Losing streak after getting bonus?

For the second time, I have experience a sharp immediate losing streak after earning a bonus. I am curious if anyone else has experience this kind of problem, and what steps they took to correct it. The first time this happened it eventually cost me my entire bankroll, and I don't want it to happen again.

I find that I have been playing a little looser than I used to, but I don't think it explains it all. I don't keep track of stats long term, but my in-session stats seem similar in the early rounds. I have been betting more in later rounds, and I have been winning more non-showdown pots. But, my showdown win % has dropped from the 80s to about 50%. However, I don't play very many hands this far, so I don't think this is the problem either.

Any initial thoughts?

Maybe it looks like a losing streak but it's not. for example, if i deposited 50 bucks and after releasing everything, when I end up with 75 dollars, then it means I should technically have 25 dollars since I got 50 dollars for free. It's hard to notice that you're losing when you're earning bonus unless you massively won from 50 dollars to 300 dollars and then started dropping back down after bonus. But I think I know what you're trying to say. That bonus does affect state of playing. Reminds me of how I went bust with first 200 dollars I deposited although i recovered all of that in the end thanks to cardschat.

The meltdown continued last night. However, after getting my bonus I am still up from where I started. I am going to post a couple of the hands that caused me grief, and maybe see if I could have played them differently. Time to make this a learning experience, I suppose.

You know, while earning a bonus you have to exercise an awful lot of discipline and self-control. It's very tough to earn a bonus of any sort and not lose half your money in the process(as first respondant mentioned).

Anyway, maybe it's more like you built up all this steam, and clearing the bonus sorta made you blow up a bit.

Oh yeah, try a different variant or lower/no stakes till it lets up. As long as you're still ahead, might as well let all that steam out in a safe way.

Thanks for the advice. I plan to take a couple of days off, and then hit low stakes, and maybe throw in a few SNGs/MTTs. I pretty much play cash, and I am sure that is part of the problem. The variance a cash game creats can be a bit hard to overcome sometimes.

idk about this, from what I've read and experienced there seems to be more variance in sit and go's. i don't have the data to support this but i'm sure someone on here can enlighten us all.

I don't think you're right about SNG's having higher variance. MTT's have higher variance. But I don't think the problem with SNG's is their variance, indeed if FTP had better rake on SNG's I'd probably just play those. 20c is still pretty steep.

Now with an SNG everyone starts with the same number of chips, this levels the playing field considerably when compared to a ring game. In an SNG you need only play a good 9 player game, slowly easing into 6 players, then push it to 3 players to get your money and a bit of change, from there it's just your best short handed game to make a bit more and best HU game to win it all.

You don't even have to win SNG's every time to do well in them. Just place at various places in the top 3 at least what, 55% of the time? And you're making a profit.

Ring games on the other hand offer better odds because you can leave at any time with your winnings. Double up, triple up, it's all up to you how much you sit with and how much you leave with. Can't do that with tournaments. Still, I feel like if ring games really had lower variance than SNG's it'd be a piece of cake to just sit and win 20x your buy-in and more without going bust.

Plus in ring games every cent you put in the pot's a real cent. You have to convince yourself it's just a chip or the money belongs to the game until you leave, but it's still real money.

Seriously, if there's a site where you have loot and they don't charge more than a dime in rake for SNG's, I suggest you work on your SNG game and build with it as much if not more often than your ring game. Also and this is just my opinion, ring games take more out of you than SNG's. SNG's are more like sprints while MTT's and ring games are more like marathons and cross country runs.

Hang on a second soncheebs. What kind of SNG's are you playing exactly? Turbos? Short stacks? Those do have increased variance, the same way a turbo or short stack MTT has increased variance.

It's all very complicated but as best I can figure, the higher the risk factor(such as the types of hands you have to shove with when short stacked or in a turbo), the higher the variance.

Do you have rakeback? Rakeback definitely helps. It reduces your losses or makes you win more. If you're losing player, you'll break even. If you break even, you'll profit and become a rakeback pro. If you're a winning player, you get yourself extra bucks from the side. Consider getting a rakeback. It's like a hidden bonus.

You can't seriously believe this do you?



Snow

You say you're showdown win percentage dropped from 80 to 50? You aren't on a losing streak, you're just not still on your winning streak. 80% win at shwdown means you are folding too often in general and are probably bluffed too easily. ~50% is solid and sustainable

I think OP's talking about Take 2 which is at FTP. No way you can be a winning player by losing with their rakeback. Maybe at one of the 50% sites rakeback sites you could be a winning player by breaking even. I still don't get how you can be a winning player by losing with rakeback though. You just get 1/2 your rake back, not 1/2 your total $.

