Re: Considering a break from poker (AKA: how the hell do I top this?)
- From: "John A. Fish" <jrh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 01 Mar 2006 10:26:55 -0800
You won't get any words of wisdom from me but if I were you, I would definitely listen to that little voice.
A couple months ago I lost some of my enthusiasm for hold'em so I took a bit of a break from playing and decided to learn stud. The excitement returned but the tuition was high at first. It seems that in stud the experienced player has quite an edge over the newbie lol. After a few weeks and more study I was able to scratch back to even but while doing so I started playing some of the split games, namely Stud8 and Omaha8 while studying Zee's book on split games and relevant sections in SS2.
Now I think that Stud8 and Omaha8 are where it's at. I am amazed at how soft (and profitable) these games are (but maybe I shouldn't be since I tend to play at 25c/50c and 50c/$1 limits.) And the fun has returned.
As far as having guilt pangs over winning, I am reminded of what happened to me when I started playing 18 months ago. I was simply crushing the opposition and hardly suffered a beat the first couple weeks I played. I actually considered giving up the game because it was like taking candy from a baby. I got over that in a hurry when that win streak was followed by a devastating bad run. I resolved that if they don't have any qualms about taking my money, I won't have any about taking their's.
Back to the main point, another option would be to go back to no limit for a while. (I get the impression that you are a no-limit player who has recently taken up limit.) I started in limit and tried no limit last year for a bit. For one reason or another, I get limit but no-limit pretty much eludes me. Even so, I did find that my no-limit experience did help me in certain situations in limit that had given me problems before. My point is that you will probably find that your no-limit game will benefit in the same way from insights gained from limit.
John Fish
Bryan K wrote:
I think I'm trying to solicit some advice here, or perhaps just some words of wisdom..
It seems that after just two months in 2006, I have topped my 2005 winnings. Yes, it's been a good year, but it has left me in somewhat of a quandry, and I'm not sure why. It could be a moral dilemma, or it could just be an emotional rut. Perhaps I just need a new challenge (I've been thinking of trying to learn Omaha Hi-Lo).
It's definitely not my game. I feel that I've been playing top notch poker dispite having the two worst sessions in my life very recently. One can only deduce that if I'm already ahead of my 2005 winnings this year even with those two sessions, then my winning sessions must have been phenomenal.
Putting it simply, the winning sessions have been phenomenal.
The peak, or at least I assume it will have to be the peak, was last Saturday when I hit a phenomenal run of cards, and I'm just not sure how to take it. In only four hours, I turned a $100 buy-in at a $3-$6 table into $1,300. I estimate that is about 100 hands, which makes for a staggering BB/100 rate. Let's just say that there were maniacs at the table, and I kept hitting monsters against them. Now, ordinarily, I'd say there is nothing more fun than playing with maniacs, especially when the cards are being good. However, after four straight hours of not taking a single bad beat and winning just about every pot that I entered, I started to feel bad for the guy who was in over $500 even though I know he has the money to throw around. He was on tilt, I knew it, and I was taking risks when I thought I had a slight advantage. I reraised him once preflop from the small blind with 9s, 10s because I thought I was ahead after seeing him show down a 5-6 suited the previus hand that he had raised preflop. I ran into pocket K's, but there were no worries because I flopped a boat. I had KK twice, and they made a boat both times. I had QQ three times, and they made a boat twice and "only" a set once. That was the kind of night I had.
I quit playing on Saturday night after only 4 hours not because the table dried up, but because I stopped having fun. The players started turning vicious, everyone started raising on just about every street, and strategy just went out the window. Furthermore, I just got this nagging thought in the back of my head, as the money I had earned had actually become a significant part of my bankroll. I didn't want to continue to sit at the table and risk so much even if it was newly acquired and not officially in my bankroll yet. I can't imagine that is a long term winning strategy.
I had been hitting the tables pretty heavy in January and through most of February (typically 2 nights a week in the B&M along with 3-4 nights a week online), but I didn't really play much at all last week until the Saturday jackpot. I guess the thought going through my mind right now is, if I do sit down at the table again this coming weekend like I typically do every weekend, any win I walk away with is going to seem so insignificant compared to what I took home last weekend. With this in mind, I know that I am currently on tilt dispite not having played a hand since Saturday night.
I have plans this weekend to play a little $50 charity event, and have agreed to drive some friends to the casino (they like to drink). There is nothing in a casino that interests me in the slightest besides the poker tables, and the charity tourney is run by a good friend that I will go out of my way to help. I think, after this weekend is done, I may break away from the game for awhile. I have a trip to Canterbury planned later this spring, and that may be the next poker I play.
I'm not really sure what my question is here. I can't tell if I'm running into a wall of morality here, if I'm just fatigued from too much poker over the past 2-3 months, or if the thrill of catching big hands has just worn off. Has anyone ever been here before? Is a break in order for me? Since I feel like I'm playing the best poker in my life right now, would it be stupid of me to take a break?
I'm really lost here, and I'm hoping that someone has gone through something like this at one point or another.
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