Dealing with Cold Decks

[lemonPeel]

Everytime I get cold decked, I sort of have this feeling like God is trying to punish me or something. We all know this feeling right? Picking up QQ and someone else picks up AA or KK. Or KK and someone wakes up with AA.

I can handle the bad beats... I can handle missing every draw... well ok, I can't really... but, after enough of these cold decks in addition to all the randomness in poker, doesn't anyone just get so annoyed/frustrated and just feel like you hate this game?

Anything you guys do to help you feel better after having this happen again and again?

[Machinehead]

I understand that. Just getting a bad run of cards doesn't bother me, but cold decking can get on my nerves. I can deal with the occasional bad beat, but a consistant run of unavoidable losses in big pots can really shut me down to the point where I need to walk away for for a few min or a few hours. You just gotta realize when this is happening and affecting your play, then step away and recover.

[LockLow34]

OK some questions for you:

Is this tournament or cash game?
Regular players you know or unknowns?
Are you getting all-in preflop with QQ vs. AA?
Are you using your player reads, tells, etc. to give you insight into what the other player might have?

Don't just think "I have QQ, therefore I should win a nice pot." Evaluate each situation on its own and choose the best course of action.

[joel2006]

[ QUOTE ]
OK some questions for you:

Is this tournament or cash game?
Regular players you know or unknowns?
Are you getting all-in preflop with QQ vs. AA?
Are you using your player reads, tells, etc. to give you insight into what the other player might have?

Don't just think "I have QQ, therefore I should win a nice pot." Evaluate each situation on its own and choose the best course of action.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ignore the above post please. All the evaluation in the world won't stop you from getting cold-decked, it's just part of the game. Some days you will be second best in all your big hands. Your job is to not get frustrated. Try to lose the minimum possible, by continuing to play as well as you can. And if you can't play your "A" game under these conditions then get up and walk away understanding that you aren't as good a poker player as you thought you were and have something to work on. You don't know how good a poker player you really are until you run horrific and then start getting cold-decked.

[poker-penguin]

How to deal with cold decks:

Crappy starting cards - fold
Good ones that make second best hands - [censored] happens

I find having a bonus or rakeback helps (and not just to smooth out the variance, it gives me a reason to keep playing).

[kyzerjose]

Lose the guilt. God punishing you? What a wonderful image, a vengeful God. What ever happened to the loving and merciful God? Anyway...........

Is there anything you can do? Yep and it's so simple. Truely believe getting cold decked, outdrawn and playing bad happens to everybody. It sucks.
Acknowledge how you feel. It's normal to feel the emotions you experience in your situation.
More importantly, understand how those emotions affect your game. What choices do you make when each emotion is present? Then stop doing the things that keep you from playing your best.
Dr. Al made a very astute observation about the game. Poker is a game that requires us to make decisions that are counterintuitive to how we feel in certain situations. A small segment of the population: pilots, police officers, true warriors etc are able to react in a manner that is normal to them but foreign to the rest of us.

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't just think "I have QQ, therefore I should win a nice pot." Evaluate each situation on its own and choose the best course of action.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ignore the above post please. All the evaluation in the world won't stop you from getting cold-decked[.]

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't think the post needs to be ignored. The quoted statement is good advice for staying on your game during a bad run. It's much harder to play well while running bad, so it becomes that much more important to stay focused.

[_TKO_]

[ QUOTE ]
Anything you guys do to help you feel better after having this happen again and again?

[/ QUOTE ]

A break will always help. Running bad for a while will cause susceptibility to tilt to increase. Taking a break helps to lower those levels of residual tilt. Of course, winning will also help lower those levels, but that's out of your control. If you don't play to live, then breaks are extremely profitable in large doses. If you must put in the hours, then you should only take as long as you need.

[Coffee]

Cold decks are why I'm taking a prolonged break from poker. While I don't attribute my downturn over the last three months solely to them, it has been especially trying. I am essentially busto on poker money right now, largely due to extremely cold decks, and then, my own overcorrection.

The funny thing is, my reads are still dead on. The problem is that my reads piss me off now, and I end up calling/raising/pushing when I know for a fact that I'm beat. This is the most serious problem I have right now, it's the reason I'm pretty much busto, and the reason I'm taking an extended break from poker. I have a Vegas trip in the last week of August...I figure that will give me enough time to flush out the toxins.