What's your longest bad run been?

I'm currently in a bit of a funk. I haven't had a winning session in about 4 days and I'm down ~100BB. I'm not too worried about since I've checked my stats and everything seems alright. It's been more of my big hands running into bigger hands/dry cards.

Just curious of other longer/more hands played dry spells.

Originally Posted by Strung

I'm currently in a bit of a funk. I haven't had a winning session in about 4 days and I'm down ~100BB. I'm not too worried about since I've checked my stats and everything seems alright. It's been more of my big hands running into bigger hands/dry cards.

Just curious of other longer/more hands played dry spells.

100 BB swings are not uncommon. As long as you are able to control yourself and not go on tilt they should not go any farther. I have had two 180 BB downswings since the beginning of august alone.

Originally Posted by Strung

I've checked my stats and everything seems alright.

Many BIG leaks have little to do with Poker Tracker stats.

I find leaks after EVERY session and am constantly working on my game.

What kinds of things do you look for when trying to identify leaks? I'm not going to sit here and say everything is due to "bad luck". I can think of a few places I forced things when I shouldn't of or should of folded instead of called.

Some of my favorite mistakes:

o Picking bad spots to get aggro when I'm certain to get called down.
o Not following through on the turn with marginal hands, giving hands that look hopeless relative to the board a free shot at 3-6 outs.
o Defending my BB too much against tight stealers
o Insta-calling the river with pretty hands when I can put the other guy on a range that has me destroyed.

Common mistakes my clients make:
o Open limping in aggressive games
o Not putting in extra bets in big pots to maximize the chance to win the pot.
o Getting too aggro with stuff like over-cards out of position multi-way.
o Not stealing enough.
o Playing too tight when horrible players enter the pot.
o Missing river bets.

I don't care what the results are, the chance for improving your game is there. It just seems that we wait for downswings to look into it, then often come to bad conclusions (ex: AJo is my biggest leak.)

as far as length, I've had downswings that lasted 2-3 weeks, in the 150-200BB range. that wasn't completly without winning, but i'm talking like losing 50BB, winning back 20, then losing another 50, etc. It happens. just take a few days off and/or maybe try dropping a limit.

i have been running/ playing bit poorly for last 5 months without bonuses sad to say i would be at .5/1 again, if i wouldn't moved down flat broke... there is a serious reason to keep 300bb+ for a given level and i'm experansing that... i lost 135bb @ 2/4 in a night before that wasn't fun belive me...

I think I hold the record for worst -bbs @ 2/4 of any decent player... currently over all and i think this is all the hands i played there maybe not... over all @ 2/4 i'm down like 1.8k... 450bb so i mean like i said no downswing you have had can come close to my dumb ass...

well i shouldn't call myself a dumb ass because that i am not, between running bad and miss playing here and there it turns into a mess... just a minnor set back I don't let it bother me only push me to improve...

Originally Posted by Fnord

...

This is exactly what I'm talking about. This guy is kind of a LAgtard, I'd seen him make a really marginal call-down, yet I just blast away on the turn and piss away another bet on the river...

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Fnord is UTG with T, 9.
Fnord raises, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, Fnord calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) 8, 3, 2 (2 players)
Fnord checks, Button bets, Fnord calls.

Turn: (4.75 BB) 6 (2 players)
Fnord checks, Button bets, Fnord raises, Button calls.

River: (8.75 BB) 8 (2 players)
Fnord bets, Button calls.

Final Pot: 10.75 BB

Originally Posted by Fnord

This is exactly what I'm talking about. This guy is kind of a LAgtard, I'd seen him make a really marginal call-down, yet I just blast away on the turn and piss away another bet on the river...

PokerStars 2/4 Hold'em (4 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Fnord is UTG with T, 9.
Fnord raises, Button 3-bets, 2 folds, Fnord calls.

Flop: (7.50 SB) 8, 3, 2 (2 players)
Fnord checks, Button bets, Fnord calls.

