I FEEL LIKE QUITTING POKER

Help, I've been playing a little over 2 years now and I have learned a lot about poker, still lots to learn. But after last night I feel like spending my bankroll on a holiday and cashing out of my online sites.
Basically I play in a cash game on monday nights kinda sit&go format for a 50 buy in. Last night I felt that I played some of the best poker of my life, I was able to put people on hands and most of the time i was dead right.
1st game 3 players left and i picked pocket kings and hit the set on the flop, I was raised all in by a player who I felt was on a weak flush draw, he was and he hit, no problem it happens.

2nd game 4 players left and I pick up A2 and limped in, flop 345 and i was raised in by the big stack, no problem with that he showed pocket 5's and hit quads on the river. Getting annoyed at this stage.

3rd game , 3 players left and I get AA on the buton, flat called it because the BB was super aggressive, so he decides to put me ALL IN, I called and he showed pocket 4's and hit on the turn.

Now this is not a bad beat story I need some advise on where to go from here, should I go play my Thursday game as usual or take a break from poker for a while or do like i feel now and just QUIT.

Hey tenbob,

Actually, that is a bad beat story times 3! In poker, stuff happens. Guess no-one told God that you had a right to win those hands - that's because you didn't...this is what all players have to accept about poker and if they can't, it will do their head in. All that you did was bet THAT AT THE END OF THE HAND, you would have the best cards. If you played those same hands 100 time, you would have by far the better of it but these times, each a one off, things went against you.

It's incredibly bad luck but keep doin what you are doin and over the long run, you will do well.

Well it kinda is a bad beat story but thats not the point I was trying to get across, I just feel that I have handled last nights game very badly and I'm very disaillusioned about the whole thing, maybe I just amnt cut out for the game, or maybe I just need to take a step back for a few weeks, the money aspect isnt really an issue my bankroll was well able to handle it, but my enjoyment of the game has taken a major nosedive .

Lost on pocket aces 3 times myself yesterday - it happens. I remind myself all the time that I can skillfully play every hand and still lose - that's poker. While we all tend to remember the bad beats, how many times have you caught THE card on the river? I know I have even though I generally don't play garbage. As long as the bankroll can stand it, don't give up the game if you enjoy playing. I tend to switch games when I've had a bad run, I'll play some stud or even draw on paradise...

Yer completely different story when you catch the river and the other person can't believe you did that call and fires up.

Still it does suck alot to lose like that

Take a breather. Go out on thursday, see a movie, drink some beers and relax. You ned the break cause right now you are ready to go on a major self doubt tilt and you just suffered some major bad beats. Don't let that bother you and just take some time to get away from that mindset you are getting into.

Perhaps you might expand your horizonsd be playing some limit games or having a tourney instead.

You might find more success with those formats than you do with NL.

I have tried that type of game and was not terrible impressed with my play or for the matter the other players I faced.

As boring as somepeople find limit, I feel it is one of my stronger games.

So, maybe you don't need to take a break from poker as much as you might need to switch gears from Ring NL to another format.

You never know. You might be pleasantly suprized at how you do.

Just a thought.

Those are bad but Ive had much worse more times cause I play at jetset, and not only there but everywhere else. Yeah if u think its getting to you you definitely need a break. Like someone said, take your mind of poker for a while and do something else. Go back once youve composed yourself. You should know that by now since youve been playing for 2 years. Ive experienced and heard much worse bad beats so its just another poker misfortune, you just have to take it in your stride and play your best poker. Good luck.

I was playing a 5-seat SnG yesterday, $30+3. I was a 6-1 chip leader and went in 3 times with the best hand and he hit a card every time on the turn/river. I just went to bed afterwards

Its just bad luck mate, thats poker. Its been said a hundreds of times but you just gotta keep playing YOUR game. The luck will even itself out over time and your better play will win you more than the luck that other players get

Maybe day or two break wont hurt though, just helps get you out of that 'lucky b*stard' mindset

Thanks for all the opnions guys, and a few of them have hit home a bit, I play in ireland so limit games and stud games are a bit of a rarety !! However I am happy with the way that I play the game and I generally make nice money at it, I've decided to take a total break from poker for 10 days, booked myself a holiday to spain this morning and Im off on saturday. Hopefull when I return I can put all this behind me when I get back into the swing of things !! Im even going to leave all my poker books and my laptop at home.

Nice one mate, have a great time and stay out the casino's!

I say take all your winnings and go have a great vacation. Poker will always be here. And you can always come back and play.


If you aren't enjoying it you might want to take a break. Use the money to do something ya wanna do not something thats annoying you now. Go See Batman Begins. I was happier after seeing it.

