The downward spiral in confidence and poker

I'm sure I talked about this in other posts and I can't remember, but when your game goes down the tube and you don't know what you are doing anymore, lose confidence, etc etc, what do you do? Well this has happened to me over 2 months now since I took my shots at 100nl and haven't really figured out why I haven't got my game back on track. It has a lot to do with playing sessions and breaking even/losing. Which leads to your overall confidence going down. From there, you don't know what the heck to do. I tried to get back into it a while back watching a few videos, retooling which I thought I was my game, trying to do whatever I could. I was sick of myself and decided to try other games out like 6max again. To some it might be could to switch things up, but I think for me, it was a huge mistake and paid for it, literally. I honestly felt like I did back in April/May where I didn't know why I was playing this game. But then, something clicked in my brain and I thought to myself, how come I am not continually working on my full ring game like I was. Sure things weren't working out over the past few months, but it had a lot to do with me. I wasn't playing my A game at all, just my B or maybe even C. I think I just threw together everything I had worked so hard over my winning months and just mixed it in a blender and went on autopilot. Just mindlessly doing things to do it and that is just bad. I wasn't thinking about my game, my tables, the players, the cards, etc. I became a complete robot. Just trying anything I could to get my game back without thinking about it.

The time has come again to change that. Since December 4th, I've had a lot of things to think about and to continually get better at poker. A lot more concepts to work on and rework the things I did in the past. It all starts with one thing and you continue from there. So with that said, I am slowly getting back on track with my game and my results are getting better again, especially at 50nl where I couldn't even crush the game in October/November. I am thinking about every hand, every table, every opponent. Trying new things out that I would just in the past not think about. I went back to a few post I had wrote back months and months ago and reread some of stuff that made me get better and that has really helped as well. But like I said, I am redefining my game for the better if I want to move up and not be stuck at 50NL forever. So 2011 is hopefully going to breakthrough for me and past 50NL. 2010 was a fun ride, a lot of emotions, a lot of ups and downs, and it being my first year of playing poker professionally online. I have to say its been good and the best thing about it is getting to stay home with my babies. They are now 16 months and counting. It has been amazing none the less and I do it for my wife and kids. I'm hoping next year I can really make it happen and make more money than this year will be really helpful.

Hope you guys and gals have a great Christmas!!! A great New Year!!! I'll try and post something before the end of the year.

I also finally reached my 300k milestone bonus!!!

Best of luck on the journey!!

Jeff