Anyone have days when he/she just plays REALLY REALLY bad poker?

punctual

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As they often say, we are our own worst enemies.

Today I found myself making some of the dumbest decisions I have ever made at a poker table. Calling an All-in with any Ace, Pushing all in UTG with KJ....the list goes on

I don't often get this way but it does happen more than I would like to admit. I am trying to pinpoint what exactly makes me this way.

One thing that is definitely a contributing factor is my lack of patience. Today, I noticed that I was a bit on edge trying to rush through tournaments and build stack sizes really quickly. The funny thing is that I was pretty succ4essful with this: I built up my chip stack to over 15,000 SO MANY TIMES today only to donk out because I kept on pushing my luck. WHY would I have that mentality of "hurry up already"? I don't know. I know that patience is absolutely KEY in poker. You can't rush success. Trying to rush success will only make failure that much more certain.

In all honesty, I would have been better off just not playing at all today. When I feel antsy, I shoudl just stay away. I'm still trying to figure out what else it could be that contributes to bad decision-making at hte poker table. I found myself constantly doing what I know is wrong...
 
n3rv

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I had a day like that today as well. Generally I notice it is something completely unrelated to the game which will trigger me to play badly... e.g. family or work situation annoying me, lack of sleep/exercise etc.

I know when I am in an "antsy" mood, as you put it, I should just not play at all. The only other option I can see would be to find some kind of routine to force myself to change my mood before I play.
 
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aznman08

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Well in tournaments you can only be patient to a certain degree. If you're getting hit with the deck early, chipping up early has its advantages later on.

Aside from that, maybe just take a day off to refocus. Sometimes a little bit of rest can do wonders the next time you play.
 
XXPXXP

XXPXXP

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several times.
think every poker player/human have the same problem.
PS: my experience is : if you find yourself on tilt, you are already lose more than you expected, therefore, set up a stop lose bottom line for your game, reaching that bottom line, stop immediately.

BTW: there is tilt breaker something really works... if anyone could not control have a try....:D
even using Win7 task manager or something, you could not stop that tilt breaker...LOL , unless format the whole system :D
 
punctual

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I had a day like that today as well. Generally I notice it is something completely unrelated to the game which will trigger me to play badly... e.g. family or work situation annoying me, lack of sleep/exercise etc.

I know when I am in an "antsy" mood, as you put it, I should just not play at all. The only other option I can see would be to find some kind of routine to force myself to change my mood before I play.

Well you are convincing me it is something psychological...lol....must be some underlying issue......or maybe just has something to do with the phases of the moon?
 
punctual

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Well in tournaments you can only be patient to a certain degree. If you're getting hit with the deck early, chipping up early has its advantages later on.

Aside from that, maybe just take a day off to refocus. Sometimes a little bit of rest can do wonders the next time you play.

Yes I agree but you have to switch gears. Being aggressive all throughout will not get you very far either. I tend to start out tourneys slow, as blinds increase I try to steal more and then I really become aggressive right at the precipice of cash/no cash (the bubble). Once I cash I chill out for a while and wait for the short stacks to take each other out; by this time i should have enough chips to relax for a while.

So I know what to do to succeed in a tournament. But my point was that despite this knowledge, I seem to have days when I just do not follow those rules; days when I just feel the need to be so wildly aggressive with very little regard for the two cards I am holding....I guess you could say it is my "I don't give a F**K" day. Funny thing is when I wake up in the morning on those particular days I know from the start I'm up to no good....lol. From now on will try and stop playing when I feel that way. Perhaps the answer is as simple as that!
 
JPoling

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Just take a break when you get like this would be my best advice. Get off poker and go do something to get poker off your mind. Then come back clear headed and beast on it.
 
punctual

punctual

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several times.
think every poker player/human have the same problem.
PS: my experience is : if you find yourself on tilt, you are already lose more than you expected, therefore, set up a stop lose bottom line for your game, reaching that bottom line, stop immediately.

BTW: there is tilt breaker something really works... if anyone could not control have a try....:D
even using Win7 task manager or something, you could not stop that tilt breaker...LOL , unless format the whole system :D

It is funny you mention stop-losses. As a bond futures trader, I deal with them every day of my life. Funny thing is, when I get this way I tend to trade my account just as recklessly as I play poker. On those days I simply call my broker and tell him to limit my trading size to just 10 lots; so while I do not stop myself from trading completely, I do significantly lower the size that I can trade. In this way, I minimize my losses on these days and still feed my need for risk.
 
suby_rafael

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Well that kind of thing will happens to me just about every other day. Since poker is not science we will go wrong very often even and other times just run bad. Emotions if allowed to take over they will cause a lot of mistakes as a result of bad decisions. So in mind one should inculcate self discipline and keep emotions in check. If you know what the wrong move is and still making that move then certainly your emotions are not under your control. The result is your mind looks to find a bit of "rush" and hence forces to take more risks. Hence the result.

