flair1239
04-14-2005, 12:41 PM
The last two weeks I have hit a learning slump. I have been evaluating my play and feel I am aware of most of my weaknesses; or at least some of them. The problem is they have not been getting any better. This is disappointing because the previous 3-months of this year I felt like I was improving on a almost daily basis.
This is not triggered by results, as they are pretty much stable. But honestly the frusteration of percieved stagnation, is starting to bleed over into my game the last couple days.
My problems in no particular order as I see them are the following:
1. I am making mediocre decisions in the form of loose calls (both of raises and single bets) on the big bet streets. I seem to have trouble with getting check raised on the turn (out of a usually irrational fear of possibly folding the best hand). Some of this I am inviting by being over aggro with some marginal holdings (see #2).
2a. My PF raising is up, historically I have ran around 9%. These days (meaning my last 20,000 hands) it is more like 12%. This is the result of a pretty wide range of open raising hands and many loose blind steal attempts. This maybe would not be a problem if it were not for:
2b. I get married to hands that I raise pre-flop. I don't think I am exaggerating at this point if I say I am betting the flop about 85% of the time after I raise. My Flop Aggression number is about 3.8-4.1. I am also raising if bet into a very significant portion of the time. This is caused by:
3. I am afraid that folding after showing PF and flop aggression will cause me to be viewed as weak and that people will start taking shots at me. I am honestly convinced at this point my ego may be playing a larger part in this than I care to admit.
4. I honestly think I am in that stage described in that Ray Zee article, the one after your tight phase where you start to become overly aggressive. I find myself frequently doing third level thinking crap against people who are probably barley even thinking on the first level. (not a shot at them, but a shot me... you guys know what I mean.)
There are other problems (hand reading...etc) that I could be better at. But I feel that even marginal improvement on the above issues would add probably roughly .5 BB/100 to my win rate (yes I think it is that serious).
SO what is the problem. I have concisely identified definite problem areas, I have even partially identified solutions. The problem is I am not implementing, if anything it is getting worse.
I go to post some of these hands, but then I look at them and think "f### it, it is obvious what I should have done, I am just wasting everyones time.". For a little bit I considered shelling out $500 to have a coach evaluate a couple sessions, but at this point it does not seem like it would be worth it (the size of the fee as it relates to the size of my BR), as it is not a mystery to me what I am screwing up on.
So a rambling post. I am not looking for sympathy, more like ideas. I am willing to put a lot of time into anything somebody can think of, I guess I am looking for some brainstorming.
Feel free to be harsh if you feel it is appropriate.
This is not triggered by results, as they are pretty much stable. But honestly the frusteration of percieved stagnation, is starting to bleed over into my game the last couple days.
My problems in no particular order as I see them are the following:
1. I am making mediocre decisions in the form of loose calls (both of raises and single bets) on the big bet streets. I seem to have trouble with getting check raised on the turn (out of a usually irrational fear of possibly folding the best hand). Some of this I am inviting by being over aggro with some marginal holdings (see #2).
2a. My PF raising is up, historically I have ran around 9%. These days (meaning my last 20,000 hands) it is more like 12%. This is the result of a pretty wide range of open raising hands and many loose blind steal attempts. This maybe would not be a problem if it were not for:
2b. I get married to hands that I raise pre-flop. I don't think I am exaggerating at this point if I say I am betting the flop about 85% of the time after I raise. My Flop Aggression number is about 3.8-4.1. I am also raising if bet into a very significant portion of the time. This is caused by:
3. I am afraid that folding after showing PF and flop aggression will cause me to be viewed as weak and that people will start taking shots at me. I am honestly convinced at this point my ego may be playing a larger part in this than I care to admit.
4. I honestly think I am in that stage described in that Ray Zee article, the one after your tight phase where you start to become overly aggressive. I find myself frequently doing third level thinking crap against people who are probably barley even thinking on the first level. (not a shot at them, but a shot me... you guys know what I mean.)
There are other problems (hand reading...etc) that I could be better at. But I feel that even marginal improvement on the above issues would add probably roughly .5 BB/100 to my win rate (yes I think it is that serious).
SO what is the problem. I have concisely identified definite problem areas, I have even partially identified solutions. The problem is I am not implementing, if anything it is getting worse.
I go to post some of these hands, but then I look at them and think "f### it, it is obvious what I should have done, I am just wasting everyones time.". For a little bit I considered shelling out $500 to have a coach evaluate a couple sessions, but at this point it does not seem like it would be worth it (the size of the fee as it relates to the size of my BR), as it is not a mystery to me what I am screwing up on.
So a rambling post. I am not looking for sympathy, more like ideas. I am willing to put a lot of time into anything somebody can think of, I guess I am looking for some brainstorming.
Feel free to be harsh if you feel it is appropriate.