Losing Streak

WTH have u gotta do to win tourney's in poker?!?
U play tight n raise with decent hands n no-1 calls u or u get sucked out or u play loose n get knocked out within the first 30mins.
U get the loose donkey german frigger who u starts puttin u all in or u get ur raises re-raised all the time.
U play small ball n that does f all or ur under 14BB n ur shoves with decent cards dont get called.
It's like WTF am i supposed to do??!?!
Startin to loose it with tournament poker. it's realy a big waste of f-in time.

Tourney's although they are fun, have alot of variance. To make it to the money you need skill and luck.

You should really stop and look at why you got sucked out and why your small ball play didn't work etc.

Read Harrington on Holdem books. They should put you on the right path to the winners seat or the final table which is just as comendable in my view.

You could also try the SNG's as the field can be as little as 6 and work up from there.

What stakes do you play in tournaments?

The one nice thing about mtts is that 1 good tourney makes up for alot of bad ones.If you need to win often then 9 man sngs or ring games may better suit your personality.If you want to go for the big win and can accept that they only come around occasionally then mtts may suit you.
I personally like the low buy in of mtts with the opportunity to win 100 times my buy in or more,with solid play you can cash fairly often and the occasional big score.

I feel ya right now man. I play sngs, played about 200 the first 9 days of march with about a 16% roi. Last 2 days that roi has went from 16 - 5%. Just getting killed, 3 people get payed its almost like with 4 people the shortstack will suckout to double up every time, like it dont want me in the money or something. But man its just a bad run, just keep telling yourself as soon as this is over im gonna win back the money i lost plus a bunch. I remember the old me would play in 2 tournies take two horrible beats and say well im done for today. And now i know you cant do that because you could run bad like that for 40 tournies in a row, and there is nothing you can do but just keep putting your money in ahead, and in the long run you'll come out ahead. Good Luck.

ukaliks said:

WTH have u gotta do to win tourney's in poker?!?
<snipped>
Startin to loose it with tournament poker. it's realy a big waste of f-in time.

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"...gotta do to win?"... you ask. Keep playing in them ...

So far in 2009, what's wrong with a 228% ROI and ITM 19% ... ? Average field size that you play is 1,683 in $1-$2 avg buy-ins. How oftem do you think you should 'win' in a field of 1,683 players ... ??

Sure, all the time of course. Not gonna happen. Most low stakes MTT players WISH they had a 228% ROI. Keep playing your game, it looks like you are doing things right so far.

The only 'low side' of your stats is your age - 22. Poker is not an overnight success game for most. Patience, patience, patience. Like singers and actors often say when they finally hit the 'big time' - "After 15 years in the business, I'm finally an 'overnight success'."

After donking away half a bankroll and just getting my head straight now, NevadaNick that is one post I needed to read so thanks.

And man thats an awsome ROI keep plugging away its just veriance sometimes you flop sets everytime sometimes you cannot flop top pair, this is where positional play and bluffs and blind stealing all come into effect.

nevadanick said:

Patience, patience, patience. Like singers and actors often say when they finally hit the 'big time' - "After 15 years in the business, I'm finally an 'overnight success'."

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You are so right.....PATIENCE is a huuuuuge factor and Im only starting to grasp its importance now!

Stu_Ungar said:

What stakes do you play in tournaments?

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I'm startin to play 180ppl $4.40 buy-in SnG's at pokerstars.
If im playing in a MTT i try n go for the $1 - $5 range as i'm finding it harder to play in MTT's these days.

All i can say is i've gotta keep my patience, read up sum more material and get back to the grind.

Sorry bout havin a winge fest. Can't help it and i gotta shout it out. We are only human after all n we don't like losing.

ukaliks said:

I'm startin to play 180ppl $4.40 buy-in SnG's at PokerStars.
If im playing in a MTT i try n go for the $1 - $5 range as i'm finding it harder to play in MTT's these days.

All i can say is i've gotta keep my patience, read up sum more material and get back to the grind.

Sorry bout havin a winge fest. Can't help it and i gotta shout it out. We are only human after all n we don't like losing.

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Don't worry its only natural to get down from time to time.

I would say that small stakes tournaments are complete donkfest lotteries!! I don't mean that to be offensive its just that tournaments under say $50 aren't really a case of skill.. more luck as the blind structure increases so rapidly.

