advice needed please

hi
please can you answer 2 questions for me as i think it might help my game

1, what was the one thing you did to improve your game the most.

2, how do you get over downswings that seem to last for days or weeks
at a time, when nothing seems to go right.

all your answers are welcome,
thanks very much in advance.

read the strats offered here(good info)
Play no more than 2 tables at once, (stop looking at the TV)
go to the playchip tables and go tilt there (allin every hand) theraputic

1. Read CC. Read books.
2. Participate in other rewarding activities (i.e. play with the dogs).

1. Ask strategy-related and specific hand questions in this forum, read the Harrington on Hold 'em series.

2. During a downswing, I like to ban myself for 24 hours and not watch poker, not think about poker, and just live life. I like to go for a walk, run, or do any rewarding activity that will clear my head and calm me down. Downswings are terrible, 10 minutes ago I was poised to be chip leader in a 30 dollar tournament with 20 players left with nearly double the chips of the next player. An opponent and I went all in preflop with my pocket kings, he turns over queens, and there is a queen right on the flop. 5 minutes ago, I enter a 10 dollar sit and go, and i get it all in on the turn with an overpair. My opponent turns over an inside straight draw, and hits on the river. These bad runs can very emotional. However, I am dealing with it by giving advice on this forum/ranting just a little

goooooooood luck

1. Fold more hands
2. Play better

1) Playing more, which helped me learn more
2) I don't. I believe I'm a strong player, but my weakness is I still haven't managed to control my emotions when I go on a bad luck streak.

1. Read poker books. (and Cardchat)

2. Read poker books, too. You can never learn too much and reading something new might help your outlook. There are a few books out there that deal with the psychology of poker.

stay on the grind...you'll always have downswings...like others are saying stay here at CC read a lot and you'll learn a lot......also be patient don't try and chase your losses during thes so called down swings that you say

1. Pay Attention
2. Play your cards to get the best out of it. If you think you played a hand correctly and still lost, do not let this negative feeling deter you from doing the exact same action in the future.

1) To improve your game read, as others have said.

I have a good number of poker books, I subscribe to a monthly magazine, and my favourites include ~200 poker-related websites (of which CC is the best, obv ).

2) Downswings - depends on the reason. If you are getting your chips in with the best hand and the opponent hits a lucky card, it doesn`t matter.

That bears repeating - it doesn`t matter. Say a rude word, if you must, and move on. Those things even out and you will win in the long run.

If you are losing because you played badly, refer to 1 above.

do you have any recommendations on books besides Harrington on Hold 'em?

I am trying to find some more obscure books that are solid.

I can`t really think of an obscure book that is good. Generally, if something is not widely respected, there is a reason.

Apart from the obvious Harrington and Sklansky books, I might suggest "Phil Helmuth`s Texas Holdem". Not the most heavyweight study, but his suggestions about reading the opponent`s style are very useful.

AG has a book post in the Golden Archives with recommendations

In red.

1. Bet to get information. And become an excellent folder.
2. Play a lot of free poker, find a silly fun site to play on when running bad, at least you'll have fun. And don't take it personally.

ok well smack your self in face and self ban your self for 24 hours. and you need to play very tight it boring try 2 tables and read no limit theory and practice. and tourney books harringtons series and tournament poker for advanced players then your good that how my friend Dave get really good at high stakes online poker

Wow, lots of responses to someone who has 2 posts total at the moment. Musta been a good question.

1) Read books, read here, review your hands, get someone else to review some hands either by posting here for thoughts or finding someone willing to review a session.

2) Keep yourself from playing on tilt, do something else, get someone to review your hands to look for holes in your game.

Hehe, that's an awesome answer..

Shinedown, awesome reference to a golden thread.

Not to blow to much smoke up cardschat's arse, but I really think that coming to this forum and chatting about poker has been, and will be, the key to my game. I try to think about what my game might look like had I not become a member a month ago, and all I can think is how stagnant my game would be. Yes, I would have read a lot of books and surrounded myself with poker, but the discussion you find here leaves you dynamic, changeable, and I really think this is where my edge will come from. If you fancy an analogy, you can have all the dynamite and c4 you'd like, but if you don't have a way to ignite it, nothing good is going to happen. Cardschat is that spark.

1. Reading super system as well as cardchats hand analysis and strategy articles. Also learning to fire the 2nd bullet on the turn when c betting if i have outs but learning not to if i think im drawing dead.

2. Can't answer that one, i dont think ive ever been on serious tilt

1. Sounds simple, but....I played more poker. Of course, I also read books and learned to concentrate better, but mostly, it was just play more poker.

2. During these downswings, be brutally honest with yourself. Are you on a downswing because you are getting unlucky, or is there a hole in your game? Maybe it's both. If it's a hole, plug it. If it's bad luck, just keep telling yourself that luck always evens out.

1. Not just reading poker books but some of the magazines as well can be really helpful.

2. Bankroll management, that's what it comes down to. I had 2 major suckouts but because I'm playing disciplined it didn't hurt my BR at all, here's one of them;

Hand History Posting and Rakeback

And here's the other:

Hand History Posting and Rakeback

1. Analyzing my stats and improved it

2. Get advice from cardchat forums on how to play overpair and SB and BB.


(I have not read any books, I think that is my strength because I have not copied any book style of poker play)

This might be glossing over things a bit too much. I don't think most poker players who read poker books will come away and copy one single style, but rather mix and match many different styles, taking what they like, and leave the rest. I don't think it could hurt to read a few books.

