I have a serious mental leak that is causing me to go broke.

[Mr Mojo Risin]

I love poker. I love everything about it. I love playing with my friends, and I am good enought that I always walk away with more money than I sat down with. I know how to play properly (my favorite game is NL hold'em) and I view myself as a good player.

But when I play online things go bad. I lose concentration and get bored, which causes me to make stooopid mistakes, that I know are wrong as I make them, but I make them anyways. For some reason when I play live I can keep myself from doing stooopid things, it is probably the social atmosphere that allows me to sit without playing a hand for a long time and still have fun. But online, I find myslef calling a bet, saying "I shouldn't be doing this, but whatever." I don't want to open more tables, because I am afraid that I will just do this at each table.

This has caused me to lose a large amount of money, and I want it to stop. I know the players online are terrible, especially at the lower limits that I play. I know if I was sitting at a table with them I would crush them, but when I'm in front of the computer I just can't keep myself from playing like a tard.

Please, do any of you know a way to keep focus and not get bored? This is a serious problem for me, why can't I keep my focus online?

Any suggestions are welcome, thank you very much.

[Dominic]

stop being stooopid.

[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
I am good enought that I always walk away with more money than I sat down with.

[/ QUOTE ]


always??
impressive.

[flecks]

Some people need real chips in front of them to be disciplined, otherwise it's just cards and numbers on a screen. Perhaps online poker just isn't your venue.

[Bodhi]

Seriously, you should spend your down time paying attention to the game. There is no excuse for being "bored" during a session of online poker. If you don't use this time to learn more about your opponents, then I really wonder about your self-evaluation of your competence. (also, online players are a little better than live opponents in my experience).

[Mr Mojo Risin]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am good enought that I always walk away with more money than I sat down with.

[/ QUOTE ]


always??
impressive.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok not always, but I am up a lot playing with them.

I think it is the social aspect that keeps my interest. I try paying attention to the hands, I try watching the play, but i just can't keep focus staring at a screen. Someone said something about real chips and the difference between that and pixels, that may have something to do with it too. Does anyone else have this same problem? And if they did, what did they do about it? Should I just restrict my play to live play?

[spector]

You basically just described the exact problem I am having. The first hour or so when I play is fine but then things start to go downhill. I start to browse online, read 2+2, watch tv ect while playing and then I mess up and dont know whats going on with the game.

Although I havent been playing online for long, (1200 hands) I've lost way too many BB/100 to plays I know are stupid as soon I make them, Im not sure what I can do about this either.

[stretch22]

I always read 2+2 and talk on instant messinger and that usually keeps me entertained. Snacks keep me happy too. For me there is a certain point where I can tell I've been playing too long and I need to stop. I start bluffing a lot usually. I just quit when I get bored, but it usually takes me a couple of hours to get to that point. I don't know if your boredom is steady throughout the whole thing, but if you're like me I'd just say it's as easy as stopping when you get bored especially if your play gets worse...and there's no point in continuing to do anything thats boring. Of course if I'm winning I get excited and am entertained. Sometimes its nice to mess with the other players. It's kinda fun and then they all think you're an idiot which doesnt hurt. I actually last night was noticing that I was talking to myself quite a bit and it was kind of amused and mildly alarmed.saying things like "oh cool nice hand, you play that?"..probably the product of me being alone with my nine animated friends for so long.

[hoopsie44]

Please.No one ALWAYS makes money when they sit down at a live poker game.

[Ranged]

adderol for your apparent ADD.