jinxed by poker gods?

Hello all, just registered and 1st time posting. Without knowing where to post, I thought this forum may be the most suitable.

It all began at the $200K trny & $500K trny 2 wks ago. Lost with pocket KK, KK then QQ to exit the $200K trny. Lost with pocket AA to exit the $500K trny the following day. Ever since then over 95% of my hands are junk hands, of these I'd say over 70% are X2, X3, X4 mostly unsuited. To give an example, last night in 1mil qul trny, AJo was the best hand before I got knocked out during the 2nd hr. It's really frustrating tossing out junk hands blinds after blinds, trny after trny. Losing over 80% of showdowns going in with favorite hands. Got lucky once and tied AK all-in with some one holding AQ. The board comes up ATTTX for a tie. Believe me, I was happy. When I'm winning with monster hands that I get once in a great while, I win minimum. Everyone folds to me if I'm in LP or nobody calls if I'm in early position. I got AA twice this week (no KKs or QQs the whole week) & lost both times. Both happen at SB and everone folded to me. I just called BB hoping to cash in some and lost both times to junk 2 pairs. I don't want to go on and on but this has been going on for 2 weeks now. At first, I thought I'm going thru a down cycle. But for two whole weeks? Can this be possible? Has anyone experienced similar down cycles? I'm already almost convinced that I'm cursed by poker gods. Or, as someone posted, is online poker rigged? But why would I, a nobody, be mocked??? I really want to get in the 1mil trny tomorrow thru qualifying trny. But have zero confidence now. I'd appreciate it if some of you went thru similar down turns share the stroy. Maybe it'll help me to cope...

Just to give you brief background. Began playing poker late May, so about 2 full months now. Just finshed reading Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players last week. I've been playing about ~10 hrs/day 5 to 6 days a week since I began. So, I have played a lot in two months. Play $25PL at partypoker mainly to make tourny fees. Have played a few 20+2 & 30+3 trnys and finshed in money. Also played in 2 $350K, one $200K & $500K trny so far all thru qualifying trnys. Now hitting the wall for the past two week...

Yes, I think you are jinxed by the poker gods.

The only way to undo this bad voodoo is to do the following:

1) shave all the hair off your body, then immediately bathe in a mixture of 1 part alcohol, 1 part epsom salts, 1 part hot sauce, 1 part water
2) when the pain subsides (should take about a week) recognize that what you just did was almost as stupid as believing that some malignant godly force was out to make you lose at poker.

[img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[KramerTM]

Post again if this continues for a full year (read: you will not be posting again on this topic).

Look at it this way, if a downswing this bad can happen, then an upswing of the same magnitiude is somewhere down the line.

[wiggs73]

[ QUOTE ]
Hello all, just registered and 1st time posting. Without knowing where to post, I thought this forum may be the most suitable.

It all began at the $200K trny & $500K trny 2 wks ago. Lost with pocket KK, KK then QQ to exit the $200K trny. Lost with pocket AA to exit the $500K trny the following day. Ever since then over 95% of my hands are junk hands, of these I'd say over 70% are X2, X3, X4 mostly unsuited. To give an example, last night in 1mil qul trny, AJo was the best hand before I got knocked out during the 2nd hr. It's really frustrating tossing out junk hands blinds after blinds, trny after trny. Losing over 80% of showdowns going in with favorite hands. Got lucky once and tied AK all-in with some one holding AQ. The board comes up ATTTX for a tie. Believe me, I was happy. When I'm winning with monster hands that I get once in a great while, I win minimum. Everyone folds to me if I'm in LP or nobody calls if I'm in early position. I got AA twice this week (no KKs or QQs the whole week) & lost both times. Both happen at SB and everone folded to me. I just called BB hoping to cash in some and lost both times to junk 2 pairs. I don't want to go on and on but this has been going on for 2 weeks now. At first, I thought I'm going thru a down cycle. But for two whole weeks? Can this be possible? Has anyone experienced similar down cycles? I'm already almost convinced that I'm cursed by poker gods. Or, as someone posted, is online poker rigged? But why would I, a nobody, be mocked??? I really want to get in the 1mil trny tomorrow thru qualifying trny. But have zero confidence now. I'd appreciate it if some of you went thru similar down turns share the stroy. Maybe it'll help me to cope...

Just to give you brief background. Began playing poker late May, so about 2 full months now. Just finshed reading Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players last week. I've been playing about ~10 hrs/day 5 to 6 days a week since I began. So, I have played a lot in two months. Play $25PL at partypoker mainly to make tourny fees. Have played a few 20+2 & 30+3 trnys and finshed in money. Also played in 2 $350K, one $200K & $500K trny so far all thru qualifying trnys. Now hitting the wall for the past two week...

