*sigh*

[holdme]

Forgive me for rambling. Read it or not. Respond or not.

I cannot play consistantly well. I'm confident that I'm extremely good at poker. Perhaps that's part of why I can't win anymore. I just play as perfectly as possible. Then I slip. I can't play minbet poker because I lose concentration, although I've lost a considerable amount of money to it. So when I play big bet poker, I play well. And then it happens. Stupid awful ugly flipping mistake.

I've been stuck at my 2-3k br for waaaaay too long now. I'm getting sick of it. I started taking shots 3/6 nlhe. Same thing happened tonight. When I take a shot like that, I expect to play well since so much of my br is on the line. I lost concentration and made a stupid mistake. Then I tilted a little bit. Luckily I shortstacked some of it back, but still...it hurt.

I feel like I can't win anymore. No matter what I do. And I can't stop playing poker. I love it too much. It's not like I play for income, although I want to use it to supplement my income in the future. I'll never do that if I can't win. It's really starting to sting. A lot. My second 1300 downswing in like a month.

I don't even know if I have a question. I just wanted to put my thoughts out there. Thanks if you have any advice.

I just feel so sick.

[hemstock]

Try reading and posting to improve your game. You are not as good as you think you are. And playing 3/6nl with a 3k br is stupid.

[holdme]

Okay, I wrote this when I was really, really, really pissed off. I realize how stupid I've become with br management and that's one of the problems I wanted to fix. I just entered a $55 donkament. I probably listed several other problems hidden in that post as well.

Poker has become an emotional rollercoaster with or without my recent degenerate trends. I mean I start to tear up after I win some pots.

I'm pretty good at detecting whether or not I'm playing well, regardless of results. As you say, however, I should post in other forums than BBV.

[CHAx]

everyone thinks they are great players, especially losing/break even players. Are you truly great or are you a break even player? My guess is you need to move back to 1/2 or 2/4 nlhe. Oh and even winning players have long breakeven/losing stretches.

Personally, I just went on a 10k breakeven despite getting my money in as a massive favorite on about 15 hands. I was playing awesome poker and everything went wrong. Luckily, I have control over my tilt and now Im having a great month.

I used to be in your shoes hoping to make like 1k a month, now I make 20k+/mo and let me tell you, you just dont have the correct mindset yet. Move down and play more hands.

[F0rtysxity]

i used to believe that being a great poker player meant that you had the ability to make good reads on players, to deceive and trap opponents well, and to play mathamatically sound poker... but more and more i'm realizing what a large role your psychology has your EV. *Especially for cash games.* Can you humble yourself so you aren't risking too much of your bankroll. Can you go through long cold stretches without getting impatient. How about a long cold session and then a couple of bad beats? Do you stop when you find yourself tilting? Do you try to force a play or two just because you haven't played a hand in two hours? Do you feel like you deserve to win the pot because you know you had the best starting hand and make bad calls?

These are some of the things I've been working through that don't have to do with odds or hand reading ability. So when you say you are a good player but you keep on making some stupid mistakes, I'd like to differ and point out what you have to work on to make yourself a good player. Sounds like you are off to a good start and have a solid foundation. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[Quanah Parker]

OK, it seems to me your issue is with playing your "A" game, and doing it consistentially.
This might be THE question that attracts me to the pyschology section of these forums.

There's only one thing in life that makes me wonder "why the fugg did I do that?!" more than poker, and that's my interaction with women.
And unlike women issues, poker issues usually have pretty simple straightforward answers.
Say I call a rock in the bubble stage of a MTT for my whole stack...I immediately wonder "why the F did I do that?"
The 1st thing I do is analyze the situation. Did I need to make a move? Was my stack so low I had to do it?
Usually, I confirm that my move was a mistake, because of chips.cards, oppponents, all of the above.
So...if I made a mistake, and one that I should have known better than make, then WHY did I do it?
This is where it get pyscho for me, and that's the fascinating part. I try to review the time of day, my mood, my recent play in the tournament, etc.
I made mistakes for many reasons. Because I'm tired, arrogant, vengeful, greedy, forgetful, and/or aggresive.

Now that poker has helped to underline some of my more obvious weaknesses, I try to shore up these areas, and the first part for me has been admitting they exist.

I've got to say poker has really been a great way for me to improve my decision making process, and to analyze why I bejave the way I do.

Better living thru poker.

