How do YOU define "Running Good" ?

As an online player who has been going at it for 4 years or so, I've become increasingly aware of how I'm "running" at any given time.

I don't play as often as I used to in the past, maybe this is a reason why I've developed an awareness of how "good" or "bad" I run for any extended length of time.

Chatting with some other poker people the other day about this subject, got me thinking about the difference in perception different people have about "running good"

One example of My understanding of it, entails catching good cards at the right times during tournaments. Meaning catching AA, KK, etc.. on the button or the blinds while I watch the mad raising and re-raising before it gets to me! INSTEAD of catching the same hands UTG or in EP where you may not get so much action after you raise.

Another example would be having your hands stand up time and time again, your JJ all ins dodging those nasty rivers when all your opponent needs is an ace. Or flopping a set of ducks in EP and checking it to your aggressive opponents big action JJ, QQ, AK.

I'm sure there are many more interpretations or "running good".....I'd like to hear some more...

Well to me it is more about luck than anything. So in tourns etc. you aren't losing like 2/3 of your coin flip situations or getting into terrible coolers. I've been running TERRIBLE as of late. In HU it seems every single time it gets into an all in preflop i never can hit anything even tho im normally ahead preflop. I'm playing an MTT right now which is 5k$ for 70 ppl. I was 5th out of 60 before this hand, and had i won i would have been clearly first.

Dealer: Your cards 5s 5d
Dealer: none88 folds
Dealer: anna20 folds
Dealer: 1girl2cupcakes folds
Dealer: 21sanne12 folds
Dealer: feitr2 calls 40
Dealer: daddy121 folds
Dealer: borelie585 folds
Dealer: levelZero raises to 160
Dealer: jonijoo folds
Dealer: After this hand Blinds will be 30/60.
Dealer: After this hand Blinds will be 30/60.
Dealer: feitr2 calls 120
Dealer: Dealing Flop
5h Qd Kh
Dealer: levelZero bets 280
Dealer: feitr2 raises to 800
Dealer: levelZero raises to 2,150
Dealer: feitr2 calls 1,350
Dealer: Dealing Turn
5h Qd Kh 9d
Dealer: Dealing River
5h Qd Kh 9d 2s
Dealer: levelZero shows Three of a kind
Qc Qs
Dealer: feitr2 shows Three of a kind
5s 5d
Dealer: levelZero wins with Three of a kind
9d Qd Qs Qc Kh 4,660
Dealer: levelZero wins with Three of a kind
9d Qd Qs Qc Kh 4,660

To me ^^ is the epitome of "not running good". And just one second after i wrote this i got AQs on button in that MTT, which is the 2nd decent hand i've hand the entire tourn and somebody who covers me shoves from CO. RUnning good is when stupid shit like that doesn't happen.

It's a mix of catching good cards, having the hand hold up and having your opponents have a good hand that is slightly worse than yours at the same time. Even if you were getting AA or KK on the button all the time you still need someone to give you their stack

Pretty much whenever your graph looks like this, you're running pretty damn good.

Attached Images

goodday.jpg (16.7 KB, 5 views)

When playing good is rewarded, I consider that running good.

And along with it comes the whole confidence issue. Atm my confidence is absolutely shot to hell. I TRULY do not believe that i can currently flop soemthing like a set and actually win the hand. Not trying to do the whole "oh im the unluckiest guy alive" but it is simply how i feel. I've stopped playing HU for a while simply because i lost 4 HU games in a row where i literally lost 8 coin flip type situations in a row. I outplayed every single one of them but just could not win ANYTHING all in preflop at all. I would flop a set all in preflop and they would hit a backdoor flush etc. The last one i played i was almost screaming at the screat WTF can i do to win. It honestly seems impossible for me to beat complete donks at HU atm, even tho vs the same players i have had runs of almost 10 straight HU wins.

MTTs are exactly the same. This MTT i am now 35th out of 45 and basically screwed. But if i hadn't run into set vs overset (even if i had folded every hand from then until now) i'd be 3rd. The MTT before this i went from chip leader to out in 2 hands. First i flop the 3rd nut flush and an open ended straight flush draw. Somebody calls their entire stack off with the A high flush draw and hits one of the 5 hearts in the deck that they need. The very next hand vs the very same player i get AA and flop a set. I bet, he shoves, i call his exact cards before i call and he had flopped a straight with KT.

lol so i shove on the BB with 88 after a standard raise from the button. Get called by a5 and im out because ofc i need at least 85% preflop to have a chance. I swear to God that the greatest poker player alive could not place in an MTT the way i am running. I have to stop playing poker for some time it is as simple as that. Another MTT where i did not make a SINGLE incorrect decision yet stood absolutely no chance. The only "lucky" thing i ever had was winning a9s vs K8 and ofc im ahead of that preflop. Only reason im pissed is that a 70$ buy in for an MTT isn't exactly in my BR at this stage, so this was a nice chance to win big if i didn't get incredibly unlucky. I didn't even need to get lucky...just needed to be able to win an all in if im 70% preflop.

LKDFJoasdjfoasdjfpoiasdjfuoiasdjfioasdfjoiasdjfasd f

im done for quite some time...i honestly can't handle running like this anymore. Sorry for ruining your thread but i need to let it out somewhere...

lol ok i officially quit poker. For some IDIOTIC reason i decided to play some more. I only played 2 SnGs and 1 Omaha PL cash game. I flop the *current* nut fullhouse in omaha and somebody calls the pot size bets to the river where he/she hits a higher fullhouse...so i get stacked. I lose one SnG when i have AJs all in and get called by A8 and he hits the 8. The other i lose when i shove after the flop with TPTK and somebody calls and hits on the river with an OESD.

