I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Can you guys give me some advice on how to move on after being raped by fish by bad beat after bad beat yesterday to the tune of 40 bb in 10-20 and 7 buyins in baby nl 1-2. It just seems like I should give up and not play. Should I take a break or fight back today and get it back?

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

You should go back to playing chess.

And then you should challenge Garry Kasparov.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

if you don't want to play, don't play. Honest to god.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

I wholeheartedly agree.
If you are depressed, the odds are high that you will not play well. You will probably lose, which will increase your depression.
Take a break until you can play with enthusiasm and confidence.
Regards,
Al

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Additionally, it is my opinion that if you are that bothered by dropping 40BB at the level you are playing then you should be playing at a lower level.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Gata, I also wanted to say that I made a post about this in SS a couple of weeks ago: Stuck to the Grind.

In short, if you're experiencing emotional fatigue, sadness, self-doubt or anger when you play, you're doing something wrong. If you're a casual player, you need to reevaluate why, when and how you play. If you're playing for needed money, you need to evaluate if you're really cut out for the grind.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Are u Gata Kamsky the chess player ?(oh well I know im very curious...)

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

I've seen it said before bison, but I'll chime in too:
You write well.
/M

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

[ QUOTE ]
Are u Gata Kamsky the chess player ?(oh well I know im very curious...)

[/ QUOTE ]

I certainly hope not, because it would now be really sad to see a once proud prodigy, who was once touted for his steely nerves, whining worse than a stuck, freshman cheerleader after a date gone bad with the star quarterback.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Not playing isn't an option?

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

[ QUOTE ]
I certainly hope not, because it would now be really sad to see a once proud prodigy, who was once touted for his steely nerves, whining worse than a stuck, freshman cheerleader after a date gone bad with the star quarterback.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree. I strongly doubt this is the real Gata Kamsky. He is known as an intensely private person and a borderline recluse. It wouldn't be very consistent with this personality type to be pissing and moaning on an internet message board under his real name.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Hi bison,

I second (third, fourth?) this advice. This poster sounds as if he not only lost yesterday, but seriously tilted. I think it's almost always wise to take at least a day off if you've tilted in the previous day's session. It helps to prevent "throwing good money after bad."

Cris

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Im still on vacation from a 240 BB loss in five sessions on 10-20. The first thing a individual needs to do is evaluate their play. 90% of the time you will find it was operator error. You must have done something wrong along the way. If you cant find any errors in your play and just took a xxxx load of bad beats like 85% vs 15% favorite going into the river or better than take a break. The game is designed to have a luck factor. If it didnt than Hellmuth would win every tournament he played. If you go back and try to remember what you held against these "fish" on the flop, turn, and river, were you ahead of them or was it one of those coin flip hands where you had a slight advantage? You should always be evaluating your play after big losing sessions. Go back and study harder. Read this forum every night looking for posts that apply to you. Ive done this after every losing streak Ive gone on and I always come back stronger. Never assume you know it all and that theres nothing more to really learn. This " thing of ours" goes on forever. Good luck.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

[ QUOTE ]
Can you guys give me some advice on how to move on after being raped by fish by bad beat after bad beat yesterday to the tune of 40 bb in 10-20 and 7 buyins in baby nl 1-2.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know about NL, so I can't comment on that part of it.

As for the 10-20, well, you had a bad 30 minutes? I'm assuming multi-tabling.

I've become so numb to the inherent swings that they don't affect me. I don't tend to ever play with the vigor and excitement that some seem to bring to the table, though. I think that's a good thing, but maybe it doesn't work for everyone else.

Someone told a friend of mine something that he shared with me, and well, it makes sense and is obvious. The beats don't matter if you have a bankroll. That's what a bankroll is for.

~D

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

You just can't make this stuff up.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

If I asked this question I would hate the answer you and bisonbsion have given.

This is not the answer I would want to hear at all.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Stand up straight. Get your act together and slap yourself upside your face.

Are you seriously considering playing poker well or are you playing just to play?

If you are seriously considering it playing as a means of income and of joy then I suggest you replay the hands of where you lost money.

Take a break from playing the game and get your nose into the books. Learn new things. You may be making some mistakes. You may learn something you never had learned before.

Also realize that you can lose and lose miserable session after session after session and still be playing well.

Get yourself pokerTracker and make sure you are using it well. Replay those hands.

BANKROLL???? What's the size?? Are you playing above your means?? A bad streak should not effect you this much "40 bb in 10-20 "
You may be playing above your means.

The personal mental battle of poker is by far the toughest battle.

Get yourself together.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Hi Gata,

Here's my advice:

[ QUOTE ]
how to move on after being raped by fish by bad beat after bad beat yesterday

[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly, go home, let it out somehow, yell, scream, cry or be like me and go online and shoot some frickin' Germans in Call of Duty! Then, tell yourself it's going to keep happening. Fish will suck out, Bad beats will happen (to you and for you).

Here's something that helps me mentally: Remember the most ridiculous suckout, bad beat that you ever laid on someone and that will make you feel better because then you know what goes around..comes around.

[ QUOTE ]
It just seems like I should give up and not play. Should I take a break or fight back today and get it back?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, we all get that feeling. But are you really a quitter? You can quit if you don't have the mentality for it. It's a lot of mental toughness. Or you can learn, apply it, move on and make yourself better and stronger. The choice is yours.

If you are good at the game, and quit this easily, then you are not as good as you think.

