How bad can it get?

Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
I dont know how to bounce back. I was playing so well for over a year then in the last month or so everything just went to hell. No matter what I have not been able to win, I just lost tge rest of wyat i had left on BOL to a complete donkey, going all in with J 2, 10 2, etc I had A A and just as my luck has been his J 2 hits a fullhouse. I am not over exaggerating this and hate that I have ranted on here but I am out of money to play, I dont understand what happen. I study, I go over my hand histories, I watch videos, I watch twitch, and it was all helping me then alk of a sudden it was like a switch flipped and no matter what I tried to do I could not win. I dont understand how people can build bankrolls so large to play in the higher stakes. I am ready to just give poker up, I want to be a top tier player but it feels like it is so out of reach. I have always believed that pojer is a skill game but my experience has said otherwise. You can have all the skill in tge world but if the cards arent falling for you it doesnt matter. When I was winning I was able to make moves at the table and semi bluffs worked, but then it changed and no matter what I was getting calls whether I had a hand or was trying to make a move. I am at a loss right now......
 
Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
Now I cant even play if I wanted to until I can get some money that I can dedicate to playing again but I am feeling so bad about the game
 
Samuel Lee

Samuel Lee

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Jul 30, 2016
Total posts
90
Chips
0
I'd suggest you to take a break.
Wait a month then you can play again.
Every time you face a downswing(something that is normal) you just have to stop playing. Seems so simple but is so hard to do. Just take a break and after a decent period of time you can get back on road.
 
shinedown.45

shinedown.45

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 18, 2006
Total posts
5,389
Chips
0
You tell us you were playing so well for over a YEAR and now you say it has gone downhill in the past MONTH.
Sounds like a downswing to me.
Downswings happen and so do upswings, you can't be a winning player all the time.

As Amarillo Slim once said "Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn't play poker"
 
es530

es530

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
May 11, 2014
Total posts
1,166
Chips
0
Maybe the problem is to give too much attention to bad results. As has already been mencionado up, bad results are normal in poker, and in life in general.gl
 
PapaC

PapaC

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Total posts
2,798
Chips
0
Socialpro29 my first advice to you is to take some time and let all that anger and pain get around and behind you. And when it's under control or completely gone, make you a new start at any site other than BO or SB. There has to be many happy players there, but I have heard some of the same things from players that could not understand what happened just like you. And they told the same story you are. I've had my experience there years ago, and the same happened to me At the end I was so out of control of my emotions I was raving like a mad man. Right then I sent them a email with all my anger in it, and I knew they didn't care, but it helped me release some of those feelings that were so strong that without any doubt in my mind could cause me to do something bad without even one thought of stopping. The good thing is that the ones me and you want kill very slow are out of our reach. My friends I feel all your pain and everything that comes with it, so do yourself the best favor you can at this point. give yourself 3 or 4 days away from it all. unless to feel like taking in a freeroll. Not at the sites you would love to burn to the ground. After that, if you can make a small deposit to get you started that's great, if not then do as I am right now, find some other things to keep busy. It may feel strange not playing everyday for a little while but it does get better each day. I'm without playing money like you but I have some plans started. And if you are the player I am, you will find a way to fund you poker account but there is no reason to fund it again. GL
 
PapaC

PapaC

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Aug 30, 2010
Total posts
2,798
Chips
0
All the advice the others are giving you is very true and you should use it. At my start here I made it a point to believe the advice I was given would work no matter what I thought about it, along with that I made it another point to take that advice to the tables and use it and almost every time I did that I was a believer because it worked there so I could see it. Everyone is almost in agreement with the same advice. That is a sure sign they have been in your shoes and those things helped them and it will help you too. Anyway GL to you. Take your time and start back slow.Poker will be there
 
K

karl coakley

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Sep 6, 2016
Total posts
853
Chips
0
You are just running bad. It happens. You can review your losses and make sure you didn't mis-play the hands, other than that, you keep plugging along.

If you lost all your money, it would be a good time for a break (and to make sure you check you bank roll management). I would be more concerned with the physiological effects of the downswing then the monetary effect. If you were winning before playing good poker, you certainly don't want to change your game. All of the best poker players in the world have been broke at one time or another.
 
