How long have you played break even poker?
 

I've previously had either two or three (I don't remember off hand and haven't tried to look it up) 10 thousand hand runs of break even poker. The longest was either 11k or 11.5k hands (again, I'm too lazy too look it up for sure).

Right now I've hit 12.5k hands on my latest downswing and am still 86 BB's underwater. So I'm officially paving new ground on a personal record. (Fortunately for my sanity, I've had 400 bucks in bonus's over this stretch and when I get my December rakeback I think it will push me over my highwater mark in purely bankroll terms).

So what's the longest anybody's run in the red? I think I remember somebody saying 16k hands...can anybody top that?


Hey I know this info ain't improving anybody's game so ignore it if that's all that floats your boat, but c'mon somebody's got to have a really eye popping number. Lay it on us.

--Zetack

Of course if you aren't a winning player your losing streak may be untouchable...

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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I think I remember somebody saying 16k hands...can anybody top that?

[/ QUOTE ]

18.2 thousand hands at 2/4, -$7.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Yeah I've had about 15,000 hand breakeven streaks, twice.

I play anywhere from 30-45,000 hands a month though.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

From Statking:

Longest Plateau: 981.67 (table) hrs, 3/24/2004 to 7/18/2004

That's 62981 hands, 1/2, 2/4, 3/6 and a tiny bit of 5/10.


Edit - Single limit:

5/10

Longest Plateau: 548.07 (table) hrs, 9/13/2004 to 12/18/2004
39060 hands.

but I played 10/20 all through October and had a good month, so its not the same.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

39k hands breakeven. For a b&m player that would be 140 8 hour sessions. Baby jesus would weep before the end. *shudder*

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

i am currently CRUSHING your record.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Break even, I'd love to break even. Currently in the mist of a 9K bad beat suck out from hell bonanza. Fighting my way back but still 80BB down.

I can tell you how many times I have said "Only xx beats me" and get shown xx.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

About 30,000 hands.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Breakeven? As long as I have played. Maybe 250-300K hands.

Losing? Dunno. Recently (within the last 40K hands) 15.5K hands of losing play is my max.

Brad

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Please tell me you are kidding? If you've broken even over 250-300,000 hands I'd suggest you take up another hobby.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Please tell me you are kidding? If you've broken even over 250-300,000 hands I'd suggest you take up another hobby.

[/ QUOTE ]

Most other hobbies actually cost per hour, so it's still decent. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

If he was an aspiring pro, yes, but as a hobby - just fine. Who are you to tell him what to do, when you don't even know if winning money is his primary motivation for playing.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

28,500 3/6 hands +665$ thats basicly break even.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Zetack:

about 18k...and it is a current streak.

It is comforting to hear that I am not alone.

--Rico

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

15k hands @ <font color="red">-1.0BB/100</font> for NL. This was back October of last year.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

anyone wanna post a graph of a long breakeven run? btw i'm working on a 10k stretch right now right now...but i probably just suck

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

I'm at about 8000 hands @ &lt;1 BB/100.
No idea if it's that I suck or variance.

-d

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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About 30,000 hands.

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Wow. You suck. Maybe this poker thing isn't for you, Diablo . . .

Cross-post
 

Interesting... I just made a similar post yesterday. However, I think my "break-even" streak has a lot to do with my slipping play...

My play has slipped

Adam

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

21,914 hands at 3/6

Total won = $9.19

BB/100 = 0.01

This was from 12/13/04 to 12/30/04 and I was stuck about 110BB for the few days before this break-even run. On New Year's Eve variance decided to bitch-slap me in the nutsack with -100BB over 800 hands before going out that night. This New Year's sucked ass.

Then, "whammo"... Some minor (perhaps significant) changes to my strategy, and the poker gods shining on me once again and I am way above my peak before I got stuck in the middle of December.

It will turn around.

Also, a big thank you to those who helped me out during my 2nd major downswing of tortuous duration in the last 3 months.

Clarification
 

When I said break even streak, of course I was really talking about a losing streak. Just in case that wasn't perfectly obvious to everybody.

My thinking is, say you hit 5,000 in your bankroll and go on a losing streak. 7k hands later you claw your way back up to 5,000 dollars and keep on going up. I think of it as 7k hands of break even poker because you've broken even after 7k hands even though you were actually underwater all that time.

Also, if you have a couple of stellar sessions during the streak and popup slightly over 5000 dollars but immediately sink back under 5k if I call it breakeven poker you can include that in your streak.

--Ze "Mr Obvious" Tack

Re: Zetack\'s Clarification
 

Ok then, add about 6,000 hands to my original number for the break even streak, to factor in the few days before the first downswing and the few days after New Year's.

