What causes a 'losing streak'?

NoWorry · #1 04-11-2005, 02:43 AM

I am a firm believer in math, EV and pot odds. Virtually no superstititions of any kind. But I am getting killed time and time and time again and this has been going on pretty much since the beginning of March. I would estimate that in the last week alone, I have lost at least fifteen big all-in hands in which I was or better to win on the flop. In a few of them I was 3:1, in a couple others I was 6:1 and in one today, my opponent was down to literally one single out and hit it on the river. I'm not saying I lose every single hand I play, but the odds are skewed so far that I have absolutely no explanation for it.

If it was a few days or even a week, I could chalk it to short-term mathematical deviation, but it's been over 5 weeks now.

I tend to play quite tight, so I am often the favorite going into a showdown. But on the few occasions when I've gone in a dog, I haven't once sucked out and made my hand.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? How long has it lasted? Any ideas for a fix? Do you just have to play through it? Give up poker for a while? How long does this take?

DrPublo · #2 04-11-2005, 02:49 AM

I had about a 6k hand bad run starting the first week of March or so...just pulling out of it now. It got ridiculous at points...I lost with AA all in preflop 5x in a row. I wish I were kidding.

The hardest part is not letting it affect your head. Keep a clear mind and you'll pull out of it. Look at your PT numbers, see if anything is unusual that you can attribute the run to. In my case, none of my big hands (AA-QQ) were holding up, so I was finding myself basically breaking even. I re-examined how I play those hands, tried to make some smarter decisions when these hands came up, and found myself winning again soon enough.

Hope this helps.

The Doc

edge · #3 04-11-2005, 03:14 AM

I ran really poorly in March, and I've been going ridiculously well so far in April. Just be glad you're not playing limit, because as far as I know, the swings are a lot worse there.

Take a day off if you're feeling tilty, and go for it again later. You just have to play through these things.

Trainwreck · #4 04-11-2005, 05:03 AM

Sounds like you get in AIs PF too much, that's just too random then, can't do anything post flop.

I'm more a NL tourney player and that is the single biggest error I see and I have made at least 40 final tables so I am not just making this up, this is also the same error that gets me knocked out too though, and hindsight is always: 'WTF did I do that?'

I know why, unbridled 'heat of the moment' aggression... Still a work in progress! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

>TW<