Longest poker slump of my life

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Hang On Sloopy08

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First time poster here but hoping to get some useful insight.

I've played live poker for 16 years now. I'm an accomplished player and play tournament poker 2 times a week at our local Hollywood casino. I play a deepstack on Sundays that usually draws 75-100 people. I play in a Monday night turbo of usually 125+. I play in regional events across the midwest as well. Been out to the wsop a few times with a few cashes. I'm not a professional nor do I try to be, but I'm a pretty damn good player and have a great reputation for it in my area.

This year alone, like I mentioned, I average 2 tournaments a week. I won 2 tournament back-to-back in February, and 1 tournament in August. Other than those 3 wins, ironically I haven't cashed in any other tournaments. Sometimes going on tilt and firing 2-3 bullets at each tournament I play.

So since February, I've had exactly 1 cash. Is this an unusually long slump? Have any of you ever dealt with something like this? Do pros go through this?

I've read as much as I can, and most help articles say if you're an accomplished player not to change your style of play. Well I'm wayyyyy passed this now, nothing seems to be working.

I'm not one to bitch, but I know at this point it's not a statistical anomaly I'm not cashing. I think it has to be my mindset at this point? After losing for so long, it's extremely stressful to sit down and play now.
 
Dunc8b

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Do you take breaks? A week or two maybe.

After your 2nd post on my thread this seems such an inadequate suggestion but sometimes you need the Dumb & Stupid to ask the question everyone else discards.
 
edc1

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i would suggest taking a small break as well-even the pro,s take breaks-also helps get your mind back in the game
 
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WiZZiM

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i mean it could be variance, however you likely are not playing great. So i really don't know what to tell you. You are probably learning, but learning the wrong things or mis applying them. Maybe a restart, learn the basics from the ground up about the why of things.

Like, question...

why do you raise preflop on the button vs the blinds, what's our goal for doing this, say early levels?
 
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Hang On Sloopy08

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i mean it could be variance, however you likely are not playing great. So i really don't know what to tell you. You are probably learning, but learning the wrong things or mis applying them. Maybe a restart, learn the basics from the ground up about the why of things.

Like, question...

why do you raise preflop on the button vs the blinds, what's our goal for doing this, say early levels?

You could be right, I may not be as good as I think I am. I used to get told by a lot of veteran players at our poker clubs and casino here that they feared me. I know the basics, but then again I really don't.

What's book is considered the poker "bible"?

And to answer your question, my goal for early levels is to play tight, with position, and just observe everyone else's behavior. Not focused on chipping up at this point. Potts are too small, generally more hands against you pre flop, and textured boards gets you in trouble. I will play aggressive on a textured board, sometime 3 betting with strong draws. This can either chip me up, or break me. So I'm trying to avoid that behavior I just described.

As for raising on the button rather than the blind? I'd venture to guess for possession. People also get ****y on the button and try to play cute. I watch for this and break them. I know that's not the right answer though. So why do you?
 
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RogerG2k

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I always like when the game is wound up having a short break asim helps to think better relax and always good.
 
Dunc8b

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"feared you" past tense?
Maybe they now understand your game and are better at playing you.
Time to change where you play or a big review of your style perhaps.
 
smallfrie

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Tournament poker is mostly losing to start with so downswings can be excruciating, I would suggest twitch, I go watch winning pros when I am in what I consider a downswing and sometimes I pick up things that I already know but of late have been oblivious to because I have played so many hands and have just been on autopilot. So that helps and when I don't really pick up on things I have been neglecting, I at a minimum am inspired by watching someone else having success or I get to see someone playing well and fail either way it seems to get me back in a good frame of mind for playing poker.
 
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Sometimes you just "run bad" and don't make hands while your opponents out draw you. It happens. I agree with everyone, take a break and come back fresh.
 
Syltan

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I'm sure you're not alone. Need to endure or to stop playing))
 
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Hang On Sloopy08

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Tournament poker is mostly losing to start with so downswings can be excruciating, I would suggest twitch, I go watch winning pros when I am in what I consider a downswing and sometimes I pick up things that I already know but of late have been oblivious to because I have played so many hands and have just been on autopilot. So that helps and when I don't really pick up on things I have been neglecting, I at a minimum am inspired by watching someone else having success or I get to see someone playing well and fail either way it seems to get me back in a good frame of mind for playing poker.

Think I'll try this. I'm not seeing the game through the same lens I used to.
 
