Best way to recover??

Just had a lousy weekend. My b/r has been decapitated from $250 to $100 dollars in three days. I took a couple of shots at $11 stars sngs when br was at/above $250 but apart from that Ive been playing the $5.50's. I was running well all week prior to friday with 50% ITM, all 1sts and 2nds. Then came the weekend.

AA busted me out of 5 tourneys, whether I held them or not. KK was another big loser. I lost pretty much all my races and then of course I went on tilt and made some pretty fcking stupid plays/calls. I stopped taking HH for the tounies I was so pissed off.

Now Im on the back of my a 16 tourney OOTM run, my roll is pitifull, and Im pissed with myself. I have to stop, take a break. Im gonna re-read HOH but Id love to hear any other suggestions as to what I should do to recover from this hit. I really dont want to fall out of love with poker.

Cheers

just take some time off. IMO that is the best thing you can do after a stretch like this, and trust me, ive had a few. I went on a huge downswing/tiltfest in mid december of last year and didnt play an single hand until Jan 1 and i was more focused and able to play my best again.

oh, and im not saying you need to take 2 weeks off or anything. just take a few days and it should help you alot.

yeah I had to take 3 weeks off after a few days of getting sucked out of some huge pots. My Aces have been cracked the last 4 times I have had them but I still like getting them.

I lost $100 in two sessions when I should really have stopped after my second buy-in each time and I havent played a hand since 1st april.

When I go back to ring games I'm gonna play better for it, god knows how much I'd have lost on tilt if I'd have tried to catch my losses that night

Best thing to do is to not play, but while taking that time off look at what you might have done wrong and learn from it.

Proper BR management would be ideal for you to work on. You're playing above your roll and by doing that you can't sustain all the beats you're taking. Your hands won't always hold up and therefore you have to have the BR to deal with the variances. It's hard to build a roll with just $100 but it can be done. Just play low stakes until you increase your roll.

Originally Posted by Ghandii

Just had a lousy weekend. My b/r has been decapitated from $250 to $100 dollars in three days. I took a couple of shots at $11 stars sngs when br was at/above $250 but apart from that Ive been playing the $5.50's. I was running well all week prior to friday with 50% ITM, all 1sts and 2nds. Then came the weekend.

AA busted me out of 5 tourneys, whether I held them or not. KK was another big loser. I lost pretty much all my races and then of course I went on tilt and made some pretty fcking stupid plays/calls. I stopped taking HH for the tounies I was so pissed off.

Now Im on the back of my a 16 tourney OOTM run, my roll is pitifull, and Im pissed with myself. I have to stop, take a break. Im gonna re-read HOH but Id love to hear any other suggestions as to what I should do to recover from this hit. I really dont want to fall out of love with poker.

Cheers

can you PROVE over a "long run" that you are a winning player?

if yes, screw time off. you may be experiencing variance. if AA and KK are busting you, you could be a victim of bad luck, especially if you got it in pf.

if no, definitely take time off, and study your hand histories. read posts and post HHs to learn where you may be going wrong, if anywhere. it IS possible that it's still variance. wouldnt that be nice to know? maybe drop a level, as your bankroll is no longer justified to play the tourneys it was just last weekend. BANKROLL MANAGEMENT, or lack thereof, IS THE BIGGEST EGO-KILLER, imo. nothing quite like pressing to finish ITM because it's one of your last buy-ins.

bottom line is whether it is your longest OOM streak or not, 16 tourneys is nothing of a run, and you cannot tell much from that without more information.

keep your chin up.

The longer you play, the more you will notice "streaks"

It sucks to get lousy cards for any length of time.

It really sucks when you get good cards & lose with 'em, & can deplete your BR in no time.

Best advice I can give is to take some time away from the table & annalize your hands & your game. If everything appears reasonably solid, ya just got beat by the poker gods, gain confidence from this knowledge.

If you find you have leaks, identify them & take the steps to improve on 'em.

As far as I can tell, poker is about 30% luck. Luck is what keeps the fish fed!.....LOL. Accept that the 30% bad luck can happen for weeks!

Welcome to poker! It's part of the game.

Thank y'all kindly for the replies.

Ive not played since Sunday (wow, longest break this year and its only been two days!) and I think Ill stay off the tables for the rest of the week. Besides anything else it'll give me a chance to get all the stuff done around the house that I keep putting off

Im feeling much better about it already. Ill start looking over some histories tomorrow. I know already Ive got leaks but I want to Identify some and make sure I was playing well enough through the slaughter (or not as the case may be.)

When I get back to it Im thinking I should take my br off stars, add $100/$150 to it and look around for rooms with rakeback and/or bonuses clearable at $10nl. ( Ive already cleared the stars bonus) Miffed recommends pokerchamps, any other suggestions?

Cheers!

Same thing happened to me. I'm in the midst of a terrible run, still waiting to come out of it. My roll reached its high of $600 two days ago. Now I'm at $440. I honestly didn't imagine that I would sink like I did (especially in only 2 days) but it has been dismal.

