Bad beat after lost race after Bad beat after lost race.....

What do you do when you can't seem to win a race or win when way ahead?

Last 6 tournaments Ive been in, Ive been crippled by a bad beat, then catch back up a little, then get major shortstacked by another bad beat, and then knocked out when I have to go all in on a race.

Latest example....


dealt AA, I raise, someone raises, someone calls, I re-raise all in.. fold, one caller... with KK

flop comes King

ok, so im not 2x the avg stack anymore down a bit below starting stack

work my way back up a few k chips, then am dealt KK, I raise, get re-raised, and push hard.... they are shorter and have A 8 (this is a devil hand vs me)... ace on flop (2nd time ive lost with KK vs A8 in the last 6 tournies)

I make some back with a solid play with top pair on the flop, then I am dealt AK two hands in a row... someone raises 2x the BB each time and I call, miss the flop each time, each time they showed a pocket pair. (higher than top pair on flop, and they all in'd with position)

A few hands later Im shortish, but i call 1/10th of my stack raise with 33... flop comes Q 6 6, lots of callers.... I tell my wife, someone has a higher pocket pair than me, probably 88ish, and that raise had AK or AQ...

AQ raiser raised 500, I fold.... one caller... turn, 3... (OUCH), raiser goes all in, is called.... they show AQ and 10 10.... so I would have won ..... oops, river is a 3 as well *tears hair out*, but Im ok because I know I made a perfect read

Blinds hit me with crap and raisers, then they move me tables, im in bb again, nothing.... then Im dealt KJ as blinds come around towards me, no raisers, I go all in, button raises all in... he has KQ... so the king on the flop just makes it a joke..

I get knocked out.... basically the last many tournaments have gone this way.... bad beats, lost races, and me struggling my ass off just to stay in the game... I make it about 1.5 hours in and make it to the top 30% in almost all of these...... but cant break into the top 10% with this luck...

Im not the best player, but I know those above situations were handles 90% well, and it didnt matter, cant really misplay going all in preflop with AA and KK unless you have insane reads. (the kk that is)

Im not on tilt, Im not super angry, just a little frustrated and wondering when/if/how this will stop..... I've gone through 1/2 my bankroll in the last 3 days, and I normally finish in the money 1/3 or 1/4 times in a good sized tourney...

Anyway, Im probably blind to something so any input is appreciated as always, I am FAR from perfect...

The simplest answer is keep playing solid poker. You can't do anything about the luck factor itself. But if you play solid poker, keep your emotions in check, and be aware of any tells or betting patterns you might be giving info away with, then in the long run things will start working out for you. I know it is easier to say than to do, but the tides will turn.

Just stick with it.

Thanks, just finished 26th/420 in a $11 NL Hold'em tourney.... at least this one I can say I just made a bad play which short stacked me..

Also finished 115/410 in a $22 NL Hold'em tourney... This was my own stupid fault( woohoo!! . QQ and put the guy on JJ or AK,, flop came K 10 6, and after much debate, I decided he had Jacks.... turns out he had 10's, oops, live and learn.

I agree with JD, keep playing solid and do your best to not let the bad beats get to you (most important) and just remind yourself that you are a good player, playing solid and just hitting a bad run of cards which everyone does at some point. Changing up the type of game you play may help, i sometimes go to omaha or play cash games -vs- touranments and vice versa to switch things up when my play is solid but the cards are just running bad.

I personally just went through a bad streak for the past day and half where nothing went right but I've dug myself out of it with a few 1st places in some sngs. Some of my bad beats for the 2 days noted below:

Day 1:

• I get AA and the flop comes Q64 – someone bluffs so I re-raise all in and he calls with 84o with bottom pair, four on the river and that’s the end of that.
• KQ –vs QJ – a J hits on the flop
• TT –vs- JJ – he limps in with JJ UTG so I put him all in with TT thinking I had him dominated or it would be a race… but my read was completely thrown off by his limp
• 99 –vs- AA – I hit a set on the flop but he hits a set also
• KK –vs- 68s – hits flush on the river (atleast I made the money here and did not feel as bad, but the suckout on the river reminded me of the day I was having)

Day 2

• 77-vs-99, Set on the flop but get outdrawn, villain hits a straight on the turn
• KK –vs- Q9o – hits 2 nines on the board
• Flop a straight but villain flops a higher straight
• TT –vs AK – hits an A on the turn when he went allin on the flop to try to steal it from me, I made a good call and got beat
• 107o –vs- 96o allin for the remainder of my chips(short stacked), he hits a 9 on the river
• QKs –vs- A7s – I hit 3 of a kind on the flop, river he hits flush
• QQ –vs- A4s – he hit two pair on the flop

This has been what has been happening to me for the past month. My bankroll is gone and it's not because I'm playing bad. It's because I'm running into a major run of bad luck. It happens. What really sucks is I have limited funds and it takes time to build it up again. .5/.10 tables and $1 SNG's, plus freerolls takes awhile.

