How bad a downswing before...

[Yobz]

I'm on a terrible downswing now as well, down around 200BB in 1/2. Playing as solid as ever (as far as I can tell) but my high pocket pairs and good hands keep getting cracked, very frustrating...

[The Dude]

You need a reality check. I 4-table, and I've had several -80BB sessions, and last month I had a 425BB overall downswing... and I kill the games I play in.

If you have that kind of an emotional reaction to 80BBs you need to change your outlook. Read some books on zen. Learn to remove yourself from the results.

[jerome baker]

was that 425 bb on 5/10 party 10 handed?

[The Dude]

That 425 BBs was in Commerce 20-40 live, Party 10-20 6-max, and Party 5-10 full. In the last 9 days, I'm up over 350 BBs at the 5-10 game. Never once during the downswing did I doubt my ability to kill the games I was playing in, I just shrugged my shoulders and stepped down in limit.

If you hope to play even semi-professionally, you cannot afford to be emotionally attached to results. If you are properly bankrolled, and exert enough self-control to step down a limit when it is appropriate, then short-term results simply don't matter.

[Iron Tigran]

I can't compare to the swings of hundreds of BB some of the guys here are talking about. I can say I had the same 80BB downswing in 2 days recently (was trying Pacific). This came after getting my rump handed to me the first week I played on Party. I got frustrated at first but I told myself verbally, and expressed to two poker playing friends, that everything was OK. My opponents were making mistakes that in the long run would be to my favor and long as I stayed composed and played within my bankroll, all would be OK.

Happily, I had a +50BB session soon after those two bad days. But even if it took longer, long as I stayed within myself, it was going to happen.

[adamstewart]

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keep in mind that, generally, the weekends are EASY, EASY games compared to throughout the week - due to all the recreational fish that play on the weekends.

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The weekend is normally when i have my worst swings =/

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Exactly! With the wider variety of worse players, there will be more variance. Overall, though, a winning player will have a +EV.

Chief, 350 BB in one weekend is freakin mega!!!!!

Less the 80 BB downswing is 270BB = $1080

270BB in (four days?) is FREAKIN MEGA!!!


Take the good with the bad chief, welcome to the massively frustrating game of poker

[Lawrence Ng]

Hi Tommy,

I got to say you guys are amazing. It seems these posts time themselves well when I'm in the middle of something similar.

Take it from a guy who's been playing casually for years and has logged many many hours. Swings happen. You have to accept that. If you can't accept that - then please, do yourself a favor and put your money somewhere else or play another game that you will enjoy. It's not so much about losing the money that is bad, but so much that it truly hinders your confidence and emotions which hinders other things in your life.

Confidence! It's crucial to this game. If you don't have confidence you've already screwed half your game right there. Mental toughness is as big a part of playing this game as much as understanding the technical game itself. So once you find yourself losing confidence, playing the hand in a way it should not have been played then please come back another day when you ARE confident.

Do whatever it takes to restore that confidence. For some, it means taking time off, spending it with their families, or doing other recreations. If you have friends and family that support you and cheer you on, then all the better. I can only envy what that must be like. Myself, I like to go get laid. Something about having sex and releasing the frustration there makes me feel better and ultimately put my A game back up. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

I think coming on these boards and sharing some of your stories and frustrations is soothing and therapeutic. Yes, no one likes hearing bad beat stories and we've all been on both sides of the ass ram. But still all we need is a little vent sometimes and I even come home and bitch to my brother occasionally still about suck outs and bad beats. It's the competitive side of us and it's human nature to get upset when the massive favorite loses to a massive underdog.

Having said all this, there's a lot of good resources out there to help you with your mental game. Books on zen, and pyschology books.

My friend who is a doctor and poker player says that going through his first major downswing in poker was like going through his first series of terminally ill patients which he could not absolutely nothing to save their lives. He hated it. But gradually he accepted it and he realized that if he did his job the best he could, he could still save other people.

So take it this way, if you go through your first huge downswing as a pro or casual player and can handle it - then I think you've handled the toughest and meanest this game has to offer and it only makes you a better poker player. No one is going to tell you this. Everyone who plays against you will want you to fail and lose. Don't let them succeed.

And btw, the last 50 hours I've played in my local 4-8 game, I'm down about $1000 and I only play about 5 hours a session part time so that's a pretty bad stat for me.

Offering my two vents..err..cents.

[nykenny]

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I've tied my worst one yet, down 80BB over two days.

You'd better mentally prepare yourself for a lot of, um, fetal..position...ing. 200 and 300 BB downswings happen, even to very solid players. I've had three over 200, one over 300.

GoT

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GoT,

i thought you were solider than that! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Kenny

[TommyTutone]

Hey all,

Thanks very much for the feedback. First of all, I'm not too worried about the money. I've climbed my way up to $6000, starting with $50 eight months ago, playing at the .50/1 tables until I hit 300BB, and then moving up (I'm now at 2/4 and have been for about a month).

I still have about 700BB available for my bankroll, so I am not worried about busting out, but if I do continue the streak, I have no qualms about moving down. As someone said above, what killed me was my confidence. When I started losing my solid hand after solid hand (I will spare any bad beat stories as I don't really make an effort to remember them), I became weak and passive and it snowballed my confidence.

I ended up pulling out of the hold'em tables, putzed around with some 1/2 Stud/8, made $60 and called it a night. I think tonight will be spent away from the pc, catching up on some Tivo'd movies (Death Race 2000, Father Goose, etc.) and just relaxing and tomorrow I will try again fresh when the scrubs return.

Once I get to 10000 hands at 2/4 (I'm at 7500 now, but have about 15k recorded with another 5k or so unrecorded), I'll post my stats, but so far, it looks like everything is in line, or close to it.

Thanks again!