blonde poker forum

I played at DTD on Thursday. I am in the middle of the downswing that everyone says will take your breath away but you don't think will ever really happen to you.

Having won a buy-in the night before I feel maybe my luck is starting to turn.

Twenty minutes later after some c### slow rolls me his set of kings when I have a set of tens I am sitting in a haze wondering if I am being punished from above for mishaps in a previous life.

Ten minutes after this I am shoving on the same player with absolutely zero fold equity and he insta-calls and I am going home.

Going home utterly convinced that I never want to play poker again and that having lost half my roll in under a fortnight there really is no point to this process. At all.

To rub salt in the wounds I know I have finally tilted, something I pride myself on not doing very much, no matter how much variance is hitting me square in the face.

So I start to think to myself what a stupid pastime poker is. We sit there for hours, mostly bored, pushing tokenistic, yet very real, money around the table. It serves no purpose to society and all it achieves is lightening your opponent's wallet and making him feel as shit as I felt when I got up from the table on Thursday.

I guess what I am saying is this: has anyone ever felt this bad and been so certain they should quit, yet still come back and started up again?

I look through my spreadsheets and see that yes, despite this horror downswing, I am still very much in profit. The problem is the profit has been spent on pesky things such as eating, fuel and the mortgage.

I thought I could play on a shorter roll than most due to my 'low variance' game. It seems I was wrong.

Anyway, I will be taking a break now whether I like it or not because my existing roll is so low I could not possily play proper non-scared poker.

I am having a really hard job seeing the value in poker from both a moral and lifestyle point of view.

Somebody try and convince me this game is worth playing again one day or I might just take up the guitar instead.

George2muchJuice 2nd account?

Dude poker sucks. We all know it yet we still play

Guitar lessons FTW

pretty much most mornings

this

Pyso I had much the same feelings watching Forest last year. Almost quit going to the games...... that sure would have been a good move. :)


Key thing here is a bankroll which is just that, take a break and rebuild some poker only £s and I'm sure you will be back.

Take a break from poker, in most cases the enjoyment of the game eventually comes back. If it doesn't well c'est la vie.

This is just a hobby for you, what is the point in having a hobby you don't enjoy, surely that is the whole point of having one.

Despite poker being my source of income, I took break for over 3 months in the summer as I just simply didn't want to sit down and play. I am certain that has somewhat refreshed my enthusiasm for the game, even though I still see it as a money making exercise essentially.

I hate poker....have done for quite a while now. I'll start up again sooner or later but for now happier just hearing others complain about it rather than feeling tez myself..

This is so true and often overlooked.  The money should be 'disposable' so if you lose it, you can reload from money that isn't required for living purposes. 

Taking a break also helps, and you realise that poker is a game rather than something that sort of consumes all your free time.

The 'sit there for hours mostly bored.......' is the thing you should probably be most concerned about.
Live poker is a social thing - to be enjoyed in the company of like minded people.
You won't like them all, but the beauty of playing cash is you can sit down, and stand up, as you please.
When I play live, I don't always pick the potentially most profitable table.......... a couple of hours in the company of Mr Dog, Alan Stearn and Mitch is worth giving up a bit of EV.


Morally, there is no justication for Poker.
You either accept that as a situation, or if you cannot, you gotta walk away.

Hope you feel better about Poker soon, and start playing again.
If not, it's not the end of the world.
GL.

i got so so bored of poker, the only thing i can play atm is turbo HUSNGs, only take 10 mins, gotta concentrate, 1 tabling is fine, somewhat interesting working out how someone thinks and then totally pwning them.

i pretty much agree that poker is pointless and probably 98% of players would be better off doing something else, I have totally changed my tune from gotta get new players in the game to thinking that encouraging people to play poker is pretty much the same as encouraging them to play the lottery/ bet on horses/spread bet/whatever. I know some people win but for the amount of time and energy it takes and 95% will lose anyway it seems like most people would be better off burning a few notes and spending some time with their families or playing a sport or something instead

Awaits Tom, Mitch and Alan to post saying "the key thing is to sit at a table with a complete donk who makes sure it's +EV.  Not a problem at DTD with Neil and Daniel playing."

