Experiencing bad hold em burnout

[SNOWBALL138]

I'm experiencing really really bad hold em burnout. I can't stand playing hold em at all. Its boring me stupid. I refuse to concentrate on it. Its not even bad beats, because my results are fine long term as well as recently.

To recover from this, I've been playing other poker games. Thankfully, my stud hi game is pretty decent at least at 5/10 and below. However, 7 stud is not always a fun time as far as multi-tabling is concerned, so I've been throwing omaha/8 into the mix. omaha/8 is my worst game, so basically my stud game is financing my omaha game, and my profit is going way down.

The way I see it, I have a few options:

1. Learn to play omaha/8 well

2. Bite the bullet and just multi-table stud (this is possible, but can be a little bit of a headache)

3. Take a short vacation
This might be a good idea. I can afford it, and maybe it will be a good idea to focus more on school.


4. Play live in the casino
This is OK as far as my desire to play is concerned, but less OK as far as making money is concerned. Sure, I can beat live poker, but I don't have the bankroll for 10/20, and last time I checked, you can't multitable live.

Concluding thoughts:
These are probably all good ideas. In the long term, I should learn to play omaha/8 well. This isn't a great short term solution though, because it takes a while to get good at a new form of poker.

Learning to multi-table stud is ok. I can do it, but I just don't like to. All in all, this is not really that desirable of an option for me. I can do it really well when I am in top shape, but who is in top shape all the time? Not me.

For now, I think a combination of 3 and 4 sounds pretty good. I'm in a decent money situation so I can take some time off, but I don't want to stop playing completely. Playing live a few times a week sounds like a good idea for now.

I'm just brainstorming here. For those of you who have read some of my other posts, you probably know that I like to have a gameplan for problems in my life. Any suggestions/comments/ or shared experiences are welcomed and appreciated.

Best regards,
Snowball

I haven't run into the level of burnout you are describing, but if I had to guess I would definatly got with:

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3. Take a short vacation
This might be a good idea. I can afford it, and maybe it will be a good idea to focus more on school.

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[vexvelour]

Hey snow-

Lots of great holdem players know how to play many other forms of poker. I think you're on the right track. Stick with it, and also read up on your holdem game. I am in the practice of reading holdem theory before every game, and I cannot preach enough the benefits. It just gets you in the mood for it, you crave the game.

Hope I help- you've been great help in the past.

[darydarling]

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4. Play live in the casino
This is OK as far as my desire to play is concerned, but less OK as far as making money is concerned. Sure, I can beat live poker, but I don't have the bankroll for 10/20, and last time I checked, you can't multitable live.


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While you can't multitable live, you don't seem to be playing your best game online according to your own statements.

My suggestion is mix it up, one or two nights of live play isn't going to bury you financially if you can afford to take a vacation.

Maybe this would be enough of a change getting out playing and interacting with real live people instead of icons on a monitor.

Also if you don't have the bank roll to play the game you think you should be playing, then just go play some $2/$4 or some other really low limit and donk it up and try a few things.

In other words bring back the fun into your game. We all know it's a grind, emotionally and physically at times. but if you don't allow yourself to have fun at times you may very well push yourself to a point of burn out where you will lose enough interest that it could hurt you long term.

[tongni]

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3. Take a short vacation
This might be a good idea. I can afford it, and maybe it will be a good idea to focus more on school.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would do this. This has helped me immensely after a week of little to no playing.

I've been on the same path recently. Luckily, I have other sources of income, investments, etc. A break could be good. Live play is definately more engaging than online play, and although you can't multitable, you can get into some great games at the 5-10 / 6-12 level. Also try playing some low stakes SNG's to keep your head in the game.

[revots33]

I've played quite a bit of Omaha and it's a much more boring game than holdem IMO. I think you are most likely just burned out on online poker in general, and you probably need a break more than you need to start switching games.

[Harv72b]

First of all, there are plenty more options than what you mention, at least if you're willing to go beyond Party. Many sites offer Triple Draw, and you can even find 5-card draw and crazy pineapple here and there. There's a lot more to the (online) poker universe than just HE, Stud, and O8.

That said, I am a big supporter of branching out into other games. Not only does it help to alleviate boredom/burnout, but it can vastly improve your overall poker game--the different variations of poker often stress different strategic skills, and I don't believe that anyone can truly become a "great" poker player until they have developed all of those skills.

I've also found that switching over to tournaments (either MTTs or SNGs) for a while can get your game going again, and once again, help to round out your skill sets.

One other option: start over. I don't mean cash out altogether, but rather open an account on a new site and build up a bankroll from scratch. I try to do this periodically--throw a few hundred dollars onto some new site and play it into at least a 2/4 bankroll. As strange as it seems, sometimes hold'em becomes more interesting when the money you're playing for doesn't really matter to you.

I haven't hit poker burnout yet, but I did suffer a pretty big downswing last spring which turned me off from LHE (my normal game) for some time. I rebounded through a combination of the above options, and still do all of them regularly. I find that this really helps to keep me going (although I still don't play as many hands as I should).

[idrinkcoors]

Definately Vacation.

And I mean a real vacation; not Las Vegas or AC. Go on a cruise or to a beach, (not Cancun). Don't bring the laptop. I'll bet that after one week you will begin to start really missing poker.