I don't play enough ... and I think I know why

aislephive · #1 06-09-2007, 08:07 AM

For the longest time I've had a problem putting in hours playing poker, and I never really understood why. I love poker, and how there are so many intricacies within the game that make it so difficult to master that keeps me coming back for more. Every single time I think I have poker figured out (and it happens every other month it seems) I get crushed until I realize that I don't have a clue.

So what could it be that stops me from putting in a lot of hours, or even a respectable amount? At first I thought it was just pure laziness, which indeed is part of the problem, but I don't think that's exactly why.

I believe it is because I absolutely hate to lose, and every time I start to crush it gets harder and harder for me to play, as I know there will be a downswing soon. Maybe not a big one, perhaps just a couple of buyins. But once that happens I know I'm going to feel like [censored], and so to avoid feeling like that I counter it(poorly) by playing very little if at all.

It's not just on a session per session basis, it's also prevelant when I'm playing. If I'm stuck a few buyins, I almost always quit for fear of losing more that would be difficult to recover. I'd say that I start to feel that way once I'm down 3+ buyins, or if it's a somewhat long (2k hands for example) session and I'm down a buyin or two. I get sick to my stomach and quit.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, I don't put in long sessions when I'm winning either. I don't hit and run (occasionally I do, but not often), but after a thousand hands or so and I'm up a few buyins, a lot of the time I'll just want to quit, for fear of losing the hard earned money I won back.

As you can probably imagine, if I'm not putting in long sessions when I'm winning a lot, or when I'm down a lot, this leads to a lot of short sessions. And often times I only play one session a day, again; for avoiding that horrible feeling when you just can't win no matter how hard you try. Not only that, but I'll become obsessed with trying to figure out why I lost, what caused it, etc. I'll look in PT multiple times and make sure that I played everything well. Obviously, focusing on negative results never really ends well. I dunno, I guess swings in general mess with my head where it seems to not affect some people at all.

I'd say on a good month I probably get in about 25k hands, playing 6-8 tables, so roughly 30-40 hours a month. I have enough time on my hands to play 100-150 hours a month. Also, I have about 50 buyins online so being underrolled is not an issue, and I am a solid winner in the games I play.

At this point, I don't really know what to do. I love the game, I love the sick money that I can't make anywhere else, and I love that I don't have to devote a ton of time into the game compared to most jobs and I can set my own hours.

With that said, something has to happen. I either need to get over this psychological barrier in my head, or I need to quit the game and focus on something else. But I just don't know what to do to overcome this problem and am open to any and all advice. Thanks .. <font color="brown"> </font>

reup · #2 06-09-2007, 11:37 AM

being a perfectionist isn't so bad is it?

_Towelie_ · #3 06-09-2007, 02:49 PM

Graphs work well for me. Whenever I feel the dread coming I pull up a graph of total winnings for the year. This helps me view downswings as inevitable, minor bumps in the longterm road. Afterwards all I worry about is playing my A game and shipping more monies.

BlackRain · #4 06-09-2007, 11:01 PM

OP,

Your situation describes mine to a tee. And I am also feeling that if I can't figure this out soon, I am going to go in a different direction in my life. Wish I could offer you some advice, but I haven't figured it out myself.

One small thing that has at least helped keep me from ever having short sessions is simply, never looking at my cashier, during play. You can still cut it short on those nothing will work days, to avoid tilt. But obv for a winning player, those days are rare. Most days you will be winning and only have a pretty rough estimate of how much in your head. This makes it easier to forget about it and focus on a time or # of hands target.

Acein8ter · #5 06-10-2007, 12:09 AM

When I run bad, I do the same thing. Play short sessions and few of them. When you play this game long enough, you'll know what variance can do...even if your playing your A game.

I also hate to loose and when your on a slight bit of tilt, it's hard to drop that premium hand you were dealt, even if the flop looks bad.

My advice: Play a lot when your running good. Do the same thing that your doing when your running bad, shorter sessions and fewer of them until things turn around. Maybe drop limits and play a bit tighter.

ImsaKidd · #6 06-10-2007, 12:11 AM

I have this problem as well.

A few ideas:

1: Get an equity grapher to show you are playing well, just running bad.

2: Print graphs and put them by your computer, or set as desktop background.

ginko · #7 06-10-2007, 01:26 AM

I feel the same way as you do OP. Except I keep playing when I lose because I don't like losing. And then I get angry and tilt.

I believe the best advice is what BlackRain said. Just concentrate on playing good solid poker [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] and not worrying about the results constantly checking the cashier.

I remember TillerMan did an experiment with this on his blog. He went a few days or weeks-- I cant remember --without looking at his cashier. He believed it messed with his head constantly worrying about his short term results.

I'm going to work on doing that.

tannenj · #8 06-10-2007, 08:19 AM

do you get rakeback? that motivates me to put in hours.

how about moving up in stakes, changing that $100/hour to $400/hour eventually, isn't that thought appealing? it's going to happen a hell of a lot sooner if you put in lots of hands.

consistency works for me. consider putting yourself on some kind of hand schedule, like 2000/day.

Carmine · #9 06-10-2007, 11:02 AM

Your putting all your emphisis on winning and losing. Just concentrate on playing well. Playing 6-8 tables doesn't sound like a guy looking to improve his game. It also sounds like you may be playing over your bankroll. I don't play NL but when losing more than 3 buyins is considered unrecoverable I would think that's a big part of the problem

Triumph36 · #10 06-10-2007, 11:55 AM

a5:

while I didn't have many months where I played significantly more hands than this, I suggest sticking to a time when you should play, every day, and playing for the same amount of time. I used to play from 10 pm to 1 am ish - put on live at the bike in the background and went to work.