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  #1  
Old 12-19-2005, 09:26 AM
MicroBob MicroBob is offline
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Location: memphis
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Default My losing streak wins!!

At the risk of immense ridicule I'm posting some of the details of my now 1000BB+ losing string (yup...I said 1-freaking-thousand)!!!

Disclaimer: I'm not even pretending that I'm playing a winning game anymore although I really don't think my game is THAT god-awful. But obviously this goes far beyond what most would consider the regular bounds for a winning player's 'variance'.

Time to step away for a little while perhaps?? I suspect so (yet again).


Most of the recommendations are kind of obvious of course:
-- play fewer tables and focus
-- take a break and don't play for a few days
-- read, read, read (in strategy forums and SSHE, etc)
-- play full tables and just play weak-tight fit-or-fold poker to lessen the swings (which I've been doing...but the losing continues on and on and on)
-- don't get crazy over blind battles


Actually, I've been doing well in the occasional satellites and other tourneys I've been playing. So I might be off to low buy-in SNG's for awhile to rebuild bankroll and confidence (which is totally in the toilet now of course).

Maybe I'll just throw in 1 table of lowish-limit 6-max on the side while playing a couple tourneys. It's a thought.


Anyway - here are my fun-filled stats for your amusement (should make you all feel better about your own 'downswings'):


Today: another -60BB's in 1600 hands

Party since Nov 15:
33k hands, -1.31BB/100 at 5/10 and 3/6.
-439BB's total

UB since Dec 6:
33k hands, 1.88BB/100 at 3/6 and 2/4
-623BB's total


Yup - I've dropped 1071 BB's in the past month.
Impressive?? I sure think so.

It's been mostly just 30-40 or so BB's per day. Fun!!


It's difficult to seperate out the 6-max stats from the full-table stats at UB...so I'll just give some of my party 6-max stats (stats should generally be the same).

VP - 23
PFR - 18
FSB - 84
FBB - 68
WtSD - 35
W$SD - 51
W$WSF - 40

except for the low W$SD these numbers look pretty reasonable to me.


Ag-F - 3.0
Ag-T - 2.4
Ag-R - 1.8
Ag-total - 2.5


I'm raising much less these days trying to passivefy my play and keep myself tied to fewer pots:

By position (VP/PFR/WtSD/W$SD/BB/100):
UTG - 20/19/44/59/0.07
MP - 21/20/44/56/0.13
CO - 23/20/35/53/0.06
B - 24/20/40/56/0.09
SB - 24/20/39/55/(0.05)
BB - 20/9/26/46/(0.30)



My BB play looks glaringly bad obviously.
I know I've run into a lot of rivered 2-pairs after flopping top pair....or just whiffing with 98 on board of over-cards and stuff like that...but obviously I'm pretty in the wrong here still.


Breaking down the past few days of my losing streak:
12/19, -60
12/18, -17
12/17, -65 (3.9BB/100)
12/16, -29 (actually won $14, won at 3/6 and lost at 2/4)
12/15, -37
12/14, -92
12/13, -5 (actually won $100 though)
12/12, -47
12/11, +27
12/10, -138
12/09, +24
12/08, -102
12/07, -42
12/06, -55


And so on and so on and so on.
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  #2  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:08 AM
pecto pecto is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Back to basics
Posts: 92
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

I can really feel your pain. I play at those levels too and i'm on a 26k hands break even stretch. And I've been through a -300 bb.

Trying to relearn the gme is not a bad idea. I'm starting to think that the 23-25/ 15-18 no longer works as good as it did before in this games. I'm starting to induce more bluffs and check and call a lot more, because there are less people now that pay off with crap and people are more agressive now. Probably nowadays 5/10 is very similar to the old 10/20 from 1 year ago and I've never beaten that game for a big rate. Keep thinking about poker and you'll find the way to keep winning
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  #3  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:15 AM
pokergrader pokergrader is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 210
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

Aggression is too high. Try to get the total aggression to around 2. Don't force your opponents to fold worse hands and raise you with better ones. Check/calling your way to money is not only +EV against aggressive opponents but it is really fun to do.

Everything else looks pretty standard, but I would try to defend your blind a little more often.

Just FYI--

If I were to sit at a table and see a 23/17/2.5, I would not be particularly worried. The people that really scare me are the 27/20/2.0 people.
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  #4  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:20 AM
air air is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 6
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

I agree with playing more hands. I'm about 31/19 at Party 5/10. I think if you find loose passive tables you can play a lot more hands.
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  #5  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:22 AM
adsman adsman is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Snowbound in the Alps
Posts: 505
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

Holy $hit.
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  #6  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:28 AM
MicroBob MicroBob is offline
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Location: memphis
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Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

[ QUOTE ]
Check/calling your way to money is not only +EV against aggressive opponents but it is really fun to do.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yeah...I've been bringing my aggression down of late.
I agree that I could check-call more...and also perhaps not push quite as much with winners (I'm always freaking driving my opponents out).
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  #7  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:32 AM
MicroBob MicroBob is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: memphis
Posts: 1,245
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

[ QUOTE ]
Holy $hit.

