Playing Perfect Poker.

[chgocubs99 0]

I dont get it

My comment was sarcasm. Then I used your own comment against you and insulted you for not realizing that.

[Gallo 1]

I dont get it

Hai!!just wanted to show off my avatar.

[donk4life 34]

Hai!!just wanted to show off my avatar.

Shouldn't that say the mets?

[cubsfan44 0]

Hai!!just wanted to show off my avatar.

just wanted you to see my signature

[hblask 1]

I find that the mistake that I make is that I convince myself to gambooooool. I'll take a chance that I can steal with a marginal hand, say A9, by raising PF. Instead I get reraised. I'll convince myself "oh, it's probably some donkey with A7 trying to resteal", or "he's probably got pocket 2s, and this is a good place to gamble". Then, as I'm being eliminated, I know how bad a play it was.That's by far my most common mistake. It probably traces to being impatient -- get ahead now so I don't have to work so hard later.

[steve7stud 0]

Here are some examples of things that might be mistakes that I make when playing a live tournament.Because I feel that I have good reading skills, I make plenty of calls that some would not make. I'm not one to dwell on the past, so I couldn't tell you if I am ahead or behind in those decisions. But I know that I am not afraid to put my chips in the middle if I trust my read. Some people will save those chips for a better spot. This could be a mistake that I am making.I also feel like a I play better when I have chips. So I am willing to gamble more in order to accumulate a "big stack". I've noticed in the past when I get short on chips, I want to double up quickly or go home. I remember honestly saying to myself that I did not want to go on dinner break with only 10BB's. So I need to find a spot to get my chips in. This could be a mistake.Thought I would share some mistakes that I make. Or possible mistakes that I'm making.

[troyomac 0]

I think it would be a mistake to NOT trust your read. And the 2nd example isn't a mistake either, it's knowing what you're good at, and trying to get yourself in the best scenario you can for your game.

[RabidTortuga 0]

I'm positive that I make a ton of mistakes when I play a tournament. I see them almost every hand I play, honestly. I check a river with K high and a missed draw after calling the flop and raising the turn, only to be beaten by A high on the same draw. If I bet the river, he folds most of the time. Definitely a mistake on the river, and that doesn't even take into account what I did earlier in the hand.I try to think of mistakes based on the The Theory of Poker. Every time i do something other than what I would do if I could see my opponents hole cards, I've made a mistake. I think this is the only way to be honest with myself about my play, and what I try to keep in mind and look for when I review my play.I have a friend who plays alot of tournaments online and swear he almost never makes a mistake. When wetalked about it, his defense was that he almost always got it in good on the hands he busts out on, an he even keeps a log of the hands he goes broke on to see how often it happens. He actually does get it in good like 70% of the time, but he's often so short stacked that he has no chance of winning anyway. I can't convince him that his bust out plays are far less important than the mistakes he makes from the start that allow him to be the short stack in the first place.I also bust out as a short stack alot, but I know I play too tight. When I try to loosen up, I go too far and overplay hands. I'm rereading HoH and playing lots of Sit-n-Go's to try and work on my game, though.

[blakheart 3]

I play more live tourny's and I find that I have often misjudged level changes. In other words, I don't properly account for the next rise in blind levels. It seems sometimes to be far more severe a jump then most online tournies. If I saw it coming better I would be able to adjust my play accordingly earlierAlso, I think it is easy to steam and make small mistakes, I tend to get too loose preflop when I am tilting a bit.

