Ever Feel You Forgot How To Play Poker?

I have a steady upward profit graph (of course with the normal up spikes and down spikes of variance), and feel pretty confident in my poker ability. I played earlier today and hit a hot streak where I made about $15 in an hour multi-tabling 5/10c (I usually average around $6 an hour). I went to eat dinner, came back, and went on the most horrendous cold streak I've seen in quite some time. Lost about $20 within half an hour. I've had my share of tilt but I didn't really tilt (at least not like I normally do), I just started second-guessing every single move I made, and just felt like I'd forgotten how to play poker. Every check as soon as I hit the button I'd think of how I should have bet and every call I'd think it was a stupid call right after I made it. Had 2 sets busted in that time, one by two all-in calls with flush draws on the turn (K high and A high) that hit (7 outs) and another where he flopped the straight to my set. Reflecting on it I don't think I made any horrible decisions, but I just can still feel that feeling, second guessing every single thing I did. Didn't know if anyone else had felt that way? Any way to get passed it other than to call it quits for the night?

Breaks always help.

If you're truly not tilting then keep plugging at it and it should turn around. It sounds to me like you are though, even though you might think you're not, and refreshing your mind with a night's rest should help.

I really don't play enough, so I often come back to the game feeling like I don't remember how to play at all (!).

Also, reading some of the hand analysis forums often makes me feel like I have no idea how to play this game (that's why I don't post there as often as I should), cause I don't have an answer most of the time! Poker is so contingent on the immediate situation that I feel like it is too hard to comment on a lot of situations proposed.

Anyway, I feel ignorant a lot, which drives me to study, so it's good in that regard.

I know what you mean. I have come to a conclusion for myself it takes me about 2 hours to win twenty dollars on the lowest stakes tables of Full Tilt but a mere 2 minutes to lose that 20 dollars. That seems to be my pattern anyway..

I've told myself a few times that after i break 5 dollars or so profit on a table i should leave, but umm... i've yet to follow my advice

i just stick with a basis....go with my instinct...switch gears and play quality cards....if i feel like a bad streak is coming from one loss or two i stop and then come back refreshed.

I think looking back it was definitely tilt, but it's just that it's a different kind of tilt than I've experienced in the past and I didn't know if it happened to anyone else.

And no offense KingCurtis, but the point was that I was second-guessing my instincts.

Oh well, feel better now, time to go play another session and hope it doesn't happen again

Well I think it's time for a few days off. Here's my graph of winnings, the down swing started probably 3-4 days ago.

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