Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:08 am Post subject: strange psychological block
Now, I know people often advocate taking a break after a big downswinging but currently I'm in the exact opposite situation.
After a terrible October where I dropped close to 20 buy ins at NL 100 I had a great November and even better December and am now at a new bankroll high.
But I'm finding any excuse not to play...
When I was being beaten like a dog I wanted to keep coming back to make sure I made it right and to prove to myself I hadn't wasted all the hours of study and play I'd put in.
But now, when I should be building on my success and looking to move up I find myself getting scared just logging onto a poker site. Perhaps in the back of my mind I can see my hard work being wiped out once again and don't want to risk it...
Anyone else got into this 'what I have I hold' mindset?
Joined: 21 Mar 2004 Posts: 346 Location: Redding, California
Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:
Russ, I wish I could be in your position, however have yet to have that specific problem ...however, my recommendation, if you're feeling iffy about logging on and excuses why not to play, how about move down to a lower limit while you get your cool back? That way you aren't putting as much at stake and when you get your cool back, move back up to the appropriate limit. Might as well keep your roll going as long as you can. If you aren't comfortable losing as much move down until you are comfortable again.
I have a similar problem sometimes, but playing live and online. When I am up a lot, I want to quit playing, even if I had planned to play longer.
When I play live it is particularly ridiculous, as I have to make a long trip to play, but it still gets to me. A few months ago I was up about $350 after less than an hour at a 10/20 limit game and really felt like pocketing the win. I decided to stay, and 8 hours later instead of up $350 I was down about $800 for the day.
I know that it was a good game and I was still a +EV player in it, and I know it would be really silly to drive 3 hours to play for less than an hour, but it was still very frustrating that night to realize I could have left many hours earlier and had over $1000 more in my pocket.
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...however, my recommendation, if you're feeling iffy about logging on and excuses why not to play, how about move down to a lower limit while you get your cool back? That way you aren't putting as much at stake and when you get your cool back, move back up to the appropriate limit. Might as well keep your roll going as long as you can. If you aren't comfortable losing as much move down until you are comfortable again.
