Not getting paid for 20 sets in a row on two-tone boards...

[d0zer]

...is almost enough to drive a man to slowplay em'


Help me stay strong FTR...

[spoonitnow]

Take it to the beats forum k thx

[d0zer]

Take it to the beats forum k thx

While this thread did start with the whine & cheese, it does bring up a point about the psychology of coolers...

I've found it hard not to let results-oriented thinking dominate my play when I run into a cooler as I have for the last 10k hands.

When I play big hands aggressively over and over and make nothing session after session, it really convinces me to start slowplaying in dangerous spots...and sure enough -- I get burned when I let villains complete their draws.

I had a situation last night where I flopped top set with my queens on a rainbow board, and played it fairly slow, and didn't extract maybe what I could have vs what was a fairly stationey villain holding KQ...

I think I know what I need to do: don't alter my style just because I'm on a cooler, but maybe I need to alter my style for 50NL. I'm finding that even villains with stationey stats take re-raises far more seriously than at 25NL.

Should I consider getting more fancy with my sets if there's no draws out there? is 50NL the time to start moving away from pure ABC poker, at least vs the TAGGy regs?

[BankItDrew]

If you know you're on a cooler, don't change anything. If you know you are not playing well, change something. I know it sounds obvious and you probably already know this, but there's not much more advice someone can give in this situation.

[mrhappy333]

sometimes taking a break helps, but this may not be possible if you make your living playing poker.

[pokerfan]

hmmm, i dont think its a good idea to get cute and play fancy stuff in your current games. Sometimes, you should mix up and bluff or semi-bluff with your strong drawing hands to balance out the times you value bet your flopped sets. Believe it or not, i have no problem laying down my sets given bad calling odds when villain complete his obvious draw and shove over. The mindset of never folding sets is just ridiculous :P

[redflea13]

Just take a quick break and get back at it.