Ever been on one of those runs?

[Triple X]

It just aint happening for me at the moment and tonight was the final straw as i emptied out both my William Hills and Pokerstars account in a mixture of cash and SNG's (albeit there was only $120 between the two left).

I've had a very good year, cashing in very high in a big live tourney, winning a Gutshot tourney, cashing in a multi, and winning some big home games (£50 rebuys).

However, recently my game has gone to pot.  The bread and butter SNG's where i played mainly for fun and got a modest ROI has now turned negative.  My cash game which i built up to a nice size has almost dwindled away and i cant even think of the last time i got ITM in a 100+ multi.

Yes i am getting bad beats but the worst bit is a lot of it is my fault.  I dont know what it is but i am making mistakes.  Truthfully, i think its a bit of cockiness.  Take tonight i had KK i raised 2 callers. Flop AJ4.  check check, I bet 2 callers.  Turn is the King - Bingo!! i bet one caller.  The river is the dreaded 10. Now i know he has made his straight it is so f*cking obvious.  First to act he bets 2/3rds the pot and i call even tho i know im losing.  its like i know i am better than u and i can afford to waste cash just to see what you have, just to prove to myself that you couldnt have come with in the first place.

Time after time i am making mistakes.  outrageous bluffs, silly calls, weak when i should be strong and vica versa.

Once again the bad beats have been cruel but are only a contributory factor.

I know that we have no right to be winning all the time and over the year i am quite a few thousand pounds up (mainly coz of one win, but even without it i would still be quite a bit up).

I really want to go back to basics - the problem is i cant remember what the basics were!!!  Poker has evolved over the last 2 years and so has my game.  I definitely need to lose the cockiness and the 'i am better than you' thoughts.

So b4 i reach for my debit card, and plough some money back into pokerstars any useful words of advice from those that have been in a similar position and come through it.

BTW - please no one advise to take time off.  That for me will not work.  Poker at whatever level (even a $5 SNG) is a release from me from a hectic work and home life and without it, i would not switch off from work in the evenigs.

Someone once said "Form is temporary, class is permanent".  I just need to make sure i had the class in the first place!!!

[Mokers]

Try to identify what it took to win those MTTs and STTs in the first place. It's not good enough just to say that you got lucky, try and determine why you should have the edge in the first place to put you into profit. When not wanting to play poker, watch some high stakes STTs or cash games online to keep you involved with the game. Watch the plays and the strategies, and try and relate them to your game. I often find myself watching the 150/300 limit games on crypto, or the big STTs; it's entertainment and you're learning, observing a multitude of playing styles which will in turn help you to understand your own style better, and maybe how to improve it (who's the winning player at these tables? be like them).
After depositing I always start with cash games to build the bankroll for tournaments. I always, too, set myself a goal (x3 or x4 of original deposit) and then cash out when my bankroll reaches it. That way, you can't go on a terrible tilt and see all of your work go down the drain. Once cashed out, deposit small again and work your way up.

[yt]

recently my game has gone to pot. 
Yes i am getting bad beats but the worst bit is a lot of it is my fault.  I dont know what it is but i am making mistakes.  Truthfully, i think its a bit of cockiness.  Take tonight i had KK i raised 2 callers. Flop AJ4.  check check, I bet 2 callers.  Turn is the King - Bingo!! i bet one caller.  The river is the dreaded 10. Now i know he has made his straight it is so f*cking obvious.  First to act he bets 2/3rds the pot and i call even tho i know im losing.  its like i know i am better than u and i can afford to waste cash just to see what you have, just to prove to myself that you couldnt have come with in the first place.
Time after time i am making mistakes.  outrageous bluffs, silly calls, weak when i should be strong and vica versa.
I really want to go back to basics - the problem is i cant remember what the basics were!!!  Poker has evolved over the last 2 years and so has my game.  I definitely need to lose the cockiness and the 'i am better than you' thoughts.
Someone once said "Form is temporary, class is permanent".  I just need to make sure i had the class in the first place!!!

From the above you clearly know where you are going wrong and just want to know how to stop doing it. You don't want to take a break so, how about removing your emotion from the game? You are calling down people to prove what? to who? remove yourself from the game and concentrate on the clinical moves you should be making. fold when its right to do so etc.
I have been there and done exactly what you are doing now. I found that taking a break and reading some poker books helped but you don't want to do that!
Try watching a film with the pc off to one side, concentrate on the film and only look back at the pc when it bleeps for your go. You will have little time to act and need to make quick instinctive decisions. Hopefully you will not have time to build up an ego during the game and it might make you focus on just making the right move at the right time. I do this a lot with MTT's and it helps keep my hands played nice and low and stops me making stupid moves.
I don't think this will help you long term - best to take that advice with a pinch of salt, it will help for a couple of tourneys but is obviously limited in its application and not always practical (not to mention that it can easily lead to you making a simple error or misclick).
It sounds like you know what you are doing but have trouble controlling yourself at the crucial time. Twoplustwo has a section of Psychology which may help?
gl

[Karabiner]

I would suggest re-reading one of your favourite poker books.

It may well remind you of basics which have been eroded over time.

I think you are well on your way to recovery having posted that you are playing badly.

I made a similar post saying that I was playing crap(which I was), because I felt that admitting it might turn things around.

A week later I got a nice draw in Walsall.

Good luck !

[RED-DOG]

I thought it said "Ever been on one of those nuns?"

[MonkeyDonkey]

I think the read a book advice is pretty good. I always hit the books or try to break my usual routine when I not only think I've had a series of bad beats but also started playing bad.

