75BB slide.. help!

[John Deere]

Hi everyone,

I recently switched up to 2/4 and have been pretty successfuly.. I was up about $500 over the course of two weeks.

Today, I had the worst poker weekend of my life. I'm down $300 on the day. I feel that I played pretty well throughout, but I just got screwed every time. I lost three flopped sets (each ~$50-$75 pots) to flushes -- two of them were backdoor flushes. Couldn't hit a straight or flush draw to save my life.

My last hand was when I knew it was time to go. Had AK in late position, and raised it after a bunch of limpers. The board comes all spades with a K, so I bet it. All but one fold. Turn is another K! Beautiful. I bet, the other guy calls. Last card is a 4th spade and I lose to... you guessed it--7 2 offsuit.

I came very close to pulling my hair out. On the one hand, I think back to when I first started playing .5/1, and I had about a 125BB slide. Even that didn't seem as terrible as this. I still won like 85% of my showdowns today, I just got screwed on all of my big pots.

Is this normal? Am I getting too worked up over 75BB? What do you guys do in this situation? How much do you lose before you call it a day?

Thanks!

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

Pretty big slide for one day. When I get discouraged and start thinking I'm going to lose, I quit.

[Alobar]

Sounds like its just typical bad beat downswing. 75BB isn't really anything to get concerned about. Review your hands and if you feel you are playing well but just having some back luck then don't sweat it. Its just natural varience.

Stopping when you are X amount behind isn't going to help anything. I wouldn't care if I was 200BB downswing if I was sitting at a table full of idiots who were just getting lucky and I know I'm the best player I'm going to stay until I don't have a chip left in front of me. The only reason to quit is if emotiionally you cant take the losses anymore and its affecting your play. Then a break is the smart move.

[Bob T.]

It happens. You didn't really win 85% of your showdowns, did you?

Good luck,
play well,

Bob T.

[scrub]

The Party showdown stat is screwed up. It artificially inflates the showdown percentage. Use pokertracker to get your real percentage.

scrub

[John Deere]

Yeah, I've noticed that the stat is wrong. I have seen times when I won or lost one and it didn't reflect it. I was winning a good portion of my showdowns... problem is that I would win a showdown and drag a $20 point, then then end up folding my set in a $75 pot because there is a 4-flush on the board and a bet and raise in front of me.

All in all, it wasn't too emotionally taxing until I lost the AK to the 72o. That was a clear sign that it was time to go to bed. As it turns out, I'm busy tonight and won't be able to play, which is probably a good thing. Hopefully my head will be cleared for Tuesday and I can start re-building.

Thanks for your calm advice, everyone.

[MaxPower]

Thanks for pointing that out. I was getting my head handed to me on Party the other day. It seemed like I was losing every showdown. I looked at the stats window and it said I was winning 75% of the showdowns. I was confused. I just checked pokertracker and it says I won 33% of the showdowns on that day.

[LetsRock]

It sucks, but it happens. And the bigger the fools you are playing with, the worse it feels. If I'm getting pummeled (even if it is extrordinarily bad luck) I won't stick around for too long (couple of hours). It doesn't matter if I do have the edge in this game, if it's not fun, it's not likely to be profitable. Somedays, you just get the "please suck me out" label tattoed on your forhead and the fools are more than happy to oblige.

I usually go try another site or format. If the bad luck is following me around, I call it a day. I find that I don't do well (no matter how hard it try to tell myself that it's part of the game) when I'm having one of those days.

[tpir90036]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this normal?

[/ QUOTE ]
yes.

[ QUOTE ]
Am I getting too worked up over 75BB?

[/ QUOTE ]
yes.

[ QUOTE ]
What do you guys do in this situation? How much do you lose before you call it a day?

[/ QUOTE ]
if it's not affecting my play there is no reason to stop if the game is good. i was getting sucked out on like it was my job this weekend at the taj 10/20 -- but that is because the table was full of donkeys -- so i stayed focused and hung in....it's tough to quit while you are stuck but if you think you are playing worse than just call it a night.

good luck...

