I make some pretty stupid decisions.

I will be at a table playing NL (online) and I will get quite nicely ahead of my starting buy in, then after a certain amount of time I will just make a stupid ass call and usually break down all the money I have already won into even or below. Does anyone else have this problem? How can I best minimize these drastic losses? I wouldn't say I am a bad player because I always get ahead, but I guess the fact that I cannot win that money and keep it justifies me as a bad player. I guess I need more discipline. Does anyone have any feedback, and input? I'm looking forward to hearing it.

play the way you were when you were winning, dont change the way you play if you are... i dont think thats it though... how many hands have you played?

Originally Posted by bearcats05

play the way you were when you were winning, dont change the way you play if you are... i dont think thats it though... how many hands have you played?

Well at the particular session I am thinking of a little over 100, but I kinda made similar stupid mistakes during other sessions today as well.

i mean how many hands have you played total... if its a small sample size this pattern doesnt mean much

{Moved from Poker Etcetera}

K1ngpin it is nice that you, like all of FTR, love my forum so much but you can post somewhere else too

If you've played a lot of hands and know you win in the beginning then go down hill I would time your sessions. See where you lose focus, and then stop playing around that time. Slowly increase the amount of time you play at once and see how that works. Its hard to sit infront of a screen for 8 hours and play without losing concentration.

Hey i regularly suffer from this more sessions than not. Although i identified it a few months ago. I saw it as a form of tilt, only the winning has affected my decision making processes. ie i might start feeling like i bossing the table and people wont call my bluffs as they see me winning alot, or i loosen my play and play worse starting cards, or just generally start feeling like it couldnt go wrong for me and i dont read the bets....many forms but in general the winning of the money in the first place gets to me in a way that destabilises my emotions during play. What do you reckon ?? I havemanaged to get better at this and my game has stabilised but then i notice if i won a lot i gamble an all in and go back to the max buy in, i resolved to not call all ins unless i have the top nuts for sure.

Sounds like a short term Newbie Circle of Death

Most beginners do it over the course of a couple of months. You do over the course of a session.

Originally Posted by joseph73

Hey i regularly suffer from this more sessions than not. Although i identified it a few months ago. I saw it as a form of tilt, only the winning has affected my decision making processes. ie i might start feeling like i bossing the table and people wont call my bluffs as they see me winning alot, or i loosen my play and play worse starting cards, or just generally start feeling like it couldnt go wrong for me and i dont read the bets....many forms but in general the winning of the money in the first place gets to me in a way that destabilises my emotions during play. What do you reckon ?? I havemanaged to get better at this and my game has stabilised but then i notice if i won a lot i gamble an all in and go back to the max buy in, i resolved to not call all ins unless i have the top nuts for sure.

That is exactly what it is. I'll play tight/aggressive when I am playing with MY money, but as soon as I start to break far ahead I gamble with it a lot more because now I have my opponents' money. I'll just start playing a few more hands than I should be or bluffing a little bit more than I know I really should be.

I guess I just have to get control of this giant hole in my A-game.

Yes thats one of the main ways, trying to bluff, and then once called not being able to put it down....ie shit, he called me with that flop..hmm got to bet again although i completely missed otherwise he wil batter me with a rasie, before you know it youre showing a high card with 40 of what could have been big blinds in the pot going to someone else!!! bad news

Some people don't play well with a big stack and some people revert to their bad habits after they've played for a couple of hours. It could be either. It's just something that discipline will have to solve for you. But for now, change tables when you double up and "cash" your winnings without having to quit the session. But it sounds like you're on the right path to solving the problem on your own already.