Chicken Shite way to play?

[Zetack]

So when I sat down to play last night I was working on nice little week, up 133 BB's. Not spectacular or anything but not bad. Usually I play on fridays but because of family stuff last night was going to be it for the week. I thought if I could hit 150 BB's I'd be real pleased, but regardless I felt pretty good about things.

So I sat down, hit a quick hand about an orbit and a half in and was up a few BB's. Ahhh, this is nice....and then it went in the toilet.

I found myself down about 32 BB's. Ouch. And the thing that was annoying about it was that I felt like for the first time in a while I really wasn't playing very well. Some people chase...what I tend to do I think of as "pressing"...I play too hard with hands that haven't quite worked out, or that flop (or turn) has severly damaged, or I'm pretty sure I'm behind with no good draw...

It annoys me because I think that the supreme poker virtue is patience and the way I was playing showed just a subtle lack of patience. Its also annoying because it sneaks up on me. The difference between agressive play and pressing too hard can be fairly subtle and it takes me a while to realize when I've crossed from one to the other.

So I thought about stopping. STill not a bad week if I do, and I don't like playing while I'm not playing well. But, ya know what, I ought to be good enough to stop making mistakes once I realize em eh? And good enough not to get all weak if I try to stop pressing.

So I play on. And finally grinding it back to down about 10 BB's I think, if I get this thing positive at all I'm gonna stop. And then down only 2.5 BB's--ya know this is practically break even, well its not positive yet so....oops going the other way now, typical.

Finally, though I'm up a whopping 4 bucks. Yea. My GF wanders in. Even though my tables are pretty good, I say to her, this may be a chicken [censored] way to play but I'm gonna hop off now, take my 4 bucks as moral victory and a good week and wait to next week to enter the lists again...

And I'm on my last table waiting to hit the blinds and stop and....I forgot to uncheck the autopost button on my last table...Grrrr. I go around again and get pocket sevens with 3 limpers so I'm in. Flop is eight high and checked around to me so I'm betting. Pick up the OESD on the turn so more betting. River is a broadway card and I lose the hand.

So I didn't stop for another 15 minutes and walked away up 6.66 BB's for the night.

Anybody else think like this when they're having a tough session or am I the only one who doesn't always live up to the its all one session mantra?

--Zetack

[rmarotti]

From personal experience, anyway, I think you're beating yourself when you play like this for a couple of reasons. I think sitting down to win a particular amount of BBs almost always leads to 'pressing' hands like you say. IMHO, it's great that you can recognize yourself doing it but don't just take a deep breath and tell yourself to stop. Go for a walk, make out with your GF, have a smoothie. Do something, but take a break. Anyway, my $.02

[steamboatin]

All one session is absolutely correct but don't let anyone fool you into thinking that it is easy to get there. It is normal to be results oriented, that is why there are so many fish.

It takes a concious effort to achieve and maintain the "all one session attitude" because,(I am quoting from a poker book but can't remember which one) Your brain keeps you safe by learning to aviod pain and hurtful experiences, the example is a hot stove, you get burnt, Brain says "Don't touch hot stoves!" You raise with AA, they get cracked by 72o, "Brain says "That is terrible, don't raise AA any more!"

So correct play is an unnatural act, don't be suprised if it takes some effort to get there.

[rmarotti]

[ QUOTE ]
have a smoothie.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did I really say that?

[odellthurman]

Funny. I thought the same thing about the smoothie comment.

Regarding the original issue, I stop playing if I find that I am changing my play because of how much I am up or down during that particular session. I don't want to loosen up and take unwise risks because I'm up, and I don't want to limp more/tighten up unwisely because I'm down.

I also used to keep up with exactly how much I was up or down during a session, to the extent that I always knew my status throughout the session. I stopped doing that, because I felt it took away from the optimal, "one long game" mentality. I still admit to looking at Pokertracker after each session to find out exactly how I did.