i think ive lost my poker buzz

TINTIN

as we all know poker is a game of ups and downs, well ive hit a down. now i dont mean at the tables and its all went wrong far from it. i cant complain how my year has went as ive been a consistent winner every month ive just lost my spark to get up and play.

now many of you know i log some long hours at the tables and just last month i put in enough time to break into the priority club but since achieving the feat ive hit a bit of a comedown. ive not played much at all so far this month and im struggling for some motivation. ive had a few distractions in the house with some guests staying and the olympics being on tv certainly got most of my attention.

ive had spells like this before and and a few days away or splash about in a few tourneys normally sets me ok but its now approaching the longest period ive felt like this in over a year. i could be suffering from some burnout.

the last couple of weeks has seen me play only about 6 days of the month so far and 2 of those i would call semi serious where ive tried to put in a session but just couldnt keep the mind going. i need to re focus on things. i need a plan, something that re ignites the flame.

ive thought about stripping the br back and returning to my roots at nl4 and playing like i used to for a while or taking more time off but the long i stay away the harder i find getting back into my routine.

help me out, give me your thoughts for me to consider

Lambert180

Sorry to hear that TinTin... by the way I have no idea what your real name is?

It's no wonder you got burn-out to be honest, bearing in mind the crazy amount of volume you put in last month to get priority.  You can tell how crazy it was by how shocked people were that you could even get priority just from 10NL.

It's happened to me a couple of times and I absolutely love poker and have done since I was about 14. I think the best thing to do is just take a little break. If you really don't feel like playing then you won't enjoy and you're almost certainly not playing your best.

Take some time out and if you really love the game then I'm sure it won't be long before you've got a real hunger for the game again. And I do mean a complete break... only when you completely stop yourself from playing will you realise how much you miss it. If you play the odd mess-about game you'll just prolong the lack of enjoyment.

Paul

rawhand

1: Make sure you get enough sleep, food, and breaks. Make sure you get some physical activity once in a while - it can do wonders for improving your concentration. Make sure you get some free time and don't think about poker while you're not playing, so that you actually feel rested and relaxed when you're back at the tables - otherwise you'll always end up just having a "short-term burnout”

2:Your body works on energy (food, sleep) which powers your willpower. The more willpower you have the better you can control what you do.

Doctor rawhand gl

Swog

i feel exactly the same, not been playing for a good few months now. Really don't get that buzz anymore and feel that it isn't allowing me to play to the best of my ability, which again leads to bad play.

I will be looking at this thread with interest and hope some decent advice is posted, and our enjoyment is refound.

Good luck
Arron.

percival09

Agreed. My lust for poker has unfortunately disappeared. I say unfortunately, surely it's only a good thing. 

percival09

And yeah that's right, I was sexually attracted to poker. 

oynutter

Salmon fishing works!

IDONKCALLU

i suffer with burnout a fair bit just take a break u wnt win when not fully focused and tired like rawhand says u will play ya best poker when in a good mood relaxed and fully focused take a break as carlo would say its a never ending game it be back 2moro

rancid

when it all becomes super standard. take a break - play another form of poker or format

plus have a look at your play, has it become so robotic that you have stopped thinking about the game

TINTIN

cheers for the responses so far.

quite a few interesting points for me to consider so far, will have a think about them and take them on board and construct a better reply tomorrow

Curt360x27

Just played my first session for over 2 weeks today and it feels great when you haven't played for ages. I think after a break is probably when you play your best as you are forced to concentrate fully since you haven't played for a long period of time, whereas when your playing constantly your in 'auto pilot'. 

If you feel your losing interest in the game then I would suggest you move up in stakes. Obviously only do this if your BR allows, 40 BI+ would probably be enough to give it a go. You could also try adding a tournament or 2 while your playing cash. I would probably choose a tournament from another site with a big prize pool just to keep you interested and therefore focused for longer periods of time. 

