Small downswing, huge lack of confidence.

I've been on a fairly small downswing lately, namely with my SnG challenge, and for whatever reason it's triggered a huge lack of confidence in me. The only successful game I've had in weeks was 2nd place in the CC bounty. I've had my beats, but I've also been playing pretty poorly.

I've come to realize that I've been becoming almost purely a preflop player (due mostly to my SnG challenge and the way I approach those games specifically). I do have skills postflop, but they are so 'out of tune' that I'm not confident enough about them to play cash games or MTTs (or anything with a decent M-factor) anymore.

I'm at the point where I'll have time for a SnG, and as I'm signing up for the tourney, I'll actually just fray myself away by thinking negative thoughts like "i'll just bust again with KK vs A2" or "I'll just donk my stack off by unnecessarily calling an all in with AQ again" etc etc...

BLAGH. <--- That's how I feel.

I dunno; I've been playing less and less, and thus my confidence gets worse and worse because I'm getting increasingly worse results....

What do you guys suggest? different game? changing to cash games or maybe strictly MTTs? break?

BLAGH.

switch and play some stud or omaha for a day or two for fun. that is, afterall, what it's about.. right?

Take a break and assess the decisions you're making. If you're just getting outdrawn that's different.

I recommend a break.

Personally I'd go play cash games, possibly at a slighly lower limit than normal. I hit a bad patch this week attempting single table sng's myself so stuck myself right back on a cash table & told myself to take my time. Getting my confidence back was my first priority and a few wins did that.

Once you've done that, go back and have a look to see if you really have identified a weakness. Were you putting money in while behind, or were you just getting unlucky? If you spot any problems then that's a great sign so don't worry about it too much. By identifying things like this you're giving yourself the chance to become an even better player. Don't ever worry about finding a problem, instead congratulate yourself on spotting it!

My lesson this week was that I realised that I was trying too hard in the sng's, I was aware of the blinds increasing so was too impatient in trying to build my stack and ended up busting out far too soon. To correct it I've started multi tabling, on one table I'm playing a bit tighter than normal in my regular cash game, on the other I'm playing a single table sng. It's slowed me right down in the sng, any time I worry I'm playing badly because my stack is a bit low I can look right back at the cash game. It gives me an independent measure of how well I'm playing, keeps my confidence up and lets me make more objective decisions about when to push.

I'm still not great at sng's but I'm definately improving just by taking my time. My biggest weakness now is deciding I like a hand early on and not laying it down when I'm beat, or spotting an opponent who'll call with any two cards and figuring any hand can beat him. I don't do it in a cash game, but my aggression and impatience is taking over in a tournament.

Myx

I think there are a few ways to attempt to remedy some of your issues. It sounds like your lack of confidence is because you've "lost touch" with your post flop play. If that's true, then you should play some cash games and put your SnG challenge on hold until you get back to your game. I know you mentioned you won't feel comfortable with cash games or MTT's right now so bring down your stakes a bit. Granted the play could be worse but that cash on the line will be less and hopefully make you a bit more comfortable.

Another option is what Joose suggested and play a different game. I've always said that playing Omaha really helps me NLHE game because it tightens me right up. But if you're playing less, it could be because you're not enjoying poker right now. Maybe there's a game you've always wanted to try but didn't know a lot about it....if so, play that for a few days at small stakes. That could help get you tuned into your game.

If neither of these options sound appealing then maybe you need to take a few days off. Go buy a poker book you've wanted read to get some fresh perspective on your game. Hope some of this helps!!!

I suggest taking a break for a week or two. Go out and have fun. Sleep and clear your mind. You would be surprised how much your luck and play will improve when you return. You're obviously frustrated so that can't help your play since you won't be focused. Take a break befoe you lose even MORE money.

