When a bad runs happen , how do i know?

I am wondering when it happens, what are the symptoms and what can i do to make it stop, cause i think im going threw one right now and its completly fu... me and my bankroll up . When i take a coin flip in with im a favorite i losse, my high PP's ( JJ QQ KK ) run into AA, when i have AA someone always hits a set, when i have say AK vs KJ, the J hit a set on the flop, people get runner runner miracles , i even busted in 3 sit n goes , in all my 3 opponent called my preflop raise with A5 and went all in on the turn ( yes the 3 of them ) with a gut shot draw and hit, im completly devastated and having second thoughs on poker ...

you will have bad runs, i had one that lasted for 2 months, then i won 1 tourney and thought my luck turned, but it didnt, im back to the bad times again, you have to accept these times, wether for short times or long periods, when it happens to me i Cut Back on playing or maybe play more freerolls so it dont cost me money, but the cards will change sooner or later, you just have to be patient and get through the tough times. gl and hope the cards change for you and me FAST,LOL, buck

Hi all,
I think everyone's been there at one time or another, some more than others. There is no way to really get out of someone calling you with a lesser hand and beating you, idiots will call when you least expect it and win. I don't think you can just wait it out until things turn around, you have to try and turn it around. I don't know what game your playing but i'm a tourney player wether it's single or multi-table, while i'm winning i'll stay with the same type of tourney but when I start hitting those bad streaks I completely change, if i'm playing multi-tables and having a bad time then i'll switch to single tables. It also depends on the amount your playing, you'll find more idiots or fish at lower stake tourneys/tables than if your at say $10 or $20. This obviously depends on how your bankroll is.
Another thing I do is allow for a run of losses, my bankroll is the deciding factor on what tourneys to play, if my bankroll is $300 then i'll only play tourneys which have a $5 or $10 entrance fee, this means I can afford to lose 5 or even 10 games in a row, although unlikely it's a cushion in case that does happen.
Also if i'm having trouble coming in the money in the multi-tables i'll quite often switch to the lowest single table, I mean the table with the least amount of players, pacific is one, you can play single tables with only 5 players, a better chance of coming in the money and less chance of idiots. Come in the money on a few of those tables then head back over to the multi-tables. I'll even switch poker rooms if i'm having a bad run, a bad run doesn't usually follow you from poker room to poker room, that's why I play at around 8 different ones. And I agree with buckster, play some freerolls and get used to playing against the idiots again.
Probably not much of a consolation to you this post but it might just be worth trying something completely different to what your playing to try and get off the bad beat streak.
I gave up playing poker for around 5 months and regret not playing for so long so don't give up ok?
I wish you luck

Tony

The mental aspect of cold cards is the worse. When you get AA or KK and are starting to bet or play them differently, it is time to take a break. You are looking for what will beat you instead of betting it out and making the right poker moves. I think as long as you are playing good solid poker you can keep playing. If you don't think you are making solid decisions, then play freerolls or some other game completely till your head is in the right place again.

I had to do this when I went 0 for 11 with AA and KK in ring games, that is a kick in the nuts and the bankroll. I took time off to forget the sting of those losses. I busted out he PS2 and played some Madden football and did not play poker.

I also read the hand analysis section here to see if I am thinking correctly. It helps to read how others play hands and to confirm what I am thinking is right.

The fact is everyone goes throught horrific patches when they play poker. I went through a 3 month spell of both losing heavy both online and live, im now on a 6 month rush that has seen my bankroll grow by several thousand.

Whats the difference ? Do I take bad beats as much to heart as i used to ? Nope, i actually half like to see that someone has to suck me out to win, if thats the case then i feel that im a better player than them.

The key to learning how to avoid bad beats (forget PF, its always correct to get your chips in with AA/KK) but to learn to skirt the beats when you hold AA on a cordoinated flop and your getting serious resistance to you bets then you need to have the skills to fold,this is skills are at.

worst i had was a tourney i played in for 3 hours where the best hands i got were 44 and 77. never got 2 paint cards (and im including 10's with that, so not even j10 q10 k10 a10) best hands i got outside of those 2 pp's were like k2 k4 q6 etc.

