Do you ever question ability?

tomh7795

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Do you ever question your ability at poker? When your on a losing streak? When you win a big pot? When you don't play for a week? Just wondering.

I didn't mean to put this in the tourney section sry
 
Egon Towst

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Yep, all the time.

Just today, for example, I got knocked out of a pretty big MTT just off the money. I opened with QQ, villain raised all-in, I called. He turned over KK. :(

I asked myself how the hell could I make a dumb call like that, how could I not know I was beat ? I spent ten minutes stressing about it, looking at his stats and running it through Pokerstove before coming to the conclusion that, actually, his range in that spot was much wider than just AA, KK and my call was sound.

I question such things a lot, though. This is not a game where it pays to be complacent or over-confident.
 
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Grinder101

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No problem, maybe a mod can move it.

Now to the question.
I know my edge in the games I play in, it's just confirmed to me when I see another fish shoving J7o with 30BB and even against the regs I seem to have a significant advantage.
If you're doubting your ability that means that either you're not playing well enough or you have a confidence problem. The former is worse than the latter, because if you play bad and don't know it you've become the definition of a fish.
In the end you just have to look at your overall stats and if you're winning, then you can be confident you'll keep winning.
Tilt however is another matter. Sometimes you'll play worse than you're supposed to and then you should take a break to reevaluate the way you're playing.
 
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I doubt myself a ton when I go on losing streaks. In fact, even though I've built my bankroll a significant amount, there are days where I really wonder if the times I won were legit wins or just a hot streak ha
 
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smwentum

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yes, but I am a loosing player. :mad:.
 
jaymfc

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daily :) but I think I'm pretty damn good , still way to tight and many other holes but I hold my own , win my share . but if you check my stats they will say I suck out loud . they remember games I don't even remember playing . it's just a matter of who you gonna believe me or a bunch of numbers :p
 
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crowhui

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yeh,everyday like many people....especially when i lose a pot (either though i played it correctly)
 
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volpereira

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Everyday.

Sometimes u make a bad move and question that.
 
SavagePenguin

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I question my ability all the time.
I also question the ability of others.

I've gone through cold spells where nothing seems to work for me. During these cold spells I see not-so-good players have winning streaks and think that maybe, just maybe, they are doing things that I should be doing. Maybe they're playing better?
But if I'm doing well and I see bad plays being rewarded, it's a whole lot easier to dismiss their wins as luck.

I remember playing a ring game and this guy kept pwning me. He seemed like he was playing crazy but he had my number every hand, calling every bluff, folding every time I had a hand.
He was cleaning up at the table.

When the game was over I logged off of the poker site then looked him up. He was an incredibly bad player who was in the bottom 20% of players and had lost a lot of money. I guess he was just having a lucky run.
 
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tookie21

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I know I'm good - but I still do a lot of stupid things.
I'm always amazed that I can play a great game and one mistake can still knock me on my ass. The hand I lose on I run through my head until I figure out what I did wrong or if I fell on the wrong side of luck.
 
dwolfg

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No not my ability. I know I am better than the average amateur. It is my decision making after a bad beat that I sometimes question. I also know that it is impossible to win every time, even playing nearly perfect poker(Ivey says he can't play perfect so I say no one can play perfect.)I can usually mentally slap myself for playing a hand, session or tourney bad right afterward.
 
fletchdad

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Do you ever question your ability at poker? When your on a losing streak? When you win a big pot? When you don't play for a week? Just wondering.

Yep, quite often. I have improved so much in the last half year, cause I have been making my game better a top priority, and often see the positive results. Then I have a bad run, or when reviewing my game see big dumb plays on my part, bad decisions etc, and I start to wonder if I really am any good.....
I usually review some articles or re read a book or review hands and chart my weak spots or some other +ev task, and try to remember that I AM improving, and will continue to do so.
It is hard sometimes tho....
 
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no i try to play different styles and different ways so i am always trying something new until i find that right playing style taht works for me, then i will question my ability if that works
 
doops

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I question my ability all the time.
I also question the ability of others.