[biggswolll 0]

i was playing a live medium buy in tourney the other day...25$ with 15 rebuys (small buy in to some) anyway, after the first break i had about 10k in chips start with 1k rebuys are 1k. I get 2 outted in 2 of the first 5 hands and am so heated i move in every hand till im busto which is a grand total of 2. What am i doing wrong? (sw) for those that lack sense of humor

[The Phoenix 0]

Obviously what Grinder said is the truth. We all make many mistakes every tournament even if we try to convince ourselves we played perfectly.I've made some adjustments to my tournament game recently, mostly after some great nuggests of info by Annette on P5's, that have really helped my game, particularly my understanding of the game.I think what the average player/below average player might not realize is that the little mistakes that they make early on (early to middle stages of a tournament) are what come back to hurt them later. I have tried to eliminate the "spew" from playing passively with marginal holdings, playing too much out of the blinds (OOP). The only exception to this is if there is an opportunity to play a pot with somebody who I feel is a weak player that will give me all his chips if I hit the flop. When I have chips, I'll play a lot of pots and play more marginal holdings but once I get relatively short, I'm just waiting for a really good spot to get the chips in the middle. Annette's guideline on how she plays small pairs (on pocketfives) depending on her stack size really helped me, along with some other interesting tidbits of strategy she provided. I applied that that guideline to other marginal hands (AJ/KQoff in EP) and developed a plan for how I would play or fold those hands based on table dynamics, the size of my stack and any other variables. This might sound like I might be playing in a robotic fashion but that couldn't be further from reality. It is just having a plan, and adjusting it from tournament to tournament, situation to situation. I don't know how many times in the past I'd raise a hand like KQ or AJ from EP, and get a call or two, or a re-raise and say "now what?" If you are going to raise those hands, you need to decide before you raise what you are going to do against a re-raise. When you answer that question the decision of whether or not to raise in the first place becomes much easier. And Steve, I agree with Troyomac that those aren't really mistakes. Everyone wants to get chips early, however, it's a fine line between taking an aggressive gamble being too impatient. I generally find that if you are patient, a good spot generally comes along (at least against the online donks, not necessarily at your level). I don't know what hands you are pushing in with (with 10bbs) but exerecising a little more patience might be a good idea. Nobody wants to be short, but its better than being out.

[Czech Razor 0]

I guess no matter how obvious it seems the sw should always be included for the "slower" FCP members

Sarcasm is one of the lowest forms of wit. I often choose to ignore it.Meh.

[mbreon 0]

The four biggest aspects of my tournament game that I have been trying to work on:1) Having a gameplan before I enter a pot. In mid-levels of a tournament, I might enter a pot raising without really knowing what I will do if re-raised. I don't really think about how I would like to play the hand, which leads me to make hasty decisions in a short time span.2) Never giving up. When you lose a few pots early, and your chip stack gets smaller, lots of players just tilt the rest of their money away or try to get it all in on the next coinflip. In the past I used to do this, then complain that I never won coin flips as the reason why I wasn't doing well. Even with a short stack, I can come back and win a tournament if I pick good spots - but, everyone steams from time to time and it can cloud judgment. 3) Continuation betting too often. Now that it seems everyone is applying the lessons learned from Harrington on Hold Em, the automatic continuation bet after a pre-flop raise (assuming a heads-up pot, not multiway) when I miss the board is not always a good idea. I noticed that I was having difficulty in hands where I raised preflop OOP against 1 caller and then had a c-bet called on the flop. I usually didn't know how to approach on the turn, depending on the texture of the board, but I think this probably goes back to my first point: not enough idea of what I wanted to do when I enteted the pot.4) Like others, lack of focus has been one that's gotten me as well when playing online. I might have the TV on, talk to people on AIM, look around the FCP forums, check my fantasy football teams, watch porn, etc etc while playing. When I am doing this, I spend less time taking notes on the players around me, which would give me information that would probably be useful later. I suppose with my short attention span that I have a very hard time paying attention to any one thing at a time, but I have found that I tend to concentrate better if I just put music on when I play and nothing else. This also might sound obvious, but my concentration improves if I just sit down at my desk or my kitchen table when playing, as opposed to outside on the deck, or on my couch, recliner, etc.

