i used to be good.....

Lansky · #1 10-25-2005, 02:50 AM

ok, here's my story, not that interesting, just need to vent a little...

had been solid tourney for few years, started becoming a solid winning cash game player about a year ago. was making about 10-20k/mo for several months playing 10/20 lim sh

then started playing some nl 1k/2k ring sh, and 30/60 limit
got my br over 60k (after taking out about 40k for expenses)

was crushing everything, won wsop seat, then started running bad, seemed to be losing at everything, few k a night....

cashed over 20k at wsop

came back still sucked, cashed 10k rebuy tourney, still gave it back, even playing back at 10/20 lim

won wpt entry, won 65k at it

bubbled for a foxwoods wpt entry, since then been trying constantly for it, wasting load of time/coin

trying to play 10/20 (and even some 5/10) again, now i can't win, even when i think playin ok (not great, but not horribly). guess the hard part is figuring out if i suck or just unlucky, i'm at my wit's end, blowing my br daily. my tourney game sucks now too, just doing stupid crap like calling allins w/ flush draw and decent stack, calling big reraises w/ 1010 and not fold post when no 10 hits (even tho that's my plan when calling) won the 65k about a month ago, thought that would take the pressure off, but blew about 20k of it already, need to stop the bleeding

good news is that i am going on vacation next week with no poker....

any advice would be appreciated (expect you to say stop playing awhile, but i wanna get back on the horse!)
need to get my head together

thx
lanksy

Autocratic · #2 10-25-2005, 02:58 AM

The vacation will be good for you. If you want to and enjoy it, bring your favorite poker book and review it.

Try dropping down a limit or two and see what happens. It could be simple variance, or you might be less focused as a whole.

angst · #3 10-25-2005, 03:37 AM

You might be chronically tilting. I have done it a few times; tilting for maybe a week or even more, constantly losing my temperament and start to play bad over whatever. I now stop playing once I notice that I am not sharp and confident. Perhaps work out, eat, take a shower, read, watch some TV, or even take the rest of the day of. If it does not help, I repeat until it does.

One of the most important things for winning play, is to be mentally sharp and confident in your game. I might be stating the obvious here, but nevertheless it is not unusual at all to keep playing although you feel like crap.

Lansky · #4 10-25-2005, 04:29 AM

chronic tilt, never heard it put that way, but sounds applicable. thx for the advice guys, actually had my 1st winning session in quite a while, will try not to give it all back too soon....

it's like i'm shocked to win a few hundred bucks, talk about lacking confidence....
thx again,
lansky

SirArthur · #5 10-25-2005, 08:12 AM

I think we all underestimate the luck factor in poker, to some extent anyway.

Perhaps you were running especially hot last year, and things have stabilized a bit.

Also, I've noticed the online games getting a bit tougher, (the past six months in particular), at all the various sites I play.

Especially compared to last year, when I seemingly doubled up each time (barring the expected bad beats) I had K/K, A/A, or hit a set in my NL 200 games.
Those days are long gone.

It seems like you're still up quite a bit (losing 20k of that 65K monthly), so I would take a break, evaluate your play, and come back to the tables refreshed.

Also, I've noticed I sometimes take my opponents for granted, and don't give them credit for the hands they are representing. Especially the short stacked goofs in my NL games.

And I find myself suffering from FPS (fancy play syndrome) more than I ever used to, this has been cutting into my profits the last few months.
Maybe you're guilty of this too?

Well that's it, have fun on your vacation, and completely forget about poker while you're away.

jb9 · #6 10-25-2005, 09:25 AM

If you haven't already, you might want to try playing different games (PLO, O/8, stud, etc.) for a while -- just for a change of pace and to start thinking about the cards in a different way.

Vacation should help too. Good luck.

mackthefork · #7 10-25-2005, 11:01 AM

[ QUOTE ]
chronic tilt, never heard it put that way, but sounds applicable. thx for the advice guys, actually had my 1st winning session in quite a while, will try not to give it all back too soon....

it's like i'm shocked to win a few hundred bucks, talk about lacking confidence....
thx again,
lansky

[/ QUOTE ]

These are my thoughts.....

You know what you are doing, but you are burnt out, you no longer have discipline to stick to the correct moves. My guess is you will feel much better after your holiday.

Mack

idrinkcoors · #8 10-25-2005, 03:49 PM

"I used to be good."

That is one problem. You didn't "used to be good." You ARE good. (Man, I'm sounding like Tony Robbins).

My point is that you know that you can win and have monster months, so that makes it easier to have monster months again. In other words, you already know how to do it.

P.S. Don't take any poker books with you on vacation, and don't play. You'll come back refreshed and ready. IMO

RobertHunter · #9 10-25-2005, 04:42 PM

It sounds like you might be playing past your "Threshold of Misery", meaning that when you start losing in a session you keep playing past the point where you care how much you lose and then you start playing poorly by making bad calls and chasing.

SNOWBALL138 · #10 10-25-2005, 09:03 PM

Hi Lansky,

Since you play much higher limits than I do, I might not be the best person to give you advice. Therefore, I strongly recommend reading Barry Greenstein's book Ace on The River, because not only does it address the things you are talking about specifically, but it also has the effect of putting the entire gambling world in perspective. I didn't mean that last sentence to sound so strange, but I don't know another way to say it.

Best wishes,
Snowball