Hello, I am a 2/5 live regular at my local card room. I play about 40 hours a week. The city i live in mostly is comprised of older retired well off people, who just like to play cards and are mostly passive calling stations. Ive honed my game to the point where i rarely miss value with my best hands, and rarely give action with second best. I buy in for the max and steadily grow my stack by winning the small and medium sized pots using my reads against these passive players. I play a TAG style that gets max value consistantly. Also, im lucky enoughh that the men i play with are usually nice enough show me their hands when i take my bet fold lines when i ask. So im finding my self to be right 9 times out of 10.

My problem for the past two weeks is the end of my sessions. I grow my $500 stack (some times have to rebuy due to suck outs and some poor play on my end) to $1500/$2000 pretty much daily. But, without fail, i run into spots in the big pot that matters where stacking off is pretty much manditory and getting coolered everytime. Top boat over quads, nut flush vs the straight flush. Middle straight with the nut flush draw vs the middle straight. Last night i hit the runner runner king high flush where i flopped top pair and a back door king high flush draw, bet the pot on the flop for 100 dollars, and got called by an agressive kid and stacked off on the river when i hit my flush, only to see that he called my flop bet with the naked ace 8 of diamonds. Many set over set situations where im on the **** end. It seems never ending. Now im fully aware that coolers are a part of no limit holdem, so im not here to just vent and bitch. Its gotten to the point where my confidence is shot, and im always fearing that key pot cooler.

The reason im posting this is beacause id like to get input from some other winning players who have faced this kind of situation. Constant coolers and confidence levels getting down in the mud. How did you deal with it? How did you over come the fear of inevitable loss. I feel like im going to go broke in a never ending down hill roller coaster ride of "cant fold coolers"

Thanks for reading.

Take breaks and cut sessions shorter when losing. Play longer when winning

Must be nice to be right 9/10.


Focus on that.

And stop being a p#^}#.

Suck it up. You chose to play this game. Losing over extended periods of time is part of it. I'm coming off of one of the worst runs of my life right now. It sucked, but I'm still here.

But your avatar is not.

Running insanely bad is something everyone goes through. You just have to separate out the emotions from the intellect. Be afraid of coolers in a key pot, but don't let it affect your decision making. Just don't let the fear change your actions.

When I'm running bad, I know I'm going to lose that $800 all-in pre-flop pot where I have KK, V1 has AK, and V2 somehow has pocket 6s. I still make the right plays though. I still know intellectually that I'm raking in the Sklansky bucks when I get it in good and lose.

Eventually the bad luck ends. Just keep making what you know are the right plays.

Take a break (at least a week if not way more) then come back. Chances are you are making mistakes without realizing it. Almost everyone thinks they are way better than they really are. Even the little mistakes add up. Are you limping ATo, KJo UTG at a full ring table, etc? If so, that is a leak. Fold those hands

Yep, take a break. 40 hrs/week is a job. It builds up some cognitive weight over time.

If losing a long string of coolers is weighing on you, then you need a reset. Winning a few won't do the trick. Time off will.

Binge-watch as jow on Netflix. Read a novel. Fiddle with your exercise regime. Get very, very laid. ...your goal is to take a large enough break that the non-rational parts of your mind get focused on a non-poker narrative.

Post some HHs. I suspect you have some relative value vs. absolute value problem. There are just some times when the villain can only have the nuts.

Our brains are really good at recognizing patterns, which means they're also good at imagining and exaggerating patterns that aren't actually there. I'm not trying to say "run bad" doesn't exist, but it's almost always exaggerated in your head and is usually compounded by bad play.