C

chronical

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Total posts
1,128
Awards
1
Chips
1
oddly enoght you might have playd better because you did not know as much about poker as you now =)
1. now you might think ranges for exmaple that 4.5bb raise from MP might mean ATo+, 88+, maybe suited connectors, so you fold to cbet on the flop with an face card, while the same situation when you started would make you call.
2. maybe you give to much credit to people playing your limit (you did not specify but still). Some things are tru in micro FOREVER(check-raise turn=moster,3betshove=monster(unless seen otherwise),75VPIP/10PFR=shove into him with good hands...)
3. maybe "watching videos, reading forums"... has done a cruel joke with you. Look at dough polk, are whatever his last hame is, the guy is CRUSHING highs stakes, killing WCOOP and... can get throught micros =), why? he is a high-stake player. 3,4,5 level fo thinking, the same logic CAN NOT be applyed to people at micros who play "fit or fold". I'm sure if you watch guys like innerpsycho on twich you will be speniding half of the time thinking "wat da... did he just 4bet raise K9o in MP??!!", the reason why he can do this is because players from that level will give him respect for agression and fold. Now I dont have to tell you what happens when you push AA from UTG in fullring micros, how many calls do you get 2-4-everyone? and what are they holding J9s,44,A3o... tell me I'm wrong =)
4. again, I do not know your limit, so I'm just guessing, but if you are playng micros/lows you should be watching guy who grind(!WIN) at thous limits maybe... blackrain79. You should adress the issus with micro/low mits - there is no post flop game almost. Poeple can have good PRF ranges and... dont know what to do with theme afterwards.Alot do not know how many outs they have and just pull OESD/FlushDro 'cause it looks good.
5. work on how youreact to losses, the till is real

To conclude: stay strong, dont give up... I need your $$$ =)
 
Last edited:
S

Sidetracked

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Jun 30, 2016
Total posts
1,294
Awards
2
Chips
0
Take a break from playing and study. then, start again gradually. If you have a small win, quit for the day. Actually booking a win can be good for the psyche. rinse and repeat until you have your confidence restored.
 
T

Two6JJ

Visionary
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 27, 2016
Total posts
746
Chips
0
Take some time away from the felt and review your goals for the game.
 
Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
Thanks again for all the feedback, I just cant believe how bad of a run I have been on, I dont blame it all on just running bad I have allowed my emotions to lead to some horrible play also but the majority has come from running bad.
 
atlantafalcons0

atlantafalcons0

Legend
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 4, 2010
Total posts
3,713
Awards
1
Chips
4
I didn't read anything about moving down stakes, I could have missed it.

Did you have any goals set? Any move up/move down targets? Did you cash out during the past year? Did you stick to cash game only or play the occasional MTT/STT to change things up?

If/when you do start playing again, I'd advise making a thread here to monitor your progress and get feedback through hand analysis. Maybe some of the run bad was actually avoidable...
 
Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
@atlantafalcon, I was using BRM and I pretty much stayed in the micros, I was able to take $10 to $200 in a couple of months and continued to play in the same stakes and also started playing some low buyin MTTs and some sattelites to bigger tourneys with low buyins. I think I made a mistake abd adhered to religiouslt to the BRM though and wgen I was running goid I should have taken a shot at a littler higher stakes. I do believe as another mentioned on here that the micros are such a different level of thibking that alot of the studying I have done works very well for higher stakes and does not work well or at all at lower stakes/micros, I think fold equity plays an important part the higher the stakes you go but at the micros your fold equity is just not there in most cases as alot of players will take 2nd pair, OESDs, Flush draws, bottom 2 pair etc to the felt regardless of how you play the hand. You have to play more polarized ranges abd play them face up and hope that the cards fall your way and wgen they dont you eitger make tough folds or go bust as i have
 
D

Dan Lucas

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 18, 2016
Total posts
475
Chips
0
I don't think you made a huge mistake not playing for bigger stakes. Every player runs bad at some point, and sometimes it can seem like every move we make is the wrong one. Just ask Mike Matusow. But you are also correct in that emotions are possibly the worst leak for a poker player. I have played at higher stakes, and still run into the same donk moves made on micros. Don't try to over analyze your beats. Try to focus on your wins, and why you ran good. When you were running good, were you hitting your 3 outers? Were you filling inside straights and hitting your flush draws? When you ran bad, were some of your beats because you did not give your opponents credit for having hands? I know all about running bad, and I did have to take a break and just get my emotions under control. As for building bankrolls, most poker players just survive. It is like the lottery, where we forget that 2,999,999 people out of 3 million didn't make any money. Don't get discouraged. If your play is good enough, you will grind out some victories. But don't make my mistake, and thinking that it is a get rich quick proposition. Patience is the key.
 
