Having the worst period since I started playing, some support please

[OtZman]

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As the poker boom subsides a bit and the US ban on internet poker takes effect, many many players who were either running better than long term expectation or who were marginal winners against softer opposition are now losers. It's been pointed out before that players who start out running good are more likely to go pro -- even if they are ultimately only marginal winners or losers. It may well be that you are not a winning player, or only marginally a winner, either because games have changed or because you were running good before.

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This may be the case. Although poker is an interesting game, I play it only for the money. If I knew it was impossible for me to ever make more than, say $8/hour, I would obviously quite and never play again, because I could make much more money in other ways. I believe/hope that if I put down enough time and thought into the game I will be able to made decent money.

Does anyone know how much the online poker traffic has decreased since the peak? Must be some nice diagram someplace.

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I also play at Crypto and have gone exactly through the same thing. You just need to keep playing, it will come a moment where you will be making money as easy as you lose it now.

Of course you need to make a good game selection there are a LOT of games from the lower levels who are very dry.

Also, unless you have a very effective LAG style I.m afraid your winrate is never going to be very high, so you should get used to the breakeven periods. Although with the good bonus at Crypto plus good RB shouldn.t be that bad.

dardo.

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Thanks for giving me some hope [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]. The games are very dry, so I'm just gonna clear a bonus and then I'm out of there. Maybe I'll play a little now and then, but I'd rather play at a softer site.

What I find problematic with playing a LAG style is when there's 3 or 4 tight players at the table, and 1 or 2 callingstations. It's hard to play aggressively against the tight players, because the callingstations calls so often so cbetting loses value. I suppose I should just wait for a decent hand and let the callinstations pay me.

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I find jacking off really helps me when I'm getting stressed

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Possibly the most honest post I've ever seen.

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He's only got 2 posts, can't be trusted lol! Tbh I'm not in the jacking off mood after running bad at poker.


I've taken a break for three days now, so I'll take another stab later today. Omg let the cards be with me plz!!

[Red_Diamond]

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I find jacking off really helps me when I'm getting stressed

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Possibly the most honest post I've ever seen.

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What a small world! I just did that 20 minutes ago.

[dardo]

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What I find problematic with playing a LAG style is when there's 3 or 4 tight players at the table, and 1 or 2 callingstations. It's hard to play aggressively against the tight players, because the callingstations calls so often so cbetting loses value. I suppose I should just wait for a decent hand and let the callinstations pay me.

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It's not easy to play a good LAG game, also variance increases which needs a lot more confidence in your game to endure it.

If you have calling stations on your left you can't play loose (maybe just a little) so best is to be to the left of the loose player so you can steal more blinds and put more pressure on the tight players.

I guess some of the most important things about poker is to know what you CAN'T do. Bluff calling stations or win big pots from weaktights, for example.

Good luck with your next session. But be aware that variance can be very wide if your edge is small.

dardo.

[OtZman]

dardo, thanks mate! Played a couple of hours and broke even. Just a few hours worth of MPPs left to clear, then I'm off to Full Tilt!

How's the competition there?

[dardo]

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dardo, thanks mate! Played a couple of hours and broke even. Just a few hours worth of MPPs left to clear, then I'm off to Full Tilt!

How's the competition there?

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Uhh ... don't think that's a good idea. I don't play there so I can't tell you for sure, but most of the SSNL from 2+2 plays there and at Stars, so ...

[BenJammin']

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Yooooo

battle through it homey. i've seen some of your posts in small stakes and can tell you're approaching the game in an honest and straightforward way, trying to become the best player you can be. what more can you do?

when going through a downswing, it's hard to find the difference between bad luck and bad play, but it is what you need to keep looking for. since you can do nothing about bad luck, it is actually insane to worry about it, or to let it get you off your game.

now that you're going through a big downswing, you see another aspect to the game, you see that you can be in a bunch of crappy situations you can't do much about, and have them happen in a row. now take that insight you've gained, and move on.

there are lots of things you can control even though right now it seems like things are out of control.

one thing to remember is that your style is flexible. you don't have to raise every normal (for you) raising hand when you sit down at a table. there's no time limit. you can sit down and fold a lot just watching other players to get really nice reads while you wait for the nuts. then maybe start working some more hands in and see how people react. are they aware of your image. do they change their game now that you're raising more hands. if you can see these more subtle dynamics then you have an advantage over people that aren't paying attention. maybe you're at a table where it's good to play super tight because they aren't paying attention and will pay you off with a pfraise% of 8 or whatever. or maybe the blinds are supertight and you can steal a lot.

try to find things that are going on that other people aren't aware of. look at the patterns of how people bet. are they on autopilot playing eight tables? if so then maybe they're c-betting a lot of hands they'd fold to a flop raise, or maybe you could float the flop w/ air and bet when they give up on the turn. get creative. when you start to think of how you can win the pot while still playing good fundamentals then you start to create your own luck, but really you're just playing good poker.

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This is the best post i've ever read that started out with "Yoooo" and "...homey"
Props to J.Strew

[OtZman]

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dardo, thanks mate! Played a couple of hours and broke even. Just a few hours worth of MPPs left to clear, then I'm off to Full Tilt!

How's the competition there?

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Uhh ... don't think that's a good idea. I don't play there so I can't tell you for sure, but most of the SSNL from 2+2 plays there and at Stars, so ...

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I was a bit worried about that. I suppose I can give it a try and clear the deposit bonus and see what I think after that, or I could to it a later time, because I wouldn't say no to another site where I could win some.

[mooney]

OtZman and others, i just want you to know, i feel your pain. I too have recently experienced my worst downswing ever. Here's a graph that will hopefully make you feel better.



This was at mostly 100NL, w/ some 200NL and some 50NL. I know how it feels always run into AA when you have KK, and never get action on your big hands. When you do, you get sucked out on. The important thing is to play well and everything will even out eventually. This is nearing a 40k breakeven stretch, and out of about 400k total hands, I had one other 30k break even stretch 5 months or so ago.

Having stretches like this make it seem crazy to be a live pro. A 40k hand break even stretch would be like what - a year or two?

[OtZman]

Thanks for the encouragement mooney, I'll try to hang in there [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I had the same thoughts earlier today. How long would it take for a live player to go through that many hands? If it takes 2 minutes per hand on average, and a pro plays 8 hours a day on average, including weekends, it would take ~166 days, or almost half a year.

Maybe my hands/hour estimations are a bit too optimistic, and I'm not sure if a pro plays as much as 56 hours a week.

[wpr101]

23k hands is hardly anything. I've had two 50k break even stretchs and know players who have had longer.