definitively on tilt

I haven't posted for a while, partly because I didn't play for a bit, but then latterly because I've finished most sessions feeling pretty despondent. The last half dozen sessions I've played I've ended up down, usually to the tune of at least one buy-in ($5).

Some of it I can put down to bad luck - getting Aces cracked on the river by Queens, or AK being sucked out by A5, but that doesn't explain away most of it. I've diagnosed a huge leak as getting into pots with 'trouble hands'. I was re-reading Brunson and had an epiphany that most of the hands I'd lost a big chunk on were listed in his 'trouble hands' section. In particular AJ - I think that hand alone has cost me about $10!

So, tonight I resolved to tighten up. I wrote down notes on playing each hand type and made sure to put a big box around all the trouble hands to remind me. With this new, sensible style I was feeling confident....

...I lost my stack again, plus most of almost all of a smaller buy-in. Fittingly a chunk of it was on AJ, but in my defense, I did have 2 pairs when I got nailed by the flush draw.

Weirdly, I actually seem to do worse when I tighten up - I think because by playing fewer hands I'm picking up fewer small pots when no-one hits on the flop. Although, crucially, I seem to have forgotten how to get value out a hand when I have one. I can't remember the last big hand that I was in where I got all my money in and got paid off, with the exception of when I've already been knocked down to a short stack and so 'all-my-money' is about $1.80. Twice I've had quads in the last two days and got not much more than $1 for them each time. A lot of the time that's just luck in not having an opponent with a good hand to bet at, but it still adds up to me losing big and winning small, which is not the correct way round!

Anyway, I clearly need to really look at how I play. I need to sit down and actually work out whether my bluffs are costing me more than they're making, whether I'm playing good hands too fast or too slow, in particular whether I'm paying too much on chasing draws. And I need to fix it soon before I run out of money...

UPDATE: A history of one of the last hands I played tonight:

#Game No : 6375758021
***** Hand History for Game 6375758021 *****
$5 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, October 01, 19:26:01 ET 2007
Table Table 130478 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 4: e_r_c ( $0.54 USD )
Seat 2: psycow777 ( $5.04 USD )
Seat 1: LeonOrellano ( $7.53 USD )
Seat 9: Ocean53 ( $5.82 USD )
Seat 10: neato451 ( $6.17 USD )
Seat 3: Jan145111 ( $4.94 USD )
Seat 5: Hurdy_G ( $4.94 USD )
Seat 8: akrde ( $5 USD )
Seat 7: Tante_Kaete ( $2.16 USD )
Seat 6: korningg ( $0 USD )
akrde posts small blind [$0.02 USD].
Ocean53 posts big blind [$0.04 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to e_r_c [ Td 2s ]
neato451 folds
korningg has joined the table.
LeonOrellano folds
psycow777 folds
Jan145111 folds
e_r_c calls [$0.04 USD]
Hurdy_G folds
Tante_Kaete folds
akrde calls [$0.02 USD]
Ocean53 checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ac, Jc, 8c ]
akrde checks
Ocean53 checks
e_r_c bets [$0.12 USD]
akrde folds
Ocean53 folds
e_r_c shows [ Td, 2s ]high card Ace.
e_r_c wins $0.24 USD from the main pot with high card, Ace.

psycow777: cool
e_r_c: that was my homage to doyle brunson