[ObeyTheDog 0]

There's minor and major mistakes.There's also fundamental and situational mistakes.I feel most of my mistakes are minor and situationa. I rarely make a fundamental mistake (i.e. betting too much, pot committing myself when a player is clearly committed, getting too aggressive too soon or not soon enough, these things...). I also don't think I make many major mistakes, the kinds where you blow through a lot of chips making really poor bluffs against the worst kind of opponents. The kinds where you sort of 'blow up' because it seems right instead of recognizing the situation for what it is.The kinds I make are often minor mistakes, like not value betting a hand I know is good and could get called (missing value sucks!), blowing people off pots when your gut tells you a big raise would get it done (most of the time I follow through, but when I miss these, I get really upset with myself). These kinds of mistakes don't "cost" you a tourney usually, but they linger as missed opportunities. When I play a hand too timidly and cost myself value or the pot itself, it's often a "blessing" because had I played it more aggressively and the guy doesn't fold, I get outdrawn and am out. So I get rewarded by still being in the tourney. So it's a mistake in how I played the hand, but the kind of minor mistake that actually helps you. Small ball gets you into this sort of trouble, and I'm speaking mostly live. Online, I usually can't get this kind of cues, so the mistake is far less apparent. We all make mistakes. The goal is not to eliminate them I believe. To do so would be like asking yourself not to ever sin, not to ever curse, not to ever get angry. You set yourself up for failure (and disappointment, guilt, etc.) when you focus on perfection. You should strive for it. You should really bring out your best game at all times and dig deep for that extra something to play above the rim. But you're in a game FILLED with gray decisions, and rarely do the perfect black & white situations present themselves where you will feel 100% satisfied. If we have to paint in gray, especially in tournaments, you might as well get comfortable with a lot of marginal and close decisions that can sometimes be so, so right and turn out so, so wrong, and be so, so wrong yet turn out so beautifully.I guess what I mean to say is, I don't bother much with right or wrong based on outcomes. I just focus on playing my best, making my best decisions, and trusting the gut to lead me home. When things don't work out, I think Gus does it best with a sort of "Wow" shrug of the shoulders.

[ObeyTheDog 0]

The four biggest aspects of my tournament game that I have been trying to work on:1) Having a gameplan before I enter a pot. In mid-levels of a tournament, I might enter a pot raising without really knowing what I will do if re-raised. I don't really think about how I would like to play the hand, which leads me to make hasty decisions in a short time span.2) Never giving up. When you lose a few pots early, and your chip stack gets smaller, lots of players just tilt the rest of their money away or try to get it all in on the next coinflip. In the past I used to do this, then complain that I never won coin flips as the reason why I wasn't doing well. Even with a short stack, I can come back and win a tournament if I pick good spots - but, everyone steams from time to time and it can cloud judgment. 3) Continuation betting too often. Now that it seems everyone is applying the lessons learned from Harrington on Hold Em, the automatic continuation bet after a pre-flop raise (assuming a heads-up pot, not multiway) when I miss the board is not always a good idea. I noticed that I was having difficulty in hands where I raised preflop OOP against 1 caller and then had a c-bet called on the flop. I usually didn't know how to approach on the turn, depending on the texture of the board, but I think this probably goes back to my first point: not enough idea of what I wanted to do when I enteted the pot.4) Like others, lack of focus has been one that's gotten me as well when playing online. I might have the TV on, talk to people on AIM, look around the FCP forums, check my fantasy football teams, watch porn, etc etc while playing. When I am doing this, I spend less time taking notes on the players around me, which would give me information that would probably be useful later. I suppose with my short attention span that I have a very hard time paying attention to any one thing at a time, but I have found that I tend to concentrate better if I just put music on when I play and nothing else. This also might sound obvious, but my concentration improves if I just sit down at my desk or my kitchen table when playing, as opposed to outside on the deck, or on my couch, recliner, etc.