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It sounds as if you have kept detailed statistics and also ran a thorough analysis of said statistics. Therefore, you must have actually had 95% junk hands over this streak, 70% of which have contained a 2,3, or 4. Amazing. Even more amazing is that this has lasted 2 whole weeks. I, for one, am befuddled that you had the perseverance to stick out a bad streak of this enormity.

Furthermore, we all know it to be impossible to accumulate chips in a tournament without premium hands.

Therefore, I would say that yes, you are doomed. The poker gods hate you and they're out to make your life as miserable as possible. There's nothing you can do, except quit poker.

[XXXNoahXXX]

[ QUOTE ]
Began playing poker late May, so about 2 full months now. Just finshed reading Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players last week.

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See if you can tell me why these two sentences seem a bit incongruous. Maybe you'd be better of with SSHE or another book. I read Advanced Hold'em before the beginner books as well and although helpful, I realized it was a mistake. These books will show you how to get the most out of your premium, and more importantly when the cards are running bad, how to get the most out of your non-premium hands.

I read Hold'em poker 1st then the advanced. I was already doing some of the skills in the advanced book by the time I read it. The trny that i got AJo as the best hand, I was able to manage dbl twice, once with J9s & 57 both makin straight. But it was after I lost hefty with AJo, so I got back up to just above even.
Maybe I'm wrong but I concluded at least for now that just waiting to play premium hands in trnys will only get u to the bubble at the best. So I try to play connectors especially suited ones. If pot is raised 2 to 3BB before the flop, it's even better because if you make ur hand, ur'll bdl more often than not. What other non premium hands do you play?

[XXXNoahXXX]

Early on in tournaments when the blinds are so low relative to the stack sizes (10/15 when everyone starts with 1000). Early in tournaments I basically come in with any suited connectors of 45 or better and any pocket pair (basically set it or forget it for anything under 88.) Even still, most of your money will come from premium hands, because early on there are people I would swear don't know what a kicker is. You will win more huge hands with AK v AQ, AJ early on in a tournament then later when people are better. Also, keep in mind how small the blinds are and don't be afraid to steal the blinds often from late position (later on people will call a raise to 350 with a BB of 100 because they somehow feel committed, but early on, with only 15 chips in, you can take down a decent amount of pots preflop.) Basically the strategy is to see as many cheap flops as possible early on, and don't be afraid to risk it all. You're gonna have to call on some draws, etc. if you want to go the distance. The amount of flops you see should reflect a combination of your stack size, the blind size, and raising frequency of those yet to act. When five come in before you, how can you not call 15 chips with 69os? Once you get a firm grasp of pot odds and the like in an increasing blind tourney, you will know that in some positions you jsut have to call with any 2 and hope for a pretty flop.

PS- This isn't exactly "Poker Theory" might want to post in MTT or General.

[sully4321]

[ QUOTE ]
Began playing poker late May, so about 2 full months now.

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2 FULL MONTHS??? Wow... hmmm yeah if you've been playing that long and aren't winning multi-table tourneys you are definetely jinxed.

Best two hads were 88 & ATo. Will e-mail if interested. Total 56 hands dealt & 39 of them had one or two of 2,3,4,5. This is exactly what's been happening for two full weeks, 120hrs plus. Guess I went on tilt & it worked.
I have no idea how it happend with terrible hands that were dealt, but it happen. Maybe poker gods trying to train me how to survive in the mud???

The hands were
Kd9s, 5d6c, Ac4d, 7c9s, 9h5c, Ts4d, Qh2s, 4s9d, 6c3s, 7d4s,
3c9h, Ac2c, 3h9c, 4d2d, Kc4h, 7d8h, 9s6s, 4sJc, 2hQh, 2s5c,
7h9h, Ts5s, Ks7c, Kc3c, 8c2s, 9c6c, 8d6d, Kd5s, Qh6c, Qd9d,
3sKh, 3h9h, 4d2c, 3cKh, 6h7c, 9dQc, 9hJh, 7d5d, 4cJs, Kc2h,
Ks4s, 5sQd, 9hKd, Th2s, 4dKs, 8d8c, 5d7d, 8s3d, 2h4s, 9c3c,
8sKs, 8h6s, 7h9s, TdAc, Td3h, 6c9h

[ZenMusician]

Bad beats, dry cards, downswings, poker-is-rigged, newbie ranting, poker "gods"

Sorry, what was the POKER THEORY question?

-ZEN