Burnt out after a losing streak...how to recover?

Hi


I recently experienced my first prolonged losing streak, which lasted two months. I finally decided to take a break, and did not play for two weeks. Yesterday, I paid a visit to my local cardroom, and realized I was making a great deal of obvious mistakes...I seemed to have lost my edge. It was very difficult for me to stay focused and disciplined, and discipline was one of my biggest strengths in poker before my losing streak. I also have lost much confidence, which made me play quite weak tight yesterday. Is this because I'm just rusty by not playing for only half a month?? Should I sit down and reread all the poker literature? This losing streak hit me pretty hard, and I'm not sure if I will be able to recover from this. Please anyone, is there a cure to this problem? How did you all feel after your first mad losing streak, how did it affect your play, and what did you do to remedy it? Comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks y'all.

You need more time off. The great hazard of playing for a living is that you cannot get away from the game for a long enough period of time to recover from the wound. An "M.D." who saw a traumatic injury would certainly prescribe an extended rest as part of the healing process. Go read some books that have nothing to do with poker, learn to play the guitar, or write a computer program. Anything, for now, except think about the game.

I suggest not taking an extended time off, you get too rusty. I went through a bad streak earlier this year, and I cut back from my usual 100 hrs a month to around ~50 hrs a month. If your bankroll is getting too small, you also should consider going down in limits until you get your confidence back.


Also, going back to the basics helped me. My cold streak happened at the same time I was reading "Theory of Poker" for the first time. I'm not sure if there was a correlation, but I suspect I may have been applying some of the concepts in that book incorrectly. I went back and re-read HPFAP, and my bad streak ended. Now I occasionally re-read some pages in the theory book, and am doing better having some experience at the tables with the ideas in it.

dear doctor,

I suffered from the same symptoms as you described.

I then wrote down all the hands I played, position, what I did and the result. It tightened me up a great deal and helped me focus. seems like that is what you need, plus alittle variety in your games. perhaps a switch from holdem to stud will help ya.


good luck

you found the reason for your losing streak.it is that you were playing badly. you just paid attention to your play after returning. why wait for two months. after an hour or two of being stuck you should be analizing every thing you did and what your opponents are doing to you. this way every day you lose is a bad losing streak.

It was very difficult for me to stay focused and disciplined, and discipline was one of my biggest strengths in poker before my losing streak.


Find a new way to entertain yourself at the table. Watch the players. Focus on something that you haven't noticed before, like how they breathe, how they protect their cards, or which hand they bet with. Something fresh will bring the focus back.


Should I sit down and reread all the poker literature?


If you have an old favorite, fine, but I recommend reading something new. A poker book is good, but any well-written book on the human condition will suffice. A well-thought-out book will provide a framework for sorting out your poker game. I always suggest Montaigne's essays.


and I'm not sure if I will be able to recover from this.


As absurd as it sounds, you can recover from this in a couple of hours. All you need to do is catch some cards, play them correctly, and have them stand up. Losing streaks make you doubt yourself, but they do end.


and what did you do to remedy it?


Tighten up, don't chase, wait it out.

Go and play a couple of cheap holdem tournaments. Play hard and fast, rebuy if needed, get some confidence back.

I recently played with a friend and he writes down most if not all of the hands he plays. I thought I would give it a try for a session just for kicks. I found that in reviewing how I played afterwards i saw mistakes i was making that i never noticed at the table and i would not have thought about later since I don't remember most of the hands i play.


Try writing down EVERY hand you play over the next few session and then review the way you played them afterwards. post a few of them here too. Something interesting that i have started to notice is that almost all of my hands are played from the blinds, on the button, or in the cuttoff. Here's a sample outline to bring to the table with you(anyone with other outlines they use?):

Hand, Position:

Board:

Pre-flop:


Flop:


Turn:


River:

Just keep hammering away, you SISSY!


After all, you have a positive expectation!


(Assuming you play correctly.)


Why waste your time futzing around? Are you broke? Get back to work. Go hammer some sucker with 5 bluff raises in a row, and then show him what he laid down to every time.


El-Roi

Dear M.D.,

First I would like to say, that the other forum members have given some superb answers. Now a couple of thoughts.