[holdme]

You guys are right. If I can't focus and be patient, I'm not good at all. Sometimes I forget that I'm playing for fun.

Quanah, I think that it's a good idea to start analyzing why I make stupid mistakes sometimes. I usually make an obvious -EV decision, and beat myself over it, but I forget to think about why I ever made that decision in the first place.

I didn't mean to come across as cocky either, everyone. I am naturally confident in my abilities. I also believe that I have the potential to be great, but I lack many important qualities such as patience and concentration sometimes.

[scotnt73]

[ QUOTE ]
i used to believe that being a great poker player meant that you had the ability to make good reads on players, to deceive and trap opponents well, and to play mathamatically sound poker... but more and more i'm realizing what a large role your psychology has your EV. *Especially for cash games.* Can you humble yourself so you aren't risking too much of your bankroll. Can you go through long cold stretches without getting impatient. How about a long cold session and then a couple of bad beats? Do you stop when you find yourself tilting? Do you try to force a play or two just because you haven't played a hand in two hours? Do you feel like you deserve to win the pot because you know you had the best starting hand and make bad calls?

These are some of the things I've been working through that don't have to do with odds or hand reading ability. So when you say you are a good player but you keep on making some stupid mistakes, I'd like to differ and point out what you have to work on to make yourself a good player. Sounds like you are off to a good start and have a solid foundation. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

excellent post. op read this carefully. eventually you get to a point where the difference in skill is minimal between the winning players at any given level. what seperates the men from the boys at that point is all psychology. losing the least possible during the droughts and staying focused is what the long term winners are good at.

ive been playing since 2003 and am currently in a small drought. i cant seem to win a coin flip in my tourneys at all this month. no biggie. its just variance. the difference is that if id only been playing for 2-3 months i wouldnt understand the variance part and might make a post saying "im a winning poker player but .... " like we see several times a week here. after youve been through this a few times and pushed through it it will get easier to deal with each time(if you have the mindset to be a solid player if not it will never get easier and you will always eventually self distruct).

im so calm about the whole thing nowdays that my wife actually has to ask me every now and then "hey hows your poker going?" in the old days i came to bed mad or excited every night. but after several years its all the same to me now. i still get pumped or pissed right after the hands but am past it in seconds nowdays. if im knocked out of a tourney im over it before i get to bed no matter how bad the beat was unless it was for 1000s.

[Poker Plan]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you humble yourself so you aren't risking too much of your bankroll. Can you go through long cold stretches without getting impatient. How about a long cold session and then a couple of bad beats? Do you stop when you find yourself tilting? Do you try to force a play or two just because you haven't played a hand in two hours? Do you feel like you deserve to win the pot because you know you had the best starting hand and make bad calls?



[/ QUOTE ]

Guilty as charged... [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

But you are spot on. IMHO, THESE are the differences between a winning and losing player.

Ian

[bernie]

[ QUOTE ]
You guys are right. If I can't focus and be patient, I'm not good at all. Sometimes I forget that I'm playing for fun.

Quanah, I think that it's a good idea to start analyzing why I make stupid mistakes sometimes. I usually make an obvious -EV decision, and beat myself over it, but I forget to think about why I ever made that decision in the first place.

I didn't mean to come across as cocky either, everyone. I am naturally confident in my abilities. I also believe that I have the potential to be great, but I lack many important qualities such as patience and concentration sometimes.

[/ QUOTE ]

Being consistent is part of being good at poker. I know of no one that's good/great at poker, but is inconsistent. Anyone can play a single hand perfectly. Or play for an hour or so flawlessly.

One quality you do have, that's shown in this thread, is you want to get better and the openness of other ideas. That puts you ahead of alot of people right off the bat.

You start that by not saying 'I'm a great player, but...' Because the stuff that follows the 'but' usually contradicts it. We see it all the time. Nobody cares how good anyone thinks they are as it will be proven out when they see you play or through interaction on the forum. It's also usually a big sign that the person hasn't dealt with the ego part of the game yet. Not dealing with that, pushing it aside, can hinder the process of getting better.

But so far, you seem to be on the right track.

Get involved in the strat forums and don't be afraid of being wrong when responding. That's how you learn.

Remember also, no one plays perfect poker. Everyone makes mistakes. I made a couple doozies last night when I miss-profiled someone too quickly. You can't do anything about it once it's done but learn from it. So, along with being confident in your game, be confident in your ability to learn.

b