Mikey is on a Bad Run

Hey guys what's going on? Nothing much here except that I'm really on a bad run......what turned out as smiling every time I got my brains knocked in turned into furious anger. I just can't seem to get out of this slump. I know there are some of you guys out there who have had a bad run of cards at some point or another in your poker career, how do you cope with this??


It just seems I can't do anything right..... tonight for instance playing in my No-Limit game which I usually terrorize I got crushed. My set was cracked by a straight and so on.....it wasn't really bad play on my part....but sometimes you just get unlucky. Anyhow the last few times in AC have been disasterous.....I just can't win...but I play every hand the way I should, I call multiway with suited connectors, I draw to flushes when I have the right odds, I fold when my intuition lets me know and I'm generally correct. I've stopped playing Trick Poker.


-what I don't understand is this? How can you guys seriously make a living playing this game?


-I'm a low limit player 4-8, 5-10. But even grinding it out at these levels sometimes produces a loss....


-suffering a bad run of cards I remain focused, I don't make errors preflop or say......"hell i'll try this hand KJo from UTG to see what can happen"

NO that's the wrong play. I'm very tight before the flop ABC Poker tight. I do not let my ego get in the way. But in the same tune I'm very very aggressive after the flop. I think MK420 can verify this because he has seen me play.


Just to give you a sense of how powerful my image was this past Thursday at the 5-10 Taj game, I was instilling fear into the opponnents, their heads would jerk everytime I would be in a hand. Twice I raised from UTG with AKo and the entire table mucked.....i've never seen so many hands hit the muck as fast as they did. The reason I play so tight is because I'm an unlucky guy.....and I play to win, i don't play for recreation, I don't play to pass the time, I play this game to win money.


-I don't want to talk about bad beats either, it's stupid and it doesn't make me advance. I don't get upset when I fold 22 UTG and I would have flopped Quads, because I know that from that position in the type of game I'm in it's a losing hand, especially when I'm not going to make my return on investment.


I know now why this game is so very hard to make a living.....it is so difficult but it seems like it's easy to win some nights as if you are invincible but other nights is seems like all the odds are against you.....


If you can just give me some advice and answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks guys.


-Plus now I'm at the point where I feel really dejected, nothing can go right for me in Poker. Maybe I need time off from the game?? What do you suggest?

Exactly how long has this bad run been going on? How many hours exactly? And how many big bets have you lost since this bad run of yours began?

Do you understand standard deviation ? What is the size of your bankroll ? Your results may not be out of line.

I think your game could use a lot of improvement based on some of your posts. I think you play well preflop, but ur passive play allows you to outplay yourself on the flop. I think you don't bet strongly enough....betting is a way to get information...u check too frequently in shorthanded spots. You think of things in too results-oriented a manner, justifying some incorrect plays by saying...."well, he had QQ so my fold was correct". That isn't how you should think about this game. I understand you are a student of the game, but I think you would do better to have a little more imagination when you play. You have lots of potential, and I enjoy your posts, but I think u could improve and be great. I am 22 and have been playing for four years...I am still learning this game, and learn something new everytime I sit. I make some mistakes, but make fewer everyday. I'm used to cold streaks...a few trips to AC isn't very significant...cards run bad. You have to always play ur best, never show ur frustration at the table, and never play scared money. Most of all, live a balanced life. Right now, I can't get a job and am playing pro poker in AC and online (just in the meantime)....make it a big part of ur life and not your whole life. Good luck and do better....


Jeff

jeff7690@aol.com

You think of things in too results-oriented a manner, justifying some incorrect plays


I definately agree with this and think Mikey's reaction to his bad run is another symptom of the larger problem.

I guess you guys are as good as you say you are.

I guess you guys are as good as the posts you put up.


You never pay off a bet when you know you lost the hand, but just pay it off to see it when you know you are beat.


Let me say something to all of you 2+2ers out there, I have learned a lot from this website, it is one of the best things that has happened to poker.


If I may explain myself a little, I'm not ego driven, I play the game of poker if I'm up $1000 at a 5-10 game the same way if I'm down $700. I don't let past events affect my play. Most you think that I'm too weak before the flop but I'm sorry I'm not as good as everyone else out here who can play hands out of position. I play this game to win money, I sit and play and make decisions I don't let past events affect my play. Yes I play very tight preflop but most of the time I'm in a hand or involved in a hand I come out on top. I admit I have a lot to learn, I've only been playing serious Hold'em since the beginning of this summer, and let me tell you something it's a hard game. I can be crowded around with fish and I don't like to be the shark, I like to be the fisherman who stands over the shoreline because sometimes even though I'm a shark where I sit, those little fish can take bites of me from time to time. I can be beat by the fish.


What I want to know from you guys is......how do you deal with the tough times when you are down? What do you do? Do you just sit there in your own little world and keep it to yourself??

I don't like to. I want my voice to be heard.

I want to know what you do when you are losing?

