Oh god make it stop!!!

[j.k.]

Since I only got pokertracker earlier this year, I dont know how many hands total, but I had been winning 1.5 BB/HR for approx 2 years playing 15-25 hrs a week, two tables at a time.

[EdSchurr]

I don't suppose you can query your PT database and find out how many times you're hitting sets with pocket pairs? Then you could compare that to how many times you'd expect to (assuming the population is big enough--but you could do it with other hands too). I wonder if such an analysis has any validity.

[Ulysses]

My longest bad streak is a breakeven streak over something like 25-30k hands.

[Nottom]

[ QUOTE ]
Since I only got pokertracker earlier this year, I dont know how many hands total, but I had been winning 1.5 BB/HR for approx 2 years playing 15-25 hrs a week, two tables at a time.

[/ QUOTE ]

So basically significantly longer than you have been losing. I dunno, prolly just a bad run but looking back at some of your hand posts you may have some leaks that need fixing as well.

[davidross]

I went 4 weeks of 4 tabling shorthanded 5/10 only breaking even, about 50K hands.

[Nightwish]

I had a pretty bad 9 week losing streak 2 years ago. This was at B&M though. But it was still incredibly frustrating. At the end, I just took a week off, read/reread a couple books, and haven't looked back since.

[joker122]

[ QUOTE ]
My longest bad streak is a breakeven streak over something like 25-30k hands.


[/ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I went 4 weeks of 4 tabling shorthanded 5/10 only breaking even, about 50K hands.

[/ QUOTE ]


20k here (breakeven, that is). You say you were a winner for 2 years previous so I don't see any reason you won't break out of this streak. I also don't think it's possible to become a worse player, I could be wrong though.

Which hands are your biggest losers in this stretch?

[PDosterM]

This is a question where the poker simulation feature of Turbo Texas Hold Em can be useful. (I know there are serious limitations to the simulation, but here I am just using it to provide a gut-check of holdem’s underlying variance.)

I took a strong profile, Bret Maverick, and a weak profile, Welcome Waldo, and put them in alternating seats, and then I ran 250,000 hands using the simulator. All the Mavericks won and all the Waldos lost. What I was interested in was the lengths of downturns for the winning players.

In this particular run, there was a downturn by one of the Mavericks of 37,500 hands, or about a half year’s play at 20 hours per week. (5 Mavericks playing 250,000 hands each nets about 33 years of half time play as the total sample length.) So for this specific simulation, it is not unreasonable for a winning player to suffer one six-month losing streak in a poker career. This particular run also netted a dozen 2-month losing streaks for the various Mavericks.

What is important here is not this specific answer, but rather the observation that winning players can suffer very long losing streaks. The simulation guarantees that the losing streak did not affect the player’s strategy (since the simulator doesn’t go on tilt).

It might be worthwhile for you to play with the simulator using various profiles and line-ups to get a feel for the underlying variance of the game. These downturns are very frustrating to live through, but they are to be expected.

One caution: always review your play during these downturns to make sure it’s not your play that’s the problem.

[MicroBob]

the fun answer:
i recorded a net-loss from 1996 through August 2003.

i played a 2-hour session of stud at a B&M in 1996 and had no idea what i was doing. i didn't play again until i tried online in Feb, 2003. i learned how to study and become a winning player somewhere around July/August 2003.

so....in my losing streak from 1996-Feb 2003 i played around 80 hands i guess.
from feb 2003 to july 2003 i played a few thousand more.



the serious answer:
i would seriously be looking at your game.
post HH's in the appopriate forum where you think you misplayed your hands.
it's possible to be a loser over 45k hands or more....but it's also likely that you just might not be playing very well.


i had a lengthy losing streak around the 20k hand length a couple months ago. it was a combination of bad play and lousy luck. i made many misplays, especially with overcards (thank you forums...and now SSHE...for helping me out) and i had suspected all along that i really didn't know what i was doing with these types of hands.
but it also didn't help that my flopped sets were virtually ALWAYS running into 4 flushes and 4-straights on the board..etc etc. my AA was frequently getting killed by J5o.
flopped full-house would lose to quads..etc etc.
just your typical bizarro stuff that you can't control COMBINED with a few extra lost bets that i could have controlled.

the 20k hands came over the course of a couple weeks btw. took a couple breaks in there (of just a couple days or so) and played some cheap-o MTT's and SNG's just to mix things up.
also took up NL-25 and NL-50 where i spent some of the time just playing low-variance tight...almost nut-peddling.

anyway, changing games for even an hour or two....or mixing things up and taking a break are worthwhile ideas.

but first i would recommend studying in the appropriate forums and posting some of your HH's. chances are good that some leaks in your game will be identified that you might have been completely unaware of.

[SayGN]

I haven't read the responses, maybe this has been said already...but take some time off. Go 3days maybe even a week without playing poker. Brunson talked a little bit about this in Super System. I'm guessing you are not making a career out of playing hold'em like he did, but that doesn't mean that you don't need some time off. Come back in a week with a clear mind and see if it helps.