Break or no break. My first opinion would be no break. But there are times in our lives, like after the death of a loved one, or when we are developing a serious illness, or when we have taken on so many responsibilities in our lives, that we just don't have the energy to do any thing well. If one of these is your problem, you are just going to have to deal with your emotional or physical rehabilitation first. Interestingly I found that during the times of the greatest emotional stress in my life I have often found poker to be relaxing, because in my case I could not focus on the game, and life's worries at the same time.


physical fitness. Sounds nuts. But the old Soviet Union started

a program of having some of the members of their nationally supported chest players start on a program of daily aerobic exercise, and they found that to their surprise, that their exercising chess players, had a significant improvement in their rate of winning. And we know that people who are exercising, have an increase in their ability to mentally focus. Of course as you well know, if you are developing a physical disability ,like aplastic anemia, exercise would have the opposite effect.Which expedite your starting therapy.


Work harder.Aprox 2 years ago I went through a loosing streak that lasted 6 weeks. Now at that time, like Phat, I was monitoring my hands. Every hour or two I would take a short break and go to the bathroom or lounge, and jot down the hands that I played. Now if you can't remember every hand that you played over that period of time, you are playing woefully to loose. Then during the evening I would review my hands played and their outcomes. Now I found that most of my loss was the result of a series of bad beats that had occurred with a frequency which challenged the mathematical fundamentals of relativity. BUT! I would occasional find a mistake that I made that was just do to plain old, poor technique. I would then think "What were you thinking, when you played an unsuited Queen Jack out of that position" Well "I was thinking that loose Louie had played that trash all night and racks up and I played the hand because I was frustrated and mad" SO " OK wake up and when that situation arises again I will say to myself "I have too much respect for my self and the game I play, to play the trash that many of my opponents play"


Decrease the number of live games you play (for now) and increase the number of simulated games that you play. If you don't have it, get Wilson's newest turbo Holdem (with both Sid and Mike), and also Bob Wilson's newest tournament simulator, which has regular limit, pot limit ,and no limit. Set a goal for yourself to play against Mike (the Games designated opponent)repeated series of 50 hands at a time. And then go back and review with Sid (Sid cost an extra $15 dollars or one small bet which ever comes first) each hand that you played, now even if you occasional disagree with Sid (which you should) the process will strengthen your technique and game analysis. If you are not beating Mike in 70% of the contests that you play against him, go back and play the simulated game section for a half an hour a day. AND SET THE SIMULATOR SO THAT YOUR OPPONENT'S CARDS ARE FACE UP EVERY OTHER DAY. That sounds stupid at first, but you will be amazed that as you play you will also subconsciously be developing a feel for the true mathematical provability of your opponents hand ,without realizing it or consciously working at it. Then when you find that you have an accurate knowledge of what your opponents probably have it will strengthen your instincts when the cards are not exposed.


Play like a pro. For a while play less games, and play them only at the time of day when you will be most likely to win (and you know in your heart when that time is) play only against the opponents that you are most likely to beat, and play at the limit that you are most likely to beat (and in your heart you know what that limit is)even if your ego has to accept a chip color change for a while.If you go to the Casino and can not find the conditions you want go to a movie or go home a play against your new nemesis Mike.


Tighten up and Toughen up your game. You may have heard of the "OLD POKER PROS MAXIM" " never loosen up your game, until you have at least doubled up your buy in". The old pros use to have a policy to play nut tight and then when they played, they played "tough as nails?" They were consistent winners because they stuck to high standers.


Give yourself permission to leave a winner. If you sit down at your game and have an unusual positive run of cards, and you find that in an hour and a half you have won what a professional player averages in 10 hours of work. RACK UP AND GO HOME. Don't sit there all night until you are no longer 21/2 racks up but 2 racks down.Like wise set a limit that you are willing to loose and always always always get up and leave when you reach that limit. If you find that you lack the discipline to leave. Have a heart to heart talk with your new Cyber friends Mike and Sid and set a punishment like "Because I lacked the discipline to leave when I reached my loosing limit I won't allow myself to play for a week"


