I'm done

[jon_1van]

I'm taking a break until Nov 1st.


I just finished up a 75 BB slide (I had 250 BB in roll).


In the last 20 hands I lost with, rolled 9s, trip Qs, and missed 2 AQ 4 flushes. However, I had made the decision to stop for a while before these hands.

I am stopping for the following reasons.

1. I'm not currently having fun.
2. I don't get much coding done when playing poker gets in the way (I have been inspired by Greenage's success to try to make something worth while). I'd like to get a few of the programs finished eg Stud Stove, Future generations of the tracking program.
3. I need to test my theory that my win rate has decreased because my %VP$IP went up too far.
4. The belts I own are getting tight. I will not get allow myself to get fat. Must work out more.


I have noticed the following pattern in my play (this has happened 3 times to me)
- I play uber tight make money --> I begin to think I'm "good" --> loosen up a bit to make more in "marginal" situations because I'm so good I can play these "speculative" hands --> I lose money, get mad, stop having fun.


Guess what phase I'm in right now.


Right now I do not have any internet poker installed on my computer.

[Jeffage]

Good Luck John. Take a break, make sure your life priorities are back and come back refreshed and ready to make money. The key thing is to do what you enjoy doing...life is too short to do something not making you happy. But I think you're just in a funk...take a break and come back ready to win.

Jeff

[peritonlogon]

Now when i'm in a slump i read DocAZs posts in the forum sticky and try to implement... ie. excercise then play... then I excercise, read some stud books, play some holdem, study holdem and then exercise and play. And then go and do something else.

[mscags]

[ QUOTE ]
life is too short to do something not making you happy

[/ QUOTE ]

Wise beyond your years Jeff. This is what I live by.

Mike

[Ray Zee]

i wrote an essay on the stages of a poker players life awhile back. see if you can find it. it will solve your problem or you have no hope. good luck.

[bigredlemon]

[ QUOTE ]
i wrote an essay on the stages of a poker players life awhile back. see if you can find it. it will solve your problem or you have no hope. good luck.

[/ QUOTE ]I hope whoever finds it first posts http://www.twoplustwo.com/zee2.html

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_maga...27&m_id=15

cliffs:
calling station --> rock --> wild taz --> solid

[count1]

Thanks for posting Jon. Your situation and mind set mirrors mine exactly. I was averaging 4BB/100 at $2-$4 Stud8 over 1500 hands, thought I was good. Lost 50BB over 1500 hands this weekend. Poor game selection, on my part, and failing to leave the game when I was getting the worst of it was my downfall.

[sexdrugsmoney]

Hey jon, what a coincidence, I recently lost 75BB's (exactly) at the limit I play, but stupidly for me, that was my bankroll.

While reading Ray Zee's awesome article, I came across this "stage":

[ QUOTE ]

This is the advanced stage of a poker player's career. Now, the cat is out of the bag. He wins more often and gets what he believes is the right feel for the game. Great plays come about by pushing marginal hands and making fantastic calls on the end through his ability to read hands. Poker is fun when it's played this way. No longer is the tight player inside the body. All hands start to look like they have value, and with skillful manipulation, winning the pot is easy. He begins to believe that he can play bad hands for profit, when, in reality, he can't. The player has taken a big step backward and a long leap forward at the same time. The tight style needed is gone and a new imaginative style is born, and he becomes loose-aggressive. Unfortunately for him, if he gets too loose, he loses all of his money and may never recover. But for those who are moving up the ladder, this is the last leap before the finishing stage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Zee describes it as the final stage before becoming a solid player, and I believe it is the stage I am at.

Tight play bores me, but in reality I don't have the experience and knowledge a solid player does, so my money is at jeopardy.

I also like you am taking a break from poker, am going to re-read 7CS4AP, and obey Roland. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I don't know whether yoy are at this stage or just took some bad beats, but I thought I'd post anyway, maybe you'll get something out of it.

Cheers,
LAP-SDM [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[BeerMoney]

Jeff, do you feel bad at all for what you did to that 30/60 table?

[Jeffage]

No, not at all. When you play enough poker, you will realize that you should never ever ever feel bad about winning b/c your opponents wouldn't feel bad if they took your last dollar and saw you sleeping on the street.

Jeff