Six Days of Chaos...What To Do?

[Max1]

I spent the last two months slowly building a nice sum over at Pokerstars. Started with $475 and won almost a thousand there over September. Then, I started backsliding. BADLY.

So I decided to break the curse and switch sites. I went in for the Full Tilt rakeback program and initial deposit bonus. At this point I had tripled my money playing .50/1 NL short stacked at between $60-$75. I WAS up over $1500 and enjoying life, slowly building a nice sum winning $20 here or $15 there.

Since Friday at Full Tilt. Well, let's just say no hand is safe. Set on the flop slow played gives me a straight and a flush draw by the river. Ace high full house gets beat out by a one card quad on the flop. AA gets beat by KK, QQ, or in two particually teeth gnashing instances, J2s and 86s. JJ catches my set on the flop and then gets beat by a set and a flush in two separate hands, both hands I shoved all in on the flop, and both hands were caught on the river by the villian. When I go all in with open ended flush draws from a flop all in, I lose. When someone else tries to beat my high pocket pair doing the same, I lose. I have lost almost every hand I've gone to the showdown that I was playing to win since Friday. It's been ugly. My play has reflected it, and now people are pushing me around. I'm down $800 of my hard earned chips, and it seems like no amount of tight/aggressive, loose/passive playing will break it.

So, when you feel like every hand is going to be check-raised to you, or that river card is going to come and make you throw your keyboard, what exactly do you do? After six consecutive losing nights in such a fashion, I think I need some advice on what to do. Take a break? Play a tournament? Go to a different site to break whatever mental jinxes I've set in my head? Go down in limits?

I've been down, and I've played through it before, but god damnit, this is getting ridiculous. It's no longer even remotely enjoyable right now.

[hockeyav]

I would recommend taking a reasonably long break. If you haven't already invest in PokerTracker, and analyze your game. You may just be running badly, but usually there are leaks in your game that need to be patched up. Take hands which you're not sure on what to do and post in the appropriate forum seeking advice. Comment on other user's hands in the forum for the level you're playing.

[RyverRat]

take a break, review your losing hands.

make sure that one loss didnt make you play the next few losses on tilt.

variance is a bitch. you can lose AA 10 times in a row all in pf but as long as you were getting your money in with the correct odds then keep playing.

To stop going busto set yourself bankroll limits. move down when you hit a certain $ level and move back up when you hit another $ level.


As long as you are making the right decisions the $ will come in. just dont go bust.

[basementproject]

Welcome to the wonderful world of variance.

Take a break, clear your head. Best thing you can do for your state of mind.

Remind yourself that the money isn't real.

[grapabo]

Examine your hand history, if you haven't already, to determine whether this is just a bad run, or if you have real holes in your game that need fixing. This will be the least expensive way of learning from past decisions that didn't pay off.

[gregorio]

Sometimes it helps to know that this happens to the best players in the world. Jman is one of the best (appeared on High Stakes Poker this year, beats Ivey headsup, etc), and he just posted his latest results

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...part=1&vc=1

Look at his PLO graph of all-in results vs. expected winnings based on his equity.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...age=0&vc=1

[mce86]

one thing to realize....you said you won 1500, and then you lost 800! Do the math man, you are up 700! Thats the way poker is!!

[Max1]

Thanks all, for your advice.
A few notes:
1) I do have PT. Love it, don't know where I'd be without it, dont play at places that dont support it (well, that and the associated plugins).
2) This is not my first major downswing. Since 2005, I've had two other massive downswings, one of which was right after the bonus whoring dried up and the Internet Gambling Act was starting to crush people. All the jackasses who would watch one episode of a WSOP on ESPN and grab their mom's credit card to dump chips on a table were gone, and all that was left were hard hard players to beat. I left until August 2007, after a nice little win rate during my Vegas trip. So I understand variance and all that noise; it just doesn't make it any easier when it seems like you are living the Murphy's Laws of NLHE.
3) I do appreciate the fact that I'm still up $600+. My brain had already been picking out bills I was going to knock out or things I was going to buy with that money, so it makes it further aggravating to have all that money gone.
4) I'll be taking a little time off. I may sit and do freerolls just to keep the sound of the cards and chips clicking in my head, but I need a change of pace. The "usual" just ain't cutting it.
5) That JMan thread needs to be stickied in the beginners forum under the heading "And You Think You're Having a Bad Run!". Those PT numbers are amazing.
6) Holes. While I would stack up with TPTK or higher (and then lose), I would find myself folding at the merest hint of aggression. It was as if the table could smell the "fear" coming from their computer monitor, no matter the amount I would raise or bet, no matter the faked aggression. So I lost a LOT in continuation bets when they would miss and I'd somehow get called out on it or raised. Or check-raised. Take your pick. I'm sure there are more, but as my bankroll dwindled, my play would get more loose/passive and I found myself bleeding a lot more.

Thanks again.

[Max1]

For example.

Full Tilt Poker, $0.50/$1 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
LegoPoker Hand History Converter

UTG+1: $161.65
UTG+2: $101.55
MP1: $24.85
MP2: $100
CO: $48.70
Hero (BTN): $64.40
SB: $99.80
BB: $93.40
UTG: $106.30

MP2 posts $1
Pre-Flop: Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] dealt to Hero (BTN)
4 folds, MP2 checks, CO calls $1, Hero calls $1, SB folds, BB checks

Flop: ($4.50) 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 Players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, CO checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($4.50) T[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (4 Players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, <font color="red">CO bets $1</font>, Hero calls $1, 2 folds

River: ($6.50) T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 Players)
<font color="red">CO bets $46.70 and is All-In</font>

His push all in is obviously representing the quads or a high pair, trying to steal the pot (meager though it might be). Player is at 700+ hands at 21% VPIP and a 2.36 TAF.