blonde poker forum

G'day Blondeites.
Did you ever have one of those days when you get out of bed and stub your toe; then you go downstairs and there's no milk; then the car won't start; then you get reprimanded for being late to work; then you get a puncture on the way home; then the dog goes walkabout and you spend half the evening wandering the streets whistling like a demented Roger Whittaker; then you forget dinner was in the oven?
Well, my bad 'day' is a bad 'two months', in poker terms. I'm crashing out of live games when I'm well ahead as the chips go in. I've lost every 60-40 lately, lost some 70-30's, too, and last night I even lost with Rockets when Mr. King-Ten became Mr. Flush.
To be honest, I just can't play any better and it's becoming really frustrating now. Demoralisation is setting in. I know things will turn around eventually, but in the meantime is there anything meaningful that anyone can say to help raise my spirits?
Thanks for listening.
Trev.

Rover

Its a harsh game when you are running bad, trust me I know!

I have had it ever since winning my WSOP seat, and not just online either, live as well.

Suffering the most sickest outdraws, but it happens!

Just TRY and not let it get you down, I do, and yes it is hard and so far I have only "blown" up once - see http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=17439.0

No advice really, just plough through it, maybe play less? But that just makes the bad run seem longer. Take a break? I really dont know.

Just make sure you play your own game. And chin up m8, it happens to us all

Let me try and make u feel better, here are a few examples of tourneys I have played since that "one of those days" post:

LIVE £200 omaha - deep into comp I have  Ahrt Aspades 8h 9h 2 limpers in front of me, I raise the pot. All fold to the 2nd limper who says "I will set u all in and gamble" he has  Ac Tc 4d 6s
FLOP  5c 7c Td
Turn blank
River CLUB!

ONLINE Sat for 5 Gold Ring fessie, I have 44 one from cut off and raise it up. Button flat calls. Flop 4 Q 10 (rainbow), I check, button bets the pot, I move all in, they call for all their stack with JJ and river a J
ONLINE Same SAT as above, I loose 2 races with 10 10 to AQ and AK, both times I have raised and have been re raised all in.
ONLINE $5k comp. 3 hands in i see a flop in the BB with 10 8. Flop A 10 8. I check , the 4 limpers make a small bet and all call. I raise by 500 more. One caller. Turn blank, I move all in, he calls with K Q and rivers a Jack.
See?
Aint Poker great.

Rover, the other point I would make is that no one is really interested in hearing bad beat/luck stories.

One off bad beats I can understand why no one wants to hear them. The trouble is that people do not see exactly how many you suffer in a long stretch.

Flame away m8, but dont expect too much sympathy or indeed help.

Be lucky m8

Dont i listen to every bad beat story ?!?!?   ;yellowcard;

Rover, the only thing I can say is we've all been there, and we will all go there again.

A big part of being a top class poker player is not only how well you play the game, but how well you cope when it all goes wrong.

When I am having a bad time I do one of two things - either go and play another game (usually limit stud or PLO8), or go and play in a game I know I can beat.

The problem with a run of beats is that it can sap confidence and make you start doubting your own game - it can also result in you adjusting your game to fix problems that are not there.

A few wins, or winning sessions, normally restores my confidence - even if it is at a lower level than usual.

Hope it turns round soon.

Jak.

A little advice that is mostly theoretical, but occasionally works for me in the practical sense.

They say you should always know where your edge is.

A great big wad of that edge will be determined by how you handle the lean times. When I'm having one of those days, I seek solice in the fact that the other guy will handle this run of bad luck much worse than I will.

Play a blonde $5 sat ..... I love playing these when im showing signs of tiltage .... nothing makes you feel better than out drawing a pal and if you dont hit, at least the chips are going to someone you know :)

Perhaps you could attempt on adapting your game so you don't rely on showdowns to win your chips....

All advice taken on board.
Thanks to everyone, much appreciated.
Roll on the next game  ;)

Brilliant post!

This is an area that I can use some help.
Am an adequate cash game player and (thanks to the wardonkey bible) profitable at STT's.

But although I enjoy MTT's I lose money playing them.

Early stages tend to do ok, but really struggle when I have 20BB's or less.

More often than not I get it in with the best of it, but know for sure that I end up in too many showdowns therefore am bound to lose one eventually.

Any help with what actions I should be looking to take when I have 10 - 20BB's would be appreciated.

Jak.

James, I dont tend to rely on showdowns, just occassionally though, I may raise first and get re raised all in. Am I supposed to pass ALL the time??

