Of course there are other specialized variations. For instance one may realize that they need eighteen more chips to fill the rack. Alternatively, one may have sixteen greenies and looks to fill that slot.

All these scenarios are dangerous s they can result in stupid decisions.

Do these situations seem familiar?

1. You are in the SB, seething while stuck 2 buy ins. You must meet your bud in 3 minutes. You are in middle position. A tight and aggressive  opponent open raises 4 BBs. Its then folded to you. You're thinking, "hmmm, 6-7o is surely a hand made specifically to felt this clown".

2. You are stuck 3 buy-ins. The aircraft is on the runway revving up. You are UTG with JJ. You happen to raise and the tight mid-positioned opponent re-raises; the button then goes over the top and all in. Then you…. I think we have covered this already.

3. You are up at 20 BBs and you have the button. An opponent raises three times the BB. The next 6 players call. You then dump your 8-9s because you do not want to be caught up with the kind of hand that could make you lose.

4. You are almost even. You have pocket 5s in the mid position. It is then folded to you and you then fold despite the fact that you can clearly see the next 2 players to your right side preparing to limp.

While these are just a few of the plot lines, they area representation of all the encounters you have tacked away into your memory. The fact is, you have at some point made a wrong decision.

In most cases, you wouldn't have played your hand the way you did had it not been for the final hour.

Keep track of your records.

In instance 1 and 2, you are unrealistically trying to force a hand hoping that you will "get out".

For the rest of the instances, you are basically wussing out because of fear. The thought of losing gives you the jitters.

Avoiding Traps

The key to staying out of these traps is to keep records consistently and cumulatively.

If you have the habit of only logging losses and wins, you start focusing on the bottom line only which is silly to say the least. This is because you can't keep track of your finances this way.

If you were running a business, you'd not do it this way. There are always ups and downs. You need some level of objectivity as you cannot expect to turn a profit every single day.

The best approach is to take a long term view such that you look at it in monthly or quarterly intervals.

Are You Up for Life?

This is the manner in which you should approach the poker game.

You certainly want to know whether you are down or up over a period of a month or your lifetime.

For instance, if you play a $1-$2 NL game for about 9 hours and you are already $400 in the red, you should totally avoid trying to get even. You are better off living to fight another day.

You should take a longer term view. The question you should be asking is, I'm I behind or ahead over the whole month or year?

If you keep proper records, it may dawn on you that you are ahead by a small margin even after losing the $400.

Looking at it this way, there's no need to try to get even. You are ahead already. This not only applies when you are losing but even when you are winning. There's no need of making a stupid move for the sake of a little extra while you are ahead already.

As a matter of fact, you should forget the twenty chips-per-stack stunt. Stick the chips you hold in uneven stacks into the rack then let the cashier count it out.

If you have $2,425 green chips and must have a full rack, buy 3 extras from the dealer, take the Jacks, dig a hole and toss them.

Though this may make sense to you, it's not that simple. You also need to familiarize yourself with the words "lose" and "win”.

In another article I will delve into the fact that some psychology is involved and its not all about the money. $2,425