[PokerBob]

Those days will happen, and they can be worse. The best thing you can do is to HONESTLY assess your emotions, play and opponents. If you can HONESTLY tell yourself that you are in control and the table is full of morons, you should NEVER leave.

I went down 60BB in one live session recently after taking hideous beats and missing 20-outers, but when I would look around the table I couldn't see one player who had a clue.
I stayed until I was too tired to play, and still lost 35BB, but had I had the stamina I would have stayed at that table FOREVER.

[scotnt73]

yes the stat is wrong. i noticed this as well. my last 5 sessions all ended with showdowns won at 100%. i watched and even after i lost a showdown it didnt change.

[blackaces13]

Its refreshing to read stories like this. Seems like every, "I was down 30BB's and thought about leaving" story ends with something like "but I hung tough cause I knew the game was good and made it all back plus 25 more BB's."

That's just not how the real world works. I've had numerous sessions where I sit down at a juicy table and miss a lot of draws and get sucked out on repeatedly and get stuck. Then I look around and objectively tell myself that the game is good and continue...then I GET STUCK SOME MORE!

Happens all the time. If your sessions are usually around 3 hours or so then winning or losing is kind of like a macrocosm of AK against J4o. Yeah, usually you will win and in the longrun you will certainly win. But there's nothing you can do about the third of the time the J4 takes it down. Thats just cards. The best player in the world couldn't beat the worst table in the world everynight.

[MicroBob]

i dropped about 100BB's in a couple days last week.
made about 60BB back in the past couple of days.

you will definately lose 75BB's again. can't be avoided. and when you do, it is definately possible that you won't get it all back right away if you sit and play with idiots....it's still possible to lose more.

imo, if you sit down to play and aren't prepared for the possibility of losing 50BB or more then you shouldn't be playing.
just play your best game and IN THE LONG RUN the results will come. in the SHORT RUN you're going to have some bumps and bounces along the way of 75BB or more.


also.....the guy that burns me with 72o is not a sign that i should leave the game. it's a sign that i should absolutely stay in the game.
although it doesn't appear to be too terrible a beat.....you knew that if another spade came you were probably hosed. when the board comes mono-tone like that i am not exactly counting my money.....i'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping i get lucky and somehow can take the pot.

good luck.

[nykenny]

[ QUOTE ]
Is this normal? Am I getting too worked up over 75BB?

[/ QUOTE ]
it's normal, you get too worked up.

[ QUOTE ]
What do you guys do in this situation?

[/ QUOTE ]
sleep on it. last time i lost $1800 in 3.5 hours. i quit, slept on it, and won it back in next 5 sessions, hohoho, it was 15/30.

[ QUOTE ]
How much do you lose before you call it a day?


[/ QUOTE ]
don't base your quitting on amount lose / win. if you tired, or feel emotional, then quit. it's not as easy as it sounds, but with practice (A LOT), u will get close.


all the best,
Kenny

[MicroBob]

"How much do you lose before you call it a day?"


if you have an adequate bankroll then this should NEVER EVER be an issue.



if you feel yourself going on tilt then take a break or quit for the day. obviously this can be somewhat related to HOW MUCH you lose as people are more prone to tilt when they've been losing big.

but the goal should be to play rather robot-like.....always play the best you can based on your cards and your opponent reads...regardless of whether you are up or down.

[John Deere]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. I had another bad night today (down maybe 30 BB) after taking two days off for unrelated reasons. But I stopped for a moment to assess my play and realized that, of the 100 BB or so that I'm down in the past 5 days, at least 25 or 30 of them are the result of my poor play. I have taken (and continue to take) bad beats -- QQ to 57 and JJ to 58 tonight -- but realized how important it is not to compound them by tilting and getting emotional.

Right now I am "hanging in there" and feel like I'm playing much better poker than I was last weekend.

<Visualizing Mary Tyler Moore throwing hat in air.>