The dollar amount of the buyin isn't the real issue its the blind structure.

If you are interested, there is a great book to read.

'The Poker Tournament Formula' by Arnold Snyder.

Although the book has a suggested playing style (which is hyper aggressive for small stakes tournaments) its real incite is how to analise tournament structures for any type of tournament you can think of and to pick tournaments based on the likelihood of your skill being a significant factor in winning it.

After reading it I decided not to play tournaments until I could afford to enter ones that had a more favorable blind structure and moved across to cash games only.

It is definitely worth a read.

I hope things improve for you and that you start to enjoy the game again.

Haha... Yes I agree, it is very difficult to win in any of the online tournaments.... I suffered a very bad beat the other day and I still can't get over it. I go all in with pocket Q's and a donkey calls with 2, 7 off suit!!! Flop hits 2,7,8.... So he hits his 2 pair. Turns an 8 so I take lead with 2 pair Q's and 8's... Guess what the river is? 7!!!! errrrr.. I don't know what else to do!!!

sharpone said:

And what really gets me is people run around spewwing quotes about how its not uncommon to have bad runs for weeks maybe months at a time, and good runs the same. How about try never getting the runs of winning at any consistant rate. I do things by the numbers, i mix it up a little bit and still havent mustered up a run that last a whole tournament in quite sometime. Its very frustrating especially when you know how to play the game.

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Well the thing is there is a venting section for things if you just want to vent. So if you post something you will get people helping you out weather using quotes or something you have learnt of some one else. I know that so far this thread has got me thinking like any good debate should. Everyone has been in the same shoes and getting everyveiw point available is a good thing.

when I get in2 a bad slump I just start playin in the freerolls and stay out of the cash games. Alot of the time it's my kinda my fault. I start overbetting my good starting hands and calling the donks all ins with med pockets , this usually happens when I'm fed up with seeing all the sux-outs , so its back to strictly freerolls till I get my game back on track.

Poker is not a science and there is no guarentee that any hand pre flop will win. By tight I guess that you mean you are only calling or raising with high pocket pairs, AA, AK, AK etc. If a guy has pocket 2's and calls and hits a 2 it beats your AA. What you have got to do is look at the bigger picture. With good hands over a long period you will come out on top. You cannot judge it over a short period. By that I mean you have to judge it over probably 10,000 hands plus. Like you I have had a few days where I have had nothing in return but before that I was doing really well. Tats how it goes.

Take a day off and drink some beers. Poker is a crazy thing that will make you nuts. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just walk away.

It seems like folks have unrealistic expectations for tournament poker. You are not going to win every tournament you enter. You are not even going to cash in every tourney you enter. Being a successful tournament player is about long term winning more than you lose. If you feel the need to win all the time cash games are a better way to do it (although you won't will every game there either).

Read "Why You Lose At Poker." Don't play tourneys. Adjust to the situation. Play opponents as they are, not as you think they should play. If their play crimps your style, adjust to it and exploit their weaknesses. Be honest about weaknesses in your own game and be less prideful. You can't improve if you think you're already the best there is. Expect variance and losing streaks. If you don't like it, play games with less variance, like HL Omaha.

Do your best to play your game and your cards! You have to ignor the donks power bets and constant reraises....they usually get caught on a bluff and bust. It only works so long for them, so stay relaxed play your hands and remember it's for fun!

Keep at it.
It all comes around sooner or later.

Good Luck



Roller:
Call or Fold > Fold
Call or Raise > Raise
Bet or Push > Push

It would be nice if you could show some of the donks your hole cards before they bet. And maybe, just maybe they wouldn't call and draw out. LOL

Im in the middle of a pretty bad losing streak right now on fulltilt. After my friend gave me 5 dollars, i turned it into 250 after a month only to go all the way down to 1.50 after countless bs and bad beats.

It's very frustrating when you play the best poker you can, get your chips in when you're ahead in the hand and then see your opponent hit his unlikely cards to win.

It's even more painful when this occurs over and over again, dumping you out of tournaments early.

It's small consolation, but I always try to tell myself now that if I've got my money/chips in when I'm ahead in the hand and it turns sour on me, I've done all I can.

Luck is a significant part of the game and there's no way you can control it. All you can control are you own decisions and plays.

If you're making the right ones you'll be a winner in the long term.