How to stop gambling at poker?
There's basically 2 versions of me when I play a tournament. I'll give an example of the one I played today. I buy in, play loosey goosey trying to build a stack quickly, and bust in the first hour or so. I rebuy, put my headphones on and get on the grind. Get to 7 times the average stack, lose a couple of big hands, start playing loose again, making questionable jams and calls.
Anyway, I know I'm ****ing stupid for this but In can't help it.... Like when I focus, and play right, I'm actually a pretty good player. But then I get bored or tilted and start gambling, shoving in questionable spots.
Any tips for staying in the "right" zone?
4 Replies
There's basically 2 versions of me when I play a tournament. I'll give an example of the one I played today. I buy in, play loosey goosey trying to build a stack quickly, and bust in the first hour or so. I rebuy, put my headphones on and get on the grind. Get to 7 times the average stack, lose a couple of big hands, start playing loose again, making questionable jams and calls
Use the time bank every hand. Literally every hand. Even if you have flopped quads on the flop use the timebank. In those 10 seconds every single time say to yourself "is this the right play?". If the answer is anything other than 'yes' (for the right reasons) fold. Force your self to do this EVERY SINGLE HAND. It will become normal and automatic
Use the time bank every hand. Literally every hand. Even if you have flopped quads on the flop use the timebank. In those 10 seconds every single time say to yourself "is this the right play?". If the answer is anything other than 'yes' (for the right reasons) fold. Force your self to do this EVERY SINGLE HAND. It will become normal and automatic
This is exactly the advice I came here for. Thank you so much. I will implement it tomorrow in the daily $50 donkament and report back.
There’s a difference between questionable plays and bad plays. Learn the difference and stop blaming yourself for taking low frequency lines
There's basically 2 versions of me when I play a tournament. I'll give an example of the one I played today. I buy in, play loosey goosey trying to build a stack quickly, and bust in the first hour or so. I rebuy, put my headphones on and get on the grind. Get to 7 times the average stack, lose a couple of big hands, start playing loose again, making questionable jams and calls
Hey JohnnyDough!
Totally get where you’re coming from.
That “shift” from focused play to loose/jammy mode is real.
One thing that helped me was setting a mini-goal each level — like, stay under VPIP 25% or no more than 1 questionable call per orbit.
Keeps you mentally anchored without overthinking every spot. GL at the $50 donkament, looking forward to your report back!
