Handling a rough patch...

[spazm6666]

So I'm in a bit of slump, down for 3 straight days and I'm now going back over my plays to see my mistakes. I am picking out a few over aggressive steal attempts as well as a few hands where I just didnt give my opponent credit and tried to push him off of his monster only to bust, but I have also run into a WALL of bigger pockets when I made a good push Pre flop or getting the calls I want where I have my opponent dominated but he hits his kicker or flush or some obscene straight.

Mentally I'm trying to focus on MY bad plays and see where I can correct but I was wondering how those of you who have taught me so much handle a rough patch where the bad beats take a hard swing your way. I knwo we can ask for nothing more than to get these calls everytime, but what do you do to get mentally straight and focused again on your game? I know I should just walk it off but it's seeming to extend longer than any before and I want to get past it with my head right.

I think I may be getting into too many races, getting too anxious to get my stack in pre flop and not being aggressive enough post flop. But I am still analyzing and still not playing my A game.

Criticism and advice both welcome.

[Grivan]

Well since you have a 30 to 50 buy in bankroll the swing should no affect you. This is assuming you are a winning player.

[jedi]

Analyze each situation honestly. What did you do wrong? If you didn't do anything wrong and someone else sucked out on you, then so be it. Move on and tell yourself that you'll be collecting his chips next time it happens. If you did do something wrong, what was it? Try not to do it again?

You can easily lose 10 in a row, but all it takes are 3 good tournaments to make that back up.

[PrayingMantis]

You didn't mention if you are multitabling or not, but as a first thing, if you feel your game is losing balance, it's better to focus on one single table at a time for a while (even of a few of them). Get back to basics, don't make any fast decisions, and analyze each mistake you make as honestly as possible. It is very important to see the difference between simply running bad (bad beats, long sequences of bad cards, holding 2nd best hands, opponents constantly waking up with monsters, etc), and between mistakes YOU make, and that could have been avoided.

One thing that I always try to do is to think about each mistake I made (or feel I made), and try to realize why *exactly* I did what I did, what *exactly* was wrong with it, and what *exactly* was the correct move. Of course, in poker those *exactly* don't always work, but it's crucial, IMO, to be much more specific than saying "I am picking out a few over aggressive steal attempts", like you did. Ask yourself what went through your head in each and every one of these cases. Were they really mistakes? Why? What would you change in any of them and why? And so on.

[spazm6666]

It's good to read the same response from two dif posters. I kinda realized some of this even as I was typing. I don't post about 90% of the time I formulate a post as just typing it out helps me think through it and get square.

But I did find some places where I was subconsiously deviating from my winning play which led me to some of the reasons I was in those race situations. Many of those may not have even happened if my stack size had been bigger. I either would not have pushed PF or would have made a push too big to call. All that being said I am still just getting run over by bad beats but I am calling and chasing a few more hands and dealing a few of my own right back. Thanks as always and more criticisms are certainly welcome.