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As Edc and dunk8b said ,will be good to take a break.Have you tried to play cash games?If you are patient to play tournaments you are also to play cash games...start with micro stakes 1/2.Or try to have a trip and don`t think at poker,just enjoy.I got cashed 12 times in past 3 months in the hot 1.10 .I try to improve my skill by playing better hands and using position :) Hope you`ll improve
 
TeUnit

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maybe take a break and work on your game(post some hands in forum, read a poker book, watch some videos)
 
MattRyder

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"feared you" past tense?
Maybe they now understand your game and are better at playing you.
Time to change where you play or a big review of your style perhaps.
That would be my guess. It sounds like you are playing against the same folks a lot. It's pretty likely that they know your style and are using that knowledge against you. My advice - look for the leaks that they may be exploiting.
 
joker131

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play throught the bad time. u find your playing hands u never played before hopeing its card varience, but its not . play through and go back to playing patient poker, playing premium hands
 
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WiZZiM

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You could be right, I may not be as good as I think I am. I used to get told by a lot of veteran players at our poker clubs and casino here that they feared me. I know the basics, but then again I really don't.
No one is don't worry...
What's book is considered the poker "bible"?
Plenty out there harrington on holdem is a good place to start, then ask the same question for the specific game type you are playing, like learning SNG collin moshmans book is the bible, other game types it's differant.
And to answer your question, my goal for early levels is to play tight, with position, and just observe everyone else's behavior. Not focused on chipping up at this point. Potts are too small, generally more hands against you pre flop, and textured boards gets you in trouble. I will play aggressive on a textured board, sometime 3 betting with strong draws. This can either chip me up, or break me. So I'm trying to avoid that behavior I just described.
Yep that's all good. However playing super tight has some real disadvantages, think about it like this, early on there is and always will be more bad players about, as the tournament progresses generally the better players knock out the bad ones and you get less and less bad players, so why not look to take advantage of this early on? So my goal is immediately to start building a stack and look to trap some of these bad players, the only way i can do this is to play pots, it is much harder to play and you will make many more mistakes, but there are numerous advantages..

Long term wise, learning to play looser is highly beneficial as you will learn the game quicker. Like, if you never make tough decisions you are not really playing out of your comfort zone and thus you are simply not learning...

As for raising on the button rather than the blind? I'd venture to guess for possession. People also get ****y on the button and try to play cute. I watch for this and break them. I know that's not the right answer though. So why do you?I meant just why do you raise in general, lets stick with the button. Obviously position is one, but my main goal when raising the button is to play in pots vs the blinds. Like, early on, we raise and we pick up the blinds, that only gets us so far, we need to be looking to play position vs these players and trap them into make mistakes. I'll open much wider on bad players than i will good ones as i have more of an advantage doing so. So it fits in with my game plan above in actually wanting to go postflop and play pots and win chips. many people get caught in the trap that it's just stealing and that's the end of it, and don't really think about why they are doing what they are doing. Later on in the tournament where stacks are much lower compared to the blinds, open stealing is a great idea as it adds a considerable amount to our stack, but early on, that is definitely not our goal. Our goal should be to chip up without taking huge risks and try to trap a bunch of bad players making mistakes.

Hope this helps
 
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Hang On Sloopy08

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Hope this helps

Thanks for all the advice. It's crazy because I do actually have a very wide range of hands I feel comfortable playing because of my experience. But what you said about playing against the same cast of characters is so true, they've all caught on to my playing style. I'm not a player who takes large unnecessary risks, but during this losing streak I've become an impatient player. Playing tight is not my game, but I am playing scared. And that's no way to go about playing poker.

My biggest problem I'm finding is that I'm giving my opponents too much respect that they're good enough to lay down weak hands compared to the texture of the pot. They know me as an aggressor, and I'm getting called down with A LOT of hero calls by very poor players. It's starting to take it's toll. I'm trying to play tighter so I can trap these players when I get made hands because they'll dump their chips on top pair and two pairs. But I need to stop bluffing the bad players, better players I still get respect but I know they have a good pulse on my game right now.

I played again today with the goal of just having fun at the table. Recently I've been very non-verbal at the table and playing with ear phones in. Having this sullen demeanor I think just makes me look defeated. I made an effort to laugh and chat with my fellow competitors today. I didn't let bad beats or lost pots show it had gotten to me. I chipped up very nicely early. Played steady through the first break. Went semi-card dead and made a lot of folds after the first break. Blinds were 500/1000 and I get AK, had about $55,000 stack. Short stack of $21,000 shoves from a player I know who basically sucks. I see so many people at this stage shove with AJ, A10 etc... so I call. They have AA. That was an unnecessary risk on my part. Few hands later I have about $25,000 left, wake up to KK in the BB. 4 people had limped before me, so I shove. Get called by A5 by a lady I know is the worst at the table. Of course she hits an A. So I get down to $3500. I turn that into $40,000 and make a nice comeback. I get dealt AQ and raise to $16000, blinds are now 2000/4000. Same lady calls pre-flop. Flop comes J 4 5. She shoves, I instant call. I knew she did it out of disparity. She had A 10. She rivers a 10 to knock me out. Regardless, had fun today and didn't leave feeling defeated. That was just poker. Only mistake was calling an all-in when I didn't have to with AK.
 
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WiZZiM

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yes unless you need poker to make a living then have fun with it. otherwise whats the point...
 
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