Running Bad, How To Cope

[1luckysob]

If you seriously have an issue with losing when ahead 4 times and then get ticked off at someone giving you the correct response, then don't play poker. If you ask questions you better expect answers you don't like sometimes. IF you can't handle criticism then don't ask and definitely don't play poker.

appreciated....

Why are there so many threads about this topic? learn to understand variance and get over it, and if you think you are playing poorly or missing spots, do some more study.

.....but this isnt helping anyone

 

[duggs]

My thought process sometimes is that if I get sucked out on because I shoved on the turn and someone is calling with a gut shot and hits in on the river then I could have played it more conservative and maybe gotten away from my losing hand after the river hits pending reads and chip utility

honestly this just illustrates how you are being really results orientated and not understanding the variance associated with tournament poker. cashing 0/4 tournaments is extremely normal for pro/winning players, let alone micro/break even/new players. Our edge in tournaments comes from making less mistakes than others and being able to exploit others mistakes.
The kind of thinking above is a serious mistake, if you arent getting it in against draws when you have massive equity, or you are check/folding any scary river, or choosing not to make high variance plays when they are +EV,

then you are making mistakes, which is fine, but focusing on how to deal with losing a few tournaments is really a misallocation of effort and attention.

mistakes/decisions are what we should always focus on, not results, results we cant change nor do they matter.

Assuming you are properly bankrolled but cant handle downswings, just try not to look at your cashier and just play your best, eventually results come.

 

[baudib1]

Losing 4 straight 2-4-outers for your tournament life is a normal half-hour on a Sunday for most mtt players. Thinking about getting away from a hand instead of getting it in as a 9-1 favorite is seriously flawed thinking. If you can't handle losing 1 in 10 times, don't play MTTs.

Ask yourself this: When you went all-in, did you want him to call, or to fold?

Most people should NOT play mtts.

 

[fletchdad]

Derail...

@ Baudib1

"Turned down sex to play live PLO."

You didnt say WHO you turned down.....

/: derail

@ BR: Yea, some posts are harsh, or even arrogant. BUT Poker is a "thick skinned" endeavor IMO. Read between the lines and take the useful info, ignore the stabs, and understand that a poker forum is not a get together. I made a lot of silly posts in the past (and in the future prolly as well...) and was put down, but so what. The "4 game run bad" is going to be viewed as a silly post by any halfway serious MTT player. There is a lot of good advice on how to view MTTs here, so just absorb it and ignore the jabs.

Look at it as a tilt workout...lol

 

[ONaRoll]

Just keep on playing your normal game at same stakes ,unless you re feeling tilted but cant see any reason why you should be at this point.

 

[1luckysob]

Derail...

@ Baudib1

"Turned down sex to play live PLO."

You didnt say WHO you turned down.....

/: derail

@ BR: Yea, some posts are harsh, or even arrogant. BUT Poker is a "thick skinned" endeavor IMO. Read between the lines and take the useful info, ignore the stabs, and understand that a poker forum is not a get together. I made a lot of silly posts in the past (and in the future prolly as well...) and was put down, but so what. The "4 game run bad" is going to be viewed as a silly post by any halfway serious MTT player. There is a lot of good advice on how to view MTTs here, so just absorb it and ignore the jabs.

Look at it as a tilt workout...lol

thanks brotha solid advice
i dont have any problem with people taking stabs most people on here have never played with me and even if they did I have enough confidence in my game to not let it bug me, I know what kind of player I am so I dont really care what the perception is unless we are sitting at the same table. Just seemed like some people were missing the point of the OP

 

[Tim3254]

Why are there so many threads about this topic? learn to understand variance and get over it, and if you think you are playing poorly or missing spots, do some more study.

This right here. A bad beat is a bad beat. It means there is NOTHING you can do about it. It is variance so suck it up. Focus on the other hands in the tourney where you might have misplayed something. Your game will go a lot farther.