GL

devonfish5

hi tintin,
been there myself m8,not enloying my poker and worse still not knowing what to play.
that's when i came up with my £40 to £1000 challenge.
best thing i did as it got me focussed on what to play and also has given me the motivation to really grind again.
if i were you, i would take a few days off maybe a week and get back to your roots.
set yourself a challenge as i did.i would also play shorter sessions say 3 to 4 hours at a time.
some thoughts for you anyway.
gl

dev

CrazyBen23

I get bored constantly playing 6max aswell, i drift onto plo, sometimes reasonably high stakes, end up with massive swings and at the end think if only i carried on grinding 6max for the last few week...after my bankroll takes a firm kick in the balls

liamboi11

sorry to hear how your feeling m8

my advice is pretty much the same take a break do other things outside poker spend time with the family and friends or withdraw some of your roll and treat yourself or as curt said move up a level if bankroll allows you 2.

we all lose our drive sometimes but after your break you come back refreshed and start enjoying the game and playing to your best again.

TPTP123

This is the point where poker becomes a grind, and you go from bringing your A-Game to your D-Game, and then tilt/make mistakes you wouldn't usually make.  Than go on to chase loses, play players/games/stakes you wouldn't usually play.

Belittling the hard work you've cracked out in the past. Avoid this!!!!!

I usually experience this when I've been away or don't have access to my PC for a few days// Seriously Fs up my Poker Zen Routine.  If I were you I would take a break for a little while, read some poker books or play some live games or something that'll re-motivate you to play online - and if you don't get re-motivated to play, then buy something nice and enjoy it.

Much better than decapitating your roll imo.

Maggiesdad

Have a look in the pockets of the jeans that you wore last.........

The_Don90

As Lambert says given the amount you play im really not suprised you've burnt out mate. The hours you just put in is simply just Insane... 

Only thing you can do it take a week or two off. 

GaryQQQ

I'd also recommend taking a break, it being of a set length decided in advance. You must stick to it 100%, ie not a single hand of poker allowed (though it's fine to read forums/books, watch poker videos etc).

It worked for me; I took a self-enforced 7 week complete break in the second half of 2010. The main reason had nothing to do with poker, but my love of the game had definitely gone a bit stale at the time. When I returned I found I enjoyed the poker more than ever, I also had my best run of results ever. If you look at my Sharkscope graph pretty it's easy to spot the exact moment; the previously almost horizontal line suddenly started to go a lot more vertical.

Slykllist

Buy a bike, get out and take some exercise, spend some time with those who are most important to you be it wife, kids, family or friends and enjoy yourself away from the table, re-focus and come back when you're ready.

I wouldn't recommend stripping out the BR as it's really tough to adjust to lower levels, I've done it and struggle mentally to take it as seriously. 

FlashFlush

Everyone gets this. I am just coming out of the other side of it and starting to play again now.

Don't force it, you won't play well. The problem is you have been aiming for a target, now you have made the target you are relaxing. Just leave poker alone for a while. Wait until you WANT to play. Use your winnings to live a bit, go out with friends, spend time with family, all the things you have sacrificed to get on the grind. You will know when the time is right to play, you will get the love for the game back.

Enjoy your break and see you in a few weeks when there are more fish at the tables :P. I bet you come back a better player as well

walesboy

hi m8
i echo the comments about taking a break
do other things for a bit and don't think about poker
variety the spice of ......
no point doing it if you do't enjoy it, you'll just end up disliking it and/or making mistakes and not caring

as you told me, poker will always be there waiting for you

all the best

foldUfairy

It's definately that heavy grind to get priority at 10nl that has burned you out. I get burned out playing any longer than 2 hour sessions on the cash tables so the amount of volume you must of put in to reach prority is incredible, but is more than likely the reason you feel the way you do.

It has basically already been said in previous posts but i would take some time off and study, i find watching videos of decent hands makes me want to play.

