Somehow, I'm worse at poker now than I was 6 months ago.

No matter when, where, what level I play at, I feel physically incapable of playing a hand correctly. Every hand I play, I miss value, I miss a bluff, or I bluff incorrectly. My volume has whittled down to absolutely nothing this year, because I keep leaking like 40bbs every hour, get too frustrated by it and quit after only 2-3 hours. Don't believe me? Read my PG&C and laugh at every hand being played bad.

Last night, I 3bet KK and got called and checked back a T92 flop because I felt like the only way I would get action is if I was beat. It's been eating at me for 16-18 hours now. I've been playing poker for 4.5 years and I can't even value bet an overpair? Is there any hope for me? What good would coaching do for me if I can't even apply the very first thing I learned about poker?

This feeling is bleeding over into the rest of my life as well. My fingers feel twice as big when I play guitar, and exercising just pisses me off because I've gotten out of shape and regressed in that area. I can't even drink a ****ing cup of coffee today without spilling it. I can't really enjoy anything in life for what it is, the only time I'm happy is when I feel like I'm improving at whatever I'm spending my time on. However, it feels like the only thing I'm any good at anymore is being angry and dumb.

Any generous souls out there have words of wisdom before I give up and let thousands of hours of pokering go to waste?

I can relate buddy , my game is deteriorating so badly , I have no confidence and constantly feel like im being ran over. Today I went on major tilt and lost $5k playing omaha , after 3 weeks of playing solid smart controlled poker to make that money , i spewed it away in a miserable 24 hour binge session !!!! I HATE MYSELF

You should think about if those feelings of incapability and failure originally stem from poker or it was/is a part of your general life.
If poker is causing you all this stress you should really re evaluate the reasons you play because no matter how much money is involved,its still a game after all and you shouldnt look at it as a way to gain self value..
Winning money is great for sure,but in the end of the day we still are flippin some cards,says nothing abut the person we are or how much were worth..

Although,these feelings are usually caused by low self esteem and by a rather pessimistic view we have of ourselves,and such feelings can slowly spread like a disease over everything in our life,including our poker game..

You should consider taking a break from the tables,for a couple of days at least for starters,and see how youre doing in your everyday life.Practice the chords,learn a couple of new guitar tabs and take it from there..

Feelings like you are useless or incapable of doing anything right can really throw you off balance and when its the only thing youre thinking about,it will actually start happening..

Give yourself time to process whats happening and why its happening without jumping into conclusions about your ability of doing things right!

GL

I'm in exactly the same place, I have a few days of excellent play, good steals, quality bluffs and solid ABC poker. Then I have one session lose 5-6BI and am worse than I was before. Today I have never lost so many premium hands in so little time for a BI pot I lost AA,AA,AA,AKs,AKo,QQ within 30 minutes. Definitely questing my game and whether this game is worth continuing if I can't get any sort of consistency that allows my graph to move somewhat up regardless of how slow.

Poker just isn't right for some people like my sister. She is like the prime example of what you'd call a negative nancy. You can always hear her tsk tsk... its quite irritating! Yet, she pays $50/hr for coaching which makes me wonder what is the point with that attitude she is just throwing money in the sea.

well look at it this way...Its all in your head.....Just change your thoughts to being more positive and your good man...Dont be so hard on your self..

AS for the KK hand..theres nothing wrong with checking the flop...

Its important to constantly strive to improve your game, doing what ever it is you feel is the best means to do that is up to you, the game is so constantly adapting that is it important to maintain an edge over the competition if you are not actively doing something to improve then this would explain why your game is bleeding slowly

It can be very beneficial to step away from the game sometimes, for a couple months or more. I feel like when all you do is poker poker poker, the lines of what makes quality play can start to get blurred and deteriorate. At least for me. And this works for other things too I've found. Its like when you step away, and then come back to the game, you give your brain time to actually process and recalibrate properly everything you've learned. Kind of like restarting a computer. Give it a shot.

I would recommend a full break from poker if you feel your game is deteriorating, but then to wean yourself back, perhaps read a couple good poker books before you start playing again.

A break is something I neglected to recommend this is definitely a good idea

That was a great response.

Another suggestion I have is concentrating on another variant of poker, like Omaha. I think learning other games can help your holdem game.considerably. For example, Omaha for me, is a discipline in learning how to fold, even good hands, BC usually the player will have a higher set, higher flush or full house if that's what their action indicates. One of the ways I lost the most in holdem was saying "idc he's acting like he has the hand he's acting like he has, my hand is too good," and calling off so much money. You can't do that in Omaha, as a result its helped me to see holdem from just one more angle. Its kind of like, sometimes when you look straight at something, you can't see it from a full perspective. When you add other variants, it can help expand your perspective and game.

