Well maybe not my biggest problem...my biggest problem may be my natural instinct to want to look people up on the river. I suppose this falls under the category of my biggest psychological problem with reference to poker.
The Stop-Win.
I know everyone has heard of a stop-loss. For those who don't, it's where you stop playing after dropping a specific amount of money. This is done to prevent tilt and to try and stop playing when you're more likely to be playing poorly and chasing your losses. I never really put a stop-loss on myself unless I'm taking a shot at a higher buy-in game than normal because I am almost always properly rolled for the tables that I'm playing.
My problem is exactly the opposite. If I sit down at the tables and win 3 buy-ins after a few hundred hands I'll often stop playing even though I feel like I'm playing great and I usually have planned to play more. I stop though. It's not really something I can explain, but this fear starts creeping into me that I'm going to lose it back because I'm inevitably winning way above expectation at that point. Something inside knows that my winrate will regress towards the mean at some point and that often times means losing some money. That starts to overwhelm my thoughts and I look at my new account balance, then I can't make myself play a hand for fear of losing the hand and losing money...so I have to stop playing.
This has been something that has plagued me for as long as I can remember. I've been able to play far longer when I'm losing than when I'm winning. I hate that I do this, but I can't seem to make myself stop. I don't have many big losing sessions because I don't really stop until I can get back to even. Sometimes I play an extra 2 or 3 hours than I planned to because of it though. I feel like I'm getting better at stopping myself when I'm playing poorly, but I can't make myself continue when I'm playing well and the results are showing it. I feel like this is a time when I can be making a ton of money and I'm missing out. I'm playing well and I'm definitely not on tilt because I'm winning...and yet I have to stop. It drives me insane.
Has anyone else had to deal with something like this...how did you solve it?
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3 comments:
Combine them.
When the fear creeps in, set a stop-loss based on your current stack. If you're up 3 buy-ins and still rolling well, then quit if you lose 1 buy-in from there. You'll still be up, but keep the potential to add more. Readjust as necessary.
Just don't make it obvious. As soon as any decent player notices you aren't willing to bet past a point, they'll take advantage.
And of course with NL, there's always the possibility you're holding a great hand and get put all-in. That's when you need to make the big decisions.
some good advice from Astin. i usually do as he mentioned. i'll stop after i drop a buy-in so i still close a positive session.
I deal with the same problem on a regular basis in my SNGs.
If I play 1-2 winning sessions, I'm content with logging out and not playing a single hand until the next day.
The only way I've been able to curtail this habit is by setting the goal of playing "x" number of SNGs per month. Perhaps you could look it in terms of the number of hands.
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