Just read this. Hello sir, if you could accomplish #1 and #3 and separate those from #2 and #4 most of the time, you will be fine. Never giving up and lacking focus are merely psychological obstacles you have to overcome if they do indeed inhibit your game. I'd say, the only true way to learn not to give up is to face severe adversity, be crushed in a huge pot in a major event (one that you REALLY care about, not some turbo donkament). Then dig deep and climb your way back to some success. That's the "hard way" and I don't know of any easy easy to learn this very valuable lesson. You can hear Jack Strauss stories til the sheik goes home, but I think you have to go through this lesson yourself when it really really matters, and you have to face real adversity, not just being blinded down. Lacking focus is more easily corrected playing live. Online, there's a lot of self-accountability. Do what you gotta do. Set yourself up to succeed rather than planting distractions to fail.As for the strategical problems, the continuation betting too much, and having a gameplan, it's really good you recognize this. I feel a little guilty sharing this, but I do think that people continuation bet waaaaaaay too much without knowing why, and they also check raise way too much. Both of these are way more apparent these past few years than in previous years. The best way to exploit it is to get away from it yourself. You shouldn't be pegged as this sort of player. Generally, it's a great idea if you raised preflop, are heads up, and it's checked to you, to go ahead and fire away. But to say it's 100% automatic is just too robotic a formula to be successful. To properly mix up your game, you should be firing against the less tricky opponents, the kinds who will fold underpairs to one overcard, the kinds who more often call than raise. You should be recognizing the more tricky, or better players who have a lot more weapons in their arsenal. Agianst these players, you may need to check behind to control the pot, and you HAVE to be willing to check a pair obviously and strong hands that you are prepared to call down so check doesn't indicate your intent to fold the turn. As for checkraising less, often the far better path, especially with strong holdings, is to check call and lead the turn or go ahead and lead out at the flop yourself when OOP. You will usually gain a lot more chips, risk far less chips on your bluffs, and earn a lot of pots you shouldn't. And you will disguise your hands a lot better. The gameplan idea is a must. I don't know of one good, successful player who doesn't think of the hand like a chess match and both anticipate his opponents reactions and how he'll react when they happen. In mid-late game, when I raise, I already know which opponents I am probably calling/reraising if reraised, which opponents I am folding to, which opponents I'm pot committed to call if they shove. I already have an 80% clear idea of what's going to happen next. You should always be anticipating, predicting, and knowing your next move. If you're not paying attention, you get yourself stuck in a lot of sticky spots where you are raising into opponents with 8-high who if they raise, you'll be stuck calling them because of how much you chose to raise and how much they have left. This really relates to your focus.Good post.

[ObeyTheDog 0]

Here are some examples of things that might be mistakes that I make when playing a live tournament.Because I feel that I have good reading skills, I make plenty of calls that some would not make. I'm not one to dwell on the past, so I couldn't tell you if I am ahead or behind in those decisions. But I know that I am not afraid to put my chips in the middle if I trust my read. Some people will save those chips for a better spot. This could be a mistake that I am making.I also feel like a I play better when I have chips. So I am willing to gamble more in order to accumulate a "big stack". I've noticed in the past when I get short on chips, I want to double up quickly or go home. I remember honestly saying to myself that I did not want to go on dinner break with only 10BB's. So I need to find a spot to get my chips in. This could be a mistake.Thought I would share some mistakes that I make. Or possible mistakes that I'm making.

I've done this too, the dinner break thing. I think it IS a mistake when you are choosing to gamble because of a dinner break and want to double or go home prior to it. Instead, it should be about the best opportunity. If it serendipitously presents itself in that you happen to have a low enough M to warrant risking just prior to the dinner break because the next level provides too big a jump, etc....then so be it. But to arbitrarily decide that it's "now or never" seems a bit forced, and could be a small leak. (I say small, because I rarely advise against NOT getting aggressive with a dwindling stack, because I like you, want to accumulate a big stack and not get too short)I think it's good we recognize this. It probably is better to be a little more patient, so I try to remember that good opportunities often present themselves and to trust your read/gut and go with it. I'd like to think being a little more aware of my patience level dropping might help me hang on just long enough for that great spot, instead of the decent spot presented.