And don't sit here and tell me that you don't lose a session or 2 or 3 or 4 in row, because I know you do. It's a statistical fact.


It's funny too watching some of the posts that get put up here, and I'm being dead serious, they are either bad beats or big winners or a marginal winner that you by some chance pulled off but some of you fail to put when you play J8s in middle position, some of you fail to put A6s UTG, some of you fail to put up that you paid off a final bet "when you know damm well you were beat."

Where are those stories?? Where are the stories of when you tilted? C'mon guys some of you are only fooling yourselves into thinking you are great players.


Just remember I'm not as good as you are, I just try to be.


Please respond to my questions and critique me I don't care, that's what we are hear for!

Hi Mikey- you wrote: "What I want to know from you guys is......how do you deal with the tough times when you are down? What do you do? Do you just sit there in your own little world and keep it to yourself??

I don't like to. I want my voice to be heard.

I want to know what you do when you are losing?


Mikey, when I'm losing I do primarily 2 things: I talk to my mentors and review my play. I write down hands I've played (win or lose) and review them after the session. I also read and reread information I may have "forgotten" or ignored. I chat with people I respect who give me good, solid advice. Finally, I try to RELAX and clear my head.


With regard to the game, I think just "going back to basics" is a good strategy when you are losing. Often, too much calling and not enough raising contribute to losing sessions. I find that just playing "good, solid, tightish and "selectively aggressive" poker can help stop the bleeding.


As you know, "Variance" is part of the game and nobody wins all the time. You must expect to lose just as you expect to win. This way, you become detached and are not emotionally upset when the losing periods occur. CONTROL your emotions and devise an anti-tilt strategy. Do not throw a tantum at the table or act like a jerk at any time.


If you are really stuggling, just take some time off to read and think about your game. This will not magically cause you to win the next session you play, but it will give you a "time out" to help refresh your outlook.


Finally, I recommend getting a mentor. Someone more experienced can be a tremendous help to both the new player and the experienced player. The best players I know are constantly working on their game and often consult with knowledgable sources. You already have an advantage over your opponents because you participate in this forum. Listen and learn. Think and work. And... last but not least....remember Babe's motto: "Look Good, Play Good" /images/wink.gif Big smile! /images/smile.gif Babe

While you're taking a few days to a week off from the game, read or reread John Feeney's book Inside the Poker Mind. The section about poker and emotions will answer a lot of the questions that you've been asking.

Your point about people mostly putting up bad beats or big winners is interesting. I think that's true of some posters, but not all.


Pretty much the only hands I post are ones that I don't think I played well. Because of this, I get the feeling that a lot of posters think I'm a lousy player. Heck, maybe I am. Who knows.


We surely can learn from the hands that we play well, but I think we learn more from hands that we play badly. That's why I post those kinds of hands.


As for what I do when things aren't going well, I don't have a good answer. I felt like I couldn't win a hand for the last month or so. I don't say anything at the table about it, but I do tend to "pout" a little. I am trying hard to not outwardly show frustration though. As Tommy would say, it's better to be emotionally detached.


Most of all, I try not to tell bad beat stories. Nobody likes to hear them. You don't have to play this game for very long to see/experience just about any imaginable beat. Nobody wants to hear about my set getting beaten by a runner runner flush, because it's happened to them too.


Finally, seeing all of the great players here say that no one can avoid bad streaks really helped my frame of mind. Otherwise, I think my confidence would have been crushed. Playing scared is the worst thing you can do.

Mikey - I've read your post and the replies.


Straight goods. Expect periods like this to happen a lot if you are going to play for, oh, the next 30-40 years of your life.


A few losing sessions is nothing, especially if you don't let it bother you. Easy to say, I know.


Somebody quoted Tommy Angelo about being "emotionally detached" about your results. This is a survival technique that, if not already inherent in your makeup, certainly will be after a decade or so. Otherwise you'll go insane.


You don't have this detachment yet. A few weeks ago you posted how you were crushing the no limit game and wanted advice on what to do in order to make it more fair to your imbecile opponents. Now you're all bent out of shape because you got your butt kicked a time or two.


The very fact that you started the "I'm crushing my opponents, what do I do" post suggested to many that you don't yet have a thorough understanding of gambling.


So what do you do? Basically what everybody here has suggested. Take some time off. Lose the attitude. Keep reading here or HEPFAP. I'm just now reading Mason's Gambling Theory and Other Topics, my second gambling/poker book ever. First was HEPFAP. I'm an old man who has been gambling his whole damn life (see my profile) and I'm learning a few more tricks.


Chill out kiddo, take some time off then keep trying to make perfect bets. It will swing around if you're any good.


Sincere best of luck to you. Billy (LTL)

Why do you think you're any good at this game at all? Do you have a long history of positive poker earnings? Even say 500 hours?


What is a bad run for me? It's when I have a bad maybe 30 or so hours. That's my experience. Any longer than that and I usually find flaws have been creeping into my game.


But the people I play with really suck *hard*, so it's hard for me to lose for any length of time.