Why am I not winning anymore??

[Non_Comformist]

I had the same problem in NL. Here's what I found. Pre 6max weak tight play was very effective in NL tables, you could afford to sit back wait for hit your hands and always get paid off. This is no longer the case, the actions junkies have moved. I had two people watch my play and with their help it was obvious what the problem was and what I needed to do to get back on the winning track. It is alot of work and I am close to correcting the problems.

I don't think wondering whether or not a bad of run of this length is possible, helps either way.

[MicroBob]

i have been seeing the situation hat has developed in this thread on a few occasions.

someone comes on and says they know they are playing badly....they have lost x-dollars in x-days.

someone else comes on and says 'its very possible to lose that much that quickly'.


regardless of whether or not it is possible, try to listen to what the original poster is saying. more often than not, they wouldn't be posting if they thought it was a matter of simple variance.
they say they are playing badly and are struggling with the tighter tables. i think the situation is far more likely a matter of lousy play then it is of lousy variance....especially since the player himself is critical and doubtful of his own play.


i've had a couple of swings where i got into some bad habits....and it's hard to detect them because you always have the 'well, maybe it's just variance' excuse to fall back on.


for the original poster, if you think your game needs work then, by all means, work on your game. post some HH's in the NL forum and see what kind of feedback you get....or just play 2 tables at a time for a day or two, especially in light of your suspicion that the move from 3 to 4 tables may have played a minor-factor.
the suggestion to check out the 6-max tables is a good one. or maybe play some SNG's or multi's. i took a weekend to do this following a particularly rough week and it was relaxing and gave me time to get my confidence back (plus, i did fairly well).


i am trying to make this online-poker thing work as a profession...(with the option to go back to my former job if it doesn't work out).
my goal is in the 10k hands per week range by the way....yes, that means roughly 2k hands per day, 5 days per week...about 40 hours a week. although, it's more like 1500 hands for 7 days...about 6 hours a day or so.
i don't think that's terribly unhealthy in the least.

you can't possibly think one is unstable or unhealthy if they play 3-4 hours (800-1k hands) a day, do you??

[Al Schoonmaker]

Thanks for correcting me. I had not realized that it would take so little time. My comments about "messing up your life" should be moderated.
However, I still believe that playing too much poker is unhealthy. Exactly how much is "too much" is a judgment call, but it's safer to play too few than too many. I know lots of people who live unbalanced lives because of poker, and it is not at all healthy, either physically or mentally.
Regards,
Al

[Myrtle]

The first question that I would ask myself is......

"Has anything changed during the last 2-3 weeks"?

....and, you've answered that...."Making bad plays & calls more often".

I would re-examine my game and at the same time go back to playing 3 tables.

Also, FWIW, as has been mentioned in other posts here, this is far too short a period of play/time to seriously evaluate your overall game.

[EWillers]

[ QUOTE ]
However, I still believe that playing too much poker is unhealthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Many people (especially on-line players) now make a majority of their income (if not all of it) from playing poker.

I wonder if this discipline is treated the same as others (say, being a plumber or a salesman) when it comes to determining how many hours of work it takes to make one's life unhealthy.

[lostinthought]

[ QUOTE ]

However, I still believe that playing too much poker is unhealthy.
Regards,
Al

[/ QUOTE ]

hey Al,

take playing poker and make it a blank

However, I still believe that doing _______ too much is unhealthy.

too much has unhealthy kind of built in to its connotation.

I'm suprised how someone as respected as you could make such an obvious statement..

[MicroBob]

interestingly, since i am trying to grind-out a living playing poker...it can safely be said that not playing enough poker would be even unhealthier for me.

especially since it would mean i would probably go back to my BJ dealing gig which would mean a couple of things....

1. excessive exposure to 2nd hand smoke (when i quit, i thought i might have to go on the patch...even though i have never smoker....just-kidding, sort of).
2. a 40-minute commute on a fairly dangerous stretch of road...the coming-home part at 2 a.m. or so being infested with all your favorite drunken gamblers weaving all over the place. (several wrecks along the road between memphis and tunica)


these were factors i considered when deciding whether or not i wanted to try the internet-poker-grinder thing.
so i guess it can safely be said i took up poker for my health!!

[Al Schoonmaker]

I agree that my statement is obvious, but it is still true.
Al

[NotBannedYet]

[ QUOTE ]
If you are playing 800-1,000 hands per day, you're messing up your life.
Sorry to be so blunt, but your life is grossly unbalanced, and unbalanced lives are unhealthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Shouldn't a 2+2 author hold himself to a higher standard of accuracy than the standard poker player? Or maybe at least refrain from making statements that get a non "name" poster the label of troll

What does Mason think of this statement? I know he thinks poker authors should be held to a much higher standard than the rest of the poker playing public. If I may be so bold, (although I am just a troll...albeit for quoting you) I would suggest a real apology for an incredibly dumb statement. And no trying to save face w/ultra obvious "too much of activity X is bad for you" crap either. A real, humble, apology is called for here.

You are losing much credibility on 2+2, I suggest that you pay particular attention to robk's post in my above link. You can still save some face. Will you?

[Al Schoonmaker]

I made a mistake, and I admitted it, but it was not "incredibly dumb." Nor is an apology called for since I did not have nasty intentions.
In fact, as countless authors have pointed out, poker is a game of mistakes. Most of everyone's profits come from other people's mistakes. When one makes a mistake, the only intelligent response is to admit it and move on to other things, which is exactly what I've done.
It most definitely is not "crap" to say that unbalanced lives are unhealthy. I doubt that you could find a reputable psychologist who disagreed with it.
Regards,
Al