Turn: (4.75 BB) 6 (2 players)
Fnord checks, Button bets, Fnord raises, Button calls.

River: (8.75 BB) 8 (2 players)
Fnord bets, Button calls.

Final Pot: 10.75 BB

LOL, wrong on so many levels. The only real bad play was the river, even then you only have to be good 10% of the time to make the bluff possible.

Preflop is good because its 4 handed. On the flop you have a decent 2 overcards that may or may not be good and two backdoor draws so that call is fine. The turn check raise is good for a semibluff as you now have two overs, a gutshot and a flush draw. The river may have been a scare card for him and might have gotten him to fold. I don't think this is spewage but at 2/4, you are probably likely to get called down and paid off by AKo unimproved.

Well I just had a bad run over 6 days down 140-200BB (playing some games at a 50% higher stake, was getting really worried about my
play/luck anyway all changed last night up 60-90BB so hopefully it
was a long run of bad luck. I think you have to expect it from time
to time.
If you spin a coin hundreds of times you will get some long runs
of tails, the more you spin it the longer some of those runs will be.
Thats my second bad run of luck in 6 months so I expect I will have
2 more bad runs in the next 6 months.

i'm still on my downswing. 100BB is approaching soon. I've adjusted my game a few ways to see improvements, but nothing's working so far. I just gotta hope it turns around sometime soon

Like I said you will get runs of bad luck, if your game is good why adjust it?
Thats a problem I faced, if you adjust your best game you will lose more!!
It's a tricky situation, I tried changing my game but it didn't really work so
it was back to basics, what worked was when my luck changed, I was hitting
almost everything last night whereas the previous six nights I could't hit
a cows arse with a banjo

-100 BB is about as low as I got numerous times. After re-reading a few books, reviewing hand histories and temporarily dropping a level for confidence, it would come back around.

I've been on a downswing for about 30 days now. Just in a funk. Can't seem to make any headway. Not losing a whole bunch but can't snap out of it either.

Noticed alot of things I'm doing poorly and trying to fix them but still not snapping out of it. Been a slow-go and it has definitely gotten to me. I've taken a few days off here and there but still haven't been able to break out of it.

I attribute some of it to the variance factor balancing things out because I had been on the best run of my life prior to this. But, I am still making far too many mistakes right now that I can't attribute to anything other than poor play by me.

Up until last Friday I was on a two-week long downswing that ended me 170BB down. All of the sudden it disappeared and I started winning again over the weekend. Yesterday I looked through some of the hand histories from the last two weeks, and it seems most of the downswing was caused by bad luck--premium hands not connecting with the board, Aces and Kings getting cracked, flopping made hands that got outdrawn on the turn or river, my own draws not coming in, getting good hands against better hands, etc, etc.... But I also definitely noticed some tilt in my hand histories. I cold called some hands pre-flop that I really should have been raising (probably because I was playing scared), called down to the river/raised some people when I really should have been folding (probably because I had been dealt so much crap I was getting bored of folding so much), other stupid shit like that. I can probably attribute at least 30BB of that downswing to tilt (I'm completely making up the number 30BB, but the point is, tilt was definitely a pretty significant factor even if I wasn't aware of it at the time).

Originally Posted by jmrogers7

I've been on a downswing for about 30 days now. Just in a funk. Can't seem to make any headway. Not losing a whole bunch but can't snap out of it either.

Noticed alot of things I'm doing poorly and trying to fix them but still not snapping out of it. Been a slow-go and it has definitely gotten to me. I've taken a few days off here and there but still haven't been able to break out of it.

I attribute some of it to the variance factor balancing things out because I had been on the best run of my life prior to this. But, I am still making far too many mistakes right now that I can't attribute to anything other than poor play by me.