I tell you something that almost made me quit! It's not bad beats, bad slumps, or how much I've lost. It's about my family that hates me playing cards, it's my 2 x's that hate me playing cards, it's my peers that see this as a taboo. It's about a society that views poker as some degenerate sport where a bunch of guys have nothing better to do than play with these 52 cards and take each other's money. Stuff like that really bugs me and almost made me wanna quit..and guess what? I'm still here as are tons of other pros/casual players. Keep fighting Gata, don't give up so easily because your gonna give up on everything else too.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Mikey,
As a professional psychologist my job is NOT to tell people what they want to hear. It is to tell them what I believe they NEED to hear, the truth, no matter how unpleasant it is.
The same is true for any professional. Good doctors and lawyers and accountants will tell you the truth about your health, legal, or tax problems.
If a professional fails to tell you the truth, there is a very nasty word for his actions, malpractice.
Regards,
Al

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Good response Al.

If he isn't in the proper mind-set to play then he obviously shouldn't be playing. You shouldn't tell him to force himself into that mindset if it likely won't happen.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Last time I got depressed about a streak like that, I cashed everything out and took two weeks off. During that time I read 2+2 forums and SSH. When I was ready to play again, I put some of the money back into my accounts and shredded the games.

Don't play depressed and never play if you don't want to.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

[ QUOTE ]
Mikey,
As a professional psychologist my job is NOT to tell people what they want to hear. It is to tell them what I believe they NEED to hear, the truth, no matter how unpleasant it is.
The same is true for any professional. Good doctors and lawyers and accountants will tell you the truth about your health, legal, or tax problems.
If a professional fails to tell you the truth, there is a very nasty word for his actions, malpractice.
Regards,
Al

[/ QUOTE ]

Damnit Al, stop putting down my answers before I get a chance to.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

I was suffering through similar poker pains not long ago. The advice that has been given in this thread is solid, well thought, and given by people who have been there.

So follow it.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Get as far away from poker as you can, and stay there for a while. I'm not suggesting you quit; that is up to you. After you have had a chance to emotionally heal from the carnage, try to figure out what you did wrong. Don't put it off on bad beats and fish getting lucky! I'm sure that was a part of what went wrong, but I am certain that is not the only problem. I've willing to bet you went on tilt and then compounded that mistake by playing way too long. This is one of the drawbacks to playing online; the game is sometimes too readily available. I'm not picking on you; I've done it before myself. I think everyone who has ever played the game for any length of time has done something like this. I believe it is the times like the one you describe, and the horrible losing steaks that are so often described on this forum that give us the best chance to learn about ourselves and improve our game.

Relax for a while, and don't come back until you are mentally refreshed and ready to play your best game.


Good luck,

Fitz

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

I only play NL MTT's and NL S&G's online but I def found that if your over tired or not in a mental state to concentrate then you have no business playing. Well played poker requires concentration and a clear head. Plus your playing NL which normally has tougher competition than limit. If I am running poorly I would much rather it happens in Limit than NL. If your depressed, don't play.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Well, I don't think always taking a day off is a good thing. I think it really depends on your situation. If you are playing for a living, you can't do this very often. And taking a day off can cause anxiety, and you still may be very aprehensive about playing. In other words, it does nothing to improve your confidence, which is the main problem here with Gata. Burnout is another issue, but that is not what he is describing. To get your confidence back, here's what works (for me anyway):

1) Tighten up!!! Very important. You may even think you are playing tight. Stop lying to yourself. Play tighter. This will reduce the variance, and will give you a lot of confidence to once again see that tight play does win
2) Move down limits
3) Go back to playing 1 table until you are confident again and running better
4) find a game that works. If the nl wasn't working, play omaha hi/lo, or shorthanded he, or whatever works for you. That is why it is important to play all games. Experiment, find your niche. Some games are great because they have lower variance, and are more advantageous to winning players. When I go into a drought, I have a fallback game. If that game doesn't work, I try a different game, and find one where I start to kick ass again. I play that for a while, and win, and in no time am feeling much better about poker and life. You shouldn't box yourself into only 1 type of game. This can get stale, and can really create problems for you when it isn't working for you for some reason.

Anyway, that's what works for me. You do this and you'll figure out what, if anything you were doing wrong. Tightening up is the main thing. Aggressive play can often lead to looser play, even if you don't want to admit it. It's rarely just bad beats that cause all your losses. I play for a living, and taking days off never has worked for me in situations like this. The only cure is winning, and you have to try whatever you can to get back to winning. If you're burned out, ok, maybe that's different. But even with burnout, it is amazing how quickly a winning session clears that up. Something else to try is to get out and play some live poker. That could be just what the doctor ordered to get you out of your funk and any boredom that online poker is sure to create. Anyway, good luck my freind, and hope this helps.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Well, like anything sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a couple of days off. I can't remember how many times I've told my friends, "Screw it. I'm quitting Poker." ;-)
The truth is, I love it, it's a fantastic game; but, with that comes some horrible beats, and suck outs. It's just the nature of the beast. If you really can't handle the beats, it's something you need to take into consideration.

Re: I\'m Depressed and Don\'t Want To Play
 

Hi joedot,

[ QUOTE ]
Well, I don't think always taking a day off is a good thing. I think it really depends on your situation. If you are playing for a living, you can't do this very often. And taking a day off can cause anxiety, and you still may be very aprehensive about playing. In other words, it does nothing to improve your confidence, which is the main problem here with Gata.

[/ QUOTE ]

Losing six buy-ins in one day at NL, after dropping 40BB in limit, is not a confidence issue. It's tilt issue, thus an emotion-management issue. Charging straight back into the fray is likely to land you at the table with the very same negative emotions that cost so much money the day before. Until he has regained his emotional balance, he really doesn't need to be at a poker table.

Cris