Getting back on the horse

[boc4life]

I just had one of the more disastrous nights of my poker life

I lost about a quarter of my bankroll in the span of just a few hours...Playing 4 tables, I just took brutal loss after brutal loss


What do I do now? I can't sleep, I just want to get my money back...But I know I won't be on top of my game. All I can think about is how much money just went down the tubes. I won't play in this mental state...But how do I get out of it? I honestly want to cry. This is the biggest loss I've taken in a long time, and I have no idea how to approach it. The last big loss I took sent me into a downward spiral, and I lost everything


Should I cash out my money? Should I tell myself this never happened, put a series of 0's in my Excel spreadsheet for the wins I had leading up to this to compensate for the big negative I'm about to have to book?


Please help

[12AX7]

Good question,
Don't know the answer.

At the end of each of he last two months I'd worked up, only to have it razed again!

But I'm not playing at levels that are large enough to kill me.

It does however, perturb the begeezus out of me, as this level was supposed to be proof of concept for making a living at it. I'd really like to give the "Italian Salute" to the traditional working world, for the duration of my life.

If the swings I'm seeing are typical (which seems to be a hard thing to draw a bead on, what's typical?) it can be terrible.

So, although the money doesn't have me too worried. The investment of time with the lack of continuous forward movement and success most certainly does.

In any event, I'm sympathetic, but don't have a solid answer for you.

In the end, you have to decide what's going to work for you.

[boc4life]

Is moving way down in limits a bad idea right now? Like down to .5/1....Gain some confidence back?

Or am I going to develop some bad habits and probably need to work my way through the limits again if I do that?

[BaThR0oM]

What limits are you playing now? Why don't you just drop down a level or two after you get some rest? Then see how it goes from there.

[boc4life]

I'm playing 3/6

I dropped about $800 from my $2600 bankroll....I can't hit a draw, I can't hit a set, I can't make pairs, my pocket 6's are constantly running into pocket 7's...

I'm pretty sure I'm ready to quit poker...I don't how to handle this kind of downswing

[BaThR0oM]

Don't quit poker cuz of some bad luck. Haven't you been to the BBV forum? Some guys are going on a 600BB downswing and they're still battling it out.

[Mister Z]

Just keep playing and focus on making the right decisions. It is sometimes a good idea to batten down the hatches a bit and tighten up a little. Play less tables for a while. Use better table selection. Take some time off and read or focus on posting/replying to hands here. This likely isn't the worst downswing you'll see if you keep playing. Taking this in stride is really just as important to your poker-playing development as learning some of the strategy of the game. Hope these random sentences help.

[jb9]

[ QUOTE ]
Is moving way down in limits a bad idea right now? Like down to .5/1....Gain some confidence back?

[/ QUOTE ]

Not a bad idea at all. Play a session or two at .5/1 -- if it goes well, play a few at 1/2, then 2/4, then back to 3/6.

You might want to consider clearing a few bonuses to help rebuild from the loss.

Also, while I know it can make you feel sick when it happens, a 130 big bet downswing is not that unusual and most players who've logged a large number of hands report hitting 200 BB, 300 BB, or even larger downswings from time to time.

A big part of poker success is learning to play through these without going on tilt.

I'm not so great at it myself... I usually drop down in limits and/or switch games.

[boc4life]

I just don't know how to handle this

I've booked one losing day all year

Now I book -$768.50, wipe out my February profits, I'm way behind the pace I was setting for myself for profits

I think I mentioned, the last time I had a losing night like this, it sent me on a downward spiral, I lost my full $3500 bankroll in 2 weeks and was completely broke for a while



I definitely don't want that to happen again

[boc4life]

I think sleep is the first thing I need to do...

I'm just piecing together that this downswing occurred on the tail end of a 20 hour session...Hmm

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

Should I tell myself this never happened, put a series of 0's in my Excel spreadsheet for the wins I had leading up to this to compensate for the big negative I'm about to have to book?


If this statement is even half serious, cash out and never play poker again. You do not have the mental makeup to be a winner.

If lying to yourself helps you feel like a winner, you're already a loser.

[boc4life]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I tell myself this never happened, put a series of 0's in my Excel spreadsheet for the wins I had leading up to this to compensate for the big negative I'm about to have to book?


