Ego my worst enemy

EGO my worst enemy in poker and LIFE. My ego refuses to laydown a marginal hand and refuses to look at my self when I'm angry with a loved one. My ego goads me to call that guy/gal who keeps stealing my blinds with junk and I should pick a better spot or hand. My ego tells me to be selfish when I should do something for the people I love. Ego tells me my game is good enough and i'm just unlucky, when I should remain open to improvement always.
Ego EGO EGO
IT WRITES SOOO MANY CHECKS THAT I CANT CASH

You will never be a winning player long term until you can detach yourself from the game. You have to be able to let the losing hand go, even if half of your stack is in the middle and he hit an ace on the river. I have had this same problem in the past, especially when there is a chip bully on the table. Now I wait and bide my time, finally when I have the nuts I bust their ass! It takes longer but is just as satisfying...

Last night in us freeroll I'm in ITM, I had pocket kings and called, a bully you described stealing my blinds pushing the table around. I folded a 1/3 of my short stack to the guy and I finially hand a hand . He turns over q?-6d off me Black kings. Flops three diamonds then blank then you guessed its another diamond. Ouch second time today same thing with pocket qq's vs junk = flush just short 3 places out of ITM. But you know i was dissappointed, but yet for the first time I felt I played to my highest potential all day and cashed a few small MTT's. I was proud to swallow such tough beats and still cash later in two other MTT's.
You sound like a good player can you relate to the feeling I described? Like you have turned a corner or the future will be very good?

MR TOYMAKER said:

and refuses to look at my self when I'm angry with a loved one.

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In the grand scheme of things, poker is just a game. If you lose your bankroll get more. Money is easy to replace. If it's not easy to replace, quit.

Good relationships, on the other hand, are not easy to replace.

Get yourself some help to solve your problem. If you get help and it also improves your game, that's a nice bonus.

Ego talks to me all the time, I learned to listen less and less. Hence my relationships and poker game has improved tremedously

MR TOYMAKER said:

I learned to listen less and less

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Glad to hear it. Keep up the good work!

Knowing you weakness is a great skill!

Addressing the strategic aspect of your question:


Perceiving and accepting your own skill level is probably the most important skill related to poker.

By understanding our skill limits and adjusting our play accordingly, we can see results above and beyond what our skill level dictates.

When I first started playing regular cash games, I knew my reading abilities after the flop were weak. In order to remain profitable while I developed my skills (via experience), I limited my play greatly.

I stuck to a very tight starting line up (all PP's and AK,AQ) for quite awhile. This allowed my to avoid dicey situations (like being out-kicked) and kept me from making to many decisions that I wasn't equipped to make.

As my reading abilities grew I began to introduce more hands to my line up. First Ax & Kx suited, then 2 face card hands like KJ,QT,AT, then medium suited connectors.

Remember, if you can play profitable poker while building your skills, you will gain much more experience because you can afford to play as much as you want. So adapt your game to suit your skills by limiting your play temporarily. Do what it takes to stay in the game and build experience.

Since you already understand and accept your weaknesses, you have a talent that most poker players do not. You are exactly the type of player I like to avoid at the tables, one who learns continuosly.

Good luck.

Wrote this a year ago

https://www.cardschat.com/f49/poker-ego-90008/

Might help

That blog is gold. It hits on how I was feeling that day. I felt like a confidence that I was seperating from the pack and pulling a little ahead. I folded big hands when I believed I was beat and sometimes I was beat.(saw the river and the villians cards) I played tight when I was usually aggressive and aggressive when I was tight before. If that makes any sense. Two months ago I realized what position is and how to use to it effectively. I read and studied about it, but it didnt take till two months ago in a MTT. I'm not a profitable player yet, I am only down about 300.00 and some change. In arrogance, I jumped online thinking it was the same as the live poker I played off and on in my life. 2k I deposited and donated to my online poker 101 classes. Thru freerolls and many different cash game MTT's and stg's. I recovered some of my deposits.

MR TOYMAKER said:

Last night in us freeroll I'm in ITM, I had pocket kings and called, a bully you described stealing my blinds pushing the table around. I folded a 1/3 of my short stack to the guy and I finially hand a hand . He turns over q?-6d off me Black kings. Flops three diamonds then blank then you guessed its another diamond. Ouch second time today same thing with pocket qq's vs junk = flush just short 3 places out of ITM. But you know i was dissappointed, but yet for the first time I felt I played to my highest potential all day and cashed a few small MTT's. I was proud to swallow such tough beats and still cash later in two other MTT's.
You sound like a good player can you relate to the feeling I described? Like you have turned a corner or the future will be very good?

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I do sound like a good player dont I? Too bad I am not!!

I can relate though, that situation especially burns me up in a turbo, because it seems like it happens constantly (at least we get there faster I guess I mean to say). You gotta just keep your head up and drive on. One thing to do in that situation is identify the weak/passive player at the table (hopefully if you are it there will be another one). Then try to steal as many blinds from him as possible. Then you will have enough in your stack so that you can handle a beat or two and not be so crippled that it is either shove/fold.
I really hate when I drop to less than 10xbb late in tourneys. My playing style works out so much better when I get see the flop, then outplay my opponents. I lately have been doing alot better with identifying the correct situations when to steal, bluff, and especially when to extract more chips even when the villian has draws on the board still. I used to panic and drive him out of the pot, for fear of losing what I already have in there. Now I can keep value betting and if he does hit a draw, I have the discipline to get away from the hand and cut my losses. It is very painful at times, but I get paid off so much more now...

Rubber bands

Remember when they first discovered that cigarrette smoking was bad???? People used a rubber band around their wrist to snap when a smoking urge arose........

I've found that this technique helps me STOP and EVALUATE my opponent....... After a large tourney, my wrist is glowing cherry-red.....