My poker game is a complete funk. No, thats not a stong enough representation. The fact of the matter is that I SUCK right now. There no other way to say it. I SUCK.

Ever since ending the $5/$10 project, Ive been playing increasingly worse. I dropped 2-3 stacks at $5/$10 with horrible play. At the same time I was playing well at $2/$4 and was frustrated at not getting enough $5/$10 tables so I just started playing $2/$4 all the time.

I was playing ok, for a few days then started overplaying everything. I got busted with TPTK a couple times when Stevie Wonder could see I was beat. I ran into a lot of sets against guys with half stacks so I pushed when I shouldve folded. I won some money back and then it started again.

I had gone from having 2 losing weeks all year to losing all 3 of the last 3 weeks (and losing BIG). Ive never had a losing month in my career, but I am down this month with no hope of turning it around. Im up a total of about $400 in the past 7 weeks which is so bad for me its hard to believe, but its due to horrible play. Im down about 6 stacks right now at varying stakes in the past 4-5 days. Im down around $5K in the past 30 days. All these numbers are approx.

Ive moved down to $200 NL and lost 2 stacks today and when i post the hands you wont believe it.

Now I try to sit back and put it in perspective. OK, Im +$400 for the past 7 weeks. This sucks, but its still a profit, so I should be able to look at like 7 weeks of wasted time and nothing else. I dont have a huge whole to dig out of bankroll wise in the past 7 weeks, or anything like that. 4 times in the past 10 days, Ive come to the conclusion that I need to just stop bluffing, stop making moves on people and just go back to my roots and play tight aggressive poker and pound people when I have a hand and eveything will be fine. Then 10 mins later I make some horrificly stupid bluff. Its like I cant control myself.
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Last night playing $400NL. UTG limps, 2 other limpers and i raise to $20 in the BB with JJ. UTG calls.
Pot $50 or so. Flop KT4 with 2 hearts. I bet $40 and he calls.
Pot $130. Turn is 9 of hearts. I have the Jh. I bet $125. Why? Because I suck. he calls.
River is another 9 and I push. He calls with T9. OK, hes an idiot, but Im worse. I turn off my computer and sleep it off.
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I get up this morning and decide to play $200NL and to not bluff no matter what. Ive been making $4-$5K per month at $200NL for months. Back to basics for me.

2 limpers and I raise to $10 with JJ. They both call. Flop 883 with 2 spades. I bet $30 and a guy goes all in for $180. I call and he has Q8. Im an idiot but at least this wasnt one of my stupid bluffs.
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Battle of the blinds. Im the SB with AT. BB min raises and I call.
Flop 553 with 2 hearts. I chedck. He bets $4. I call.
Turn another low hearts. I check, he bets$8 I check raise to $24 with nothing.
River brick. I bet pot and he calls with a flush. Im an IDIOT. Why cant I stip this? My patience is gone. That was always my strong point.
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I limp KK UTG. another limper and then BB raises to $6. I reraise to $26 and BB calls.
Pot $60. Flop T86 and he leads for $20. I call.
Pot $100 Turn 2. He bets $40 and I call.
River ace. Check/check. He has AQ. Im an idiot. Why do I want to bluff with nothing but Im afraid to raise when I have a hand?

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MP raises to $7, a call, I reraise to $22 with QQ in the BB. I normally dont reraise QQ.
MP pushed for $110. Who DOESNT think he has AA / KK? I call anyway because IM AN IDIOT.
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Somewhere around here I turned the computer off and went to bitch to my wife about how bad I suck. I wait about 20 mins and then decide to play alittle more. I decide that if I lose because of bad play again, that Im DONE. Just sit and wait for your hands I tell myself. Its been working for 3 years.
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I limp AK, MP raises to $10. I call.
Flop 776. I check, he bets 1/2 pot and I check raise him. WHY IN GODS NAME DO I KEEP DOING THIS? He calls.
Turn J.
I check....he bets small, I check raise all in. He calls with AA.
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Why the hell would i check raise all in there when I wont even raise with KK in that other hand? When I have a real hand i play conservatively because I dont want to lose a big pot and I just let him bet into me knowing Im ahead, but when I have nothing I bluff my money away.

Im telling you that I cant stop doing it. At least 5 times, Ive sat back and decided to just pretend like i was starting from scratch. Forget about the lost money. Just start from zero and play tight aggressive poker. Fold too much...thats fine. Overbet your big hands...if they fold they fold. And then I do the same things again.

I honestly AM very close to quitting completely. Ive still have more than enough in my roll to play any stakes up to $10/$20 NL, but right now, I couldnt beat $25NL. I really dont remember how to play good poker. At least I can admit that to myself.

There are some other hands that are so bad, I cant stand to post them. All bluffs. Some of them may have actually been +EV plays if the other guy didnt catch a miracle card at the exact wrong time....but the point is that ive been winning for years without this LAG play and theres no need for me to do it now, but I cant stop.