Review 2 good books "12" times. This is my most top secrete "NEVER CAN FAIL" powerful weapon, so I would appreciate it, Poker M.D. if you would not tell it to anyone. Go and get a hand held tape recorder, and approx 6 one hour audio tapes and read. "The twenty first century edition of Holdem for Advanced Players" AND READ IT ALLOWED INTO THE TAPE RECORDER, ( President Abraham Lincoln said that his "secrete to learning" was reading every book out loud) Then take your six tapes and put them where one time each day, you can listen for one or a half an hour. That hour could be while you are exercise, or as you are driving to work. And listen to the book over and over and over again. At first it won't seem like this is very helpful, after a while you won't even consciously be listening to the tape,then ONE DAY something will happen, and you will suddenly KNOW the work and ,at a depth that you never thought that you could ever understand it before.. After that get a second good holdem book. I would recommend "Championship Holdem " By Clothier and McEvoy. and do the same thing. Play it until you KNOW it. Until you instantly can tell what thought the author will say next . Seem like a huge amount of time? Well tell me this, what did you accomplish durrring the last 300 hours you spent driving to work or running on your exercise machine? At least in the next 300 hours you can understand your favorite game of poker at a depth that only maybe 3 out of a hundred do. And from that moment on, you are going to be a danger to any opponent that you play against. You aren't always going to win. But when you loose, your opponents will know that you put up one hell of a fight.And if you think that getting to knowing two good poker books that way is a huge task, try doing it a dozen times as I have.


FINALLY AFTER ALL THIS WORK: Go back and take control of your table. Return to your usual game and repeatedly say this mantra to yourself. "I don't know if I will get the cards immediately, but I know that I have worked harder at my game than almost anyone in this Casino, and there is no way that I can loose in the long run,it is just a matter of time until I beat this game"


After you going through this program, you probably will find that you no longer feel comfortable playing at the game you were playing. If that is the situation, then say good bye to your old friends, get a chip color change and move up to a higher level that you can still beat, but is tough enough to provide you a

challenge.


I hope these thoughts can be of some use . Did I mention my method of treating aplastic anemia without having to use erythropoiten?


Good luck,


Octavian

Poker, The advice given by Ray is excellent. Read when taking a break from the game as this will prevent rust. It is really hard no to play weak tight but you can overcome this with concentration, forcing yourself to be agressive when you know that it is right.

I am in recovery now from a losing streak that lasted over 6 months and cost me 80% of my bankroll. I kept playing, looked for leaks (Ifound many) and stepped down in limits for 3 reasons. Booking wins are easier at the lower limits and that is VERY important to your ego, the competition will punish you less for non-aggressive play if you continue to err on that side and your 20-40 bankroll will last a long time at 6-12. Keep smiling, it will turn.

I think you have done something that many players would not do. How many players do you know that can drop from 20-40 to 6-12? I'm impressed.


pat

I couldn't move down from $20-40 to $6-12. I suffer from what Mason talks about in Poker Essays 2. I would rather bust up at this limit rather than move down. I would move down from say $40-80 to $20-40 though.

i could and have. as when i see myself not playing well i play in a game at whatever the stakes are that i can beat. if you are too good to drop down you are not good enough to move up. its all about playing well and making money. and to do this you need to play in games that you can beat. we all play at different skill levels at different times even though we dont want to admit it. it takes a tough person to say" im not up to snuff so ill play smaller in a good game to make sure i can win and only then move back up."

I am sure this not a good idea...but I sure enjoyed it...


couple of times when doing no good I moved to lowest game in the house and told myself to play loose and relax..play for fun, not money


after hour or two of this I would take a break, and then get on the list for a more serious game

The issue here is emotional not mental. I don't recommend that you read a poker book. Read self-help books instead. The ones written by guys like Covey, Dyer, Chopra, Robbins, Hill, Garfield and others. The lack of ability to stay focused, disciplined, and confident are emotional issues not intellectual ones. Once you're back in the zone emotionally, your good play will automatically come back.

Poker MD,


I'm sorry about your losing streak. As Ray Z. said, you know why you have been losing, you've been playing badly. A couple of things: you don't have to necessarily take and extended break, but a few days off might not be bad. Use the time to re-read a good poker book or two. If you have a friend whos judgment you trust, have him/her watch your play. Take some notes on some hands you've played and review them later to see what went wrong. Your biggest problem is probably 1) playing too many starting hands -- position, position, position 2) and not knowing when you are beat. If you have pocket Kings and there are 5 people in the pot when an Ace hits on the flop, are you capping the betting to the River?


Everyone goes through this. Don't play beyond your means and remember that you are playing this game in part because it's fun. I've also found that 9-18 tends to be a better, tighter game than 6-12. Good luck!