When to start wondering...

[coolhanded]

Various opinions on this, thought a poll would be interesting...

[kenberman]

it depends on the game.

different games will inherently leave you with different variance. IE in an aggresive game (like most 6 max games, or from what I understand, the Party 15/30), you can drop 100-200BB pretty fast, and know it's probably just short term variance (or even a bad session).

in a weak/tight game, this would be more alarming. (but still would not nec. mean something is seriously wrong with my game).

[Bodhi]

Anyone who selected 100-150 hasn't played poker for very long.

[flair1239]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone who selected 100-150 hasn't played poker for very long.

[/ QUOTE ]

I selected 100-150, because that is when I start to really take apartmy game. As in instead of watching 15 min worth of interesting hands... I am watching all of them.

Also around 150 is where I start to become pyschologically effected.

So yes every couple months or so this hapopens, and usually there is some other element at work besides a bad run of cards, or garden variety suckouts.

[climber]

I also selected 100-150BB.

Your right I haven't played poker very long. Thats why I am more quick to suspect/inspect my game if I start to lose significant amounts of money.

Even after 150-200 I don't doubt that I am a winning player or that I know how to play a winning game. I am merely looking to identify the ways I am currently playing a suboptimal game against these specific opponenets.

I'm new enought to the game that I still have more to learn about adjusting my play to compensate for the playing styles of others. 100 BB tells me I am likely doing something wrong. It at least makes me dive into PT and look things over for a few minutes. A few times I have found nothing amiss and I just need to get back in there. Other times I have been able to identify the problem pretty readily and start working on it.

Many of us are pretty new to the game and we tend to swing back and forth from one style to another at first until we figure out what works best for us. 100 BB is often a good sign that vou may have started taking something new you learned a bit too far.

[bobbyi]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone who selected 100-150 hasn't played poker for very long.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've played limit holdem for a little over five years and I selected that option.

[Bodhi]

I saw a post here from a guy who was crushing 2/4, he had already won around 500BB (extra) and was planning to move up to 3/6. Then he hit a 300BB downswing (that's supposed to be impossible, right?). It's possible that he was playing badly or had just been previously lucky, but it's also quite possible that he just hit a nasty run of luck. People always like to generalize from their own results to what should be normal statistically; an obvious fallacy.

I've never had a downswing worse than 150BB or so, maybe 175BB. Anyway, if you've never had one worse than that in 5 years then you are very fortunate.

[aslowjoe]

I voted for under 100. I figure at all times there is something with my game and I need to improve it. I have over 100,000 hands logged.

[admiralfluff]

The stretch of hands the downswing is over is important. I could (and have) go down 100 BB in a few thousand hands, and it would concern me far less than dropping 50 BB over 30k.

[pfkaok]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone who selected 100-150 hasn't played poker for very long.

[/ QUOTE ]

I chose this one. If i hit a little skid I always want to go over my game, just to make sure that i'm not making too many obvious mistakes. Of course most people here realize that 100-150 downswings can happen to even a world class player, just b/c of bad luck. but most players (like myself) also know that downswings are MUCH more likely to occur if you're playing suboptimally. there's nothing wrong with being overly cautious about staying on top of your game... and the fact that some people like to start examining their game closer during 100-150 BB swings doesn't mean that they're ignorant of statistics, or of the underlying variance of the game.