As you said you can try to stay away when you feel that way but that might not be good enough because you will do the same in the future. To reduce such events you should try to understand your emotions and practice having control over it. Once the urges are in control, you will start making right decisions again.:icon_pira
 
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ticoarm

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Sometimes, I am the same as you, make a bad decision, I think I didn't use my brain at that time, just auto play...
You said right, I have no patient, maybe I think some others things at that time, I didn't focus myself at Poker...
It is really a big problem for me, sometimes I will play my cellphone, and read some news when I play tournament.
 
murko

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Anyone saying they never had a bad day of poker is a player I would like to face sometime :)
 
Salvete777

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Bad days for poker is normal and each poekr player has these...
 
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Vazh93

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Everyone experiences bad days on poker. Some even on consecutive days. Try watching season 1 of High Stakes Poker. Daniel Negreanu lost 750k on the first two days, only to get it back on the 3rd day.

It's not about avoiding bad days. It's about trying to loss less on bad days, and winning more on good days.
 
Jollocks

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I think it happens to us all. Tilt kicks in. We play a few more hands than we normally would and we make decisions based on emotion rather than logic. Then by doing this we lose half our bankroll and panic, snowball effect kicks in and before we know it our br is on $0. Best way to combat it is to just count your losses and quit for the day.

REMEMBER - WE CAN ALWAYS BREAK EVEN AGAIN TOMORROW.
 
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joe777

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Bad swing happen sometimes to all of us.Dont be too result oriented and try to remain focus on the game.
 
zaxxorr

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download pokertracker if you havent already, use leak tracker, and most of all, play to win IN THE LONG RUN. I was addicted to poker to the point where I'd be playing while tired, eating big meals before playing, not preparing for my sessions, it doesnt help, you want to prepare yourself for the tournaments your going to play, and play your best to win in the long run, because sure you may double up your king jack off suit and get a decent lead off the beginning, if you make such a decision you don't value your chips as much and will more then likely ship with ace rag or something.

Play the game by watching over the table as opposed to being absorbed and in the table, don't anxiously wait for every hand.
 
theRaven68

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Not only bad day, from time to time you should face bad period and it depends how long it will be, week or month or ... just try to lose less and not to lose focus
 
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Someone else mentioned a possible problem with pregame routine - I know that whenever I neglect my usual rituals, I struggle to make the right decisions in spots I thought I'd already figured out a long time ago.
 
pokertroll

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I play bad when I'm tired so no more late night poker for me.
 
blueskies

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Only when i get butt raped several times in a row by unlikely outters. Luckily i know well enough to quit when i feel a tilt coming.
 
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Gorba6

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BRM

I have just started out playing poker and i think i am a decent player at my lvl!!! couple days ago i manage to grind up to 190 usd from 4 and from 190 down to 0 IN 1 DAY! and the same happend today i know my problem is bankroll managment but im just so stupid and cant play like a normal f***ing person please someone give me some advice and experiences if this has happend to you when u first started out playing! im really loosing my confidence here!
 
Arjonius

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Of course I have some days when I don't play as well as other days. The straightforward thing I try to do is to recognize those times as quickly as possible, and then to stop playing asap.
 
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DoloBrolo

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Only when i get butt raped several times in a row by unlikely outters. Luckily i know well enough to quit when i feel a tilt coming.

Butt rape will cause most people to go on tilt pretty hard my man.

I personally find that self control really helps with limiting my poor play but I think everybody has bad days especially myself haha.
 
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rhombus

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everyone has bad days, its the way you handle it that can separate the winners from the losers
I have my mouse on a bunjee cord for times when i tilt :D
 
punctual

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download pokertracker if you havent already, use leak tracker, and most of all, play to win IN THE LONG RUN. I was addicted to poker to the point where I'd be playing while tired, eating big meals before playing, not preparing for my sessions, it doesnt help, you want to prepare yourself for the tournaments your going to play, and play your best to win in the long run, because sure you may double up your king jack off suit and get a decent lead off the beginning, if you make such a decision you don't value your chips as much and will more then likely ship with ace rag or something.

Play the game by watching over the table as opposed to being absorbed and in the table, don't anxiously wait for every hand.

Ihave pokertracker unfortunately leakbuster only works for cash games and I don't play many cash games. But in all honesty, when i get this way I ALREADY KNOW what i'm doing wrong.....problem is, I just keep making those mistakes anyways....i am convinced it is psychological
 
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