How do people go about table selection? What do you look for? 1-2 you know for sure are fish? I'm one of the many people who fall victim to just staying where ever the floor sits me

I guess it depends on what type of room you're in.

My room, which can have anywheres from 1 to 5 1/3 NL games (but typically just 2 or 3), is reg infested and you get to quickly recognize the fishier/terrible players from the tighter/solid players. So just keep evaluating your table versus the other table(s). If it's close, just stay where you are and try to ride it out (sometimes only takes one good player getting up and being replaced by a terrible player to change a table for much the better). But if it's not close, get that table change.

If your room isn't reg invested and you don't recognize anyone, it'll probably be more difficult to evaluate tables. But maybe just try to get a feel for your table (is it pretty dead, not too many going to the flop, not seeing many turns?) and then see if another table is doing better (any big pots going on over there with lots of people in it?).

Gsittingatthebesttable,inthebestseatG

Sorry if I come across as harsh, not my intent, just trying to help.

I'd like to focus on this bit right here. Please stop and think about what i'm going to say, take a moment to slowly digest it.

Every fish, donk, and terribad player feels that there isn't much wrong with their overall play.

Our egos are such that of course we are going to think that we play fine, in fact better than fine, we will think we play good and if you asked the average player to rank himself on a scale of 1 - 10 based on the players he plays with, every single player would rank themselves 7 or better...

When you are in a downswing, the best thing you can do is to QUESTION EVERYTHING ABOUT HOW YOU PLAY.

I mean it, question everything. Every time you win, every time you lose, every time you raise, every time you fold, etc etc.

the hands you posted were not boner inspiring by any stretch. I sense a lot of rationalization and excuses.

take a step back and look at the totality of your game...

Speaking for myself, I feel as if my development is on a constant circle. I am constantly learning and re-learning concepts that I was sure I already knew.

Every time I go through an iteration my understanding grows one more level.

Based on your postings I'm sure you are a winning player, but you don't crush the game. You have potential to crush the game, but you still have a lot of leaks to plugs and things you are doing wrong.

So take a step back and be objective and question EVERYTHING. Suspect everything. Make every part of your game justify its existence and prove to you that it is +EV. Be ruthless with experimentation to include tightening up and/or folding in spots you would automatically shove.

okay, I'm writing a book so i'll stop ranting.

My main point is that you question everything about your game and don't automatically take it for granted that all your play is +EV or optimal. There is definitely tons of room for improvement.

GL

Another thing you could try to do is book a small win ($200-300) and cut your session short just so you feel you're regaining your confidence and not running bad.

Lies. Question everything about your play every time!

DGI, love the first post. Let's address the non-poker factors.

1) what's your eating schedule like?
2) what's your workout schedule like?
3) how do you rate your mental health? focus? do you meditate?
4) what are your average session lengths?
5) how much do you feel you are playing your A-game (honestly)?
6) on a scale of 1-10, tell me how confident you feel when you're playing normally.
7) same scale, how is your confidence level now?

I think addressing the nontechnical aspects of poker is just as important. Good to see that you've hooked up with Jared Tendler.

I saw that you posted the big hands you lost. Why? Ask yourself what you chose to accomplish by putting those out there. Did you want to get yelled at? To argue about them? To gain sympathy? From my perspective, you feel results-oriented...gotta get past that.

We're all gonna make it. No worries.

1 and 3 are massive spew; I didn't go any further into your list than that.

I was going to take DGI to the wood shed, because a 10 buy in downswing is basically a mathematical certainty for everybody who plays significant hours, but, since his points are correct as aimed at you, I'll leave it at that. He's right in your case, you're the major cause of your downswing.

I took a day off, then went back tonight with the intention of playing super-nit style, focusing on the game and my opponents, and not feeling sorry for myself. I have to say the nit style actually feels much more effective than my usual aggressive style, and certainly opens up my game to play better than my opponents post flop. So many marginal spots disappear when you nit it up! I did botch one significant hand where I spewed with TPWK+non-nut FD on a monotone board. But otherwise played nitty and solid. I even got annoyed comments from the table about how tight I was playing. One funny elderly guy asked the dealer to take the nails out of my chips!

Happy to book a $700 win over 8 hours.

Thanks for all feedback and advice, it's helped me tremendously to think about and improve my play and yank me out of my own death spiral. Now to keep it up and continue the long and steady journey of recovering my losses!

Glad we helped. I'm going to lock this up.