This is why you want to maintain a substantial bankroll for the stakes you're playing at - because sometimes you will have really bad runs... for me I'm generally playing lower stakes, but I'd made about $150 over a month or so, and lost $100 in 3 days, getting long runs of cold cards and getting outdrawn... since then I've gradually built it up again.

One thing that I did find made it easier to deal with the cold run was to use some stats software like Poker Office or Poker Tracker, because then you can see whether you're playing different hands to normal, and whether you're playing more hands than normal. If you can see your style of play hasn't changed much (so you're playing unlucky rather than playing badly), then keep at it. If you find you're playing worse cards or playing differently (because I'm sure that most of us have got bored with getting bad cards and started wanting to experiment with some more suited connectors of the like), then it will help you to see if there are any elements to your style of play which may be contributing to the changes.

best thing is take a break even a week. Then when you come back to the table you wont be wanting to chuck the rockets when you see them.

one other tip if you play live switch to online or visa versa that sometimes helps for me untill the bad times are over

I find changing the game you play can help, have you tried other versions apart from Hold-em?

Even if they look odd or confusing at first, didnt hold-em once?

I often go through bad runs at cash games and begin to play either Omaha PL Hi/Lo or just low limit SnGs, just to get the hold-em out of the system

If it really starts to get to you, just take a break, it is very true whateveryone says, poker will still be there tomorrow, next week, next month.

You dont have to make up any loses in one go, put a line under it, you lost thats it. Walk away, poker will still be here with its little roller-coaster whenever you return.

Never play because you feel you have to, play because you want to

IanT

SAJ, having 2nd thoughts on going pro?

Switch sites - Poker sites level out the playing field by letting poorer players win an inordinate amount of hands when they have got the worst of it. There is a finite amount of players, and the poker market is getting increasingly competetive, so Poker sites have to keep hold of the players they have. If it was a level playing field, fish would soon go broke, realise Poker's not for them, and not be back. By slowing down these losses, the Poker sites ensure that the players reload and come back. Titan is horrendus for this, didn't realise Pokerstars was, but it looks like that may be the case. Move over to Full Tilt for a while like you mentioned in another thread.

Thanks rob, im thinking of switching sites for quite some time, seconds thoughs on pro where because of my losse of faith , but then again , if i dont persue my goals I will never realize my dreams . Yesterday and the day before where horrrible , i lost almost 700 dollars . But i decided to drop down some levels in a attemp to get back on track. I think the problem is the turbo tournaments. I decided to play some regular sit n goes ( 5.50 buy in ) and to my surprice i was in the money in 20 sit n goes i played . I dont know if the bad run ended or if maybe i had to take to many chances plus players where gambeling way to much to stay ahead of blinds in the turbo events. Only sad thing , i was playing a tournament , 1800 player registered , and we where 200 left, i was in the top 50 and there was a guy who kept on pushing my blind, when i finally get AKs, i pushed him back and he called with A10, i was so happy i was way ahead until flop brought J1010 and good game me ^_^ . Fulltilt seems like a nice play for the 5 dollar tournys, although i dont like the interface and i also took notice of Ultimatebet that seems to be nice ( and GreenPlastic made his name there by the way )

couldn't agree more with this post... (i normally play $5 sng 10 handed or $10 sng 5 handed...)

My last 2 $100 deposits(shame to say), i've lost, the first, being hit by unbelievable amount of bad beats, and the second, because confidence so low, thinking i've lost before i started....

Last time i took 2 weeks away from poker, i came back, and won enough to pay off my visa card, which i was well pleased with, since then, i cant get my confidence back..

this time i decided to look for a decent poker forum, and this looks pretty good, so 2 weeks in here and learn from other peoples good/bad play and good/bad luck should hopefully do the trick

hi and gl to all
ash (2nd post)