Things that happened to me playing poker online (of which I wonder if they happened to you)

Some odd things that happened to me playing poker online:

- I finished 3rd in a NLH event (party) on a Sunday night and won 22k6
So winning big online must be possible.
Nothing to brag about ? nothing to complain about ?
I feel I should have taken a lot more in tournaments.
The list of BIG winners I know personally is VERY small.
Who won big online ? big tournaments ? big jackpots ?
Who feels that the jackpots / top-3 money simply flows back
to the poker sites ?
Who believes they were build for this purpose ?
The rake is just part of their income ?

- I dropped 6k playing ring games (15/30 LH 10-handed at party)
in the 2 weeks after that (at lower levels - mainly 3/6 LH 10-handed -
I was a consistent winner over the 2-year period before that)
(so losing big online must be possible :-)
At that time I was disgusted by some of the beats I experienced;
looking back, I still am; I even think I couldn't have played the hands
better now, than I did then.
Who feels that if there is any rigging, it will be at this level (15/30)
or higher ?
Who feels that there is collusion at these levels ?

- At some point a player (on the rail, not at the table) was telling me what
cards I was holding. Exact hole cards, twice. I asked him to learn me that
trick. All he could say - in the beginning - was 'I am psychic'; after a while,
he became less friendly. Finally he told me 'there is no lemon cake to be had
at the side of the road' or something like that; since my native tongue is not
english, I had to ask for an explanation; he told me: 'bananas don't fly'.
I threatened to turn him over to party poker security; it didn't seem to bother him
(looking back, if it's true what I am thinking now - confessing to the devil -
it doesn't surprise me); not even after I told him I was keeping hand
histories. Funny thing is, after I requested the hand history of those games
- automatic logging to hard drive wasn't in effect yet, email only -
the conversation was never mentioned (normally chat is included in hand
histories). The player didn't show up in the history log. According to the
party poker history log, the conversation simply didn't happen.
Weirder story anyone ?

This will be my 5th year of playing poker online
(about 2 hours on average a day and slowing;
still about 3000 hours of online poker)
I rate myself an intermediate player (according to PE I am a mouse)
I play a lone hand; no companions; no tricks
(except for card tracking / player tracking soft)
Like some, I think online poker is rigged
(amazing how many people are defending online poker;
imao it must be that they have a vested interest in advertising online poker)
Why I still play poker online ? I love playing poker. I am winning.
Small winner; about 10$/hr in 3000 hrs on average;
1/5 bonus + 1/5 ring games + 3/5 tournaments;
nothing to brag about ? nothing to complain about ?
Like I said, I feel cheated; I feel I should have taken a lot more.

And after those years:
- I don't play BIG online anymore; max 3/6 ring games;
max 30$ tournament buy-ins; no direct buy-ins in to bigger tournaments
- I don't play that many hours anymore (from on average 3 hrs/day
in the first 2 years to about 1 hour/day now)
- I putted my stop-loss just a little bit tighter (beyond a certain $-amount
lost, I will close my account - I know it's not possible to close an account,
you can only withdraw your money; clever - I already 'closed' accounts at
paradise, betholdem, fulltilt; just pokerstars and party poker are left)
- Same thing with some of you ? You think this will be the reason online
poker will eventually kill itself ?
(or will there always be enough fresh blood to keep the circus going ?)

My goal in online poker ?
Qualify for a big live event before I have closed all my accounts.
(I would love to say: truly enjoy playing poker online
in the knowledge that the games are fair; LOL at that)

i was going to start a thread like this, but since i found this one..ill just post here. I am really sick of losing big to bad players. There is nothing more that makes want to explode more then bad players. This is all live games (i dont play real money online) so its even more frustrating in my opinion.

-in late position i reraise a raiser all in with AQ suited. the original raiser had about $7 and raised small, i had roughly $20.00. i get called by a 10/3 off who is sitting on a little under $30.00 and he cathes a trip 3s

-i get red AA and i raise $10. preflop and im sitting on about $70.00 [blinds at .50-100]. i get one caller...the bored comes out 4d, Kc, 9h. i bet out $30 and again i get called. turn is another club and i go all in and i get called. i show my AA. and she shows 4c,Qc. a club shows up the river to beat me.

Her F'n reason for calling me: "my cards were suited and i thought my 4 was good."

-I raise preflop, i bet on my top pair on the flop, i bet on the turn, i bet at the river..and i lose because someone calling with bottom pair caught his/her second pair.

dont get me wrong, i enjoy poker and i enjoy playing it. its just BS like this happening taht makes me want to flip the table.

It's all about the stakes involved, folks. If you mess around with micro-limit ring games, small buy-in tourneys, and freerolls, you're going to be surrounded by inexperienced and/or just plain terrible players. You've got to be able to accept the fact that opponents at this level are not going to be playing solid, by-the-book, smart poker. They not only haven't read the book, they don't even care that there is one.