[ObeyTheDog 0]

When I really decide I want to play a tournament online... meaning.... hey.. im gonna sit down... and play patient... and play well......... I hardly ever make a bad play. The thing that I cant seem to overcome these days is getting over the hump... The hump for me... especially in full tilt's double stack 24+2's or double stack 100+9's on occasion is when im nearing the money bubble with a slightly below avg. stack... blinds are getting big... ill make a raise with a hand like 66-1010 or an AK/AQ... ill face a reraise for my whole stack... and get it in on a coinflip... but i havent had the "BIG FLIP" go my way at all. after getting especially frustrated a couple weeks ago, I actually started keeping track of coinflips AIPF... i've won slightly less than 30% of those coinflips in the last 2 weeks. Its really getting disgusting. Its to the point where I have my mouse over the x on the table window when i see that im in with a coinflip hand. Its gross.sorry.... as i was writing this i busted out of another tourney to guess what... sigh.

This is complete overanalysis and generalization, but forgive me as I'm reading this thread now and I like what I'm reading so far. If you find yourself getting to the bubble with average/below average too often, you probably aren't opening up your game soon enough and need to get a little more aggressive sooner when you have the ability to put more pressure on your opponents with your stack.The second your stack becomes a shield and not a weapon, is when you rely very heavily on barreling through when a lot of players are there to call you down. It becomes a confrontation that you often can't win and won't find yourself getting deep enough (both stacked and in the tourney) to make a run at the FT and win. I understand, and this is complete generalization, that you're probably playing very solid, playing top hands, and doing what you can with them. I'm not advocating turning into a LAGnut overnight. Just recognize when your stack is still a weapon and use it as such before it's too late and you're once again below average at bubble time.

[Sheiky 0]

I make so many mistakes it's easier to count the 'right' decisions i make rather than the wrong ones.I class mistake as something that if i'd played the exact same hand again (without hindsight) i would do it differently.

[El Guapo 8]

I know one mistake I make in tourneys whether live or online is playing to cash rather than win sometimes. Also mistake free poker is a joke. A mistake could be as simple as missing a value bet on 4th street. Playing a hand too strongly and getting marginally good hands to fold when they are drawing slim etc. I think most people say mistake free poker in tourneys, they mean that they do not get it all in with the worst of it.

[Cappy37 0]

When you play a tournament, do you see yourself making a lot of mistakes?If so, what do you qualify as a mistake?Just curious.

I play mostly fixed limit MTTs online (Stud8/Razz/Horse/O8B), so roughly 90% of my success is going to be based entirely upon my starting hand selection. You simply cannot afford to play too many hands, but you have to loosen up slightly to get action on big hands. In the stud variants, I'm constantly struggling with board layout on 3rd. Anyone who claims they bat 1.000 on remembering suits/cards and tempering hand strength vs. live outs and board strength is full of it. Focusing intently on live and dead outs in Stud 8 and Razz has done wonders for my game, and mixing up my Stud8 starting hands (hidden highs, hidden lows) has improved my ROI dramatically (especially in SNGs, another whole topic of discussion).I'm constantly fighting my instincts in Razz, where my tendency is always to bail on 4th to board strength when hands don't really become defined till bets double and 60% of hand information is out there on 5th. Knowing and retaining dead and live out information makes these decisions much clearer, but the struggle of forcing out opponents when they catch bad/marginal vs. keeping pots small is always present as well.O8B has been by far the hardest egg for me to crack, as getting deep in O8B MTTs has been disgustingly easy, but chip accumulation is arduous at best. Raising to thin the field late in these is downright brutal in practice and can pot commit you to marginal holdings and slim draws at times. O8B also is a double-edged sword in that so many hands can have potential (this is especially true in opponents eyes), which is good early but makes stealing blinds late frustrating if not impossible. I finish Middle Late-Late almost exclusively in these, and have still yet to actually break the final table bubble, so I never visit the tournament lobby at peace with my game.Razz is the most volitale of all the games I play in MTT format, and while I have had FT success in Razz, my finishes and ROI have slipped significantly as of late. The more I learn it seems the harder I get beat down by donkeys in Razz, where the game is truly chip accumulation by any means necessary and then focus all positive vibes on running good fromt the second break on. At least in Razz you can steal much easier than in any of the other games I've mentioned. Plus you can truly play your opponents cards in 2 or 3 person pots.I'm new to stud8 (from an experience standpoint, not a knowledge standpoint) in MTT format, and I must say that of all the mixed games, the skill edge difference between yourself and 90% of the field is infintely more exploitable in Stud8 than in a game like Razz. It's very easy to find reasons not to get involved in Stud8 hands, but you also hate to completely miss out on the dead money scramble that happens in the first hour of these donkfests.Enough of all that nonsense. The simple point is, anyone who claims they are mistake-free might simply not be open to learning new tricks, manuevers, and tidbits. Recently I've really started applying riverchecks with marginal to good holdings to allow worse hands to bluff into me and to keep hands that get there against me from picking up an extra river bet with a raise. I've learned to bet the river in O8B and Razz when I get there regardless, as missing even a single bet in the hopes of getting a check raise is enough to put you on tilt and will be the first thing that crosses your mind after a tournament once the original bustout has been processed by your noggin.Most frustrating by far is how alone I feel at times. I play by different rules than most on this forum. I play FL mixed games in MTT format at micro limits. I don't have a forum. Tourney strat is 99.9% NLHE. O8B is mostly cash game strat. Stud is a ghost town most of the time. All of the protegee/teacher type programs aim for midlimits and are mainly hold 'em. I don't have a lot of people to bounce ideas off of. What works in O8B in a cash game isn't even remotely relavent to a $1.10 or $2.20 donkfest. Playing Stud8 vs. complete rookies and lost hold 'em players is straightforward, but betting lines certainly aren't. I can get input in the strat forums from time to time, but it's rarely from someone who's been in exactly my situation in terms of stakes and mentality. Books like Super System focus almost exclusively on cash games, which is extremely frustrating. Making mistakes is the nature of poker. Having to analyze and fix them on your lonesome, that's a bad beat. Poker is one giant jigsaw puzzle, and you are always looking for ways to make the pieces fit together better, quicker, and easier than your previous experience.

