Taking a break

[MAYHEM45]

Had my worst night of poker ever last nite. 2 weeks ago, I was crushing 400NL and thinking I was God's gift to poker, ever since last week, I havent been able to put anything together, and I'm just punting my bankroll out the window. I've never gone a month without poker, but thats what I am gonna do now. Wish me luck.

[Akverno]

Gl, hopefully you come back fresh and ready to kick ass.

[GTDawg]

Granted, I don't know how bad you're running...but is cold turkey the way to go? I mean, take some time off...get in to some other hobbies that you may have been neglecting. Go outside and get some fresh air since summer is on its way.

Cut back on time playing, maybe even levels or something. I dunno how well just dropping it like a brick for a month would work.

Then again, if you come back and start crushing like JD did..well, then I think you guys may have found something.

[bunny]

Good Luck.

[PShabi]

Damn!

The last thing I heard from you on AIM last night was, "Gotta love poker" and it was in a positive context.

I must've missed some heavy, debankrolling action. Most of us have been there and if we haven't, we'll visit some day soon.

Good luck man. But personally, I bet your playing by the weekend.

[Talking Poker]

I'm a fan of the month without poker thing. You know this. GL to you though.

Hopefully you'll stick around here in the mean time... Nothing wrong with "studying" during your hiatus. Do lots of reading...

[Zybomb]

I personally think you have to play through your cold streaks. I've been running cold as hell lately

I started off the year pretty bad, going -1550 in the hole after my first 4 sessions (all losers)

I then won 6 straight (1 nice win and the rest small ones) to get to +615

I then lost 4 in a row, but won 3 of the next 4, which left me at +235 in the middle of Feb.... wow I was doing so much better last year.

I then won 5 straight including a few big ones and 7 of the next 8 total, which got me up to +4250

Then came the real bad streak.

I lost 7 of the next 8 sessions (my one win was $1700 at least) leaving me all the way back down to +1195

I just recently won a huge session ($2120), won my next small (170) and then last night I played quite possibly the best poker of my life, but lost 600, a flush draw called all his chips on the flop and hit, another time I had JsTs and the flop came T high with 2 spades, Bet, raised, he moves in Im committed anyway no spade comes, and I was up against a set.. But I made 2 SICK calls on 'feel', and an incredible laydown which left the whole table gasping -- the bettor was nice enough to flash his cards and show me I made the right decision

Im at +2880 right now -- simply because I seem to be playing extremely streaky and everytime I start stringing together good sessions I get ice cold for a week. (this is not including online play, this is live play only)

To say so myself Im kind of disappointed in the first 1/4 of the year for myself and I am still grinding out of a cold streak right now (I've still lost 8 of my last 1 sessions, although 2 of the last 3 have been winners...hopefully I start a hot streak.

I think you just need to remain confident and grind out of the cold streaks...

[MAYHEM45]

Screenshot of last nite for Pshabi. Yes, thats *7* buyins.

EDIT: well its not working now, but you guys can do the math. Dropping that much in one night is not good for the psyche.

[johnp158]

Funny I should log in and read this. I just got done withdrawing all of my bankroll into neteller (not actually withdrawing; that wouldn't be too rational) because I have 1 1/2 months until I graduate college and have been playing too much lately. I lost 45 big bets in about 30 minutes last night when I could have been studying, and it was just frustrating. Nothing bankroll-threatening by any means, but I just don't see much reason to be playing poker right now when I'm taking the GRE (trying to make use of my B.S. in psychology ) in 2 weeks and just trying to enjoy my last weeks of college. I do plan on hitting it pretty hard when summer gets here and I don't have a job for the 2 months before I got study in Mexico for a while.

And to address Zybomb, I think I disagree with the comment about needing to play through your bad streaks. I'm not saying that you shouldn't, but if you personally just need a break, you definitely should take it. If you're becoming really frustrated by the game to the point where your play is affected, or to the point where your outside life is negatively affected, there's no reason not to take a break for a while.

I've found myself thinking about poker a lot lately when I should have been focusing on other things. I don't think I have a problem, as I took January off without poker even entering my mind. However, since I know I should be spending my time in other ways, I'm going to try to play very little or not at all in the next month. Cold turkey is probably easier than just a reduction for many people, including myself.

[Talking Poker]

7 buy ins.... that's imporessive.

Were you playing badly? Bad beats? Big second best hands? A combination of the three?

[Talking Poker]

Absolutely - I agree 100%.

And for some people (myself included), they may wonder if they CAN quit poker, or if they have a "problem." And I think the one month off test is the best way to find out. After a week, you'll know if you're going to be ok, but I think it's important to stick to whatever deadline you set, and not rationalize an early return. Poker will always be there. It's not going to be gone in a month. Take some time off, focus on other parts of your life, and come back fresh.

[bdawg31]

If i were to take off this long - there is no way i could visit this site, watch it on tv, etc. That would give me the itch to jump back in - i would read about someone on a hot streak, see stories of hand histories vs bad players, or find any of a dozen other reasons to talk myself into playing again.

If i am taking a weekend off, i can still watch it on tv, read this site, etc. But, i know if i were to take off a month or so - i would have to totally distance myself from it.