cellait

cellait

Enthusiast
Silver Level
Joined
Feb 2, 2016
Total posts
94
Chips
0
Brother, I understand, is such a disappointment when we lost with hands theoretically stronger, but I learned in poker that can always have a better hand than yours!
Unfortunately part of the game! As I'm sure you won several times with improbable hands ...
Now it's take it easy and start from scratch.
 
John A

John A

Poker Zion Coach
Silver Level
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Total posts
6,492
Awards
3
Chips
37
The psychological part of the game does a lot of players in. One of the biggest leaks I think players have is entitlement tilt. When they start to run bad or they get sucked out on, they believe they were supposed to win that pot. No... you weren't. That's part of the odds of poker. You're almost never getting it in as 100% favorite. The true test of a good player is when you can continue to stay focused even when the bad beats and losses stack up at the same time. You have to be able to say, "This is part of poker, and I can't control that part. I can only control my decisions, and I need to focus on continuing to make the best decisions each hand."

That's it. If you do that, and you truly have some skill, bad runs will be brief.
 
B

BAGELBEAR

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Dec 4, 2013
Total posts
234
Chips
0
That's why I stepped back from live play. It still hurts online but not as hard on the bankroll. Someone near and dear to me said my AA gets cracked so much I should fold them preflop.....NOT. Planning to get back to live play if I can just fortify my heart, but definitely going to wear a pierce-proof armor :rolleyes: Good luck!!!

Debby
 
Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
I am definetly aware that you are never a 100% favorite, and the cards are out of your control but that is what has destroyed me lately. I think I need to really step away from playing for like a month or so cause this run bad i have been through has been hard to handle and it just kept going and going, i mean it seemed as though everyday i logged in the hits just started coming. Today I had the funniest one which was the last of some bonus mobey i had but I get dealt KK in the BB, there was a raise from utg+1 to about 3x, a call from the But, so i squeezed and raised it the pot. They both call. (Effective stack of $3.50 and other villan had about $4.00) the flop comes 2cQh4c, i bet the pot again which put the original raiser all in, the original caller goes all in, I call they both show, original raiser has 3c6c, the caller has 4h6h, REALLY? well i bet you can guess what the turn was a 4d, then the river is a 8c, tell me i am crazy but this is just ridiculous
 
Socialpro29

Socialpro29

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Oct 4, 2015
Total posts
114
Chips
0
I know that the call after flop os reasonable for short stack on flush draw but both tgese guys called a huge pre flop raise with these hands, and they get rewarded for it and i am left out and it just kills me
 
C

CallmeFloppy

Legend
Bronze Level
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Total posts
1,296
Awards
2
Chips
1
Like others said, take a break and focus on anything but poker. That is what I do and when I want to return I start by reading Harrington on Hold'em 3 the workbook. Lets me refocus and get back to playing correctly.
 
M

munts

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Nov 5, 2015
Total posts
10
Chips
0
If you get AA all-in preflop against J2, you are doing everything right and the odds of opponent hitting full house are.. VERY small. It's just bad luck, shrug it off and move on.

Learn to manage your bankroll to handle the bad luck/downswings. No point playing a 1/2 game if your bankroll is 200$ and you can't afford to lose an all-in.
 
M

Mauno

Rock Star
Silver Level
Joined
Mar 15, 2016
Total posts
322
Chips
0
Last few freeroll tourneys has been ended for me with unlucki river card.
Specially last tourney when I had 2 pairs and with turn full house and last card turned to higher full house for my opponent. So...
 
antonis32123

antonis32123

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Total posts
6,362
Awards
20
GR
Chips
249
Be patient . Things are going to change for the better . I'm sure of this . take a break for a month or less. You need it to relax .You told this yourself, you were playing one year fine and everything was normal , these are just happening , these up and downs .Now try not to think that some donkeys have played role/part in this downswing and keep playing poker and you'll start winning in no time :).
 
Top