Should you "play through" a bad run of cards?

[Bodhi]

If you are psychologically tough, then play through it. Over my last 20k hands, there was a 100bb downswing that took 3k hands to recover from. That's about standard I suppose. I've had a 200bb downswing before and I suppose it takes about 6k hands to recover from that.

[Bodhi]

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i am quite ambitious about poker, and i am 14 which is still very young

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I say this to every underage gambler... wtf? Don't spend these years in front of a computer screen. Chase girls, go to parties and live a little before you really have obligations.

[RRRRICK]

I think if it makes you do irrational things then yes have a break. I'm in the same situation at the moment. I play mainly NL cash games in my live card room and have had a cold streak of cards for about three weeks now. I have been able to maintain my discipline and admittedly it hasn't hurt my bankroll too much. BUT in my last session it finally got the best of me and I had a brain explosion with A10 off suit out of position to a pre flop raise blah blah. Basically I got fed up and made a bad play knowing fully well i was making a bad play. I knew it was time to get up go home and forget about poker for a couple of days.

[SNOWBALL138]

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Another option is playing a different game. Often when i run bad in stt's, I like to play some mtt's and cash games.

If you don't have another game where you feel comfortable playing or where you feel you can make money, then you can drop down to micro limits and learn a new game.

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I like that suggestion. When I want to try to give my brain a fresh start, I'll switch from cash games to STTs or from hold em to stud or omaha/08. Sometimes just switching to B&M play or switching to a different poker site for a little while makes me feel better.
Also, sometimes it helps to smile. I think the brain associates that muscle movement with being happy. Basically, there are a lot of ways to trick yourself into thinking clearly.

OTOH, switching games could just confuse or distract someone, and delay their ability to build a solid winning strategy for the games that they play in.

[cardspeak]

Lots of good responses already, but I might add this:
watch out for how you're being perceived by the other players. If they sense you're running bad they'll start taking more shots, figuring you'll fold or are just going to miss. It's easy to get more cautious, lose some aggression when your draws are missing and others seem to hit everything. So, seeing oneself as in a streak can be self-fulfilling. I'd avoid playing against good players who have the killer instinct to attack your lack of confidence. Perseverence is good overall, but not necessarily at a given table. Move on if you suspect others see you as vulnerable.

Being overly cautious is just another form of tilt. Tilt means not playing optimally, as opposed to getting too loose and bleeding your money away.

Actually, it really is true that smiling will make you feel better. I've taken a couple basic psych classes and one of the most interesting and useful things i found about them was the way our mind and body reacts and relates to emotion. There is evidence that suggests that we feel sad because we're frowning, rather than the other way around (there's evidence in opposition to this as well, but when you're pissed because the best hand you've seen all night is jack three, i'll try anything to get positive). One test that suggested that we are happy because we smile was a rather simple one. Subjects were asked to hold a pen with they're teeth while doing a simple computer task, this facial position recreates an actual smile, rather than the fake one we all use at the table, at the end of the task (i don't know how long it was) the subjects reported feeling happy and warm. Other subjects were asked to hold a pen with they're mouths, simulating a frown, and reported feeling gloomy and upset with the task. Maybe it's something worth trying.

[intheflatfield]

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The entire concept of a streak is fiction, invented by our mind to see patterns that aren't there. The cards are still random, and waiting is just as likely to make you miss out on winning sessions as it is to make you miss out on losing ones.


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I am on a 250 BB downswing, and haven't seen a decent card in over 2 weeks now. Don't tell me that streaks are a figment of our imagination. They are what they are.

You sound like Tom Cruise talking about Psycholgy.

To answer the original poster, when I am on a sustained streak of bad cards, or bad play. I think it's hard to distinguish between the two when your're in the middle of it (the old tree for the forrest). I like to stop and re-read TOP or other such tomes, just to refresh and put things into perspective.

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I am on a 250 BB downswing, and haven't seen a decent card in over 2 weeks now. Don't tell me that streaks are a figment of our imagination. They are what they are.

You sound like Tom Cruise talking about Psycholgy.

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And you sound like you're on tilt.

The definition of a "decent card" is completely inside your head. Fish think J6s is decent, while super TAGs think anything less than AKo should be folded. Keep in mind that your definition of a decent card changes dramatically when you are losing. You may begin to avoid getting proper value from any hand that's less than anything close to the nuts.