How bad can it get?

[Shaun]

Right now I am in the middle of a horrendous streak. I have currently swung over 220 big bets in the wrong direction from my peak. This has happened over the past week and a half or so. I have been getting beats so often I forgot what it is like to have 2 consecutive hands stand up. Of course I win the occasional pot, but for the most part every set gets cracked, KK loses to Axos (but no ace on flop, that would be cheaper) or I win a small pot, etc. Basically I am getting destroyed. I have been playing about 6 years, 4 online, and have always done well. I have played over 40 hours during this streak. All of this has been at Party.

Is there something I don't know? Is it good t limp in with A8os, call raises cold with K6os, etc? Is it wise to protect your blind every time? Seriously though, am I just playing too tight? I usually play 3 or more tables- is this why I suddenly suck? I have been doing it for months now, but I wonder if maybe I was just getting lucky. I don't know. At this point I am disgusted with my recent results, but I swear, I sit down every time and think, "its part of the game, just play correctly, etc, etc., you want your opponents to play bad" But the horribe flops and costly suckouts keep coming. I mean, normally I don't mind people calling my raises cold with J7, but I am starting to wonder if maybe it is the way to go!

Example: I have 44 and limp in after another limper, there is a raise and 6 see the flop. The flop is Kh3s4s. It is capped on the flop. Turn is a queen. It is capped again. The river is a red 5- no flush. There have been 4 of us up to this point. Suddenly this guy bets and only I call. He has Ad2d. 3 outs, assuming the others were on flush draws. The pot was over 300 bucks in 5-10. This was the most memorable of the suckouts, but by no means the only one. The others have been of the "I flop a set it gets capped by the guys with top pair but the running hearts come to give someone the 1 card flush" variety. I have noticed that at Party, it is virtually impossible to get players to fold unless you have been showing down winners, and even then, u will get paid by Ace high. You can fold for 15 minutes straight and then raise UTG only to find 6 callers. The "schooling" effect is killing me, but perhaps it is something more? Should I go back to No Limit and leave the limit games? Is this something I should get used to? Am I playing too low for logic to weigh in my favor?

Help!

[RockLobster]

Hi Shaun--

I swear I could have written this (exepct you've been playing longer). I have just (i.e. the last couple of days) broken out of my worst ever streak: Down $800+ in about a week of 2/4 and 3/6, mostly Party (would have been much worse if I hadn't experimented with 5/10 and won $450 in that session).

I discussed this a bit with JTG51 and decided to take a few weeks off. That changed to 1 week, and ended up being about 4 days w/o playing. The reason for the time off was that my confidence was totally shot... I expected to lose every hand (and managed to do just that... well not EVERY hand, but WAY more than I should have).

I also backed off of 3/6 altogether, and just played 2/4. I've been playing very simple poker (back to basics) and this has helped me out. I cut my $800 deficit in half, then half again. I feel a lot better.

That's what I've done. Feel free to unload any bad beats on me, maybe seeing your name in lights will call attention to your situation with the poker gods, and they may decide to have mercy on you. (Not everyone knows this, but the poker gods visit my site regularly.)

Good luck.

[Stagemusic]

I was writing my reply and noticed that Rock had also chimed in. I am in the middle of my worse streak yet. I had a great day on Sat doubling then re-doubling my account at Party. Then disaster struck. Since then I haven't won a single session. I am down to below where I was before the great day. I too am expecting to lose on every hand and am midly surprised if a small win comes my way. I tried going both ways, tightening up and playing just good solid poker and I even went way down in limits to just let things fly and play crazy to get it out of my system. Well, one worked a little better than the other and I will let you guess which one [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] But, neither did the trick. I seem to still be stuck in the doldrums of utter despair (overdramatic but it fits). This is a terrible time for this to happen as I leave for LA on Saturday and will have time over the next 7 days in the evenings to play at Commerce and a couple of other casinos...how do I get out of this mess [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[thomastem]

First of all odds are you will run into a very bad streak of luck in a 4 year period. Think of the losses as an investment that you know will pay you off nicely over the next year.

2 things to make sure of:

1. You are truly playing better, review your play not from a money view but a proper play view. Never stop fixing leaks.

2. Keep bad habits away, don't push marginal hands when you shouldn't, Don't become passive when you have the best of it for fear of a bad beat.

One more piece of advice I can give you is that I find in a losing streak my threshold for badbeats and even dry cards becomes less than normal. If you need to cut your session short don't hesitate.

Also remember to stay clear of my Bison and stud Bull.

[ZeeJustin]

I had a losing streak of about 130 big bets recently. This was at 5/10 6 max games. I started playing a little .50/1 NL on other sites for two reasons. My confidence was low, and the variation is much lower in NL games. After winning a couple hundred in NL, I came back to 5/10, and started winning again.

[SirFoldsAlot]

I am down 175BB this months and it seems I can take down a decent pot to save my life. I have had full boats and nut flushes busted by quads 80% of the time during this run. My best hands get no action.

Although I am miserable, I am sure it will pass because the players aren't getting any better, at least at party

[C M Burns]

a couple weeks is not a long losing streak even a couple of months is not rediculous. Gambling theory (by MM) helps to show the fluctuations posible. I myself have to won squat at party in over a month of 5/10. I keep looking at my play to see if I am doing anything wrong but can't find anything dramatic, I rarley play anything below KQ and some multiway hands for instance. Poker tracker also helps. When you see that AK and AQ are two of your bigest money losing hands it sugests to me that it is mostly bad luck. At least I hope. After all there is a reason you need a good sized bank role.

I am also curious as to the worst losing streak people have experienced, both table hours and amount lost. I'm at about 120 table hours of 5/10 down sevel thousand mostly at party. Can anybody top that?
(and again my play is rarley worse than KQ, with apropriate multiway hands, never coldcall w/o a great hand, after the flop play hands I think are best dump others, and play draws only with odds.)

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I keep looking at my play to see if I am doing anything wrong but can't find anything dramatic, I rarley play anything below KQ and some multiway hands for instance.

[/ QUOTE ]
Good hand selection is of course important, but post-flop is where you're going to win/lose most of your money.

[ QUOTE ]
When you see that AK and AQ are two of your bigest money losing hands it sugests to me that it is mostly bad luck. At least I hope.

[/ QUOTE ]
It may also suggest that you are overplaying your AK and AQ post-flop.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm at about 120 table hours of 5/10 down sevel thousand mostly at party.

[/ QUOTE ]
Is this a losing streak in the midst of many more hours of winning 5/10 or is this your total 5/10 experience? In either case, a several thousand dollar losing streak at 5/10 is huge and I'd guess is due to much more than just bad luck.

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
I have been playing about 6 years, 4 online, and have always done well. I have played over 40 hours during this streak.

[/ QUOTE ]

40 hours is a very tiny amount of time out of 6 years. 220BB is a lot, though. I suspect that it's a combination of a normal bad streak plus some tilt/frustration.

I've turned a few 30BB losing B&M sessions into 50BB losing sessions by doing things like raising my flopped set on the river when my opponent obviously makes his flush. All those extra bets add up pretty quickly. I'd suggest taking a moment to make sure you're not blowing off a bunch of extra bets at the end of these bad sessions. Very, very easy to do that very quickly online.

[Ulysses]

Excellent post.