Massive Frustration(Not a Bad Beat Thread).

[Fitz]

Don't worry, this isn't a bad beat post!!!

I'm a seriously frustrated. I've been beating the 2/4 and 3/6 games on Party for 3 1/2 years. My win rate isn't huge, but I've logged over 4000 hours of play. Until a month or so ago, I thought I was a winning player. Recently, I've been struggling worse than I can ever remember. I dug myself into a 300 big bet hole a month or so ago, but I managed a nice tourney hit to make that up and then some. In the last few days, I've felt hapless at the table. I had a couple of small losses, and tonight, I turned a small loss into a moderate one by going on tilt and blasting off about $400 playing badly at the 6 handed 3/6 tables.
I really wish I could blame it on bad beats, but I know the truth is that I'm not playing well.

I've always felt very discplined at the table, but lately, patience and discpline seem to be my weak points. I sit in my normal game, and either slowly bleed away money, or I get ahead 20 or 30 big bets and give it all back and then some. I stopped the bleeding tonight, so I am down about $700 from my top. That's 175 big bets at 2/4 where I spend most of my time. I keep a decent bankroll, so I'm not in any imminent danger. I've only had one losing month this year(I'm down a little for November, but it isn't over yet.) I am concerned. I recently bought Small Stakes Hold 'em and I've been reading it. I have identified some mistakes I was making, but the adjustments don't seem to be producing much yet.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Fitz

[PokerAce]

Just concentrate on correct play for each and every hand, the results will take care of themselves.

Not to discourage you, but downswings can last many tens of thousands of hands. That's why it takes well over 100k hands to determine your winrate.

Post hands you aren't 100% on and see what others think.

[ QUOTE ]
Don't worry, this isn't a bad beat post!!!

I'm a seriously frustrated. I've been beating the 2/4 and 3/6 games on Party for 3 1/2 years. My win rate isn't huge, but I've logged over 4000 hours of play. Until a month or so ago, I thought I was a winning player. Recently, I've been struggling worse than I can ever remember. I dug myself into a 300 big bet hole a month or so ago, but I managed a nice tourney hit to make that up and then some. In the last few days, I've felt hapless at the table. I had a couple of small losses, and tonight, I turned a small loss into a moderate one by going on tilt and blasting off about $400 playing badly at the 6 handed 3/6 tables.
I really wish I could blame it on bad beats, but I know the truth is that I'm not playing well.

I've always felt very discplined at the table, but lately, patience and discpline seem to be my weak points. I sit in my normal game, and either slowly bleed away money, or I get ahead 20 or 30 big bets and give it all back and then some. I stopped the bleeding tonight, so I am down about $700 from my top. That's 175 big bets at 2/4 where I spend most of my time. I keep a decent bankroll, so I'm not in any imminent danger. I've only had one losing month this year(I'm down a little for November, but it isn't over yet.) I am concerned. I recently bought Small Stakes Hold 'em and I've been reading it. I have identified some mistakes I was making, but the adjustments don't seem to be producing much yet.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Fitz

[/ QUOTE ]

Judging on how I have the #1 post in the psych forum the last 2 days, and the fact that I was seriously thinking of blowing my brains out when I posted it - maybe I'm the wrong one to post here, but I'll still try to lend my poker expertise.

If you've logged 4000 hours of play, and in the first 3900 of them you were a winning player, that's a pretty damn good sample size to make this assumption. A 175 BB swing isn't pretty, but it's definitely not uncommon. You'll read posts from what I would consider "excellent" players here on 2+2 documenting 300-500 BB swings, and after being analyzed most people concur that the players were playing very close to optimally.

You're just in a bad run. Analyze your play (I hope you have Pokertracker or something similar), and see if its a bad run or if you are making bad decisions. If you're making bad decisions, there is your answer. If you are playing as close to optimally as you can, and are down 175 BB, then hey - it'll turn around.

After 4K hours, I wouldn't sweat one "bad" swing. Life's dealt me a much greater blow the last 6-8 months, and it's got nothin to do with poker. I'm sure you'll be fine, but if you are unsure, post some hands that you are unsure of. Nothing wrong with getting some good analysis from the excellent posters of this forum.