9-buy in downswing. session review.

CallYNotRaise06 · #1 06-10-2006, 01:35 AM

**ahem...this is long.

i just finished a 1500 hand session, and definitly the biggest downswing i have ever experienced. Psychologicly, i really dont feel too bad. I know i almost lost 4 figures, and the thought of that can be sickening, but it really hasnt affected me. I wont turn this into a bad beat post, although i did lose 3 buy ins twice to 2 outers today. But like the sang goes," thats poker".

One very important thing that great plays do is evaluate their game all the time, i am no where near a great player, im just stating a fact. I try to do it all the time, even durring a winning streak, but especially durring this losing streak because of how big of a loss this was. Im going to try to go through my session, and pick out a few of the biggest things that i could have done better. I think if i find these leaks, and plug them. (suprisingly, the number one problem isnt tilt. im honestly not tilting right now. im frustrated that i lost so much, and played poorly in some spots, but i dont feel that it affected my game.) Maby then ill turn my next 9 buy in downswing, into maby only a 5 buy in downswing. And money saved is just as good as money won.

#1) THINK BEFORE YOU ACT This right here, i believe is what brought about this entire downswing. Dispite losing 6 buy-ins to 2 outers tonight, this is the real cause of my downswing. I was doing totally irrational things. i was playing more by emotion, than actual instincts and feel. I got frustrated one hand, and pushed w/ AK on a KJ9 board after he raised my c-bet. Sure the guy was a total donk. sure he coudl have been bluffing. But did i really take the time to analyze the situation correctly? Hell no. i just said screw you, you didnt outdraw me again. Turns out he did. He called with KJ. He practicly told me he had the hand, but i reacted before i could think, and that led to alot of missed out profit.

#2)Making crying calls . We've all done it before, many times, and today, i did it alot. Way more than i should have. I even called a pot sized river bet from a total donk with AK high. Its just spewage, and i was spewing out the ass tonight. It was like id get frustrated that again someone out flopped me, and id just throw my money away. I was acting way to fast, and not taking a deep breath and just thiking.

Making crying calls happened because im not focusing on reading my opponents good enough. Im not a big fan of mulit-tabling, and i probably wont start playing more than 4 tables untill im up to 1000nl or higher. my first goal is to get that high. Then ill worry abot mulit tabling and such.

#3) Playing too many tables was another leak. I play a game that is looser than others. i also experience alot of variance. since a play a different style of poker than most on this forum, i really need to have solid reads on players, and when im playing 4 tables, i cant do that. After 3 i start to see a slip.

#4) trying to bluff out better hands . In super system, doyle says"It takes an idiot in my book to bluff a player you know is going to call" Well, im an idiot. I was doing this soooo much today. I would double and tripple barrel OOP a ton. Its good that i have the heart to do that, but it was just spewing chips away. im not gonna lie, it got me a ton of action on the few strong hands that i got tonight, but it didnt help because i was bluffing all of my profit away. Again this all goes back to not having solid reads. I want reads when i play. w/o them in not very good.

#5) being way too loose post flop The whole session, i wasnt giving peope credit for hands where i should have. I was always playing back at people on ragged flops, assuming they had missed overs(god that makes me sound like such a donky).

OK, so whats my solution?
#1) Im only going to play 3 tables. No more. I can focus better with 3 tables, and do more damage. I may not get as many hands in, but 1000 good hands is better than 1500 crapy hands. Doing this will allow me to get better reads on players, and that should lead to more profit.

#2)im actually going to schedual breaks durring my sessions. I pretty much played for 3 hours straight w/o a single break. Maby after a tough beat, i played the next hand or 2 a little different than i would have if my mind was clear. So after every hour, i need to take a 10-15 min break. Just to regroup my thoughts, and cool down if im getting irritated.

#3)After losing 3 buy ins, ill ask myself if im really playing my A game, and making good decisions. Im no where near broke, but this is kind of a wake up call to me letting me know that even though im over bankrolled, theres still that risk of going broke, and i cant start slipping in my game just because i have a ton of buy ins for my limit.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and id love to hear any comments, or stories.