[/ QUOTE ]


Thank you.
this is the kind of reaction I was looking for.
I aim to please.

Keep 'em coming gang!!



The non-poker folk in my life know of my losing streak as well but don't know diddly about poker (and, evidently, neither do I really).

So I eas explaining to my Dad via e-mail (for example) that even a 500-600 bet losing string is considered to be HUGE and some would even consider that to be bigger than anything a winning player should experience.

And I have somehow doubled that.

I also drove the point home by mentioning that I think it might be a 2+2 record.


I don't believe I had ever had a downswing of greater than 250BB's at 6-max prior to this wonderful month of non-stop losing.


Happy Holidays Everyone!!
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  #8  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:33 AM
POKhER POKhER is offline
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: .50/1 At Stars - LONDON, UK.
Posts: 590
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

From your last post, what striked me is your lack of reads? I don't know how long you played the session for but i saw hardly any information besides stats?



Do you feel like you're playing through a downswing and just grinding through hands in the hope it magically ends and your "standard game" will return you to a "upswing"?

Are you playing more than one table?
Are you playing scared? In the JJ hand you didn't bet but called down on a the ACE hitting vs a maniac. Not sure of the best line to take vs him but it came across as a weak.

I really think you need to turn your PC off for 2days, go do whatever you do? Ive no idea how old(Or young [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]) you are and you're status but either go out and have a laugh or spend more time with the wife or mow the lawn [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img](hehe).

Dont go near poker, this will be good for your mind and also keeps your bankroll even.

I think running this bad for this long is as you said... Killing if not killed your confidance.

Running yourself dry wheter your playing well or not(I really doubt your playing your same game after this) is something you want to avoid.

So get up off your chair, turn off your pc... and GET AWAY FROM POKER!

Return in two days to play a lower level for half an hour, then start re-reading a book.

The first pages of SSH were read by me last night, dam they're pretty "Comforting" in the sense about +EV and ED millers sucess etc.

Good luck mate, i'd offer to help but i reckon any of my advice or chat is worthless as you probably chat to higher stakes players and i'm a relative newbie anyhow.
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  #9  
Old 12-19-2005, 10:41 AM
adsman adsman is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Snowbound in the Alps
Posts: 505
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

I'm sorry, I just didn't know what else to say. To be honest, your run scares the feck out of me.
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  #10  
Old 12-19-2005, 11:05 AM
MicroBob MicroBob is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: memphis
Posts: 1,245
Default Re: My losing streak wins!!

No need to be sorry!!
My reaction would be the same.

It probably shouldn't scare you THAT much either.


If you are truly a winning player I don't think it should be possible to do what I have accomplished. It takes a true talent (such as myself) to drop over 1000 BB's.

As pokher pointed out, I posted a hand in the SHUSH forum that I played pretty gosh-darned passively. I know I'm misplaying other hands too.

A good player getting the exact same cards as me would certainly not have lost nearly as much as I have. Perhaps (probably??) would have been profitable in fact.

At least I have some RB to keep me going.


Also - I am partly accepting pokher's ideas about staying away. I was planning on doing various errands today as well as spending some time with the GF who is not working today.


Other options for the future will include playing more "for fun" in low buy-in SNG's or satellites (where I've been doing quite well actually...over $1k on Pokerstars from the past week or so).

I might consider playing total idiot poker too:
This would include multi-tabling full-ring at something like 12/6 perhaps with even more of a fit-or-fold style or something like that. I do believe this would still be good enough to win at Party 2/4 and 3/6 actually.

Or I might play some Miller NL short-stack strategy (from his book Getting Started in Holdem) which I would categorize as another form of 'idiot poker'.


I need confidence of course.
but I also need some money and to that end 'fixing' my game immediately isn't my top priority anymore.

I really don't care how dumb I have to play or how long in order to grind out some dollars.
It might sound like torture for some to play THAT boring a style of poker (miller short-stack NL...or super weak-tight low-limit)....but playing in ANY fashion that results in some wins would be a really fun time for me these days.


I actually was playing some .25/.50 full-ring on a different site today on 3 tables (just getting in enough hands for a weekly freeroll tournament).
I dropped 30BB's over there too. my QJ on board of J9425 would always run into 54 and other such catastrophes.


Anyway...I forgot to include those 30BB's in the down-swing...but I had some winning stretches on a couple of those sites too so it probably balances out.
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