My First Downswing Bitching Post!

[IndieMatty]

I never thought I was a great poker player. In fact, I always assumed I was running good. I was breakeven most of my life until discovering these forums. I rocketed up the levels this fall, starting with $300, and enough to 2 table the Party 15/30 approx 20 hours a week. Wonderous winning ensued. 2.04 BB/100 over approx 40,000 hands. And my first pretty damn big cash out <cough cough>. I had my last good day on the Super Bowl, where I was ready to declare myself a Poker God who could do no wrong. Recently, I have gone on such a losing streak, I'm afraid to load my hand historys into Poker Tracker. Exactly 320BBs in one week. I've played a lot, probably not the brightest idea, but I can't find my leaks, everything has been SO basic, there hasn't been an interesting hand in the lot. I added a third table over the last month, so I have stopped that, and last two nights have been no different. I know the game has gotten a bit tougher, and luckily I have a poker free weekend coming up to clear my head, but I may be resigned to the fact that I am just an average player...if not below average.

So yeah, I'm just bitching.

[Vaftrudner]

Hang in there and don't loose it and it'll turn around. /v

[MaxPower]

So you are up 480BB. How sad.

[AviD]

Hang in there dude...I've been getting my ass toasted lately on the Party 15/30, probably the worst run I've had since last July. Mostly breakeven to slightly losing over the last 3 weeks, and this week has just been a mega brutal losing streak (lost 4 boat over boats, another boat to runner runner quads, and 6 set over sets, and countless other strong hands last night alone). Seems endless, but rest assured it will swing back. Bad runs happen, just keep grinding on.

[ QUOTE ]
everything has been SO basic, there hasn't been an interesting hand in the lot.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's identical to how I feel. Nothing interesting, just your basic suckouts, 1 and 2 outers, etc. Funny thing, I continue to think of elysium's bad run a month or so ago where he was cursing the river gods...and I think of him every time some unlikely card hits the board and cracks my hands! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

Nothing you can do but move on and maintain your game.
Keep on keepin on! -JD


EDIT: BTW if this is your first major downswing, count yourself VERY lucky. Dealing (emotionally, mentally) with those downswings can be difficult as you start to question your game, your play, if you really are a "winning player", etc, etc. You are getting a taste of it now, but the important part is taking the time to look at your play and determine (as you have been doing) if you have leaks, or where you may be losing money. Seems like I run into these swings more often than the average player (at least it seems to me, could just be self-centric thinking), and I mostly attribute it to (as most players here tend to attribute their losses) a mix of bad luck and bad play. You can't do anything but ride the luck end out, but you can correct the bad play. So that's where I try to keep my focus during these swings. Many times you inverse your play and start to see/imagine/create profitable edges with mediocre hands, start playing them out of position, start trying to move players (that won't move) off hands, start making loose calls, start making LAG raises with hands that don't justify it, start misplaying good but not great hands trying build big pots, etc. I guess these are just some of the misplays of my own that seem to surface when I hit a downswing, and again for me, I've found importance in identifying these "habits" before they happen each session when I am playing under "adverse" conditions.

It's amazing how mentally and emotionally based poker truly is, and how negative conditions create negative thoughts/actions, and therefore negative results. Probably the most challenging aspect of poker (to me) is keeping your mental and emotional equilibrium under the pressure and distress of losing streaks. It doesn't seem overly difficult to outplay your average opponents at the poker table, it seems far more difficult to not out think and outplay yourself. I can't help but think of how clear my thoughts can be away from the table, but how clouded my judgement can become amidst a bad session. And many times, it's not a ton of blatent and obvious mistakes being made, but just enough to keep you "thinking" you are playing just fine, while at the same time significantly decreasing the effectiveness of your play, as well as significantly increasing your downswing. These are the things I try desperately to avoid, as I feel they have the greatest impact on my own negative expectation (all around, respective of poker).


Just a few additional thoughts I wanted to throw in there, good luck! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Voltron87]

This is what you get for not updating your pattern mapper. /images/graemlins/mad.gif

Your avatar is excellent.

[IndieMatty]

$10,000 in a week is sad to me. But I see your point.

[Sarge85]

Best Avatar Ever

I can't belive I wasted 3-4 minutes to follow the Avatar.

Sarge/images/graemlins/diamond.gif

[Barrett's Last Privateer]

I don't consider it a waste.
Great avatar!

[bdk3clash]

Now might be a good time for a coaching session with someone like James282 just to make sure you're not doing anything egregiously bad, but I would guess this is just one of those crappy downswings that just...happens--a combination of crappy cards, crappy luck, crappy gmees, and slightly crappy play.

If this is your first >200 BB downswing, I'm sure it's tough to deal with given that it's happening at the biggest limit you've played at online.

I've read enough of your stuff to know you're fully capable of being a winning player at the Party 15/30 game, and the point that you're up like 500 BBs over the time frame you've mentioned is nothing to sneeze at.

Dropping ~$10,000 isn't fun, but doing it after you've won ~$24,000 sure helps.

[IndieMatty]

Thanks for the words of support Brad.

Actually I had my first slight winning session last night. Had 2 racks on both tables and was catching my hands.

I may try the coaching idea; but I mean I have Kevin for that! /images/graemlins/grin.gif

P.S. You should see me more at TCTWBN, I'm addicted to that 10/20 game on saturday night.