Also that whole "checking back kk" thing, sounds like BC of how much you've been playing you probably have bad beats fresh in your mind (Im gonna bet hell raise and hell have a set for sure) and so you don't value bet when you should. This would lend itself to breaking away from the game for a while, as it sounds like proper play may have become contaminated by emotional responses from negative results.

Yep positive thoughts equal positive results and a break from the tables wouldn't hurt. Sounds like you may be burning yourself out. Just take a significant breather & use the time wisely to improve your games by reading or watching poker. Or you can take a complete absence from poker which would probably be the best idea. Good luck

I guess the conclusion that you can draw from the responses OP is to take a deserved breather

Quit poker completely and find a different hobby to put all your energy into.

+1 Excellent post

Pay attention to that post there OP

Be concrete with what you feel is deteriorating. Run as far away from "general" thinking as possible. Where are you losing you control?

I was going through a small stretch where I felt like my hand reading got worse then it was many months ago.

I realized two things. Some days we're just off. We shouldn't be grinding. We should work on other things such as eating right, exercising, meditating and socializing with good people.

Two, I decided to focus on what I thought was getting weaker, my hand reading. Every time I made a good read, I would write it down in my poker journal. Before long I see a stretch of good reads and I know what I believed was wrong.

You need to be specific and concrete with what you feel is deteriorating, and then work on it.

If you're one of those players frequently posting on the psychology forum about mental issues affecting your game (like myself!) then the best advice I can give you is quit and move on to something else...

Poker is only ostensibly profitable and dreamy. In reality only a few % of players are actual winners. I made the mistake of thinking my breakthrough or bink would come soon. Wasted all that time when I could've instead played the stock market or invested in bitcoins. Which is actually much less risky, then poker can ever be!

Even if you're the best player in the world but you lack discipline, you would eventually go broke from extreme mental and physical exhaustion. The longer you play, the more auto negative thoughts you develop, the more your game deteriorates.

This is why poker isn't right for many & very over-rated. (The Wsop on television is to blame!) So many people think they can get rich or quit their day jobs! This might be the case 3-7 yrs ago but the golden age of online poker is long gone. The competition is fierce now, you need to be extremely good as well as lucky to be a consistent winner!

I would not totally advocate quitting entirely OP definitely consider a break this is non optional in all reality but quitting is extreme.

I've been in this section of the forum for quite some time... I've witnessed players on here seeking for help! They usually don't get their answers or achieve only moderate success. Then relapse all over again! Most of them have a serious underlying condition that cannot be easily identified, more so corrected!

If poker isn't right for them, then I think it is a better idea to just move on... This maybe harsh, but I am actually not trying to intentionally discourage poker players.

Trust me! If you can find something better to do, you would realize just how much time and effort you wasted on this game!

recognized your sn from pg+c...

My suspicion is that you have low self-esteem and that it probably stems from outside of poker.

I'm not a psychologist and quite frankly don't know anything about you so I can't really suggest much as a solution... The only thing that I can confidently suggest is: Take a break from playing poker and start focusing on improving yourself.

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

I tried trudging through the grind for a couple more months, before finally deciding to stop being stubborn and actually give myself a break last Friday. I didn't want to take a break, because I read all these other PGC threads of people putting in more hours and crushing a lot harder than I do, and I didn't want to fall even further behind the curve. Tilting things happen to every player, and trudging through it is part of the game, so I figured time off wasn't the answer. However, I finally picked up too many tilt straws after my last nightmare session pushed my monthly graph into the red, something snapped and I knew for sure that I was no longer capable of winning in my current mental state.

After four days of hiding inside my apartment and being angry at everything, I feel like some logic is finally returning to my brain. Reading through these responses, Blakkat and tmckendry nailed the gist of what's been going on. I wrote this sentence in the OP:

In reality, it has been the other way around. I've isolated myself in a poker bubble over the last couple years because I don't know how to handle my life off the felt. It worked for a little while, but not anymore.

I understand that it's better to view poker as a means to an end instead of a career. My problem is, I have no clue what that end is. I lost both of my parents between age 19-22, and have been grappling with an existential crisis ever since. The only reason I was born was for their amusement. Now that they're gone, and I have no desire to have children of my own, I feel like I've outlived my use, and that I'm drifting through time meaninglessly. The only thing that seems to make me tick anymore is the feeling of being dominant in a competitive arena.

Poker is definitely staying out of my life until I resolve this. I'm just clueless as to how to do so. Please don't suggest counseling or antidepressants or any of that fraudulent bull****. I've tried enough of it to know it doesn't work.

I find statements like this harmful as they may discourage someone who needs help from seeking it out. These treatments may not have worked for you for what you were going through, but that doesn't mean they don't work for other people dealing with other issues. Not only do we have studies to back this up, but if you want to compare direct experience I've seen more patients improve with treatment than you've seen psychiatrists and therapists.

Fair enough. I apologize for turning my negative experiences into a blanket statement.