Grinder from London.

Hi Erik!

1. Ok. So lets say I'm running bad for couple of hours, staking negative emotions, and am not playing my a-game for a while. Then I find myself in a difficult spot(3bet pot out of position, deep) vs nitty player. And I have relatively strong hand which is usually good enough in similar spot, BUT I've determined that opponents range contains almost only nuts, and I have to fold here. Then the ugly part comes, I hesitate, and actively look for a reason to do what I want(calling in this case). I usually find it in hope that opponent is trying to outbluff me from the hand(while I know that there ar none bluff in the opponents range here), that my hand is too strong to fold(in love) and so on.

2. Running bad, making expensive mistakes. I've done a lot of work on this topic(running bad/mistakes) but still I stack negative emotions, and at some point I'm tilting.

3. I think that I'm not sure that I've identified correct range, so I need to work on improving range reading. And overall I'm not confident that my game is well balanced. Would you suggest to me working more on technical staff and fundamental game understanding to increase my confidence?

Thanks

Originally posted by Qurion

1. I hesitate, and actively look for a reason to do what I want(calling in this case).

3. Would you suggest to me working more on technical staff and fundamental game understanding to increase my confidence?

1. Why do you think that you hesitate in these spots? Why do you think that you often tend to "want to call"? Could there be a connection between this and Q.3?

3. Most definitely! But what parts you should work on is for the other strategy coaches to decide. But you should sit down and make a qualified guess on what your biggest 2-3 leaks are. After that ask one of the coaches if they agree with you assessment and their advice on how to work on them.

When you are a bit more structured then ill give you some tips on how to implement them in session

Cheers!

''Could there be a connection between this and Q.3?'' What do you mean by Q.3?

I think because :
a) I hope that I'm ahead and can win the pot(sometimes in the past, I have won the pot when I made stubborn(like this) decision)
b) Want to win this pot right hear right now
c) Being afraid of reading opponents hand wrong and folding the best hand

Thanks

Originally posted by Qurion
''Could there be a connection between this and Q.3?'' What do you mean by Q.3?

I think because :
1. a) I hope that I'm ahead and can win the pot(sometimes in the past, I have won the pot when I made stubborn(like this) decision)
2. b) Want to win this pot right hear right now
3. c) Being afraid of reading opponents hand wrong and folding the best hand

Thanks

1. This a common mistake people do unfortunately. They call even though they know they might not make the right decision short term. And if they are lucky they actually lose the hand, because if they win the hand they can then justify making the call int he future.

2. Try to write out the two most common spots when this happens and anticipate it happening if you can. Then make that your poker strategy goal to work on, improve your theoretical understanding of the situations. The try talking your thought process out loud so that you are more conscious and slow things down. In these spots since we don't like hey way we feel emotionally, we tend to want tog et it over with as quickly as possible. So try to slow the moment down to a crawl. This will take some practice but if you put you effort into it you will start to see improvements.

3. Would it be a bad decision if you did?

ok, cool, gonna work on that.
Thanks

Ok, let me know if you run into any difficulties on implementing it or getting it to work. Just drop me a line in my thread and ill come to have alook

Nice work so far

How go you suggest to prepare mental game when move up limit? I find myself having a lot of emotions, when I move, and it is hard to show my A-game obv. As well that's a reason I don't go up, how to overcome it?

Originally posted by Qurion
How go you suggest to prepare mental game when move up limit? I find myself having a lot of emotions, when I move, and it is hard to show my A-game obv. As well that's a reason I don't go up, how to overcome it?

1.What is it that is actually bothering you? There might be many things. Try to talk me through it so I can put myself in your shoes

2.What does your current moving up strategy look like? How do you decide, do you use a set number of buyins etc? What does your BR management look like?

I'll start with 2.
I don't rush on moving up limits, perhaps I even stay to long. My BR management is quite conservative(8000bb+, excluding money for living(6 month in advance).
What bothers me, is fear of having proper dawnswing on a new limit. While I accept it can happen, I still have a lot more of emotions while playing on a new limit which prevents me from my A-game. So my reaction is stronger towards whatever is happening regardless am I running good(trying to play nittier than I should, looking for reasons to finish my session faster than I planned) or bad(strong reactions for bad bits>even to losing few coins in a row, looking for very 'optimistic' spots>judging myself for unnecessarily/obvious mistakes etc.)
So it is pretty much my standard reaction, just way stronger. As I see it, all I need is to give it a time, until I get used to a new limit, and I'll start reacting as normal. But before it happens, how can I confront fear of catching dawnswing, and accept the fact that I might come back to my limit?

Originally posted by Qurion
I'll start with 2.
1.I don't rush on moving up limits, perhaps I even stay to long. My BR management is quite conservative(8000bb+, excluding money for living(6 month in advance).

2. But before it happens, how can I confront fear of catching dawnswing, and accept the fact that I might come back to my limit?

1. Yes you have a conservative BRM for sure :9 But that is not a bad thing in and of itself. But it does seem like you are a bit scared money in the way you approach poker which also shows up when ou try to move up.

2. When you have 5bi for the limit above take a shot. If you lose 5bi you move down. And you don't move up until you win those 5bi back (10bi at lower limit ofc). This way you have a "stop loss" at the high4r limit. It also give you practice of moving up and down. We want you to be comfortable with that. And also if you play lets say 6 tables, try playing 5reg and 1 from the higher limit. Just tog et used to playing there and see if the fear comes up. Don't worry about that you are mixing the limits.

Hi Dimitrij, I hope you are well?

How did you find Erik's suggestions, were they helpful at all? perhaps you can find time to post something that didn't help or work?

Have fun,

Mal.

Originally posted by gadget51
Hi Dimitrij, I hope you are well?

How did you find Erik's suggestions, were they helpful at all? perhaps you can find time to post something that didn't help or work?

Have fun,

Mal.

Hi Mal, I,m good thanks.

Erik suggestions was great, as well as his videos, and I'll hope that will see some more of those at pokerstrategy after the bootcamp finishes. I'd like to say big thanks to everyone, for me bootcamp was great experience!

All the best,
Dmitrij.

Originally posted by Qurion

Originally posted by gadget51
Hi Dimitrij, I hope you are well?

How did you find Erik's suggestions, were they helpful at all? perhaps you can find time to post something that didn't help or work?

Have fun,

Mal.

Hi Mal, I,m good thanks.

Erik suggestions was great, as well as his videos, and I'll hope that will see some more of those at pokerstrategy after the bootcamp finishes. I'd like to say big thanks to everyone, for me bootcamp was great experience!

All the best,
Dmitrij.

Hey!

Happy to hear the suggestions worked for you. The video series will just keep getting better and better...