Question: How to stop making bad calls?

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ryanshire94

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Hello, i was wondering how people are able to control themselves playing online poker? Whenever i play online, i always seem to make silly mistakes like call a massive river bet even though i know i am behind, just because there is a lot of money in the pot, and if i was somehow right i could win a lot of money, when i play live, i would defintely fold in these situations but online it is much harder to control myself since it is real money at stake. Any advice for me? I thought it would be time to ask for advice since i just lost £20 with pocket 9s against pocket jacks, I raised pre flop, he re-raised and i called, the board came out ace-six-ace-ace-deuce and he shoved on the river and i knew i was behind but i couldnt control myself not to press the call button just in case i actually won haha. If that example was me playing live, i would definitely have folded there, I know i am a good player but just not online lol.
 
pocketehs

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Just curious but what stakes are you playing online?

Im going to respond to your post not with a comparison of live vs online but just poker in general.

Honestly, I had an issue with this myself when I first started playing online poker and its the reason why I am now profitable at the microstakes. Bad players hate folding anything and love making hero calls.

On the other hand, now I consider myself a better player but still catch myself making a terrible call mainly because I look at a 60/40/3 fish and hate to let him beat me mainly because I study poker so I assume I should be better.

So...how do we stop this? Lose the ego and give players credit for a hand unless it doesnt make sense. Thats what I have been focusing on and so far it has been working.

Edit: if this doesnt make sense Ill respond tomorrow. Just drank so much Nyquil for my sore throat and Ill messed up lol

pretty much me right now...
 
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Samweis3

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i arre sometimes it seems harder to fold online, but you really have to watch out all the time to be able to read the opponent, if you are able to give him a better hand its time to fold, not always look on what you can win but also on what you will loose in many situations
 
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ryanshire94

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I play small stakes online, i am only 18 so i cant exactly afford the big stakes yet haha. 25p/50p is the highest i have played on but i realised that was too much as i was worrying about losing my £50 rather than concentrating on playing poker, so 5p/10p is the highest i will go. And yeah, much harder to fold online, just need to try and stick to how i play live, and try to do the same online. Losing my ego will be hard though, i'll give it a try :p
 
mandyf27

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I find that your atmosphere and mindset set the tone for your play. If im laying in bed watching tv and playing, while surfing the net in the background i almost always lose. if i have a mindset like this is a job and i am going to get paid, then things seem to turn out differently. I get dressed (sounds silly but it works), sit at my DESK, and focus on the tables. It takes discipline. Good luck
 
LuckyChippy

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If it's bad just don't do it. There's no magic fix.
 
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orangepeeleo

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Usually when I'm raised and straight away think to fold, I should listen to that. If you think you should be folding you generally should in my exp, its just clicking that bloody fold button thats the hardest part, the feeling after when your just like "ffs I knew I wasnt good there wtf"....sucks ass!
 
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ryanshire94

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Thanks very much for the replies, and yeah orangepeeleo, clicking the fold button is the hardest part of online poker for me haha.
 
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ayrton

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I think some people dont like to fold when they have made a decent, but loosing hand. i always tell myself in that position that there will always be another hand to play to earn my money back, but i wont have the chance if i waste all my money on a stupid call.
 
Arjonius

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If it's bad just don't do it. There's no magic fix.
There's no magic instant fix, but that doesn't mean there aren't things that might help. For example, behavioral psychology tells us that we can decrease an unwanted behavior over time by associating it with a negative reinforcer. Losing money isn't enough because it doesn't always happen; indeed, the occasional wins are positive reinforcers. But it may well be possible to find something that will help reduce the behavior over time.
 
mandyf27

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There's no magic instant fix, but that doesn't mean there aren't things that might help. For example, behavioral psychology tells us that we can decrease an unwanted behavior over time by associating it with a negative reinforcer. Losing money isn't enough because it doesn't always happen; indeed, the occasional wins are positive reinforcers. But it may well be possible to find something that will help reduce the behavior over time.

shock collar? lol
 
woohoo sue

woohoo sue

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shock collar? lol

well yeah kinda .....rubber band on wrist that is loose to not cut of blood supply(kinda important)...snap when you make bad call...please don't forget the positive reinforsment...good move snap twice....lol.....
:shot:
 
Seraphim

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well yeah kinda .....rubber band on wrist that is loose to not cut of blood supply(kinda important)...snap when you make bad call...please don't forget the positive reinforsment...good move snap twice....lol.....
:shot:
Lol
 
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themosthigh

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I've suffered with this problem of making bad calls in spots I know I'm beat. So bad it became a habit I've been trying to deal with.

Couple things........

-They are rarely ever playing back at you and when they raise they usually have a hand(at the micros anyway).

-Take your hand off the mouse

I've read of this thing called finger tilt. When in your head your saying you should fold but your finger ends up clicking call or worse raise when you think you are beat. The key is to take your hand off the mouse and count to 5 before taking an action giving yourself some time to think and make the right decision.
 
kidkvno1

kidkvno1

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Slap yourself every time you make a bad call, or have someone else slap you. ;)
 
ScottieDuncan

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I am the same way, hate to fold a decent hand online when I know I am beat. I am anxious to see what the responses are also.
 
mandyf27

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i get instantly tilted when i put them on a hand range, they make their card, i KNOW they made ther card, but i call anyway. I like to tell myself im paying for information but in reality, im an idiot lol.
 
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