[Jamaica876 0]

I get distracted and start looking at porn.. hugeeee mistake...

I find myself doing this too often also. I usually play really good when i pay attention. I dont think anyone going to get so good they dont make one single mistake over the course of couple months.

[onlyme386 0]

This is complete overanalysis and generalization, but forgive me as I'm reading this thread now and I like what I'm reading so far. If you find yourself getting to the bubble with average/below average too often, you probably aren't opening up your game soon enough and need to get a little more aggressive sooner when you have the ability to put more pressure on your opponents with your stack.The second your stack becomes a shield and not a weapon, is when you rely very heavily on barreling through when a lot of players are there to call you down. It becomes a confrontation that you often can't win and won't find yourself getting deep enough (both stacked and in the tourney) to make a run at the FT and win. I understand, and this is complete generalization, that you're probably playing very solid, playing top hands, and doing what you can with them. I'm not advocating turning into a LAGnut overnight. Just recognize when your stack is still a weapon and use it as such before it's too late and you're once again below average at bubble time.

Great post obey, I really like the line about your stack as a shield rather than a weapon.However, I'd like to add that it is not bad to be below average at bubble time. You can survive this stage and a good player knows how to use his stack to his advantage even at this point. However, it is a problem when you are "that guy" at the table, stalling every hand hoping someone busts out so you can make a tiny profit. That is not why we play tournaments, and to treat it this way will damage your return long run as opposed to continuing to accumulate chips even when it can be scary to do so. Remember, it's just as scary for others to lose chips as it is for you. Overcoming that fear will help you get deeper in tournaments more consistently. Afterall, you didn't play 3-4 hours to profit <1 buy in, did you?