Check your blind play out, usually thats a good place to start. You're always welcome on ventrillo to talk about it.

try this post run your stats aganst it and then talk about down swings from there and why that could have happened...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...fpart=all&vc=1

strung, have patience my man. I went through the same thing a couple of months back. It lasted about 15 days for me. I dropped about 50 BB in $3-$6 live, moved down to $2-$4 live and dropped 60 BB more. Then I moved down to $1-$2 party and lost 75 BB more. Moved further down to $0.5-$1 and lost about 70 BB more.

I was a mess. I couldnt make a winning session in those 15 days. took a break for 10 days. NO POKER. didn think about it, didnt read it. came back for a few sessions for $2-$4 live and lost a few bb's more.

Went back again. refocussed and thought that overcoming the rake was issue too. came back to $4-$8 and the downswings were gone. I was winning again.

Bottomline, the downswings will vanish 1 day and you will start winning again. just play through it. DONT ADJUST YOUR GAME. it will only make things worse.

FTR helped me get through the downswing. it will you too

best of luck

My longest lasted almost 2 months. I would have an occasional session where I would do ok and get hope that I was rolling out of my funk and then lapse deep into another one. Finally, after a bunch of reflection, analysis, mentoring, a step down in stakes, and thousands of hands, I am happy to report that things have totally turned around and I am in the middle of my most profitable streak ever. Variance can be a bitch and I have tagged both ends of it to the extreme.

Won a futher 30-40bb back last night so I have halved my losses and I am
100bb up in two days, I feel I have ended my bad run now, I am still down
of course but I am ot woried about it now, I don't expect to win every day,
some days I will lose and the more days you play the greater the chance those
losing days win join into a streak, similarly for days when I win. So far I have had more
winning days than losing days and its going to a very long losing streak to change that. (Unless I go on a massive tilt of course )
I often play on two tables at the same time and can be 40bb down on one
40bb up on the other, so I am basically playing the same game so you can see luck plays a major part in the short to medium term however over a month
I am fairly consistantly 350bb up.

Ok I have to quit for awhile to collect myself. I'm in serious danger of going on a major tilt. I'm approaching -160BB and the end just does not seem in sight. These are just a small sample of the of the hands I've run into over the past few days, with the last hand being the final straw. I just need a break. Tough thing is, I'm going to Vegas on the 23rd and I was looking forward to playing a few live games but I don't even want to right now.

Seat 1: Hero [ AC,KD ]
Seat 3: ODoyleRulz58
Seat 4: MJ_GOAT
Seat 5: sp1111
Seat 6: deNile1
Seat 7: vendo
Seat 8: Acesup651
Seat 9: baller556
Seat 10: MyTurn2Raze
ANTES/BLINDS
MyTurn2Raze posts blind ($1), Hero posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
ODoyleRulz58 bets $4, MJ_GOAT folds, sp1111 calls $4, deNile1 folds, vendo calls $4, Acesup651 folds, baller556 folds, MyTurn2Raze folds, Hero calls $2.

FLOP [board cards 6S,10C,QC ]
Hero checks, ODoyleRulz58 bets $2, sp1111 folds, vendo calls $2, Hero calls $2.

TURN [board cards 6S,10C,QC,JS ]
Hero checks, ODoyleRulz58 bets $4, vendo calls $4, Hero bets $8, ODoyleRulz58 bets $8, vendo folds, Hero bets $8, ODoyleRulz58 calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 6S,10C,QC,JS,10D ]
Hero bets $4, ODoyleRulz58 bets $8, Hero calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
ODoyleRulz58 shows [ 10S,10H ]
Hero mucks cards [ AC,KD ]
ODoyleRulz58 wins $73.

