[AviD]

First, this isn't a bitching post...and honestly, I'm not sure if anything useful will come out of it, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Normally I just pine over these kind of sessions for a short while, and then let them go figuring "that's just poker".

My question is, what is the "breaking point" have a "cold" and losing session? That is to say, at what point do you think it is no longer feasible for you to go without winning in a given session and can then blame either poor, losing, suboptimal, or ineffective play? By "losing" I mean, not winning ANY hands. I do not mean you are "down" for the session. I mean you continue to lose throughout the session either without winning any hands or by winning a few meager hands (say less than 5BBs) and losing far more. By poor/suboptimal/ineffective I mean your strategy is flawed and/or simply incorrect for the given game and given texture.

As an example, this past weekend I went on a 9 hour streak without winning a single hand. This discludes any chopped hands (I think there *may* have been ONE, maybe). Granted I've run cold before, and about 2 weeks ago I went 6 hours without winning a single hand. Nothing new, I've had plenty of cold sessions, but my question is, at what point during a session, do you think one can be CERTAIN they are not winning due to any single factor or set of factors outside of just running cold and/or bad?

In this particular session from this past weekend, I did not feel my play was affected nor do I feel that I was playing too tight. In fact, the game was probably one of the best I've seen (20/40 game at the Borgata) with many pots 6-9 ways for 1-4 bets. Unfortunately, I just did not have many hands to get involved with and when I did, I lost. I adjusted my play to what I felt was accordingly for the texture of the game and relative to my position. There was no stealing pots in this game (once it got 4+ ways) and I didn't really see any "edge" I could have pushed to get more money to come my way. There was seemingly no bluff equity at all when this game was in its "prime" (per my own sentiments of the game's quality).

Normally I just say "Oh well, that does happen and that is poker. Move on, grind on, and eventually it will turn" But is a 9 hour stretch unreasonable? When I'm there, I think its pretty amazing but maintain my composure in this GREAT game and just wait and wait and wait patiently for the cards to turn. I move seats when they open up trying to gain position on existing and newly joining fish but just can't seem to get ahead. Instead I'm drooling for hours on end waiting to get involved.

And yes, in the given game, I know I can loosen my starting hands and YES I did but NO I still didn't have anything even close to 3 gapped suited connectors to play! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

So why am I asking all this? Well I'm asking because I feel like this tends to happen quite a bit when I'm playing live...so much that I am really beginning to think long and hard about my live play, wondering where I might be able to improve. I don't feel like I play overly tight, and I do have extreme patience. I sat in that game for over 20 hours because it was THAT good waiting for a chance to get involved. Granted I did win a few hands here and there after that ugly streak, but still wound up down quite a bit for the session.

So are these just normal days for other players on here or am I special? [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Please don't tell me to cut down my sessions unless you feel there is some logical benefit to it. And granted, there certainly can be some benefit to it that I am just not sensing, experiencing, or am oblivious to during my play. I tend to play long sessions and I do not find my play to be affected due to it. As long as a game is good, I will sit until I am either too tired to continue or start making mistakes and realize my play is being affected.

I also suspect that if these are frequent and "normal" for other winning players on here, then I may just not be "noticing" them as much in online play due to the sheer number of hands we go through. And online is my primary play, I tend to play live on weekends here and there to break up the monotony of online play, and also enjoy the benefits of live play overall (although I didn't see much of it this weekend [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

Sorry for the length of the post, and please don't consider this to be complaining. I'm more so curious if others go through similar stretches and how often. It seems like I read about live players on here crushing games for 4-5BB/hr and I'm sitting wondering where I am leaving money on the table generally but especially during these cold streaks, because honestly...I'm just not taking that much away from the games. I'm always questioning my game, poker is insanely emotional and mental, but that seems to be greatly magnified during the above described times. And sure, my sample could be small...I've only been playing for about 2 years now...but I am a winning player nonetheless, just not as "winning" as I'd like to be...hell who is, right? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I guess the other alternative is playing for 1-3 hours and leaving "up" for a break, coming back and trying to repeat with a fresh head. But again, I don't feel there has been a significant impact in my play over time and at least in AC, I can't fathom playing for 1-3 hours to leave and sit on a wait list for 2 hours to get on for another 1-3, especially when the game makes you drool in anticipation...it would make me SICK to be sitting on the rail waiting to get BACK in it.

Any thoughts, recommendations, brutal honesty, helpful hints, free coupons to steak and lobster dinners, etc are all greatly appreciated! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]