fidelinos

Today, I tilted hard. I found myself calling down in spots where I knew I should fold, almost out of self-pity, feeling like the game is always stacked in favor of the villain. I’m overwhelmed with sadness right now. During one particular hand, I kept telling myself about all the value hands the villain could have, knowing he wouldn’t shove worse, making it a clear fold. And yet—I clicked call. What the hell is wrong with me?

Right now, the pressure feels crushing, like I won’t be able to make it, and it’s eating me up inside. I don’t understand why I can’t just hit that fold button. Fuck…

The last two days have gone quite well.

Yesterday, I chose to play at regular tables. The slower pace allowed me to focus more and take my time with each move—a crucial part of my process. I played with clarity and didn’t encounter many tough decisions, which likely contributed to my stable mindset. Or perhaps my mindset was already in a good place, allowing me to approach each spot with composure.

I also had a moment of self-reflection: At the start of a session, I held back from 3-betting KQs (SB vs. BTN) and instead chose to call, partly to include the BB, who seemed like a high VP player. The real reason, though, was that I didn’t want to risk losing the blinds I had just won in the previous hand.

Keeping this journal has been helpful in recognizing moments like these—it allows me to observe my decisions and mental state more closely.

Lastly, I stuck to my plan and took a break by sitting out, even though I was tempted to keep playing.

Hello Matt,

Thank you for your comment. Indeed, I'm focusing more on developing my skills, studying more than before and working on building a solid foundation.

I’m also facing the beast within—my Anger-Sadness-Tilt mindset—but I’m tackling it head-on.

Starting a new session: planning to play for 2 hours with a 10-minute break in between.

Break: Feeling down—haven't won a single hand, and every board feels dry, offering no value. Hesitated to bluff a hand, and after losing a couple of big ones, I played the next few hands too passively, almost on autopilot. Admittedly, there's sadness while I'm playing.

Second Hour: Ran poorly, down about 5 buy-ins. Felt a deep sadness mid-session but gradually recovered while playing. Kept catching myself thinking, “I can’t win a single hand.”

Now, feeling better as I wrap up and head to bed.

GL all!

adding a graph

Started a new session with a plan: 1 hour of play, a quick 10-minute break, then another hour before calling it. In hindsight, sitting down to play instead of resting was a poor choice—I was exhausted and it showed in my game. Played poorly, felt the fatigue, and thankfully decided to quit early.

Long time no see

A few months ago, I made the decision to get back to poker after a long break. I was eager to see how much I had evolved, but soon found myself revisiting familiar struggles.

I remembered an old post of mine where I had talked about these exact feelings. Here I am, once again, facing the same challenges.

But this time, I’m trying a different approach. I'll be focusing on what I believe is my biggest leak—the mental game. In one of my next posts, I’ll outline my strategy for it.

For now, my goal is simple: play, then sit out and write down my emotions as they unfold.

Today's Session:
First 15 minutes: I called three small bets against a recreational player—a mistake. Instantly, I felt the negativity creeping in. Almost simultaneously, I lost a flip at another table. Both situations left me confused, and I could feel myself starting to tilt. I stopped to jot down how I was feeling. Noticed my speed of clicking had gone up, a clear sign of losing focus.

10-minute break: At the end of the hour, I lost another flip—this one I may have misplayed by 4betting when I should have just called preflop. Immediately after that, I caught myself wanting to loosen up and play more recklessly, but I didn’t give in. Recognizing this pattern was key—it’s something I need to work on.

Goal for today: Simply observe my emotions and thoughts during the game, nothing else.

Second hour: The entire session felt like a grind. I tilted during one hand trying to bluff a rec, which left me frustrated with myself. In another hand, where I was very strong, my mind became foggy when the pot grew large, and I ended up playing too fast again.

Main takeaway: Slowing down my pace is crucial. It’s one of my biggest goals moving forward.

By keeping this focus on my mental game, I believe I can start turning these patterns around. This time, it's not just about improving my technical skills—it's about mastering my emotions at the table.

And Poker Stars , Fuck you too !

Hello Daz !

How did all this end?
I am in a running bad weeks and wondered

thank you

Thank you

What do we make out of his small bet on turn?

If villain range contains QQ which he would check on turn, how are we shoving river oop? KK nad QQ isn’t mostly his checking range on turn?

Why bet bigger ?
I have mentioned some check raise combos at the top, why would you choose AJ ?

With our range and AJ . Feels so weak to give him a cheap river, no?

So how should we act vs his .30 bet on turn?

Samu,
dont you agree that even the raise on flop is not that strong with FD? I mean its obvious that we dont have 99 KK QQ- we would have 3bet them pre, and we have more combos of FD there and K9 Q9-which on turn are not that strong any more.

Nice comment, thank you. well noted

Thank you Kalupso !! Always a pleasure reading your comments

I would fold AJ there ;(

Villain was a reg. on the tight side with stats 15/11/3bet5 / 4b3.% - fold to 3bet 70%.
so this is why i thought he has mostly an Ax and hoped to made him fold.
I agree with reason you gave for K9dd being a bad combo to bluff river.

** I don't agree with betting all of our range on the flop.
we have Tx KK QQ JJ 99 88 lower Ax all of which I wouldn't want to bet.

Let's assume we were playing 1/2, is K9dd a good combo to bluff river?

i quit poker today !

I am not that good in poker to answer that , gl

Samu, do you agree with bet size on flop ?
wouldn't be better to go bigger? 1/2 ?

thank you all for your replies. Happy you we all agree, bad play by me.

I believe QJs is a nice hand to call in the BTN. plays nicely on a lot of boards vs V's opening range. We have a lot better hands to 3bet with. \
If though we decide to 3b it, then i would rather cbf with QJhh or dd. Also we have stronger hands in our 3b range to bet there like AA KK QQ ...

V's calling range pre has all 66- QQ , and honestly dont know how we have some 8x.

Maybe with a bigger bet we get him to fold some but dont see how this play is profitable .