[bigstack1980 0]

There's minor and major mistakes.There's also fundamental and situational mistakes.I feel most of my mistakes are minor and situationa. I rarely make a fundamental mistake (i.e. betting too much, pot committing myself when a player is clearly committed, getting too aggressive too soon or not soon enough, these things...). I also don't think I make many major mistakes, the kinds where you blow through a lot of chips making really poor bluffs against the worst kind of opponents. The kinds where you sort of 'blow up' because it seems right instead of recognizing the situation for what it is.The kinds I make are often minor mistakes, like not value betting a hand I know is good and could get called (missing value sucks!), blowing people off pots when your gut tells you a big raise would get it done (most of the time I follow through, but when I miss these, I get really upset with myself). These kinds of mistakes don't "cost" you a tourney usually, but they linger as missed opportunities. When I play a hand too timidly and cost myself value or the pot itself, it's often a "blessing" because had I played it more aggressively and the guy doesn't fold, I get outdrawn and am out. So I get rewarded by still being in the tourney. So it's a mistake in how I played the hand, but the kind of minor mistake that actually helps you. Small ball gets you into this sort of trouble, and I'm speaking mostly live. Online, I usually can't get this kind of cues, so the mistake is far less apparent. We all make mistakes. The goal is not to eliminate them I believe. To do so would be like asking yourself not to ever sin, not to ever curse, not to ever get angry. You set yourself up for failure (and disappointment, guilt, etc.) when you focus on perfection. You should strive for it. You should really bring out your best game at all times and dig deep for that extra something to play above the rim. But you're in a game FILLED with gray decisions, and rarely do the perfect black & white situations present themselves where you will feel 100% satisfied. If we have to paint in gray, especially in tournaments, you might as well get comfortable with a lot of marginal and close decisions that can sometimes be so, so right and turn out so, so wrong, and be so, so wrong yet turn out so beautifully.I guess what I mean to say is, I don't bother much with right or wrong based on outcomes. I just focus on playing my best, making my best decisions, and trusting the gut to lead me home. When things don't work out, I think Gus does it best with a sort of "Wow" shrug of the shoulders.

Just read this. Hello sir, if you could accomplish #1 and #3 and separate those from #2 and #4 most of the time, you will be fine. Never giving up and lacking focus are merely psychological obstacles you have to overcome if they do indeed inhibit your game. I'd say, the only true way to learn not to give up is to face severe adversity, be crushed in a huge pot in a major event (one that you REALLY care about, not some turbo donkament). Then dig deep and climb your way back to some success. That's the "hard way" and I don't know of any easy easy to learn this very valuable lesson. You can hear Jack Strauss stories til the sheik goes home, but I think you have to go through this lesson yourself when it really really matters, and you have to face real adversity, not just being blinded down. Lacking focus is more easily corrected playing live. Online, there's a lot of self-accountability. Do what you gotta do. Set yourself up to succeed rather than planting distractions to fail.As for the strategical problems, the continuation betting too much, and having a gameplan, it's really good you recognize this. I feel a little guilty sharing this, but I do think that people continuation bet waaaaaaay too much without knowing why, and they also check raise way too much. Both of these are way more apparent these past few years than in previous years. The best way to exploit it is to get away from it yourself. You shouldn't be pegged as this sort of player. Generally, it's a great idea if you raised preflop, are heads up, and it's checked to you, to go ahead and fire away. But to say it's 100% automatic is just too robotic a formula to be successful. To properly mix up your game, you should be firing against the less tricky opponents, the kinds who will fold underpairs to one overcard, the kinds who more often call than raise. You should be recognizing the more tricky, or better players who have a lot more weapons in their arsenal. Agianst these players, you may need to check behind to control the pot, and you HAVE to be willing to check a pair obviously and strong hands that you are prepared to call down so check doesn't indicate your intent to fold the turn. As for checkraising less, often the far better path, especially with strong holdings, is to check call and lead the turn or go ahead and lead out at the flop yourself when OOP. You will usually gain a lot more chips, risk far less chips on your bluffs, and earn a lot of pots you shouldn't. And you will disguise your hands a lot better. The gameplan idea is a must. I don't know of one good, successful player who doesn't think of the hand like a chess match and both anticipate his opponents reactions and how he'll react when they happen. In mid-late game, when I raise, I already know which opponents I am probably calling/reraising if reraised, which opponents I am folding to, which opponents I'm pot committed to call if they shove. I already have an 80% clear idea of what's going to happen next. You should always be anticipating, predicting, and knowing your next move. If you're not paying attention, you get yourself stuck in a lot of sticky spots where you are raising into opponents with 8-high who if they raise, you'll be stuck calling them because of how much you chose to raise and how much they have left. This really relates to your focus.Good post.

