How to know when you're running bad or just playing bad?

olliejjc16

olliejjc16

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Hi, been playing 1.50 45 man turbosngs the last few days and been absolutely destroyed, bankroll is down from 180 to 80 since yesterday morning. I think I've been running really bad but I'm afraid that I'm letting that cloud my judgement and I'm making some bad plays. I've made a few mistakes but nothing that would lead me to be down so much in a couple of days. Actually think I've been playing pretty well overall! Been looking at my stats and my BB won is +300 Ev over 141 tournaments but actually -550BB. Is there any specific stats I can use to give me an idea how bad I've been running and how much of my losses are from bad play.
 
playtheman

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Hi, been playing 1.50 45 man turbosngs the last few days and been absolutely destroyed, bankroll is down from 180 to 80 since yesterday morning. I think I've been running really bad but I'm afraid that I'm letting that cloud my judgement and I'm making some bad plays. I've made a few mistakes but nothing that would lead me to be down so much in a couple of days. Actually think I've been playing pretty well overall! Been looking at my stats and my BB won is +300 Ev over 141 tournaments but actually -550BB. Is there any specific stats I can use to give me an idea how bad I've been running and how much of my losses are from bad play.

Stop playing, take a break.

you have lost 100 dollars, dont lose more. i went from 60 dollars to 4 dollars.
building it back, the advice other members gave me was take a couple of days off and clear your head of all hands and outcomes, come back fresh!

What I have implimented is, is if my bankroll gets below a certain number, stop!!!

Take a break and look at your hands and see if you have made the right calls

its easy for me to give advice because I did the same thing.
 
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rhombus

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running bad and playing bad go hand in hand unless you can control the mental side of your game.
You need to put the running bad to the back of your mind otherwise playing bad is just a side effect:D
 
Vfranks

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Sometimes we think we aren't playing bad, but really are. Maybe taking a break would be a good idea. Go through your hand histories and see what kind of decisions you've been making.
 
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redwards92

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stars has been handing out a lot of beats lately.

I've been flopping straights,sets, two pairs only to GII on the flop vs fish who call pre with 68 and flop flush draws and hit them. also call down vs lagtard fish maniacs who can't help themselves only to find out at showdown that they runner runnered flushes or straights / higher pairs then my middle pair/ A high lol.


Can't win a single flip with pairs vs AJ/Q/K. Can't win flips with AK as it seems I run into AA or KK most of the time lol.

Hell I can't even win with KK/QQ/JJ/TT lately as the maniacs call pre with A5o and worse only to flop there three outer. so annoying.

down just around 150$ or so the last day or two. Hopefully things turn around soon.

going out to party and play ball all weekend this long weekend so hopefully by time I get back it should all be back to normal. (yeah stars is rigged:rolleyes:)

As for how to tell if you're playing bad or not just get someone to review some sessions with you are sweat ya during a session. Easier to get other opinions on hand histories and sessions then to try and do it all yourself especially if you're still unsure on how to recognize certain leaks.
 
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olliejjc16

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ya i'm going to finish these games up i'm playing now and leave it then for the night, tbh thought i had control of my tilt but this has taught me otherwise! was fine for a long time when i was running bad but had a particularly bad run about an hour ago losing everytime i was way ahead and i think my game has deteriorated a bit since then, had good control of myself before that though despite running bad! i think its because that i havent had a run this bad yet that its hurting more than it usually would!
 
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redwards92

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ya i'm going to finish these games up i'm playing now and leave it then for the night, tbh thought i had control of my tilt but this has taught me otherwise! was fine for a long time when i was running bad but had a particularly bad run about an hour ago losing everytime i was way ahead and i think my game has deteriorated a bit since then, had good control of myself before that though despite running bad! i think its because that i havent had a run this bad yet that its hurting more than it usually would!