SUMMARY
Dealer: baller556
Pot: $75 | Rake: $2
Hero loses $30
ODoyleRulz58 bets $30, collects $73, net $43
MJ_GOAT loses $0
sp1111 loses $4
deNile1 loses $0
vendo loses $10
Acesup651 loses $0
baller556 loses $0
MyTurn2Raze loses $1

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,511,466,042
Table Zagazig, 24 Nov 2005 8:25 PM ET

Seat 1: hastyle
Seat 2: Dale46
Seat 3: Hero [ AD,8D ]
Seat 4: hoop coach
Seat 5: JaredGold
Seat 6: shikadee
Seat 7: cad7803
Seat 8: DJ_Camper
Seat 9: UKNTBLFME
Seat 10: jdbennett
ANTES/BLINDS
shikadee posts blind ($1), cad7803 posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
DJ_Camper folds, UKNTBLFME folds, jdbennett calls $2, hastyle folds, Dale46 calls $2, Hero calls $2, hoop coach folds, JaredGold folds, shikadee calls $1, cad7803 checks.

FLOP [board cards 3D,9D,KD ]
shikadee checks, cad7803 checks, jdbennett checks, Dale46 checks, Hero bets $2, shikadee folds, cad7803 folds, jdbennett calls $2, Dale46 folds.

TURN [board cards 3D,9D,KD,KC ]
jdbennett checks, Hero bets $4, jdbennett calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 3D,9D,KD,KC,7D ]
jdbennett checks, Hero bets $4, jdbennett bets $8, Hero calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
jdbennett shows [ KS,KH ]
Hero mucks cards [ AD,8D ]
jdbennett wins $36.

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,531,012,262
Table Mossul, 29 Nov 2005 8:39 PM ET

Seat 1: David Sumser
Seat 2: MJ_GOAT
Seat 3: NevrBinBettr
Seat 4: The Tax Man2
Seat 5: Phoenix_5
Seat 6: Hero [ KD,KH ]
Seat 7: AL5AcE83
Seat 8: anth000
Seat 9: TheMacGeek
Seat 10: Happy79
ANTES/BLINDS
MJ_GOAT posts blind ($1), NevrBinBettr posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
The Tax Man2 calls $2, Phoenix_5 calls $2, Hero bets $4, AL5AcE83 folds, anth000 folds, TheMacGeek bets $6, Happy79 folds, David Sumser folds, MJ_GOAT folds, NevrBinBettr calls $4, The Tax Man2 calls $4, Phoenix_5 folds, Hero bets $4, TheMacGeek calls $2, NevrBinBettr calls $2, The Tax Man2 calls $2.

FLOP [board cards 10C,4H,2D ]
NevrBinBettr bets $2, The Tax Man2 calls $2, Hero bets $4, TheMacGeek calls $4, NevrBinBettr calls $2, The Tax Man2 calls $2.

TURN [board cards 10C,4H,2D,3S ]
NevrBinBettr checks, The Tax Man2 checks, Hero bets $4, TheMacGeek calls $4, NevrBinBettr calls $4, The Tax Man2 calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 10C,4H,2D,3S,AD ]
NevrBinBettr checks, The Tax Man2 checks, Hero bets $4, TheMacGeek calls $4, NevrBinBettr calls $4, The Tax Man2 folds.

SHOWDOWN
Hero shows [ KD,KH ]
TheMacGeek shows [ AS,KS ]
NevrBinBettr mucks cards
TheMacGeek wins $77.

SUMMARY
Dealer: David Sumser
Pot: $79 | Rake: $2
David Sumser loses $0
MJ_GOAT loses $1
NevrBinBettr loses $20
The Tax Man2 loses $16
Phoenix_5 loses $2
Hero loses $20
AL5AcE83 loses $0
anth000 loses $0
TheMacGeek bets $20, collects $77, net $57
Happy79 loses $0

SUMMARY
Dealer: JaredGold
Pot: $38 | Rake: $2
hastyle loses $0
Dale46 loses $2
Hero loses $16
hoop coach loses $0
JaredGold loses $0
shikadee loses $2
cad7803 loses $2
DJ_Camper loses $0
UKNTBLFME loses $0
jdbennett bets $16, collects $36, net $20