If this statement is even half serious, cash out and never play poker again. You do not have the mental makeup to be a winner.

If lying to yourself helps you feel like a winner, you're already a loser.

[/ QUOTE ]


I was kind of thinking more along the lines of the way Greg Raymer says he deals with a bad beat in a tournament...He acts like he just doubled up to where he now is instead of having just doubled his opponent up

My stretch from Jan. 31 to today is now break-even. Instead of having a mindset that I just lost almost 800 dollars, I was thinking that I could look at it that I've played 8 days of break-even poker

[Bluffoon]

If you are going to play regularly you are going to have plenty of swings like this and way worse. You don't seem that well rolled. I play 5/10 with a 500bb bankroll and if things are going poorly I drop to 3/6. So playing lower so the swings don't affect your roll may help. Playing through a few downswings will also help. When you go in the ditch and come back out a few times you just roll your eyes with a "here we go again" attitude.

[Kurn, son of Mogh]

You *have* played 8 days of break even poker, but the reality of how that happened shouldn't be washed down the drain. Variance is not an accident.

How about adopting the attitude of. "OK, that's as bad as it gets, and I'm still at the point I was at a week ago."

It's one thing to manipulate your mental approach within a tournament to avoid tilt, it's an entirely different thing to alter a written record of what you've done. If you can't bear to look at the evidence of a big loss, it calls your mental toughness into question.

Part of being successful at this game is an ability to be emotionless about the swings.

[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure I'm ready to quit poker...I don't how to handle this kind of downswing

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I mentioned, the last time I had a losing night like this, it sent me on a downward spiral, I lost my full $3500 bankroll in 2 weeks and was completely broke for a while

[/ QUOTE ]

These statements make me wonder if you really have the makeup to play poker. Bad nights happen. As long as there are more good nights than bad you'll be ok, but if you allow bad sessions to affect you to this degree poker might not be the game for you.

On High Stakes Poker Negranaeau talked about the ability to survive a "punch to the gut" - to not let a run of bad beats lead you to tilt off the rest of your bankroll. Every top player has survived nights like the one you went through.

I would advise either quitting the game alltogether or else accepting that this can and will happen again in the future.

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure I'm ready to quit poker...I don't how to handle this kind of downswing

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I mentioned, the last time I had a losing night like this, it sent me on a downward spiral, I lost my full $3500 bankroll in 2 weeks and was completely broke for a while

[/ QUOTE ]

These statements make me wonder if you really have the makeup to play poker. Bad nights happen. As long as there are more good nights than bad you'll be ok, but if you allow bad sessions to affect you to this degree poker might not be the game for you.

On High Stakes Poker Negranaeau talked about the ability to survive a "punch to the gut" - to not let a run of bad beats lead you to tilt off the rest of your bankroll. Every top player has survived nights like the one you went through.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's sounds like the OP is aware that further play will damage his bankroll even more.

OP: Don't ever change your numbers. Just book 'em and leave 'em. Winning has nothing to do with how much you swing in a session (where a "session", in this context, is defined as any consecutive or non-consecutive fixed length of poker hours). Winning only has to do with the quality of your play. Winning only has to do with the quality of your play. The results take care of themselves.

Now, on that note, if you ability to play is hampered because of this swing (and you've provided historical evidence for why this is so), then you need to take a break. You said you've busted in 2 weeks before; so, take at least 2 weeks off. Exercise, read a non-poker book, watch TV, get out more, etc. Just don't play poker. Towards the end of this time, you can start bringing poker back into your life: re-read your poker books, review your own hands, play some microlimits, play some microlimit NL, and/or play some SnG's.

The goal is to shock the tilt out of your system then slowly dissociate tilt from poker.

[spamhead]

After playing 200K hands of 1/2 limit in the last 4 months, I am so TILT free I don't even get mad when:

1 - I get cut off in traffic
2 - My dog craps on the rug
3 - My wife bitches at me for leaving my socks on the floor
4 - I stub my toe

Bad short term results effect me very little now. I feel like I'm on ritalin, it's awesome.

move down in limits to 1/2, play 100K hands and DON'T MOVE UP if you are less than/until you are 1BB/100.

