What bad poker habit took you the longest to break?

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We all know that there is a learning curve to playing poker. We also know that sometimes, once we pick up a bad habit, it is hard to shake it. Combining these two things, I'm wondering what bad poker habits you had in the past that were the hardest to stop. Or maybe you still have a bad habit that you know isn't helping you, but you just can't help yourself.

For me, learning how to stop chasing losses during a slump in cash games took a long time to really conquer. It was often so tempting to "just play a bit longer" and try and win back what I had lost. Studying my hand history really helped me understand what I was doing and how it wasn't helping to be tilted and try and win back my buy-ins. Taking a break was a much better strategy that was easier to manage once I created a clear "stop/loss" amount. Once I hit that, I walked away from the table.

So, what bad poker habit did you conquer after some effort, or maybe you are still battling?
 
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Trying to catch flash or straight outs in any place or with any odds . Very bad habit , most of the times I couldn't hit what I wanted on the board , and when I hit I couldn't make the others pay me , so on the long run it was very bad . Now I control my calls , I look at the odds , I try to see if I have to bet or raise in specific situations rather than just call . I want good odds nowadays to go after a draw . And I call pre flop shoves with 2 or more with nice drawing hands , sth I never did in the past , cause in the past I always wanted to see the flop in order to play drawing flush or straight hand
 
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To not move up in limits to get back losses when things are not going my way. I still struggle with it from time to time but compared to years ago i definitely learned to accept losses and the fact that its not a good idea to move up when running bad.
 
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Not betting the correct amount to extract the most money!
 
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I used to play mostly SNGs online. My worst bad habit was to jump on the table that s filling up faster regardless of the stakes. I had played up to 10 times my usual buy-in just to play right away. The results were disastrous of course. But thqt was a while ago.
 
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nabmom said:
We all know that there is a learning curve to playing poker. We also know that sometimes, once we pick up a bad habit, it is hard to shake it. Combining these two things, I'm wondering what bad poker habits you had in the past that were the hardest to stop. Or maybe you still have a bad habit that you know isn't helping you, but you just can't help yourself.

For me, learning how to stop chasing losses during a slump in cash games took a long time to really conquer. It was often so tempting to "just play a bit longer" and try and win back what I had lost. Studying my hand history really helped me understand what I was doing and how it wasn't helping to be tilted and try and win back my buy-ins. Taking a break was a much better strategy that was easier to manage once I created a clear "stop/loss" amount. Once I hit that, I walked away from the table.

So, what bad poker habit did you conquer after some effort, or maybe you are still battling?
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I had a problem with bankroll management. This was the problem I struggled with the longest. I often spent more than my bankroll management allowed me to spend and it was a problem that significantly affected my results. But the last three years this problem has actually been solved, the last 3 years I have been playing disciplined and always within my limits.
 
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Putting too much of my bankroll at risk, took a few cycles of busto-reload to learn the lesson.
 
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I'm still adjusting, but I've been a Calling Station employee a lot.
 
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Never give up a good hand, even if it's a losing hand. My biggest problem is always reverting to mistakes I'd already overcome. Playing poker isn't like riding a bicycle; it's like playing the guitar—you have to practice every day and focus on progressing.
 
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Playing too scared. Not aiming to win but to min-cash. No more! That is behind me. Unless it makes sense in some way.
 
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For me, the hardest habit to break was definitely overplaying medium strength hands and calling too much on the river when I knew I was beaten. It's that classic "curiosity call" where you just have to see what they have, even though the logic tells you they have the nuts.
Just like you mentioned with chasing losses, it takes a lot of discipline to just fold and move on. Reviewing my sessions helped a lot, but it’s still a mental battle sometimes, especially during a rough session!
 
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For me, it was forcing the action after a bad beat. Whenever I lost a big pot, I felt the urge to win the chips back immediately. Instead of staying patient, I would start taking marginal spots and making emotional decisions.

Over time, I learned that poker doesn't owe me a comeback. The best response to a bad beat isn't aggression it's discipline. Taking a short break, reviewing hands, and sticking to my strategy helped me improve far more than chasing losses ever did.

I still have to remind myself that every tournament and session is just one small part of a much bigger journey. The goal is to make good decisions consistently, not to recover losses in a single hand.
 
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that your 2 hole cards are hardly ever anywhere near the most important piece of info in a hand... play the player and play the situation (position, stage of tournament) and what their 2 hole cards likely are... you dont always (in fact you often dont) need to have 2 good hole cards to win a hand 🙂
 
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The hardest habit for me to overcome was playing too many marginal hands just because I was bored. I would convince myself that suited connectors, weak aces, or random face cards were worth seeing a flop with, especially when I had been card dead for a while. In reality, I was simply getting impatient and putting myself in difficult spots after the flop.

Another habit I struggled with was focusing too much on short-term results. A bad beat or a losing session could affect my decision-making for the rest of the day. Over time, I learned to judge my play based on whether I made the correct decision, not whether I won the pot.

Even now, I still occasionally battle the urge to play longer than planned after a tough session. Having clear bankroll rules and session limits helps a lot, but I think discipline is something every poker player has to keep working on, no matter how experienced they become.
 
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nabmom said:
what bad poker habits you had in the past that were the hardest to stop. Or maybe you still have a bad habit that you know isn't helping you, but you just can't help yourself.
Click to expand...

The feedback loop of loss and risk aversion. Because the pain of a loss outweighs the satisfaction of a win, I often default to a safer style instead of the most profitable strategy. Poker reflects who you are, creating a constant internal battle to focus on process over outcome. Even with high self-awareness, emotions rule the world, making this habit hard to break.
 
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I’m pretty new to poker, so I’m still battling the bad decisions I make. Most of it is overcalling and playing too many hands when I probably should be folding. I know the right play in theory, but in the moment I don’t always stick to it yet. I’m working on plugging the leaks step by step.
 
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For me, the hardest habit to break was trying to force action when cards weren't cooperating.

I used to feel like I had to make something happen every orbit. Over time I learned that patience is a skill, not passivity. Some of the best decisions in poker are folds that never make the highlight reel.

I still have to remind myself of that occasionally, but far less than I did years ago. The urge never completely disappears, you just get better at recognizing it.
 
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Limping from the Small Blind. I used to always try to limp in from the SB or just call a raise from the SB. I think I lost a lot of money from playing in that position with weak hands. I am finally able to fold or raise from the SB (at least live).
 
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What I used to do, which caused me to lose much more when playing poker, was to play one level higher when I lost more than 4 buy-ins at my level, wanting to recover what I had lost and do it at a higher level; I wouldn't do that again.
 
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Over chasing draws, either straight or flash, I took me a very long time to understand and to learn that not every draw is worth chasing and that whatever is that you feel your opponent doesn't have might be the exact set they have
 
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Fear of bluffing. Bluffing is extremely important in poker and is an integral part of your growth as a player and your progression to higher limits.Once you begin to understand the situations and players you can bluff against, you'll begin doing it automatically. In fact, it won't even feel like a bluff anymore.
 
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I use to play any two cards in any position and I learned its not such a good idea to do that.
 
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If I used to play lying down I'd get sleepy, now when I play I do it sitting down
 
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The bad poker habit that took the longest to break was focusing on short-term results instead of decision quality. Improvement came from evaluating decisions objectively, reviewing hands, and understanding that good plays can lose while bad plays can win due to variance. Consistency improved once results no longer dictated confidence or emotions.
 
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Slow playing monster hands. Only when I understood this holistically ( letting your opponents realise their equity too easily, not getting value from strong hands , capping the strength of your value range) did I realise that in many spots it's a mistake.
 
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