breaking even

I’m about 8 months into my poker playing career. I’ve donked off enough money at this point to have learned from my mistakes and have become basically a break even player. I’ve noticed a few leaks still remain in my game that are keeping me from making the jump to a profitable player, most of them psychological. I’m curious to see if anyone else has shared these leaks and what they have done to correct them – they are listed below:

1. Playing too loose with the big stack during tourney play - It seems that if I double or triple up early on, I tend to get looser with my calls since I can afford it. Sometimes, I increase my chips stack to monumental proportions with luck; but more often than not I donk many of my chips away until I get to a more average stack size and tighten up my game.

2. Play too tight with a short stack - Afraid to put the chips in the pot with a good hand. Even if it busts me I should go with the percentages and reads; however I too often choose to stick around for another hand instead.

3. Play too loose with an inflated bank roll – if I get on a roll and increase my bankroll significantly (in terms of ratio, not necessary $’s since I’m not yet willing to risk enough for the higher limits) I tend to get looser. I donk off a good portion of my stack until I get near my original bank roll amount – then I go back to a tighter more conservative game and start all over. A strange yo-yo.

4. Play too loose at a super aggressive table – they say that you should play tight against the super aggressive style, but that often means I’ll be giving up a lot of my blinds and pretty darned good hands to their bets. More often than not, when I make my stand it’s when I have the 2nd best hand. More patience & controlled aggression is needed at these tables and that’s something I’m still trying to establish.

One could say that if I recognize my leaks, then I’m already halfway there to removing them. That said, it’s not easy to do when you’re in the game and put on tilt. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sounds like you are on the way.

My two cents to add would be to view your poker more as a business and try not to take it too personally. This will give you a bit of objectivity and help remove your ego from the process.

I tend to do all but the last one quite a bit. I believe that I will do better in the tourneys I play when I learn to manage what I have built up better. And learn to not tighten like a sphincter when I get low on chips.

Its good to hear someone put the problems out there. My game was so bad that I had been trying to fix everything, which is a daunting task. It is obvious that poker players can have weaknesses in areas that are more pressing or just easier to fix than others. And I don't need to work on all areas at once.

Which I suppose is why there is an entire forum on this site devoted to individual hand analysis. DUH (a light just came on as I wrote this.)