I was in hell and it isn't pretty

[Akimka]

Another stupid post about variance. Well. If you think so just pass it, but i think knowing variance is a cornerstone to be a winning player. If you have perfect strategy, hand reading and other poker skills they are all important, but the MOST important skill is endurance and positive thinking when deviation HAS YOU.

Suppose typical beginner (like me). You playing your poker, you playing it good, you showing respectable winrate throught time, like in my case more than 35K hands (lot of hands). Nearly every your session ends in positive numbers but then BOOOM. And you are below 230BBS. Same partylosers around you, same room, same computer but suddenly you can't win.

And now poker player will born or will dead at that minute. You feel bad. You feel panic. You even don't want to talk with your girlfriend because you feel so bad. And you know well that here is no dependence between your losses and future results. And you starts crying and spamming on forums but it will never help to lose your K-flush to A-flush (in 3flush board of course).

Here is logical, not emotional message to all beginners: when they said to you only 300BB is enough, and to be sure you need more BBS in your bankroll don't toss it away. Do it! Do your bankroll or you will be dead. My fallig has been stopped (probably) will your stop at -230BB?

P.S. I want to thank all posters in my thread about my loss. Don't put hard on me. Thank you for your endless support dear 2+2'ers! Here is my stat on last 500 hands. Cheer me up! But I still think that here is no luck. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Total hands 512
VPIP 18.75
Won $ WSF 40.80
Amount won $216
BB/100 21.09
Went to SD 41.60
Won $ at SD 71.15
PF raise 10.16

[Peter Harris]

i'm running 10BB/100 over the last 7500 hands. I'd like to see you sustain that winrate over the next 7000 hands! that'd cheer you up bigtime.

If you have bankroll concerns, the old axiom of moving back down is a good one. .5/1 and .25/.50 play well and the texture of the game is a real "welcome back" for me whenever i have a nasty session of 1/2 (down 15BB over 2200 hands at the moment, still working at it...)

Best regards and good luck,
Pete Harris

[dfscott]

It's a yin/yang thing I guess -- I'm down 80BB in my last two sessions. It sucks, but it will end, or I will go broke.

C'est la poque.

[helpmeout]

Just treat it as a learning experience and a good time to analyse your game.

I think learning to handle the swings is a major part of anyones game. I mean it is easy for a 100BB downturn to turn into 150BB or 200BB or worse due to tilt.

I think for beginners it is much worse because you dont have the confidence or knowledge of the game to handle the big swings.

I recently went on a 100BB downswing and I am pretty sure some of it was from tilt. So I played less went back to only playing 1 table and read as much as I could.

[bigjay]

Been there, those days where everything gets beat. You play tight, check your game closely and still lose. Like you said, same idiots around you but they're whipping your butt with the mighty Q7s and K8o.

When I hit my biggest downswing, I took a good break. Fortunately poker is just a profitable hobby for me that I use to finance toys, so I don't really have anything to lose if I'm not running well. Came back refreshed and I'm well into the black again.

The other thing I'd add is take advantage of the bonuses out there, they can really cushion the bad beats and swings.