Best solution for running bad?

I am a disciplined player, and I almost never tilt. But I have been running really bad lately. I usually play 5-150 spread limit (no limit not legal in my state), but I also play 20-40 and 40-80.
The last 3 times I've had AA against KK and all the money went in preflop against 1 opponent, my AA has lost. And I've taken a huge number of other bad beats over the past month and a half. Finally, the last hand I played (40-80), I limped in with 44 on the cutoff seat and the Button raised. 3 of us called and the flop came down 554. First player bet, second folded, i called, and the button again raised. We both called (I intended to raise the turn). The turn came a duece. We both checked to the button who bet. FP called and I raised, button reraised, FP folds, and I capped it, button calls. The river came an A. I bet, button raised,I re-raised, Button re-raised, and I'm finally thinking, does this guy have AA? I knew he didn't have 55 because he wouldn't have raised the flop. So I just call (I could continue to raise since we're heads up). Sure enough, he flips over AA and takes down a massive pot. The FP said he folded the 4th A.
That hand cleaned me out just about and I left. What a finish to a horrible month and a half.

What does one do to recover from 45 days of bad beats and cold-decking? I usually do very well, but this past month and a half: everything that can go wrong, has gone wrong.

I'd really appreciate advise from any of you who have experienced similar streaks of pain.

I'm in pretty much the same state as you. I havent quite figured out all the answers, but this might help.

- Take a break from the game for a few days. If you've really played solid poker but have been on a 45 day downturn(that's just horrendous), I can't imagine you playing optimal poker in this current state(even if you think you don't tilt). Poker's a game that you need to come in with a mindset to psychologically outwit and destroy your opponents i.e. from a position of strength. I don't see you in that state right now(atleast I know i'm not).

- Forget about making back your losses in a short period of time. If you're a solid player assure yourself that you will get it all back and then some over a period of time. Some players play fast and loose trying to make back what they lost, resulting in even more losses.

- Play at a lower limit than you're used to. Destroying a lower limit game won't do much for your financial bankroll, but will give you a psychological boost.

- Meditation...

- Do other things you enjoy and come back to the game in a few days fresh and ready to conquer.

[dibbs]

Bad streaks suck even worse in B&M cuz the blade of the bad run is held there about ten times as long.

Everytime I think I don't use a noise filter and I finally have the game "understood" at a level where I don't see results and only see EV, I always end up snapping again. And every time I think I've seen the worst run of my life there's one around the corner that makes me laugh about the previous. I know I've gained an immense amount of pain tolerance to swings, but apparently I'm far from immune.

From your post it seems like you haven't started to tilt yet, congrats. Realizing that you might be on the edge is a good time to step back. Take a break, read up, study hands, take a vacation or something.

[Edge34]

If there's one thing I've found, its that whining about your beats here, especially AA getting cracked, really helps.

But seriously, not to be harsh, but nobody cares about YOUR beats. You know why? Because they've happened to us all, or at least those of us with the patience to stick with the game.

If you hit a bad run, you have two options. Play through it or quit. The cards have no memory, so if you're going to take a break, it should only be because you aren't on top of your game anymore. You gotta be 100% mentally if you're gonna be any good.

If you're playing that high and haven't been playing long enough to figure this out, I'm guessing its not a necessity that you keep playing to make money, so step back for a while, analyze your hands, and post some for the rest of us to help with.

But pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease, no more bad beat stories. Send those to www.riveredagain.com. (http://www.riveredagain.com.)

[Mr. Curious]

<sigh>

I just went through the worst two days of poker I've ever had. I made lots of "long term money", but the short term affect of taking bad beats has really got me down. I dropped 6 NL buy-ins to bad beats today, and lost a monster pot to a miracle card last night.

BLAH! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Me? I'm going to just step away from the game for a while and do something else. Go have fun working on my house or play pool. Once I feel relaxed and have a grasp of things in general, I'll play again.

After all, long term money is what we are after and if I can't be proud of playing the hands correctly, then what is the point of playing at all?

[Jeffage]

The best way to get out of a downswing is to play well and think about hands constantly. For example, if you thought about the hand you lost to AA a little harder, you would realize you didn't need to cost yourself an extra $160 on the river. Just call the raise on the end...he's calling 4 bets on the turn with AA or KK...do you honestly think he raises you again on the end with KK if you capped the turn?

As for psychological aspects, simply detach yourself from daily results. If you play well, you can do this...just play your best and let the mathematics of the situation do their thing (quote from Ciaffone). Think through all the hands you play and try to learn from them. If you lose a big hand, analyze if you could play any streets better. If not, well that's poker. If you are getting stressed, perhaps you're playing too high? If you are under ANY money pressure at all due to this bad run, move down and go back up when things are better. Good luck to you.

Jeff

[donkeyradish]

I think a bad thing to do is believe you are "running bad", by which I mean start the day expecting to get bad results.

And a very, very bad thing to do is to try and make lost ground in a hurry, because sometimes it just makes it worse

My personal motto is, "start every day like you just broke even". Even better would be "start every hand...".