I know its the long term but...

[Newmanseye]

At the moment I am having an icy cold run of the cards, And I mean bad, My hands never stand up, my bluffs are called, and i am blowing my bankroll faster than I can count it.

I will not bore you all with the bad beat stories as we have all heard them before, But I have decided to stop playing untill after christmas.

Do you think this is a good idea, or shold I battle through this "bad form"??

I am looking for opinions as I just cant seem to come to a conclusion at the moment.

[AndrewT]

The joy of online poker is that you need never play when things are not at their optimum. No more having to stay in a bad game, just cos it's the only one in town. No more having to play when you're tired, because the game might not still be going when you wake up.

You're tilting - go and do something else until you feel in a better mood about the game - the internet's not going anywhere in the next couple of weeks, it'll still be there when you come back...

[Newmanseye]

Sorry I should have explained, Its live games thats killing me at the moment, internet is the same old stuff, Its my live game thats gone all to hell.

[johnlarsson]

i am no expert but youve hit a bit of bad luck. kept trying away and it hasnt changed a wee break would be best idea.

last thing u wanna do (especialy over the festive season ) is go lose more money and get down about it.. and theres no point in going and just playing tournys coz u know once ure there ull just end up playing cash game.


you wont be missing that many nights coz its closed after tomorrow night anyway until tuesday and same following week.

luck will change.

[mikkyT]

Billy, you need to feel refreshed enough to play your A game. Everyone has a cold run, it is typical in this game where randomness plays a part. It happened to me where I had 3 months of never hitting a money finish (a couple of final tables, and or bubbling) between about July and September this year. I took a break for a couple of weeks and came back to my winning form.

You need time to reflect upon why you are losing. Are you chasing down money you have lost, when the night gets later and you really should be getting some sleep? A losing game will remain a losing game unless you can tell yourself that it was just a couple of bad beats, but you are the best and bring on your A game.

I think the problem with your live cash game play is that people know how you play now and they are gunning for you. Take for example, Tuesday night, when you had the four card to a flush draw and raised all in over the top of me. A couple of months ago, I would not have made that call if there was any chance of you having any part of that board. But I knew you didn't have the flush and at most you where drawing to it, and my over pair to the board would be good. It still took my a few mins to make the call... as I recalled all the plays you had with the similar board. You play them the same.

You made a lot of money to start with because people did not know how you played. As time goes on, you need to change your game in order that people do not find you predictably unpredictable. Its not just bad cards, as everyone gets a run of bad cards.

[Newmanseye]

cheers mate, I have been thinking this myself too, but i have also been thinking keep going and ride it out. I'll be buggered if i dont know what to do.

I'm sure you saw the hands on the cash game on tuesday night, well I will use the hand i was in with sid as an example of how bad my form is at the moment.

[mikkyT]

The hand with Sid... heres a perfect example of why you need to change. The river was extremely unlucky, as he hit 1 of 3 cards left in the deck that gave him a better hand, queens full of .

You had trip on the flop, and your comment "go on Sid put me out of my misery" is the only reason he called, as he believed your patter and did not thing you had an 8. He hadn't seen you play in any detail up until then.

You try to sucker people too much and, perhaps its karma, or whatever, but if you didn't do it as much, perhaps you would get that belief. After all, it would have been better to take down that hand there and then without him calling you. Even though realistically you wanted him to call.

But, at the end of the day only you can change your game. Change if you feel its necessary, not just because Tom Dick and Harry think you should. If you change for any other reason, its not going to feel right.

[Newmanseye]

I aggree I do need to mix my game up a wee bit, I think I have loosened up a wee bit of late and I think I need to get back to the good old Tight aggressive table image, the problem with that is it will take me a few weeks to get the image going again.  I like to generate action and it usually works but believe it or not the hand with sid I really did know he had the queen and I knew I would lose.

Even with the last hand of the night I played, I knew the bloke had the jack ten, as it was the only hole cards that were beating me, with the exception of a set.

I do need to be a bit more positive as well.

[mikkyT]

I aggree I do need to mix my game up a wee bit, I think I have loosened up a wee bit of late and I think I need to get back to the good old Tight aggressive table image, the problem with that is it will take me a few weeks to get the image going again.  I like to generate action and it usually works but believe it or not the hand with sid I really did know he had the queen and I knew I would lose.

But he may well have folded if you hadn't said a word.

[Newmanseye]

I dont think so, Sid like's to gamble, he was calling regardless, sid probably put me on the bluff. I should have folded, As I knew I was gonna get screwed, I usually listen to my gut feeling and I did'nt. My fault for being a prat.

I understand about the lip at the table it really does get me a lot of action, however of late the action is killing me. I think I will take a few weeks off and make a wee come back in the new year.

[Newmanseye]

Just realised what I have been doing wrong, 3 things infact and i know what i need to do to fix it, worst of it is I have been making really stupid beginner mistakes.   

I am going to play some online mtt's to tailor my game.

Feeling like a prize pratt, but i will chalk it up to lack of sleep and general stupidity.

God I love hindsight!!

[WellChief]

Mate if the guy needed to hit one of 3 outs and you're beating yourself up about talking him into the call then you should definitely take a break for a while.  Mikky why would he ever want him to fold this?

[Newmanseye]

Its not just that play chief, I have been playing like a prize muppet for a week now and no one said to me.  quite rightly so, they managed to get some of their money back. I have been on tilt and playing some pretty bad poker so the queen on the river was just that straw that broke the camels back.

I didnt need the time off I just needed to analyse what i was doing wrong, The problem was I was too close to the problem to see it clearly, after a few hours of going over some of my plays I realised where the problems were.

Once chimbo is passed I will head back to cincins to put these changes to the test.

[thetank]

I have been on tilt and playing some pretty bad poker

If you cannot conquer your tilt, you will not be a long term winner in poker.

Next time you feel it come on, get up from the game, £50 quid down or whatever, and be proud of yourself for walking home a small loser for the night.

[Newmanseye]

very profound Tank, I am impressed. I have pretty much got my tilt over and done with. I just have to get back on track now and I am pretty much there mate.