really really bummed out....help?

[PokerCrab]

I've been playing poker online for about 2 years now. I play both ring and tournament games online but mainly I make my cash vis tournies. I've never ran into this string of bad beats before....for the past month - I have barely cashed in tournies and I've been getting knocked out of all my tournies on outrageous outdraws. These beats at not all in preflop hands - it's usually post-flop - normally all in after the flop with beats where I have overpair or sets to peeps underpair --- and I would be beat over and over again by runner runner flushes...straights....gutshots....you name it I've had it. Over and over again and it seems endless. I know bad beats happen but can anyone tell me if they gone through times when it just seems you just resigned to your fate on every hand that the worse card is coming....how do you deal with this? do you take a break or play through? I dont have a lot of poker buddies to talk to or at least not buddies that play poker as seriously as I do....so I am posting hoping to get some encouraging words or advice on how to deal with this rough patch.

thanks for any response.

[Pat Southern]

MTTs have huge variance, one final table appearance can make up for 50 straight bad tournaments. This month I was 1/31 for ITMs going into yesterday, then got 2 ITMs and a final table appearance that put be back into the black for the month. Getting your money in with the best of it is all you can ask for.

[People_Mover]

You can't get too down on yourself. Beats happen man and if you're playing good poker, that's what matters. After a dry streak, I like to play some low limit stuff or re-read a book to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.. Like Pat, I whiffed 8 straight 30 + 3s, then made a final table in 1600 person 5.00 buy in. It'll happen just stick to your game.

[ptmusic]

[ QUOTE ]
I've been playing poker online for about 2 years now. I play both ring and tournament games online but mainly I make my cash vis tournies. I've never ran into this string of bad beats before....for the past month - I have barely cashed in tournies and I've been getting knocked out of all my tournies on outrageous outdraws. These beats at not all in preflop hands - it's usually post-flop - normally all in after the flop with beats where I have overpair or sets to peeps underpair --- and I would be beat over and over again by runner runner flushes...straights....gutshots....you name it I've had it. Over and over again and it seems endless. I know bad beats happen but can anyone tell me if they gone through times when it just seems you just resigned to your fate on every hand that the worse card is coming....how do you deal with this? do you take a break or play through? I dont have a lot of poker buddies to talk to or at least not buddies that play poker as seriously as I do....so I am posting hoping to get some encouraging words or advice on how to deal with this rough patch.

thanks for any response.

[/ QUOTE ]

In my opinion, being a winning tournament player is harder to deal with, emotionally, than being a winning ring game player. I can't offer any advice, but I can sympathize; you are not alone! Oh, one piece of advice: check out the Psychology forum.

-ptmusic

[Pat Southern]

Started keeping track of my tournaments in the middle of May. This might help you realize how swingy it can be.

Net
($33.00)
($33.00)
$1251.00
($31.00)
($109.00)
$51.15
($109.00)
($61.00)
$585.00
$86.50
<font color="red">($99.00)
($31.00)
($61.00)
($31.00)
($55.00)
($109.00)
($51.00)
($66.00)
($109.00)
($33.00)
($162.00)
($71.00)
($33.00)
($66.00)
($18.00)
($215.00)
($109.00)
($378.00)
($33.00)
($55.00)
($22.00)
($22.00)
($22.00)
($33.00)
($33.00)</font>
$563.40
($66.00)
($27.00)
($162.00)
($33.00)
($33.00)
$64.00
$2870.00
($33.00)

[LearnedfromTV]

I sympathize. Long strings of bubble finishes and minor ITM's are extremely frustrating, especially when if you get knocked out on an unlucky beat.

Three thoughts:

1. It's unavoidable. Every single MTT player, including the best in the world, go through streaks like this. It is the nature of the beast - large fields playing with shallow stacks necessarily means luck plays a major factor in specific results.

2. You've gotten lucky too. Maybe not lately, but at some point. And it is likely that eventually, if not yet, you'll get extremely lucky and get a big cash as a result. My big story: I won back to back allins in 100+8 way before the money with KQ v AK and 99 v AA. Finished 2nd and won 5300. It wasn't all luck, but it wouldn't have been possible without luck. Psychologically, getting a break like that helps you feel better when you get shafted.

3. In every tournament in which you get unlucky (or lucky), you make a significant number of poor decisions. If you blow 500 chips on a bad call, then bust out to someone who wouldn't have had you covered if you had those 500 chips, then luck was not the only factor in your busting. Recognize this by focusing on what you could have done better before you got unlucky.

[Tim H]

yep been there ... allin pf with big A's lose unimproved to middling pairs. allin pf with middle/high pairs lose to improved big cards. stes over sets ... the list is endless.

and then in one tourney you will get a fantastic run of cards and bam its all better again [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[EarlOfSandwich]

All of the advice above is obviously great. Personally, I tend to quit playing for a while when things are running bad. Whenever I go back to it, I feel like it's new and I also tend to think about and evaluate my game as I'm getting restarted. I have this feeling that I'm challenging myself to get a little better.

I only started playing tournaments recently -- am mostly a NL ring game player. My feeling is that the $30-level tourneys at Party are the most +EV situation I've ever seen, much moreso than the NL ring games. Although they're also higher variance -- hugely higher.

Maybe I see it that way because things are running well. But think about this -- slightly over half the field busts out in the first hour of these tourneys with clocklike regularity. A decent player who's moderately thoughtful/selective will bust out, what, 20% of the time in that first hour? I don't know what the figure is exactly, but it's way under 50%.

There's a huge amount of weird/wild play in these things. It's the most concentrated collection of bad play I know of online.

You *do* have an edge here, and it will bring you $$ when you're in the right frame of mind to play again.

I should also add -- these games are good precisely for the reason you're questioning yourself lately. The bad players can't tell that they're bad, because there's so much luck, wild play, and because it's more "correct" to bet big in shallow-stack tournaments. All that variance keeps the bad players from knowing that they're bad, but also keeps you from consistent wins that reaffirm that you're good.

[texman]

remember this if you are 80/20 pair over pair and have this confrontation 5x in a tourney (all in every time) you have a 67% chance of busting out (0.8)5th power = % times you win all; subtract by - 1 and that = % times you don't win all.

I have been in some big online money tournies lately and was all in with kk against a7 and lost; flopped straight and flop and got rivered by a boat; both cost me thousands. odds I lose both hands was around 6%; win both 56%; win one lose one 38%. it happens

[nightlyraver]

I like to think about it like this:

MANY times in the past month or so I busted out from MTT's and SnG's when I had a huge advantage. The busts that I'm talking about all occured when I was AT LEAST an 80% favorite to win the hand, but lost. However, 20% of the time I WILL lose those hands and it sucks when those 20% seem to coincide with your all-in.

Despite all this, I tell myself, "what better spot could you possibly have been hoping for to get all your chips in???" Getting your chips in when you're a 4:1 favorite is a goal of NLHE. You can't fault yourself for losing when you accomplished such a big goal. And when you lose, you lose.