Middle Position Problems

I have not had time to play online poker for a bit so I have compiled all my holdem manager stats into useful categories and analysed my play. The first of many leaks I am tackling is mid position play, for which I am too loose and not aggressive enough. This is another way of saying I am becoming the dreaded ‘loose passive’ or (shudder) ‘calling station.’ I hate calling stations and I especially hate watching my sordid stationy exploits on holdem manager replayer, as I limp into another pot without taking account of the table’s only solid player  laying wait in the big bind to insta-raise all the dead money. When you watch back hands it is easy to see how only a handful of mistakes per session can soon add up to losses in the long term.  All it takes is a few limps with 77 or A9 in middle position and before you know it you have slid down the slippery slope of station-dem and start thinking that King-10 suited is a hand.  I feel sick, sick to my stomach.  The worst part is that I have a horrible stubborn streak and will call cbets and donk leads a lot, compounding flop errors and juicing up pots I have no business entering in the first place.  When I have time to play again I am going on a strict diet of raise-only poker for a while. I am also going to stick to playing mostly on Saturdays which is by far the most profitable day of the week.

School's Out

I have developed a bad habit of trying to school my friends in poker games. It all started when one of my good friends complained that he was routinely getting spanked in cash games by a group of old uni friends.  I stepped up to the plate and decided to give him some tips on hand selection, and we now play occasional cash games for fun and to help him raise his game, with a view to him getting even on his old mates. As a micro stakes recreational player I don't claim to be a poker expert, but I think sharing the concepts of 'It's o.k to fold preflop sometimes' and 'You don't have to see every river' are fair enough, plus my friend needed some help with bet sizing to avoid comedy overbets. The trouble is I keep giving lessons to my other friends when we play in different games. Some of these lessons are necessary to help the game run smoothly such as bet sizing in proportion to the last bet or raise, and dealing protocol. However I sometimes go too far and have begun to chastise stupid plays:  I have become an annoying idiot and need to stop because if people want to minraise the river with airballs and bet 1/8th of the pot with third pair, it is not my place to tell them otherwise!