Jeeze I suck royally at math and either I'm worse than I thought, or there's actually someone who's worse than I am.

Well considering i didnt get mine till this morning i will have to see how i far out about a winning or losing streak starting later on tonight.

Dude, I'm not kidding. Rakeback does help a lot unless you're a wreckless player who loses very quickly. You can literally play cards, not people and make profit off rakeback. You can sit there like a rock all day and profit just through rakeback. I went to raketherake.com to sign up for doylesroom with 33% rakeback by depositing 30 bucks, made 150 bucks in a week, withdrew 140 bucks by paying 10 dollar processing fee and then got a check for 140 bucks which should be arriving about 5 days from now and 15 bucks of that money is from rakeback. I literally played 6 or more tables when I reached around 70 dollars. When I had 30, I played 1-2 tables, then 2-3, 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, etc. i regret not having rakeback for full tilt.

Right now, I'm in a dilemma of whether I should deposit on pokerstars or not and if I do, if I should sign up using holdem manager site to get the program for free or sign up for rakeback on pokerstars and then use rakeback money to buy the program. Rakeback really works. Some members on this forum who have rakeback can tell you how beneficial it is to have a rakeback.

This may be the most confusing post Ive read

He made 500% on his bankroll in a week ($120 profit) and you are concerned about a 20% bonus on $30, that would egual $6.

Congrats pokerlovesme,very well done (even if you did play yourself ?)




Snow

You can't get rakeback from pokerstars. Just sign up for the first time $600 bonus (depending on how much you have to deposit) or if you aren't depositing that much (less than $100) sign up through HEM and get the program for free.

Losing streak after getting bonus? Maybe. There's been a whole lot of people who will suddenly lose money after either cashing out a big win on a site or right after getting a bonus. Normally this happens because the player doesn't adjust their game properly. If cashing out they continue to play at levels before the cash out and in reality they should drop levels. If after bonus they are usually playing at too high of a level or are taking too many risks, getting cocky, because they now have extra cash. Chances are 1 of these 2 things has happened so I suggest you play like you did and at the levels you did before the bonus. If you are still losing, yes posting HH is a great idea, chances are you are making some mistakes you just don't see. GL

Sorry for confusing post. All I'm saying is, rakeback is like hidden bonus that you make from behind. It's like 3-4 cents every point if you're playing 9-handed ring game. I was on a roll and was literally playing cards, not people on doylesroom. On Full Tilt or live poker, I play people, not the cards. On doylesroom, I strictly play cards and play as if I'm playing with stocks. I was massive multi-tabling and it adds up. Even if you're not in a pot, you still get paid as long as you were dealt cards for full tilt and cake/doyles/playersonly. I definitely recommend rakeback. You can literally play like a rock, mostly fold, play super aggressive during pre-flop and come out with profit. So if you're break-even player, you make money through rakeback. Believe it or not, there are rakeback pros who make money just through rakeback. Some people have so many referrals as if they're in network marketing and make a lot even when they barely do anything.

And also, I didn't even release any of doylesroom 100% bonus yet. I was just constantly multi-tabling and made money through rakeback almost 15 dollars while I withdrew 150 bucks and got a check flying over to my house for 140 bucks. If I was a losing player, I would only lose 15 dollars instead of my whole deposit of 30 dollars. Do you get what I mean? Rakeback is a hidden bonus.

I have a question about pokerstars. Here is the site I use for rakeback for doylesroom. https://www.raketherake.com/PokerStars.html
Isn't that a rakeback but in different approach? I don't really understand their system or the benefit that they're offering for pokerstars through that site. But I will most likely take your advice and sign up through holdem manager program since I mostly play on full tilt and rakeback on pokerstars isn't much compared to other sites. I just wanted to say that if you have rakeback, it helps a lot. I got a rakeback of 15 dollars from multi-tabling. Since I deposited 30 bucks, if I was losing player, I would only lose 15 dollars instead of 30 bucks.

It might well be a good strategy to move on to playing another site for a while if you hit a downturn or just hit a bonus.

Regardless of whether you believe in "doomswitches" or even just "runs" of "flows" in the luck dynamic, it's sometimes a good play to just sit on your winnings or bonus money for a while, go back to playing other places for a while. Then lots of times the previous place sees you not playing and offers you another bonus, etc.

