play worse after reading poker books - !?!

[parappa]

Lorinda made a great post on this a long time ago. She suggested the following steps. I am doing this from memory so apologies if I don't have it just right:

1) Learn a new concept.
2) Next time you are playing, look for situations in which the concept might apply.
3) When you find a spot where the move seems right, don't use it, just notice it. You've gotten this far without it, one more time won't hurt you.
4) After you're done playing, review the hand and see if the move was a good idea in that spot with fresh eyes.
5) If you applied it correctly, incorporate it into your game. If you didn't, start again at #2.

This has helped me stay out of trouble while still learning new stuff.

[Wake up CALL]

[ QUOTE ]
reading Harrington on Hold'em V1, and Sklansky's Theory of Poker in the last few weeks . I have found that found that my game has actually suffered after reading those. Any thoughts?

[/ QUOTE ]

Variance, all the other posters are assuming you have enough data to make this reasoning logical. I am assuming you do not. Who is more likely correct? I am, the last few weeks in bold above is the clue. Get back to us in 100,000 more hands.

[Xhad]

In addition to what other people are saying, it's possible that you apply a concept correctly, but then don't correctly apply related ones.

Example: You only raise AA-QQ preflop in small stakes limit hold-'em. This is a leak. You also automatically bet any flop where you raised preflop. This will almost always be correct since the hands you're raising are so strong to begin with.

So you buy SSH and decide, hey, I should start raising more hands preflop. That's +EV. But now you automatically bet any flop where you raised, as you were before. This is bad. Example: You have T [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] T [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] in the big blind. Four people limp. Under your old system you check, and have no trouble check/folding when the flop is something like A [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] J [img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 3 [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]. Now let's pretend you raise the TT like you're supposed to, but haven't adjusted your postflop play accordingly. Now you automatically bet that flop (a clear mistake with that many people in the pot), and that is a new leak that wasn't there before.

[benkahuna]

NH

Thanks for the feedback guys. I appreciate it. As far as using new concepts, I find myself thinking 'what is the correct play here?' like in Harrington's book, but obviously the answers are not written right in front of me.
Variance is another issue I hadn't considered and as Wake_up_CALL said, I will get back to everyone after a few thousand hands.

[hansdebelge]

that wasnt funny

[einbert]

You're probably more critical of the mistakes you make now because you recognize them more.

In addition, be sure you're not confusing the quality of play with your short term results.