How do I stop playing like a frickin' moron?

For the past week, my play had been just God awful! I have been calling when I know there is a good chance that my hand is no longer good. I have missed seeing flushes and straights, and other times I have been afraid to bet even if I am pretty sure I have the best hand. I am playing like a wimpy donk.

[stinkee]

I dunno, but please let me know where you've been playing so I can get on your table!
No really, I suggest to take a break for a few days and just read a book and maybe browse around online for tips.. If you are a new player I suggest OnlineAce by Scott Fischman, if you are pretty experienced I suggest Harrington on HoldEm - all volumes...
Or maybe you are just bored with the game lately- that's what happens to me sometimes and I know I shouldn't be playing- I just don't concentrate on the game and I make bonehead moves and I know at the time that it's stupid, but I can't help myself, lol.. - then I just stay away until I really really feel like I can concentrate on a game.. Sometimes it takes a day , sometimes it takes a couple weeks.

Good luck!

[arjonius]

The better you know what your A game is, the easier it is to know when and how you're deviating from it. And knowing what you're doing differently naturally makes it easier to get back to what you usually do. For instance, if you're playing more pots than usual, it's likely you're playing looser than usual, so the obvious fix is to tighten up.

Quit playing for a week! Thats what i do when that shit happens, over sleep the poker blindness...

I do all of the above to overcome my inability to concentrate. I also get the "I don't care" attitude about playing and get into senseless calls and plays. Getting away and reading about poker strategies is a good idea. One more thing I do sometimes, which seems silly, is to sit and exercise my "folding techinique" and while I am doing that I practice watching and analyzing others playing patterns. Keeps me from being a donk.

"folding techinique" what do you mean by that? Just sitting on a table and fold all the time, no matter what hands?

Take care,
Marco

Thanks for all of your advice. I do know that I am not being patient. I am trying to force hands and I have been playing hands just because I get tired of folding. Things are going much better in ring games.

Originally Posted by Maia

For the past week, my play had been just God awful! I have been calling when I know there is a good chance that my hand is no longer good. I have missed seeing flushes and straights, and other times I have been afraid to bet even if I am pretty sure I have the best hand. I am playing like a wimpy donk.

llol s0rry n g00d answers here i been playing for 3 yeears an stil tryn 2 figure that questionnnnnn 0ut lol

[pastieman]

We all know that feeling Maia, I'm not playing this weekend because I have not been playing my A game all week. I just take a couple of days off, relax and come back on Monday refreshed, mind you I have been known to take a month off with no poker. Give it a try, it works for most players.

[arjonius]

We all go through stretches where it seems like we're folding every hand. A little exercise you can use to help alleviate that feeling - and one that just might help improve your game while you're at it - is to try figuring out the hands of the players who are still in the hands. If you do this for a while, you can start to see patterns i.e. get reads.

Ideally, we should be paying attention like this all the time, but I suspect I'm in the large majority when I admit I don't always.