taking a break

[dfscott]

Well, I seem to have lost the ability to play poker. After I dropped back to .5/1 from 3/6, I just can't seem to play anymore, as evidenced by the stupid play below:

Party Poker 0.5/1 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Tilting Hero is UTG+2 with 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 8/images/graemlins/spade.gif.
<font color="666666">2 folds</font>, Tilting Hero calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, Button calls, SB calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, Tilting Hero calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 8/images/graemlins/club.gif, 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, 9/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
SB checks, Tilting Hero checks, <font color="CC3333">MP2 bets</font>, Button calls, <font color="CC3333">SB raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">Tilting Hero 3-bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 caps</font>, Button folds, SB calls, Tilting Hero calls.

Turn: (11 BB) K/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">SB bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">Tilting Hero raises</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 3-bets</font>, SB calls, <font color="CC3333">Tilting Hero caps</font>, MP2 calls, SB calls.

River: (23 BB) A/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, <font color="CC3333">Tilting Hero bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">MP2 raises</font>, SB calls, Tilting Hero calls.

Final Pot: 29 BB
<font color="green">Main Pot: 29 BB, between Tilting Hero, MP2 and SB.</font>

I've think I've just hit my limit as to how many 2nd best hands I can make because I'm tilting on just about every hand and just making more second-best hands. I've taken a break of a night or two, but I keep coming back with the same crappy (and embarrassing) play. I'm going to try a month or so with no online poker and see if can get my head back on straight.

BTW, sorry for the public pity party, just wanted to post in case anyone wondered where I was over the next few weeks.

[banditdad]

I'm missing something here. You had a full house. True someone could have had king full or aces full or even quad 9 and based on your post someone did but I don't see where this would have been an easy hand to fold under any circumstances.

At .50/1.00 these players could just as easily have had 2 pair or a flush draw as a bigger set. And if you were the 2nd. best hand it seems that's what eaither MP2 or SB had.

Where exactly is the stupid play?

[helpmeout]

Post some PT stats then hit the books for a week or so.

I'm sure you must be doing something wrong.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm missing something here. You had a full house. True someone could have had king full or aces full or even quad 9 and based on your post someone did but I don't see where this would have been an easy hand to fold under any circumstances.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely not easy to fold, but I didn't have to go so nuts with it. Cold-calling pre-flop, and capping the turn was a little excessive. I'm losing to 99, A9, K9, AA, and KK. Given the pre-flop raise and the turn action, AA and KK seem likely. I think I should've seen that.

And if you're right, and I shouldn't have, the fact that I think that I should've seems to indicate a problem with my game.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
Post some PT stats then hit the books for a week or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, I've been doing both. I've gotten lots of feedback that I've been playing poorly. Reading books and trying to improve doesn't seem to help. Now that I'm down 150BB (I only have $150 left), it's obvious that I have some serious problems that can't be cured by just "trying to do better."

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure you must be doing something wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bingo. I think a break is my only hope at this point. Hopefully, I can forget my bad habits and come back fresh.

[Greg J]

For what it's worth I 3 bet the river. Maybe this is a leak in my game.

[detruncate]

Sounds like the mental aspects of your game are a little frayed around the edges... but I seriously doubt that you're incapable of winning, or that you've broken something that can't be fixed. Chin up my friend.

Enjoy your time off. The tables will still be there when you get back. In the mean time... I hear tell that there's a great big world out there. With actual people in it and everything. Though it might just be a rumour.

[Jimbobobb]

[ QUOTE ]
Post some PT stats then hit the books for a week or so.

I'm sure you must be doing something wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Please don't. I'm not sure that you're not the best poker ever. Nothing you've said or done has convinced me otherwise yet. Really this hand doesn't look bad at all. Most at .5/1 will play their 9 this exact same way, and you're ahead a great majority of the time. If you feel you need a break to get back in the right frame of mind to play your best poker, by all means take a break and enjoy the outside world. The tables and the fish will still be here when you get back. Enjoy your time away.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like the mental aspects of your game are a little frayed around the edges... but I seriously doubt that you're incapable of winning, or that you've broken something that can't be fixed. Chin up my friend.

