Variance From Within

[TheAmp]

Irieguy's excellent post regarding bad runs has convinced me to bring up a related issue: Dealing with poor play.

I had my share of good and bad luck streaks, due to years of backgammon experience. I pretty much got used to "it", and recognize it's an essential part of the game. After all, it is this variance that brings so many weak players to sit down and play for money.

But that isn't true whenever bad play is concerned. I still find it tough to cope with this type of variance. I call it (or "that", "it" has Irieguy's definition) "Variance from within". We are not robots, are we? One cannot expect to play at the exact same error rate day after day. Mistakes are inevitable, even for the best player in the world.

For some reason, I am not convinced. I get so upset after a bad play that my body hurts. I develop all kinds of symptoms, such as headaches, sleeping disorders, and a depressed state of mind. I never react that way to bad luck. A series of bad beats isn't fun at all, but how can I be upset at a deck of cards, or at two innocent dice. It's not personal, I am sure about that. But making a mistake is. It's personal all right. And I have only myself to blame. Honestly, I am scared of myself. Sometimes, I feel as if my fingernails are connected to an electrocution system, design to send a painful shock linearly proportional to my errors. Fear works, as Far as money is concerned.

I am well aware that this torturing method I developed has gained me more profit. But there is a price to be paid, and it's not a cheap one. I laugh and smile much less than I used to. Let's admit it, playing for money is not a happy life style.

How do you feel about this issue?
Am I the only one suffering from this syndrome?

[spentrent]

Ouch, just reading that hurts because I feel the same way... but couldn't have described it so... ugly and truthfully at the same time.

It's like watching somebody get kicked in the sack and feeling his pain.

However, consider this (I do): even if you weren't playing for money, wouldn't it hurt just as bad to fail because of your own mistake? That's just part of being a competitive person. If you can channel the pain into something positive, then you're better for it. I get the same feeling whether I muff a catch in baseball, make a bad play in Madden, or lose a footrace to my little brother at Thanksgiving.

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]

How do you feel about this issue?
Am I the only one suffering from this syndrome?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't really get it. Honestly, I don't think I've ever knowingly made a mistake. I might feel that way if I believed that when I got a bad result, I made a mistake, but I know that's ridiculous and wrong. I make tons of plays every day where I don't know if it's right or wrong, I just take my best guess. If I get a bad result, I know I can't decide on the spot that what I did was a mistake. It may have been absolutely correct, with just the wrong result THIS time. I can think of mistakes I made a few K tournaments ago, but by then I'm not about to get worked up over it.

The only kinds of mistakes I knowingly make are misclicks or things of that kind, and I don't really beat myself up over that, I just try to pay more attention.

So let me ask: how do you know you've made a mistake when you make one, and why did you make the wrong choice if you knew it was a mistake?

eastbay

[dfscott]

[ QUOTE ]
So let me ask: how do you know you've made a mistake when you make one, and why did you make the wrong choice if you knew it was a mistake?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a rookie at tournament play, so I make plenty of mistakes, but they're not all due to lack of knowledge. Some are simply oversights. I posted a bubble hand yesterday where I just missed the fact that UTG was almost all-in, so I should've passed on a marginal hand. It wasn't until I was reviewing the hand history that I caught it.

I'm new to SnGs, so maybe it's different from limit, but when multitabling limit, you acknowledge the fact that you will make more mistakes (and less money) per table due to time constraints. However, your total earnings are going to be more. Occasionally, though, one of those mistakes will be a big one that costs you a big pot and you end up kicking yourself for it.

Is this not the case for SnGs?

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]

I'm new to SnGs, so maybe it's different from limit, but when multitabling limit, you acknowledge the fact that you will make more mistakes (and less money) per table due to time constraints. However, your total earnings are going to be more. Occasionally, though, one of those mistakes will be a big one that costs you a big pot and you end up kicking yourself for it.

Is this not the case for SnGs?

[/ QUOTE ]

To me, the "mistake" I make multitabling is not having time to observe the other players. I don't play so many tables that I make basic mistakes of misreading the action or the flop or anything like that. I have done that, but I know if I do something that basic wrong, I'm playing too many tables and I scale back.

eastbay

[TheAmp]

[ QUOTE ]

So let me ask: how do you know you've made a mistake when you make one, and why did you make the wrong choice if you knew it was a mistake?

eastbay

[/ QUOTE ]

We probably have different personalities.

I know about it later...when I think it over. I am new at poker, so there a lot of "new" decisions to be made. Other than that, and more importantly IMO, stress can have a powerfull short term effect.

Here is an example of a bad play I made that took me some time to understand it really sucked:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=1769034&page=1&view=c ollapsed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1

I don't know exactly why I make the wrong choices when I make them. These are my guesses, and that's one of the reasons I brought this up. Btw, a bad result is a natural trigger to re-think a decision, but I can get just as upset if my error didnt cost me.

But its good to know some people never regret any of their plays. I am not sure if I envy you...I need to think it over (don't want to make a mistake about it!)

[TheAmp]

Thanks, you have a point.

It was the same feeling playing atari video games against my big brother 25 years ago...

[eastbay]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

So let me ask: how do you know you've made a mistake when you make one, and why did you make the wrong choice if you knew it was a mistake?

eastbay

[/ QUOTE ]

We probably have different personalities.

I know about it later...when I think it over. I am new at poker, so there a lot of "new" decisions to be made. Other than that, and more importantly IMO, stress can have a powerfull short term effect.


[/ QUOTE ]

Ok, I can see where you're coming from. You're able to think plays through after the fact and you can think more thoroughly about it then.

With more practice, you may find that you can do all the thinking you're capable of in just a few seconds. You may find new situations now and again, but if you do, well then they're new, and you had to learn about them sometime, so you can't really call whatever you do a "mistake." You made the best play based on what you knew at the time.

eastbay