[MAYHEM45]

A bunch of the second two, and voila, the first one kicks in. Im gonna post a bunch of hands in the next few days once I get the courage to open up PT.

[Talking Poker]

Some people have more will power than that.

In all honesty, it sounds like you may be on the edge of that whole "gambling problem" category, based on what you just said.

[GTDawg]

You know, I was thinking about this the other day.

I get an itch to play when I watch it on TV. Also, talking about it a lot on here or with other people, and I like to open up a table and screw around for a little bit.

I found that after work or doing HW or studying a long time for a test, that spending a few hours thinking about poker relaxes me. Can't explain it, but it takes my mind off of all the serious and sometimes bad things in my life and I can just think about how to play the next hand. It's very soothing to me...except when I get KK on the button and run in to dreaded J9 soooooted

Then, I realized that I sounded like an alcoholic that gets drunk after a hard day (or everyday) to take his mind off of life.

"I'm not addicted, I just like to use it to relax and get my mind off of things. I don't have a problem. Shutup"

But, after looking at it for a little bit to see if there really is a problem...I see that it doesn't affect my life. I mean, just looking at the last month, there have been two/three times that I've gone several days or even an entire week (not gonna be inside during Spring Break in Florida) without poker.

I'm not throwing away all my money. I'm not losing and losing and losing and then burning money away trying to win it all back. Losing money one night (although frustrating) doesn't affect my social life or the next day at school.

And, most importantly, I haven't started putting poker before other things in my life. I'm not staying home from school to play poker all day. I haven't skipped work to play a tournament because I JUST HAD TO! I have not just completely ignored my HW to play that one more SNG.

I have a hobby that exercises my mind and I enjoy playing.

hmm...I guess I rambled a little bit.

In conclusion, class, I understand bdawg from the perspective of getting that itch to play if I watch or talk about it. But, I'm pretty confident that I don't have a poker/gambling addiction.

[PShabi]

I'm right there with Bdawg then. Except, with me, I just have no desire to NOT play.

I want to play everyday. I can play everyday (pretty much). So, when I want to do something and I have the means to do it, that's what I do.

I just can't see myself ever wanting to take a week or a month off.

[Boobie Lover]

I once tried to take a month off from poker. I lasted about three days. I'm an addict.

[MAYHEM45]

Haha, yeah this first day is going pretty rough. I kinda threw the month thing out there a little early. I've changed my statement to 2 and a half weeks. My last exam is the 27th, I move out on the 28th, and our housewarming kegger is the 29th. So I will be nicely drunk for three days, when the hangover wears off and the 3 girls in my bed go home on april 30th, watch the fuck out for me in the sunday tourney, im coming back with a WIN.

Oh yeah, and I came up with a plan for my play once I return, I'll let you know once I get it all written out.

[Talking Poker]

I didn't WANT to take the month off. I NEEDED to. For me, I wasn't happy with the idea that I could be an addict, and I needed to know that I wasn't.

I don't like the thought of letting something control me.

[MAYHEM45]

I also NEED to, but for more reasons than that, I cant fail another class this semester, so I have to focus on exams. I am a chronic procrastinator, and poker was just the means to the end. Hopefully I dont find something else to steal my time away from my studies.

[JDMcNugent7]

Same here, and if any1 is even thinking about doing it I def. recommend it. I took prob 2 and a half to 3 weeks off, and it just helped me put everything back into perspective, and I came back running hot as ever, which is always a plus. I never really turned down goin out with friends to play poker, but i did turn down working out and playing guitar in order to play more poker, which is something I won't ever let myself do again.

[SirFWALGMan]

Just echo'ing what other people have said.. taking a break can be a good thing. Good luck. Its all a personal thing and if you feel you need a little break you do.

On the other side I have seen you play and heard of your exploits and you are a damn good player and I look forward to hearing of you triumphant return.

[badblood44]

It is very hard indeed to just go cold turkey for any extended period of time. At least for me and from what I'm reading, a few others.

I'll probably butcher this, but often times you need something that you can do to push that "reset" switch in your brain somewhere. Sometimes, it's as simple as a good night's sleep. Sometimes, it's a strenuous workout. Whatever it is, you need to find it and use it whenever you get into the "zone."

The zone that I'm talking about is that place where you're incapable of objectively looking at your own play. Under normal circumstances, most, if not all, good players can detatch from themselves and analyze their play objectively. As soon as a series of bad beats changes your thought process one bit, you need to reset yourself.

When you sit down to play, you need to focus on the current hand. And that's it. As soon as a previous hand's results become the focus of your attention, you need to re-focus. I'll say it again: Your first priority is to play your current hand the best you know how. If your thoughts are lingering on anything else, you're not playing your best poker.

Getting up from the table during those times takes discipline with a big fucking capital D.

[PShabi]

In summary:

MARIJUANA

[lightfungus]

He doesn't have a problem, cept for me yoinking his money like i yoink my grandmas purse. But, you are running good right now GTdawg, and I know you have had you're far share of craptastic poker, but not on the scale that Mayhem just had. He probably built that roll up for months, and to lose it in one day really kicks you hard. I think I can say this because I know where you are in your walk of poker life, I was there at one point and felt this same way.