Message Board : Dealing with Burnout!

Well, I’m a bit of a dabbler so I can relate.   But I think you can see the glass as half full, too.   If you’ve enjoyed the learning process in hold ‘em up to this point, great!   If you’d rather spend your time learning something else for now, great!

 Different people are motivated by different things.   At present I’m working to keep get better at NLHE (and some LHE) because I tell myself that the money I win will subsidize my lessons at stud, HORSE, badugi, triple draw, etc.   But mostly I want to play lots of B&M, and except at very low or very high stakes — or for geographical concentrations like mid-limit stud on the East Coast — that means some form of hold ‘em.

I think part of it is oversaturation as much as burnout.  The is so much NL on TV and played online.

As for keeping focus, I’m still working on the intermediate part and my game is still growing pretty steadily so I haven’t reached that plateau where interest can wane.

I find that when I am playing too many hands online and am in the doldroms, I like to play live card games.  Not necessarily poker, but hearts, spades, whist, bridge, cribbage, pitch, whatever.  I find social games with cards really, really enjoyable.  Time off is good too.

BTR, I am familiar with what you are talking about. I am not a poker expert but rather I approach it from the direction of mathematics and engineering which has been my career for the last 27 years.

There is an old Zen saying: "In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are few." You have beginner’s mind in all those other games you mentioned. This is always a fun thing because of the many possibilities you perceive. It’s a little like walking around in a big open scenic field on a nice sunny day.

But then if you decide to study, to become an expert - well then the possibilities start to decrease. The field starts to shrink. At times it can even feel like there are walls closing in on you. The fun starts to decrease. It may even go away completely.

This makes the transition difficult. Not everyone can make it through. But if you get through to the other side, and become an expert - then there are rewards there that make it all worthwhile. Not only because you can win more money playing poker, but also because the feeling of accomplishment will carry over into other things that you do. You know that you accomplished something good once, therefore you know you can do it again.

As Ed wrote in one of his articles, when you reach this stage you know it. The knowledge will come from within, and you will not be in doubt.

My advice is to play all those other games, and specifically avoid learning too much about them. Enjoy Beginner’s Mind wherever you can. After all, it’s fun! But if you play any of those games for money then of course prudence dictates that you should play at low limits where the loss is not a burden. Think of it as entertainment, much like paying for a night out at a resturant or a movie.

At the same time, continue to study and analyze your hold’em game and continue improving. There’s no hurry. You can take breaks from it as you go. The feeling of accomplishment in this direction will be it’s own reward.