really really bummed out....help?

[PokerCrab]

I just want to thank everyone for their responses and advices. I am still a greenhorn at this game and I have yet to encounter a string of bad beats like this so it did cause me to doubt the true fact that we all live by that "skill will prevail in the LONG RUN in poker". I think I will take a few days off just to let some steam out of the red hot Bad Beat Balloon. heh heh. I've picked up that new biography about Stu Ungar and a few movies so I can keep occupied these next couple of nights.

Thanks again - hopefully I can write about a nice finish on my next posting.

[Rduke55]

Good luck Pokercrab. You'll get through this if you keep your head.
These times must suck doubly so if you have no poker buddies to bitch to.
At least you're here. But do expect some of the immature asses to come out in your threads (this one was surprisingly nice- so far). Also you may want to post these types of posts in the Psychology forum instead for better advice.

[DonT77]

Anybody who has ever played a good deal of NLHE has run into a streak like this -

I usually do one of two things:

1) Start playing lower buy-ins until I get a few ITMs.
or
2) Take a break and catch up on reading poker materials.

I find that I usually play better after a two day break than if I've played for several hours a day several days in a row. The bad beats fade over time and they do sometimes affect your play whether you realize it or not.

[DVO]

It takes a certain (rare) temperament to handle the swings of tourney play. It's tough. Here's what I do:

1) I printed the entire hand history of my tourney wins. Periodically I will review them to remind myself of what can go right.

2) Keep a running record of all your tourney results. This helps keep me from going on tilt and sabotaging my long-term record. Trying to maintain a certain ITM % and Final table % helps keep you focused on playing right. If you have pride in these numbers, you'll work hard to maintain them.

3) Sng's pay the bills during the dry tourney stretches. Much less variance there. ( Keep records of those too)

4) If I inflict a particularly egregious bad beat, I try to save the hand history. Look at these ocasionally to help keep you in balance.

5) Don't assume you are running bad just from bad luck. Be ruthless with yourself and review key hands to see if you are part of the problem.

6) Be wary of drifting off to cash games for 'immediate gratification.' Speaking personally, I'm far better at tourneys ( If you don't believe me, see my post of a 2/5 NL MGM hand I played last week. Shudder.)

Good luck.....