Also i'm not sure what your bankroll is but if you have moved up from 4nl and you have just reached priority at 10nl then why not move up to 20nl get your bearings and play less volume.

I'm motivated by trying to move up the levels and i'm sure once you are used to 20nl play it won't be as much a grind to get priority as the previous level.

Best of luck anyway in finding your spark to play again, i'm sure you will soon enough.

AMYBR

How do.  I also have felt this way for last few months, pretty much why I havent been posting much.

I have always been a live player in the main, but do go through phases of pounding the hours online.  I think just the sheer volume I was playing online just made me so robotic that much of the thrill went away.  Committed to 4 - 6 tabling 6 max NL50 - 200 for a significant part of my day, depending on mindset and focus. 

Thrill came back for a while studying to play 300+bb stacks but that evaporated pretty quickly also.  I think maybe you hit the nail on the head talking of burnout.  I mean its pretty common for all players to take a break from the table and freshen the perspective and take stock of things.

Frustratingly putting in so much time online has kind of killed some of my love for the live game. 

My attempt at a soloution is that am trying to play a bit less, but taking time to sat into/or buy in direct to more meaningful live & online MTT's (which is my preferred format as a a whole) where each decision will be more thoughtful/situational rather than just crunching the hands. 

But I think dabbling into alternative formats is great advice also.  PLO ftw

subzero1

I bet a mate of mine had wished he'd lost his poker buzz when a few years ago he got himself in to £30,000 worth of debt because A he was a bad player and B he played at stakes well out of his range.Last i heard he was still paying the debt off 3 years later.A lesson to us all...

TINTIN

i must thank you all for posting with suggestions, even the light hearted ones they made me laugh.

im going to play it day by day seeing how i feel. i have decided when i do log on to the tables i am gonna take a step back to begin with. its more to do with building some confidence back up.

there has been suggestions about withdrawing some money and spending elsewhere, well i had already done this since i had a decent month in july so my br is pretty much back to the min for what i would like to play nl10 so stepping back will help me in this respect.

when i hit these mini phases i always dabble elsewhere. i play a few tourneys (terribly) and muck about playing a little plo micro dyms just to change the thought processes so i kinda glad some of you made suggestions similar

once again many thanks and i will see some of you at the tables at some point.

good luck to you all

JPW33

So 90% said take a break and your not doing that ??? you cannot have lost your buzz that much then ?

TINTIN

In Response to Re: i think ive lost my poker buzz:

So 90% said take a break and your not doing that ??? you cannot have lost your buzz that much then ?
Posted by JPW33

i said im playing it day by day which means im not taking a set amount of days off, ie i not saying im taking the nxt 2 weeks off then in a few days time i feel good.

i also followed that statement up with " when i do log back on to the tables"

so as you can see i have said and following peoples advice that im stepping back from playing for how long im not sure

pod1

im not playing much at all now. im pretty much an "all or

 nothin kinda person". spending most of my time either on or tinkering with my motorbike. i did a track day recently and got the bug for racing. going all in pre for your tourny life or hitting the nutz in cash whilst 300 bb deep is one way of getting your kicks, going round a bend at 100 + with your knee scraping on the ground is another.

gl in what ever you decide, phil

unknown_username

Hi Tin Tin

Why not learn two new skills at the same time. One a new variant of poker and the other a skill, say golf. One has money rewards the other doesn't. As you start to learn and become better at each, you may see that contentment is key. If the buzz for poker in comparison isn't there then stop...simple. You then have something else to put in its place. I was the reverse. avid for golf and found poker. Golf is still there but in the background more because of recent medical probs/ moving further away from my course etc ut i still call it a hobby. At timesi'm not playing so much but still utting too much time into poker. Its a matter of BALANCE....
This may seem a mad idea but at least itsdifferent and may allow you to consider if the financial side is creating a problem. Pryce6 has written a very honest blog recently in which he is considering packing poker in complately. Read it as it isvery good and may help you to see whether you are at the same place as he is...good luck anyway...