Light Switch Moment

[Sark79]

I was wondering if there comes a time when things just click for a player.  Recently my game has improved a lot, I am doing exactly the same things as before ( even calculating pot odds at a snails pace while playing  ) but up until now I have lost most of the time.  However, over the last couple of weeks I have been less active than normal on the forum and have just been reading and practicing the game.  I no longer have the fear that often held me back previously and I put this largely down to playing tons of HU games.  Tonight I was playing a bunch of $10>$25 HU and also moved up to the $15 STT tables. ( I can't play more than 2 tables.  My brain goes a bit whacked out )

  I never realised I had a negative fear element in my game until recently.  While reading a book by Antonio Esfariandi he mentioned something about his early days.  He said that as his BR was so small while starting out, if he lost it, it would not cause him to be upset as it was tiny anyway.  I adopted this approach to playing and since then I have felt so relaxed and much free-er to make decisions.  My bankroll has increased a lot since I came to the realisation that sometimes a little risk can be good.

Did anyone else suddenly have this 'light switch' moment where everything clicked while playing?    It has taken 13 months but finally my BR is growing .......  at last, lol .  I still need to crack the cash games, mtt and everything else though 

[doubleup]

My biggest improvement came when I started paying more attention to my opponents and changed tactics depending on what they were doing.

Its interesting that you feel that playing hu stts has improved your game.  I think that playing hu/shorthanded is an excellent way to improve.  As you move up, a larger portion of play tends to be close to the button so effectively shorthanded.

[totalise]

my "aha" moment came when i started thinking about the equity of making moves, and the ranges that people have to a) raise, but more importantly b) call. These two things in tandem helped my shorthanded NL play immensely. After that, my next "aha" moment came when i figured out that if I can accurately assign my opponents a tight range of hands, I can play profitable poker almost irrespective of what I hold. Grouping these three together pretty much turned me from a bingo short rolled gambler into a winning player.

[Graham C]

I'm currently going through that at the moment too.  I'm playing some good poker at the moment and even when I go out of an mtt, it's 90% of the time due to my opponent getting damn lucky. 

I'm playing less crappy hands and those I do play are based on what's happening at the table.  Like Totalise said, thinking about equity and calling ranges of other people is making a big difference.

[ripple11]

Nice one Sark.....lets hope its a long life bulb

[boldie]

I know exactly what you mean Sark. My lightswitch moment came a while ago when I realised that I had the game to ebat people and shouldn't worry too much about losing. It wasn't the losing money that was a big deal but mainly the simply not winning. These days when I play a STT I'm confident that if I get to the HU stage I'm going to win it unless my opponent gets lucky. In HU I just expect to win against most players and that takes an enormous amount of pressure off.

[matt674]

every day at 6.50am - otherwise i stub my toe in the dark............

[Royal Flush]

every day at 6.50am - otherwise i stub my toe in the dark............

I pitty the fool who gets up when its dark

[Ginger]

every day at 6.50am - otherwise i stub my toe in the dark............

I pitty the fool who gets up when its dark

Written by the person that doesn't NORMALLY get up until it's early evening! (it's it dark then too?)