Is this one of those I quit until I play again?

Much like when I used to say I quit smoking until I have another

I quit drinking until I have another


With regards to running good...I consider running good winning more than losing...That's running good in my books

It's subjective I guess. Sitting down and getting good hole cards or even winning with any cards, even the bad starting hands.

As far as long-term goes, I would say it is more than a few sessions in the rings, in a row, without coming out on the losing end of any of them. Then as you play more sessions a steady incline is seen to be resulting, such as SeanyJ's graph up there.

Not much you can do in Omaha - people will chase. But... you need to be able to lay down what is no longer the nuts when you know you're beat. It's tough, and it sucks, but it's part of that game. If they know you will keep pushing when they hit their draws, it just makes it easier for them to chase because they know they have the right implied odds.

I don't think quitting poker is the answer, though a break may be in order. Before you do that though, you might want to consider toning down the aggressiveness in your Holdem game.

Try playing for smaller pots, and stop trying to stack people with every decent hand. AJs and TPTK are fine hands, but why risk your entire tournament on them, especially when you are essentially flipping coins with loose callers?

If nothing else, wait until you get to the money before you dial up the aggressiveness and see if that improves your results. Hopefully by that time you will be left against people who respect your raises.

Well he had 3$ left in the omaha pot and the pot was 20$ so i hardly think i am letting go the 2nd nut FH for 3$.

You don't have much choice but to stack off in later stages of a tourn when you are short stacked.

WHen i have only 3k in the BB and the blinds are 200/400 obviously i have to shove with something like 88 since i know im miles ahead of his range. But being miles ahead frankly doesn't mean shit when you'll lose so long they aren't drawing dead.

The AJs hand the blinds were like 100/200 and i was sitting on like 1700 or something so ofc i shove it.

Anyways it is just unreal. I was just in a 20 man sng (first sng since those last 2). I get KK and c bet...guy shoves with JT on a flop of T x x and he hits 2 pair on the river. It isn't like that is that bad of a beat or anything, but every single sng im playing in is ending with hands like that.

It has come to the point that not only do i not think i have a chance in hell of winning a tournament i don't have a chance in hell of winning a single pot.

This

http://www.cardschat.com/f46/milesto...-hands-112428/ (http://www.cardschat.com/f46/milestone-1st-30-000-cash-game-hands-112428/)

Ok, that's a little different than it sounded like from your post. The thing is, if you are feeling the pressure to race, they probably are too, which I know makes it tough.

I generally play SNGs one of two ways - either I am rock-tight until the BB is up to 100 (at which point I use my tight image to pick up pots) or I play for a lot of little pots early and build myself enough cushion that I'm under less pressure than the shorter stacks. I vary this depending on both my current mood and how the others at the table are playing.

When I stray more toward the middle ground between these extremes, I have exactly the same result as you do. I don't pick up enough chips early, but I also play enough hands that I don't have a really tight image, so I don't get respect when I raise. I don't know if this is what's happening to you, but it might be worth taking a look at.

Meant to ask before... what buy-in and structure (6 or 10 seat, regular or turbo) are you playing?

Ok well the whole buy in is the main problem. Basically, i used to have a nice BR of >1500$, but one day i got pissed and withdrew all but 15$. So my current BR is 100$ and i have to play bloody 5$ sngs which i absolutely hate. So basically, i get into a situation where i take quite a few bad beats, lose like 25$ and then tilt and play higher stakes. Which ofc is bad BR managment and does nothing to put my BR in the right direction (tho i have a nice ROI at 20$+ stakes...it is actually the 10$ ones that kill me for some reason). So atm i just CANNOT get my BR moving and as a result cannot play the stakes i want.

Hence the reason that the incredibly incredibly bad run i've had has just been killing me. Today has been even worse...i was rivered on about 5 hands in a row and i've only played about 1 hr (so i guess it is "quit" until i have another ). I even managed to lose AA all in on the flop vs J5o in a HU game. I hit top set and he had gutshot straight and hit it :S :S :S When you can win after flopping top set you are in trouble. I've had good runs in the past where i go +400 in like 3 days (and i only play a couple of hrs in a day) and ironically i think im playing way better poker now and i just can't make any headway.

I play turbo HU sngs and either non-turbo full ring (10 man) or turbo 6 man.

Honestly, if you aren't playing the limits you like, and you don't believe you can win, I think you're right that it might be time for a change.

Have you considered moving to another game altogether (dropping no-limit holdem) as a change of pace?

Yea i'm back to playing cash games...both NLH and PLO. In fact im not even really sure why i stopped playing cash games since that is where i've made the vast majority of my money. And yea that is working alot better because my main gripe as of late is just the ridiculous "luck" i've had when all in preflop in sngs. I honestly don't know what to do when i lose 4 sngs in a row to hands like KK vs A4o, AJ vs A6 and AA vs J5o. And the fact of the matter is that in turbo SnGs at least you simply do have to shove and shove alot because it is all about stealing. You can't just raise when the blinds are high because non-retards will just shove vs you and limping is even worse.

Cool - hope it keeps working for you

soooooo.......where were we?......oh yeah....

How do YOU define "Running Good" ?

If you are varying your game,(ie,rng,stt,mtt)and if your bankroll is steadily increasing,rather than decreasing,then I consider this to be to be running good.