Alot of bad beats (not just mine) come from trapping someone to stick all their chips in the middle (most of the time on the flop or turn) with just 2 or 3 outs - only for them to catch - This has nothing to do with "relying on showdowns", this is "running bad" which happens to us all (as you well know m8).

As been said, its how you handle these situations thats hard. Especially when it seems like the world is against you and its over an extended period.

I am certainly no newcomer to the game, and i can handle the odd beat or small bad run - as its all part of the game. But an extended period of the "same ole 5hit" is alot harder to cope with, which is what I think Rover is experiencing.

You have 10-20 BBs, what does everyone else have? This dictates how you should play.

If there are 5 players, all who have 10-20 BBs, and you have 20BBs then you should avoid races.*

If there are 6 players, and they all have 25 BBs+, you should be more willing to stick your chips in when you think you have an edge.


*Spot who the callers are, if you come over the top with AK, and they call every time with 66, you're better hanging onto your chips. This true if you're in a good spot to pick up a couple of just the blinds pots, and coast into the money.

No doubt Paul i am losing every big pot i get into at the moment, in situations like when you describe, the hand forces you to get it in.

Thankfully though i often have chips back because of the way i manage my stack throughout a tournament. As i have said before many times if you only ever get your chips in when you are ahead in an MTT then you will be a MASSIVE LOSING player.

I agree, except for the word massive.

Which is a good thing really, massive losers don't come back too often.

I agree m8, managing your stack throughout a tourney is of VITAL importance.

Ths is something I needed to improve on , and have managed to do so over the last 2 years, proved by the fact that in tourneys now (live and online) I have a stack at the business end of a tourney, rather than just managing to "survive".

Even doing this, you can still loose your stack VERY quickly if a couple of hands dont go your way. Nothing you can do about it in certain situations.

This is why I love poker though, so so much to learn ALL the time, and no two situations are ever the same.

They are, they keep coming back assured in their own heads they are winning players because they get it in ahead. A player who is super lose knows he is super lose and is normally aware he is a loser. A player who is too tight normally thinks he is just unlucky and believes 'his luck will turn soon'

The latter is the one most likely to return, and as such do more money than the first.

James, I agree with what you say.

However,,, it is STILL possible to go on a bad run for en extended period of time, no matter HOW you play tourneys - thats the luck/variance factor and there is NOTHING you can do about it.

My point is, it is not just weak/tight players than have bad runs - so when someone says to me that they are on a bad run, I DO NOT assume they are weak/tight.

I'm not saying they don't.

The OP said:


I just don't think thats the case!

That phrase is based on the fact that I have limited experience and knowledge and am still learning every single day.
Given the standard I have reached, just lately I can't play any better than I have been doing. I have analysed my last 10 games to the 'n'th degree and cannot find a single error. I don't play too tight or too loose, I've found a happy medium suited to my regular opponents. At some stage in a tourney you have to reach a showdown and when you repeatedly do that with a hand which is a strong favourite, then you lose, it becomes demoralising.

This statement concerns me.

That isn't to say others may find errors, after all, I can only analyse with what knowledge I have.

I should probably elaborate a bit on that.

So many descions are arbitary, and it's difficult to say which is right or wrong. Are you sure this is nothing you can do differently in your game?

Tank, that is dangerous advice for this reason :

1) Just because you are on a bad run does not necessarily mean you are doing anything wrong - it could just be variance. So why change something that may not be broken in the first place?

Having said that, I think EVERYONE's game can be improved ALL the time.

No, I'm not sure. But folding the nuts isn't an option :-)

I'm not saying do change it, I'm just saying consider changing it.

It's win win, because if you don't go for a certain move, you'll have a reason why you didn't do that if you consider it. Through that, a greater understanding of why the move you are doing, is the right one.

Folding the nuts sometimes is sometimes an option on the flop in Omaha, but that's neither here nor there. :)

At the end of the day I started this thread asking for some advice about how to deal with variance when it builds up against you. I never intended it as a moan about bad beats. Bad beats are all part of the game and I normally accept them as such. I can bow out of a tournament with grace however far ahead I may have been when the chips went in.
I'm not asking to have my game analysed, because I am happy with it at the moment.
What I'm struggling with is the ability to deal with the recent repetition of outdraws.
As far as the poker ladder is concerned I'm probably only two rungs up, but there are people on here many rungs higher and I was hoping they could shout some advice down to me, that's all.