Three Years in Las Vegas

[SossMan]

Very nice update, Dynasty. Continued good luck in the future.

[bernie]

Yknow, I've pondered at times, especially lately, sending you or clarky or ed inquiring whether you guys ever found yourself in this spot and how you worked through it:

I haven't run into slavic lately to get his opinion on it. He always has a cool way of looking at it.

[ QUOTE ]
However, something else was building up slowly. I think I first recognized it during that road trip at the Commerce at the end of June. Clarkmeister, Ed, and I were there for three days. I managed to play a total of 8 hours of poker. I can’t even remember what it is that I was doing during the day while they were playing. What I do remember is that I didn’t want to play. And, that was a feeling which was going to stick with me for quite a while.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm working through this right now. I'm slowly coming out of it, I think, but I just couldn't stand to look at cards a month ago. I was even running fine when it happened. I've never experienced this type of burnout before. The other day I played for 6 hours live. It was the longest session I've played in about a month+. It sucks to feel this way. However, I have noticed on those sparse attempts, I'm much more relaxed. I'm also watching closely to see how far my game slips.

I think this is one of the things that many 'aspiring' players haven't really considered. When this time comes, how they'll handle it. I never really thought about it until I was in it. I'm doing kind of the same thing you are. Just hanging and playing sparsely. You get a whole new set of questions from the floorstaff/dealers when you take a break like this after them seeing you in the room regularly for 100+ hours a month.

[ QUOTE ]
Prior to this, the worst run I had was about -120 big bets in the Mirage 20-40 game.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am suprised at this a little. I figured you'd have endured a bigger swing by now. One thing about online, it puts these streaks into perspective when converting it to live hands per hour. This is one reason I'm not worried since it took me 'til late may to be in the black on my normal live limit.

Your story helps me with alot of what I'm going through right now. It's nice to see that this type of crap happens to someone you consider a great player giving it a little bit of normalcy. (not sure if that's a word, but you get my drift) It doesn't feel as isolating reading this. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen this issue(burnout) addressed much if at all on this forum. I find it encouraging, actually.

I'm thinking this may also be much more common with players who've intensely worked on their games. Not just played, but really dig in and work on it.

Thanks for a great post. I found it inspiring in many ways.

b

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
The bad news was that I was getting my clock cleaned by players who simply played terribly. The competition at this level is abysmal. Getting beat over and over and over by such weak competition is a bit tough to deal with psychologically. One bad beat or bad situation is nothing. A night of bad beats and bad situations is annoying. But, the endless parade I endured during this stretch was more frustrating than anything I can remember. It was a helpless feeling. Of course, it ended eventually and my winning ways returned to normal.


[/ QUOTE ]

I (we all) feel for you when this happens Dynasty. I am experiencing my first extended online dry spell, its been absolutely brutal on my psyche. I know it has affected my play at times (playing weak at times, over playing hands occasionally due to steaming) where these haven't been problems for me in the past.

What I am finding very odd is that I am not experiencing the same problem in my live game. I am up considerably in my live play, however I have lost almost my entire online bankroll in the past 3 months (I was playing 3/6 until 2 weeks ago, I am now forced to take steps down to rebuild).

Like you, I have noticed the online opponents are considerably worse than the opponents I normally play with live (until the recent NYC poker busts I play in two weekly games filled with good players yet they have almost always been profitable), I have wondered if that is a factor that I am not compensating for enough.

Anyway... enough about me. Here is what I really want to know...during your downswing, did you find yourself questioning your playing ability? Did you find yourself re-visiting reading materials? Did the downswing fix itself naturally, or did you do something to make the change occur? I ask because I am a true believer that swings this bad are not just caused by variance, it is often the fault of the player himself as well.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[magithighs]

One of the things I noticed about your post is a pattern that's plagued me throughout my working career.

1) Take on a new very challenging job, usually a big stretch as I'm good at convincing people I can do a job I've never done before.

2) Give everything I've got during the first six months, so I get up to speed.

3) Start doing rather signficant things during the next six months.

4) I then realize I can do the job and enjoy the fruits of my labour over the next six months.

5) Start looking for a new challenge.

Without fail, I repeated this pattern over five times. Personally, I would look to other things in life to fulfill the "I need a challenge" gap -- start up a small business (ala tommy), marriage, kids. When other things fill up, it puts the poker into perspective and becomes easier to play.

Cheers
Magi

[RicktheRuler]

DING DING! Just go to law school that is what ive decided to do---STUPID liberal arts degree.

[JBB]

Great Addendum. I hope you excel in higher live games and maybe take the plunge into 5/10 online [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] in the next year.

[Lawrence Ng]

[ QUOTE ]
nice to have ya back. gonna post at all in strategy forums?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, I wish Dynasty would start posting in the strategy forums as well. His strategy posts a few years were back were some of the best.

But I can understand why he's stopped posting on the mid/high stakes section. Perhaps it just co-incided with this sabbatical he's been on this past year.

Lawrence

[gergery]

BC,

Awesome post, very inspirational.

Out of curiousity, why not move up from $3-6 online? Surely you could beat 5-10 or 10-20 for aggregate rates higher than in the $3-6 game.

--Greg

[Slacker13]

This is the first post this long I have ever read. great story.

[AceHigh]

[ QUOTE ]
I simply don’t want to actually work for a living. I’ve made poker my “job” because I don’t want a job.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the update.

You should get a job to remind you of why you don't want a job, that will get you playing poker again...lol.