Poker is inherently a game of risk. When you remove the risk, you remove the heart of the game. What does "no limit" really mean at a play money table, a freeroll, or a nickel/dime ring game? Little or nothing. It's unrealistic to think that this environment does not negatively impact the general quality of play or the number of brutal beats being dished out.

It would be nice if everyone sat down and played it straight for nothing more than respect for the game, but that's a pipe dream. Don't think I'm a snob, because I personally play nothing larger than .50/1.00 ring games and $10 tourneys. I also play freerolls a few times a month. But I've learned that much of what is described in the previous posts in this thread is simply the nature of the beast. Learn to live with it or go nuts.

Hi all & tenbob,
You gotta look at this a different way. You had 3 badbeats in one day, that's bad but it happens more often than you think. You gotta try and shrug it off if you can, yeah I know everyone says "it's poker" "shit happens" and it don't help, I've been there and when people say that it doesn't help, it happened but your attitude has to be "so what" this is going to happen more but....and there is always a but....
How many times have you played those same cards and won????? More times than you took a bad beat I bet
I've played $100 SNG's and taken some real bad beats and it hurts, but it's like the previous hand, you have to forget it, it's done and over with, don't change your game, you've done nothing wrong, sometimes a bad caller will hit with the worst hand, you have to shrug it off and think of the time when you kicked the shit out of a player when you did exactly the same thing as been done to you and smile
I've had 3 days solid when i've been kicked out of a SNG 3rd or 4th when the money is 2nd or 3rd. I take a break, maybe even go play a completely different poker room but don't give up. You have to look at your overall play and earnings, you can't count one days bad beats or even 3 days.
Work it out over the course of a month or even 6 months, if you play consistently well and win regularly what's 3, 4 or even 10 bad beats.
One of the worse things you can do in poker is doubt your own play, don't go there or you'll eventually give up. You should keep a log of your winning hands so when you get a few bad beats you can look at your log and think "yeah but look at all those wins".
Your playing $50 buy-ins??? This means your a confident player, a decent player, this is just a downer your on because you lost 3 times when you should have won at least two of the three. Brush it off man, how many times did you win 3 in a row, maybe even against the same guy, how bad did he feel??? The same as you do right now.
Your a good player, just believe it, take a break, sometimes it helps but don't give up if your overall play makes you winner.
Overall i'm a winning player but I can wear a week of losing, I don't let it get that far though, if on the rare occassion I spend 3 days losing more than I win, I have a break, maybe try another strategy for a day or two see if I can turn things around, maybe even switch to playing a few freerolls to see how far i've really come ( boy there are some laughable players in those) Just believe in yourself and you'll be ok.
Enjoy your break tenbob, and come back and wreak some havoc in the SNG's,
Good luck at the tables
Tony ( The Webmaster )

Happens to everyone, whether the admit it or not. Was on another forum , when the rigged thing was brought up by one of the top players on Full Tilt. One of the guys that was raking him, said If they are rigged the one I play on must really like me, because I never lose!...Uh Huh...right. His credibilty slipped right there. I won a mtt on Party and hit 4 final tables and had some high finishes in May and june, but as July went along, I don't think I could win a 5 dollar sit and go if you spotted me 3,000 chips! Go through these funks like clockwork, win big, then get nothing but crap, and the most horrific beats you can take. I am coming out of it, but it gets disgusting. I rarely follow my own advice , but go to low limit stuff and wait til your confidence is back. or take a break. It does seem to help. And don't pay much mind to most of the forums, aside from the credible people that say they lose to, they are full of winners, crushing the compitition every game, everyday!! Doesn't happen.

I had the same thing happened to me in 3 consecuties games a few weeks back

$75 buy in QQ gets beats by a 44 hitting a straight, all in pre-flop

$50 buy in AJs gets beat by A4os all in preflop

I cant remember the last one but by this stage I was about to go on tilt

I havent played since then, I refuse to until I have it out of my system. I knew I was the better player in all these games but got beat by lucky players, I was very dissillusioned

You are still on tilt after a few weeks of not playing? You might wanna play with lower stakes for a while.

Barry Greenstien used to post on a forum I was on, he said when he was in a funk, he would go to the lowest limit table and just play like an idiot. Raise with crap, play every hand, chase. Helped him get it out of his system. What someone with millions would be doing on a 10 cent table is kinda funny. But he said it works for him. Another tip I got from the fuc....umm..the wonderful support at party, they told me all the pros play on play money tables before starting. I know, sounds stupid, I tried it, got on 4 tables hit auto post went downstairs, worked for about an hour, came up and played them for a bit, went to the store, came back...and got in a multi. You would not believe the cards I got!! was up to 4,500 before the first break!!, Even crap hands I folded would have been monsters if I would have stayed in!! Coincidence maybe, but call me play money boy before I buy in!!