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,504,516,260
Table Independence, 22 Nov 2005 10:31 PM ET

Seat 1: wheel-draw
Seat 2: Aardvark Mo
Seat 3: blindprofit
Seat 4: royalgolfer
Seat 5: freedmnutz10
Seat 6: the_big_o
Seat 7: Hero [ 10D,JH ]
Seat 8: Imadonkey
Seat 9: kdog_
Seat 10: pj1961hp
ANTES/BLINDS
the_big_o posts blind ($1), Hero posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
Imadonkey folds, kdog_ folds, pj1961hp folds, wheel-draw calls $2, Aardvark Mo folds, blindprofit folds, royalgolfer folds, freedmnutz10 calls $2, the_big_o calls $1, Hero checks.

FLOP [board cards 3C,QH,KC ]
the_big_o bets $2, Hero calls $2, wheel-draw calls $2, freedmnutz10 folds.

TURN [board cards 3C,QH,KC,9D ]
the_big_o bets $4, Hero calls $4, wheel-draw calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 3C,QH,KC,9D,9C ]
the_big_o bets $4, Hero bets $8, wheel-draw folds, the_big_o bets $8, Hero bets $8, the_big_o calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
Hero shows [ 10D,JH ]
the_big_o shows [ 9H,KD ]
the_big_o wins $56.

SUMMARY
Dealer: freedmnutz10
Pot: $58 | Rake: $2
wheel-draw loses $8
Aardvark Mo loses $0
blindprofit loses $0
royalgolfer loses $0
freedmnutz10 loses $2
the_big_o bets $24, collects $56, net $32
Hero loses $24
Imadonkey loses $0
kdog_ loses $0
pj1961hp loses $0

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,521,799,422
Table Vaduz, 27 Nov 2005 2:32 PM ET

Seat 1: thedarkness5
Seat 2: dave7812
Seat 3: zPokerNutz
Seat 4: UKNTBLFME
Seat 5: DPS7
Seat 6: Banfro74
Seat 7: jdbennett
Seat 8: Hero [ 3C,3S ]
Seat 9: OliviaStorm
Seat 10: jukkapuu
ANTES/BLINDS
DPS7 posts blind ($1), Banfro74 posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
jdbennett folds, Hero calls $2, OliviaStorm folds, jukkapuu folds, thedarkness5 calls $2, dave7812 folds, zPokerNutz calls $2, UKNTBLFME folds, DPS7 calls $1, Banfro74 checks.

FLOP [board cards 9H,9C,3D ]
DPS7 checks, Banfro74 checks, Hero checks, thedarkness5 checks, zPokerNutz checks.

TURN [board cards 9H,9C,3D,AH ]
DPS7 checks, Banfro74 checks, Hero bets $4, thedarkness5 calls $4, zPokerNutz folds, DPS7 folds, Banfro74 folds.

RIVER [board cards 9H,9C,3D,AH,5S ]
Hero bets $4, thedarkness5 bets $8, Hero bets $8, thedarkness5 bets $8, Hero calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
thedarkness5 shows [ 9S,AS ]
Hero mucks cards [ 3C,3S ]
thedarkness5 wins $48.

SUMMARY
Dealer: UKNTBLFME
Pot: $50 | Rake: $2
thedarkness5 bets $22, collects $48, net $26
dave7812 loses $0
zPokerNutz loses $2
UKNTBLFME loses $0
DPS7 loses $2
Banfro74 loses $2
jdbennett loses $0
Hero loses $22
OliviaStorm loses $0
jukkapuu loses $0

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,531,470,484
Table Guadalajara, 29 Nov 2005 10:40 PM ET

Seat 1: woopigsooie1
Seat 2: knight76
Seat 3: ShrtStack
Seat 4: Pixius20
Seat 5: Hero [ 2C,2D ]
Seat 6: no1super2001
Seat 7: SoftDaffodil
Seat 8: snickerdoo1
Seat 9: anth000
Seat 10: wetkitty
ANTES/BLINDS
wetkitty posts blind ($1), woopigsooie1 posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
knight76 folds, ShrtStack folds, Pixius20 folds, Hero calls $2, no1super2001 folds, SoftDaffodil folds, snickerdoo1 folds, anth000 folds, wetkitty calls $1, woopigsooie1 checks.