Interesting to note that Pyso's bad run has coincided with your absence......

Does anyone hate poker more than you Byron?

nh gg wp

;hattip;

lol if I could afford to take 3 months off i'd prob love it again, was that when you were travelling? what else did you do with all that time?

Yeah 1st 6 weeks was when I was travelling. Got back and really didn't want to play for some reason, so I decided to go back to arbing for a short period and enjoy the summer. I was kind of forced back into playing poker as about half the bookies banned me and it was getting really hard to match the amount of money I could make playing poker.

LoL I fking love poker!!!

Even when I do my bollocks I love it.

lol'd hard when i read this. Never met any fish who abs loves this fkin sik game much as Costas

Just take a break, buy modern warfare 2 and an internet connection and we'll see you in a few weeks :)up

If you think your head is really messed up maybe take a look at some stuff about variance and statistical anomalies and have a look at some of the sicker winning/loss/break even graphs.


In summation, poker sucks bawls.

The worst thing you can do it continually go into games with a negative mindset, thinking your never gonna hit the flush draws, its gonna come AKX when you have Queens etc.
This will inevitable lead to you stopping playing hands how you normally would because your always expecting the absolute worst outcome.

Jakallys right about enjoying the social aspect tho, the hours dont drag as much when your sat round the table having a good bit of banter and having the piss taken out of you 5 times an orbit...(more f'kin food!?!)

You do take comfort eating to the extreme though.

 :hello:

If you are making a longterm profit out of poker as you say and you are currently making +EV plays at the table what exactly is the problem? If the results are tilting you so much you are playing bad then maybe you should take a break. But if you're still playing well why are you being results orientated? Poker is a test of character imo and feeling sorry for yourself during inevitable downswings isn't the characteristic of a good player.

Cos we're all robots.....

Just think how much better a robot would be than you or me george. it'd be dealt J6green and when folded to it'd just lay it down.......

Also doubt you have played enough hands live to have any idea of what a downswing can be like.

Thanks for the replies, all.

Actually I do have some idea of how many hands I have played live and it's around 30,000 in the last three years on and off.

Also, while poker is a  'hobby', at the same time I am currently out of work so I have been effectively using it to pay the bills but doing it off an extremely vulnerable bankroll. It was only a matter of time before the downswing hit and with the profits already spent I was going to find myself in real trouble.

I would play £1/£2 if I could afford it as it is even easier to beat than 50p/£1 but when you are barely rolled for the smallest game and the biggest game plays four times higher in reality then that wouldnt be wise.

As regards the moral justification, I agree with jakally, there is none. But there is no moral justification for a lot of things we do really. I suppose we all have a choice and if I try to win his money I must remember he is trying to win mine.

Yeah it's natural and human nature to feel cursed when you're on a downswing. Are you actually cursed? Prob not. Does feeling like you're cursed help you play better? Prob not. Ultimately, if you want to be a better player acquiring a more robotic attitude to downswings is prob a good thing. Aren't you currently seeking to improve your own attitude to downswings and bad beats?

I've played 15k hand sessions before lol.

Just deffo take a break and maybe find another hobby which doesn't have swings in it so you can actually relax when you are away from the tables. When i'm really feeling mentally crushed I generally tell everyone how much I hate poker and then play another format for a bit, a couple of sngs and I remember why I chose to grind cash all that time ago !

Live is silly.

If we weren't human we wouldn't enjoy the highs (which is probs why we play the game) as much as we loathe the lows

really though what highs are there left for you in poker? winning tournies outright is one good feeling, i've never felt great winning just a single pot or having a winning session. yet every time sklansky lies to me about how much i'm going to get back on an all in I feel used!!

WOW! I assume way more than that. 30k hands is nothing, you know when you see those graphs people post with those huge downswongs, well your current swing would be 1 of those tiny blips on the st8 part of the curve.