[/ QUOTE ]

For some reason, it's just been getting to me a lot lately. Perhaps it's because it's so contrary to the earlier success I had at .5/1, maybe it's because I've been very successful at live tourneys lately (which is a shock), maybe it's the self-fullfilling "withdrawal curse," or maybe I'm not even playing badly but just experiencing normal variance, but at this point, it doesn't really matter. To quote Crash Davis:

"If you believe you're playing well because you're getting laid, or because you're not getting laid, or because you wear women's underwear, then you ARE!"

[ QUOTE ]
Enjoy your time off. The tables will still be there when you get back. In the mean time... I hear tell that there's a great big world out there. With actual people in it and everything. Though it might just be a rumour.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, and I'll see ya soon.

[davelin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm missing something here. You had a full house. True someone could have had king full or aces full or even quad 9 and based on your post someone did but I don't see where this would have been an easy hand to fold under any circumstances.

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely not easy to fold, but I didn't have to go so nuts with it. Cold-calling pre-flop, and capping the turn was a little excessive. I'm losing to 99, A9, K9, AA, and KK. Given the pre-flop raise and the turn action, AA and KK seem likely. I think I should've seen that.

And if you're right, and I shouldn't have, the fact that I think that I should've seems to indicate a problem with my game.

[/ QUOTE ]

You didn't cold-call pre-flop. You limped in and called one more raise. It would've be silly for you to fold for one more bet. And ONE raise pre-flop doesn't mean AA or KK by any means.

[GrunchCan]

PF: Fine.
Flop: Bet-reraise, dont get fancy
Turn: Bet-call
River: Bet-call if opponent didnt raise the turn, check-call if the opponent did raise the turn

MP2 never missed an opportunity to raise. 99 is possible. I put him on 89, possibly a 8 or a 9 paired with A or K. Could also have wired AA KK or other big pair. You are behind to every possibility except big wired pairs other than AA or KK. Never fold, just close the valve a bit.

Looks like you refused to believe your flopped boat could end up second best. Iv'e been there. It sucks. That's when I go to bed.

Edit: MP2 did raise PF, and I made some minor edits. Basis is the same.

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]

You didn't cold-call pre-flop. You limped in and called one more raise. It would've be silly for you to fold for one more bet. And ONE raise pre-flop doesn't mean AA or KK by any means.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oops, my bad -- you're right.

[Professor Frink]

Hey dfscott, don't stress to much about how well your playing, i think you played the hand fine, sometimes the cards just go bad and it messes everything up. I don't know how long the bad run has been going, or how much you're tilting, but it can go bad for quite a while, whilst looking like you're playing poorly.

Hope i don't scare you here, but i had a run 200BB downswing recently, which was to be expected, but the problem was that it was over 14k hands. During this period i poured over my play, analysed pt stats, talked to other players trying to work out what was going wrong, but it was just (mainly) the cards. An unbelievable run of second best hands etc. So criticise your play by all means, and take a break to cool down, but don't assume your you're a bad player.

On a good note, after this bad run i'm having an awesome good run 550BB (and counting) over only 3500 hands, so it will turn around (soon hopefully) /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[detruncate]

Losing sucks. Protracted losing at .5/1 when you think your game has improved to the point where you should be handily beating it sucks even worse. Part of the reason I've put in so much time at my entry level is to try to get a feel for what the long term means. I haven't gotten close to it by any stretch of the imagination, but playing ten (or tens) of thousands of hands at break even at best at the lowest limit offered by party &amp; co. after several tens of solid winning forced me to re-evaluate my expectations.

I'm certainly not amongst the best players here, but I've played enough to be reasonably comfortable that I'm a long term winner at .5/1 at least. Finding ways to deal with the times when reality is at odds with your expectations is important. I ended up having to be much more forgiving of myself, and much less committed to my version of how things are.

I'm not what I've been. I'm what happens today. All I can do is to try to make the best decisions I'm capable of... and this also applies to things like whether to play at all. It sounds like you're making the right move. Please do your best not to worry about things. Just sit back down when you're ready. Everything else will follow in the fullness of time.