I feel like you. I have been playing a lot online lately which is different to what you play as mine are mostly freerolls. But the same stories come out of there as well. The amount of times I have had the winning hand and bet big only to be called all-in is amazing. Too many times I have been beaten by crap, but then again, that is part of poker. Like someone said, you tend to remember the bad beats rather than your good wins. I also feel like oyu in that I get discouraged and think is it worth it. I enjoy the game so I guess I will continue to play and keep playing my own game. Somtimes it works and sometimes it doesnt.

When I start playing again I will join a few lower buy-in tournaments for sure. A combination of no internet connection (moving house) and the above mentioned is keeping me away at the moment

Strange that these bad beats dont seem to happen when I play in $10 buy-ins!!

a couple of weeks ago on betfred i was bubbled 6 games running.these varied from $5 to $20 buy ins and everytime i had the best hand preflop and lost to crap.(including a player who called my AA all in with 4/5spades and made a str8 flush on the river!)i went on tilt and played a $10 omaha stt and won it,as i had never played omaha before i was delighted and forgot about the previous bad beats.a change can do you good!

At some point just about everyday I hate poker.... Then I hit my nut flush, and remember why I play.

Once again excellent posts guys, and thanks very much for all the advise. Sat at my usual seat in my usual $50 game last night and got a first and a second into 10 players, I even dished out a bad beat myself, hit house on the river into a ace high flush !!!! Makes a change.

As regards to buy ins and the levels I play at, $50 games for LIVE freezout games only, on-line I rarely play for anything more than a $10 s&g. There are a few reasons for this.

1) Business. Poker is actually my income, not like being a pro or even semi-pro. Myself and my girlfriend own a poker store, we sell chip sets and tables to the local pub/club secene and we need to be seen out and about and playing. The online store is nearing completion (at LAST)

2) Skill level, seems to be especially low in irish pubs, people give away so many tells that it is unreal. ie reaching for chips and betting out of turn is so common. Lower limit games that are around are just a lottery, I've seen a game over in less than half and hour.

3) Im still kinda afraid of collusion online, and if people are so desperate to win a $10 s&g then they can have it, but i can see the reasons for players to do it at higher levels.

But since I took a break from the game for a week or two I have come to the conclusion that if i go all in with the best hand pre-flop and lose then so be it. Ill keep doing it and eventually Ill be the one with the money in my back pocket.

Last night I was playing 2/4 and sitting on about $180 and I have Ks 9s flop comes 9c Kd 9d, so one guy raises $10 two people call, and then i reraise him $100, he calls, one guy folds and the other one calls as well. Next card comes and it is a 8c, the guys pushes all $300 of his chips and i was considering not to call thinking he might have pocket Ks but i couldnt lay it down... I call and the other guy calls as well with his last $200. $600 dollar pot and the river comes a 10c... first guy shows Kh 8d, and the other guy shows Jc Qc...straight flush...after all that i asked him why he called the $100 and then pushed me all in with nothing... and he tells me that he felt it was goin to come out...WTF...bad f****** poker....

it happens to everyone fight threw it, it;ll change sooner or later, its always that way especially when you cash at, never get cards seem like for weeks

Make sure your posts make sense.

I have also felt like that in the past. But I know that the more I play the game and learn the better I will become. Its just like anything else you try to do in life. You have to learn and I guess that learning just always takes time. So don't give up.

dude dont quit poker well online poker is sometimes riggid you hafta know that in game 2 you shouldnt have limped in on the first place my opnion theres mistake number one soon to be more hidden not to sya you a bad player or any thing

Well never limping in is a bad thing in itself, a lot of the time limping into a pot is very warrented in my opinion especially with a hand like A2 in late position or even the small blind.
WHY? Because it makes sense, if I was playing the top 10 or 15 starting hands every time and never anything else i would become a very boring player, and NEVER get any action.

In my opinion limping in to see a cheap flop especially when the blinds or small or when the game gets short-handed is esesential to MY style of poker. But only with suited Ax and connectors, etc.....

Ya, i know what u mean. I have took many many bad beats in high limit turnys. It really stings. All i do is just take a coupple days off of playing poker. After that, i am over the bad beat and i just fell like im geting a new fresh start. I never thought of quiting the game. I dont even think i can, but that is up to you, u should do whatever you think is right for you, GL

Let me be sure I understand you. You opened four play money tables. Then you put them all on auto-post/fold and left the room for an hour. When you came back in, you entered a real money multi-table tournament. During the first hour, you went on a major card rush.

And you somehow attribute your success at the MTT to the fact that you allowed some play money games to run 'in absentia' on your computer beforehand?

I seriously hope you were kidding.

remember...even if you're a 80-20 favorite, you're still gonna get beat 1 of every 5...its still poker...

man that sucks but you shouldn't quite it was all just bad luck its poker it happens