 

[Poker Orifice]

Why are there so many threads about this topic?

Well I believe that it is a common topic for newer'ish' players (& new players). They may have played for awhile but not yet experienced a succession of crushing beats, having likely not played alot of volume (yet).. or they've just ran exceptionally well & perhaps didn't know it (yet)... all pertaining to a newer'ish' player. And... there's alot of newer'ish' players (I need to add that term to my sig.) here on Cardschat.

Yes it can get monotonous hearing it over & over again but can you not relate to 'what it was like' when you were first starting out? I can. I can recall a particularly long stretch of excruciating beats, going 21 games (SNG-STT) w/o cashing (having only played around 100 games at the time, just starting out playing online). It was a shocker to me at the time. I actually posted about it (not here on CC) & fortunately at the time, there were a couple of more experienced players who didn't pick me apart too harshly (not saying you have here at all... just sayin' what I'm saying in hopes of 'remembering what it was like').

OP, it is 'normal' for MTT play. I'm sure if we put up a pissing contest for badbeats you'd be amazed by some of it. And as was already mentioned, some VERY GOOD players will often have 1,000game losing streaks (ie. this one guy I used to rail a bit, had over 2,000game+ downswing, losing over $30k... and was a low-mid. stakes reg., & prior to this was profit +$300k with well over 20,000 tourneys played).

You just have to learn to blow it off.... not focus on it at all (if possible). It gets easier over time (but not always).

 

[CheckraiseLife]

I'm not going to give a cookie cutter responce here ie' varaince, play your best, keep getting your money in ahead' blah blah, you should know this anyways.

What I will tell you is my personal exprience, and its a recent one, for the last 5 days i have lost consecutivley totalling around 12 buyins at FR cash games, its the most I have ever lost in consecutive days in 4 years of play, i'd say 3 days of playing bad and 2 days of varaince, the best remedy to this?

take time off, just for your mind to reset alittle and to get the tension off you, take a week off if you have to, during that week though dont just take it off. Study every hand you played recently work out were you ****ed up, work out were you coulda got more value, study videos come back and play your best if you keep loosing move down until you regian your bankroll and confidence to move up again. its tryed and tested.

you will **** up on occassion you will never fix this, its just how you deal with it in future, that'll shape the outcome longterm.

 

[1luckysob]

I'm not going to give a cookie cutter responce here ie' varaince, play your best, keep getting your money in ahead' blah blah, you should know this anyways.

What I will tell you is my personal exprience, and its a recent one, for the last 5 days i have lost consecutivley totalling around 12 buyins at FR cash games, its the most I have ever lost in consecutive days in 4 years of play, i'd say 3 days of playing bad and 2 days of varaince, the best remedy to this?

take time off, just for your mind to reset alittle and to get the tension off you, take a week off if you have to, during that week though dont just take it off. Study every hand you played recently work out were you ****ed up, work out were you coulda got more value, study videos come back and play your best if you keep loosing move down until you regian your bankroll and confidence to move up again. its tryed and tested.

you will **** up on occassion you will never fix this, its just how you deal with it in future, that'll shape the outcome longterm.

thanks man very useful post

 

[CheckraiseLife]

Glad to help, it may be alittle cheesy but one video i love for motivation below, works well with poker

 

[Eddie Leeway]

When I'm in such a slump I'm determined to keep playing, and I would be such a tilted fool.

I've learned now to just play real tight and wait for the right hands. I'm always playing SnG's or MTT's...my strategy a has grown in the recent months that I I don't have the bad swings I had several years ago

I don't have any solid advice for you other than ride it out and use the information here at this forum...it's helped me tremendously as well as playing close to 25, 000 hands over the last 6 months

Good luck to you

 

[Carmine]

Four losses in a row ain't that bad...I've read where pros can expect to lose 10 in a row at times....take a break for a day or two...think about it unless your a pro making your living playing poker than whats the big deal, give your head a rest.