I refused to have a losing session. (NC/progress thread)

[baronzeus]

A month or so ago I made a post about how I couldn't handle losing 50 or 60BBs to start off a session. I'm the type of player who loses a ton of money when I tilt, which is most definitely my number one leak.

Today, after a brief coaching session by ALL1N (who I highly recommend), I sat down at 4 3/6 6max tables at about 12:30 EST. I was feeling really good about myself and fairly confident after ALL1N's thoughts and ideas.

Too bad. Within minutes I was already down a ton.

At first I was pissed. Suckout after suckout, and it wasn't getting better. So I did what I normally do when people suckout on me: see too many showdowns and try fancy bullshit . That only made it worse for me, and it led to the peak of the valley.

About 10 minutes into my downswing I noticed I was sitting with Joetall and popped up AIM to talk to him. He told me to sit at his other table too, since there was a known donator. I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea, and I told him I was stuck badly already. Joetall advised me tu turn off chat and just get over it. "Tilt is the number one leak". You can lose a ton of money to tilt, he told me. Just know that you have an edge over your opponents and keep playing your game.

After a while Joetall left and about 1/3 of the way through my session I talked to aK13, who happens to be a good friend of mine. I bitched to him a little (what else can you do: sorry Adam) and he said "Poker sucks" or something. More suckouts, and now I was down almost 50BB. I said "[censored], what am I supposed to do?" He might have suggested taking a break, or that may have been my own brain going berserk from the ridiculous session I'd had so far, but who knows.

After thinking about quitting when I was down around 45BBs for a few minutes, I sat back into the tables and determined that I would not leave until I was satisfied with my session, especially with all these donators sitting together. The one good player at my table (named "shipip04", probably a 2p2er, if that's you you are a good player but too tight IMO), was making a ton, and if he had a huge edge, so did I. So I sat back in at about 1:30 AM and got to work. Surprisingly, although my graph sucked, I was doing OK for the last half of the session. Things kept getting better, although the occasional 15BB suckout was killer to my goal of leaving the session without being down.

Anyways, at long last things turned around:



and while it was still technically a losing session, I am happy with myself almost breaking even after such a rocky start. There is no way I would have the ability to do something like this a month ago or probably even a week ago. I can only thank the constant support of you all, the wise words of ALL1N, and Joetall's support.

OK, I'll stop rambling now, if you're ultra bored, thanks for reading.

Anyhow, here is a picture of my stats for the session.



The fact that I was running this bad (low VPIP (average 25), low PFR (average 17), low won@sd etc) and didn't lose makes me extremely happy, and has a very good outlook for the improvement i've made.


This 3 hour session was also a marathon for me. Probably my longest ever in my 3 month career. Thanks all. Gnight.

[etizzle]

once you get goin again at 3/6 just make sure you dont move up until you are way bankrolled for the next limit. Bad beats hurt the most when you dont have the bankroll to cover the variance.

Also just remember that the only reason why anyone on here makes money doing this is that most of the time we dont get bad beat.

[sthief09]

there's a lot to be said for progressing through the limits. it seems like you haven't, and there's somethign missing. it's like getting home schooled then goign to HS (I get the impression from watching movies, excluding Mean Girls, but that doesn't count because Lindsay Lohan used to be hot). you're going to be socially retarded.

anyway, I have a few comments:
1. you say your VPIP is nromaly 25. this is entirely too high for someone who (a) has a tilting problem, and (b) has 3 months of experience, ie doesn't read hands particularly well.
2. you went to showdown 41% of the time. you're probably getting psised and calling too much
3. you attempted to steal 23%. you ahve position against crappy players. use it. don't fold so much.
4. you need to get things in perspective if a minuscule downswing like that tilts you
5. I think you should stop bouncing around in limits and find one game and play it.

[rory]

your game and life will improve drastically if you can learn to get up from a losing session and leave it there

[popeye18]

[ QUOTE ]
your game and life will improve drastically if you can learn to get up from a losing session and leave it there


[/ QUOTE ]

I couldnt agree with you more. The day I stopped being pissed off after a loseing session i think my game progressed to a new level(not to mention i wasnt pissed off all the time). I used to check the cashiers box all the time while playing. Now sometimes i dont even look after a session.

[Victor]

50bb is so freakin trivial. this is gonna happen so often (like daily) that you better either learn to deal with it or quit poker. search the archives and you will see some real bad downswings.

also, 41% wtsd is absurdly high. i would make a fortune value betting my bottom pair into your acehigh.

[ChicagoTroy]

"The dumbest five words in poker are 'I have to get even.'"

If you've been playing three months, have a tilting problem, and can't stand 50 BB downswings, WTF are you doing playing shorthanded? Why start out in an format that punishes your specific weaknesses?

Finishing slightly down isn't a reflection of improvement. I played against a guy last night with 80/50/3.8 last night who only finished slightly down. A single session is almost random.

The number of posts you have in this short a period and your attitude towards losing individual sessions and even hands suggests you may really want to take a step back from poker. JMO.

[J. Sawyer]

my last 4 days at 5/10 6max have been so insane, As I've been 4-6 tabling 6 hours a day.

day1 - 3,250 hands. 150BB downswing in middle, finished up 10BB's
day2 - start off good, finish down 90BB's
day3 - +100BB's in mid session, finish +65BB's
day4 - -125BB's

^^ that puts me down almost 150BB's over my last 9,000 hands.

The long run is very long my friend. Stick it out. If you you are well bankrolled for the game the standard 50-60BB quick downer shouldn't phase you. These last 9k hands have been pretty rough for me but im working on not letting it phase me, as it is potentially a huge leak.

-gl man, peace

[twankerr]

Ok, heres my advice. I've worked HEAVILY on not tilting while still playing in the nether regions of shorthanded play. If you are tilting all around, then you need to get off your computer, take a shower, and go hang out with friends or something. If it is just one or two players that are absolutely pissing you off, get out of their game and find a new one. There are fishy games everywhere and maybe that 76/20/3 is actually playing pretty close to optimal against a person on tilt.

On a side note, to keep my focused I have gotten rid of all distractions (2+2, tv, etc.) while I'm playing. I now have only headphones on and before each session I try to read 15-20 pages out of my books to get my mind thinking about poker before the first cards are dealt.

[baronzeus]

[ QUOTE ]
anyway, I have a few comments:
1. you say your VPIP is nromaly 25. this is entirely too high for someone who (a) has a tilting problem, and (b) has 3 months of experience, ie doesn't read hands particularly well.
2. you went to showdown 41% of the time. you're probably getting psised and calling too much
3. you attempted to steal 23%. you ahve position against crappy players. use it. don't fold so much.
4. you need to get things in perspective if a minuscule downswing like that tilts you
5. I think you should stop bouncing around in limits and find one game and play it.

[/ QUOTE ]

All good points

Mostly, I'm dropping to 3/6 to regain my confidence so I can move back up to 5/10. I've been in sort of a rut lately and it seems like it's just been 1 bad session after another. I've also been trying to get my VPIP to about 23 (so I can play 23/16 or so) and I've been working on hand reading.

It's not just the one session that tilts me. It's just the thought "oh great, another suckout session" when I lose to beat after beat.



Anyways, I didn't expect to get flamed so much. I'll read through the other replies and see how it goes.