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#1
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A few months ago I felt that I had a lot of holes in my game. I finally convinced myself to start respecting the great game of THNL and really assess what I was doing wrong and what I could do to correct it and become a consistent winner.
I read as many books, posts, threads as I could and tried to implement various recommended strategies. I was willing to lose a little to test out the various theories and indeed i did. Some of the plays I attempted got me into situations I was clearly not ready for and I was punished accordingly. I did however, at the end of the experience, and despite feeling like I wanted to quit as I was completely emotionally drained, feel that my knowledge and skills were greatly advanced. After a short break and feeling refreshed I decided I would give it another go. Since that point I have played better than I ever had before and feel very confident that I am on the right path now despite not yet attaining the forever elusive perfection that haunts us all. Recently however, despite my play being optimal in all but a small few situations which have not resulted in significant losses, my bankroll has been devastated. My quandry is that I'm not quite sure how to feel about it. I am clearly playing well yet not munching on the fruit that good play should eventually bear. When I play poorly I find it depressing as I basically have to admit that the people I am playing against are in fact, simply better players than me. This concept of ego getting in the way has been a problem for many I'm sure. My question after all of this, is what hurts you more emotionally, losing $$$ through your own bad play or consistently losing $$$ when playing optimally? |
#2
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If indeed you're playing optimally (which I doubt) there's no reason to be upset. Varience is an intergral part of poker.
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#3
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i think you have to seriously reconsider what exactly playing optimally means?? i think it's way to broad of a term to define because optimal play varies depending on opponents and game conditions. i think if you are playing well and take some bad beats, part of being a successful poker player is understanding that variance will rear it's ugly head, and moving on from that. as far as what causes more pain, it's definitely way more painful when i play well and get doom switched than when i just play poorly. it sucks when the fish hit 3 and 4 outers all day on you. but again, a massive part of online success if conquering the mental consequences of said situations. take the beat, suck it up and move on.
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#4
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Varience is a sick part of the game. nothing worse than reading all the books, learning the theory, training your brain to do whats right, then giving money to donks who outdraw you time and time again. The correct answer i guess is that your own poor play should hurt more, as it is in your hands. getting sucked out you cant effect no matter how good you are.
This said, if you are learning from the people who are beating you then consider it a learning curve. there is nothing wrong in getting beat by better players, but there is something wrong in not learning from it. Personally, i think bad beats hurt most if prolonged.My problem is that my learning curve has stopped, though im not making the step up. I regularly beat 1/2, but as I move higher i feel i dont have an edge anymore, but im stuck as regards what im not doing that I should be doing, or vice versa. If you are really sure you are playing well and getting unlucky then just keep playing well, but have a look at your hands and post them here. get other perspectives on how you may have played a hand |
#5
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Thanks for all that guys, most helpful. I guess the general consensus is that poor plays hurts more than beats and I would have to agree. It's the extended runs of beats that start to get me i guess. I can never help adding it all up and saying had these 6 guys nots hit 2 outers in the last 2 days i would have an extra 2k or whatever the case may be. In saying that I definitely find the beats easier.
A few guys made a good point about the poor play side of the argument though in saying that at least they can learn from this. I guess in the end either way you look at it, it should be all upside. You are either learning which should bring more $$$ or you are up against players who are clearly playing badly which should bring long run $$$ too. As for the concerns voiced about "playing optimally" I understand completely how people could doubt a poster is indeed playing optimally although I am confident I have been. For me, as one poster hinted at, playing optimally is not based on some sort of formula. there is so much that goes into it from table selection to reverse implied odds and the myriad of concepts in between. I guess this is what makes the beats easier to take for me in the end. If I continue to play "optimally" in it's totality, I should eventually reap the benefits. Thanks again and hope this helped some think about their own pain a little more logically... if that's possible. |
#6
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what hurts you more emotionally?
losing $$$ through my own bad play |
#7
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Definitely my own bad play brings me more pain than bad beats do.
My bad play makes me feel pain even if I won in the specific session. I may walk out a winner, but I realize that I played terrible and I feel dissapointed. On the other hand, if I play optimally and I lose because of bad beats, I walk away satisfied, knowing that I played it right and that variance was present. Interesting post by the way. Colima420 |
#8
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Definitely my own bad play. Beats come and go, but when I am messing up either because I'm losing, tired, or whatever..it hurts alot more!! Then, if you go on Monkey Tilt...oh, the next day when you are reviewing your plays..dear lord that hurts. Knowing it may take you two days, a week, or a month to recover the damage you did to yourself...the agony!
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#9
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I think bad beats hurt more. When I make mistakes, I can learn from them. It is a lot less frustrating when I know it was my own mistakes and that, with time, I will make less of them.
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#10
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I'm on the "bad play" side of the fence.
I know that beats will happen, and the fact that I took a bad beat means I was playing well. This alone is reason to be at least neutral about a beat when it happens. I hate it when I make a bad call when I know I'm beat, bluff a calling station, or make poor plays in general. Every time I finish a session I look through the hands I played and find anything I misplayed for >10bb. I add up all those small incidents and add it to my net for the day. That figure is the amount I would have won if I played optimally, which is my goal, and it helps me think about every action I make in every hand. $$$ |
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