I've gone through cold spells where nothing seems to work for me. During these cold spells I see not-so-good players have winning streaks and think that maybe, just maybe, they are doing things that I should be doing. Maybe they're playing better?
But if I'm doing well and I see bad plays being rewarded, it's a whole lot easier to dismiss their wins as luck.
quote]

Yeah, I've been going through one of those cold spells lately. Some tourneys, some games, things seems to be fine, but the next few are just painful. Is it me? Am I on tilt? What's happening??? Have I become easy to read? Is that why I can't get any chips when I do get a hand? Am I doing things differently than I did when I was doing OK? (I have never thought I'm better than decent. But decent usually sees me through. I have considered myself better than some people at low levels, if not all.) I check through the plays I have made... was this one reasonable? That one? Oh, should have folded that, should have known that Mr. Nitty would have a hand. That one -- who could expect that even a donk would call a nice preflop raise with 2-5 off? What in the world? Nobody rational has a range that big. Shrug that one off. That playing will bite the guy in the end; doesn't matter that he lucked into a str8 this time.

Look for the holes that have developed. Old ones will come back, new ones will pop up. Some day, I'll plug them all, but by then, because there will be yet more styles of play to contend with, I will still need to keep adjusting. So be it.

I try not to tilt. Try not to tilt. Keep trying not to tilt.

:)
 
Poker Orifice

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I don't question my ability but I do question my frame of mind (mindset). I'm always working on my game (reading stuff, watching vids., dicussing HH's w others, watching/railing/ghosting great players, reviewing games via auto replayers/Wiz/pokerstove & if MTT/SNG, etc. etc.). It's the mindset stuff I find I need to work on the most (emotions, ego, meditation, etc.) & where I find my biggest leaks.
 
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I agree with Poker Orifice, if your having a bad day at all, argue with your wife, anything, you shouldn't play poker at that time. Your mindset needs to be serene and focused.
 
TheUndertaker

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Yea I do question my ablity cuz i'm always on a losing streak.If I cash in a tourney today I'll be on a losing streak for the next month or so.Guess i'm a horrible poker player.
 
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I always question a lot more decisions when on a losing streak, but when i am on a winning streak and just filled with confidence it feels like I can do no wrong and everything just falls in place.
 
norriscjn

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when you are doing bad ofcoarse you are gonna question it. It feels like u are the worst player.
 
8Michael3

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I dont normally question my ability. I know that I am an above average player...not the best, but certainly better than 95% of the players I see in the games I play.

Questioning your ability might be good if the follow up question is: now that I know how good I am, can I get better? How can I improve? Thiink poker, discuss poker, Read poker, and then implement and practice what you learn.

Asking yourself quality questions is great for improving your game. But I dont think you should be questining your ability without asking yourself how you can improve.
 
NCfoldem

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It's okay to question your ability. But if your ability answers you, you have a problem.
 
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Tonawanda

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Absolutely

I think it is very normal to second guess your decisions and ability. I would say that a very high % of players question themselves on somewhat of a regular basis.

But it can can be very harmful to your game, if and when it starts creeping into your decisions.

On the other hand, not evaluating your ability accurately can be just as bad. It leads to over-confidence, stagnancy and excuses for losing.

I'm not sure when the average player really knows for sure?:confused:
 
aesopdurasic

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I think that happens to all poker players at one point or another. Whether ur on a nice heater or running really bad. I personally think its a good thing to guess ur ability cuz it forces u to look at some of the spots u won or lost pots and really take a look at if it was the right play. It forces u to always grow and develop ur style in this fast pace game of online poker.
 
c9h13no3

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I question my ability all the time. I'll go look at my graphs showing that I'm a winning player for a huge number of hands, and sometimes just convince myself that I ran good.

But then again, I also had a ton of losing sessions at NLHE. And while I do think a ton of that is run bad (my win rate at 100NL over my past 10K hands is -10 bb/100, but my all in EV win rate is like +2 bb/100), I convinced myself that my edge wasn't big enough to keep me from experiencing horrible variance that I didn't want as a part of my poker game. So I quit NLHE for a while, and I've been pretty happy with the move.

What you need to try and do is look at your results (and more importantly your play) without emotion, and evaluate wether you're playing winning poker a lot. Other people's opinions can help a lot as well (although its pretty shameful to post losing sessions & spew, its gotta be done). Everyone will doubt their skills after a long losing streak, and it can take some real hard thinking to figure out if that losing is because of you, or short term luck.
 
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