Finally, A winning session

I know all about down swings and variance and don't need the lectures. No real reason to post this other than....
well there is no real reason.

I've been playing .05/.10 to build up a bankroll to play higher limits. After the first 1000 hands I was up 23 BB/100. I knew that wasn't sustainable but still thought I was some sort of poker God. Then came the downswing. -20 BB/100 over the next 1000. Full houses loosing on the river, TPTK loosing to someone who played 45o to a 3-bet preflop, a flush on the river beating nut straight, etc.

Anyway, just finished playing 200 hands and was up 14 BB for the session. Whoda thunk $1.40 would ever seem like a big deal. I think I lost more than that when change fell out of the hole in my pocket the other day.

i know exactly how you feel man. and my downswing has followed me from PP to absolute, im sick of flopping the nut straight, and seeing my fish opponents spend big money to hit a flush on the river, raising 8x the big with TT or higher, having donks call with Q8 (but its sooted!!!!1!!) and catching, losing all 10 mtt tournaments ive been in because of getting sucked out, especially the 6% suckouts on the river etc. i have had 2 winning sessions in, about a dozen sessions, and i cant stand it. in B&M games i dont even notice any swings, i am a pretty consistent player. even when im card dead i can still usually outplay my opponents. during this streak, instead of my opponents hitting their flush draws about 30% of the time, they hit it about 80% of the time. getting your money in the pot when you know that your opponent has 9 or less outs is supposed to be +EV, not a bankroll draining move. i mean you show nothing but strength to these fish, do they think theyre gonna hit their flush most of the time??

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losing all 10 mtt tournaments ive been in because of getting sucked out

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A 10% cash rate is sustainable in MTTs, losing 10 in a row is normal. To win a MTT you have to survive several suckouts - you'll be in 3:1 situations a lot more than 4 times over the course of 1 tourny. The few times I have cashed in MTTs I have outdrawn my opponent as the shortstack by pushing on a steal and getting called by a superior or dominating hand. Don't play MTTs (or SNGs for that matter) if you are scared in the least bit about variance.

[smoore]

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do they think theyre gonna hit their flush most of the time??

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in a word, "yes" [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

oh believe me, im used to it lol. i hardly ever bluff somebody for most/all of my chips, if i steal its the blinds or small/medium pots. buts its just donk situations, when my opponents call my allin bets with the worst hand/ dominated and suckout. in the last live tourney i played in, i was about 4th in chips at the final table, i get JJ and raise UTG with only the small stack bb calling for almost half her chips! flop comes TJQ rainbow, she instapushes and i knew she didnt have AK or shed push allin preflop. i instacalled, she flips over KQ turn is a blank and river is a 9 [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] and im down to below average stack. if i hold up, im second in chips and looking good to win the tourney since it was mostly rookies left.
the thing that got me mad, was the bitchs comment after she hit her 8 outer on the river: "youre not the only one getting lucky tonight." she said this because i took her fish husband out on the bubble, after he slowplayed a flopped set, checking and calling every street. i mean it was pretty obvious when on the flop he pulled out a little hand rank chart LOL. she called me lucky... when with 15 people left she pushes 77 into a raised and reraised pot, and runs into 99 and QQ, and she hits her miracle 7 to triple up. this is the kind of thing that happens to me every single mtt i play in on PP and Absolute. but when im a short stack i can NEVER suck out.