That makes it roughly 28,000 hands.

I would give a more specific number but I had to create a new PokerTracker DB and don't know Access at all, so I haven't taken the time to figure out how to combine DBs, and am too lazy to do the math on paper.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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On New Year's Eve variance decided to bitch-slap me in the nutsack with -100BB.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ouch. I know how that feels. In the 15/30. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

BTW I think you were UTG+1 here:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...mp;o=&amp;vc=1

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Currently running 35,000 hands at -52BB at 3/6, from November 27 to current day. BB/100 for 30k hands previous to this date, 3.5. BB/100 for hands after this date, -.16. Have had only two winning sessions greater than 20BB since that date. Deepest point was -160BB. I'm sure if I were a better player and could always avoid tilt this number wouldn't be so high. I am now officially taking a break to try to learn a little more and to compose myself.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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Of course if you aren't a winning player your losing streak may be untouchable...

[/ QUOTE ]

How would you know?

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Of course if you aren't a winning player your losing streak may be untouchable...

[/ QUOTE ]

How would you know?

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Well I'm guessing. But if you were an avid, lifelong, but losing, poker player, say 65 years old, who'd jumped onto the online poker bandwagon in, say 2001, you could be underwater for your entire life...how many hands might that be?

--Zetack

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

Thsi thread has been heartening. I have been playing tread water poker (a little over 2 bb/100) for about 30k hands at the snuggle bear soft .5/1 Party tables. God the suckouts have been insane and seem like they will never end! Still plenty of holes in my game, I'm sure, and still looking for them, but it's good to see some of these posts.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thsi thread has been heartening. I have been playing tread water poker (a little over 2 bb/100) for about 30k hands at the snuggle bear soft .5/1 Party tables. God the suckouts have been insane and seem like they will never end! Still plenty of holes in my game, I'm sure, and still looking for them, but it's good to see some of these posts.

[/ QUOTE ]

2BB/100 is not "tred water" poker. It sounds to me like you just need to improve your game if you want that number higher.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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2BB/100 is not "tred water" poker. It sounds to me like you just need to improve your game if you want that number higher.

[/ QUOTE ]
No arguments from me.

What do you consider tred water poker?

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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What do you consider tred water poker?

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Matching the rake? I.e. 0BB/100.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

I guess I was thinking that at the super easy .5/1 tables I should be crushing them for something around 3.5/100. If I am only playing 2bb/100 at .5/1 that means I will be a fish at higher limits.

Anyway, when I said I was playing tred water poker it was contextual for the super soft game I'm playing.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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Baby jesus would weep before the end. *shudder*

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Gawdamnit stop using my baby jesus phrase. You make him sad.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]
I guess I was thinking that at the super easy .5/1 tables I should be crushing them for something around 3.5/100. If I am only playing 2bb/100 at .5/1 that means I will be a fish at higher limits.

Anyway, when I said I was playing tred water poker it was contextual for the super soft game I'm playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

A player who beats .5/1$ for 2BB/100 will do fine at higher limits. One who beats it for 3.5+ is a good/great player.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

I'll let you know when I get back to even. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

I'm currently trying to break into the 5/10 game and after about 15k hands I'm up &lt;.5/100... Rakeback is the only thing making me any money.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

With all these postings about 20, 30 and 40+K runs of breakeven or worse poker by what I’m sure are winning players, is 100K hands enough to really determine whether you’re a winning player or not? Should it be closer to 150K or even 200K hands to really get a good grasp on your true win rate? Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a supposed winning player just starting to track hands with a sufficient bankroll could easily go through 50-80K hands just breaking even or making a slim profit like
.2-.3BB/100 at moderate levels like 2/4 or 3/6. Just wondering how one really knows how well they’re doing and how long that really takes? Thanks for the input.

Kevin

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

[ QUOTE ]

Anyway, when I said I was playing tred water poker it was contextual for the super soft game I'm playing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because it's soft doesn't mean you can't run bad.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

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is 100K hands enough to really determine whether you’re a winning player or not? Should it be closer to 150K or even 200K hands to really get a good grasp on your true win rate?

[/ QUOTE ]

100K is usually more than enough to determine with 99% confidence that you're a winning (or losing) player.

To get a good grasp on your "true" win rate, you do need much more.

Search the archives for posts on calculating your "true" win rate with various confidence intervals.

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

wasn't schneids in the hole(fairly significantly so) after 40k hands at $15/30?

cheers!

Re: How long have you played break even poker?
 

not sure but this thread is interesting... kind of helpful to see that some of the most respected 2+2 players go through 10k+ break even streaks