Hobbes

So after a rough start to 2007 with quite a few bad beats (and some where I was truly a donk), I find my game being effected to the point when I am playing a very loose/passive type of game and ALWAYS seeing the monsters under the bed.

Too many preflop calls, followed by folding on the flop. This has now spilled over from my ring games into my tournaments.

I think many of us have been there before. I have been too, but not to this extent where I am starting to question every call/bet that I make.

What have you found in the past to get you through this?

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Hobbes
Playing micros is like getting a rectal exam from a leper who walks away with 9 fingers.

Metro

I switched to Pot Limit Omaha - I read the basics and started cleaning up.

In the process I learned a lot about NL in the process. In particular some of the ABCs you forget when cards become second nature, like:

Incredible Importance of Position

Reading the board with perfection

How to protect your hand

IMO, donking around in Low Limits will do more harm than good - what do you expect to learn?

You can read, but the best way to learn theoretical strategy is to apply it. Humans are naturally better at learning when they apply what they learn - hence the old adage of teaching a man how to catch a fish (No pun intended).

If you feel you are having trouble with NL - and are not comfortable playing Omaha - try some Limit poker. The nice thing about Limit and Omaha is that they will probably require a little bit more discipline - there is not a lot of "fancy play" at the lower limits of these games - so discipline will be necessary.

If you watch Rounders - you will end up thinking your are the best poker player in the world - and that this is a game that "can be beat" - not going to help you out at all.

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In the poker game of life - women are the rake.

Hobbes

The rounders comment was a bit of Sarcasm (couldn't put the smiley face on it).

Maybe a change of game would be nice. I sometimes forget about Omaha and I gotta practice for the Royal Cup anyways....

When I am donking around, I do it for the enjoyment of the game. That's all that I hope to accomplish there.

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Hobbes
Playing micros is like getting a rectal exam from a leper who walks away with 9 fingers.

Popkorn

I agree with the poll. Take a break from poker, read some poker books, watch some poker on tv, or play some micro stakes online to figure out some leaks in your game when playing against a table full of donks. Sometimes I jump into the 0.10/0.20 limit games online.

BigChrisEl

I think you have to play through the pain.

What I did when I was have a bad run was just take an extra second or two on every hand that I played to ask myself if what I was doing is correct and then just continued from there.

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The Donkey, though it may go to the Holy Land, will still come back a donkey.

Furfy

I voted other. I agree that switching games is a good idea. Learn something new and try to immerse yourself in it, low-level of course. I had the same sort of situation with the HORRIBLE beats (hence the now PERMANENT chat ban on Supreme - sheepish grin), so I switched to seven-card stud.

I played for a bit, re-read the Super System chapter by Chip Reese and spent January trying to devote my time to learning as much as I could. The results have been quite good.

I did it in the past with Omaha, and the transition BACK to hold'em seemed pretty easy.

Find another game to throw yourself into for now.

Good luck.

(I'm not ignoring you guys in the Sunday Series this week, just the chat ban )

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Fastest Dealer in the Tri-Cities.

JohnnieH

.01/.02 PLO on Stars is great. Max $5 buy-in doesn't break the bank.

Johnnie

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KEEP THE SAME VENUE FOR THE ROYAL CUP!

Bobsi38127

When Poker kicks u in the groin, its best to put it on hiatus and either study ur weaker/better plays, watch Poker somewhere and/or read a poker book like Super System or Ace on the River. (to me anything Sklansky is a little too mathematical as a "get me back in the game" read, thats more of a "polish my game" read)
The important thing is to not lose heart. These methods keep the fire burning to help u get back into the game.When I see good players play with no heart its pains me sometimes, cuz u know what their capable of, but through a turn of circumstance their forced to play and don't play a hand all night, then they get a hand like AA, they'd raise and everyone would fold. Eventually it'd get to a point to them being short stacked by dropping blind, after blind,(either ring or tourney, same idea)and by the end of the night their complaining about bad luck, or how short their stacked they are and end up going all in on a mercy draw, or on the river when they know their TP is beat and just want to go home.
This really hurts the intensity of some games, and can be really annoying after the 10,000th comment they make about misfortune. Its like you make a 4 man basketball team and force 1 player to play and during the game and they stand there and make no attempt at anything on the court, it'd be better they not play at all.

ReefAquarium

For me what helps the most is talking to other poker enthusiasts...

If you want you can instant message me on msn .

Coral_Reef_Fish <at sign goes here> hotmail.com

Anyone on this forum can feel free to msg me about poker 24/7.

I find talking to people about hands and concepts I don't understand very helpful.