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I know emotion is generally a bad thing as it adversely affects your play. TILT has never been much of a problem for me once I realised that bad beats must happen in order to keep low skilled players playing, but a realy problem is COCKINESS. I hate to admit it, but it's true. When I sit down and play calmly and with... humility...I guess... my game is tight, aggressive and extremely thoughtful. When I am in this mood I usually place in the money in the tournament I'm in, or at least double my money on a ring game.

Unfortunately after a couple of days of playing well and winning, I get too cocky and start playing too clever; trying to bluff too much and generally being an ass at the table. And of course, I LOSE! I've been recording my results for the past 2 months and I've just broke even. Everytime I'm up a couple of hundred dolars, the cockiness starts again and I lose it all in a session or two.

I know I need to kick myself in the butt and get over this but I was wondering if you have any experience with this and you know of any techniques to help out.

I've started forcing myself to play the freemoney tables when I'm in this cocky mood to get it out of my system, and only play real money when I'm focussed. I'm yet to see if that will work.

Anyway, thanks again for the great site.

Cheers,

Aussie Jon

Answer:

Thanks for the question and compliment Jon!

Let me jot down some thoughts:

- I think all serious poker players assume they are better than they really are. The tendency is to assume that every time you win its because of skill and every time you lose its because you got unlucky. Obviously, that isn't helpful for improving your game.

- Confidence is good. A player needs confidence in his/her strategy. The main reason why confidence is important is because it anchors you when short term results make the game seem like it is just luck. When you are confident your strategy is sound, then you just keep implementing it and the wins come naturally. Also, a winning style is one that makes sure you maximize the winnings for each hand by either betting hard or by sucking people in; both ways need confidence. Next, you have to be confident that you have a good chance of winning at the game you select.

- Cockiness is dangerous. I think confidence turns into cockiness when you lose touch with reality. Confidence seems like its well founded, based on facts while cockiness seems like you've let your emotions take you for a ride, twisting the facts. Cockiness might make you think you can beat bigger games than your skill allows. Cockiness might make you think that you don't need as much money for a game as you really do, since you assume you are that much better than the competition. Cockiness might also make you think you are kind of above the law; you can play your own style of poker and still win.

- Return to the fundamentals. Poker is strange because as you learn more, you beat the game and move up in stakes. But as you move up in stakes, the game keeps on changing too. And as the game keeps changing, what you learned at smaller stakes games doesn't apply to bigger games and before you know it, your whole strategy is turned upside down. When you find yourself constantly bluffing and playing all kinds of garbage its time to make the complete circle and come back to the fundamentals. Learning more about the game gives you a sense of flexibility and can lead you to believe that you have more control over the game than you really do. Remember that in any game, your edge is only so big. What happens is that you can sometimes try to hard to win and not let the cards do the work. Getting back to the basics can really help. This is especially true if you are used to playing in bigger games than the one you are playing in, or your skill is much greater than your opponents. You need to "gear down," meaning you need to play a more ABC game of waiting for good hands and getting value on the them as opposed to trying to outplay your opponents.

- One thing that helps me actually not play bad is actually play at a limit I care about. It's hard for me to bring my A game when I don't care about losing or winning.

- Not playing well after winning a number of sessions in a row is a common problem. When you go in to play a session, after winning a lot, keep in mind that you might not play your best. Also, remember not to try to win a certain amount of money or feel like you didn't have a good day because you didn't win a certain amount. Say you won x amount for the past 4 sessions. It isn't correct to go in on the 5th session and try to win that much again. Instead, go in and play your best game and try not to give it all back.

- Understand why you lose. If you can pinpoint what it is that gets you in trouble, then you can avoid it. I just remembered a tip I gave someone when they were asking me how to not be as readable/predictable. I mentioned some ways to mix up her game that wouldn't be too costly, but add deception. Then I made sure that she understood not to try these plays when she wasn't winning. The tendency is to always play more tricky and deceptively when we are losing. That's a big tip so remember it: Make less bluffs/tricky plays when you aren't running well. You'll want to use every tool at your disposal to try and get yourself back in the game, but this is the exact kind of play that will just dig a deeper hole. Play tighter when you aren't winning.

- A bad play is a play that you could have avoided, but you didn't. In your case, it might have been trying to run through (bluff) a weak player or trying to raise too many hands preflop. Bad play wouldn't seem nearly as attractive if it were possible to step back and get a little perspective. When at the table, it seems like each pot (especially when you are losing) is essential to your existence. A better way to think is to realize that not everyday you are going to win and the best way to stay a winning player is to both maximize your wins and minimize your losses. Losses are inevitable but you have control whether or not it takes away all your wins, or if you lose some back and keep the profit.

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