Once you've had a few bad sessions it's easy to go back in wondering how you will lose your stack this time. The hand with the set of kings seems to be the same sort of thing. It was a good hand, you maybe could of went all in or played it more aggresively on the turn (a tendency to slowplay big but vulnerable hands is another horrible thing about tilt), I don't know what you bet, but called on the end even though you knew you were behind. You probably played the hand half expecting to suffer a bad beat. We all do it from time to time.

The key is to do something that still keeps you focussed on poker but breaks you out of the 'how much am I gonna lose today' mindset. Why not play a game you don't normally (at low stakes of course) or try a relatively inexpensive MTT and treat it as a bit of fun - in short, don't play like your life depends on it. Take a time out, don't get stressed, give it a day or two and say to yourself that now you're gonna play your 'A' game.

Good luck.

[TightEnd]

I think some of this advice is great...I've had a tough and expensive nine days, with some horrible beats, some tentative play and I've lost some confidence. This becomes self-perpetuating

I'm on a three day break minimum starting last night from playing a hand online/live

I'm re-reading Harrington 2

and we'll see where it goes when I re-start at the weekend!!

[Royal Flush]

I dont mean to be cotreversial.....

I've had a very good year, cashing in very high in a big live tourney, winning a Gutshot tourney, cashing in a multi, and winning some big home games (£50 rebuys).

This sounds to me like just pure variance, you have had 1 big cash and that may well have caused you to think you are better than you actually are. You say you have only won 1 comp? This to me means you have hardly played if you are a good player (unless you are mainly a cash game player)


How often do you play? I would be intrestead to know.

[patman]

i hear your pain...we all go there and lose our way.

is this not a time for the re posting of the 12 commandments regarding poker i believe it was junior??

words that helped me through a rough patch

[Triple X]

Thanks guys - some great adice there.

Junior - I would love to see those 12 Commandments.

Ineterstingly, though only 2 games i played 2 SNG's on Stars after my posting and came 1st and 2nd.  What i did was concentrate for the first time in ages, and not make rash decisions.  This really helped.

Over the last 2 months, i have neglected the MTT and SNG sections of 2+2, instead looking at the OOT section for some silly reason.  I think its time i went back to the real purpose of the site.  There is no doubt some of the postings povide fantastic advice.  Also will re-read HOH and Sklansky.

The long road to recovery has started but I am convinced if i can take out the emotion i will succeed.

As for my experience I have probably only played 10 LIVE tournaments this year (work and home committments make it tricky) but have cashed in 4 and top 4 in 3.  I have probably played 50 home games ranging from £20 rebuys to £50 rebuys (8 players or more). On line i have probably played 500+ SNG's (£10 - £20), less than 15 MTTs (cashed in only 2!!) and hell of a lot of .50-$1 NL cash and a fair bit of $1-$2 NL.

Thanks guys - love to hear more thoughts as I am sure everyone goes thro a bad patch at come point....

[Royal Flush]

Ah ok as i suspected not really tournaments. Still nice stats for them!!

SNG's can be very very mad on the variance, i have a friend who played i think 2000 of them a month! Or he tried to anyway, his stats were alarming, over 200 games he could easily have a -ROI. So 500 sessions, although it sounds a lot, is not. If you want, or anyone else wants, and he is up for it i will ask him to post his stats on here.

[snoopy1239]

I thought it said "Ever been on one of those nuns?"

lol - same here. I'm slightly disappointed. 

[snoopy1239]

Playing those kings at the end of the hand isn't too bad. Your negative instincts told you he had the str8, but in reality, he called with an inside straight draw and there was only one king available. Maybe you were just unlucky on that occasion.

My advice would be to reduce your bluffing. Try not to bluff more than 1 player. Tighten your game up and focus on playing good solid poker. Sometimes when we go on bad runs we try too many moves in a desperate attempt to recooperate money.

[The_Ant]

I think this is what you are after, i copied/pasted into a word doc :-

1.Patience is word of the day every day – you Muppet!

2.Do not get involved early on when the blinds are low unless you have a very good genuine starting hand you idiot.

3.No limping from early or middle position with shit connectors unless it is very cheap, you have good pot odds and the table hasn’t had much raising action – limping corrodes your stack genius!

4.If you have ignored point 3 because you are an idiot and you have limped with suited connectors, do not get married to your top pair! Only continue to the turn and river if you have hit two pair or have a pair with a 4-flush draw or you are up and down for the top straight. – Make sure you properly assess the odds, implied odds and value moron.

5.Do not make stupid bluffs when you are chipped up with four to go (five to go in a 2-table).

6.Do not make loose in-disciplined calls when you are chipped up with four to go (five to go in a 2-table) just because you can afford it.

7.Just because you are in the blinds it doesn’t mean you HAVE to get involved! – assess the hand for what it is.  The cards don’t miraculously double in value just because you have money invested and you are in the blinds. - (Note to idiot self; playing after the flop whilst in the blinds means you are out of position!!)

8.Do not get involved when you are chipped up with four to go (five to go in a 2-table) unless you have the nuts or are calling a smallish all in bet with an extremely good hand in order to knock out a player.

9.Play only one sit and go at a time!

10.Give it your full concentration in the latter stages (6 or less left and blinds increasing) – do not f***ing e-bay, Hotmail or surf whilst playing!



11.Bluffing should not be done for entertainment or because you are trying to buy your way out of an earlier mistake.  Bluffing is a science that will only work when there are few people to play against.  You will know when the time is right, if the feeling is wrong and you know you’re probably going to get called then just f***ing resist temptation and be patient!

12.When you get to the prizes don’t just go for coin flips and gambles, still keep it tight and trap.  You want to win not just come third!