Yup a good stop-loss method is definitely a good way to save yourself from tilt mode.

also edited my post with a suggestion.
 
olliejjc16

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finished up for the night there, managed to win one finally and won a sunday storm sattelite and took the t dollars, as well as unlocking a 10 dollar vip reward so back up to around 110 dollars now so limited the damage a bit! gonna have a look at my hand histories tonight and see where i went wrong and how much of it was bad beats and how much was bad play, will hopefully have a clearer idea!
 
aero87

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Here's a rough guideline.

Running bad = getting it in with the best and losing
Playing bad = getting it in with the worst

going to be exceptions though. Like KK running to AA isn't playing bad
 
dj11

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Here's a rough guideline.

Running bad = getting it in with the best and losing
Playing bad = getting it in with the worst

going to be exceptions though. Like KK running to AA isn't playing bad

In a nutshell...^this.

+1
 
olliejjc16

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ya its just hard to keep track of it when you've played a couple of hundred which were bad plays and which were bad moves! anyways had a look over my hand history last night, overall i was pretty happy with most of my play, did make some mistakes which hopefully i can improve on but did run really bad too so not going to get too downhearted, as long as getting it in good most of the time it'll turn around eventually!
 
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you need like atleast 100 buy ins to play those, so when you were at at $149 you should have dropped down to the $1 ones. and below $100 the $0.50 ones. you could have been running bad but usually it's just an excuse in a way, you always remember the bad beats but never the suck outs that went in your favor. you were maybe slightly tilting and not playing patient/ a solid game.
if you feel like you are still running bad, in your head, you should take today off and play whenever you feel like doing so with a clear mind. i think you should also play the $0.50 45/ 90 mans or both to gain confidence and have less strain on your bankroll.
also a quick question, have you won many of the $1.50 45's before running bad yesterday? and how much did you start off with your br- basically were you up or down when at $180. good luck anyway!
 
Boocha

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As most have said, take a break. Look over the hand histories. Find out for yourself through careful observation.
 
olliejjc16

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thanks guys for all the advice, I've decided to reduce the number of tables i play to 6 and post any problem spots so i can improve in those areas, still not running great but a lot better than i was before and my results are improving a lot, definitely think being able to concentrate on fewer tables is helping!
 
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Ollie, after reading several of your posts im under the impression you run way too many tables. If i remember right you just started playing sngs after running into trouble at 5nl. I play higher stakes but never play more than 4 tables(and this is full ring). Running 10-20 tables i dunno how you even keep track of position, blind stealing and bluffing, all of which are crucial in tournament play.
 
olliejjc16

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no i dont play that many in sngs at all or 5nl, i played like 10 sngs at once with hotkeys set up and put that down to six, i never played more than 4-6 5nl tables at once. I've only played 10-24 tables on 2nl where I can manage to keep my win rate up by exploiting the fish, but otherwise i'm keeping it to 6 tables max on anything higher
 
Wolfpack43ACC

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Maybe you should drop tables, there could be leaks you aren't even noticing. Losing $100 playing 1.50 45 men in a few days is a pretty good haul. That's losing 1k playing $15.00 45 men.
 
Aleksei

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If you have a tracker, your EV line tells the whole story. If it's up, then you're just running spectacularly bad. If it's down you're making bad decisions.

Mind, downswings of this caliber are not unheard of for any MTT format. In a 45-man a solid player should expect to cash about 1 out of every 6, and win about 1 out of every 15. Runbad really CAN hit you this badly.
 
Michael Paler

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The best tracker is yourself

Look back at hands you have lost and ask/answer honestly: "Did I play that wrong?";
If the answer is "No, I played that correctly/just like I usually do", then it's just a bad run of cards. It happens to us all.
If the answer is "Yes, I played that wrong/not like I normally would", then you need a break.

Do you only take breaks after you are down in $$? Take them before it gets to that point. Do you find yourself playing more when losing? Not a good idea, IMO. This indicates you are possibly chasing your losses.

Hope this helps and good luck!
 
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