Trying to get better

I realized this weekend that I am not nearly as good of a poker player as I used to be. I used to be patient, grind away, and pick my spots. There were games that I could beat regularly and reliably. On occasion, I would take shots at a bigger game without fear because I knew that I could always drop stakes and recover. Not so anymore.

What caused this decline in my abilities? In part, it was the short-handed games and the no limit games and especially the short-handed no limit games. These games require aggression bordering on maniacal. Essentially, I have forgotten the fundamentals of poker. Play tight. Play good hands aggressively. I have gotten too loose and I am playing virtually every hand aggressively.

My current plan is to start playing full-ring $0.50/$1.00 limit hold'em at Party. I played a bit last night and I won $2 in 100 hands. That seems like a good start, but it was actually a horrible session. I played trouble hands out of position and got burned. I would miss a flop and bet/call/raise to the river without improving. In the end, I caught a couple of big hands, which covered for my mistakes, but I essentially got lucky.