Playing to `by the book`?

Hello all.

I`m a bit of a perfectionist and I think it might be starting to get to my poker

I feel that the more I know the worse I play !!!

An example would be I`m sitting with AA. Flop comes down 2 7 10 rainbow. I raise size of pot. Other guy comes over me. I am convinced they have trip 10`s !!! In fact, I fold and they show A10 !!!

Basically, I always fear the worst now.

Going back to what I said at the start, I want to be an excellent performer at whatever I do, and my quest to be better sees me thinking too much, IMO.

When I first started playing I was fearless. I also hear people having a go at fish or muppet players - in effect that would have been me at the start. I rarely `gamble` now when I`m playing.

Have any of you guys gone through a similar scenario, and if so how did you get around it???

Depends on the stakes and what not. Low stakes player will gladly overplay top top (Thanks Jamie Gold.) If you were in a higher game, that probably would've been a wise laydown. If less is at stake, let's gamble.

reads. READS. reads. reads. without any reads whatsoever you cannot be so weak tight as to lay down the best overpair on such an oncoordinated board like that,

It's easier to bluff a good player than it is to bluff a bad player. Don't be afraid to lay down your hand if YOU think its beat. You'll save yourself a lot more money in the future.

hard to bluff people who don't care if they win or lose. the only "tell" people have is by watching all their plays closely. pending on how they play, is how i play them. it's all i got for online poker. can't read their face online. how they bet, is the key. the careful betters are the ones to worry about, the sloppy betters are easy to trap and crush.

Having knowledge, and applying the knowledge you have are two completely different beasts. It's a lot easier to teach someone a concept than it is to teach them to be able to apply that concept in the heat of a game.

With regard to the hand you posted, you should know that situations where we can put our opponent one one single hand with a high degree of certainty are very rare. The best we can do is assign ranges of hands to our opponent and act accordingly. There is absolutely no way you can put your opponent squarely on TT in the example above (assigning a range would be easier with the preflop action detailed, but pretty much regardless of said action villain's range is not going to be TT and only TT).

Ok im the complete opposit to you i gamble a lot you cannot win without taking risk if u are folding nut pr on an uncoordinated board thn u should tke a break for few weeks and come bck and u will prob hve different view on the game

Best quote I saw about pokery was to the effect of;

"Successful play is about identifying when superficially similar situations are completely different."

id say its time for a break. you'll suffer cold sweats and withdrawals but its all for the best. remember one of the golden rules of poker....DONT PLAY SCARED.

Dorkus Malorkus said:

With regard to the hand you posted, you should know that situations where we can put our opponent one one single hand with a high degree of certainty are very rare. The best we can do is assign ranges of hands to our opponent and act accordingly. There is absolutely no way you can put your opponent squarely on TT in the example above (assigning a range would be easier with the preflop action detailed, but pretty much regardless of said action villain's range is not going to be TT and only TT).

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I made it sound to literal. What I mean is I always expect the worst. I feel I know where all the problems could lie - flop 259 a raise = two pair/ trips.

As I say I`m a perfectionist, but perhaps I should accept from time to time I will make the wrong read, wrong play, etc and that poker is not an exact science!!!

brutus said:

id say its time for a break. you'll suffer cold sweats and withdrawals but its all for the best. remember one of the golden rules of poker....DONT PLAY SCARED.

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Another good point. I am to an extent playing scared. My first year, last year, saw me make a profit of $6k, made up of a few big MTT wins/ high placings.

Now I never want to lose!!! This year I made a nett profit of $94.04 in Jan, but so far I have lost $181.50 for Feb. Nett loss this year of $87.46

I don`t want to take time off as I am building up my player points on stars - I must hit my target for Feb so that from then on I`m gaining 1 1/2 points for every one!!!

I do need to loosen up I think.

I wish you would ve gave more details as to what type of game you were playing when you folded those rockets . If this was a trny then it looks like a bluff and even at a NL cash game then it could be a bluff depending on the limit and the type of player . Thats why is very important to watch what type of players are at your table. Against an aggressive player , I put him all in right there. If the guy happens to be a rock (very tight ) then I may think about laying it down or reraise him if it doesnt comit me to the pot. Like someone said earlier its all about reading skills and sometimes you may get it wrong b/c we all do , as long as most times your read was right then you shoudl be ok. You also want to play at a limit your comfortable with , meaning you are not afraid to go all in if you think you have the best hand . I just learned this lesson this weekend when I decided to play 10/20 limit holdem and was not comfortable . Play where you are comfortable and as you get better at reading ppl then move up slowly .

1 more thing , most ppl reraise preflop with pocket 10s and not many call raises with 2s unless he is very loose , I would ve assumed he just made a set with 7s but A10 is right up there also . Good luck

Thanks for that

Nitram_80 said:

I wish you would ve gave more details as to what type of game you were playing when you folded those rockets . If this was a trny then it looks like a bluff and even at a NL cash game then it could be a bluff depending on the limit and the type of player .

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Sry, I have mislead u all here. This is not an actual hand, I am trying to get across my state of mind - I always seem to fear the worst at the moment. Does that make a sense