250k break even graphs have always scared me!



maybe have a play with this pyso

http://www.pokervariancesimulator.fr/

It's pretty easy to say it's just human nature to feel a certain way and leave it at that. And that's what most people will do. Hence why most people are average or bad at poker. I think conditioning your temperament is possible and you can at least attempt to enjoy the highs fully while resisting the depression of the lows. Yeah that's not natural and takes some work on character but if you can make progress in that finer point of the game you can become a more cultured player. At the very least you will become a more cultured person.

Every single person who plays poker longterm will feel cursed from time to time, every single person. I have felt like that loads of times, and so have you. What I have learnt is abs nobody gives a shit, abs nobody.

Yeah, thinking about it that does seem a low number. I guessed it quickly before rushing out of the house. I do know that I played 6000 hands in four months since I started counting and I've been playing on and off, mostly live, for 3 years.

Anyway, I know it's a blip in the scheme of things and that poker is gambling amongst other things so these things could and will happen. My post really was more about the moral problems we suddenly have once the variance turns against us, and also about the perceived futility of it all.

To give you an example of how the warped brain works - I have just returned from a friend's home game (I'd agreed weeks ago to play) and for a £5 buy in at silly microstakes I made a £27 profit. Now, increasing your stake five fold should make me happy but I just drove home thinking "Typical, why do I get my good situations in a pissy home game and not at DTD"

The mind boggles. Well, mine does.

Not sure about the whole becoming a more cultured person but but I do agree with you Mantis that by becoming more 'robotic' or investing less emotion when playing will make you a better player - Its something I really struggle with though. Like George says it goes against human nature to be like this - more so for some than others. It must be possible to train your temperament but for most its what makes people the way they are, its built in. Outside forces have a massive influence aswell - Eg Someone with life pressures (Pyso mentioned he has been out of work) is going to find this excercise much more difficult than someone without any money concerns.  I doubt very much that the majority of people have the will and mental strengh to overcome the emotion these pressures bring - I know I dont.

If you playing live only Pyso, then you really are at the merci of variance. Swings are going to last for longer (time wise) which will make any downswing  feel all the worse and never ending.. someone playing high volume online could suffer your swing and come out of it in a day or two where it could take you 6 months or a year.  There is really not alot you can do about that - If your personal circumstances can stand it then dont put the pressure on yourself, you'll feel like a weight has been lifted by giving yourself a break and give you a bit of perspective.

GL

Chicago Joeys prop bet graph. Playing 6max online cash $0.10/$0.25 for 22 hours.....


(http://i48.tinypic.com/2jfm9z4.jpg)

I think a lot of it depends on why your going to play?

Ive been playing a lot more cash recently, I dont really keep records of how Im doing because its not really why Im there.

Im preferring cash to tournaments at the moment and the main reason is that you normally get a couple of peope you know on the tables. I would rather sit with a few of the cash regs at DTD and have some food a couple of drinks and some banter than sit on a table of complete idiots who all think they are amazing.

I think some of this may be what your missing, as a rule I find the .50/1 pretty painful to play, mainly due to the majority of the opponents (KINBOSHI included  ;) )

Jakally, Red-Dog, Mitch, George, Blatch all make for a great atmosphere on your  cash table. Last week I was sat playing Scrabble on someones I-Phone and just generally enjoying being there! (anyone fill in that guys name? really nice guy, is his first name Tom?)

Yeh know who you mean but I don't know if he wants his name in a public space or not!

As far as the thread is concerned...

Pyso if you are at all interested in my opinion, it seems clear from reading your post and a number of your previous posts, you are not in the right frame of mind to be playing at the moment. Take as much time out as you need. You will be ready to come back when you can turn round and laugh at all the little things that are bothering you so much at the moment.

The addictive element of poker will f*k with your brain. As per any other addiction, your brain will be very creative in finding reasons why you should keep playing even though you know you shouldn't.

I am enjoying my break from poker. I don't know if it will become permanent or not, but at the moment I'm not missing it. My PC is fooked at the moment so I'm not even tempted to play online.

I caught some poker on the telly last night and if it wasn't for the allure of a Spanish babe called Leo Margets I wouldn't have watched more than a few minutes. The whole thing seemed a bit surreal, and.. well....silly.

I wonder if things will change.