You do Raise a lot Pre-Flop chuck, even i notice that when were at the same table,,, start concentrating on Post-Flop, and you will soon learn that you can out-play players that way too, sometimes you have to Fire 3 Good Size Bullets, but you can get them to fold..>>>>>>>>.buck

just fix whats wrong, its all in the mind, you know what is exactly wrong with your game right now and changing games wont remedy the fact you dont feel confident in your game b/c you'll still be playing, so maybe the best remedy is R&R or even the lowest micro-limit ring games, It wont win you alot , but a few wins down there may give you your confidence back.

Dont feel bad I'm going through the same thing but probably at a smaller scale. I've gotten into a SnG state of mind when I play and its hard to open up to other styles of playing. Try going down stakes and play less often. Hopefully you'll get into a rhythm again then move back up and make some money to go on vacation!!!

The advantages of being able to play different games other than NLHE is shown once again.

Other than that, walk away for a couple of days to clear your mind. Going through and reviewing your plays from both some solid SnGs and not-so-solid SnGs is in order as well. Find where you're going wrong, and work on plugging those leaks!

I have been going thru the same thing also Chuck...All I can say is just keep it fun and it might turn around for you. Good luck in the meantime.

Go get drunk. Get absolutely falling down, passed out on the lawn drunk. Then when you wake up with a massive hang over, sleep it off for a day. After you've done that, sit down at a micro limit table and loosen up a bit PF and limp your mediocre hands. This will get you playing the post flop game and get your rhythem back. The getting drunk part is just fun

I LIKE IT!

ANSWER=6x$5 sit and go's (at once)

Dont knock it.

7 card stud in freeplay...since I think it would be too hard to lay off cold turkey for a few weeks. lol

I'm obsessed with generating stats about my SnGs so I used to "chase" better figures and it affected my game.

I think what happens is that you start thinking, "if I lose this one then it means I've got to cash in the next two to get back on track with the win rate" or something similar. This leads to an external pressure on the game in front of you which should be a self-contained problem to be solved and that can lead to doing the wrong thing.

In the end I stopped worrying about my ROI% or heads up wins and just play the one in front of me. I still record all the stats and I find them interesting but I'm much more aware of the need for thousands of results you need before you can make any real statistical case. Ultimately any positive return is a good one and there will be big swings both ways if you've got game.

I tend to get jaded with SnGs every so often and don't concentrate as I should on my opponents (which I think is the key) so I stick to MTTs and $25 cash games (buying in short) or Heads Up SnGs until I want to play the full table SnGs again. Poker's a grind and if you're not enjoying it, it's a whole lot harder.

Hope it turns round matey.

as weird as it sounds, i used to chase better stats within pokertracker, and it affected my game tons

Same.

It's not quite a 'solution', but it helped me just to play for a week or so (longer if needs be) and just not look at Poker Tracker (or whatever tracking program you're using).

I agree completely. I busted a large portion of my bankroll a while back, from which I have taken about one month off to recover, refocus and spend some time on work. When the pay check comes in, I am gonna load up my NETeller account - the only question is, what percentage of your monthly income would you suggest playing around with?

From what I can gather Chuck, you play a tight aggressive game. Since you dont play many hands, its easy for your confidence to get knocked after a few beats.

Tournament poker is alot more luck than Cash Game poker. I think it would help you alot if you played some micro limit 0.25/0.50 cash game poker and loosened up alot. Playing more hands and trying to get tricky on flops.

Also, try not to over value premium hands. Try flat calling with high pocket pairs and limping with Ak etc etc.

Mix it up alot, dish out a few badbeats and you will feel alot better.

Hey Chuck,

Just posting to say exactly the same just happened to me. After reading your SnG challenge it sounded like a good idea as I'd never played those tables, so I started on the $3 speed NL and $6 regular NL tables.

Well, my tournament game has improved, I'm not getting great results but I'm in the money fairly regularly now. But it's been at huge expense to my cash game.

While I've won a little in the SnG's, I've lost a huge amount on the cash tables, and I'm having to really concentrate now on tightening my game back up. I found the SnG's made me reckless on the cash tables, I was taking risks that just weren't justified for the hands, and it's taking a concious effort to identify what's changed in my game and why.

Myx