When you decide to...

[AviD]

Change seats?
Change tables?

Sat 3/6 last night for yet another sad session. Couldn't ask for a better table...extremely loose and passive with one maniac and one or two fair players. One guy that played solid hands was quite predictable, scratching his head every time he landed a monster and then raised. I could hear the "sigh" 4 seats away and didn't even need to look to know he was betting/raising and could call his hand with ridiculous accuracy.

Everyone else was playing cards I would prefer to burn...calling raise after raise from the maniac (which had no value, she was raising with any two suited, Axo, pocket 4s from UTG was a monster that had to be capped for her).

Problem is, I sat for about 10 hours and could not catch any playable hands. As a matter of fact I went almost a dozen orbits without a solid starting hand in any position...and often times folding my blinds because the pots were raised every preflop. With the multiway action, I was looking for premium pocket pairs JJ or higher or any suited connectors or large suited gappers that had big potential in such large MW pots/hands.

When I did actually land a hand here or there, I got hammered by runner runner flushes and straight drawers losing with a set of As (flopped with my pocket As and a capped preflop) to 25o on an A37J4 board. The suited connectors never brought anything...and the big pocket pairs held up rarely.

I know we should learn to love these people, and the maniac was really drunk, goading players that lost to her. I maintained discipline and just issued my standard NH (no berating)...and even the dealer was impressed with my cool. Nevertheless, she went broke over time...the money just didn't land in my stack. Over the course of the night, I had at least 3 people tell me I have to be the unluckiest person they've ever met in their life...and the often said "this just isn't your night".

Well, my problem is...these types of nights seem overly typical. Its not uncommon for me to sit for 8-10 hours and play less than 10-15% of my hands because they are THAT bad. I really focus on my play, and every hand I fold I pay attention to the other players play and how I would have wound up.

Well, say last night I played 300 hands...throwing away at least 250-260 of them...maybe more. Alot of the folds were no brainers, and I wasn't upset when I threw away 56o in the SB to a raise (even to no raise) and the flop came 565. Naturally another HUGE pot that would have balanced out my loss...but I am confident the right play was mucking. I had a few of these hands where mucking was the right decision and something developed that would have won the pot, but for the most part 99% of the rags I mucked had no play.

Nevertheless, I am wondering when you all decide to MOVE seats or tables. Do you consistently run into these bad sessions of cards, where you get beat down like a red-headed stepchild and take on a loss?

I am not superstituous and feel seat/table changes should be made to get into a better position or better game. Fact of the matter is, I was at a GREAT table and in a fine seat. How long do you sit there developing tennis elbow with rag after rag, and taking runner runner hits before you cave in and move?

For the record, I posted a beauty of a 50BB loss in about 10 hours of play. Out of the 40-50 hands (max) I played and saw the flop, I'd say I folded about 20-25 of them on the flop.

I think I won 5 pots...but that wasn't enough to offset the loss of the other 15-20 ran me down to the 50BB loss when rolling raised/capped flops/turns.

I don't know, I don't want to complain about it...I just seem to be in this position alot. I don't have enough hours (maybe about 150-200 hours) to call this very consistent...but it seems like the norm for me...perhaps everyone has these typical sessions and you need to bear through them. But in the end, I am wondering what I can do to improve my game under these conditions for that particular night, if anything.

Ultimately I did change seats about 1.5 hours before I left and won 3 of my pots there. Someone sat in my old seat and lost every penny. I was waiting for boats, nut flushes, and other ridiculous hands to come blazing out of there when he sat...but it didn't happen. (yeah, I guess that is superstituous eh! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

Let me know what you all think, thanks ahead of time. I'll be headed back tonight or tomorrow to try again...just a little discouraged about the recent sessions, but not enough to prevent me from playing. I guess we'll see how it rolls, but would like to get some feedback from you guys.

Thanks all! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Mike Gallo]

Good Post.

Next time wait a full day before posting after a losing session.

Everyone has days like that. Some players admit others will not. I have had a session like that. I played 12 hours in a "good" game. I lost 40 big bets for the day. Life goes on. The next session you play you will win 70 big bets.

[bicyclekick]

Been there, done that. Nothing is more frustrating then being at a juicy table and getting rag after rag.

oh, and you would have gotten different cards then the guy who sat there after cause I'm sure you'd play a hand differently and the cards would get mucked differently... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

I know you know that, but don't beat yourself up, it sucks and it happens.

[DeuceKicker]

I'm not superstitious about tables and/or seats, either, but you have to be aware that frustration may be setting in and affecting your play without you realizing it. Did you try getting up for a while to clear your head... maybe grabbing some grub? I don't know how long they'd hold your seat, but taking a 30-45 minute break to eat and make sure you weren't heading toward a tilt is like a table change wihtout giving up the great table you found.

[AviD]

I did take a break to get something to eat, and my head was clear. I definitely wasn't on tilt and I am very careful to recognize if I do go on tilt...to get away from the table and go for a walk.

If I hit a bad beat, I usually sit out a hand or two to go over my play and my opponent's play to see where I could have improved.

I felt fine, albeit frustrated...I was actually just staying patient...waiting for a decent hand to come my way so I could stick my fork in that pie. Just never really came...I eventually got tired and decided to leave because of it...had enough for the night! [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[MaxPower]

I've had dozens of sessions exactly like that. They are no fun, but take solace in the fact that you only lost 50BB when a lessor player would have lost 200 with the same cards.

I've had sessions where I did not win 1 pot in 7 hours. I've gone 5 hours without winning a pot and wound up a winner for the night.

Changing seats or tables is useless, but there is no harm in doing it if it makes you feel better.

Remember this is what makes the game of poker possible. If this didn't happen occasionaly, the bad players would never win and there would be no game.

Don't worry, these great games are not going away. You will get them next time.

I recently reread this essay by John Feeney, which may help you:
http://www.twoplustwo.com/feeney1.html

[AviD]

Nice article...

The following passage is what runs through my head, especially as a relative beginnner with less than 1000 hours of play:

"Negative fluctuations can lead to the opposite conclusion. As a result of an unavoidable losing streak a good player may conclude that he is not very skilled after all. Because he is running badly, he finds that no matter what he does he simply can't win. Eventually this experience can engender a feeling of helplessness which erodes his usual sense of confidence in his abilities. He concludes that maybe he never really knew how to play, maybe he's been doing lots of things wrong without realizing it. Here again, if he has in fact been playing well, the error is one of equating his skill level with his short term results."

Although I refuse to allow it influence me to the point where:

"The consequence may be a deterioration in his play as emotion, rather than reason ,begins to dominate his decisions."

If after 1000 hours I am losing, then I have obvious leaks that need to be corrected. I don't have enough experience yet, and even with the limited experience I have I am still up...albeit not as much as I'd think or like or reflective of a good BB/hour rate. But again, very short term with only 150-200 hours of play so far...roughly.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[MaxPower]

No one is ever up as much as they think they should be. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]