Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

I just logged in and when I looked at the first page of this forum I see three threads related to how people are being affected by downswings and not liking it. I'm no expert and there are certainly people who have been around here longer and are more qualified to make a post like this. That said: PLEASE STOP IT!!!

Yes the game of poker has swings, it's a constant up and down. The trick to the game is not to avoid losing, it's going to happen and sometimes it's going to hurt. But on the other side of the equation is all the times that you have had an upswing of some degree of the other. In the end the trick to the game is to make sure that sum of your upswings are greater then the sum of your downswings. Period. That is all that you can do. You will lose, and lost big at times. That is the nature of this game, if you can't live with it find a new hobby.

But, i'll digress. I'm not giving any new relevant information in that rant. 99.9% of you here already know it, and most of what I have come to understand about it I learned right here in these forums. So the real point of this: In all honesty there are a ton of people around here more qualified to rant about it, but IMHO these posts hurt the board. They push down hand discussions and other topics that have true relevance. Threads that many of us could truly learn from get pushed out of the way while someone rambles on about his latest round of bad luck. My idea is to put together one thread that has all the information that someone in that situation may find useful. After that any new thread on the topic of "horrible" downswings/bad luck/suckouts should simply get one single reply with nothing but a link to that thread.

I don't know wether or not this idea has any real merit I'm just putting it out there. But what I do know that in some small we all choose what topics we want to thrive and which should just die. In the past I have responded to these sympathy posts, but today came to the realization that by doing so I am simply making them relevant. If we don't reply to these topics then they will simply end up on the bottom of the pile, which is exactly where I happen to think they belong.

As I already stated I know that I have not been around here that long and may not really have a right to post something like this. I apologize in advance if I'm out of line.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

I agree, the forum is on a bad downswing. Is this normal? Will it turn around if we post more or do we just suck?

Sorry, but anyway ya I agree.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

To piggyback on this thread, the next person that PMs or IMs me complaining of being cold decked or about a downswing will be blocked immediately, regardless of how long we've known each other. This [censored] is getting retarded. It's like everyone on the forum thinks variance applies to everyone but them, giving them some sort of higher right to bitch when variance catches up with them.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

What a nice post. Agree.
I mean seeing posts of bad beats once every week make me so [censored] mad. The crazy thing is that I WANT TO OPEN THEM and reply to them. And then I wanna complain about it. Because all these posts hurt out beloveds 2+2s bandwidth that we are all donating each month.
Great Post man!
Added it to my favorites.
The next person who messages me about missing his draws is getting blocked as well. I mean why the [censored] should I care right?

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

nice post. agreed.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

[ QUOTE ]
I agree, the forum is on a bad downswing. Is this normal? Will it turn around if we post more or do we just suck?

Sorry, but anyway ya I agree.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] nice

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

i have never received a pm complaining about a downswing. i make an effort to put down those who complain by making posts about downswings, so i think everyone knows....

(this is simply a post complaining that no one ever messages me [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img])

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

the irony is, posting about newbies posting the same old posts is kinda the same as posting about how downswings suck.

It's gonna happen regardless of anyone complaining, and unless there's an active mod or two looking for and quickly deleting threads to enforce forum rules, best you can do is grit your teeth and bear it.

The vast majority of newbies don't read FAQs or assess the tolerance of the regulars. They just go ahead and post. Happens everywhere. Think of them as the "bad beats" of online forums, and handle accordingly.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

We can trade accounts if you want. Infact, if you want my AIM name as well, you can have it, cause completely the wrong people know it. I've got two IMs in the last 10 minutes talking about people I knew in middle school. I'm 23, I don't care about 9 years ago [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

Whenever I'm on a downswing, and pissed off, I find threads other people have started about their current downswing. Then I post a smart ass reply. I'm pretty sure this is not healthy. But it helps me blow off steam, and (hopefully) reduces the number of downswing threads.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

As a relative newbie here, I have benefitted from reading about other players' downswings and their frustration with variance, since it helped me deal with the same frustration I've had when I had been losing a lot. And reading those threads from others has kept me from posting any of my own.

After awhile you realize that variance is just part of the deal, and that complaining about it is pointless. But you can't expect a new player to realize that.

And, yeah, some semi official thread on Dealing with Variance would be useful.

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

Agreed. We need to acknowledge that though we're playing at the same limits...not everyone has had the same experiences.

For example...I see these posts about 100-BB downswings, and I wonder what the hell people are talking about. I haven't seen one of those. I expect it's coming...and I'll probably be ready for it. But if someone hadn't posted it, how would I know it's normal?

Re: Yes, poker is an up and down game
 

[ QUOTE ]
As a relative newbie here, I have benefitted from reading about other players' downswings and their frustration with variance, since it helped me deal with the same frustration I've had when I had been losing a lot. And reading those threads from others has kept me from posting any of my own.

After awhile you realize that variance is just part of the deal, and that complaining about it is pointless. But you can't expect a new player to realize that.

And, yeah, some semi official thread on Dealing with Variance would be useful.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good point. Perhaps my feelings on it are a little to harsh, but I think that the problem is that there are simply too many of these posts coming in lately. Yes it is useful to have the information available to you. However there are already a multitude of these posts out there. I think that in general, myself included, people would be well served to spend more time looking for information rather than simply asking for it.

Edit: Also remember that there as I said there were three posts of a very similar content on the main page when I posted this message. Yes if a topic is useful for you post it by all means, but if a relevant thread exists already please put your comments in there