FLOP [board cards JD,KD,9S ]
wetkitty checks, woopigsooie1 checks, Hero checks.

TURN [board cards JD,KD,9S,2H ]
wetkitty bets $4, woopigsooie1 folds, Hero bets $8, wetkitty bets $8, Hero calls $4.

RIVER [board cards JD,KD,9S,2H,4H ]
wetkitty bets $4, Hero calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
wetkitty shows [ 10D,QH ]
Hero mucks cards [ 2C,2D ]
wetkitty wins $36.

SUMMARY
Dealer: anth000
Pot: $38 | Rake: $2
woopigsooie1 loses $2
knight76 loses $0
ShrtStack loses $0
Pixius20 loses $0
Hero loses $18
no1super2001 loses $0
SoftDaffodil loses $0
snickerdoo1 loses $0
anth000 loses $0
wetkitty bets $18, collects $36, net $18

Texas Hold'em $2-$4 (real money), hand #1,531,523,476
Table Guadalajara, 29 Nov 2005 10:56 PM ET

Seat 1: woopigsooie1
Seat 2: knight76
Seat 3: ShrtStack
Seat 4: Pixius20
Seat 5: Hero [ 7D,7H ]
Seat 6: no1super2001
Seat 7: SoftDaffodil
Seat 8: snickerdoo1
Seat 9: anth000
Seat 10: wetkitty
ANTES/BLINDS
knight76 posts blind ($1), ShrtStack posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
Pixius20 folds, Hero calls $2, no1super2001 folds, SoftDaffodil folds, snickerdoo1 folds, anth000 folds, wetkitty folds, woopigsooie1 calls $2, knight76 folds, ShrtStack checks.

FLOP [board cards 7S,10D,3H ]
ShrtStack bets $2, Hero calls $2, woopigsooie1 calls $2.

TURN [board cards 7S,10D,3H,AD ]
ShrtStack bets $4, Hero bets $8, woopigsooie1 folds, ShrtStack bets $8, Hero bets $8, ShrtStack calls $4.

RIVER [board cards 7S,10D,3H,AD,AH ]
ShrtStack bets $4, Hero bets $8, ShrtStack bets $8, Hero bets $8, ShrtStack calls $4.

SHOWDOWN
Hero shows [ 7D,7H ]
ShrtStack shows [ 3D,AS ]
ShrtStack wins $75.

SUMMARY
Dealer: woopigsooie1
Pot: $77 | Rake: $2
woopigsooie1 loses $4
knight76 loses $1
ShrtStack bets $36, collects $75, net $39
Pixius20 loses $0
Hero loses $36
no1super2001 loses $0
SoftDaffodil loses $0
snickerdoo1 loses $0
anth000 loses $0
wetkitty loses $0

After dropping 50BB in UNDER TEN MINUTES
I started reviewing my game more closely
But I found that I didn't do anything wrong particularly, just got outdrawn something like ten times in a row.

But it did improve my game to criticize myself and look and reflect at my play. So hang in there, hopefully this experience will make you more resistant to swings in poker and in life.

Clawed back another 75BB last night allfrom one table, the other table I was on didn't make a penny, I considered changing it but I feared endingup on a worse table!!
Only 60BB down now, not a lot as I could make that up in a good days play.
I consider my bad run over, well lets feking hope so

i'm not even going to read those hands, converter much?

where are those hands even from, that could be your first mistake playing a completly off named site that is shit...