The fact of playing MTT's is that the amount of bad beats that you will face is horrendous. You can literally play hundreds of them before you click a big win, but usually that rare time you win one is worth it.

The general advice given is to use 1% of your BR as an entry to a large MTT. Going deep lots and hitting cash lots is a good sign, to win one of these you need to be on the good side of lots of coinflips, and combined with some solid play it will come good for you some day, probably sooner than you think....

The 1% rule seems very safe.... but the problem is it would be a $2 tourney for a $200 bankroll, and a $6 tourney for a $600 bankroll.

For me that is not feasible. If I can finish ITM on avg 1 out of 4 or 5 tourneys, and money takes 1.5-2.5 hours to reach, but I cannot penetrate far everytime without luck, then the $2 and $6 tourneys are a bit of a waste as far as increasing income.

I have played several $2 tourneys, and once in a 900 person field made it to 5th.... the $80 was nice, but it took 5.5 hours

I think a safe number would be 20-30 tourney buy ins if you were living off tourneys alone... most of the time I get to the money I have some momentum, but sometimes Im just hanging on for the bubble.

You sound like you're just getting frustrated. Getting a bad run of cards can put you on tilt which will obviously deteriorate your game and you'll just get progressively worse results unless you start getting really lucky. There's nothing you can do about losing AA to KK, or KK to A8. All those beats will do to you is tilt you, so it's best to forget about them and maybe take a break if you can't seem to shake it.

I've seen your SnG stats in the 200 SnG challenge thread, and you look like you have a solid game. I'd just take a break, and stick to the occasional SnG for now, then when you start dominating those again move back to MTTs and see how you do. I also agree with TB's rule of having very safe bankroll management with respect to MTTs. Way too much variance in those things, especially the big-entry ones. If I'm playing an MTT, I make sure it's under 200 people, preferrably <100 even.

Frustration can put people on tilt, but for me it just makes me more determined and I focus on my game. If I get really frustrated, I push people around in a $5 sit and go instead

Just finished up a $22 tourney

560 players
placed: 34th
time: 3hrs 22 minutes
$51 or so, $29 after deducting tourney fee.

I had 99 and was re-raised by a loose player, put him on a pocket pair, figured ok, all in, blinds had been increased by slow play so it was time.

he had 33, another 3 came on river

ah well

I played another sng before the tourney, $22 buy in, finished 1st, $100 payout

After thinking about it, maybe my time would be better spent on those again :P

Well then all I can say in response to your first question is just keep playing!

I was just hoping for some magic fairy dust that would even my odds

I have become more aggressive on stealing/making my own luck... this works but later on in tourneys people defend their investments with a pair of 2's so it can be tricky

Playing perfect, good raises , good folds, then this hand comes as im making a bid to climb well over avg


***** Hand History for Game 5287955263 *****
NL Texas Hold'em Trny:29466173 Level:7 Blinds(300/600) - Sunday, October 01, 03:03:04 ET 2006
Table Regular(851825) Table #9 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 9
Seat 1: joshhm ( $9488 )
Seat 2: SPINIOLASJ ( $11154 )
Seat 4: dadrimm ( $36668 )
Seat 5: CARLOSPOZOS ( $6533 )
Seat 6: davem55 ( $3808 )
Seat 7: POISONACE ( $28742 )
Seat 8: OneMoreBust ( $14964 )
Seat 9: cRaZy__TltD ( $6814 )
Seat 10: kjparsons1 ( $5320 )
Trny:29466173 Level:7
Blinds(300/600)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to OneMoreBust [ 7c Qc ]
SPINIOLASJ folds.
JimmyJazz096 has joined the table.
Player JimmyJazz096 has been moved from table 13 to this table
dadrimm folds.
CARLOSPOZOS folds.
davem55 folds.
POISONACE folds.
OneMoreBust raises [1300].
cRaZy__TltD folds.
kjparsons1 calls [1000].
joshhm folds.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Qs, 2h, 2c ]
kjparsons1 bets [1000].
OneMoreBust is all-In [13664]
kjparsons1 will be using his time bank for this hand.
kjparsons1 is all-In [3020]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 8s ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5h ]
kjparsons1 shows [ 5s, 5c ] a full house, Fives full of twos.
OneMoreBust shows [ 7c, Qc ] two pairs, queens and twos.
OneMoreBust wins 9644 chips from side pot #1 with two pairs, queens and twos.
kjparsons1 wins 11240 chips from the main pot with a full house, Fives full of twos.
Game #5287961506 starts.

put me down near 9k instead of 20k.... I could tell when he took time he had a low pocket pair.... and I know he was committed pretty much, but damn....

oh and I was trying to steal the blinds with that bet with Q7... these two guys had been folding like superman on laundry day at any bets, another reason why i put him on pocket pairs when he called