"Self Exclusion" and until when

[Rek]

[ QUOTE ]
When I start making major errors, I will stop.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly right. As long as you are playing it right just keep plugging away. Only take a break when you are making the wrong decisions.

Sounds like you are just going through the dreaded variance. It happens to us all and will be repeated many times during your poker career.

Good luck

[BarryLyndon]

Cool. The only thing I feel like I need to slow down with a little, and I just have to remind myself (this is more like a self note, I guess), is not to three bet so goddamn light at 40/80. I did it a couple of times now and I'm not pleased about it. Both were against very aggressive buttons, but I think I could have waited another level as to improve my FE a little.

Barry

[DeuceSeven]

sngs can be damn frustrating. I switched to mtts for other reasons. I've been on 13 buy in downswing in 9 man turbos where no matter what happens everything aligns to make sure that you bubble or lose those 3 big pots itm to get yourself 3rd when the planets had to be aligned for you not to win. Honestly 13 buy-in down swing is nothing and 20-30 buy in downswings aren't unheard of either. I echo towelie, sngs were my bread and butter for the last 6 months.

The obvious answer is to keep playing until you start playing bad. If you notice you're playing bad take a couple of days off.

[jfk]

[ QUOTE ]
I think I have been playing some of the best poker this year and have been extracting more value by playing stronger.

Having said that, this downswing has really got me thinking I need a break. It's hard because I'm playing well, but I'm getting really pissed off and can see myself starting to make more small mistakes.

I really don't want to let go of playing now because I feel very connected to the game. But, I don't want to feel this goddamn dread. How long of a break do you suggest I take? Should I not take a break and keep plugging away?

[/ QUOTE ]

Everybody runs like this occasionally. Being able to objectively know that things will turn around is a key piece of being successful over the long term.

Not that you're in the mood to hear my own tales of woe, but recently I had one of those 12-15 tourney runs where I always got my money in good and always came up shallow. I vividly remember the AA vs. A5, AA vs. KK, JJ vs. JT. etc, that kept going up in flames. During this time I ran into Tyson Streib in a 2+2 home game and gushed gibberish about getting my money in good and losing. He didn't have any good advice, but his staring at me like I had two heads made me think more clearly about the situation.

Without turning this into a strat. post, it dawned on me that I may be playing unnecessarily and incorrectly tight when the majority of my exchanges had me (like you) as a prohibitive favorite. I'm sure you've gone through this review of your own play, but if you're playing so tight that you're always seeing these huge edges, it may be overly tight.

Other than my mind always returns to fundamental gambling theory in remembering that no one can help getting their money in good and losing. That the playing decision is sound is really all that can be controlled as a player. These things can and must swing back your way.

If you're getting your money in good in a gambling setting that's really all you can control. That you only figure to be "successful" somewhere in the neighborhood of 10% of the time you play a MTT or S&G means that you're due to have many lifetime runs of 18+ buy-in downswings.

As such, and as per your description, I would not take a break from this. Plugging away while unlucky but playing inevitably results in a natural cure.

[roggles]

18 buy-ins are upsetting you so that you want to quit? I think you really need to employ less aggressive bankrolling.

[crystalallen]

[ QUOTE ]


This makes SNGs more of a luck oriented/catching card contest/gambling game then any other.



[/ QUOTE ]

Stay away from Turbos.

[Rowem]

I play SNGs casually but my older brother plays them alot more, enough to make a pretty decent amount of money on the side. Recently I witnessed him go through a ridiculous disgusting downswing, where he got outdrawn or coolered for a very long stretch, and I was amazed at how composed and calculated he remained and eventually he played through it.

If I lose a few BIs I get pretty pissed and stop playing. I couldn't believe how someone I was related to could drop 30+ and carry on joking and trusting his game enough that he would break through it. I was sweating his tables and I was getting more pissed off than he was when he took a bad beat, so much so I couldn't watch, yet he carried on, dropped down a level or two and then kept taking shots at the higher stake games, inevitably lost so dropped down again, until eventually he racked up some decent results.

[DeuceSeven]

[ QUOTE ]
I play SNGs casually but my older brother plays them alot more, enough to make a pretty decent amount of money on the side. Recently I witnessed him go through a ridiculous disgusting downswing, where he got outdrawn or coolered for a very long stretch, and I was amazed at how composed and calculated he remained and eventually he played through it.

If I lose a few BIs I get pretty pissed and stop playing. I couldn't believe how someone I was related to could drop 30+ and carry on joking and trusting his game enough that he would break through it. I was sweating his tables and I was getting more pissed off than he was when he took a bad beat, so much so I couldn't watch, yet he carried on, dropped down a level or two and then kept taking shots at the higher stake games, inevitably lost so dropped down again, until eventually he racked up some decent results.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is poker and bankroll management at it's finest.