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Tilt, apathy, outside factors?

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  1. larrygold larrygold is offline

    Farmingville, NY
    United States

    Posts: 55
    Joined: Jun 07

    Dec 31st, 2007 (12/31/2007 9:56am)

    Ok so here goes...I'm not 100% sure of my purpose of this post..perhaps just curious to know if others have gone through this and what if any remedy there may be. I consider myself to be a solid player with a good live ROI in 2007...Good enough to the point that I've partially scaled down my work requirements to take a part time shot live 3days per week (weekly tourns, circuit and mid NL cash). Online has been up and down but over the past month I have played absolutely terrible..I am just all of a sudden in random spots playing literally every hand..It's not tilt from a bad beat, its just this random feeling comes over me and i just start playing like an ape with no plan tied to my betting patterns, hand requirements etc..I'm not talking about the isolated 3betting lite move, Im talking total spew, like 20 sessions in a row. This is not me and in fact I over the past few weeks Ive addressed the issue b4 playing yet I find myself doing it at random times during the session..

    I think lack of focus, distractions, apathy, burnout from increased volume, holiday season blues etc have a big role in this and Im really trying to convince myself to get past this starting Jan 1 as my part time poker career kicks off but Ive already addressed it and it hasnt gone away..

    Anyone go thru a similar phase? Remedy for fixing? Break? Ideas for change in routine, session preparation etc?
     
  2. Schlik20 Schlik20 is offline

    Madison, WI
    United States

    Posts: 4,964
    Joined: Feb 06

    Dec 31st, 2007 (12/31/2007 10:05am) in reply to larrygold

    stop playing for a while... If it seriously has been 20+ sessions you need to drop down a couple levels after a week or two off... read a book or two...
  3. threebanger threebanger is offline

    United States

    Posts: 5,094
    Joined: Sep 07

    Dec 31st, 2007 (12/31/2007 10:11am) in reply to larrygold

    Yeah I quit playing sngs about a week or two ago due to similar factors. Boredom and frustration don't mix well.

    If changing games doesn't help (try razz or just play some MTT freerolls/play money where it doesn't matter how you play), then def take a break.
  4. Squinty Squinty is offline

    Guelph
    Canada

    Posts: 105
    Joined: Aug 07

    Dec 31st, 2007 (12/31/2007 11:31am) in reply to larrygold

    Break is always good. Im not sure if your losing interest in the games your playing but if you are then your gonna need a break to get that hunger back. I can always tell when im not feeling in touch with all the small intricate things in the game. Then I feel like im being outplayed and I hate it so i take a break. When i dont have that hunger I give up pots too easily, dont bet out for value when i should, all the small shit that adds up over a sessions. I also agree with read a book. I find if you read some poker articles, a chapter or two in a poker book, or listen to a couple poker radio programs you can get in the right poker mindset and cant wait to jump on a table and do things right.
  5. Mr Galt Mr Galt is offline sister-in-law's a ho

    Overland Park, KS
    United States

    Posts: 9,097
    Joined: Nov 07

    Dec 31st, 2007 (12/31/2007 1:15pm) in reply to larrygold

    Have you tried switching games - preferably something new that you would have to do some learning. This would send you down in stakes and give you a reason to focus. There are a lot more moving parts to Omaha8 for instance and a whole new set of probabilities to learn. --J
  6. larrygold larrygold is offline

    Farmingville, NY
    United States

    Posts: 55
    Joined: Jun 07

    Jan 2nd, 2008 (1/2/2008 9:13am) in reply to larrygold

    perhaps this post was theraputic in some way..made two FTs in fields of 400+ out of the 10 tourns Ive played since the OP, with 4 cashes. no huge scores or anything but I just simplified my game a bit got back to some basics. In response to some of the comments, doing play money, changing games or dropping stakes would IMO have a counter effect, making me take things even less seriously than I already was..

    what worked for me here is I just played every hand as I would play it if I was on a tv table in the wsop main event. it didnt mean i eliminated raising lite from my mix, but i had a set plan with all my actions and just didnt do something for the hell of it..small sample but I think i got myself out of my funk...
     
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  7. chstone chstone is offline

    State College, PA
    United States

    Posts: 493
    Joined: Apr 07

    Jan 2nd, 2008 (1/2/2008 12:55pm) in reply to larrygold

    When you say that you think switching games, dropping stakes, etc, would be counter productive, I think you are missing the point a bit. Sometimes it IS good to take the game a bit less seriously. It really can be helpful to have a couple sessions when you aren't thinking about your bankroll or how much you could win in this tourney if you do well, or your current overall streaks or whatever. Just play. Play hands you normally wouldnt, make outrageous calls, raise when you doubt you'll get the person to fold, play a game you've never played and try to figure out how to play it well with no regard to bankroll. Doing these things often reminds you that poker can be fun. It can really refresh your overall mindset especially in regards to the games you normally play.
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