running bad playing bad

[sdp]

I guess this was long overdue, but I have hit a 3 week downslide. (I am a live player, not internet) I can see where I have played badly, but it still didn't cost me as much as bad beats where I was ahead until the river and gd if that magic card didn't come and help that hapless loser who called his draw all the way down and called my all in on the turn.

I am questioning whether or not I should take a break. I play either the 9-18 or 200NL in LA. Of course, minds being what they are, my first thought was to jump to the 400NL and get my $1800 back.... but thankfully that thought passed quickly. How do you ride out a losing streak? How much money do you keep dumping? Losing almost 2 grand is about at my mental limit of being comfortable, as to this point I have never experienced such an extended losing streak. But, having no frame of reference I would like to know if I am overreacting and this kind of variance in these games is normal so I would love to hear other people's experiences and how they handle it.

[Hoi Polloi]

I spent the weekend playing 3/6 'cuz I've been running so bad at 10/20 and 20/40. You got to find a way to continue to play your A-game or as close to as you can. Not playing for awhile is sometimes the way to do it.

Gut check and don't be afraid to say you're not ready to get back at it just yet.

[pfapfap]

I handle it by hating myself and life and questioning what skill I thought I had in the first place. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

But tell me about it, the other day in a four hour session I only had one winning hand, and it got there on the river (double draw). The few big pairs I had ran into overs on the flop.

I think a good thing to do is take away some of your moves, return to basics. Practice some fundamentals until you feel confident again.

[tubasteve]

1800 is either 9 BI or 100BB depending on how you look at it, both of these are pretty terrible downswings but not out of the ordinary. Keep on truckin.

[sdp]

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I handle it by hating myself and life and questioning what skill I thought I had in the first place. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

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oh good...I thought it was just me [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Thanks all, for the advice. I'm going to give it one more session and then see where I'm at...if I take another beating, then I will probably take a break from the LA games and wait to play in Vegas in December (where the games are better and it's only a short walk to the bed instead of a 35 mile drive home!)

[novel20]

"...my first thought was to jump to the 400NL ..."

Wrong. You should move up to 5000NL and won it back in 1 hand. Move up to where they respect your raise.

[HajiShirazu]

Buy in short and move in with any ace/any pair, rathole if you double up. You are a stone cold lock to win it back doing this if you keep doubling your buyin after each loss, after all, unlike blackjack, poker is a zero sum game!

[zizazziza]

blackjack is a zero sum game. someone wins the allotted amount of money and someone loses that same allotted amount of money, thus a zero sum game. now ur expected value may not be zero, but it is still a zero sum game

[koshu]

If you got the bankroll, just keep on pushing until you start catching some hands again. Thats what I did when I was on a 12 buyin downswing, now 10 back up again. Taking a break only makes things worse because when you start playing again and the cold deck is still there, it'll just make you feel worse IMO. Keep on playing like before if you can still play your a-game.

[HajiShirazu]

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If you got the bankroll, just keep on pushing until you start catching some hands again. Thats what I did when I was on a 12 buyin downswing, now 10 back up again. Taking a break only makes things worse because when you start playing again and the cold deck is still there, it'll just make you feel worse IMO. Keep on playing like before if you can still play your a-game.

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I'm glad somebody is giving good advice in this thread. But remember, 20 bb, any ace, any pair.