Do the same at 2/4, THEN and only then go back to 3/6.

Trust me on this, if you have the mental make up for poker, this will cure you problems.

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
move down in limits to 1/2, play 100K hands

[/ QUOTE ]

Seriously? I think the tilt would be out of one's system before then. I wouldn't wait that long until returning to your regular game (assuming you are a winning player at your regular game).

[Vaughen]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm playing 3/6

I dropped about $800 from my $2600 bankroll....I can't hit a draw, I can't hit a set, I can't make pairs, my pocket 6's are constantly running into pocket 7's...

I'm pretty sure I'm ready to quit poker...I don't how to handle this kind of downswing

[/ QUOTE ]Late Dec / early Jan I dropped about 800 from a 2200 bankroll at 3/6. Just drop down in limits and play for bonuses. It comes back quickly. No big deal. If you're a little gun-shy on poker, do some casino bonuses to build it back. 800 at 3/6 really isnt that much, especially if you were playing shorthanded.

[warlockjd]

[ QUOTE ]
I just had one of the more disastrous nights of my poker life
I lost about a quarter of my bankroll in the span of just a few hours...Playing 4 tables, I just took brutal loss after brutal loss


What do I do now? I can't sleep, I just want to get my money back...But I know I won't be on top of my game. All I can think about is how much money just went down the tubes. I won't play in this mental state...But how do I get out of it? I honestly want to cry. This is the biggest loss I've taken in a long time, and I have no idea how to approach it. The last big loss I took sent me into a downward spiral, and I lost everything


Should I cash out my money? Should I tell myself this never happened, put a series of 0's in my Excel spreadsheet for the wins I had leading up to this to compensate for the big negative I'm about to have to book?


Please help

[/ QUOTE ]

My solution is counterintuitive.....Go spend at least 1/4 of what you lost, relax for a week, buy some new clothes, get drunk, go after that cutie you've been eying, whatever....

the bottom line is do something nonpoker related that makes you feel good, take several days off, and then by this time, you will be ready to mentally accept that your bankroll is X (not that you need to make what you lost back right away) and start grinding again....

[warlockjd]

[ QUOTE ]
I think sleep is the first thing I need to do...

I'm just piecing together that this downswing occurred on the tail end of a 20 hour session...Hmm

[/ QUOTE ]

By the way, track this in the future...hours of sessions and overall wins....the results will show you your max hours effectivness and point you in the right direction...

unless youre superman 20 is too much.....this helped me a shiatload! hope it helps you

[dwedeking]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure I'm ready to quit poker...I don't how to handle this kind of downswing

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I mentioned, the last time I had a losing night like this, it sent me on a downward spiral, I lost my full $3500 bankroll in 2 weeks and was completely broke for a while

[/ QUOTE ]

These statements make me wonder if you really have the makeup to play poker. Bad nights happen. As long as there are more good nights than bad you'll be ok, but if you allow bad sessions to affect you to this degree poker might not be the game for you.

On High Stakes Poker Negranaeau talked about the ability to survive a "punch to the gut" - to not let a run of bad beats lead you to tilt off the rest of your bankroll. Every top player has survived nights like the one you went through.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's sounds like the OP is aware that further play will damage his bankroll even more.

OP: Don't ever change your numbers. Just book 'em and leave 'em. Winning has nothing to do with how much you swing in a session (where a "session", in this context, is defined as any consecutive or non-consecutive fixed length of poker hours). Winning only has to do with the quality of your play. Winning only has to do with the quality of your play. The results take care of themselves.

Now, on that note, if you ability to play is hampered because of this swing (and you've provided historical evidence for why this is so), then you need to take a break. You said you've busted in 2 weeks before; so, take at least 2 weeks off. Exercise, read a non-poker book, watch TV, get out more, etc. Just don't play poker. Towards the end of this time, you can start bringing poker back into your life: re-read your poker books, review your own hands, play some microlimits, play some microlimit NL, and/or play some SnG's.

The goal is to shock the tilt out of your system then slowly dissociate tilt from poker.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is the system that works for me. I just walk away for a period of time and do anything not related to poker. Drunken movie fest with the old lady always does wonders for getting me off tilt. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif