A kind of rambling C/T post

[car ramrod]

[ QUOTE ]
Almost seems like November and December are official downswing months.



[/ QUOTE ]

lol, that is weird, I was thinking the same thing. I went thru mine during this time, and I have read more threads about downswings the last 2 months. It has been helpful for me though. Here's hoping teh new year will bring upswings to everyone. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[degroot]

great post

[Trouthunter]

This is an awesome post - good replies, too, (except for Stew - his reply may have been genius, but I couldn't stop staring at his avatar long enough to read it)

I have been fighting this problem. I just try to realize that fishyness is relative. To the higher stakes players, I'm a fish. I just have to realize that I'm in the right aquarium. I can see that on the whole, the other players are making more mistakes than I am, and over time, I know it will pay off for me. I don't deserve the win any more than anyone else. This isn't grades in school or an Emmy award or anything. It's not merit based. The best hand wins regardless of who is holding it at showdown.

Well, that's what I tell myself anyway. I still get pissed when someone who had no business being in the hand sucks out. lol. I always tell them nh, too. I want them to keep playing that way, and I want the other people at the table who see me say that to think I'm as stupid as he is and underestimate me.

[Preytar]

November was wicked for me too.

[Preytar]

Thanks for posting this. Very well said. I have been putting a lot of thought into posting something very similar, but your post is more than I would have been capable of writing.

When I run hot, I fell like everything clicks, but when I do have a downswing I question whether I really know what I am doing. Am I too loose, too aggressive, too whatever? My solution has been pretty academic.

For the past 5-6K hands I have really made an effort to take a couple of hours after a tough session to relax and collect my thoughts. I then open PT and review the session to find areas where I made -EV decisions. This is pretty standard for me, but when I run poorly I am meticulous in reviewing each street of every hand played. I would be lying if I said I never find any poor plays (as you guys can see form some of my posted hands), but usually I have played solid, aggressive poker. No, the results for this session weren't great, but I played correctly. While I am less than ecstatic to lose, I feel better that I am making the right decisions.

I realize that we are not supposed to be results oriented in the short term, but for me it is difficult not to feel like crap when I'm losing money. I am and will continue to try to disassociate myself from losses.

Now..if I could just bottle the feeling I get when I value raise the flop with the nut flush draw into 5 players and make it on the river, I'd be fine. Any ideas?

[Beachman42]

Great post.

When I reached this same conclusion, I instantly stopped cussing at the monitor when the 2 outer hit. Now, I quickly make a note and say "Next Hand, please".

If you cannot overcome this issue in your own home, you will never amount to much at a live game.

[Buzz-cp]

[ QUOTE ]
In fact, one of the biggest problems that decent-good players face is a feeling of "entitlement." They feel like they have the right to win, since the people that they are playing against have little to no idea what they are doing. This, in my experience, is the primary cause of tilt. Good players get upset that somebody who is playing poorly is doing well in the short term.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been thinking about this a lot and have come to appreciate it. I used to get pissed at pumping flush draws for value only to find that when they missed, a bad player wins a huge pot with bottom pair. Why does he get the whole friggin pot?? He does not deserve it! It occurred to me that every bet he is putting in is only getting a fraction of a bet in return, and so I imagined playing the same hand over and over, albeit with a different turn & river cards. I should be happy he wins the pot his fair share, which is not often, just this time.

[beset]

Cool thread. Just what I needed to hear today.

[TarHeel100]

For some reason I find it very cathartic to tell a suck out fish "nice hand". I want to scream and yell at him, but by saying "nice hand" it almost gives me that "serenity now" feeling. Also, when I am being nice to someone it's that much harder for me to remain upset at the same time.

I just hope I don't get "insanity later."

[CoachDirty]

[ QUOTE ]

This post is aimed at players who have already established themselves as winning players (or plan on becoming winners in the future).



[/ QUOTE ]

So basically everyone? (or are there actually players who plan on becoming losing players?) [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Nice post.