How can I be down 60BB in 6 hours?!!!

hemstock · #1 07-03-2005, 10:19 PM

Ive been playing on party .5/1 for about 6 hours now. I play all of my starting hands exactly as stated in SSH. Im trying to bet only when I have the goods although I havent floped anything good for hours now. How can i be down 60 bucks not doing anything stupid? Im not calling/raising with no outs, Im trying not to be fishy and all but still. Without doing anything crazy or stupid, im losing a lot of money. I made about 80BB the last 3 days and all of a sudden im sinking. Is this normal or what? I feel im still playing correct but i cant stop sliding.

@bsolute_luck · #2 07-03-2005, 10:22 PM

since your a newbie, hopefully the guys on the board will cut you some slack, but downswings are normal, typical, and to be expected. 60BB isn't the worst it can get as you may hear from others.

i personally am in a 60BB downswing too actually in 3 hours. study the hands, post questions here and realize it can happen, but you're playing for the long run and will get it back if you continue to learn the game and not assume you're doing everything right and just getting suckout on by bad beats.

Greg J · #3 07-03-2005, 10:22 PM

Take a deep breath.

Poker is a weird game. You can play perfectly and still get yr ass handed to you. You can lose a lot in a short ammount of time. Sometimes the money bleeds away very fast. It's scarey when you have never experienced before.

Take another deep breath. It's okay. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

hemstock · #4 07-03-2005, 10:33 PM

Yes i am a newbie but Ive been through this again. I was playing for a week was up about 300$ and all of a sudden lost it all playing the exact same way in hours. The thing im asking is, is it normal to lose that much with just preflop play? I mean I play the preflop like I should, see the flop if it doesnt go my way I give up, if it goes my way bet/raise and try to get the maximum out of it. Its not like i get sucked out or start chasing crazy draws or something its just the money is going at a crazy rate. And is it normal to lose that much when i see the flop just 17% in about 2000 hands?

KingOtter · #5 07-03-2005, 10:57 PM

Yeah, this is a goofy thing about poker.

When it comes down to it it is all about probability. And sometimes probability goes your way and sometimes it doesn't. The SKILL in poker lies in pushing the profit when the probability is in your favor. But you can't push cards where they don't want to go.

I've been dabbling a bit in the .5/1 6-max, and that's exactly what's been happening to me. When I get a good hand the flop completely misses me. I come here and there are posts about how .5/1 6-max is 'the land of milk and honey' and 'OMG!!11! It's SO EASY!!' ... well... those guys are getting good cards. If I had good cards maybe I'd be mopping up 6-max, too... but as it is I'm down about 40BB in it in about 200 hands.

On the full ring tables I've been getting great cards... but on occasion my opponets have been getting greater cards. Can't tell you how many QQ into AA and such I've hit the past few days. Nut flushes ruined by improbably boats/quads. That's what the game is all about.

It's a LONG RUN game. Everything works itself out in the long run. You have to find something else to focus on, other than the money.

KO

Greg J · #6 07-03-2005, 11:04 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I was playing for a week was up about 300$ and all of a sudden lost it all playing the exact same way in hours.

[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, you lost $300 playing .5/1, or am i misunderstanding you? I'm a bit confused.

hemstock · #7 07-03-2005, 11:10 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I was playing for a week was up about 300$ and all of a sudden lost it all playing the exact same way in hours.

[/ QUOTE ]
Okay, you lost $300 playing .5/1, or am i misunderstanding you? I'm a bit confused.

[/ QUOTE ]

I tried playing 1/2 a few months back

OrianasDaad · #8 07-03-2005, 11:11 PM

I'm playing through a downswing right now.

Down 150BB at 1/2 one night.
Another 150BB at .5/1 the next night.

Brutal.

After I studied some, and rereading SSHE, I realized that I wasn't getting unlucky, I was playing badly.

In the section about protecting your hand, Ed talks about a player who plays pocket kings very strongly. When I read this section, I agreed with the way the Hero played his hand. I know better now, having remembered what I've forgotten.

Repeat after me:
"I promise now to never lay the blame of a downswing at the door of luck, but instead take responsibility for my own play, and the improvement of it."

Even if your downswing is due to luck, working on improving our respective games can't be all that bad, can it?

Greg J · #9 07-03-2005, 11:14 PM

It seems like you should step back and evaluate evaluate yr game. Seriously. Don't take for granted you know how to play poker. You might suck. I'm not saying you do, but you might.

bozlax · #10 07-04-2005, 12:04 AM

Here's the deal: sometimes the "cards" go your way, sometimes they don't. You remember the times they don't, you forget the times they do. What's funny is, it's not linear; you don't get a good hand then a bad one. The cards come in ebbs and flows, like the tide, so the bad runs feel crushing, but the good runs just feel good.

Don't let it get to you. Don't go up limits when you feel like you're running bad. If you're playing good poker, it'll turn around, sometimes between sessions (I was down almost 30BB in my morning session, today, before the kids got up, and made it all back and then some while they were taking their naps this afternoon).

Get up, take a walk, drink some water, pet the dog and then get back to it. You'll be ok.