Actually, this has happened to me at two different sites. But, I am not one of those "the site is out to get me" people. I really think I made some boo-boos and need to learn from those the next time I fall into some more cash. Haven't played in a couple of days, so I should hit the tables again fresh.

Earning my bonus first has always been my problem.

I feel the same way, I just won over 11,000 points on full tilt, went on tilt and said hell with it, now I cant win jack, its not that I have changed my game, matter of fact I tightened up my game, but river after river runner runner, gets a little disgusting after a while, hell I did good on cards chat free roll this last week and came in 4th place, but I have already lost 3 dollars of it, I either dont get any cards or I get burned on the river. so goes poker, oops I mean so goes online poker.

...I kinda am the same..i got 25 dollars free on ft from the take 2 competition...generally im real tight and selective in my choice of games..but since its free, Im kinda pisssing about with it playing stupid stakes..taking the weekend off now, just to relax and nnot blow the rest of my BR

Pokerstars does not participate in rakeback, instead they have the best points program on the web. Signing up through the raketherake site only offers you a freeroll deal. There are a ton of freerolls for money daily plus specials worth a lot more on a regular basis, you just have to look for them. If you sign up with Pokerstars through HEM you get HEM free with a deposit (I don't recall how much) but it really depends on how much you are depositing. Pokerstars offers a $600 first time sign up bonus if you do it on your own, look at their site for the bonus code before depositing. If you are not going to be depositing that much, like less than $100 then you are better off signing up with HEM. If you are depositing more than $100 then you are better off doing the first time bonus of up to $600. GL!

I just recieved the Take 2 money ($50) promotional that Full Tilt ran in September.... and I swear to god its like pulling teeth to gain any money out of it... I'm using proper bankroll mngmt... and everything else... but I'll be damned if my aces arent cracked by a low baller donkey straight and straight beat by straight flushes... and other crazy crap.

I sometimes wonder about full tilt.

My two cents,
Moe

It might explain a lot, too.

I found out that I tended to get cocky after a bonus/big win and didn't take opponents serious anymore - maybe this ???

Closed that leak for me a while ago.

Practice some good BR management this time. Don't get too rapped up in the stats but try to look for leaks in your game(yes stats may help point you towards them). Review each session afterwards and post hands where you won or lost money. Also post any hands you got questions on. Just because you lost money doesn't mean you played bad or did something wrong. Conversely just because you won doesn't mean you played good.

^^^Exactly. You might just be on a downswing, it happens to everyone from time to time. Perhaps your bad beats are affecting your play, who knows. It is not the site though. Donks are everywhere, at every site and live, horrific beats are everywhere as well.
Post your Hand Histories (HH) and let others analyze them for you, offer advice and such. Maybe you have a leak you aren't aware of, maybe you're just running bad. I know posting hands in the HH has helped me and a lot of others on here.

Yes, I'm not of the "site is out to get me" type of thought either. But even without that, there are other schools of thought about "runs" and flows of luck, that would lead to the same advice.

Try something else for a while, come back fresh, yes, that's the idea in some form.

TY for Advice. I think I might deposit 50 bucks or so and try to get the program. the catch I don't like about is that i have to release those points in order to get the program.

ok...i didnt read e1 elses replies but my advice is this....we often consider ourselves better sit n go or tourney players...but how many amongst us has entered that promo and dont usually play micro cash tables or any cash tables for that matter and ending up cashing almost every day we played.(because u were playing tight and smart).
i never liked it b4 but i think i found my calling .01-0.2 cap no limit.every time i play tight ...there is always a donkey playing and goes all in with 10-3 or what ever he has but u will usually beat him with your tight cards if called.Obviously u will lose a hand once in a while but the stats will prove ur tight game a winner.
Me myself i won the 50 bonus too and went on a losing streak and finally noticed that i should go to that kind of table and test my strategy.I been there for 2 days and keep going up and up.Its ur opinion but u cant lose more than .60 if some1 goes all in and u usually will go ahead...just wait for the right hands.

Here's an update.

Been playing .25/.50 limit Stud Hi with the remaining $53. It is the game I have found the most success in the past. I haven't played it much lately because it was hard to get in 2 tables at once for the Take 2 promo. The past couple of days, I am up $8. So, I am going to take that and enter a $5 MTT tonight, while I should be able to make the $5 back playing Stud Hi.

I wanted to thank you all for your advice. I joined CC after my first meltdown to try and improve my game to avoid any future disasters. With everyone's advice, this should be just a bump in the road for me.