My goals:
1. Get more sleep.
2. Tighten up. Fewer c-bets and blocking bets for a while and just play ABC. (I've already dropped from $25 NL to 10.)
3. Stop the bleeding. If the bad runs come, stop for the day instead of chasing.

Any other ideas you can think of or comments on the above?

just to think...I went down $400 in 3 nights...most heads up were bad beats. For example, I'd have a fullhouse, and then someone else will have a higher boat. kinda sucks. But always look forward to this note...even though you've lost a couple hundred...just think, there always someone out there that's lost more. just keep your head up, tomorrow is another day

-aceassin

Down another $20 or so today. Here's the latest:

I'm dealt KK on button. I make the 5x raise and get 2 callers. Flop comes 766. I go all in. I get not one, but 2 callers. Hmm...

The two that called my raise had 76 and 96. Always fun to get stacked thus.

Since april 6th



If it wasn't for BR management I would have stabbed myself in the eye with a fork. Fortunately, I only need to drop down to $50NL for a bit after taking 4 days off.

WOW!!
Now that's a down swing! Sorry about yer luck dude!

Originally Posted by deacon_bluez

Down another $20 or so today. Here's the latest:

I'm dealt KK on button. I make the 5x raise and get 2 callers. Flop comes 766. I go all in. I get not one, but 2 callers. Hmm...

The two that called my raise had 76 and 96. Always fun to get stacked thus.

If that is how you are losing your money you are in good shape as the cards will fall your way more often than not.

A few months ago I went from $650 to $450 in about 2 weeks. Took some time off, had a friend review a couple of HH's, played ring for a while then started playing tourneys again. Now my roll is back up to over $700.

One other thought. As you review your HH's, if you come across a hand that you wonder if you played correctly or if you could have played better, post it here and see what others think. I can't tell you how many times I have posted a hand that I thought I had played OK (or badly) only to find out the reverse was actually the case.

Good Luck

I'll take you up on the idea of posting some hands. These were two consecutive hands tonight. Any ideas you have on what I should have done are welcome. Too aggressive?

Now my bankroll is down from $600 to $385 in 4 days, playing at $25NL and $10NL. I feel totally lost.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($17.95)
UTG ($3.55)
UTG+1 ($3.55)
MP1 ($3.20)
MP2 ($7.75)
MP3 ($27.90)
CO ($7.60)
Button ($9.85)
Hero ($6)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A.
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.6, BB calls $0.50, UTG+1 calls $0.50, MP2 calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50.

Flop: ($3) 6, 5, 6 (5 players)
Hero bets $1.5, BB folds, UTG+1 calls $1.50, MP2 calls $1.50, CO raises to $7, Hero folds, UTG+1 calls $1.45 (All-In), MP2 folds.

Turn: ($15.95) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($15.95) T (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $15.95

Results in white below:
UTG+1 has Jd Qd (flush, queen high).
CO has 6h Ah (three of a kind, sixes).
Outcome: UTG+1 wins $11.90. CO wins $4.05.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($17.35)
BB ($6)
UTG ($11.35)
UTG+1 ($3.20)
MP1 ($5.65)
MP2 ($27.90)
MP3 ($4.05)
CO ($9.85)
Hero ($3.90)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K.
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.10, 1 fold, MP3 calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.6, SB calls $0.55, 1 fold, MP1 folds, MP3 calls $0.50.

Flop: ($2) 3, 2, Q (3 players)
SB checks, MP3 bets $0.7, Hero raises to $1.4, SB folds, MP3 raises to $3.3, Hero calls $1.90 (All-In).

Turn: ($8.60) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($8.60) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $8.60

Results in white below:
MP3 has 7s Js (flush, queen high).
Hero has Ks Kc (two pair, kings and queens).
Outcome: MP3 wins $8.60.

In hand one, you're not aggressive enough. With three limpers, and poor position, I would raise to at least 80c - isolation is vital here. Sadly, you don't achieve it, and you're OOP for the rest of the hand. Your 1/2 pot bet on the flop is a bit weak, and gives any 5, 78, 47, 34 and any diamond flush draw odds to stay in. As it happens, the big raise gave you ample excuse to get out of the pot - it's not the easiest fold, but considering the number of players, the drawy flop, I think you were right to do so.

The second hand, you had the king of spades, you were short stacked, you could only get all in on the flop (which you should probably have done straight away). Definitely no need to fret about your play here.

Thanks, biondino, I appreciate your response.

I definitely get what you're saying about isolating preflop with the aces; they always seem to get cracked with multiple callers. I was thinking my 60 cents would do it, but now wonder if even 80 or a buck would have. (I've gotten so darn gunshy this week that I'm even playing around with limping big hands preflop... but that REALLY goes against my instincts.) My thought on the flop is that no one would have cards in the 4-8 range, unless they were playing a weak ace or something. And so I wanted to keep my bet within reason to draw people into the pot, with an overpair or the weak ace. (In hindsight, I think you are right, I did give the flush draw too good a price.) I definitely thought I had best hand at that point. When the first two called, I felt good (thinking, maybe flush draw, or lower pair), but that big raise floored me.