side effects (cathartic post/dubious content)

[joseki]

I hired a coach for an hour of consultation recently. We talked and he watched me play a bit of the party 10/20 6-max. He then looked over some stats and asked a few hypothetical questions. Out of this came a few suggested changes to my game. These changes seemed pretty straightforward at the time; things like playing more hands more aggressively from the button, defending a little more tenaciously, etc. I've tried to implement these changes more or less independent of the rest of my game.

Since the coaching session I've experienced a violent downswing of ~350bb over ~8k hands.

I'm not saying that there is neccessarily a causal relationship here, but it got me thinking about how the pieces of a strategy work together as a whole.

I wonder if anyone else has seen similar difficulty adding aggression to their game, and what adjustments were needed in other aspects of your play.

One thing I've noticed (surprise, surprise) is that people seem quick to peg me as a LAG (even though I'm only raising around 17% of my hands). They make sarcastic comments about raising again and seem to 3-bet more frequently. I also get the feeling that they're taking more post-flop shots at me out of general distrust. It seems like this image might be desireable, but it's not really working for me right now.

In response, I've tried to induce more bluffs and have been tightening up for periods when it's clear my image is LAGGY. I'm trying to call a bit more and bluff a bit less. I've also started tossing in a pre-flop cap in a few spots where I would typically just call a 3-bet.

I don't know, maybe it will just take much more focused hand reading and continual adjustments if I'm going to play those few extra hands and make those few extra raises profitably.

Any suggestions? Thoughts?

[Surfbullet]

hey Joseki,

That LAG image that you are generating is important - your opponents are going to think you are FOS and give you excess action. Your profit, therefore, won't come from betting out after a pfr and picking up pots...it will come from betting out with TPTK after a pfr and having the whole field call, a guy with mid pair raise, then you 3bet and they all call again.

You have to play a value game. They're going to view every bet and raise you make with distrust. You may have to cut back on semibluffing, save jamming your draws for when you have an equity edge. Bet and raise for value, and realize that your opponent's raising standards (especially in HU pots!!) will be much lighter than you expect.

Good luck,

Surf