Ive never been this demoralized about poker. I really dont want to quit because its been good money fairly easily for so long now, but things have obviously changed. I probably wont be around here for a while until I get my head straight again.

I'm PMing you.

TR

Hey Ice...Stop it with the quitting stuff...you've been playing poker way too long...Take a week off and come back refreshed in October. I think you have what we call the fancy play syndrome--get it out of your system like a bad cold and come back. You need a break. Seems like you need it.

yes i agree with idog. Just shut it down for a while. We have all gone through this. Mine is documented in my journal as I was ready to just jump out my window after some of the beats i was taking, constantly. Since you don't do it for the money, you don't need to play so take some time off.

Another thing i suggest is that when you come back to playing, play something else. Learn a new game. Sit down at stud, razz, omaha or anything else at low limits and just play to learn and have fun. If you lose, it happens but you will learn the game and you won't lose any money you really care about. Right now, I don't feel like playing NL so i've been playing a lot of PLO and I'm very happy with it.

I just have to say that I think it's really strong of you to post this!

I will leave the advice part to the guys that are in a position to do so...

Hang in there

I was going to post this long-winded response about how I went through a very similar experience about 2 months ago, but I don't really think I need to. You know what your problem is and you know how to fix it. Just take some time off until you get the desire to play again.

Morons love to call - they'll be there when you get back.

D

It's probably a bad run of cards along with some bad plays. I know when I'm down during a week, whenever i try to make it back quickly is always huge mistake. Also, I don't keep track week to week anymore but now month to month. I find it helps reduce the emotional toll poker can take on you. Even quarterly would be even better. Then your winnings will be consistent just like a job if your sample size is large enough.

Also, if you move down in limits after playing 5/10NL, it will probably seem like all your bluffs are getting called. Well I have never played 5/10NL, but whenever I have moved down in limits, I noticed that my bluffs didn't work as often so I needed to adjust accordingly.

Screw a week..take a month off, possibily two months. Feel free to post on occasion... but if you can't play your "A" game, there's no reason to play at all.

Although you can't see it now, you have much to be proud of since you started playing. Try to remember back to the good ol' days.

A month of no poker, while it maybe boring, will certainly rejevenuate you for the TAG play that makes you a winner.

Ice, what you are discribing is TILT. It it looks like tilt, and feels like tilt, it's TILT.

Maybe your overplaying hands at 1/2 and 2/4 because you think your so much better than your opponents you deserve their money NOW, you don't think you should have to play poker against them and actually go through the motions of winning it over time.

But it doesn't really matter why. What matters is that your playing badly. Your recognizing it so that's good. I went through a 3 month period of tilt before. Tilt is a funny animal.

What you described at the 1/2 and 2/4 tables, trying to push people off hands when it's obvious your behind...I did a similar thing when I dropped down to .10/.25 a while back. It's like I recognized I was much better than the opposition I just wanted to win all the money every hand... i didn't want to wait for the right opportunities. So I was a playing like a monkey on tilt and the solid players at the table took a couple stacks off me.

An alternative to taking a week off is to go play baby stakes. I would recommend skipping the no limit tables even if it's .05/.10 becuase you can still burn through a couple hundred there pushing all in left and right.

Go play LIMIT POKER. LIke 5 cent/10 cent limit poker. Pacific Poker has it. You can play like the worst player ever for a whole night and only loose 10 bucks. It is quite fun, three betting from the blind with 36offsuit and reraising the whole way....

It's fun when you back into hands and win

It's fun when you type stuff like "I almost hand that hand" after you loose to a flush with no pair sitting there imagining what your opponents must think of you.

It's fun watching the solid players break down and starting to play loose

It's just plain fun!

You can play LAG or play like a maniac or switch between the two. YOu can try to win playing lag or try to loose... whatever.

Its so much fun that I"m going to do it right now. I'm going to Pacific to play at a limit game and make it crazy.....

Perhaps the best advice I have ever gotten was from one of Iceman's posts and I have never forgotten it. He was asked how much he bluffed and replied "not much, people will call with hands they should not call with!"

You should read this post, and then not read another for a week or two, not play a hand, and spend some quality time with woman. Take out enough of the roll to treat her to decent dinners or a show or two, go to work and spend your evenings like a mini-vacation from poker. Come back in a week, read a little and maybe sit down to play a progressive day of triple up and move up starting at $50NL.

You are tilting and only going to continue to do so until you break the cycle.

Hey Iceman are you making fun of my exact post

http://livepokerforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6778

I figured out that I must be on tilt and not know it.

you are a semi-pro and winning at poker - I like your advice.

I decided to quit live no-limit. Today I won a little on FTP but got 3 bad beats from bad players. 3 times sucked out with few outs.

I think that Poker is an evil game but I am hooked.

I swear that hold'em was invented so the cowboys had an excues to shoot each other. Who in there right mind would invent a game with community cards. That is like adding 20 randon cards in a deck for 7 stud. Then you would see some bad beats.

Hang in there and take a break. Stuff happens as they say.