A lesson to be learned from my recent losing streak

[Bigwig]

Well, it wasn't much of a losing streak. It was -3 buy-ins over about 250 SNG's. Still, I've never experienced that before, and it pissed me off.

I was evaluating my game, wondering what had changed. I then noticed something. Something small, but something important. The streak coincided with a strategy change I had made, to the day.

The change was seemingly small. I had loosened up a tad. I was raising JJ & AK from the first two positions, and stealing with more hands and/or taking the role of the aggressor early in tournaments. I did this because of two things:

1) I was getting annoyed at my high 2nd place finish ratio. I felt I needed to build a bigger stack earlier.

2) I was influenced by posts in this forum on my tight play early. "I hate the way you played JJ preflop", etc.

You know what? It was a huge mistake. I found myself in positions that aren't just bad, but also unfamiliar to me. In a raised pot out of position with KQ. Having many people call my continuation/bluff flop bets. I was thiking, "Man, I'm just not getting anybody to fold. These guys are chasing me down."

RUBBISH.

I wasn't playing my style. I had shifted too far to the LAG spectrum. I'm not a 'win lots of small pots' type of player. I'm a 'win big pots' type of player. A check/call for value type. A trapping type. Not some pro MTT flashy turd.

As soon as I adjusted back to my old strategy--BAM! The winning started again. I just made $2500 this week in a mere 14 hours of play. I'm back, baby! I'm back!

The most important point I'd like to make is that I kept track of my strategy change. Although it took me far too long to recognize it, recognize it I did. And I had the guts to realize that although I thought my reasoning was sound, it was wrong.

When Curtains tells you that you're a weak punk for not raising that hand from the CO, think about why.

When Irieguy warns you about playing a raised pot with AQ out of position, remember his point.

When Skipperbob posts, laugh.

Anyway, don't be convinced by your own new thinking, no matter how sound. Always be ready to reevaluate.

And stay away from my table. I'm vonMises, and I'm damn good.

[Bigwig]

Additionally, I don't want to make it seem that the results are the only thing that convinced me I made a mistake. It was also a comfort level. Gone were the multiple difficult decisions I had been facing per tournament. It's more of a 'feel' that I'm right, rather than a results thing.

Peace.

[DasLeben]

Awesome post. It's hard to believe that small strategy changes can have such an impact in overall results, but it's true. Thanks for the insights.

[Bigwig]

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Awesome post. It's hard to believe that small strategy changes can have such an impact in overall results, but it's true. Thanks for the insights.

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The more I play, the more I realize that small strategy changes have enormous impacts. The reason is that small changes can literally affect 10% or more of the hands you play in a SNG.

Anyway, glad you got something out of yammering.

[spentrent]

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The reason is that small changes can literally affect 10% or more of the hands you play in a SNG.

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Whoa, this is a magical observation. Thanks for pointing it out.

[Bigwig]

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The reason is that small changes can literally affect 10% or more of the hands you play in a SNG.

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Whoa, this is a magical observation. Thanks for pointing it out.

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Er.

[raptor517]

when i did my first raptor challenge, to take a shot at the 109s again, after having a literal break even run over 900 of them, i came to a realization after the first 200 played. something was wrong. durrrrrr. ok, i came to that realization before also, but this time.. it was different. i had numerous people look at my game, i reviewed countless hand histories, and found few problems or leaks in my game. nothing that would cause a break even streak of quadruple digits of sngs. well, it was there. believe it or not, i was TOO agressive. yea yea, be agressive blah blah.

i never had a problem with the early game, as i was NEVER in a pot out of position with AQ, and especially not KQ. that kinda thing wasnt the issue. it was that i was pushing just too many hands later in the tournament. hands that COULD be minorly +ev to push, could be minorly -ev to push. at that time, i didnt have eastbay's trusty proggy to help me out. so, over the next 300 of my challenge, i slowed down a bit later. actually tightened up a bit. stepped away from being the insane lunatic on the bubble. i became only the slightly crazy agressive player on the bubble.

i dont really know what the point of all this is, except that after a losing streak, maybe make a change. if you feel yer being too passive, step it up and push yer stack around. if yer pushing an awful lot and running into an absurd number of hands, put the brakes on for a bit. see if it helps. since yer on a losing streak anyway, it sure cant hurt right?!?!? holla

[spentrent]

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Er.

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I'm not being sarcastic.

[Freudian]

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As soon as I adjusted back to my old strategy--BAM! The winning started again.

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Problem is that correlation isn't always causality. There can be much more mundane explanations for you ending a tough streak and starting to win again. Such as luck.

We all know that even winning players can have long streaks of losing, even though they are playing winning poker.

But I agree with your point that trying to force yourself into building a stack too early is like walking in a minefield. I don't like playing AQ in raised pots early on, for example.

[DasLeben]

Now that I've put some thought into it, I've been noticing a large increase in my first and second place finishes lately. I'm playing roughly the same way as before, however, I'm finding more places to steal with all sorts of hands. For example, I've recently begun pushing with any two reasonable cards from the BB when the SB completes (and it was folded to him). When the blinds get to be 100/200+, this sort of steal can do a lot to help your stack.

Also, my overall aggression level has definitely increased. I'm not a maniac by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm finding myself making decisions to push based more on FE and position rather than my cards. Of course there are plenty of times where your cards do matter, but it is sometimes correct to push with trash. I've only recently begun to understand this.

It's become obvious to me that the difference between a winning and a losing SNG player is the use/misuse of the science of stealing. I've always heard this from posters on this board, but I'm now seeing this first-hand, and that is a very good thing.