The drought

[BlackMamba]

Hello. I am a SNG and MTT tournamnet player at TP. In the tournaments, I use the usual tight/aggressive style of play that has won me many tournaments before. But lately, I have been on a serious ITM drought.

It seems like whenever I get good hands, the board just doesn't help out. When I try to bluff and take the pot, they just call me down with anything. I still have my large bankroll but it's starting to dip fast. I'm well respected at the site for being one of the best tourney players there, but with this drought I fear that my respect that I have worked hard to earn will just waste away.

Is there anyway to combat this. This is probably a usual thing for any poker player to face while they play but it's really eating me alive. Do I ditch my style of play for the time being and start being hyper-aggressive, or do I just stick to ring games until I feel it's right to start the tourney play again. All comments welcome.

[cferejohn]

Do *not* start changing your style just because "this isn't working". Droughts are statistically inevitable. Good poker players have deep enough bankrolls and stable enough psyches that they can weather them without it messing up their game.

If you feel like it is messing with your head, taking a break to play ring games, or just getting away from the game altogether for a little while is perfectly acceptable. I try to do this whenever I feel that I am getting angry while playing for *any* reason (bad beats, getting outplayed, whatever).

Going on tilt and radically changing your style (assuming that your original style is in fact a winning style) will lose you money.

Based on your posts, I think the only thing I would change about your game is to be more aggressive (i.e. bet more) when it seems likely you have the best hand. So adding a little more agression may be a good idea, but that doesn't mean start raising KTo in EP.

Good luck.

[tripdad]

it looks to me from your previous posts (i just completed a search) that you have little concept of how to protect your hands, thus allowing proper odds for opponents to draw out on you.

also, your preflop play is somewhat sporadic and many times less than optimal.

no-limit hold'em is not all about the cards. it is about math (though you need not be a math genius), and reading opponents, and position in relation to the blinds as well. it also takes a long time to master, but for those willing to take it one step at a time, you can get gradually better.

my advice is A)do not rely on previous short term results to guage your quality of play. B)consistently question your own play, asking yourself if you could've made more here, could've saved more there, etc...C)read the posts and results in this forumn as frequently as possible.D)search for posts by Greg (FossilMan)[current world champion of poker] and some of the other well respected posters on this forumn E)learn how to handle downswings F)learn how to handle upswings.

my guess is that you are a young person who loves poker and wants to improve, and if i am right, you already have a lot going for you when compared to your competition.

good luck, sir!

[BlackMamba]

Y'all are both exactly right. I will take all of your ides and advice, work on my play, read posts here, and try to get better. I am a young person and I do love poker. I haven't seen a game which makes you think about everything, not just the cards. Thx for all the advice /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[paland]

I'm in a drought too. I've notice that I go through these things about every other month and they can last for quite a few weeks. But your wins will come. The posts above are good guides. Take a couple days break, but DON"T change your winning style. You're tourney wins will return sometime and the money you make in one win will more than make up for all of the loses. Good luck and see you around.

[Tie Domi]

You might want to see if your site will allow you to change your on-line name. By now, the more studious types may have a pretty good line on your playing style. There was some discussion about this recently in the "News, Views " forum.