1. I found a forum that had daily small buyins and also they had lively discussions on poker. I joined in these discussions even though often times i didn't know my arse from a hole in the ground about what was being talked about and sometimes i still don't.

2. Ask questions about anything you don't understand, there really is no such thing as a stupid question. Don't try to impress people with how much you already know. Be a sponge. I work very hard on not tilting and my work has paid off. Someone here suggested sitting out a few hands after a bad beat, that is a good suggestion.

#1 Listen to these guys, esp.the ones with hundreds to thousands of post....Trust me, they know what they're doing. Undoubtedly great advice!

#2 Take a break for a week or two then come back to lower limit tables and get a feel for the game again.

#3 Kick the Cat...seems to work for Snowman

I agree with the one guy who said take a day off and dont think about it at all. When I do that I come back and win... Same with puzzles or video games... Dam that mario!!!

^^^^ is that mario galaxy??? What a great game that is, took me a few weeks but i completed that and got all 120 pokerstars

The first thing i did to improve my game was to start watching my stats, it showed me that I was playing way too many hands (I try to keep mine under 20%), then I started playing more legitimate hands instead of 'feelings'. But the best thing I have done to help was to become more patient and wait for the better hands to come to me instead of chasing. As far as the downturns, go to the cheapest table you can and practice your game, once you start catching cards again then move back up higher stakes. I drop down to the penny games when things are going south, alot of people make the mistake of trying to win it back fast in a high $$ tourney or stakes that are well out of their bankroll league and end up making another deposit!

haha, classic.

1. Honestly, as much as people have said it here, joining CC has been the most +ev thing I've ever done. Post hands in HH, look at other peoples' posts, and just read. There are a lot of great players here and they are very helpful.

2. I go up to $1/$2 HU and chase my losses, when I lose that I play HU sngs for $300. Oh wait, that's what I did last time. Whenever I'm tempted to chase my losses I remember this, because that killed me (-500 in the span of about 2 hours).

But seriously I step back, take a look at my win rate, and see how long it should take to make it back. It's not as bad to get sucked out on for $25 when you see that after a few hours you'll have made that back and then some. Just had a -100 day, came back, played about 2k hands today, and now am almost back up. And if you feel yourself begin to tilt at all, QUIT IMMEDIATELY.

getiing over tilt seems to be more of an expierence thing, the more times you expierence bad-beats and varience the less they effect you emotionally.

I'll answer number two which i'm a massive fan of: Bankroll Management. Someone else said it earlier and I can't begin to tell you the importance of it. I play 6 handed SnG almost exlusively so this is where my point of view is coming from.

BR management helps you get through those times when you have multiple bad beats, bad judgement, and find yourself chasing your losses due to emotions running high.

Looking at my stats I've had three bad downturns over the last year. In each I probably lost around 10-15% of my BR until I was able to turn it around. The only reason I survived was that I didn't keep playing games that were outside my BR. Otherwise those losses would have been 30-35% making the pit that much harder to get out of. (A year ago I started on the $2.50 SnG to learn the game properly...eventually $5.00 and now I play $10.)

Lastly, when you play outside your BR you don't play properly either. There shouldn't be so much pressure on you per game that its winning or losing affects your judgement. Going outside your BR will do that.

Ken

P.S. It was Cards Chat which taught me that this time last year.

1) Her I'd combine two concepts into 1. Develop relationships with better players that have a simillar style to yours and take advantage of thier knowledge. I'm mentoring a couple of folks right now. Second part is to go watch them play. You won't know thier hole cards unless it is a pro on TV. But you can pick up an awful lot watching better players play. This is also a marvalous way to fix parts of your game that have gone wrong. ex I'm an extremely tight player after 30 years playing ring game No-Limit Holdem. When I play Omaha sometimes I get into a spot were I play way too tight. You have to play more than the top 10 premium hands in an Omaha tourney or you'll get blinded off for sure. Plus in Omaha it all changes so much more dramatically postflop IMHO. Well I watched the latest WSOP pot limit OMAHA event and also a good friend win his second Omaha tourney in a week and Imediately recognized I was playing as tight as a nit. Loosened up and my games back were it should be. Alot of folks mentioned books and strategy blogs. Both are great.

2) To me this is an easy one. Bankroll management. Combined with my suggestions above and you'll get out of funks sooner sometimes. But when it's strickly the cards and your 80-20's aren't holding up it's bankroll management that keeps you going. Under 10 buy in's drop down to a level where 10 maximum buy ins are in your bankroll. Under 10 buy ins drop down again. There is no shame in this. Most folks move up and down. Start with micros and build. The disiplined ones drop back down when they hit a rough patch. I also try never to buy into a tourney for more than 1/20th of my bankroll. Others may have slightly different criteria of course. Remember in ring games it's 10 maximum buy ins, not minimum buy ins that you measure your bankroll against.