[Bob T.]

For what its worth, a couple of years ago, I had two consecutive losing months. Although, there were a lot of bad beats involved, I also noticed a lot of cruise control poker. I actually did a couple of things to get myself away from that.

First, I recognized that if I'm not actively playing the game, I probably am not going to be able to beat the game. There are a lot of players out there with enough talent, so that if they are paying attention, and I am not, they are just going to beat me. So I decided that if I was going to play, I had better have the mental strength to be playing the game, and not just floating along.

Second step, and this relates to the first. I gave myself a lot of reasons, why I could quit a session. I limited the number of hands that I might play. I limited the amount of time that I might play. I decided that I wouldn't play just one more lap in a bad game. I also resolved that if my heart wasn't in it for any reason, I wouldn't play.

Reducing the number of hands, and number of hours that I played, meant that I spent more time playing fresh, and probably was more alert to the nuances of the games that I was involved in. I still play a lot of hands, probably about 3000 a week, but I don't get stuck at the computer for 6 or 7K hands in a week.

If your playing part time, and you can afford to play a little less, I think that this makes the game a lot more enjoyable. This summer, I played a lot less, and spent a lot of time fishing, and doing other things. When it started getting cold, and I started having more time inside, I was really fresh, and eager to play, and I've been running good the last couple of months.

Third thing I did, was have fun, and experiment with other games. I love playing deuce to seven, and I can see why the guy who wins that tournament every year is a great poker player. That game takes a lot of tactics. O8 is also a game that plays a lot different than holdem. You need to let your arithmatic side out, and try and count all those outs, and combinations that you are dealing with, and also work on your exclusion/inclusion tactics ( where you either protect your hand, or get better odds for your draws).

Playing NL can also give you a different perspective on the game, because those big laydowns, that you shouldn't make at limit holdem, are something that you need to make occasionally. And the ability to figure out the timing to win a pot with a bluff is also a more important part of the game.

Finally, I try to average playing a tournament per week. Final tables are probably the most exciting and nervewracking thing that you can do, and its also a good time to experiment and let your lag side out, to see what it can do ( you need to in most tournaments, because you have to find situations where you can accumulate chips, just to stay in the game. )

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I have lost most of my confidence ...

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As you recognize, this is something that is probably hurting your game.

I'll tell a story that I have posted before, but it applies here. When I was younger, I played soccer competitively. I was a forward in the highest amateur league in the state, for a time on one of the best teams. Our team usually had two matches a week on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursdays. We also had a team that played on Mondays. So you could always get enough playing time in, in addition to practices on Saturdays and the days we weren't scheduled for a match. One thing that I also did, was play on Fridays, in a recreational league, where I could always score, and I would get two or three goals, and then work on getting my teammates goals. After scoring a couple of times every Friday, I always had confidence that I could score when the competition was tougher on Sunday afternoon.

You can do that too. If you are running bad, step down a couple of levels, and practice against opponents that you know that you can beat. It doesn't matter that you only made $8 in a .50/1.00 game. You got used to winning again. When your confidence is at a low point, don't try and beat the toughest game you can play in, beat the game that you are most likely to be able to beat. After you post a win in the easy game, you proably will feel a lot more confident getting back into your regular game.

Hope this helped, good luck running good when you get back to playing.