1: Write down your leaks, make sure the one that impacts your winrate the greatest is sitting on top of the list.

2: Figure out which one or which two are responsible for more than half your bad decisions and just focus on those for now.

3: Create habits that help you stay away from triggering those leaks.
For instance: to fix playing bad preflop in certain spots you can make your own charts on preflop play.

Ex: CO play:
Charts for:
- 3bet and flat range vs utg open
- 3bet and flat range vs hj open
- open range when folded to us
- 4bet and flat range vs button 3bet
- 4bet and flat range vs sb 3bet
- 4bet and flat range vs bb 3bet

Do this for every position. You now have your strategy preflop written down for 90% of preflop spots and you stick to it. You should only modify it when not playing, when you are doing off table analysis.

When you are 100% your leak is gone you can start exploiting people with leaks and going off your charts in some spots.

For postflop play: try to see how your preflop ranges hit certain boards vs how opponents hit it. Use Flopzilla or CREV. for postflop. Set your postflop strategy accordingly.

Do this for most board textures.

The more certain you are that your gameplan is good, the more likely you are to follow it and not go bananas. So work hard!

Hope this helps!

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated! Breaking down position ranges is a great idea, i'll try that!

Aside from poker I also do some trading and they are similar in a lot of ways, risk/reward etc. They're also very similar in that people go busto for exactly the same behavioural reasons! You're not alone and your behaviour isn't abnormal.

One of the first things I was taught in trading is that it's human nature to try and take profit (reduce risk) when you are winning and chase your losses (take more risk) when you are losing. You are just being human! The problem is that it's entirely the wrong way to be for a game like poker and life in general. You need to be playing more when you are winning and less when you're losing. I'd suggest setting a cutoff limit, say 10 buyins, (I don't know, I don't play cash) if you lose this amount you simply stop playing for a few hours or the rest of the day, maybe go study some aspects of your game. This applies whether you lose 10 buyins straight out of the gate or if you're crushing and are up 30 but then take a hit and lose 10. At this point you have to identify that you are losing and not try to chase your losses and get to where you were. Everyones tolerance for this is different and I know we hear stories of epic high stakes battles with wild swings each way but if the swings affect your play at all then I think having a built in cutoff point is the best way to protect your capital and ensure you're playing in the best state of mind.

I have a written set of rules for my portfolio that tell me when I'm allowed to take more risk (move up the stakes) and if I hit a bad patch I have rules to tell me to take less risk (move down stakes) until I can grind my losses back up. It's a hard thing to do and I struggled with it at first but when you see how much more profitable it makes you, you'll be converted.

Ultimately you're the only one who can hold yourself accountable to your rules so you have to be disciplined enough to follow them and not cheat.

Thank you for the advice, really appreciate it. I know what your saying is true about dropping in stakes when you take a big hit and try to grind it back up but thats where my leak is, its a bitter pill to swallow and I just cant seem to do it! My thought process is that if I go up in stakes I can get the money back I lossed with a couple of winning hands and then go back down, which is an awful mindset, as in Poker, you are going to lose, its as simple as that! No matter how well you play! I just need to drill this logic into myself when I lose and turn it into something positive, as when you lose you learn!

Read about Jared Tendler's The Mental Game of Poker and the processes for doing mental game histories as well as how to profile and deal with tilt.

one of the easiest ways to turn a profit at this game is to play overrolled for your stakes. it feels good to have a losing session but still have a shit ton of buyins behind you.

I have read also Jared Tendler's books The Mental Game of Poker which has helped me a lot to understand the game. I have watched an amazing videos of him which has been added in Leak Buster page on controlling tilt.

Why do I get such bad luck?! (Coming from the man who plays poker online in a warm house as he's privileged enough to get the internet in a first world country)

lel, made my day c: , but iz tru 4 me as wel, not realizing how lucky i am, being healthy and having internet and oportunitiez

Not being able to quit a losing session. I cant walk away after losing, when I know inevitably its going to happen anyway!

dont think u should quit just cuz u losing

Poker is not a race. I know you know this, but try to not look at results. The ability to make the "right" decision over time produces what you're looking for ($). I've spent so much time doing the same thing as you. Know you will win and lose and that one session doesn't defy you as a player. Write down goals and meditate and visualize them every day. Set your intentions. Control yourself.

I'm convinced that if you can increase your self awareness and stop playing when you're not in an optimal state, it will produce amazing results. I think most people on this forum have a solid technical game. Or better than amateur and cresting on semi-pro/pro...anyway I know a player who plays DONs and low stakes SNGs (10-22$) and make close to 2250-2500$ a month. He simply has the best mental control and only plays when he is playing his A-game. Certainly an A-game is not needed at his stakes but he simply uses poker to supplement his income. Where his A-game is needed, as playing the least amount to hit his monetary goals. It's humbling watching his methods. I think just the tone of your post you need to take a break or find a way to get a positive mindset towards the game again. Yesterday, live, I got AA vs KK in AIPF and lost. I felt nothing and was super proud of how disconnected I've become to results. I reloaded and grinded for another three hours and won 168$ after being stuck 500$. Not significant figures but neat to see my personal progression. I've listened to all Mindset advantage podcasts and can't recommend them enough. Thought provoking for me, at least. Being positive is so plus EV in life.