I've done this too, the dinner break thing. I think it IS a mistake when you are choosing to gamble because of a dinner break and want to double or go home prior to it. Instead, it should be about the best opportunity. If it serendipitously presents itself in that you happen to have a low enough M to warrant risking just prior to the dinner break because the next level provides too big a jump, etc....then so be it. But to arbitrarily decide that it's "now or never" seems a bit forced, and could be a small leak. (I say small, because I rarely advise against NOT getting aggressive with a dwindling stack, because I like you, want to accumulate a big stack and not get too short)I think it's good we recognize this. It probably is better to be a little more patient, so I try to remember that good opportunities often present themselves and to trust your read/gut and go with it. I'd like to think being a little more aware of my patience level dropping might help me hang on just long enough for that great spot, instead of the decent spot presented.

This is complete overanalysis and generalization, but forgive me as I'm reading this thread now and I like what I'm reading so far. If you find yourself getting to the bubble with average/below average too often, you probably aren't opening up your game soon enough and need to get a little more aggressive sooner when you have the ability to put more pressure on your opponents with your stack.The second your stack becomes a shield and not a weapon, is when you rely very heavily on barreling through when a lot of players are there to call you down. It becomes a confrontation that you often can't win and won't find yourself getting deep enough (both stacked and in the tourney) to make a run at the FT and win. I understand, and this is complete generalization, that you're probably playing very solid, playing top hands, and doing what you can with them. I'm not advocating turning into a LAGnut overnight. Just recognize when your stack is still a weapon and use it as such before it's too late and you're once again below average at bubble time.

Cue the Rocky theme song as Obey talks like Rocky's old coach...... Great reads

[mtdesmoines 3]

When I really decide I want to play a tournament online... meaning.... hey.. im gonna sit down... and play patient... and play well......... I hardly ever make a bad play. The thing that I cant seem to overcome these days is getting over the hump... The hump for me... especially in full tilt's double stack 24+2's or double stack 100+9's on occasion is when im nearing the money bubble with a slightly below avg. stack... blinds are getting big... ill make a raise with a hand like 66-1010 or an AK/AQ... ill face a reraise for my whole stack... and get it in on a coinflip... but i havent had the "BIG FLIP" go my way at all. after getting especially frustrated a couple weeks ago, I actually started keeping track of coinflips AIPF... i've won slightly less than 30% of those coinflips in the last 2 weeks. Its really getting disgusting. Its to the point where I have my mouse over the x on the table window when i see that im in with a coinflip hand. Its gross.sorry.... as i was writing this i busted out of another tourney to guess what... sigh.

I like playing tourneys online, but I ran so bad on coinflips this summer that I just had to quit for a while. I'm like you in that, when it seems like something is happening, I keep track of it. In August, I lost 17 coinflips in a row. You cannot win tourneys when you run like that. So I quit playing online and focused on live play. For like the 100 billionth time. This week, I played 6 small $5 and $10 45-player SNGs, and final tabled 5 of them, placing second in two, losing the big stack in one to .... yeah ... three consecutive coinflips. Is it wrong to push 88 into a highly-aggressive player when you outchip him 4:1? Is it wrong to push AK into the same player when you outchip him 2:1? Yay. I'm not the best tourney player, anyway. But it sucks to run sucky.Anyway, I really like what Steve said about what Gus said -- it's imperative to constantly examine our game and apply what we know to the actions we take on the felt. And even more, when we know we're playing bad, should we even be there?

[antistuff 0]

I think most people say mistake free poker in tourneys, they mean that they do not get it all in with the worst of it.

thats a silly way to define a mistake. nobody has a hand until they flip their hand over, they have a range of hands. maybe you can say that if you got it in bad with your range there against theirs you made a mistake.